I saw this post from Physica on the Digital Photography forum and decided to repost it for future reference. Search Hong Kong Travel tips.
There’s a shopping mall at Mong Kok is selling some Photography Stuff with resonable price, that’s one of the favorite place for the locals, the entrance is so small and not obvious, but if you ask the local person which take Photos, that MIGHT knew the place…. (The shopping mall’s name is just like a very famous game), By the way, there’s still some China Made camera’s stuff for sales there (like Hoods, filters, etc), the price are cheap, not very good in quality but it’s functional.
Another place which mustl go is Sham Shui Po (Junction with Nam cheong Street) , There’s Alot of Photography stuff for sales, But most of them are made in china. So consider before buying.
if you walk between sham shui po and Mong Kok’s mall, you may found the same goods will have a lower price at sham shui po
Don’t go to the shops at the Nathan road around Tsim Sha Tsui portion , the stuff’s price are higher then the other place.
Great photo. If only Hong Kong made optics. Love to get a Canon mount 50mm F1.2 for a bargain!
“I buy camera gear in Hong Kong.” //// What an elitist snob. God FEARING good Americans don’t go to China to begin with and are happy with their memories.
Ha, ha.
I thunk I hurts my brains tryn 2 reed thats:
Lol, and he wont’ stop because he’s a douche idiot. He thinks he’s smart by trying to be a failed Shakespeare. Anyhow, I think it’s ok for the non-critical camera items but for important ones I wouldn’t want to shop in China. That is, of course, if you know there’s a reliable shop that sells the gears.
As some of you may know I do business overseas quite often in the year and rarely do I find anything cheaper there than what you can get here. In fact, they’re typically much higher in price! Same for most electronics except for the fake/cheapo stuff.
Still, thanks for the info. If I’ve ever close by I might give it a shot.
The price is only reasonable if, you can afford the ticket to hong kong.
Return flight to Hong Kong, $2,485
1 day all inclusive Hotel, $399
Hello Kitty camera gear… priceless.
Yeah, not worth it if you only want a simple P&S, and the prices for these are not that different from anywhere else. If you are in HK anyway, or want some serious SLR gear, particularly high speed lenses, you can save thousands.
Just be careful on warranty. “International warranty” often means “You can ship it back to HK from anywhere in the world to possibly get a warranty fix or maybe never see it again.”
Thanks for the travel tip. Don’t go to HK!
Wouldn’t you have to pay a huge tariff coming back through customs?
B&H is great for the rest of us. Good prices, terrific salespeople and great web site.
If you are in NYC go to the store. It is amazing.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
I am lucky enough to go there regularly. It is my favorite “toy” store.
Also they buy back used equipment.
As an aside, world history is always an interesting subject… such as Hong Kong existing as it is because of the British starting a war when China tried to stop them from smuggling illegal opium into their country to pay for tea.
Cool picture BTW.
This is correct; not difficult to understand and the main lesson to take away from this is: don’t buy anything in Nathan road around the Tsim Sha Tsui portion.
Mong Kok is the place as that is where the locals shop. Or you could find places in the Wanchai area. I shop both places when I am there, not only camera gear.
As to “The OneSays” he is right that the US is actually cheaper than about anywhere in the world, for the time being.
Unless! Unless you go to Norway, to buy your expensive stuff with 25% VAT, that is refunded. Almost anything from there is a steal, especially electronics, photo etc.
That is what i do: no ‘Tax Refund for Tourist’ scam, but the straight forward Customs & Excise Export Form (downloadable from the web); fill in, add the receipt, show goods at the airport before departing, get the the form stamp, get out, send back stamped form to shop – and the full VAT refund arrives into your bank account…
Well, for those with special interests……….
I have been in Hong Kong a number of times (for business) and shopped more than a little. I agree that Mong Kok is a better market, generally, than the more touristy Tsim Sha Tsui.
However both are fully stocked with elaborately packaged fakes, knockoffs and recycled rejects. Not everything, of course, but you have to be good to know what you are getting. (If that is what you are looking for, head up to Lo Wu, just over the border from Hong Kong on mainland. They have a shopping center there everyone calls the “Knockoff Mall” — buy a Rolex at an unbelievable price!)
Case in point: since lots of stuff is made just over the border in mainland Shenzen, all the packaging, labels, tags and so forth is readily available. An enterprising factory floor supervisor gathers up the manufacturing rejects (defective or too flawed to send on through to their parent company), boxes them up just like the good ones and slips them out the back door and into the black market. Everybody makes a little extra money, the legitimate manufacturer is none the wiser and they stick it to some visitor who likely won’t be back in town. Our company couldn’t figure out where all these warranty returns were coming from that had defects that should have been caught on the manufacturing line.
Even more elaborate: Arrow shirt plant overproduces some XS (extra small) shirts — perhaps by plan. These extra shirts come to have a label sewn in the neck proclaiming it to be an XL (extra large) and then is ensconced in all the actual Arrow shirt box packaging and sold grey market. I know – I have a couple of them.
It’s not like shopping at WalMart….
I remember many years ago, reading about electronics (pre-PCs) being sold in half levels between floors of some buildings. Sort of a half floor or story. And the average westerner had to bend over to browse thru them. But the asians, not so much. Anyway, by occupying a half floor, the rent was probably about half too. So since the store’s over head was both financial and physically lower than a normal store. The retail prices were likely a lot lower. I don’t know if any of these cramped stores still exist in Japan or Hong Kong. It would be interesting to know.
A friend of my father’s when overseas on some vacation (not sure what asian city). And while he was there, picked up some wrist watch, with multiple “complications”. But those little dials turns out to be just painted on in metalic paint. And they never move. The vendors probably don’t allow you to play with those watches, to check their quality. Or even to stare at them for too long. They know they’re bogus knockoffs. Anyway, my father’s friend realized he’d been ripped off when he got back, and gave the watch to my father as a souvenir. He didn’t keep it very long. As a private pilot, my fathered owned a real working multi-dial watch.
BE CAREFUL if you want to buy the camera in HK. Camera shop, Artex Digital, at 4A Hong Kong Mansion, Great George Street, Causway Bay (opposite MTR exit E) is such a fraud. The crook salesman tried to sell overprice camera and lied about spec & everthing just to get things sold. The other one at the corner is a lot more honest. Just walk 100m from this fraud shop. I experinced it myself. They seduced the customer one way or another just to let them buy overprice one. Such a fraud and crook!
Before you purchase the digital camera are there other recommendation that comes with following features:
Understanding Sensor Size
Choose a Camera That Feels Right
Get the Best Viewfinder
High optical zoom
optical zoom capability during video mode
image stablizer