Go buy some stuff from your local shop now !

[pentaxuser]

Same story here as in most posts. I'd love to support a local business if there was one. There never has been one. There's a good mini-lab which participates in the Ilford D2D programme but only stocks a few films behind the counter and the survival of the business doesn't depend on Ilford sales at all. Pity there isn't such a shop as even on grounds of sheer cost it makes sense to use it when you take into account the travel/postage cost of mail order unless the local shop were to have outrageous prices.

pentaxuser

 

[DBP]

I just stopped in my local (to the office) shop today at lunchtime. They are printing up a few sample "holiday cards" so my better half can decide which ones she likes! So I do my best to patronize them for some things.

But, BTW, while there, I was looking at the display of UV lens filters. They were labeled as "digitial". What is digital about a UV lens filter? Is light "digital"? It's like the other display with the "digital" camera bags. If I put a film camera in a digital camera bag - does the bottom drop out? :rolleyes:

Don't forget digital tripods, which I guess I guess should really be 'tridactyls' or something.

And if I understand the quantum theory at all, the question of whether light is digital does not have a yes or no answer. Is there a physicist in the house?

 

[bcostin]

What makes local better?

Freestyle and KEH are my local shops. They're right there in my house. Not only that, they're open 24 hours a day, almost always have what I want in stock at a good price, and have great customer service. I plan to buy lots of stuff from both of them, much to my wife's dismay.

Seriously, living here in the country there was one real photo store in a 20 mile radius and the owner retired earlier this year. I did do business with them, and certainly would have done more if I'd gotten into analog photography earlier. They were nice people, but like many small business owners they felt the years catching up to them and the world changing around them, while taxes kept getting higher and profits getting thinner. I was sorry to see them go, but online shops are just as deserving of my business as they were.

 

[copake_ham]

.....
And if I understand the quantum theory at all, the question of whether light is digital does not have a yes or no answer. Is there a physicist in the house?

While not a physicist, as I recall, incoherent light (what we get from the sun and light bulbs etc.) are waves and certainly analog. Coherent light (i.e. lasers) can be pulsed from the source and so perhaps could be considered "kind of like" digital.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My local stores are Samys, Calumet, and Freestyle. Each a relatively short dirive.

Does that count?

Steve

 

[Robert Kerwin]

I have tried to buy local but their prices are beyond ridiculous and the attitudes are pathetic.

I go to a shop about an hour away to buy my chemistry. They are keeping their prices inline with Freestyle and B&H.

David,

Which shop is this? Where is it located? Do they have a good selection of traditional stuff? I typically buy my stuff online, but if I could find a local dealer with a good selection and not outrageous prices, I would probably give them a try.

- Robert

 

[kiku]

Hi Steve: Yes all three are great places and especially since they are close to "Pink's Hot Dog Stand". Howard Tanger

My local stores are Samys, Calumet, and Freestyle. Each a relatively short dirive.

Does that count?

Steve

 

[Shawn Dougherty]

While not a physicist, as I recall, incoherent light (what we get from the sun and light bulbs etc.) are waves and certainly analog. Coherent light (i.e. lasers) can be pulsed from the source and so perhaps could be considered "kind of like" digital.

That kind of light is not only waves but also particles (photons) as described by Wave-Particle Duality. Way off topic, sorry!

 

[IloveTLRs]

I was back home in Boston over the summer. I went to a bunch of places ...
- Calumet was okay. Good selection of stuff but the staff (except for one nice gentleman) has a very 'ok you bought your stuff already - bye' attitude. Too many digi folks there now, I think.
- Ritz is okay for quick C-41 and some little odds & ends. The staff are completely clueless though. Good if you need some film quickly (they even carry B&W!)
- Bromfield Camera was okay though they didn't have much in terms of film. They used gear was pretty dirty. They must be making $$$ though since there are usually 3 or 4 people working there at a time.
- E.P. Levine was nice. I elected not to take the bus (hate the T) and instead walked from South St (hint: don't do that unless you're dumb.) The people behind the counter seemed quite nice and there were lots of bits and pieces here and there. I'd definitely go there again.
I was in the market for used gear over the summer however, so all the camera shops were disappointing.

On a side note, I wanted some reversal film one day but only CVS was close by. A roll of Elite Chrome 200/24 cost me $10!!!

When I go back again I'll try some of the more out-of-the-way places

 

[removed account4]

I was back home in Boston over the summer. I went to a bunch of places ...
- Calumet was okay. Good selection of stuff but the staff (except for one nice gentleman) has a very 'ok you bought your stuff already - bye' attitude. Too many digi folks there now, I think.
- Ritz is okay for quick C-41 and some little odds & ends. The staff are completely clueless though. Good if you need some film quickly (they even carry B&W!)
- Bromfield Camera was okay though they didn't have much in terms of film. They used gear was pretty dirty. They must be making $$$ though since there are usually 3 or 4 people working there at a time.
- E.P. Levine was nice. I elected not to take the bus (hate the T) and instead walked from South St (hint: don't do that unless you're dumb.) The people behind the counter seemed quite nice and there were lots of bits and pieces here and there. I'd definitely go there again.
I was in the market for used gear over the summer however, so all the camera shops were disappointing.

