Vancouver photo shops

Hi,

I'm coming to vancouver in June and want to buy a 100-400 whilst I'm am there because it should save me about £400 (as long as I can smuggle it back into the uk without customs noticing!)

However I have no idea where to buy. Is there a b&h esq shop in Vancouver?

I want to ring the shop up to reserve one, so my trip isn't in vain!

Cheers

Tomo

Vancouver is not that great for photo shops to be honest. There is a store called broadway camera. They are probably most likely to have it in stock but i find their prices pretty high. There is also Beau Photo. They are good but keep small stock of things but you can order pretty much anything you can think of. I guess you could get them to order it so they have it in time for your visit.

Are you just coming to Vancouver? You could probably save even more money if you cross in to the US.

They are small shops though, not the big superstores like b and h or even henry's and vistek in Toronto.

Yup, as mentioned Broadway Camera is the store with the biggest online presence in Vancouver. Otherwise, you're stuck with small mom&pop-type stores whose prices aren't the greatest.

Kerrisdale Cameras has quite a few chain stores around the GVRD, but their prices aren't exactly competitive for camera equipment.

If you're staying at someone's house, it might be best to order it online from a store in Ontario to save on taxes. This is the Photoprice.ca entry for the 100-400, and you'll be saving about $250 CAD doing it this way. Otherwise, Broadway Camera is your best bet for buying local.

I'll also be in Calgary for one day

Calgary has a pretty big store, thecamerastore.ca

I have had stuff from them before. I would say they are probably larger than any stores in Vancouver.

As mentioned you can save some money having one shipped from a store in Ontario but speaking as someone who moved here from the UK myself I will say you wont find any of them will ship to you as your CC billing address is in the UK so you'd have to find a friendly Canadian friend to put it on their CC for you in order to get it shipped....

I am not too fond of Broadway Camera, their sales are nothing more than telling you to buy buy buy, i have had bad experience with them.

Try Photo Expert, they are located in Delta, but a bit far if you live in Vancouver. I bought both 50/1.4 and 200/2.8 II there. Their customer service is great.

http://www.photoexpert​.com/index.html

Good luck

How about Lens & Shutter? I have found them to be fairly good, not that I have bought a lot there.

Do you reckon i could get a 100-400 for $1,750CAD in Vancouver?

The postal option is out of the question becuase i have no postal adress in Canada.

1849 + 12%tax at Broadway
1829 + 12%tax at Photo Expert
1939 + 12% tax at lens & shutter
1725 + 5%tax at the camera store (mail order from Calgary) seems like the best option!!!

Keep in mind that Alberta has no PST, so if you're in Calgary for a day you could try swinging by The Camera Store to pick it up locally if shipping isn't an option. You'll still have to pay the 5% GST, but that might be your best option

in calgary , the camera store , visteck and saneal's are all good stores . i have bought gear from all three , depending on which had the cheapest price . they are also all located on the same street , about 8 blocks apart , so that is very handy when shopping . (saneal has about five outlets all together around the city ) . as someone mentioned , no provincial sales tax in alberta . forget vancouver shops .... i can pretty much guarantee that the calgary shops will beat any price you find there .