| Author | Thread |
|
|
02/20/2007 03:02:49 AM · #1 |
Before you buy any cameras, FIRST you should ask yourself what kind of application do you have and what you would like to do with it?
Then you have to think how much your maximum budgetfor it. Because any camera specially the digital one has many hidden costs such as:
1- A memory card with higher capacity such as 256MB, 512MB, or 1 gig.
2- A card reader
3- A case
4-If that camera comes with battery charger then it would be nice, otherwise you have to buy it separately
When you add the costs of above items then might be beyond of your budget.
Now you decide everything. Then where you go to buy?
As you mention you do NOT buy a camera from Argos, or those supermarket that sell everything!! You should buy it from a camera shop who is specialised in handeling them.
I am sure, there are so many of them in your area.
Before you go and buy, you should find the BEST ONE. So go to the following sites and check them out by looking at their full review and even they have facility to compare them side by side. These following website are EXCELLENT in explaining all of the details to you:
//www.steves-digicams.com/
//www.dpreview.com
//www.dcviews.com/
Then you should find the righ price. In order to DO that you have to know that ALL of the main photography stores MATCH the prices either with internet shops or in a raduis of few miles around thei shops, and so on. The reason is because they want to compete.
For finding the right prices there are few sites that you could check with them as all of them have a search engines:
//www.pricerunner.co.uk/
//www.ciao.co.uk/
//www.warehouseexpress.com/
Then after you find the cheapest price from 2 or 3 places on the internet, print them out for your documentation to show the sales person.
(Do not forget, before you show the printout to them, ask about the availibility of the camera, otherwise they would lie to you that they do NOT have them once they hear your cheap price !!)
The last not least TIME of buying is very important.
You might ask HOW?
Do NOT forget these main photography shops in order to compete with the intenet sites, and because they have a huge overhead expenses, THEY DO EVERYTHING when there is not many customers around in a shop !!!!!!!!!!!!
SO, the best time to buy would be Sunday morning whenthere is anybody around and the chief of store needs to sell million £/$ at the end of that day.
HOPE all of these info help you to find the best deal of century for you.
Good luck |
|
|
|
02/20/2007 04:15:43 AM · #2 |
Nice bit of advice.
I would add, if you do decide to buy from the internet, be sure to check reseller ratings before placing your order, to help avoid being caught out by scam sites. |
|
|
|
02/20/2007 04:49:29 AM · #3 |
To add to the above... I would try to find out if the dealer/seller is an official supplier of XYZ brand in the country. If not, they are so-called "grey" products or parallel imports. This means that the company e.g. Nikon are not going to want anything to do with a fault with a grey product. The dealer usually offers some sort of warranty but this is often very minimal in comparison.
I have a friend that has had a bad experience with grey camera products. |
|
|
|
02/20/2007 01:38:24 PM · #4 |
In my experience, most local B&M (brick & mortar) camera shops will not price-match to Internet retailers because of the very reason you mentioned -- they have overhead and selling at online prices won't make them enough money to cover that. I tried that at a Ritz Camera shop (and Ritz sells online, too) and they refused to price-match even $50 off a camera -- they let me walk away, so it's not just that I wasn't trying hard enough.
Maybe this should be in the "tutorial" forum... :-? |
|
|
|
02/20/2007 01:49:33 PM · #5 |
| The other hidden cost you haven't mentioned is a computer and a computer capable of dealing with the file sizes your new spangley camera might produce. |
|
|
|
02/20/2007 02:02:50 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by Creature:
In my experience, most local B&M (brick & mortar) camera shops will not price-match to Internet retailers because of the very reason you mentioned -- they have overhead and selling at online prices won't make them enough money to cover that. I tried that at a Ritz Camera shop (and Ritz sells online, too) and they refused to price-match even $50 off a camera -- they let me walk away, so it's not just that I wasn't trying hard enough.
Maybe this should be in the "tutorial" forum... :-? |
Jessops UK photo shops did price match with internet, when I bought the Canon 30D I got it £75 cheaper, but when I bought the Pentax K100D they had stopped doing it. Guess they were losing too much trying to compete. |
|
|
|
02/20/2007 02:11:55 PM · #7 |
www.dcresource.com is also a good place to learn about almost any digital cameras
www.thedigitalpicture.com if you want to learn about Canon DSLR and Lenses
www.kenrockwell.com if you want to learn about Nikon DSLR (Ken reviews Canon DSLR too) |
|
|
|
02/20/2007 09:18:45 PM · #8 |
| I've also had problems with B&M stores price matching on the interneet (& the funny thing was I was trying to match against their own Internet business, which runs under a different name. I suppose they figured they would get the money anyway). |
|
|
|
02/20/2007 09:26:12 PM · #9 |
a 256 MB memeory card? I wouldnt even dream of using one if i still had one. A 512 MB card will give me 70 shots!
a 1GB card maybe 4 of those will do for a single eveening of shooting.
Think my storage needs are more expensive then what u plan for. ANd ihave a bar that would fit an SLR with a 28-200mm and a 18-55mm lense and my point and shoot, and my video camera, and 12 sets of batterys and the charger!
Now i fi can just get an slr with two lenses! |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Prints! -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 04/18/2024 09:50:15 PM EDT.
