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QotW What is your favorite camera store?

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Mine is Cambrian Photography in Colwyn Bay, North Wales

They provide absolutely superb service, Sarah and her team go out to serve their customers and the shop has a nice old-style ambience. And we rarely leave without spending a huge amount of money...

Colwyn Bay used to have 3 dealers along the same road about 35-40 years ago, and only Cambrian remains. I am not sure, but I think they are the only large camera shop remaining in North Wales. Colwyn Bay used to be a nice seaside resort with a pier, but it has seen better days, just like Rhyl along the coast. We are however, blessed with an amazing coastline from the Dee Estuary towards Llandudno, and then from Conwy to the Menai Strait and Anglesey. Inland, we have Eryri (Snowdonia), Conwy Valley, Vale of Clwyd and the Clwydians. National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Best of all, the nearest football club (besides those that play in the Welsh pyramid) - Wrexham AFC!

2nd and 3rd favourite shops:

SRS in Watford - Pentax specialist of course. Great with bags and accessories too.

Kamera-Express in Luebeck - picked up my Canon T70 for €50 there last year, the Peak Design strap was more expensive!
 
gonzalu said:
AWESOME... unfortunately back lit :(
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Looks good to me. When taking photos of planes from the ground on a sunny day the bottom of the plane will always be darker than the sky. That is unavoidable.
 
tbcass said:
gonzalu said:
AWESOME... unfortunately back lit :(
Click to expand...
Looks good to me. When taking photos of planes from the ground on a sunny day the bottom of the plane will always be darker than the sky. That is unavoidable.
Click to expand...
The paint is darker, white on top, blue underneath. Not an airline l ever use.
 
RaysJ said:
tbcass said:
gonzalu said:
AWESOME... unfortunately back lit :(
Click to expand...
Looks good to me. When taking photos of planes from the ground on a sunny day the bottom of the plane will always be darker than the sky. That is unavoidable.
Click to expand...
The paint is darker, white on top, blue underneath. Not an airline l ever use.
Click to expand...
That's not the point. The point is when photographing a plane in the sky from underneath back lighting is unavoidable. It's either that of no photograph.
 
tbcass said:
RaysJ said:
tbcass said:
gonzalu said:
AWESOME... unfortunately back lit :(
Click to expand...
Looks good to me. When taking photos of planes from the ground on a sunny day the bottom of the plane will always be darker than the sky. That is unavoidable.
Click to expand...
The paint is darker, white on top, blue underneath. Not an airline l ever use.
Click to expand...
That's not the point. The point is when photographing a plane in the sky from underneath back lighting is unavoidable. It's either that of no photograph.
Click to expand...
Dark paint will make it even darker. Anyway l don't see what the issue is, unless you are just shooting jpgs. You can easily lighten the darker areas, in seconds.
 
My favourite in London is Park cameras. The staff are so friendly and knowledgeable, it is great. There is never an expectation that you buy then and there.

The ownership is shared between the staff and that might be a very good thing for them and incentives for customers to buy locally.

Most times, I drop in just because I am nearby and it is like a second home to me. - Mahesh
 
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MCMLXXIII AD said:
My favourite in London is Park cameras. The staff are so friendly and knowledgeable, it is great. There is never an expectation that you buy then and there.

The ownership is shared between the staff and that might be a very good thing for them and incentives for customers to buy locally.

Most times, I drop in just because I am nearby and it is like a second home to me. - Mahesh
Click to expand...
I never knew they were in London, always thought were down in Sussex?
 
In Dublin in Ireland my favourite camera store in a family owned store called Conn's Cameras.

In Australia, my favourite is a small chain called DigiDirect.

The two share an interesting quality. The store feel fairly small, but have quite a bit of stock out the back. Both always seem to have a lot of staff in the store - more than you might expect for the size of the visible store. You don't have to wait long to be served, And they don't mind taking their time to help you find what you are looking for, even when you aren't really sure yourself.
 
They have a branch very close to Tottenham court tube (or goodge Street), off Oxford street.

They have moved to a slightly smaller shop on the same road because the earlier building is being redeveloped.
 
