Taipei's Camera Street
· Saturday February 9, 2008
There have been several posts I’ve had bouncing around in my mind for some time, regarding:
- the disastrous demise of my external hard drive (with many photos lost forever— the extent of this loss will be evaluated when I return to the UK and load my backups)
- the happy discovery of an unformatted 2GB CF card from Bali (the photos from other cards were lost as above)
- a thorough ‘review’ of my new 55-250mm IS lens (which I have found to be a very useful and usable lens)
- a brief introduction to the Eee PC 4G, which I purchased for various reasons
But this current post is about shopping experience on Taipei’s ‘Camera Street’ while looking for an 18-55mm IS lens. I had planned my trip in advance, and even rehearsed to myself how I would haggle to bring down the price of the lens. Unfortunately, as I went from shop to shop on Taipei’s it became apparent that none of the shops actually stocked my intended purchase.
The shop attendants told me they didn’t anticipate demand for the new IS lens, and Canon was not selling them in Taiwan; waiting for gray market versions from Japan would be my best bet. I was a bit surprised at this, because there have been many positive reviews, including one presented at Photozone, (Photozone tends to be my starting point for a new bout of lens-lust).
Well, I think we all know what it’s like to go out in the mood to buy something, only to find the intended item is unavailable. It’s like there’s a vacuum of need to satiate one’s materialistic tendencies. Well, I plugged that capitalistic hole by purchasing:
- a new camera bag (a Lowepro Rezo 140 AW)
- a replacement bag strap
- a lens hood for my 55-250mm IS (ET-60)
- a 72mm circular polarizer
I have to admit, I overpaid quite a bit for the camera bag. After returning home, I found that the Rezo 140 goes for $25 on amazon, though I paid closer to $37 :(
On the other hand, I got a great deal on the polarizer! 850NT = $26.5 USD, compared to Amazon’s Tiffen variety, going for $62.75. Wowsers! So the verdict: good bargains to be found, but only if you know what prices are reasonable.
Unfortunately, the weather in Taipei has been fairly miserable lately giving rise to few opportunities to utilise the polarizer. Rain, rain, and more rain have been the tune (luckily, the Rezo 140 has a built-in raincoat, which is nice). And it’s cold too! Though not so cold the SLR doesn’t work :) This shot was taken while waiting for a bus (from under a shelter):
Taxi
Well, I’ll be headed back to England in a week or so, and should have plenty of time to muck around with the photos I do have left. Shahram has kindly agreed to send me a dvd of the pics I took in Singapore, which made me very glad I left a copy of those RAW files there with him =)
— Emery Ku
Shoppers' thoughts?
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