Comments on: Costs

By: jeremy

jeremy — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:48:26 +0000

I can recommend the L-358 light meter. It is pretty full featured, even does flash metering.

Being ripped off here is not limited to photography. Apple’s pricing is similar. The uk shops hide behind the VAT but even taking that into account we pay a big percentage more

By: Niall Connaughton

Niall Connaughton — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:59:43 +0000

I think there was a specific point in February or March where Canon and Nikon upped their prices because they were losing too much money in Japan from overseas sales due to the warped exchange rates. I heard that shops in the UK started refusing to sell gear in the lead up to the changes until the new prices kicked in.

That said, the UK is always an expensive place to get camera gear from, at least for Nikon & Canon. If you go have a look at B&H’s website, you can get them to ship you something over here, add on the VAT you have to pay at import and it’s the same as the best price you can get on the high street here. That’s ridiculous.

Add to that the fact that people living in the USA usually get 5 year warranties on their gear when they purchase the local version instead of the grey import. No such thing over here.

By: Bruce Percy

Bruce Percy — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 06:28:04 +0000

I watched a Sekonic 608 go for £280, used on Ebay – a seven year old light meter. The new model goes for £345. I felt that the used price was too high.

By: morgangray

morgangray — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:50:33 +0000

I’m looking to buy a Sekonic meter as of this week; I wonder if it would be better to go ahead and buy new, given that I wouldn’t be able to save much money from a used meter which was still in good condition.

By: michael

michael — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:05:56 +0000

Apparently all this is mostly down to the exchange rate with Japan, which is doing much better than Britain in the present economic climate. A lens I bought for just over £400 in January is now over £560 (£460 if bought in the USA, £500 if bought in Germany; there are similar differentials for another I bought in June). Perhaps phototrips need to be organised around cheaper shopping opportunities for equipment!