help needed in buying lens in japan

[kadingz]

hey people. i'll be going to japan, hokkaido for a holiday soon and i'm intending to buy a 12-60mm while i'm there.

problem is, i will only have 3 hours of transit at Narita airport meaning that i won't be able to go down to downtown tokyo to buy it. so now i'm wondering if i should buy it at narita airport so i can use it during the days when i'm at hokkaido, or should i wait for the "shopping time" (my family's following a tour group) on the 2nd last day of the trip?

i've searched threads regarding buying lenses at narita, but does anyone has an idea how much more expensive as compared to hokkaido? any comments on what i should do?

thanks in advance!

[CIO]

Originally Posted by kadingz hey people. i'll be going to japan, hokkaido for a holiday soon and i'm intending to buy a 12-60mm while i'm there. problem is, i will only have 3 hours of transit at Narita airport meaning that i won't be able to go down to downtown tokyo to buy it. so now i'm wondering if i should buy it at narita airport so i can use it during the days when i'm at hokkaido, or should i wait for the "shopping time" (my family's following a tour group) on the 2nd last day of the trip? i've searched threads regarding buying lenses at narita, but does anyone has an idea how much more expensive as compared to hokkaido? any comments on what i should do? thanks in advance!

Just came back from Hokkaido.

forget about airports. I don't think you can get the lense cheaper at any airports in Japan. In Sapporo, I went to the BIC Camera (also the one near Shinjuku train station), I did not see any 12-60mm lense there. The E420 + 25mm pancake deal in Singapore seems better (according to the other thread). But there is an interesting deal there if you do not have a body and the 70-300mm lense. You buy either E3, E520 (or E510 if my memory serves me well), then by paying another 5,000 yen, you get the 70-300mm lense. A very good deal IMHO.

[egnaro]

Originally Posted by kadingz hey people. i'll be going to japan, hokkaido for a holiday soon and i'm intending to buy a 12-60mm while i'm there. problem is, i will only have 3 hours of transit at Narita airport meaning that i won't be able to go down to downtown tokyo to buy it. so now i'm wondering if i should buy it at narita airport so i can use it during the days when i'm at hokkaido, or should i wait for the "shopping time" (my family's following a tour group) on the 2nd last day of the trip? i've searched threads regarding buying lenses at narita, but does anyone has an idea how much more expensive as compared to hokkaido? any comments on what i should do? thanks in advance!

seriously if i am the one going to japan for holiday, I will buy the lens in SG then shoot in Japan, not buy the lens in japan then shoot in SG.

how much cheaper can the price be in Japan?

[sunfish]

Originally Posted by egnaro how much cheaper can the price be in Japan?

Significantly cheaper to me, when the 50-200mm was S$1600 here, I got mine in Japan for S$1100. When the FL50 was S$600+ here, I got mine for S$480 in Japan. When the 70-300mm was S$600+ here, I got mine for S$380 in Japan...and the list goes on...

[sunfish]

I usually check out the prices here... http://kakaku.com/itemlist/I1050105040N101/ it helps if you read Japanese. Those BIC, Yodaobashi, etc are usually not the cheapest place in Japan. But they are good for window shopping and trying out the display sets

[egnaro]

Originally Posted by sunfish Significantly cheaper to me, when the 50-200mm was S$1600 here, I got mine in Japan for S$1100. When the FL50 was S$600+ here, I got mine for S$480 in Japan. When the 70-300mm was S$600+ here, I got mine for S$380 in Japan...and the list goes on...

haha didnt know the diff is so much... everywhere in japan sell cheap?

[cater]

Originally Posted by sunfish I usually check out the prices here... http://kakaku.com/itemlist/I1050105040N101/ it helps if you read Japanese. Those BIC, Yodaobashi, etc are usually not the cheapest place in Japan. But they are good for window shopping and trying out the display sets

wow!!! a big difference in pricing. wish SG has such pricing.

[uglymale]

i bought an olympus strap, flash, lens and filter there when i was there last week... now i'm friggin broke. lol.

anybody familiar with marumi dhg lens protect filters? are they any good?

although yodobashi is expensive for retail price, they have a gold point card program where they credit you points directly claimable for store products. for example, i spent Y100,000 on the lens and filter, and then i used Y10,600 worth of points earned to offset the price of the flash (Y26,800); therefore i only paid Y16,200 for the flash.

[kadingz]

Thanks for the response people (:.

yeah i checked out the prices at kakaku.com too (i can't read Japanese so i used google translator), but unfortunately the prices are only applicable to the shops down in Tokyo and the like, which i don't have the time to go down to. i'm intending to buy it there so i can use it during the trip (ie. buy on the first day), so now i'm just hoping that the price at the airport would be better than what i can get in SGP. just a bit lower (hopefully ~$100 cheaper) then i grab liao.

worst case scenario is if airport pricing more than here. then =|.

[Oly5050]

was in japan just a couple of months ago. from wat i see, if u want to get second hand stuff or some stuff which totally not available in singapore, u can buy there. as for prices, usually quite fixed and u may get 10 to 15 percent discount if u live in japan in the form of rebates in the big shop. for the 12-60, i think between japan and here, u are far better off here _ www.zhuihuay.com