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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> Which camera website is the best?
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01/15/2005 10:55:36 AM · #1
Greetings to all at dpchallenge,

I recently found that there are a lot of camera supply websites out there that are fakes or just don't sell what they advertize.

Where do you purchase your camera supplies? Do you have a favorite store? Do you have a favorite website?

Let's here from you.

Thanks, Jeff O.
01/15/2005 11:07:54 AM · #2
I have done business with B&H Camera, Adorama and Beach Photo over the internet and have found all of them to be very good.

Mark
01/15/2005 11:09:52 AM · #3
B&H photo is a good place to look BH Photo
I tend to use bizrate.com to find what I am looking for, you can see user feedback on all the stores that carry what you are looking for as well as what their prices are. See here for an example .Bizrate.com on the 20D

Be very careful about the places that have prices $100 lower then anyone else, they never seem to get even close to having a good rating
01/15/2005 11:15:01 AM · #4
B&H
17th Street Photo
Onecall

I used to recommend Adorama as well, but recently I've seen a lot of reports of them using the high-pressure sales of accessories to enhance their profits, and I find that intolerable.
Since you are outside of Wisconsin...

Badgergraphic Sales is a smaller retailer that specializes in the higher end of things, is a dedicated camera retailer, and is very well thought of. I have not shopped online there, though, since I would pay a tax penalty being in WI.
01/15/2005 11:16:10 AM · #5
B&H is the only name to know. One word...trustworthy.
01/15/2005 11:21:26 AM · #6
Amazon, B&H and Adorama all have great reputations. I tend to like Amazon for their free shipping on orders over $25 (great if you can wait a week or so for your order). Amazon is also running a promotion where electronics purchases can earn a coupon code good for $15-$150 off a future Amazon purchase.

-Terry
01/15/2005 11:38:48 AM · #7
I bought my camera from buydig.com and they were very good
01/15/2005 11:46:39 AM · #8
B & H
01/15/2005 11:52:47 AM · #9
In Canada, I'd have to give my vote to //www.cameracanada.com for having the lowest prices. Can't speak of their service though because I've always gotten local retailers to match their prices. So I'd check with them, for a price at least.
01/15/2005 11:59:17 AM · #10
Originally posted by ClubJuggle:

Amazon, B&H and Adorama all have great reputations. I tend to like Amazon for their free shipping on orders over $25 (great if you can wait a week or so for your order). Amazon is also running a promotion where electronics purchases can earn a coupon code good for $15-$150 off a future Amazon purchase.

-Terry


I, for one, will never use Amazon (or at least the free shipping) again. I purchased my order in early June in Summer 2004, and expected it to come sometime in July, when I was in Australia/New Zealand. When I got back, my order still hadn't come. For the rest of July and August, it hadn't come. Finally, mid September, 1/4 of my order came. Later in September, 3/4 of it had arrived. It was October before all of my order had arrived to me. When they said a few weeks, I expected a few weeks, not 5 months.
01/15/2005 01:14:32 PM · #11
My opinions

B&H was rude to me on my last order(almost order because I hung up on them). Maybe thats the way they talk to each other in NY but they had better be nice to me.--I may still deal with them at a later date.

Adoroma took an order and failed to ship it for 2 months with NO contact. It was back ordered. I wasn't married to that item, I could have picked one in stock easy enough.

It seems all of them close for weeks during Jewish holidays. How about 17photo and Onecall?

I haven't had any trouble with printsavings.com for ink and paper.

Tim
01/15/2005 02:38:36 PM · #12
B&H sometimes, but mostly I've been using Digital Foto Discount Club; good prices, quick shipping, have absolutely no problems with them at all.

(I really buy lots of stuff from my local camera shop though, because I like to have rapport with someone knowledgeable who is nearby, and will rescue me from my many questions, and help me out with problems with equipment that I didn't even buy from them; and they are very good about that!)
01/15/2005 02:43:00 PM · #13
Originally posted by xtabintun:

Originally posted by ClubJuggle:

Amazon, B&H and Adorama all have great reputations. I tend to like Amazon for their free shipping on orders over $25 (great if you can wait a week or so for your order). Amazon is also running a promotion where electronics purchases can earn a coupon code good for $15-$150 off a future Amazon purchase.

