10-02-2010, 01:48 AM
I'm quite lucky in this regard - I have two camera shops that really know their stuff. The staff are helpful and friendly, and I can take out stuff to try it, try another, and another ... and the place that I buy Zeiss lenses even gave me a very generous reduction on my third purchase.
The big chain stores are a joke. Poor staff training, paranoid security, and only the mainstream equipment. I only go there if I need a memory card or simple stuff in a hurry.
I was once 'interrogated' by a senior supervisor (flanked by two large guards) at a German store (Saturn) because I was 'taking pictures' with a demo camera. It was one of about 20 cameras lined up for customers to try. "Well", I said, "this is your camera, and it has no card in it. Why do you put if out for people to try, if you don't want them to look through the viewfinder and press the shutter?"
After 'conferring' with her colleagues, she decided that I had not violated any security rules after all. I vowed never to buy anything there again.
But having said that, I guess any Germans on the site will know that I was a fool to even go into 'Saturn' as a serious photographer - you get more satisfaction on Mars. <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' />
The big chain stores are a joke. Poor staff training, paranoid security, and only the mainstream equipment. I only go there if I need a memory card or simple stuff in a hurry.
I was once 'interrogated' by a senior supervisor (flanked by two large guards) at a German store (Saturn) because I was 'taking pictures' with a demo camera. It was one of about 20 cameras lined up for customers to try. "Well", I said, "this is your camera, and it has no card in it. Why do you put if out for people to try, if you don't want them to look through the viewfinder and press the shutter?"
After 'conferring' with her colleagues, she decided that I had not violated any security rules after all. I vowed never to buy anything there again.
But having said that, I guess any Germans on the site will know that I was a fool to even go into 'Saturn' as a serious photographer - you get more satisfaction on Mars. <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' />