UKC

Can anybody recomend any good camera shops with a good choice of lenses in Preston and Manchester?

Cheers

In reply to The Lemming:
The `Internet` - not being sarcastic, really is best place !
Hardest part with this stuff is knowing what you want and how much you want to pay

In reply to octopus:


That's my problem. I'm still new at all this and the sites that I visit have reviews geared up to for people who know what they are talking about. I went onto the Jessops site and found a bit that said if I needed advice that I should mail them. The reply was simply to go to a jessops store for advice. Not very helpful, especially as the two nearest stores do not have a wide range of lenses. They just want to sell me the Nikon 17-70 lens and nothing else. Not very good customer choice is it?

My only other option is to physically handle a lens and get some good lod fashioned customer service. Then bugger off and buy the lens on line

In reply to The Lemming: Might be a bit of a trip, but Harrisons in Sheffield.

In reply to The Lemming:

wilkinsons in st. georges centre can be quite good, but it really is a lottery whether you get an assistant who is nice (ei. doesn't just want to get money out of you, whilst making you feel like a remedial along the way). I have, very occasionally, had good service here.

But i've never had it at jessops on fishergate.

In reply to The Lemming:

I always go into Wilkinsons in the St Georges Centre (on the ground floor in the bit with the escalators, chavs, single mothers, etc.). They are pretty knowledgeable and will do a deal if you don't fancy using the internet. Make sure you have had a look on Pricerunner to see what prices you are aiming at first!

In reply to drew harrison:

Sorry Drew, I didn't see your post before I recomended Wilkinsons. They are OK so long as you avoid the chubby one and the spotty ones.

In reply to sandywilson:

i know the chubby one! The bastard!

strangly though he's one who i did get good service from. I think if you can get past his salesman radar and surprise him, he's not too bad. It is possible, although difficult, to get some good advice and service out of him. But if you get the salesman side of him he's a dick. I got service from him the last time i went in there, i had to deal with him 2 or 3 times before that when he was in git mode.

Wasn't there a fella with glasses (about 35). I seem to remember that he was ok.

In reply to drew harrison:

I think he's the manager. He convinced me to buy a D70 instead of a Canon (can't remember the model). He was right!

In reply to The Lemming: Theres always the London Camera Exchange in Manc too....they seem nice and knowledgeable, and have lots of second hand lenses too...

However, I think you have a lot of reading to do, and numbers to decipher. Photography was very confusing when I first started looking into it, so many numbers and abbreviations, and which way do the numbers go to make the aperture bigger? Unfortunately the best way is to dive in and join the geeks, and the internet is perfect for this, but remember....anyone who is not into photography will NOT be interested in your learnings When you get your head round a few basics it suddenly becomes very easy...especially with digital, and you will be able to bullshit with shop staff in no time

In reply to Dr Avid: Oooh I forgot. With lenses...a revelation that took me a long time to make.....low f numbers ARE good Faster shutter speeds in low light are very helpful...unfortunately they cost a lot.

I would stay away form ultra budget lenses....if you are getting a 300mm zoom for a hundred quid, it sounds too good to be true, and it almost certainly is. They are ok in bright sunshine, but anything other than that, I struggle to get a decent sharp picture from lenses like that, but then again, maybe I am just rubbish

Unfortuantely with lenses, good ones make your life a whole lot easier, but cost a bomb. Shit ones are cheap but will limit your photography a lot....the trick is finding the prefect middle ground between the two, which is I know, no help at all

In reply to Dr Avid:

London camera exchange in ... london, took my pants right down when i went in there. Almost certainly my fault though and probably not reflective of the entire chain, or even the one i went to. But revenge was mine in the end anyway so it all worked out in the end and i came out on top (basically a case of me breaking the camera and telling them it broke, then exchanging it for a more expensive one for no extra money). London camera exchange therefore can be stupid as well as arrogant.

Calumet in manchester is where i bought a D70. Nothing to fault them on, but i've only been the once and i didn't really receive/want any advice, the D70 was the cheapest on the market and thus my only option.