Where to buy?

blackwaterstudio

I just got alittle money and I'm ready to purchase my new 20D body. Where is a good place to get it? I do alot on B&H just wondering if there is anywhere else that is better/cheaper?

DavidTO

jdsphotography wrote:

I just got alittle money and I'm ready to purchase my new 20D body. Where is a good place to get it? I do alot on B&H just wondering if there is anywhere else that is better/cheaper?

There are plenty of places that are cheaper, but most of them are worthless. I've had luck at buydig.com, and it was cheaper than B&H, but only by 90 bucks. Just about paid for the 1gig CF card I got. No shipping, no tax, although I upgraded the shipping for $20.

B&H's advertised price now is 1499, but if you actually add it to your cart it's 1399. I paid 1307. If you're a B&H faithful, not really enough to motivate the change.

blackwaterstudio

Well its been ordered. I picked up a few extra things also.

Canon 20D body
Canon Battery Grip
Scandisk Ultra II 2gig card.

I'm happy clap

Steve Cavigliano

jdsphotography wrote:

Well its been ordered. I picked up a few extra things also.

Canon 20D body
Canon Battery Grip
Scandisk Ultra II 2gig card.

I'm happy clap

Congratulations Ya done good

I don't know if you are aware of the 20D "grip issue". If not, here's the Reader's Digest version. It seems that the grip flexes and causes a loss of contact. Which results in the camera losing power. Once connection has been re-established the camera can hang up. Here's a link to a thread with lots of grip problem info:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=10895985


Congrats again,
Steve

blackwaterstudio

Great, brand new and may cause the camera to fail. Boy this is going to be great.

fish

Congrats on the new chip-holder. Did you end up buying from bhphoto?

There may be cheaper places, but there aren't any better ones AFAIC.


fish

blackwaterstudio

fish wrote:

Congrats on the new chip-holder. Did you end up buying from bhphoto?

There may be cheaper places, but there aren't any better ones AFAIC.


fish

Yea I went with B&H, can't beat their service.

fish

jdsphotography wrote:

Yea I went with B&H, can't beat their service.

I even bought a G5 iMac from them, when nobody else had them in stock and they overnighted it to me for a very reasonable price. If you have "special" needs, call them...they're very responsive on the phone too. Go ahead and just try to find a human at some of those other webshops.

pathfinder

fish wrote:

I even bought a G5 iMac from them, when nobody else had them in stock and they overnighted it to me for a very reasonable price. If you have "special" needs, call them...they're very responsive on the phone too. Go ahead and just try to find a human at some of those other webshops.

I've also had very goode success with B&H. I also think very highly of Adorama. They have given me very good service and are always pleasant to deal with.

blackwaterstudio

Just a suggestion to the mod's we should start a sticky thread on vendors we've had dealings with and were pleased, not pleased with. This will help new members.

BoomerangNetwork.com

Purchased from many but found that B&H is the best. There website is easy to locate items and delivery is quick and accurate.

Andrew

fish

jdsphotography wrote:

Just a suggestion to the mod's we should start a sticky thread on vendors we've had dealings with and were pleased, not pleased with. This will help new members.

Done.

Bert

Just joined the forum to celebrate the imminent arrival of a 20D purchased from B&H. I'm looking forward to learning from all of you.

In the past I've purchased a couple of scanners, some lenses, a printer and a bunch of other sundries from B&H. My buying experiences with them have always been exemplary. Very knowledgeable staff and they've always met their commitments. Prices rarely the lowest, but always competitive.

luckyrwe

Welcome Bert, and congratulations on your 20D! I agree that B&H is not the cheapest, but they are very close to it. I don't mind paying for the extra security and peace of mind.

davev

Ok, B&H is good, how about some others.
I've had good luck with B&H also.:D
A couple of other places that have worked well for me is Newegg.com
and SterlingTEK.com.

I have bought from both of these companies a couple of times without a hitch.
Memory cards from newegg, batteries from sterlingtek.

I bought my Sony 717 from Abe's of Maine without any problems, but I have
read some horror stories about them.

dave.

wxwax

Since no-one's mentioned them, I've have good experiences with www.mydigitaldiscount.com.

wxwax

davev wrote:

I bought my Sony 717 from Abe's of Maine without any problems, but I have
read some horror stories about them.

dave.

Yeah, personally I'd run in the opposite direction.

lr1811

jdsphotography wrote:

Just a suggestion to the mod's we should start a sticky thread on vendors we've had dealings with and were pleased, not pleased with. This will help new members.

If you don't need the sales knowledge camera stores give you. That is, you know what you want, you just want a good price, I'd look at Best Buy.

I know it sounds silly. But they now carry the 20D and their digital SLR line is expanding with the demand.

Most of the time you can get no interest for 12-18 months. You can also sign up for the "reward program" and get I think $5 (gift certificates) for every $125 you spend.

Just another option if you know what you want....

Brian

lr1811

newegg

davev wrote:

I've had good luck with B&H also.:D
A couple of other places that have worked well for me is Newegg.com
and SterlingTEK.com.

I have bought from both of these companies a couple of times without a hitch.
Memory cards from newegg, batteries from sterlingtek.

I bought my Sony 717 from Abe's of Maine without any problems, but I have
read some horror stories about them.

dave.

I concur with newegg.com - got a couple of 1 GB CF cards there for $80 a piece...

