bj wrote:
> Good afternoon,
>
> Can anyone recommend cheap stores with reliable digital cameras (such as jr,
> bhphotovideo or tristatecamera in NYC) in LA and/or SF?
> Thx!
>
> bj
In SF Bay Area there are no such places. The big box stores (Best Buy,
Fry's, Circuit City, etc.) are not like B&H when it comes to pricing,
and the selection is poor. You might get lucky at Costco, but usually
not. There is one full service camera store in Palo Alto, but it isn't a
discount store. San Jose Camera offers the attitude of many of the NYC
stores, but no the prices.
Uzytkownik "SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> napisal w wiadomosci
news:rQbdk.15196$N87.13064@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com...
> bj wrote:
> > Good afternoon,
> >
> > Can anyone recommend cheap stores with reliable digital cameras (such as
jr,
> > bhphotovideo or tristatecamera in NYC) in LA and/or SF?
> > Thx!
> >
> > bj
>
> In SF Bay Area there are no such places. The big box stores (Best Buy,
> Fry's, Circuit City, etc.) are not like B&H when it comes to pricing,
> and the selection is poor. You might get lucky at Costco, but usually
> not. There is one full service camera store in Palo Alto, but it isn't a
> discount store. San Jose Camera offers the attitude of many of the NYC
> stores, but no the prices.
All right, I'll have to give them a try anyway as CA and HI are the only 2
states I'll be visiting... Thanks!
The situation any better with laptops, perhaps?
bj wrote:
\
> I'm not really looking for highly professional gear; either a cheap but
> reliable SLR or a compact with a min. 10x optical zoom, min. 5 MPix and
> optical image stabilization. One that will have good ratings on photoxels. I
> wouln't like to spend more than around $280, probably. As you see, price is
> a factor...
Hmm, so you think you can buy such an SLR for $280? Even in P&S that's
not possible. The closest you could get would be the Panasonic Lumix
DMC-FZ18K, which is $285 in NYC, or the Panasonic DMC-TZ5 which is $270
in NYC. I have no idea how much they are in LA or SF, probably $350 or so.
Photoxels is a pretty lame review site. You want to look at someplace
like dcresource.com.
"http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_fz18-review/"
Like most Panasonic cameras, the DMC-FZ18K is okay outdoors, shooting
RAW, in low ISO, but doesn't work well above ISO 100. The TZ5 doesn't
have raw mode, and the noise reduction affects the sharpness. It's a
shame about Panasonic, if you go by just the specifications they're
great, but there are severe issues with image quality.
As to reliability, I don't think any of the sites really go into this.
DCResource often mentions particularly flimsy pieces of the camera such
as battery doors.
>
>"bj" <spillout99@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>news:g5283f$39a$1@achot.icm.edu.pl...
>> Found the URLs, thx!
>> BTW, would you perhaps know of similar good price stores for laptops in
>> the
>> same cities?
>
>Fry's or Best Buy. Which ever has the best sale advertisement that week.
Whatta minute here. Bay Area friends don't let out of town friends
shop at Frys. Guaranteed!
>
>For your camera purchases, do some research at www.dpreview.com and narrow
>your selection before you get to the store. Do not go by what they guy at
>the store tells you!
Heck, the Frys guys won't tell you anything that you don't already
know anyway or that you positively know is flat-out wrong!
For a laptop try Newegg or even a "business store" like CDW. I found
the same laptop (Lenovo) had a much better warranty for about the same
price as at Newegg. Who knew?
> Heck, the Frys guys won't tell you anything that you don't already
> know anyway or that you positively know is flat-out wrong!
I can't imagine anyone referring a friend to Fry's, if that person
needed the slightest amount of help in choosing a product.
At Fry's it's the customers that help the employees, as well as other
customers. Once in a long while you'll find a knowledgeable employee,
but he or she will soon be gone for a better paying job.
> On Wed, 9 Jul 2008 08:26:39 -0700, "just bob" <kilbyfan@aol.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>"bj" <spillout99@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>news:g5283f$39a$1@achot.icm.edu.pl...
>>> Found the URLs, thx!
>>> BTW, would you perhaps know of similar good price stores for laptops in
>>> the
>>> same cities?
>>
>>Fry's or Best Buy. Which ever has the best sale advertisement that week.
>
> Whatta minute here. Bay Area friends don't let out of town friends
> shop at Frys. Guaranteed!
>>
>>For your camera purchases, do some research at www.dpreview.com and narrow
>>your selection before you get to the store. Do not go by what they guy at
>>the store tells you!
>
> Heck, the Frys guys won't tell you anything that you don't already
> know anyway or that you positively know is flat-out wrong!
Fry's is a great toy store. At least the ones in SoCal are. Perhaps the
ones up morth still sell celery and potatoes. But, as you say, you don't
go there for help. If you do your homework and know something about what
you're looking for, it is (again, at least down here) the best deal in
town. If you ask anyone that works there, you're in Big Trouble.
> For a laptop try Newegg or even a "business store" like CDW. I found
> the same laptop (Lenovo) had a much better warranty for about the same
> price as at Newegg. Who knew?
