B&H camera store, Manhattan!!!

[Bambi]

Holy Crap what an amazing store. About 1/2 a block and two stories of all the equipment anyone would ever want! I could not believe my eyes. I felt like Alice in Wonderland.

did you know that they give out pretzels and pop to make sure that you don't faint while you wonder around in a daze. And you can't swing a cat without hitting a person who is unbelievably happy to help you. they have counters with all the major brands of cameras: Pentax, Nikon, Sony, Canon, Olympus. I got to hold and play with them all. Behind each of these counters are 2-4 young men who can answer any question you may have about them. One such young man told me that the Canan and the Sony have the image stabilizers in the body of the camera while the Nikon and Olympus have them in the lense. Which he said would mean that I would end up paying more for lenses. So now I'm back to thinking again...... In terms of feeling comfortable the Sony and the Olympus felt great. the canon felt big and the nikon was fine. *sigh*

I didn't understand the hours of operation until I saw that 90% of the employees were wearing skull caps. So the hours are set to not interfere with the sabbath.

You give your order and then go pay and then pick it up. No waiting in line they have so many people manning the counters. Separate lines for cash or credit. Whole separate entrance for returns.

I now understand why TI said :

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bambi View Post
that's just 4 blocks from my hotel!!!! I will journey on over there.
... and she was never heard from again.

I wouldn't have left except that they were closing.

If you ever have a chance, I would totally recommend going. For someone like me who's used to seeing either small stores or camera counters, it was wonderful!

[Iguanasan]

Arrgggh!!! But what did you buy???!!??

[casil403]

Arrgggh!!! But what did you buy???!!??

My question exactly!
I have the catalogue...drool...and it's almost the size of a small telephone book!

[Lovin]

Indeed, that store is impressive.

[Mad Aussie]

One such young man told me that the Canan and the Sony have the image stabilizers in the body of the camera while the Nikon and Olympus have them in the lense.

Is that correct? I haven't seen a Canon with inbuilt stabilization yet.

And I heard there is issues with the body stabilizers not being as effective as the Lense stabilizers. But I don't anything about the in-body stabilizers so I can't say myself.

[Greg_Nuspel]

With image stabilizers the way it was put to me is the ones in the lens are tuned to that lens, the ones in the body are a jack of all trades, masters of none. It's one more thing to fail, if it fails in your body a repair shuts you down, if one fails in your lens your down one lens for repair.

[Iguanasan]

According to this site - a year old - Canon and Nikon are both lens based:

Image Stabilization - Lens vs. Body

[EJC]

I have been there too. The door men give excellent directions as well. All I could afford was a Giottos monopod which I'm very happy with.

On the stabilization front my Canon 40D uses in lens stabilization.

[F8&Bthere]

With image stabilizers the way it was put to me is the ones in the lens are tuned to that lens, the ones in the body are a jack of all trades, masters of none. It's one more thing to fail, if it fails in your body a repair shuts you down, if one fails in your lens your down one lens for repair.

Yeah consensus is that the in lens stabilization is somewhat more effective as it is designed to that focal length or range, and the in body version loses efficiency at longer lengths, but let me give you another perspective:

I bought a Pentax K10D like new, factory refurbished, almost a year ago for US$399. And more recently I bought a DA* 50-135/2.8 (pro/weather sealed) zoom for US$649. Both of these are/were Pentax's top of the line gear. And it's not like I had to hunt very hard for it. It was just a quick search of eBay (and I guess a bit of good timing). Let's see anyone do that with Nikon or Canon.

By the way, I think Bambi meant Pentax instead of Canon with the in body stabilization. Canon is definitely in lens.

To continue with the Pentax example, pentax has like a gazillion lenses out there, and there are lots of great bargains in bodies and lenses because it is not Canikon brand power, and every one of those lenses- new or old- would instantly have some stabilization.

That "if something fails" line I've heard from so many salesmen over the years on many types of products (not just camera gear) and sometimes they may be right, but c'mon... it has to be put in perspective. Repair or Throw away a $500ish body or a $400ish (lower end of Nikon VR zooms, am I right?) IF something fails. A bummer either way, but I'd hope either one would still be useable without stabilization, so you go old school for a while. Bodies drop in price and become "obselete" so much quicker than lenses anyways.

I could throw away my whole rig and still not lose as much as the repair would probably cost on a Nikon 70-200/2.8VRII (that I wish I owned but can't afford) if the VR went kaput .

[F8&Bthere]

..oh and I hope that didn't come across as being abrasive. I'm not trying to start any brand war debate or anything. I do own Nikon equipment too and like it very much. I just think anyone buying new gear on a budget has to consider all these angles