Best place to buy a new digital camera?

Hi Rupp,

www.bhphotovideo.com is well known and I've purchased about $15k in Nikon gear from them with very good customer service over the last 7yrs.

They have the Coolpix P2 listed for $239.00.

Sounds like you've already made your decision on the camera, but if you want to have a look at some very good reviews spend a few minutes (or hours) here: www.dpreview.com

Cheers,
Paul
 
electron said:
FYI, be very careful with buying cameras online, only use very known and well respected dealers, just look online how many people got scammed (there were some recent high profile cases in the news just recently), by using resources such as pricegrabber etc.

recent example: http://thomashawk.com/2005/11/priceritepho...and-switch.html
I've often wondered about these camera sites but where do all the reviews come from? Are they fake or made up?
 
Rupp,

Be AWARE of the gray market products. I bought my wife a canon d20 and belive me I saw prices that were amazing when compared to local retailers. Most of them were selling gray market prodct meaning they bought them real cheap in europe. There is nothing worng with the product and they are new bu tthe warranty is for europe and not the US. So decided to pay more and get the US product and warranty.

BuyDig is a good company. They are out of NJ and one time I needed my canon camera right before a trip so they told me to dirve up to their store which has a different name. The staff was great and they have been in business for a long time and in it for the long run.

regards
 
Gray market does not always imply warranty problems. Some companies honor warranties worldwide. Canon is one of them. Nikon is not.

And by the way, the street prices are often significantly higher in Europe than they are in the US - but that usually includes high VAT. It must be that wholesale prices are much lower to make importing the cameras to the US worthwhile.

The really good prices you find are usually not because the products are gray market. They are usually places who intend to rip you off in one way or another. Several of the places in Rupp's list from pricegrabber fall into this category. Some people may have not problems - others will have significant ones.

A common ripoff scheme, from places that will actually send you the product you order, is to charge you extra for things that normally come with the camera. So, the price they show is for the camera, but if you want batteries, battery chargers, manuals, etc. you will have to pay extra. These are things that are included in the box.

www.dpreview.com has been recommended as a place to find out about cameras you're interested in - and it is. It is also a good place to go to search for places you are thinking about buying from to see what other people think. You will find a lot of stories about places to avoid.

However, you will also find negative stories about very reputable dealers which I would have no problem recommending. These include B&H, where I've ordered from many, many times. Most of my cameras and lenses have come from there. In fact, the last camera I bought only came from somewhere else (Amazon) because it was not in stock at B&H and I wanted it "now." B&H is not the cheapest place, but their prices are good and they are quite reputable. I've walked past their B&M location a couple times, but never been inside because it's always been a Saturday and they were closed.
 
Rupp,

I had the same worries. The Nikon 8800 was brand new and with a US warranty. On the review sites BuyDig had tons of good reviews. As for B&H you can't go wrong but you pay a little more.

Terry
 
I've bought computer gear from ZipZoomFly dozens of times, never a camera, but I've had no issues with them.

B&H photo is respected as well. I haven't shopped there, but I know people that have. Their site in Manhattan I hear has automated conveyors that bring your items out from the back or something like that.
 
Guys,
Does ZipZoomFly sell new "stuff". The reason I ask is the web page that has the camera I'm looking at states:
Non-refundable. Exchange for defective units only.
 
My stuff was new, as far as I could tell. I never had any indication otherwise. I bet that comment is just to avoid people that want to "rent" a camera for a trip or special occasion, then return it when done. Or to prevent people "evaluating" a bunch of cameras and returning all but one.
 
The items are new. I think Wayne is on target. They have this on some of the more exotic items as well (high end motherboards, etc).

I've built many systems using them as the supplier and have never had a problem (and the gear is at your door 2 days later in most cases).
 
Thanks Guys. I just ordered the camera from ZipZoomFly so we'll see how that goes. Thanks again for the leads.
 
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