Where to buy?

[tcnw05]

Hi, I am in the market for my first DSLR and was wondering where a good place to buy from is. I was looking at a couple of photography mags at the local Borders, and noticed Broadway Photo. There prices are really good, but I have heard some bad things about them. Is there any other on-line retailers that can match their prices, and are reputable? I am looking at a Nikon D90 with kit lens, I know many people say the kit lens is junk. It will do until I can get another lens. I plan on taking some photography courses at mt local career center, and I don't want to "outgrow" the camera. This is why I chose to look at a D90 over say a D40 or D60. Also what would be a good first lens to buy around $200? I plan on doing some natue, wildlife, landscapes, and generally anything. Thank you for all of your input.

 

[NateS]

Hi, I am in the market for my first DSLR and was wondering where a good place to buy from is. I was looking at a couple of photography mags at the local Borders, and noticed Broadway Photo. There prices are really good, but I have heard some bad things about them. Is there any other on-line retailers that can match their prices, and are reputable? I am looking at a Nikon D90 with kit lens, I know many people say the kit lens is junk. It will do until I can get another lens. I plan on taking some photography courses at mt local career center, and I don't want to "outgrow" the camera. This is why I chose to look at a D90 over say a D40 or D60. Also what would be a good first lens to buy around $200? I plan on doing some natue, wildlife, landscapes, and generally anything. Thank you for all of your input.

1. B&H Photo is without a doubt the most popular place...followed by adorama. I believe it's B&H Photo Video | Digital Cameras, Camcorders. I have ordered from them countless times and have never been dissapointed. Fast service and customer service is second to none.

2. Kit lens is far from junk and for a general outdoor walkaround lens that 18-105VR is a great lens. Even decent indoors I'm sure with the VR enabled.

3. A good lens for 200 would be the 35mm f1.8 but they are on backorder just about everywhere right now. 50mm f1.8 is a great bargain but I find it to be a little long indoors. 35mm f1.8 would make a good candid/portrait/walkaround lens and playing with the shallow DOF will be a good learning experience for you. WHile it's not extremely wide, the 35mm could also do some decent landscapes (though the kit lens could as well).

Hope that helps and enjoy your purchase. I have a D90 as well and it's a great camera. I have the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 which is optically much better than the kit lens...but I still wouldn't mind having a 18-105vr for those times like at the zoo where I want to shoot both animals and family without switching lenses (I don't switch lenses at the zoo so it's one or the other).

 

[tcnw05]

Thanks for the info., and thanks for pointing me in the right direction

 

[Josh220]

X2 for B&H

 

[KmH]

I order stuff from B&H on nearly a weekly basis so I can also highly recommend them.

Another place I have ordered cameras from is www.buydig.com , a division of Beach Camera, so it may be worthwhile to check them out to.

I tend to wait for the holiday buying season when the competition for buyers heats up to purchase camera bodies and/or lenses.

 

[kundalini]

I have dropped some serious coin at both B&H and Adorama. I have had excellent customer service from both. I also found that Sigma4less had the best price for the D700. That has been my only dealings with them so far, but keep them in mind when price comparing.

Also worth noting..... if you find a price that is less than ~10% lower than any of these places, I would be suspect.

 

[Ejazzle]

scoop a D90 up on Swoopo.com

i saw one go for $9.25 the other day.

 

[KmH]

An authorized Nikon reseller that often has Nikon refurbished gear is www.calumetphoto.com

I have dropped some serious coin at both B&H and Adorama. I have had excellent customer service from both. I also found that Sigma4less had the best price for the D700. That has been my only dealings with them so far, but keep them in mind when price comparing.

Also worth noting..... if you find a price that is less than ~10% lower than any of these places, I would be suspect.

I'm going to have to add Sigma4less to my store favorites list and keep an eye on them.

scoop a D90 up on Swoopo.com

i saw one go for $9.25 the other day.

Bought sight unseen, in what condition and what in trade?

 

[kundalini]

Bought sight unseen, in what condition and what in trade?

