[Peted]

Hi Guys,

I am in Perth and will be for the next two weeks, what are the shops I should be looking at for Pentax gear in the Perth metro area?

Cheers

Pete

[Kombisaurus]

Not sure about Pentax in particular Pete, but Plaza Camera in the Plaza arcade (runs between Murray and Hay St malls) seems to carry a fairly wide range.
A mate of mine got a Nikon D50 bundle from there just yesterday at a pretty good price, and I got my Sigma 10-20mm lens from there too (cheapest I could find anywhere in Aus).

Another place which might be a bit more limited is Camera Land Camera House on Oxford St, Leederville. I've bought my last 3 cameras from there as they have been very reasonably priced, but they don't have a huge range and while their cameras are usually well priced, their accessories aren't cheap.

Gerry Gibbs camera house has a good range but isn't usually cheap (except with a couple of things), and its out next to Carousel shopping centre so it might be too far out for you.

Camera Solutions at the east end of the Murray St mall also seem to have a decent range and reasonable prices, but I haven't had a really good look in there. My dad bought some binoculars from there yesterday (15% off too).

But one thing I've found with Perth camera shops is that just because a particular shop has a great price on one product doesn't mean all their stock is cheap. Its quite surprising to see the variation in prices amongst shops for the same products.

Hope that helps! And I hope you are enjoying your stay.

Cheers
Adrian

[Peted]

Thanks mate. Having a great time, Zoo today, Wedge Island last Monday, 50th Birthday party Saturday evening (mine).

Actually looking at a replacement flash for my failed Pentax 400FTZ, maybe a Sigma ST and also in the market for a Pentax 16-45mm ED lens. The prices I have seen in Australia so far are pretty outrageous so I may go back to B&H Photo in NY for them. Will have a look at Leederville and Plaza.

Got a few shots at Mullallo of some kite surfers too, those guys are loonies.

Cheers.

Pete

[Peted]

Went to Plaza Camera and Alan McDonald sold me a nice new Sigma 500 DG Super flash for my Pentax camera at a very nice price, I had ummed and ahhed about the benefit of the better flash and I am glad I spent the extra, great results so far.

[Kombisaurus]

Great to hear Pete!

[adam]

plaza make me happy, camera solutions make me unhappy

[Kombisaurus]

oooo.. that's interesting to know Adam. :/ Is there something about Camera Solutions that's worth warning others about?

BTW Pete, the EF135f/2 lens I got recently came from B&H Photo... and even though I had to pay an extra AU$180-odd in GST and customs fees (on top of freight costs and a 3rd party extended warranty), it still worked out more than 30% below Canon's Australian RRP and a couple of hundred cheaper than the cheapest grey-importer I could find here, plus it now has a 7 year world-wide warranty!
I asked the customs people what the rule is regarding GST and camera gear, and they said that any lens you buy from overseas like this won't get charged GST as long as it is valued under AU$1000. I'm not sure if that also means such lenses don't get charged a customs fee either (which was about AU$45 in my case), so you might get slugged for that. But they did say that camera gear doesn't attract duty charges.
I'd certainly buy from B&H again - considering it was the middle of the Christmas rush, they got the package out and to me in 4 working days. Impressive.
My only word of warning is to take careful note of the differences between the USA and International versions of items regarding warranty, and also note that any rebates offered are probably only claimable in the US.

[Peted]

oooo.. that's interesting to know Adam. :/ Is there something about Camera Solutions that's worth warning others about?

BTW Pete, the EF135f/2 lens I got recently came from B&H Photo... and even though I had to pay an extra AU$180-odd in GST and customs fees (on top of freight costs and a 3rd party extended warranty), it still worked out more than 30% below Canon's Australian RRP and a couple of hundred cheaper than the cheapest grey-importer I could find here, plus it now has a 7 year world-wide warranty!
I asked the customs people what the rule is regarding GST and camera gear, and they said that any lens you buy from overseas like this won't get charged GST as long as it is valued under AU$1000. I'm not sure if that also means such lenses don't get charged a customs fee either (which was about AU$45 in my case), so you might get slugged for that. But they did say that camera gear doesn't attract duty charges.
I'd certainly buy from B&H again - considering it was the middle of the Christmas rush, they got the package out and to me in 4 working days. Impressive.
My only word of warning is to take careful note of the differences between the USA and International versions of items regarding warranty, and also note that any rebates offered are probably only claimable in the US.

I got my Sigma 70-300mm DG APO from B&H and was very happy with the service.

I thought Camera Solutions tried (the young guy that I talked to was actually pretty reasonable) but they had very little Pentax gear, actually very few dealers have Pentax gear, how they expect to keep customers is beyond me.

I have heard some bad things about some of the US extended warrantees, hope you don't have to use it.

Cheers.

Pete

[Peted]

plaza make me happy, camera solutions make me unhappy

I suspect that Camera Solutions are now really just a box mover for the P&S cameras and only see the D-SLR's as an incidental market, Plaza is certainly selling P&S cameras but have the upstairs area dedicated for SLR. That said I was surprised by the high price for some of the secondhand gear in Plaza, if I owned the shop I would rather have a small margin and move it out the door rather than have gear sit there forever. Perhaps that should sell it through Ebay??

Cheers.

Pete

[byrt_001]

Hi

just to add...

i was in plaza cameras at the second hand area....i totally agree with peted. there is way too much stuff that even the people there do not know. one of the ladies was telling me that the nikon f5 was comming with a free motor drive...hehehehehe. it was going for 1300 which i thought it was a bit much for it.

anyway.......

[Peted]

I saw 2 Sigma 50-500mm lenses to fit Pentax, they wanted around $1,000 each, as I said, if it was my shop I would move the stock.

Anyway, bought a nice smaller Manfrotto tripod today, J%B HiFi at Whitfords gave me $45 off the marked price, nice tripod that I will need when I go to the Eyre Bird Sanctuary on the way back to Canberra.

:o

[Wedding Shooter]

B & H is definitely the way to go for expensive lens purchases. Plaza definitely prices their second hand stuff too high.