-Terry


I, for one, will never use Amazon (or at least the free shipping) again. I purchased my order in early June in Summer 2004, and expected it to come sometime in July, when I was in Australia/New Zealand. When I got back, my order still hadn't come. For the rest of July and August, it hadn't come. Finally, mid September, 1/4 of my order came. Later in September, 3/4 of it had arrived. It was October before all of my order had arrived to me. When they said a few weeks, I expected a few weeks, not 5 months.


That's surprising. I've done the Super-Saver shipping almost every time I order from Amazon, and I've never had an order take longer than 2 weeks -- and the 2 weeks happened only once. I'm also surprised contacting them didn't shed any light on the situation.

Were any of the items in your order backordered?

-Terry
01/15/2005 03:07:21 PM · #14
I've used B&H, and they've been great. I also used Henry's. They're fantastic, very quick and quite helpful! They're in Canada, but they ship to the USA.

Message edited by author 2005-01-15 15:09:31.
01/15/2005 03:09:04 PM · #15
Vstek.ca they ship to the US too
01/16/2005 12:15:39 PM · #16
Thanks guys for the shops list. Just ordered a Canon 70-200 2.8 IS at Adorama!

Message edited by author 2005-01-16 12:17:23.
01/16/2005 12:39:27 PM · #17
I have used them all, I think, over the years. B&H is the most reliable. They never try to sell me crap I don't need, are very knowlegable about the products they sell, and never sell anything they do not have in stock without telling me. In one instence one of the salesmen talked me out of buying a $4000 dollar camera (14N) because of the complaints they had been getting from some of thier other customers and the fact that the price was dropping too fast (an indicater that Kodak was dumping). They had two in stock and he didn't try to sell me something better. He just told me to check the comparisons better, find something I would be happier with and then get back to him.

I don't get that kind of honesty from most other dealers I have worked with.

I also go to Nextag.com and Ebay to compare prices before I buy anything. That can save you hundreds of $$$ on just a single lens or camera.
01/16/2005 12:48:00 PM · #18
I generally order from B&H and have always found them pretty reliable. I've also ordered a couple things from bugeyedigital.com and haven't had a problem with them either. My D70 was a gift from my parents. I'm pretty sure my mom ordered it from buydig.com and got a really good deal.
01/17/2005 06:07:04 PM · #19
Hey Gang,

I thank everyone in this forum and others that have helped me in the past couple of days. I finally ordered my mother load from B&H and found that they were very professional.

Many Thanks,

Jeff O.
01/17/2005 08:33:03 PM · #20
Can't say I've tried them all but more than a few anyway.

BeachCamera.com and buydig.com are not real outfits but rather just web "fronts".

Amazon.com is big and impersonal if you have anything out of the ordinary. And they have so many deals and promotions that you never know if you are getting the best price or not.

TriStateCamera has good prices but they will put you thru the sales pitch for very high priced accessories before you can get the advertised prices.

47th St Photo is a straight outfit but shipping is a little slow.

Won an Ebay auction from Henry's and everything went smooth; mail from Canada to USA seems slow but reliable.

Ritz (online) has a reputation for being high priced but for some items (probably ones where the manufactuer controls the price) they are competitive. They do free shipping on cameras over $100 and won't charge you sales tax. Could be the best deal.

B&H is big, they carry everything under the sun, have a real store in NYC, usually the lowest price or very close to it, online orders are shipped fast, they are my favorite.

Things to look for are a seller where you can order by phone as well as online- just in case you have to get in touch with them about problems and misunderstandings. Beware of a website that wants you info, like credit card number, before you find out the final total price including shipping. Also, avoid websites that ship only by UPS or Fedex, and will not do US Mail. They will tell you that they have an exclusive contract and the shipping will cost you less, but does it? Some of the places that use only private sector carriers for delivery are doing so to avoid the possibility of being charged with mail fraud, and scrutiny by an additional level of law enforcement in Postal Inspectors.
01/17/2005 08:43:43 PM · #21
KEH.com is a great site for getting used lenses and other equipment.
01/17/2005 09:07:35 PM · #22
Originally posted by cbeller:

KEH.com is a great site for getting used lenses and other equipment.


I've had some really good luck with KEH. If you buy a used lens it is like they said it would be.
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