On a side note, I wanted some reversal film one day but only CVS was close by. A roll of Elite Chrome 200/24 cost me $10!!!

When I go back again I'll try some of the more out-of-the-way places

ep levines is one of those places i really miss ...

 

[John Kasaian]

I'll buy chemicals locally. The only sheet film availale locally is 4x5 (we're a college town) but since I don't shoot much 4x5, well...
Funny thing though, when Agfa went out of business I bought a case of 35mm custom labelled APX from the local guys for pennies on the dollar---I still have half a case left. I also have a small mountain of 120 verichrome pan I bought from them at a discount when Kodak discontinued it, along with a saunder's easel and a portfolio box from when they moved their lab. Unfortunately not too many local sales people are left who know anything about film either, so unless I'm looking for 35mm or 4x5, all my film orders are from Badger Graphic or Freestyle these days. I still get my d-76, stop and fixer locally though.

 

[Uncle Goose]

Well, I wish I could support the locals more but it's getting harder and harder. The only place in my that still have afforable film has no film half of the time, they are always ordered and stuff. The other one 60km away have still quite some darkroom and film but it's quite a drive for some film.

The main problem with local stores is that they have to pay a lot of bills and taxes while an internet store is in most cases just a garagebox or something similar and have less bills, paperwork and taxes to pay so they can offer things at a lower cost. Eventually we will all have to turn towards the internet as it will be the only place for dealers to survive.

 

[Woolliscroft]

My local camera shop no longer carries anything that I use except for a few rolls of 35mm film.
juan

Me too: no darkroom supplies, no medium format film, only consumer col neg 35mm film, indeed virtually nothing except digital cameras (not even lenses for DSLRs). I went in for a new camera strap a few days ago and they couldn't even manage that. I'd be very happy to buy from them if they had anything I wanted.

David.

 

[Snapshot]

I generally buy from my local dealer but the selection and pricing usually desuades me from dropping too much coin. However, what is bothersome about buying on the Internet is the exhoribant brokerage fees charges by private delivery firms. Sometimes, I wish my local shop can compete with Internet firms.

 

[leeturner]

Nearest photographic shop to me is almost 30 miles away and being a typical branch of Jessops carries very little. However my work takes me to London several times a month so my local shops, Silverprint and Mr CAD, are 250 miles away.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

We have a halfway decent local shop here in DC, Penn Camera. They carry some 4x5 (nothing bigger), an ok selection of paper and chemistry (they still keep RA4 paper in their fridge!). I buy what I can from them, and I don't complain much about their prices, as they're not TOO far off New York/Online prices, and I can justify it as a convenience tax. On large hard-goods (scanners, camera gear, printers, etc) they will match advertised prices from B&H, Calumet, etc if it doesn't make them lose money on it, so I do buy hard goods from them as often the local sales tax comes in cheaper than the shipping on something big, and I know if I have a problem when I get home, I can just stuff it back in the box and have a new one in a couple hours, instead of shipping it back and waiting for a replacement.

Much of my film needs now though is met online because nobody local carries it, and/or it is a single-vendor unique product (Arista.EDU Ultra films... I know they're Fomapan, but only one or two vendors in the US sell Foma in the first place, and Freestyle's Arista is cheaper by a significant factor). Most of my chemistry is now non-commercial chemistry anyway, so I buy it online from Bostick & Sullivan or Photographers' Formulary.

The demise of the local camera store began 20 years ago or more, with the advent of the New York (in the US anyway) superstores like B&H and Adorama. They advertised prices in Shutterbug and the other hobbyist magazines that local stores couldn't/wouldn't match. Part of this was due to their buying policies. They could buy in quantities that the small local stores couldn't, and so they got discounts for volume. They also paid in full, in cash, at the time of purchase from the manufacturer, so they saved another 5% or so on financing, which they turned around and passed on to their customers. Factor in those two discounts, and they were buying their goods at a 15-20% lower cost than the neighborhood store. When your profit margin on the neighborhood store is 10% on a good day, your New York competition could sell at your cost all day long and still make a 5-10% margin, which goes farther when you're selling 100 cameras a day instead of the 100 a month for a busy single location mom-and-pop shop.

 

[Stan160]

My local shop moved premises about 3 years ago and no longer stocks very much at all. The limited range they do have is d******, plus very cheap and wobbly tripods etc., a few rolls of colour film and that's about it. They are set up for printing more than anything else - all d****** of course.

Now, if I hadn't moved away to uni, I think I would have remained a very good customer of this establishment http://www.flickr.com/photos/nord_modular/1715352969/.

