Opinion: Where to shop for cameras, lenses and all your favorite photography goodies in two of the world's most photog-friendly cities.Both Tokyo and New York have wonderful camera and electronics shops. Stores any of us would run to straight from the airport, with luggage in tow. I'm going to talk about two such shops, Tokyo's Yodobashi and New York's B&H Photo in this column.
As the world's main producer of photo equipment, Tokyo is home to the grandest camera store in the world: Yodobashi Camera, located at Shinjuku. I'm not sure it's the largest such shop, because Yodobashi is a chain. But when you approach Yodobashi Camera from Shinjuku, you'll find the salesmen out in the street hawking cell phones and shouting into loudspeakers.
Their head-office in Japan's second city Osaka is also a monster, possibly even larger than the Tokyo branch.
By the way, if you ever go to Japan, you should know that there are three big retailers: Yodobashi Camera, Sakura Camera and Bic Camera. They're all huge, with many branches, and each runs a points system. If you ask nicely you get a card, which is credited with about ten percent of each purchase. On the next purchase you can pay with the credit you've earned. Some stores allow you to use the credit immediately, some insist on a day's delay.
As you enter the store proper at Yodobashi, you'll find it crammed—stuffed with jostling customers, loud music and sales personnel. As far as I could see, every single laptop model in Japan is displayed on that ground floor!
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Walking further into the shop, past laptops, desktop computers and printers, you'll find a huge array of digital point-and-shoot cameras. All major digital SLRs, best selling lenses and memory cards can also be purchased here, including the big-ticket items. It's the ideal place for the shopper in a hurry.
The big Yodobashi store is as busy, as noisy, and as much fun as an amusement arcade. However, a second smaller and more contemplative specialty Yodobashi location awaits the camera buyer around the corner.
The smaller Yodobashi camera store located next to the main building again displays current items on the ground floor, but the interesting stuff is on the upper floors. Here it's cameras only, no computers.
Every manufacturer has a reserved shrine, like a minor deity. Every major 35mm SLR body can be found chained to some self-service display table, including the most expensive devices. Mysteriously, batteries are always charged, so when you pick up a body and trigger the shutter it focuses and fires.
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Walking around the specialty Yodobashi is fun, because you can heft all the SLRs, compare the viewfinders and the ergonomics of the controls. As far as I have seen, every item in the Canon or Nikon catalog is held in stock, if at all available. This is the perfect place for purchasing a lens, a replacement battery or a focusing screen - if it's listed in the maker's catalog, they'll have it.
And regarding carrying cases, tripods, or frames for displaying images - if somebody buys it, they sell it.
Next Page: B&H Photo is a Photographer's World of Wonders.
I shouldn't forget to tell you that there is a definite language barrier when shopping in Japan. For the foreign buyer, written communication may be a good way to go. Bring a notepad to write the name of the rarity you are looking for. A sketch or two can also do wonders. However, the staff is incredibly patient and will never try to push a sale. They will fetch lenses and let you compare, for hours on end if need be. Oh, and did I mention that the prices are good?
Now, some of my readers may not be lucky enough to visit Tokyo, but might manage to get to New York. Here The magic name is B&H Photo. B&H has built an excellent reputation in the mail order business, but the bricks and mortar part of their operation is well worth visiting.
B&H occupies a whole block on 34th and 8th on the west side of Manhattan. That's a large store. B&H seems to be run mainly by Hassidic jews—and therefore closes early on Friday and the whole day Saturday. In compensation, Sundays, the day I went, is the busiest day.
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Adding to the effect of the crowd, packages clatter overhead on a conveyor belt.
If you're a tourist, you can find a collection of the usual consumer electronics here - I saw them do a brisk business in iPods, video cameras, and point-and-shoots. Every consumer model you can name, they got it, and cheap. Even better, it's usually on display, you can play with it unsupervised, to your heart's content.
However, where this store really shines is in the pro-sumer photo section. The salesmen are highly knowledgeable and virtually any brand 35mm camera and virtually any lens is available on request from the SLR counter. I played around with a couple of Canon telephotos. Such $4000 monster lenses as the 300/F2.8 are usually hard to find in a shop, but here if you ask, you can get to try one or two. Until their patience with you runs out.
Even more remarkable to a pro is the lighting section; more studio strobes and reflectors are on display here than in any other place I've ever been. And a printed catalog as fat as a telephone directory lists more flash units and light shapers than I knew existed. If you go there, get that catalog for reference! I also found some free samples of Photoshop User magazine.
A store such as B&H is worth visiting as much for the main items as for the accessories - plugs, cables, filters, straps, backpacks, travel cases and other what-nots. Now, B&H carry a huge selection of such add-ons and they're not overpriced. There are even some extra-cheap pre-owned bargains like cases to be found in the used camera department on the upper floor. As well as some novelty items: that's where I found my "Got Film?" t-shirt.
Even though B&H have an excellent reputation in mail order, items are statistically bound to get lost or damaged in transit. At the store itself, every item bought is checked by the salesman, and the boxed items are sent over to the cashiers via the overhead conveyor belt. I think the added safety provided by seeing the goods as you buy them is well worth paying NY sales tax. But remember, if you can, avoid Sundays. And, yes, the prices are excellent.
And here is my nutshell summary: B&H is at least as effective as Yodobashi at selling a pro the photo equipment he needs, but for window shoppers Yodobashi supplies infinitely more fun, as well as a much broader collection of consumer electronics.
