I can’t travel without a camera. After all, a good photo is the best souvenir. But I have to admit, shopping for camera stuff is a real bear. The big box stores don’t have the best service (though I admit some individual salespeople are better than others). Ordering online is a crap shoot. And the more specialized camera stores can be snooty and intimidating. I’m pretty lucky to have Foto Forum and Tempe Camera near me. Both are great, though I’d have to give Foto Forum a slight edge for being closer and being even more friendly.
This led me to think that there’s probably a bunch of people like me out there who have a hard time finding a comfortable camera store. You know who you are: You know just enough to actually change settings around. But you might only have a few lenses. Your budget is limited. You rarely ever get paid for shooting. You still can’t remember what ISO stands for, but you know what it does.
In that case, let me present you with a few tips for picking a camera shop.
1. Find one that’s friendly. And I’m not talking oily, corporate suit-mandated courtesy, like Safeway grocery stores. I mean a sales staff that likes taking photos, and helping other people who like taking photos. Nobody likes to look dumb, and the staff should put you at enough ease to ask some of those questions that you’ve been nervous about asking.
2. Look for a selection of new and used gear. Sometimes your local store can sell you some used gear, especially lenses, at a very fair price. That’s a great way to add to your selection of lenses, giving you more flexibility in any situation.
3. See if they carry your favorite brand(s). Being a Pentax user, this is important to me. Though Foto Forum isn’t a Pentax retailer any longer, they still carry a few Pentax items. And because of their great service, I’m always going give them the first shot at ordering something for me.
Readers, do you have anything to add?
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I went to Tempe Camera this afternoon to rent an EF-S 10-22mm lens for my Canon 40D. I also wanted to see if they could clean the sensor in my camera as it has a couple of dust spots on it. Overall I thought the person at the rental counter and the repair counter weren’t all that out going and friendly. They were rather quite and not very informative. I tried to get some feedback from the girl at the rental counter about the lens that I was renting and all she had to say was “yeah it’s a good one”. I was hoping for a little more enthusiastic reaction than that.
The guy behind the repair counter wasn’t all that helpful either. I asked how hard it was to clean my own sensor and he just kind of smirked and said it was better to have a professional do it. I then asked how much kit was to clean it myself and he had no idea and said I had to go upstairs and ask them in sales. While he may not be a sales person he should have at least some idea of a price range for things, especially something like that.
When I went up stairs to inquire about the cleaning kit, the girl up there was pretty helpful actually. She said it was fairly easy to clean but it is easy to make a mistake and then need to bring it in to have it professionally done. I ended up not getting the cleaning kit and will probably just bring the camera in sometime and have them clean it.
Overall it was a decent experience there but I was hoping for a more outgoing and responsive staff. Oh well maybe when I return the rented lens they will be a little more upbeat.
Man, that indifference is kind of a bummer. Maybe you should give Foto Forum a whirl.
So, why were you renting? Just wanted to try something out before buying, or did you have kind of a one-off photo idea and needed some gear to make it happen?
I was going to Vegas and wanted to give the lens a try. I wanted to actually purchase the lens but figured I would give it a rental first to see if I really liked it. I haven’t put the pictures on the computer yet but I really liked the way the lens performed and loved having a wide angle lens in my arsenal.