I have picked about 6 Canon lenses that I am intending to purchase in some time, and I have taken a great time to figure out the cheapest prices by looking at as many sites as I can. However, I know in this case that if it looks to good to be true, it probably is. I am probably going to get most of my equipment from B&H, Adorama, or Abe's of Maine, because I have read good things about them and they are IMO legitimate and cheap enough to be safe. The lowest price for an Elan 7E camera I'm after as well is on beachcamera.com. Has anyone had any good/bad experiences with this merchant? Or can recommend others that are trustworthy? I've heard the "take the money and run" stories and quite frankly don't have enough money to even chance that for a really low price...

Thanks,
Mark

http://www.resellerratings.com/ is your friend.

B&H, Adorama, Canoga....Cameta cameras all very good!

Choose the best dealer with the best price!

avoid all others with bad feedback and reviews....

B&H and Adorama are excellent, Samy's is also good.

In my one experience with Abe's of Maine, I felt "squirreled around", as there was considerable delay in shipping the binoculars I ordered from them. I felt the employees were being evasive and feeding me a line to keep me from canceling the order. But in fairness to them I did receive my binoculars (after a lengthy but not ridiculous time--About five weeks after I ordered), and they even cut the original price (best of several retailers) by almost 10 percent because of the delay. So I have no real complaint with them.

But I am skeptical of any business that advertises themselves as "of Maine" when they operate out of Brooklyn! ;-) I hadn't noticed the physical location when I originally ordered.

I've not heard of "Beach Camera", and I'd be suspicious of them.

Personally Adorama is where I buy ALMOST all my equipment. The other comes from B&H. My only complaint about B&H was they are TOO security conscious if thats possible :lol: They wanted me to fax a copy of my utility bill when I was a new customer.... Geeesh

I spent over 5 figures (ouch!) with B&H last year without any hassles whatsoever. They are very competitive. If anyone is a lot lower than B&H (like more than 10%) odds are very high you've uncovered a scam artist. I've also been in the store on a trip to NY. It's the gourmet grocery store of photography. Most of the people really know their stuff, and if you get a newbe who doesn't, just ask for an expert. Same over the phone.

It's disgusting how the scam artists do their thing...You can almost tell from the cheap-looking web sites... I did notice that whole location discrepancy about Abe's of Maine as well, Mike, but then once I remembered that NYC is a hotbed of photography equipment retailers as well it made a little more sense. I'd never heard of Beach Camera either, and checking resellerratings.com as Dave pointed out, I see that they have a higher rating than B&H! (http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1936.html)

I guess that I will be going that route then, because unfortunately I live in NY as well and would like to evade the sales tax if at all possible!! Even though it's only 25 bucks, that's a filter or something I could buy instead...

Thanks so much guys,
Mark

I've ordered the majority of my gear from Canoga Camera ( www.canogacamera.com ) and I've never once had a problem with them.

They have been cheaper than B&H on a bunch of items I've bought and have better service than B&H in my experience.

PC World recently documented some NYC resellers that are far from reliable.

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,107855,00.asp


Edited by Ken Dunham on Jan 05, 2004 at 07:41 AM GMT

Edited by Ken Dunham on Jan 05, 2004 at 07:41 AM GMT

Wow Ken, that's actually very frightening...thank you for that. I think that I am just going to go the way of B&H...

Thanks,
Mark

KEH.com is highly recommended for used equipment. Might as well buy used and save a couple hundred bucks.

Also check out froogle.com for quick price comparisons.

If you're buying CompactFlash cards, I've had great experience/deals with www.amatteroffax.com and www.newegg.com for Lexar 512MB 40X WA cards.

I have purchased from the following without any problems and excellent service: B&H, Adorma, BEH, Calumet, and Delta International.

However, the one not mentioned above Abe's of Maine I also used once purchase from but they I forget to get the shipping costs on the phone as I was busy fighting off all the addtional items the salesman was trying to sell me. When the shipment arrived they soaked me $75.00 handling charge and didn't enclose a camera bag that was part of the camera package. Since then I never even look at their ad or online catalog.

Robert

B & H. . . . . I bought a $180 Canon 420 EX from them a few months back. It was a flawless tranaction. So, when I dropped $2500 I went to them again. Yeah you might be able to save $5 - $10 but by the time you get around the $20 S & H for a $10 item you'll end up saving very little. Also you won't find pushy sales staff trying to sell you a lens cleaning kit for a gazillion dollars. So with that said go with a reputable dealer like B & H or Adorama and save yourself time and headaches. No! I do not work for either of the aforementioned stores.

Several photography places (retail camera stores) in the Bay area (CA) will match any net or catalog price if you bring in the add. They don't advertise this nor want the public to know. How did I find this out...I asked. Getting the product local and with warranty for the same price as B&H, means alot to me. Try it, if you have local store who stocks or can order. Believe me they make a profit on these lenses. Any Canon reps want to comment..Please do.
I'm in sales...the company I work for has given me the opportunity to attend classes on Negotiation. If your spending that much money...doesn't hurt to try. Good luck

I have been pleased with samys. www.samys.com and I often call them from Florida, as late as 7PM local time and because they are PST I can still get things delivered next day. B&H of course is a great store to deal with and I have been pleased with Pro Angle Photo who typically beats B&H by a little. As long as Pro Angle has it in stock, great. Not in Stock? will take them a week or two to get it.

I agree with Michael's comments on Canoga Camera. I've made several purchases from them over the last 4 months. Never a problem. Always delivered as promised. On the last order, I even waited a week for a backorder instead of shopping elsewhere. They confirm shipment with an email and UPS tracking number.

Prices appear as good as any legit outlet. I bought the Canon 10D body in August for $1,250.

Since I have never had a problem of any kind, I can't comment on how well they deal with those.

Canoga Camera owns!!! They have the best prices and it is around 2 miles from me ..

try www.onecall.com and ask to talk to Brian ...they do sometimes match or beat prices over the phone
If you're a return customer, they take even better care of you