OT - Camera shops in Belfast

[PaulG]

Are there any decent camera shops in Belfast with a good stock of camera bodies and lenses that I can swing around and get a feel of? Looking to check out the likes of the D700/D3/5D and decent lenses?

[MREGAN]

Jessops in High street although I wouldnt buy from them.
Black and Lizard also worth a look.

[ST Colin]

Yip, Jessops in High Street should have enough stock for you to try out. See what you want, then the interweb is your friend.

[jimjam]

As above - go to the shops, try them out but dont buy. You'll literally save hundreds buying online. Even more if you set up a business account with jessops or pc world.

Calumet photographic on boucher is probably the best shop in belfast.

[PaulG]

Great stuff. Thanks lads. I've generally bought from Park Cameras and Warehouse Express in the past. Now that I think of it, I even bought a 70-200mm IS F2.8 lens off Jessops in Derry. Weirdly they gave me a good price! Was quite strange when the manager nearly jissed in his togs when the lens arrived in the shop but then I guess they spend their time selling point and shoots.

Tempted to go from Canon to Nikon after flogging all my gear last year so really want to get a feel of the gear before I commit!

I never even realised Calumet was on the Boucher Road. I'll take a gander in there so. Have they an actual shop floor where you can see their stock? (Their ads all seem to show a counter nearly like Argos).

[jimjam]

I never even realised Calumet was on the Boucher Road. I'll take a gander in there so. Have they an actual shop floor where you can see their stock? (Their ads all seem to show a counter nearly like Argos).


Yeah they do. Stock on actual bodies seems a bit light but they have plenty of shiny gubbins to play with.

[MREGAN]

Tempted to go from Canon to Nikon

Have you any canon lenses left you are selling?

[PaulG]

Have you any canon lenses left you are selling?

The only lens I have is a Sigma 105mm F2.8 Macro lens. I'm going to hold onto it for now incase I go back to Canon. Flogged the rest of my lenses to Mifsuds who gave very good prices.

[AndyL]

2nd Calumet, and also Jessops who have been dead on for me so far. I shoot with Nikon myself, a D300, and would love the D700 for its low light abilities (the D300 is really good, the D700 is something else!)

[PaulG]

2nd Calumet, and also Jessops who have been dead on for me so far. I shoot with Nikon myself, a D300, and would love the D700 for its low light abilities (the D300 is really good, the D700 is something else!)

Personally I'm liking the D300 and 700. I know Nikon have a great 105mm Macro lens and there are the equivalent Tamron and Sigma lenses. They have the great 24-70mm F2.8 lens but the lack of lenses like Canons 17-40 F4 and 24-105 F4 IS are what is making me slightly wary of jumping to Nikon! (On the other hand I've no interest on upgrading my PC to cope with the 5DMkII's files!) What lenses are you using yourself? How do you find them?

Really liking the high ISO performance of the 700 myself.

[suspectmonkey]

I shoot with Nikon myself, a D300, and would love the D700 for its low light abilities (the D300 is really good, the D700 is something else!)

Do you do finance? ;)

[AndyL]

Do you do finance? ;)

I know a guy selling a near mint D300 for £700...

Ok my lenses...

Tokina 12-24mm f4
Nikon 18-200 VR
Sigma 28-105 f2.8-f4
Nikon 50mm f1.8
Sigma 70-300mm APO

The Tokina is my landscape lens, and is a bit of a stoater. A bit of distortion at 12mm, but show me what hasn't.
Nikon 18-200mm is surprisingly good, and goes on the camera as a holiday/wedding (not working)/travelling light and dont know what I'm shooting lens. Sharpness is good, and the VR is fantastic.
Sigma 28-105 is the indoor/low light lens, and has a usefiul zoom range. Used when its too dark for the 18-200.
Nikon 50mm f1.8 is the nifty fifty. Just buy one. Even better is the f1.4 but the price goes up exponentially. The shizzle, and finds its way onto my D300 way more than it has any right to. The bokeh, the sharpness, the low light abilities...
The Sigma 70-300 is a workhorse zoom, cheap and cheerful.

My lenses as of sometime next year:

The tokina and the Nikon 50mm f1.8

with a 24-70 f2.8

and the sigma or a 70-300VR or a 70-200 f2.8 if I get a lottery win...

Oh yeah, the D300 is very happy shooting at ISO 800 and more than acceptable at 1600. It saves the need for really fast expensive glass, but doesn't take away the desire for the same...

[AndyHa]

there is a place in around duncrue that is supposed to have a massive stock andyb may be able to point you in the right direction

[ST Colin]

That's also another Calumet shop in Duncrue. Can't remember there being a lot of open stock when I was last round, but things may have changed.

[jimjam]

there is a place in around duncrue that is supposed to have a massive stock andyb may be able to point you in the right direction


It's not there anymore. They moved to Boucher.

[ST Colin]

So things did change then :p

[shakie]

Hi,

there is another shop over there: DLK Photo http://www.dlkphoto.co.uk/

afraid i've never used them before - i'd always pop into calumet...

Thumbs up for the D300 - though needs the right glass.

[jonnyboy]

Try these guys. Got a few things cheaper compared to Ebays etc.

http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/

[PaulG]

I'll give Calumet a go. Thanks for all the info.

AndyL - Thanks for all the info on the lenses. Go get a that 70-200mm lens. I used to have the Canon version on a 1DsMkII. Absolutely phenominal performance and image quality. I can't believe I justified selling it but then again you can't go cycling on a camera ;)

[monty]

there's a girl called 'Kerso' on ebay, if I have time I'll try and find her account, but she sells things super cheap, and if you dont buy them on ebay you save an extra tenner!
Got my 70-200 f/4l there for (i think) 350 quid