Nikon Heaven

benjiboy · Nov 1, 2009

I thought some of my fellow members might enjoy a virtual tour around Grays of Westminster who must be one of the Wolds premier Nikon dealers http://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/tour/

bobwysiwyg · Nov 1, 2009

Very cool interface, thanks for posting. I thought the shopping bags were a nice touch. I wonder how much the tab might be to fill the larger one?

PhotoJim · Nov 1, 2009

Even better to visit in person!

I've only been once, but it was a treat. And every time I see the grid lines in my F5's viewfinder, I'm reminded of my visit there. That was the only place in the world I could find an EC-E screen!

Terence · Nov 1, 2009

Wow. The second-hand room is like a candy store.

Sirius Glass · Nov 1, 2009

Now they should have used a PC lens so that the camera would not have been in the reflection in the mirror.

Steve

benjiboy · Nov 1, 2009

PhotoJim said:
Even better to visit in person!

I've only been once, but it was a treat. And every time I see the grid lines in my F5's viewfinder, I'm reminded of my visit there. That was the only place in the world I could find an EC-E screen!

To be honest Jim I've never been there although I only live about two hundred miles away, I'm a Canon user.

Colin Corneau · Nov 1, 2009

Wow...just -- wow.

benjiboy · Nov 1, 2009

I thought I'd show you Nikon freaks out there that we're not such such a backward country in Britain

JLP · Nov 1, 2009

Thanks for posting Ben, would be a treat to visit (without a credit card)

benjiboy · Nov 1, 2009

JLP said:
Thanks for posting Ben, would be a treat to visit (without a credit card)

It would be a treat for me too but as I wrote I've never been there either, in fact It's about fifteen years since I was in London last, and I only live about two hours and ten minutes away by train.

tcboucher · Nov 1, 2009

in the second hand room... is that one of the great fabled Nikkor 13mm f5.6 rectangular ?

bsdunek · Nov 1, 2009

That was fun! Yes, Terence, the second hand room was my favorite. My Nikons are mostly F's with various prisms.

Mick Fagan · Nov 2, 2009

Having been a subscriber to their newsletter and secondhand list, albeit getting the list about 10 weeks after the rest of the world received it, I had little hope of getting anything rare.

One day though I enquired over the telephone about a 15mm full frame rectilinear wide angle, unfortunately it had been sold, but they did have a rough one from a regional newspaper photographer who had traded it in, or whatever. Anyway it was about 40% cheaper, than their mint one in the newsletter.

I took a punt, wired the money, four months later it arrived. Talk about beautiful looking, as well as perfection in the glass department.

This was 20+ years ago.

Mick.

AgX · Nov 2, 2009

tcboucher said:
in the second hand room... is that one of the great fabled Nikkor 13mm f5.6 rectangular ?

That strange thing on the silver tripod?

If you look at it from the Gallery you will see that it is the 6mm, 2.8, 220° circular super-fisheye.

(At least that is what I make out of it.)

benjiboy · Nov 2, 2009

I don't know of any other shop like Greys in the world, they recently advertised and sold a brand new boxed Nikon F body with the plain prism for £5000 ($ 8260 US)

Steve Smith · Nov 2, 2009

benjiboy said:
To be honest Jim I've never been there although I only live about two hundred miles away, I'm a Canon user.

I walked past it once and looked in the window. I didn't seem worthy enough to actually go in (and they were closed anyway!).

Steve.

sangetsu · Nov 2, 2009

If you want to see Nikon Heaven, you should take a trip to Tokyo. You'll find a Nikon House store within walking distance of Tokyo Station, and more new and used gear stores than I can name off hand. I visited more than 10 used camera shops between yesterday and today, and each of them had more than a few Nikon cameras, and some for incredible prices. Yesterday's Nikon find for me was a very clean 55/1.2 AI-S lens which was priced under $200.

tcboucher · Nov 2, 2009

AgX said:
That strange thing on the silver tripod?

If you look at it from the Gallery you will see that it is the 6mm, 2.8, 220° circular super-fisheye.

(At least that is what I make out of it.)

oh crazy, yeah now that i look at it from the gallery i can see that... wow... now im not too up to speed on nikon stuff, but how does that compare in "rarity" to the 13mm?

Sirius Glass · Nov 2, 2009

But the camera still shows up on the tripod in the mirror reflection! Don't they have a PC lens so that they could take the photograph without showing the camera? Come on, they only have enough lenses there!

Steve

Miskuss · Nov 4, 2009

Nice!

benjiboy · Nov 6, 2009

Steve Smith said:
I walked past it once and looked in the window. I didn't seem worthy enough to actually go in (and they were closed anyway!).

Steve.

It does have the look of a very exclusive gentlemen s club, I think I would feel the same way.

Tom Kershaw · Jan 6, 2010

Ben,

Looking at the prices comparing Ffordes to Grays of Westminster, 'Grays' does seem to list equipment at higher prices.

Tom

removed-user-1 · Jan 6, 2010

Now THAT is a camera shop.

pentaxuser · Jan 6, 2010

Tom Kershaw said:
Ben,

Looking at the prices comparing Ffordes to Grays of Westminster, 'Grays' does seem to list equipment at higher prices.

Tom

This is true but you get extra warranty with Gray's if you're a member of the Nikon Owner's club.

I have no evidence on which to base this next statement and speculation on my part( as I have no evidence) but I suspect that as Gray's is exclusively Nikon and prides itself on being the premier Nikon dealer in the U.K. there is just a better chance that its secondhand equipment is either that little bit better or there is less chance of any hassle were you to receive something with which you had a problem.

This should draw out any dissatisfied buyers of Gray's equipment which could be useful in itself :

pentaxuser

benjiboy · Jan 6, 2010

Their prices are on the high side, but so must their overheads be, their shop is right in the middle of London's Mayfair in some of the most expensive real-estate in the world, where the rents and council tax must be phenomenal, but on the other hand they do have rare mint Nikon equipment in stock available for the enthusiast that would be very difficult to obtain anywhere else.

Nikon Heaven

removed-user-1

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