Spartan Photo Center in Spartanburg SC! Family owned, in business for 40 years. New, used, analog (film) cameras and processing, rentals, knowledgeable staff, meeting place for local photo guild, you name it.

www.spartanphotocenter.com
 
Grays in London, got my D80 there. Wonderful stock of vintage Nikon stuff and great atmosphere.

B&H, got most everything else from them, most recently the Zf and a couple of lenses.

Actually, my Summicron 35 was bought there in the late 70s by a friend passing by NY.

There were two nice lojas fotográficas em São Paulo, Fotoptica and Cinótica, in the older downtown area. I got my second-hand Leica M3 at Cinótica.

--
Renato.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhlpedrosa/
OnExposure member
http://www.onexposure.net/
Good shooting and good luck
(after Ed Murrow)
 
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Poppamies said:
LLW902 said:
While I support my local camera stores and don't buy camera gear on Amazon, I can't say I like very many of them. It's a pretty persistent phenomenon that I get talked down to/condescended to from some member of the overwhelmingly male staff. It's not a problem unique to camera stores, and it's not universal to every guy behind the counter, but it is persistent and I can't say it's gotten a lot better in the last 10 years.
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This is what I felt too, it's a bit like a hardware store here in the 70s, " I'll look what we have if you behave" attitude in small shops that I would otherwise want to support.

Reminds me of Rowan Atkinson as hifi seller:
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Thank you, that made my day!! :-D
 
Backlit?



e84942ab5f954ffbb0ad18cc34a28470.jpg
 
makofoto2 said:
This is going to be a big job for someone to compile! Seems like a Polls would have been better ...

Amazon > BH Photo > Samy's Camera
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The OP question might have made sense if restricted to USA responses only, but the DPR has long had a strong international involvement so naturally we end up with answers about stores and suppliers from all over the world.

For me as an Aussie the USA/UK/Euro/etc options are of no interest whatsoever, so it will be difficult to make a sensible summary of the answers provided that will satisfy all viewers.
 
Guy Parsons said:
makofoto2 said:
This is going to be a big job for someone to compile! Seems like a Polls would have been better ...

Amazon > BH Photo > Samy's Camera
Click to expand...
The OP question might have made sense if restricted to USA responses only, but the DPR has long had a strong international involvement so naturally we end up with answers about stores and suppliers from all over the world.

For me as an Aussie the USA/UK/Euro/etc options are of no interest whatsoever, so it will be difficult to make a sensible summary of the answers provided that will satisfy all viewers.
Click to expand...
Well that's one reason why they couldn't do a poll. However I've quite enjoyed reading posts and seeing pictures of camera stores in faraway lands. Then again, I'm the type of tourist who would make a point of visiting camera stores in far flung cities I visit :-) I made it a point to spend several hours at B&H when I was in New York, and I have to say their customer service was as good in person as online, which is to say great!

I really try to source from my local camera stores-Kenmore, and Glazer's-but in the event they don't have something, I'll try B&H next.
 
Guy Parsons said:
makofoto2 said:
This is going to be a big job for someone to compile! Seems like a Polls would have been better ...

Amazon > BH Photo > Samy's Camera
Click to expand...
The OP question might have made sense if restricted to USA responses only, but the DPR has long had a strong international involvement so naturally we end up with answers about stores and suppliers from all over the world.
Click to expand...
You should have, Guy, used continents ie: Oceania, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Antarctica :-)

Jack
Guy Parsons said:
For me as an Aussie the USA/UK/Euro/etc options are of no interest whatsoever, so it will be difficult to make a sensible summary of the answers provided that will satisfy all viewers.
Click to expand...
 
Jack Simpson said:
Guy Parsons said:
makofoto2 said:
This is going to be a big job for someone to compile! Seems like a Polls would have been better ...

Amazon > BH Photo > Samy's Camera
Click to expand...
The OP question might have made sense if restricted to USA responses only, but the DPR has long had a strong international involvement so naturally we end up with answers about stores and suppliers from all over the world.
Click to expand...
You should have, Guy, used continents ie: Oceania, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Antarctica :-)

Jack
Jack Simpson said:
For me as an Aussie the USA/UK/Euro/etc options are of no interest whatsoever, so it will be difficult to make a sensible summary of the answers provided that will satisfy all viewers.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
For me it is Australia first, the rest of the world is elsewhere. :-)
 
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