used leica store in Manhattan?

[pessoa00]

Hi,

I'm visiting Manhattan next week and am thinking of getting the M8 and a lens to with it. Could you list the reliable camera stores you are aware of in Manhattan that sell 2nd hand leica lenses? I know bh and adorama, but neither have the lenses I'm looking for.

Thanks,

António

 

[Huck Finn]

Tamarkin is as good a Leica dealer as you'll find anywhere. Knowledgable, helpful staff. They are located at 215 Park Av South, Suite 1914 in Manhattan. Photo Village is not far from them & is also very good. They are located at 1133 Broadway, Suite 824.

 

[john_nyc]

I have a strong preference for Photo Village. I think those guys are great. Knowledable, friendly, and all around cool are they.

Some of the people at Tamarkin suffer from an attitude superiority complex, which has steered me away from them (including this week when I bought my M8).

You can sometimes get lucky at Adorama on 18th bet 5th and 6th. The website doesn't always accurately represent their actual inventory. I got a good deal on a 50 lux pre-asph with perfect glass there and it wasn't on the website. Just don't expect to get meaningful answers to questions from any of the salesguys (except Julio) and do expect that it'll take forever for the stock guys to find what you've asked for.

Which lenses are you looking for?

 

[Benjamin Marks]

I have had good experiences with both Tamarkin and Photo Village. Stay away from B&H and Adorama for used gear. The stuff tends to be used very hard and overpriced, in my experience (although after spending a lot of time with my belly up to the counter, i did get a good deal on a used Rolleiflex once at Adorama). There is a general problem with NY area stores for used gear -- their overhead is so high that you don't really get the best deals there (once again, in my experience and taking into account the actual condition of the gear in question). I have had much better experiences with KEH for used stuff on a price/condition axis. Good hunting.

Ben Marks

 

[ERV]

As mentioned, Adorama usually has more Leica stuff than what is listed on their website and often in very used condition. I got a good deal on a nice M6 at Adorama, so worth a look. True, to get the best price it helps to know what you want and to speak to Julio. He's a nice guy.
also, NYC tax will add $400. to the price of an M8, if that matters. You may be able to get a tax rebate. I remember Lens and Repro having a lot of Leica gear but haven't been there in years. Enjoy your visit, springtime in New York.

 

[kbg32]

Try Photo Habitat as well. They are on Broadway just a few blocks downtown from Photo Village.

 

[sepiareverb]

I'll chime in for Tamarkin also.

You might also try Ken Hansen
509 Madison #1810
212-397-0923

but give a call- he has nothing on his ebay store anymore, may be closed?
hope not- always a good place.

 

[pessoa00]

thank you all

thank you all

for the great sugestions! I'll sure be busy and entertained visiting all those stores. I'll be looking for one of the followiong: 28 cron, 35 cron (last pre-asph or asph) and 35 lux (though I'm a little concern about reported focusing issues with 35 leica lenses on smaller appertures).

If I can't find any of those lenses in a good condition and price I'll go for the 28 ultron which will save me a lot of money for all other things I'm also looking for.

 

[GrahamWelland]

I'll third/fourth Tamarkin. Super friendly and helpful to me when I visited them and they had excellent pre-owned stock. Adorama/BH whilst helpful enough don't really have the same quality merchandise as Tamarkin in my experience. Heck, Tamarkin are worth a visit just to lust over the collectables ... 😀

 

[sepiareverb]

Last time I was at B&H the Leica area (new) was pretty empty of stuff to examine- maybe better now that the M8 is out. I wanted to see a ZM 25, they only had one ZM lens to examine- a 35 I think, and no M bodies to put it on!

And yes the Tamarkin 'museum' is pretty fun

 

[GrahamWelland]

My experience with the BH Photo Leica desk was even less impressive - I wanted to take a look at a couple of the Zeiss lenses before buying and they would only show me what they had on the shelf and point blank refused to pull any new boxes to show me the other lenses. Their excuses were pathetic as to why they couldn't open a box and show me a $1400 lens - my business went to a dealer elsewhere. That said, I buy a lot from BH Photo over the internet and for that they're great. Their in-store attitude seems to have gone downhill recently as I never experienced this in the past - maybe it was just a single salesman issue but it irritated the heck out of me. Vote with your wallet!

 

[john_nyc]

I treat B&H as a mail order place that I can walk into and walk out with my stuff.

If I don't have a piece of paper with the SKU codes printed on it, then I don't go. Otherwise it can be a time consuming and painful process.

The fortunate thing is that they have a fairly liberal return policy and the times when I changed my mind after a purchase it was easy to get refunds/store credits.