Travel Photography - Singapore Airport or Tokyo for camera equipment

Hi,

I am shortly flying up to Tokyo for a brief holiday and transiting Singapore for 5 hours. I want to purchase a couple of new lenses, a 50mm fixed and a 200mm telephoto. Because I will have limited time in Tokyo and although I'm staying in Shinju-ku near some good shops, is it better to purchase my equipment at Singapore Airport on my way through or wait until I get to Tokyo?

I don't want to lose a lot of time in Tokyo shopping (or looking for shops, I've not been there before) so I'd appreciate some advice from anyone who could help.

Thanks,

During your transit in Singapore, head through imigrations and get a taxi to take you to Sim Lim Square. Usually works out cheaper than the airport prices, and heavens know I've taken my share of Nikon gear with me from there. :p

-A

During your transit in Singapore, head through imigrations and get a taxi to take you to Sim Lim Square. Usually works out cheaper than the airport prices, and heavens know I've taken my share of Nikon gear with me from there. :p

-A

Thanks for that. Is there a particular shop that you would recommend as there seem to be quite a few to choose from?

Cheers

Personally, I've found neither country to have significantly discounted prices from Canada/US. Not sure about where you're from...

Just make sure you know your locally discounted prices before you leave. In Tokyo, ther are tons of camera shops in Shinkjuku. BIC camera for one. Just walk around, find a store that has tons of electronics in front (usually the cell phones) and 99.9% of the time they'll have a fairly large selection of camera equipment.

Thanks for that. Is there a particular shop that you would recommend as there seem to be quite a few to choose from?

Alans Photo's on ground floor. Be careful of anywhere in Sim Lim (and many other areas in Singapore) - make sure you know exactly what you're supposed to be getting for the price, otherwise you might be surprised to find that something is missing from the box...

Personally I'd skip Sim Lim and instead go to John 3:16 in Funan or one of the shops in Peninsula Plaza (eg Cathay Photo) which is next door to Funan. You can also probably skip the taxi to get there and just catch the MRT to City Hall which is about a hundred metres from Funan.

You can re-claim most of the GST you pay once you get to the airport - just leave a bit of time to go through the process.

Can't speak for Singapore but as to Japan I cannot recommend buying camera gear there. Unless you are looking for some new thing that is not yet available in the states or buying to save a vacation after losing your camera, you will almost always get better prices in the US or Canada and not risk having to pay duty upon your return.

The above may not hold true if the OP is coming from someplace else that has high electronics prices.

Judging by the OPs programs, I assume they are based in Australia. Prices are obscenely high here, at least on pro-level kit compared to US prices. It is doubly painful given that the AUD is on parity with the USD. I'm talking about thousand's $ difference on some stuff.

I'd second the recommendation of making sure you know exactly what you want, what the comparative price is the the US (I use B&H as my baseline) and what should be in the box including warranty considerations.

I bought a ton of gear while working in China (from reputable dealers) that basically amounted to US pricing. But it was massively worth it compared to buying in Melbourne.

For what it's worth, the pricing issue is at the manufacturer level. Most retailers don't have large margins.

I would say you are better off buying in SG than Tokyo if you are just picking up some standard lenses. If you decide to do your shopping outside of the SG airport, you should be able to get a refund of the 7% GST for purchases above 4%.

You can refer to the Clubsnap forum for the latest street prices for camera bodies, lenses & accessories in SG - http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=124. They also maintain a list of popular dealers and their addresses/contacts.