Equipment & Shopping Questions

[FForward]

Hi,

I will travel to Thailand in about a month and are planning to buy my first dSLR there. I am willing to spend around 50000THB. I have been browsing around for prices and have found that prices are 30-40% lower in BKK than here in Sweden.

So I have some questions..

1. I have found the site www.thaipricerunner.com which seems to list the lowest prices for equipment. Will I be able to find equipment for those prices in shops i Bangkok, or are those prices only for web order or such?

2. I have read about that there is both gray market prices with only in-shop-repair and products with normal warranty. Since I'm thinking about buying canon equipment there is no world wide warranty anyway, so is there any reason not to buy gray market equipment since I can't use the warranty in Sweden anyway?

3. We will go to Samui at first and doing a BKK stop over on the way back home, but it would be nice to use the equipment on samui too. But I guess that there isn't any good place to buy such things on Samui at reasonable prices?

4. We are changing flights in BKK on the way there too, so maybe it could be an idea to take a later flight and just hop into Bangkok to buy the camera and go back to the airport for the trip to samui. When does the good shops open in the day? How long time would it take to go to a good shop, buy the stuff and go back to the airport?

5. Are there shops that offers both gray market items, and that are engaged in the tax free program?

6. I'm thinking about buying the following:

EOS 450D + 18-55 IS + 55-250 IS KIT

Sigma EX 105/2,8 DG Macro 1:1

Canon SpeedLite 430EX II (Hopefully the new model will be available by then)

Extra battery

8GB memory

Do you think that this would be a good starter kit for the price that cover most things? Would I get a better price if I buy everything in one shop, or is it more likely that one shop have much better price on the kit and some other shop that has better prices on the accessories?

Many thanks for your help,

Tommy

[The Vulcan]

Take a look at this site, they are not necessarily the cheapest but most certainly have the largest collection and they are open to a deal.

http://www.fotofile.net/index.php?lang=en

They open (as most large stores in BKK) at 10.30 a.m and can be found on the first and third floor of the MBK shopping centre which any taxi driver will know.

Don't bother looking in Samui for camera equipment - There's nothing there other than Tesco's outdated rubbish!

The kit you've outlined looks very nice and should produce some very nice images. The only reservation I have is that personally I'd buy 2 x 4GB cards rather than I x 8GB to facilitate swopping them over from time to time.

Hope this helps - good luck to you

[Nordlys]

Fotofile doesn't carry any Sigma products except 2nd hand.

Isn't 18,300 Baht for EF 100mm F2.8 USM Macro cheap enough?

They also don't have good selection of memory cards.

They might give you better price than the list price in that link but they're not so open to a deal. Usually all they can give you is some 3 - 5% discount if you pay cash. Still recommend fotofile though. Just don't forget to bring your passport there for VAT refund (you're entitled to full VAT refund as a tourist if you buy over 5,000 Baht on a single day so no need to bother with grey import if you're leaving Thailand within 3 months from the purchase date).

Speedlite 430EX II is apparently in their stock already.

Edited August 7, 2008 by Nordlys

[Kf6vci]

Hi Tommy,

do you know the basics of photography? Depth of field, aperture and shutter speed settings?

I would recommend you get an entry level traditional 35 mm camera. I would also point you in the direction of the medium format. I am buying Mamiya RB 67 gear these days and if you are patient, you might get a complete camera for maybe $ 200 shipped to Europe (buying on eBay USA).

I started by going wild, exposing rolls of film without having any nice motifs. Fast forward. Throwing away 2 trash bins full of prints and slides hurt. But then I chose MF and LF (large format) photography. Now I only care about a few but high quality photos.

Think learning to hunt with only having a few shots and a big gun.

Another thing: if you can, get to know a dark room. Once you understand how to develop your own prints will enhance your enjoyment.

Generally, fixed lenses are better than zooms.

Have fun!

www.luminous-landscape.com has good info

Chris