Although I can't say for sure about photography stuff, I can talk about most other electronics. I was stationed there in the Army and I heard those "rumors" as well. I went to buy a computer there and no matter where I looked; the chain stores, small stores, the mom and pop, or the specialty places that built it right there, the prices were terrible. I ended up buying it from a huge "computer mall" that equates to a 7-story building with tons and tons of small (read: 15ft X 15ft) shops that all specialized in something for a decent price. One had cases, the other had power supplies, another CPUs and so on. Finally, there were a ton of shops (on that I bought from) that would write up your specs and then run around building buying that parts from the lowest bidder and then build it for you right there.
The final price was higher that what I could have paid for in the States and it came with no OS. Sorry for the rant, I figured I would be detailed and figured someone might just find it interesting... But the point remains the same for pretty much all electronic equipment that I saw. When I went shopping for a fan for my room, I ran into the same thing: pretty expensive. The same for a TV. I just went in thinking that prices were so much cheaper, or at least comparable to the States, but that's just not what I found.
Keep in mind that if you do find your deal, you'll likely find a Korean model that will feature Korean writing all over it instead of English (if that bothers you) So you're likely to find a model that reads something like "~`_-~`" instead of "autofocus."
Hope that helps you even a little bit. Good luck with everything and most of all: have a safe trip and enjoy it. (They've got some killer waffle snacks you can grab in the subway stations [if you've never been] although they're pretty sweet).
Message edited by author 2010-07-18 21:42:09. |
