Log:

* Called Photomark: Spoke to Rod, cool dude and knows his stuff. His costs are pretty high on these items, so the best he could offer was a D3x for $7,500 (in stock), 200-400 for $6,600 (BO/NOETA), and 24-70 for $1,900 (BO/NOETA).

* Called Competitive Cameras in Dallas, which closes at 5:00pm. Didn't get an answer, and it was 4:59pm Dallas time by my watch. I know they're a first-class shop, so I won't hold it against them... but boy, that's punctuality!

* Called Samy's in California. Spoke to Dave. Shocker: they have both the lenses in stock! The 200-400 is $5,900 and the 24-70 is $1,730. D3x, unfortunately, is priced at $7,999 (but is at least also in stock). Samy's is not able to provide any financing outside the store at the moment.

--------------

Current bests and/or personal preferences:

1. D3x: Adorama for $7,200 (several other options at $7,300)
   
2. 200-400: Samy's for $5,900 (Roberts is $100 less but OOS)
   
3. 24-70: Samy's for $1,730 (Roberts is equal but OOS)
   

Good luck Rodolfo. Hope you can work it out.

Log:

Dave @ Samy's has agreed to match the prevailing street price of $7,300 on the body. However, management is not authorizing the use of a credit card for such a large purchase by a new customer, so we're moving ahead with the purchase of the two lenses only, and planning payment by bank (wire) transfer.

The order has been placed, and Dave is helping out by requesting the 200-400 from their warehouse furthest from L.A. instead of the nearest so it takes longer, and then setting up a shipping date of 7/13 on the order, so that I have a couple of days to straighten out the cash and send him the wire. But the order is now placed... as long as I follow through with payment, I should have the 200-400 and 24-70 by 7/16 when I get back home.

I'd love to but I'm still in the stage. Almost there... almost...

Superb news . Glad to hear that things look to be on the way to resolution quickly.

I don't imagine this is the sort of order that UPS would leave on the front porch .

Wow! That's some serious kit! Congrats on the purchases, and good luck on getting the D3X too. May fortune shine on you so that you might keep them all this time.

David

Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
luminosity wrote:
[...] I'd go with B&H for something of this magnitude. Hell, I wouldn't be opposed to making a trip to NYC specifically to pick all that up personally.

Forgot to note: one of the good things about buying from B&H or Adorama is not having to pay NYC sales tax. Whatever I do, it will definitely not involve showing up there in person.


Yes, but what you do is show up in person to negotiate a price based on buying all that expensive stuff together, then you have them ship it to you, thereby avoiding the tax. Now having said that, in most states, you're supposed to pay a "usage tax" to make up for the lost sales tax, but I'll admit to never have paid that either, although I usually buy locally anyway.

However, both the 24-70 and the 200-400 are out of stock at most places I've checked lately and they're definitely out of stock at B&H. And prices keep increasing. If they did have it, B&H would be charging $1750 for the 24-70 (used to be $1470) and $6300 for the 200-400 (used to be $5000.) (I wish the stock market were doing that well.)

Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
Log:

Dave @ Samy's has agreed to match the prevailing street price of $7,300 on the body. However, management is not authorizing the use of a credit card for such a large purchase by a new customer, so we're moving ahead with the purchase of the two lenses only, and planning payment by bank (wire) transfer.

The order has been placed, and Dave is helping out by requesting the 200-400 from their warehouse furthest from L.A. instead of the nearest so it takes longer, and then setting up a shipping date of 7/13 on the order, so that I have a couple of days to straighten out the cash and send him the wire. But the order is now placed... as long as I follow through with payment, I should have the 200-400 and 24-70 by 7/16 when I get back home.

I'd love to but I'm still in the stage. Almost there... almost...


Woooo Hoooo! Congrats man! Family and camera equipment! Life is good.

Rodolfo,

I see that you shot with a d300 at another airshow. Moving to a FX would give you less reach, why did you decide to move to a FX body?

Sorry for the delay in responding... I'm traveling and Net access has been hard to get (but then, so has sleep so I won't complain).

Love the reach of the D300, and if you look back at prior posts of mine I pretty much said that I'd be dragged "kicking and screaming" to FX only if I really had to. But I've come to the conclusion that, for what I want to do in photography, I pretty much have to.

My goal is to shoot mostly aviation, wildlife, and landscapes (in that order) in order to build up a good stock portfolio so that I can sell prints at "fine-art" prices. My expectation (and great hope) is to focus on the same kind of market where I've sold a few prints so far: 16x24, 20x30, and bigger sizes, on canvas. My current prices are roughly $1/sq.in. if you work it out: 16x24 canvases at $400, 20x30's at $600, and a favorite 13x65 pano for $700.

