So difficult to buy a camera...

[willie_901]

It is possible to rent many cameras, including the X-Pro 1, for a real hands-on trial.

Another approach is to buy one from Amazon ( or elsewhere ) and take advantage of their liberal return policy. I have read accounts of where Amazon has suspended return privileges of customers who abuse their policies. My local camera store also allows return of cameras for a full refund if the camera is in pristine condition.

 

[jsrockit]

I always can't stand camera stores. Generally speaking the guy, and yes, it is always a guy, behind the counter is already making assumptions about you based on your age, your sex, and your clothes. Like the guy who said that they wouldn't let him touch the camera because they assumed, based on his age, that he couldn'afford it. I've had that experience back when I was that age and I would always just leave but not before telling them that the wad of cash in my pocket could have been theirs. They change their tone quick, but it is too late. So many salespeople f themselves out of sales with idiotic attitudes,

 

[robert blu]

Unfortunately where I live it is not possible to rent cameras. When I was still musing about an m9 I ask if possible to rent for a couple of days but this was possible only in Germany, not in Italy. I was (and I'm not) ready to pay a few thousands Euro for a camera I could not really test.
@jsrockit, short funny story: years ago when I started to be interested in a Leica after many years with a Bessa R (which I still use) I enter a shop, a Leica Dealer. I was around 45/50 and my clothes were not bad. I explained that I was interested in a Leica and desiring a few infos . The first thing the salesman (?) in the shop told me was in fact a question, this one: " Do you know how much does it cost?"
I was a little surprised but answered telling him the average price of a Leica body and than I said "goodbye" and left the shop. maybe I have the look of someone who desires things and has not enough money 😀 and I still have...
robert

 

[David Hughes]

You can't win...

You can't win...

Hi,

Not so long ago I looked at and bought a camera, second-hand but OK, and the label said "new batteries fitted". It seemed OK but when I got home I found the new batteries fitted were smaller than they should be and a piece of cooking foil had been screwed up and added to make them fit...

Regards, David

 

[Addy101]

Well, if the shop owner puts a battery in the camera it isn't new anymore, but a demo. If he gives it to you for a week, it isn't even a demo, but a second hand camera. And what about the risk the shop owner has if you try at the shop and buy through the internet? It is not easy to be a camera shop owner......

Maybe you should look at the Sony Nex6 or Nex7. Might be easier to find on the high street if you want to try.

 

[robert blu]

@ David: "strange" things happen, sometimes!
robert

 

[David Hughes]

@ David: "strange" things happen, sometimes!
robert

Hi,

Probably the gremlins at work.

The real joke is that I got another second-hand camera a week or two later for a silly price because he had no batteries to test it and when I got home I fitted the "wrong" batteries from the other camera and they fitted perfectly.

It's the strangest place to buy second-hand cameras. Sometimes they are all neatly displayed and other times they are in a box on the floor, all mixed up together. But lots of bargains, when you are able to find them.

Regards, David

 

[djonesii]

It's a brave new world. I have never bought a camera via a dealer. We have two here in Houston, and both are really good. I try to use them as much as possible, but with the used market the way it is, Amazon, KEH, B&H, Adorama, + the forums, why buy new?

I rent cameras to use, then if they don't catch my fancy, sell them off.
As to your camera choice dilemma I have the OM-D and the X-Pro 1.

They are very different cameras, the OM-D is very much a generalist. It's equally at home shooting fast moving kids, and sports up to most amateur stuff that my kids get into. The sensor size does limit your DOF choices, and the lens choices are great. Relative to the Fuji lenses, the Oly lenses are expensive for the good ones. You can kind of use the OM-D like the XPro1

There is no way to use the X Pro 1 like the OMD ( at least for now ) The lens selection is not there, and even if it were, the AF is not up to shooting really randomly moving kids and their sports. If you are looking to duplicate and back up the type of shooting you do with the M7, then I would use the X Pro 1, if you want to get into the studio, same thing.

Decide the need, then choose the tool wyoud be my advice.

 

[djonesii]

I guess I need to amend that a bit, due to not wanting to travel with my Nikon Bricks again, I did get the OM-D via a member of another forum who is associated with a dealer when I could not get the OM-D local. I did work with a dealer when I got my Phase one gear, but it was refurbished.

Just for clarity!

Dave

 

[robert blu]

I went today in another shop, the one where I bought the Leica x1. The owner put on the table both cameras, the xe1 and the om-d. He said that in my case the om-d was the camera to buy and he switched it on, showing me the kit zoom and the 75 oly which he had in the shop window. No chance to see through the ex-1 VF. It seems me that there is not so much interest from shop owner to sell the Fuji cameras (maybe mark up too low?).
I was anyway much positively impressed by the quality of the EVF in the Oly. It seems that is the way to go, but that new sensor in the fuji ...
robert
PS😡 djonesil: thanks for your input. I already replicate the m7 experience with the x1 and its 36 mm eq. lens. I look now for a camera with a tele and occasional moderate macro work to use beside the x1.

