Good experience at AP Sim Lim

[shas3n]

After seeing threads on too many complaints about bad experieces at several shops, though will share some good experience too!!
I wanted to buy a cam for a friend. We were not really sure what we wanted. We were considering either a good digcam or a DSLR.
So we went to Sim Lim to find out. We went to one shop (dont remember the name now) to enquire and he was bit too over friendly and almost got us convinced that Nikon Coolpix 5700 is a DSLR:angry: We doubten his intensions and excused ourselves.
Then we went to AP and it was so crowded (being a weekend).
We were really scared to approach the salesman since we though it will not be the best time for us to ask in detail the merits and demerits of each camera and so on. We were afraid we will be chased away
But the salesmen at the counter (one man about 45-50 and one about 55-60 years) listend to our boubts and clarified a lot of things. Unfortunately only then we realised that we needed a DSLR but did not have enough budget
We said so and without a hint of impatience, he said we can come back anytime and then went on to the other customers.
This was too pleasent experience for us who were very apprehensive about the attitude of Shopowners at Sim Lim. The first shop owner kept up to Sim Lim's reputation (especially being a forigner [Indian] and being new to singapore, i have heard too many stories about Sim Lim)
You now know what shop i will go when i buy my next cam.
BTW, is there any discount if you say you are a clubsnap member? Remember reading somthing like this in one of the threads but unable to locate it.
Thanks for reading my short novel
Let us hear some reccomondations like this too so that we see the brighter sides and will know for sure that not everyone in the world is there to cheat you.
- Shastri

 

[majere2sg]

Unfortunately I was there yesterday and was quoted $500 for a zoom lens which I later bought at another shop for $340. :dunno:

 

[espn]

Ooo somebody got a TANDY hor...

 

[shas3n]

Originally posted by espn
Ooo somebody got a TANDY hor...

I did not quite understand this.

 

[shas3n]

Originally posted by majere2sg
Unfortunately I was there yesterday and was quoted $500 for a zoom lens which I later bought at another shop for $340. :dunno:

Oh you mean all of them are same when it comes to over pricing?
Maybe next time i should make some more research.

 

[keicheng]

Hi,

I think Alan Photo is a honest shop unlike some shops in Sim Lim. However, when come to service quality, I can only say that there are a lot of room for improvement, i.e., Sales are too busy, different sales give different prices, I won't say the sales are rude but give extremely concise answers (e.g., "Yes", "No", "10 dollars", etc).

Frankly, I bought most of my gears from Alan. There are 2 reasons:
1. It is honest; and
2. The price is usually good.

As far as services are concerned, MSColor should be a better bet (just tried last week, better get an e-quote before purchasing).

Regards,
Keicheng

 

[liuhao]

i was deserved to have new sets bcos i paid for the new set price. but i always got display sets (or even worse like returned set) from AP. i wont call that honest.

anyway i think i have enough reason not to go there anymore, even their prices are lower.

 

[NiVleK]

After doing intensive equoting from AP, CP and MS Color, only MS color replied me within 2-3 days. CP is also rather fast in replying but the service in CP marina really needs some improvement. The service in MS is :thumbsup:, they are really friendly.

None of my equotes have been returned from AP after about 1+ week.

 

[majere2sg]

I never did any equote from MScolors but was quoted $340 for the zoom lens instead of $500 from AP. Do we really need EQUOTE to get the best and lowest price ? :dunno:

 

[jtnet]

Originally posted by majere2sg
Unfortunately I was there yesterday and was quoted $500 for a zoom lens which I later bought at another shop for $340. :dunno:

i've got similar experience with AP too. The pricing can be a big different. Following the first incident, realize that MS gives a better quote for many of my purchases. Ultimately, it is still important to know your price before purchasing.

Well the first shop that U went to is in a sense correct. CP 5700 is a SLR Camera- SLR stands for Single Lens Reflects. I think this is a point that many of us had over look. Just that it is not a "conventional" SLR where one can fully exploits the feature such as speed, aperture, interchangeable lens and so on. Hence, it is put under the proconsumer range of Digicam.

 

[NiVleK]

Originally posted by majere2sg
I never did any equote from MScolors but was quoted $340 for the zoom lens instead of $500 from AP. Do we really need EQUOTE to get the best and lowest price ? :dunno:

I guess not really if you bargain at the store. Cos when I bought my U8000 at MS, I did not show my equote and try to bargain. Then the guy said $55, no lesser but I said I did an equote then he say ok, $45. He also mentioned something like "ya, do equote cheaper".

