Alright, folks.
I'm back from Shanghai and HK. Thanks to all the good info on this thread, I was able to have a photographically satisfying trip. So it's time to contribute back to the thread.
These should look familiar to most of you guys, but it may help others who are planning to go to Shanghai.
I took a taxi from Nanjing Road ('Lu' in Chinese) to Luban Lu + Xietu Lu; that's all I told the taxi driver because he has never heard of Xing Guang before. It cost me 20 RMB.
Upon arriving:
*I didn't know Jackie shoots Canon
🙂
Then I proceeded to the higher level as my main interest is antique chinese cameras, not digital.
* Accompanied by a couple of Xing Guang employees
* This is on level three I think, there are about three stores that stock up film like this. I purchased a few rolls of 120 GP3 and Lucky brand, and also a pair of bamboo tongs for picking up prints from the tray. Yaay!
* These photoshop-wielding ladies just shrug when I asked about Lucky brand film. This store didn't have them. The other two did.
* Ooo yeah! I didn't ask how much. This is on level four I think. I was quite disappointed because some of the stores that looks like have cool stuff on their shelves were closed that day.
* This guy is funny, he noticed that I was toting my E-P2 and he tried to sell me adapters, but he's being a good sport when I declined, then we proceeded to talk about cameras, he was fixing a Minox. My smattering Chinese amused him and his buddies. He had a Seagull 4A fully decked out with wooden grip, hood, and strap. I didn't ask how much, because I already spent my cash on this guy below:
* Yep, of all souvenirs that I could have bought, I just have to get the heaviest: books. Again, through a bit of Mandarin and some gesturing-languages, I was able to convey to him that I am looking for famous Chinese photographer's book. He shown me three and I picked one. A heavy one.
This gentleman is nice, and his bookstore (4th floor) is waist-deep with photography books. Recommended. There is another bookstore I think in the second floor.
After wandering around for about 1.5 hours, I made my way out of the store, passing by dozens of digital stores:
* I find it interesting that almost all of the stores have tables and chairs. As though sitting down and discussing things with customer is an important part of doing business here.
All in all, I can get the cameras I saw here probably cheaper if I waited on ebay. But I get to talk to the store owners, and experience the photography scene a little (albeit only on the commercial side).
My impression was that photography is well-regarded in Shanghai. Two of the magazines that I picked up were Shanghai Shen-Ying, which I think is an excellent photography magazine especially compared to the advertisement-laden ones that saturated the market here in the US.
I proceeded to walk back to my hotel, about 5 km away, lugging my Domke filled with film, and those books/magazines which gets heavier the more I walked.
