Well, the trip is now over and went as expected for my time in camera stores. Not much! I did not make it into B&H, Adorama, Calumet (though had no interest on this one), or Lens and Repro. Also didn't make it to any of the Books stores listed in this thread. What I ended up with was very little. I did pick up at the Brooklyn Flea in Williamsburg was a not so cosmetically pretty folder. It's a Ernemann, which I had never heard of, but picked it up because it had a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 4.5 12cm lens on it and the shutter fires at all speeds very nicely. A project for sure and had a roll of Verichrome Pan in it. I think it could be fun once I get a chance to go through it. The interior of the camera looks great. all shiney parts are shiney, scales are there, moves well, lens is dusty, but clear of scratches, just the leather is haggard. Also found a Darlot in a case, but it was beat up pretty good and he would not come off $275?
Then the only real camera store I got into was K&M Camera on Broadway. Small section of darkroom stuff in the back and nice to stare at, but not really worth trying to pick something up for an out-of-towner. I was asked if I needed help by about 10 different people, most of which with a look as if it might be troubling to them if I said yes. One younger guy helped me find a price on a back pack I was very interested in. Clik Elite :Dead Link Removed I had never seen this pack before and at the time seemed like a great idea as it has a metal frame around it with a tripod mount on top. Looked like you could easily flip the pack to your front and shoot. Would have come in handy as I traveled with my mini speed graphic. It was nicked up pretty bad and assumed they would offer a substantial discount. They did not and priced it at $180. They got to keep that one. In a small case next to the darkroom products was a tall thin glass case with some LF lenses in the bottom. Very over priced on what I could see, and I could not tell the size on one that I thought might be a 90mm (unpriced). I asked to see it. A different guy opened the case and handed it to me. It was a 150mm and I did not need it, so I handed it back. He, no joke, literally tossed in back in the bottom of the case on top of the other lenses. I felt like taking every lens in that case, stuffing them in my pack and running like I was saving an abused bunch of puppies. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes. The only real nice person I found in there was from the rental department and he asked if he could help me, because I wandered into the rental area thinking it was part of the store. Prior to this, no one had spoken to me for the ten minutes I had been there looking around. He offered for me to hang out a bit as he had the only good A/C spot in the store.
Wished I had more time to see some other stores but it will have to wait until next time. I will say this for New York though, I had four days of the best food I have ever tasted and drank many, many brewery brews. About 50/50 in city and Brooklyn.
Thank you all for the input and I hope to visit again soon.
Jody