Logic wise, I still dunno why doing equote will be cheaper. But since MS replies rather fast, I am really doing lots of equotes with them to find out the price first.

 

[Winston]

Originally posted by jtnet
i've got similar experience with AP too. The pricing can be a big different. Following the first incident, realize that MS gives a better quote for many of my purchases. Ultimately, it is still important to know your price before purchasing.

Well the first shop that U went to is in a sense correct. CP 5700 is a SLR Camera- SLR stands for Single Lens Reflects. I think this is a point that many of us have over look. Just that it is not a "conventional" SLR where one can fully exploits the feature such as speed, aperture, interchangeable lens and so on. Hence, it is put under the proconsumer range of Digicam.

CP5700 is NOT a Single Lens Reflex (not reflect) camera.

A SLR is a camera that has a mirror behind the lens, and the user sees the image from the viewfinder which the image is coming in from the lens, reflected by the mirror to the user.

So the user sees what the lens sees.

The Coolpix 5700's view finder is a EVF or Electronic View Finder, it does not show what's behind the lens, rather it shows what's on the CCD, just like a LCD screen of most digicams.

When you change the aperature settings, you notice the EVF on the view finder brighten up or darken depending on the values.

If the image is from behind the lens like a real SLR/DSLR, you cannot see the change in the aperature settings from the viewfinder.

The reason you see the change on an EVF is the EVF is showing what's on the CCD sensor.

So a CP5700 cannot be called a SLR or DSLR camera, even dpreview only listed it as a "SLR-like" camera and not a DSLR camera. (key word is "like")

The Olympus E20 is different, although it cannot change lens, it is still a SLR, because the viewfinder is optical and the view is from behind the lens, reflected by the mirror behind the lens.

Explanation of SLR.
"In the SLR type of reflex camera, a single lens is used for both viewing the scene and taking the photograph. A hinged mirror situated between the lens and the film reflects the image formed by the lens through a five-sided prism and onto a ground-glass screen on top of the camera. At the moment the shutter is opened, a spring automatically pulls the mirror out of the path between lens and film. Because of the prism, the image recorded on the film is almost exactly that which the camera lens “sees,” without any parallax effects."
Source from http://www.highlanderfilm.com/new2432.html



The CP5700 simply does not have a hinged mirror nor a prism to direct the image from behind the lens to the viewfinder.

The Definition of SLR is not simply based on the fact that the lens can be interchangeable or speed or aperature can be changed like you mentioned.

The "SLR" refers to the way the image is projected from the lens to the camera user's eyes. via the mirror and prism.

 

[jtnet]

Hi Winston

thanx for the correction there.
Hmm i'll then hve to get back to the Nikon guy who sold me the camera at a recent fair. He's is the one who told me this!

 

[Jean]

side track: where is this MScolors and do they have a website?

 

[AJ23]

www.mscolor.com.sg

 

[djchris]

I've never considered AP in my purchases for some time cause I found that they only reply equotes enquiring about expensive equipment..

 

[Winston]

Originally posted by djchris
I've never considered AP in my purchases for some time cause I found that they only reply equotes enquiring about expensive equipment..

Then you have been approaching the wrong salesman...

There are many salesman in AP, there are only 2 fav ones that I buy from, I try to remember their "off" days and I do not buy when they are not in.

I tend to call before going down to check if they are in.

Stick to the saleman that give you a good price, so he remembers you by name and you remember him.

 

[munfai]

Originally posted by NiVleK
CP is also rather fast in replying but the service in CP marina really needs some improvement.

quite on the contrary, i've found that CP staff at Marina to be very friendly as well. CP staff which need some major attitude improvement are those over at the medium format section at Peninsula.

 

[bell]

Jus to share my experience... was there at AP last Friday afternoon. Wanted to buy a CF card (Transcend, 512 MB). Was quoted $230 and half an hour later by a more senior-looking salesman $215 who agreed to reduce to $210. So you see, the sales guys there quote differently - better check out prices before buying. Found the older salesman friendlier and easy to negotiate. So, avoid the younger ones.

And yes, MSColour's e-quotes are usually lower too.

 

[Marx]

Originally posted by Winston
Then you have been approaching the wrong salesman...

There are many salesman in AP, there are only 2 fav ones that I buy from, I try to remember their "off" days and I do not buy when they are not in.

I tend to call before going down to check if they are in.

Stick to the saleman that give you a good price, so he remembers you by name and you remember him.

Hi Winston,

Can try giving a name or hint maybe??

For me, I'm quite pleased by the sales attitude of Mr. T@n