Brian

wxwax

lr1811 wrote:

If you don't need the sales knowledge camera stores give you. That is, you know what you want, you just want a good price, I'd look at Best Buy.

I know it sounds silly. But they now carry the 20D and their digital SLR line is expanding with the demand.

Most of the time you can get no interest for 12-18 months. You can also sign up for the "reward program" and get I think $5 (gift certificates) for every $125 you spend.

Just another option if you know what you want....

Brian

They also sell Compact Flash cards at good prices from time to time.

cmr164

Adorama
Adorama has only had a passing reference in this thread and they really deserve more mention. They have ended up getting all my business from B&H in the past 1.5 years. Customer service is superb with personal service by people with names who email and call you when there are issues. B&H is also good but there is one way that Adorama has just wowed me. Every single purchase I have made has made it next day delivery even though I am only paying for UPS standard.

Purchases: 24-70 2.8L , EOS 1D Mark II, 70-200, 1.4x TC, spare battery for the 1DMII. All 5 shipments arrived less than 24 hours after Adorama passed it to UPS.

luckyrwe

Well, you are in MA, right up the street. Now I am in CA, I doubt I'd get the same service. Do they actually mark it as next day delivery? Maybe you need to compliment UPS instead of Adorama?

I like how at B&H I can see the order status online.

cmr164

luckyrwe wrote:

Well, you are in MA, right up the street. Now I am in CA, I doubt I'd get the same service. Do they actually mark it as next day delivery? Maybe you need to compliment UPS instead of Adorama?

I like how at B&H I can see the order status online.

They use "3 Day Select"

luckyrwe

Sounds like UPS gets the credit!

cmr164

luckyrwe wrote:

Sounds like UPS gets the credit!

Yea but no other company's UPS deliveries are doing this, only Adorama

luckyrwe

Maybe they pick up alphabetically. Adorama...B&H.... Last time I ordered from dorama it got here as planned. Well in any case the delivery speed is not that big a deal, but I will look into their prices on common and umcommon items.

Mongrel

How about Canoga?
I didn't see them mentioned but I have purchased quite a few items (mostly lenses) from Canoga Camera in California.

Prices usually run about $10 less than B&H for lenses and their shipping charges have recently been reduced.

I have had great service with them in all aspects of every transaction and can recommend them.

I also use:

B&H
Newegg
Delta International (great pricing on Sigma lenses, higher for Canon glass).

luckyrwe

I shopped at Canoga Camera way back in the early 80s. I'd love to still shop there, but I am getting used to not having to pay sales tax.

fish

Calumet
Had an interesting experience with Calumet on Friday. I'm looking for a Canon lens hood EW-83E for my 10-22 EF-S lens, because for some reason, Canon decided not to include one with this $750 lens.
:splat

It's the same hood that's used on the 17-40/4 and 16-35/2.8. Since I sold my 17-40/4 to a dgrinner who shall remain nameless at this time, I've been scouring the earth trying to find another EW-83E. I checked a dozen online retailers and nada. Called all the local shops, and same thing...nothing in stock. They can't even tell me when they'll get them in. I even called Canon's Accessory Annex and the answer was the same, but worse...I was told that they usually get new stuff after major retailers.

Anyway, I checked the Calumet online store and of course it was out of stock. I then decided to call a couple of their retail stores, just in case, as the online store ships out of the Chicago warehouse. I talked to a guy at the Calumet store in San Francisco who said he had one in stock and would put my name on it. I planned to ride up on Saturday to pick it up. I even verified the part number with the guy. Well, I don't know what happened, but I got this weird feeling that I should call the main store in Chicago and verify stock, before riding 50 miles north for nothing. The guy at Calumet Chicago said there were none in stock in any of their retail stores. So I told him that the guy in SF said he had one with my name on it. He put me on hold for about five minutes, while presumably he called the store and checked. Guy comes back on the line and said that there are none in stock in SF, and that I should call Kerry there to double check. I called Kerry and he said that they've got one on order in my name.

Boy, would I have been pissed to ride up to SF, and play dodgeball with all the buses and taxis just to come away empty-handed.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it's certainly good that the Chicago Calumet store was honest and followed up on my story. And it's certainly a bad thing that the guy in SF flat out lied to me.

I submitted an order with Adorama, who will ship it to me when they get it in stock.

Just a datapoint.

pathfinder

cmr164 wrote:

Adorama has only had a passing reference in this thread and they really deserve more mention. They have ended up getting all my business from B&H in the past 1.5 years. Customer service is superb with personal service by people with names who email and call you when there are issues. B&H is also good but there is one way that Adorama has just wowed me. Every single purchase I have made has made it next day delivery even though I am only paying for UPS standard.

Purchases: 24-70 2.8L , EOS 1D Mark II, 70-200, 1.4x TC, spare battery for the 1DMII. All 5 shipments arrived less than 24 hours after Adorama passed it to UPS.

I agree Charles. I have ordered a number of items from Adorama and everything hase been shipshape and arrives quickly. Not always next day to Indiana, but within a few days certainly. I recently ordered two of their studio flash/modelling units - the FlashPoint 620s I think. Made in China of course, but seems to work very well. The stands are well made and sturdy too.

benji70

I have used KEH quite often for new and used items and have wonderful service from them. B&H is one of my frequent haunts also. I use a store in St. Louis called Schiller camera whenever I can. My ex wife knows one of the sales people there and the hospital she buys for gets a lot of their xray and surgical equipment through him so he's more than happy to throw me a good deal once in a while.