In the end, I believe that delivering the kind of quality I want to deliver at those sizes and larger, is going to require as many pixels as I can get, with the lowest noise and best saturation/rendition/image-quality that I can get. And I also believe that, if I'm going to sell someone a $500 piece of "art", then I want to do everything in my power to make sure that image is worth what they paid, or more. Certainly that includes improving myself as a photographer, but it also includes getting the best gear for the job.

It's been a tough decision, though: the D300 gives me reach, the D3 gives me high ISO capabilities (leopards at dawn), and the D3x gives me MP for huge prints with great resolution. No one camera does (or could) give me everything. But I can compensate for the reach issue by spending money on lenses and a personal trainer, and I can live with some noise if I have to. So despite the cost, I finally concluded that the D3x was the best choice if I could only have one camera. And at that price, I can only have one camera.

I'd still stick with DX if it was just for me... the reach is phenomenal, and I certainly have no beef with the D300 quality whatsoever! It's just that, once I make it a serious goal to sell $500 prints, then suddently that bloody perfectionist bone starts itching...

Happy ending: D3x, 24-70, and 200-400 all done.

In the end, the 200-400 ($5899) and 24-70 ($1729) came from Samy's in California ($77 in shipping), while the D3x ($7200) was provided by Rod Klukas at Photomark in Phoenix along with the gracious offer of free overnight shipping to Miami.

Please excuse me while I go chew my nails off waiting for Tuesday when I can get my hands on the camera...

Congratulations!

I hope everything is in good working order and performs at the level you expect.

Thanks... I'm more worried about performing at the level the camera expects from me.

Congratulations Rodolfo! I'm pleased to hear that you managed to pull it off. Rod Klukas is a cool guy and he helped me out a lot with his knowledge and advice when I was putting my filter system together. Rod and the other folks over at Photomark are a great asset for Phoenix area photographers (Tempe Camera, too).

Looking forward to seeing some shots from the new gear.

I'm not familiar with Photomark. Sounds like I should be, since I live in the Phoenix area.

How big are they relative to Tempe Camera?

Photomark is close to the same size as Tempe Camera, maybe a little larger.

They're located at 2202 E. McDowell (just east of Rt. 51).

A good bit away from me, in contrast to TC, which is just a few minutes away by bus (my usual method of travel around here).

Count your blessings, my friend. I'm just north of 67th Avenue and Happy Valley, in that faraway land of NW Phoenix. Both of them are a good 35-40 minutes from me. I was very pleased today with Photomark. Will visit Rod again.

Rodolfo Paiz wrote:

Hey, I didn't know you were here in Phoenix! I'm up in the NW corner, near 67th Ave and Happy Valley. Once we're past 8/15 and I'm back from these next trips, remind me to get together and buy you a coffee or a drink.

I definitely plan on giving TCR a call and giving them a chance to quote. I'll also call some of the others personally, as someone already suggested. Always a good thing to get a human involved... computers don't haggle very well.

Hey guys,

I'm in Peoria, Out in Vistancia, west of Happy Valley and Lake Pleasant Parkway.

We need to get together sometime soon!!

I also buy at TCR, and Sometimes their prices are higher, but they are willing to help me all the time.

Y

Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
Count your blessings, my friend. I'm just north of 67th Avenue and Happy Valley, in that faraway land of NW Phoenix. Both of them are a good 35-40 minutes from me. I was very pleased today with Photomark. Will visit Rod again.


Dude, I'm farther away that you!!

it takes me an hour to get to TCR!!

Sorry to not join in with any advice, but will say I'm also a Phoenix guy. South of Metrocenter, in the hood.

We should all get together and bring some toys. You'll hate me when you find out what I got my 200-400 for (with a Wimberly).

I've met and shot with Yamil too. Good guy.

Max

Tempe Camera is on the opposite side of Tempe from me, but it only takes me about 15 minutes to get there. Photomark is a mere 10 minutes beyond Tempe Camera by freeway. Photomark is very close to the I-10/51/202 interchange.

When I used to work for Motorola GSTG (McDowell & Hayden) We used to buy gear from Photomark, but that was Eons ago! They are a great shop, but I have stuck with Tempe Camera since 1992!!

Y

Congrats on the purchase Rodolfo, too bad you're missing this weekend's airshow though.

There's an airshow this weekend? Where?

Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
There's an airshow this weekend? Where?

Yes, where??

Y