 

[larmarv916]

well, Robert...I feel your pain. Buying anything even closely related to photography systems is a real pain....scanners, printers, software, computers, it's frustrating at best.

Also because you do know what you need...it in some ways is even worse. I went to a Dallas Photo Trade show and found a Fuji's "Pro" X digital....picked it up and would not focus...at all. Sales Rep finally figured out battery was nearly dead ! After several minutes of not getting even a battery change I walked away.

I have the film cameras I want...glass I need. But digital, I have a D7000 works great but needs more glass. But now everything will soon be 24 to 35 meg's And rumor is D7000 is next to be discontinued for a 24 meg version. I have had this nikon about a year. my film cameras....much, much longer.

So yes talking to the camera store people is totally non productive....and all that matter is that you buy something....or your fired ! Dam stupid customers are just not living up to the expectations of sales persons. Dont we know what were supposed to do??

So some times it's better to wait till you can get what your waiting for. Best of Luck

 

[robert blu]

short updating: ex1

short updating: ex1

A couple of days ago I visited the town where I lived until 12 years ago, intending to meet a few old friends. Passing near the best photo shop I saw the fuji ex1 in the window: I enter and ask if I could see the camera . They showed me it with battery charged. I was impressed by the VF, very sharp and bright. The autofocus was not so slow as it is said in the net, or let say I'm used to the Leica x1 and this is much faster. Unfortunately my wife was with me and she was in much hurry desiring to look for her toys, shoes and handbags 🙄 therefore I had not much time to play with the camera.
Next year I'll decide! Which camera, which lenses, which adapter...
robert
PS: I'm happy that I could hold for a few seconds this camera, this is the first and only I found shop where this was possible! It's a good shop, by the way I bought there my 35 cron, the only problem it's more than two hours driving from my home!

 

[zwarte_kat]

I often work for a major sportswear client creating in-store videos. As someone noted, not only would it be impossible to deny customers from trying on shoes, they actually do everything they can to convince customers to do try them on. Once they try, they buy.

In Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku almost every camera is prepped and ready to try. You don't even need a store employee, the cameras just lie on the shelves locked with a cable. I often go there just to play.

Leicas are a bit of an exception, though I have even seen demo versions of those.

 

[peterm1]

These guys are amateurs or not serious about selling. At a time when sales on the web are chewing into the revenue of bricks and mortar stores it is a personal approach which is the only thing that sets the bricks and mortar stores apart. If you do not build on that - e.g. by forcing people to buy sight unseen, then clients might as well buy online. The camera store where I buy most of my gear has a staff that I have built up a relationship with over the years. They know me, they know what I like and know that if they push me to buy something I dont want (especially without trying it) I will turn and walk right out the door. They go out of their way to let me try gear - even to take it home and try it out over night quite often (a trick they learned from used car salesmen no doubt - but it works in many instances). They know that by maintaining the relationship with me and giving me a good deal whenever they can, not only will I keep coming back but I will send my friends here too. Its a win win for us both. I will occasionally buy sight unseen from these people because I trust them to look after me if something goes wrong and because I usually research carefully on the internet before I make a decision to buy - but that trust, which allows me to do this now and then is built on a rock solid foundation of give and take over a number of transactions.

 

[Snowbuzz]

That sounds like a great camera store to visit, peterm! I've had poor experiences in UK camera stores: the staff always pretend I don't exist. I just leave and buy my stuff online.

 

[Herjulfr]

Its a very "european" (similar to french) way of selling. Bad service, no interest in the customers needs, they will try to sell you only the items with the highest margin. When in France, I often felt insulted in photo stores, I always had the impression the sellers were trying to rip me of, literally laughing at me... So i bought everything online back then.

In Canada, i can try all the cameras in the store. When i bought my x-pro1, they did not have the 35mm in stock, but they lent me the demo for one week...

Its too bad you can't try everything and compare side by side, it is especially important with these new evf's.

 

[robert blu]

What disturbed me is that this happens in a difficult financial climate in which so many shops owners complain for less business and too many sales made on the web. But they do not realize that first point to sell anything is to make the client desiring it!
robert

 

[skibeerr]

@ZWARTE KAT

Yes visiting Yodobashi and BIC camera was an eyeopener. A photographers dream and nightmare (gas). I didn't like the Super Mario music and the very bright lighting but the staff made up for that, excellent service even tough communication was impossible ;-)