For a tenner, the worst case scenerio would be a lovely paper weight. :lmao:

 

[blash]

B&H for general, Adorama for the used department, Freestyle for film stuff that B&H doesn't carry.

 

[blash]

scoop a D90 up on Swoopo.com

i saw one go for $9.25 the other day.

Bought sight unseen, in what condition and what in trade?

Actually, it's brand new at $9.25. It seems like a bargain but it isn't really.

That would've been a penny-auction, meaning that people can only increase their bid on the item by a penny at a time. It costs 75 cents to bid. Thus, Swoopo made 925 x $0.75 = $693.75.

Sounds like it's a bad deal for Swoopo? It generally isn't - considering the fact that the camera would normally cost over a grand, people still bid when the bidding gets to $50, even higher... that's $3,750 income right there. After you bid, if someone else bids you don't get your $0.75 back.

To make it even more ridiculous, Swoopo makes auctions for the bids themselves, auctioning off a voucher for, say 300 bids as demonstrated below:
Auctions | Cheap 300 Bids Voucher auctions - bid & win on Swoopo
At the time I write this, bidding has gotten to $54.43 for $225 worth of bids which means that Swoopo is making AT LEAST 5443 x $0.75 - $225 = $3,857.25 in pure profit, not even having to ship an actual product! But people keep bidding because $55 is less than $225.

If you're lucky, and I mean really lucky, you'll bid and win off that bid. Then it's win-win. But there's too much losing on that site to make it worth it, and once you've put in $50 worth of bids for a $100 item, it's hard to cut yourself off because once you do, all the money you put towards bidding goes to waste. The site's tagline is "entertainment shopping" for a reason.

I gotta hand it to whoever came up with the idea though - they're a fuzzing genius. Site's profitable and appears like it will remain so for the forseeable future. I won't be bidding but best of luck to them.

By the way, if that's not enough to keep you from bidding... keep in mind it's essentially a gambling site. The legality of it is uncertain at best.

 

[NateS]

With Sigma4less.....I've heard something in the past on the negative about them.....can't remember if it had to do with the warranty not being a full Nikon warranty through them or if it was that they only sold Grey Market stuff. Anybody confirm or deny this....like I said, I think I remember something like that, but not positive.

 

[inTempus]

There's a lot to be said for buying from a major retailer like B&H or Adorama. I use Adorama pretty much exclusively, unless they don't have something in stock then I will buy from B&H.

I had a problem with one of my cameras. I didn't notice the problem until I had it for 2 months (dead pixel only noticeable in video mode). I contacted my sales person (Meyer #28 and Adorama) and told him about the problem. He didn't tell me to send it to Canon for service, he sent me a new camera body that day and I shipped him my old one. It took me 3 days to get a new body so I could make a shoot. Now THAT's service, and that's why I will continue to buy from Adorama.

There's a lot more to buying high end equipment than the best price you can find. If Adorama was $100 more than B&H (and they're not, they will price match if B&H has something cheaper in stock) I would still buy from them because of the service after the sale. This is very valuable to me, especially on high dollar items.

Something to consider.

 

[inTempus]

With Sigma4less.....I've heard something in the past on the negative about them.....can't remember if it had to do with the warranty not being a full Nikon warranty through them or if it was that they only sold Grey Market stuff. Anybody confirm or deny this....like I said, I think I remember something like that, but not positive.

They have pretty good reviews, for what it's worth.

Sigma 4 Less / Photo4Less.com / Sigma for less - sigma4less.com - Reviews, Ratings and Prices at ResellerRatings

 

[tcnw05]

WOW! fast replies guys. Thanks for all of the information. I will look at Adorama they sound pretty good. If I wanted to branch off and start doing some photography work ( weddings, selling pictures, senior photos, etc) is the D90 enough camera? Obviously not right off the bat, but after I gain some experience, and build a decent portfolio, all I would need to do is upgrade the lenses, and get some lighting....correct? Sorry for all the questions. I am a complete newb , and I appreciate your input. thanks again.