Catatac said:
Aside from Gope Foto and Cathay (which is horribly expensive), does anyone have a decent reliable dealer in Spore for Lieca/Zeiss/CS products ?
I don't agree with you that Cathay Photo is 'horribly expensive'. They keep the typical 'Singapore street price' (which is low, internationally speaking) of popular high volume items like Canon EOS 20D, Nikon Coolpix etc. But then they also have the width of sortiment of photo products beond very few photo shops in Singapore.
I have traded a lot with Cathay Photo, but not at Peninsula Plaza, but Marina Square. I was originally recommended this shop by norwegian expatriats living in Singapore. There is a community of about 1000 norwegians living in Singpapore. We europeans are not used to this agressive sales pitch so typical for many photo shops in Singapore. At the same time we don't want to miss out on the good offers. Then Cathay Photo at Marina Bay is the right place. There is a guy there called Sam Jeva that most norwegians do business with. With him you get the 'best street price' in the city on these high volume items without any fuzz and quarelings.
Sam Jeva told me that ex. indonesian president Habibi was among his customers and had a large collection of a la carte Leicas. Mostly MPs that he had bougth at Cathay Photo. Sam told me that despite Habibi's millionair status, he was very 'pricy' about prices and very up-to-date with what everything in the Leica cathalogue costs on an international arena. A right out tough customer.
I have recommended Sam Jeva to many norwegians on a norwegian photo site. - This shows how strong a media Internet is. Litterally bus-loads of norwegian students on their way to and fro studies in Australia have marched through Cathay Photo at Marina Square and asked for Sam Jeva. To shop in Singapore and save the 25% norwegian sales tax is very favorable for students on a limited budget, you can imagine. Like this flock of giggling & blond norwegian girls chasing into the shop asking for, the rather middle aged, Sam Jeva. We have had a lot of fun with that.
Cathay Photo is a Leica dealer. - A good one at such. That means that they don't have Voigtländer items. They started importing Epson RD-1 more or less on my insistance. That said, they are very competetive on Leica items and sell them cheaper than you can buy them tax free at Frankfurt Airport. How that is possible one can wonder. Cathay Photo are among the few Leica dealers around that has all these small items that you need; lense caps, sun shades, flash cables, you name it. The guys behind the counter, not only Sam Jeva I am sure, are well educated in all these nuts and bolts of the photo business.
Yes, Cathay Photo is something I can recommend.