Canary Islands

[kawa]

Hi!

I have got a Bessa L and I am looking for fitting lenses. I am

going to Las Palmas in the middle of April. Does anyone

know if it is possible to buy lenses there? I have visited

Gran Canaria once before. I wasn´t looking for lenses then

but I noticed they had a lot of camera shops.

Kawa

 

[iñaki]

RF cameras are not popular in Spain, so I don´t think you will find lenses for your Bessa. People only wants digital cameras in Spain now (maybe I´m wrong about Canary Islands).

 

[traveller]

As you mentioned there are a lot of camera shops at the Canary Islands (they have nice tax regulations) but now everything seems to be digital. You will need a lot of luck to find RF-Lenses, better chances maybe with SLR-Lenses.

But be careful when you buy something and take a good look inside the box before you leave the shop. Sometimes people get a nasty surprise when coming home, having a closer look at the camera after getting back disappointing prints.

BTW, it's OK to write with normal letters, photogs are accustomed at seeing small details 😀

 

[Toby]

I was in Lanzarote there was really nothing in the way of serious camera gear in any of the duty free shops I saw.

 

[Ash]

Unless you find an Arab electronics store managed to steal some RF gear, you won't have any luck with it. They sell cheap digital gear, that's it.

Buy before you fly 🙂

 

[kuvvy]

Another thing to watch out for is that they will have cameras on display at very attractive prices but then will try to sell you a case, a strap or a battery for extra. They will refuse to sell you the camera at the advertised price unless you buy the 'extras'.

Some years ago I went to Tenerife and wa told of the wonderfully cheap prices. So off I went with the intention of buying a Canon compact, which were retailing at £300 in the UK. I shopped around in Tenerife and finally found it at almost half that price. Excellent or so I thought, because as I mentioned, they would not sell it to me without the so called extras. "Oh, you must buy battery too!" said the shopkeeper. When I asked how much, he stated it was £90. Robbing b........d! The same battery was only £4 in the UK.

I walked away and to this day have never bought one.

There was one shop which was a proper photo retailer and his prices were similar to those in the UK and even he didn't like the dirty tricks the other retailers were using to con you out of your cash.

On my return I wrote to AP magazine and they published this as a warning to others. In the past there have even been shops in the Canaries trying to trade as Jessops which they definitely weren't.

I would gladly buy from anyone on this site than try to deal with those retailers again so be very careful.

 

[Ash]

In Gran Canaria there was a retailer with 'proper' prices. They sold items for less than the UK, but still steep compared to the other stores. I bought myself a digicam in there, and it was as advertised.

When I tried to buy in a electronics store, they actually took the money out my hand, and then proceeded to tell me that I needed to wait for the item to be delivered from another store (they're all in cahoots). Of course they tried all sorts of other sales pitches, and I still couldn't get my money (about £100) back. In the end, father to the rescue, and the only thing that they understood was threats. Scarily I wouldn't recommend this approach, as the store also sold knives.