Hi, all,

I'm a beginner. I'm thinking of buying my camera and lens in CHinatown because the price there seems much cheaper than in Cathay. But I don't know is it safe or not. Is the goods there genuine? Or, is there any tricks? Thank you in advance.

Cheers! tupao.

-- tupao@hotmail.com (tupao@hotmail.com), March 20, 1999

Answers

If the price is really cheaper and it comes with the warranty, why not? I don't think there's any imitation or 'copy' camera equipments around. The only difference is weather the camera comes with a warranty or not. There are some gray market goods without warranty although they are absolutely 100% genuine. And if you getting an old model, be careful about fungus. They don't store their goods in any dry box.

-- Wee Keng Hor (weekh@singnet.com.sg), March 21, 1999.

Personally I had very bad experience with Alley Photo in Chinatown. I will never buy things from this shop anymore. They will quote you a very cheap price for the first good that you asked for. However, if you are a beginner, he will start pushing you to buy other products, which they will then show their true COLOUR! They will really over quote you and unless you are familar with the market price, you will not realise until you had bought it. So the best is to ask someone who knows the market well to go along when you are doing the purchasing. Cathay is okie .. not that expensive after all .. the brance in Marina is good ..with experience saleman .... so far to me they are reliable. You can ask for an quote first from the website ... usually the price they give is good.

-- Leck Hwee Joo (engp8559@nus.edu.sg), April 07, 1999.

If I ever have to do my camera shopping in Chinatown, I would only go to Max Photo. Look for Richard or Felix.

-- Paul Chuah (the_photo_workshop@Yahoo.com), April 07, 1999.

BE INFORMED

when u buy a camera... it will come with a warranty from the agent. and no, whatever the salesman says, THE RECEIPT IS NOT YOUR WARRANTY! if something goes wrong, the agent will laugh in your face and the shop will ask u to produce a warranty. note that shops do not repair cameras... thay send them to the agent... therefore u need a warranty. no warranty no talk... walk out of there. it's dodgy.

batteries, straps and a small case (for compacts) are included in the price of a camera... in other words, they are free. there are unscrupulous salesmen who will offer u a great price for a camera body and then tell u that the case costs an extra $30... the batteries cost $20... and the strap costs an extra $25... if this happens, walk out of there. it's dodgy. these are rules of thumb for compact cameras... SLRs are the same... except that they normally do not come with a case (since the lens is interchangeable, it's quite pointless to provide a generic case). if u want someplace to start with, try John 3:16 at Funan Ctr... on the 3rd floor. don't be shy and tell them that u r looking for a good price (preferably b4 they have explained all the functions to you) and ask them what sort of scams u should look out for. they're nice ppl. ask for sam or leslie. heck, tell 'em I sent u.

-- Martin Lim (bizarreone@pacific.net.sg), May 23, 1999.

We have just bought a camera in Electronic Mini Market in Singapore. They quoted a price for the camera and then said I will give you as a present and extra battery, also give you as a present a 64 mb card. We also we sold a wide angle lens for our digital movie camera with another extra to it, this was overpriced as well. Only after do you think about the price you paid as we were pushed for time that we realised that they had charged us for the goods.The items that he said were presents were charged for but as they do it in a way it confuses you. In other words they have overcharged us by $700. We are at present trying to sort this out but of course once you leave Singapore you have a problem. I will never go to the Electronic Mini Market in Singapore again and never recommend anyone to go there. We made three telephone calls to them regarding the price and each time they told me they were presents, so where are these people coming from. The taxi was told to take us to Sim Square but he said go to Chinatown and get it cheaper well I don't know about that. Check what they charge at the end of the day. They certainly conned us. I will be more vigilant next time.

-- Sue Smart (smartieshome@yahoo.co.uk), November 21, 2002.

Sorry to hear about that but be more careful the next time you buy though and do some research before you buy anything expensive. im really sad to hear abt. this in Singapore.

-- avignon (avignon@yahoo.com), March 13, 2003.