Posted: 6/23/2011 5:13:42 AM EDT
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Most of 'us' here are camera guys & internet savy kind of guys. I'll also 'assume' a lot of y'all check the on line biggies for pricing & purchases. So my question is what makes you walk into a 'brick & mortar' store to buy camera or camera related equipment?
This question came up at near by camera store and also at my local gun store too. I was wondering what arcom's photographers take was... 7mm |
| Here's my position. There's one store in this area that caters to serious photographers and carries some higher end stuff. The others are pushing cheap crap. The good store has fair prices and they get some of my business. I have a simple policy. If they have a product that I want to look at with an eye towards buying and their price isn't insane, then I'm willing to pay extra just because I can touch the product and actually handle it. Sadly, alot of my purchases now involve better grade stuff. When I went looking at all the local stores for a circular polarizer they ALL showed me off-brand or store brands and tried to tell me that their $50 CPL was just as good as a BW CPL. Sigh. |
| For several years, my main source of income was wedding photography and portraits. I worked ONLY with local camera stores for many reasons. I was able to deal with somebody that talked English, could give me a running start with new equipment (i.e. tips, tricks), and if something ever broke right before a big shoot, they would let me borrow equipment until I could get it replaced. Another big plus was being able to have side-by-side comparisons and get my hands on them. |
| No brick and mortar at all anymore. Too much bad information. I go to the Canon rep and B&H photo. If I had a decent brick and mortar store I might consider it. Last time I went brick and mortar was in St Thomas. Told the guy I wanted to check out the new stabilized 100mm macro. Guy said there was no such thing. |
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I go to a store for one of a handful of reasons:
1. New stuff I want to see/hold 2. Refurb/used selection. I have bought most of my "high-end" (to me) glass this way. My 24-85D Nikkor was a ridiculous good deal that I just stumbled into. I was actually working at a camera shop at the time, and couldn't beat the deal they had going. Literally, I couldn't pro-deal the lens for anywhere near what they were asking for a factory refurb (with a 1 year factory warranty card too). 3. Accessories I don't know much about. I don't follow tripods and stuff religiously, so it helps to be able to play some. However, if nobody helps me while I do, I will go home and order online if it can save me $$. If it is small stuff, I may not want to pay shipping, especially if I am not in a hurry. 4. Advice - but I don't ask much anymore. I do believe that if someone's expertise helps me make a decision, I should pay them for their time, rather than rush home and order online. 5. Different culture - as digital has taken off, electronics stores stock more and more stuff. But I hate dealing with big box stores on things they know little about. -shooter |
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Quoted:
No brick and mortar at all anymore. Too much bad information. I go to the Canon rep and B&H photo. If I had a decent brick and mortar store I might consider it. Last time I went brick and mortar was in St Thomas. Told the guy I wanted to check out the new stabilized 100mm macro. Guy said there was no such thing. At one time there use to be several decent pro oriented photo stores in FL. Tampa, Jax, Gainesville & Miami areas had stores that were good to okay, depending on how good your Spanish was  IIRC about the only pro store worth looking into was Colonial Hobby in Orlando.
You got me curious which canon rep do go to? SE area Tech Rep for Commercial or the one for Weddings & Portrait? Or their Boss? The commercial guy plays at NASA a lot, Wedding & Portrait guy likes his guns & their boss likes to fly. All good guys.
7mm |
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For several years, my main source of income was wedding photography and portraits. I worked ONLY with local camera stores for many reasons. I was able to deal with somebody that talked English, could give me a running start with new equipment (i.e. tips, tricks), and if something ever broke right before a big shoot, they would let me borrow equipment until I could get it replaced. Another big plus was being able to have side-by-side comparisons and get my hands on them. Your a dying breed. 
Wedding photographers have it rough these days. It seems all I hear about is either $5,000 destination wedding or the $250 & here's your CD of the snap shots your Uncle Bob took between trips to the open bar. 7mm |
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Quoted:
Here's my position. There's one store in this area that caters to serious photographers and carries some higher end stuff. The others are pushing cheap crap. The good store has fair prices and they get some of my business. I have a simple policy. If they have a product that I want to look at with an eye towards buying and their price isn't insane, then I'm willing to pay extra just because I can touch the product and actually handle it. Sadly, alot of my purchases now involve better grade stuff. When I went looking at all the local stores for a circular polarizer they ALL showed me off-brand or store brands and tried to tell me that their $50 CPL was just as good as a BW CPL. Sigh. The high end stuff is there but a lot of photographers are CHEAP. Take a look at the rise of the chi-com radio slaves. You can get a kit of 1 transmitter & 3 receivers for less then the price of one Pocket Wizard transceiver. This is good until the chi-com transmitter craps out & when you go to replace it the frequency has changed. Now your back to square one w/ very little money saved. 