Note that my comments, above, are about their huge electronics (from
transistors and capacitors and printed circuit boards you etch
yourself through computers) aren't about big-ticket items; except for one
laptop that I bought at Fry's, I build my own. So I'm addressing anything
from large components like drives and power supplies on down to the LEDs
and resistors I picked up there yesterday. Cameras? Less good. They
don't even carry the Nikon brand. But they do carry lots of cameras by
stereo makers like Sony and Panasonic.
> Father Kodak wrote:
>
>> Heck, the Frys guys won't tell you anything that you don't already
>> know anyway or that you positively know is flat-out wrong!
>
> I can't imagine anyone referring a friend to Fry's, if that person
> needed the slightest amount of help in choosing a product.
>
> At Fry's it's the customers that help the employees, as well as other
> customers. Once in a long while you'll find a knowledgeable employee,
> but he or she will soon be gone for a better paying job.
I almost mentioned, in the Fry's post I just uploaded, that I've got
better assistance from other shoppers - and been more helpful to other
shoppers, myself - than the square of the amount of help the kids that
work there can give you. Okay, with the exception of questions about
iPhones, texting and acne control...
Blinky the Shark <no.spam@box.invalid> wrote:
>Father Kodak wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 9 Jul 2008 08:26:39 -0700, "just bob" <kilbyfan@aol.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>"bj" <spillout99@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>>news:g5283f$39a$1@achot.icm.edu.pl...
>>>> Found the URLs, thx!
>>>> BTW, would you perhaps know of similar good price stores for laptops in
>>>> the
>>>> same cities?
>>>
>>>Fry's or Best Buy. Which ever has the best sale advertisement that week.
>>
>> Whatta minute here. Bay Area friends don't let out of town friends
>> shop at Frys. Guaranteed!
>>>
>>>For your camera purchases, do some research at www.dpreview.com and narrow
>>>your selection before you get to the store. Do not go by what they guy at
>>>the store tells you!
>>
>> Heck, the Frys guys won't tell you anything that you don't already
>> know anyway or that you positively know is flat-out wrong!
>
>Fry's is a great toy store. At least the ones in SoCal are. Perhaps the
>ones up morth still sell celery and potatoes. But, as you say, you don't
>go there for help. If you do your homework and know something about what
>you're looking for, it is (again, at least down here) the best deal in
>town. If you ask anyone that works there, you're in Big Trouble.
It's not always the best deal in town. You can often do better. In
fact, when I was shopping for a big-screen TV, they were charging
hundreds more for the same set I eventually bought from Amazon.
Uzytkownik "SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> napisal w wiadomosci
news:PSIdk.5029$cn7.4901@flpi145.ffdc.sbc.com...
> bj wrote:
> \
> > I'm not really looking for highly professional gear; either a cheap but
> > reliable SLR or a compact with a min. 10x optical zoom, min. 5 MPix and
> > optical image stabilization. One that will have good ratings on
photoxels. I
> > wouln't like to spend more than around $280, probably. As you see, price
is
> > a factor...
>
> Hmm, so you think you can buy such an SLR for $280? Even in P&S that's
> not possible. The closest you could get would be the Panasonic Lumix
> DMC-FZ18K, which is $285 in NYC, or the Panasonic DMC-TZ5 which is $270
> in NYC. I have no idea how much they are in LA or SF, probably $350 or so.
>
> Photoxels is a pretty lame review site. You want to look at someplace
> like dcresource.com.
> "http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_fz18-review/"
>
> Like most Panasonic cameras, the DMC-FZ18K is okay outdoors, shooting
> RAW, in low ISO, but doesn't work well above ISO 100. The TZ5 doesn't
> have raw mode, and the noise reduction affects the sharpness. It's a
> shame about Panasonic, if you go by just the specifications they're
> great, but there are severe issues with image quality.
>
> As to reliability, I don't think any of the sites really go into this.
> DCResource often mentions particularly flimsy pieces of the camera such
> as battery doors.
I remember tristatecamera having some decently-looking (I know, I know) SLRs
under $300. But I'll probably go for a P&S. Didn't know DCResource;
photoxels had one good thing - the photo tests of image quality (lens curves
at tele and wide, noise red. etc); thanks for that URL!
Any idea why California would be more expensive than NY in terms of photo
equipm.? If the stuff is made in China, Korea or Japan, they're the closer
coast (and the state taxes shouldn't differ that much)?
"just bob" <kilbyfan@aol.com> scribis
news:4874d8af$0$17167$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
>
> "bj" <spillout99@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:g5283f$39a$1@achot.icm.edu.pl...
> > Found the URLs, thx!
> > BTW, would you perhaps know of similar good price stores for laptops in
> > the
> > same cities?
>
> Fry's or Best Buy. Which ever has the best sale advertisement that week.
>
> For your camera purchases, do some research at www.dpreview.com and narrow
> your selection before you get to the store. Do not go by what they guy at
> the store tells you!
Always try to do that; typically I pick up to 3 models and then just compare
the prices on the spot
Thanks for the dpreview link - forgot it!
Re: affordable digital cameras in LA/SF? 
Linear Mode