Luckily, Silverprint is just about reachable in a lunch break, so that's where I shop now.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

I buy locally all of my:

Tri-X
Fresh colour film (the expired one I get online!)
XTOL
Ilford RC
Hypo-Clear
Cotton gloves
Indicator Stop
Rapid Fix
Se Toner
RA-4 chemistry
RA-4 paper

All my C-41 and E-6 processing, including cross-process, are done in local shops as well (incl. film scanning).

I occasionally locally rent equipment for work (lighting gear), and personal stuff (cameras).

I patronize two different photo shops, depending on my needs, and two different labs, also depending on needs. I'm not such a big spender overall, but I like to have my face known at many different places.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Hi Steve: Yes all three are great places and especially since they are close to "Pink's Hot Dog Stand". Howard Tanger

Thanks for that! My cholesterol will thank you. :rolleyes:

Steve

 

[Removed Account]

My lack of a motor vehicle is what is really preventing me from supporting local dealers enough. Since Westwind Photographic stopped their wet processing (the last truly local pro lab) and no longer carries a range of analogue stuff I have been pretty limited in anything other than 35mm. Even the shop I work at no longer routinely stocks 35mm Provia or Velvia, it must be special ordered. We are not even able to order Delta 3200 from the warehouse. In Courtenay, Studio One has a decent selection of 120 and 4x5 film, along with some darkroom supplies. I try to head up there every couple of months. I've been meaning to check out Beau Photo in Vancouver as they seem to make an effort to carry analogue stuff, even 120 and LF, along with the more unique products like Efke, Holga, Lomo, Foma etc...

- Justin

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Living in Minneapolis limits me to only one really good retail chain... Naitional Camera, but their prices leave nothing to be desired. Okay, they carry film, and a few other nice to haves, but why would I pay a third more for my film when I can get it from Freestyle, and that includes shipping if I buy enough!
They have their plus points though, they carry Hypam and some other chemical supplies. Like all other stores, they are predominantly digital anymore.

The other option is West Photo which is okay, but again spendy. Their darkroom business is waning just like everyone elses, but I go there only when I have to.

Freestyle gets my vote nearly every time anymore. One stop shopping and the shipping costs are minimal overhead when compared to local store prices. In many cases Freestyle is less than local costs even when product and shipping costs are combined!!

 

[mwdake]

I have 2 local stores still open. One is traditional and the owner is great. The other has changed its name something Digital but still carries analog paper, chemicals and supplies.

I try to buy odds and ends from them both now and then because I really appreciate their still being there. I tend to buy basic chemicals from them even hough I could get them at a lower price online even with shipping as I tend to to order online several things at once so the chemicals generally don't add much to the shipping.

However, I find I just can't afford the $80 for a box of 8x10's when I can buy good quality online for about half.

I really wish I could support them more as it a shame these kind of stores are disappearing rapidly.

 

[kevs]

I'm pleased that my local Snappy Snaps in Northampton processes C-41 in 120 - i rather expected the counter bods to stare as if it came from Outer Space. That's an all too comon experience here in hicksville.

They aslo stock 120 Fuji Reala in 100 and 400 speeds. It's rather expensive at app. £3.50 a roll, but i bought some anyway. I spoke to the manager - he says he keeps Fuji's C-41 mono film for another photographer. It's always useful to know where i can buy this stuff.

As a small user, i'll continue to buy from Silverprint - but for the odd roll it's nice to know i can walk in, buy some camera food and have it processed on the premises.

 

[firecracker]

I buy most of the photo supplies(film, paper, chemistry, etc) that I need at the nearest corporate-chain photo store to me, and so far service-wise and price-wise, it's been fine. Near the store there's a public library, not big at all but still big enough to carry a good volume of literature even in English and other foreign languages, so I stop by there sometimes to check out some books also.

Basically I try not to spend or use too much gas on shipping and delivery.

But there was one thing I didn't buy from that store recently, which was a Domke bag (F-3x) because the official retail price by the dealer in Japan is almost double (with the real high markup) of what it is in the U.S. market. So, I got an "unused" one from someone at an online auction at a very reasonable price, and that was it.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

trying to save on gas for shipping direct to you by shopping at the local store is a bit of a red herring- the bag/paper/chemistry/whatever got to the store the same way it got to you - by truck. Now, if we all boycotted UPS, and withheld our shipping from them for a week, I'd say that would be a very good thing, because it might make them reconsider their terrible individual-consumer-unfriendly practices. Unfortunately, too many places that I buy stuff from that I can't buy locally have contracts for shipping with UPS. I'll stop this from turning into an anti-UPS rant by saying that I've had multiple negative experiences with them, enough to justify my unending passionate loathing for their very existence. I go out of my way to use any other service than them - usually the post office, if not, FedEx. The post office is probably the most sensible shipping service to use, because their truck is coming by your house to deliver your mail every day anyway.