Yeah, one of the few that will pay a little extra. So how much is a little on an $80 bag? $800 lens, $1,500 camera body? Good Times w/ Bad Filters Interesting article on filters. It does help show what a stack of crappy filters vs good filters does to an image. 7mm |
| I'm as cheap as anyone and I DO have a set of the cheap Chinese flash remotes. I made a conscious decision to spend $100 on a set of 3 transmitters and 4 receivers rather than $500 on Pocket Wizards. In a year or two when PW finally comes out with an ITTL compatible system, that works, then I'll upgrade to what I really want. As far as what my pain point is for markup from a store vs online? Really depends. On a bag I can buy online for say $80, if the store has it marked for more than maybe $110 I'll buy online. On a lens that goes online for $800? The store needs to price it at or below $950 to get my business. Etc. |
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No brick and mortar at all anymore. Too much bad information. I go to the Canon rep and B&H photo. If I had a decent brick and mortar store I might consider it. Last time I went brick and mortar was in St Thomas. Told the guy I wanted to check out the new stabilized 100mm macro. Guy said there was no such thing. At one time there use to be several decent pro oriented photo stores in FL. Tampa, Jax, Gainesville & Miami areas had stores that were good to okay, depending on how good your Spanish was IIRC about the only pro store worth looking into was Colonial Hobby in Orlando.
You got me curious which canon rep do go to? SE area Tech Rep for Commercial or the one for Weddings & Portrait? Or their Boss? The commercial guy plays at NASA a lot, Wedding & Portrait guy likes his guns & their boss likes to fly. All good guys.
7mm I'm on the Space Coast. About an hour from Orlando, just down the street from KSC. I deal with with Mike Gurley, the rep from the Seattle area. Last thing I needed to look at was a 7d studio version and it showed up about 2 weeks later. I also deal with Chuck Carlson for a local guy. He does work with NASA and does alot of NFL stuff. The owner of the company I work for is an amateur with a ton of money so I tend to get pretty good service. |
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No brick and mortar at all anymore. Too much bad information. I go to the Canon rep and B&H photo. If I had a decent brick and mortar store I might consider it. Last time I went brick and mortar was in St Thomas. Told the guy I wanted to check out the new stabilized 100mm macro. Guy said there was no such thing. At one time there use to be several decent pro oriented photo stores in FL. Tampa, Jax, Gainesville & Miami areas had stores that were good to okay, depending on how good your Spanish was IIRC about the only pro store worth looking into was Colonial Hobby in Orlando.
You got me curious which canon rep do go to? SE area Tech Rep for Commercial or the one for Weddings & Portrait? Or their Boss? The commercial guy plays at NASA a lot, Wedding & Portrait guy likes his guns & their boss likes to fly. All good guys.
7mm I'm on the Space Coast. About an hour from Orlando, just down the street from KSC. I deal with with Mike Gurley, the rep from the Seattle area. Last thing I needed to look at was a 7d studio version and it showed up about 2 weeks later. I also deal with Chuck Carlson for a local guy. He does work with NASA and does alot of NFL stuff. The owner of the company I work for is an amateur with a ton of money so I tend to get pretty good service. Both Chucky & Dave are good guys. I've never worked w/ any of the Canon reps from the west coast just a few from the mid-west & NY area. How do you like the 'studio version' of the 7d? 7mm |
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I work in a museum that allready has barcode tags on the items. These barcodes include the item number. Being able to scan and then rename the images with the use of photomechanic is a HUGE timesaver. Since most everything is shot in studio most of the time I can get an image that needs no correction, so, not having to do any post saves about 60-70% of the time spent on an image. If you don't need the barcode scanner, it is not worth the extra cash. I'm hoping the 5d m3 will have the same barcode system so I can take advantage of the wide lenses we have.
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