Buying a Digital Camera in America

[WDWFOREVER]

DH wants to buy a digital camera (preferably Sony) when we go to WDW next Saturday(!). He would like to know whether anyone else has bought one while on holiday in WDW and whether the guarantee, if you have had to use it, really was "international", i.e. if you had problems with the camera, were you able to get it fixed back in the UK?

Also, if you have bought a digital camera in America, was there a problem when downloading to your computer?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Personally, I would prefer to spend the money on a giant Winnie-the-Pooh .......................

Jackie

 

[TigH]

We bought our camera online. I don't know what the shipping charges would be if you decided to do the same thing (if you bought it online from a US site).

Check out http://www.bilibi.com That's where we got our camera. We went to Circuit City to do some hands-on research. I think they are a national electronic retail store (I know they are up and down the east coast). The price of the camera we got was about $150 more at Circuit City than it was online.

Good luck and have a great vacation!

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Just one point worth checking: some digital cameras are able to display pictures on TV's, but there is a difference in TV format in the USA compared to the UK (NTSC compared to PAL). It might be worth checking to see if a camera designed for the USA market will work with UK TVs. Can't help with the warranty question.

My brother-in-law bought a camcorder in Orlando last year. As far as I can tell the price he paid was not cheaper than he could have got from a decent mail-order company in the UK. My impression is that to get really keen prices when buying electrical goods in the USA you have to use mail order places (as the previous poster said) rather than visit the shops which cater for the tourist market in Orlando. You could try having stuff delivered to your holiday address having previuosly ordered it via the internet - I did this with some home cinema speakers and saved myself several hundred $$$s.

Regards

Rob

 

[thefatman]

Of all the makes available, it seem Sony products are ALWAYS cheaper in the US. ( something to do with european price fixing !)
You could spend many hours of valuable holiday time going from shop to shop looking to save a few $$...
As in the UK the best deals will no doubt be mail order, however this can cause no end of problems if your from the UK as many dealers are only authorised to ship to card holders home adresses.
Also be aware many US warranties are only for 90 days, so may be worth factoring in a breakdown insurance policy, as for PAL/NTSC tv output I think most modern cameras are built for a world market and are switchable, there seems very few digital stills camera's with different model varieties from country to country, unlike video cameras which do vary from region to region.

PC connections are the same the world over, normally USb or you can get a card reader for £25.

If you know the model you want another saving option is to buy from Dixons at the airport duty free as your leaving.

Personally if its to take holiday memories I'd be buying it today and having a good old play so you don't stand there leaving Mickey waiting whilst your trying to adjust your new camera

 

[WDWFOREVER]

Thanks for the replies everyone - much appreciated. DH and I are going to sift through the information you have all given and decide what to do then.

Thankfully, the camera would be a "boy's toy" and not something we want to use to capture holiday memories - DH already has a Nikon (with tons of lenses!) and a small Minolta for that! He just loves cameras and since we got the computer, wants to play with a digital camera! As I said above, "boy's toys" which I am sure most of you can relate to!

Thanks again.

Jackie

 

[udnylad]

I was wondering the same thing about purchasing a digital camera on holiday. For all the reasons Dave gave above, I have just purchased myself a new digital camera in the U.K. I saved over £50 on the Dixon’s price by using a price comparison web site. The site I used was http://www.simply-camera-prices.co.uk/
I have also used http://www.price-guide.co.uk/ in the past as well.
You should think about not buying a lot of memory in the U.K. because you will save money by purchasing that in the USA.

HTH

 

[WDWFOREVER]

Thanks very much for the link. Its a really good site - just what we need - thanks. No doubt I will lose DH on the computer tonight comparing prices .....!

Jackie

 

[dannyrose]

Hi jackie

Although not purchased in the US, I got a Sony Mavica off Ebay (from a USA supplier) a couple of years back (the customs charges were horendous but I still saved over £100). Unfortunately the camera developed a fault just over the 90 day warranty period (the fatman is right). I contacted Sony UK who happily fixed the problem and shipped it back to me at no charge.

Hope that helps.

Mark

 

[BevS97]

I bought my brother one in Walmart last year - mainly because at the time digital cameras were still very expensive over here - in the last year I think they have dropped in price quite a lot. We have had no trouble with the camera so I couldn't really tell you about the warranty - but it has worked with his pc fine.

Bev

 

[Theresa Hudson]

It was $1000 rather than £1000 here, also got a better deal on the case and memory sticks.

It's wondeful camera, highly recommend it, no problem downloading at all. I was using it at Disney the next day.

Haven't tested the warranty and hope I don't have to!

Theresa

 

[neilybealy]

hi all

i'm wanting to buy a digital camcorder and have thought about waiting til Sept when we are in orlando but wondered if i might get a really good deal over there?

reading earlier posts it looks like just buying one in the shops won't actually save alot and you'd have to mail order just like you do in the uk to get the best deals.

any advice would be appreciated

cheers

neil

 

[SimonY]

Not from personal experience but one thing to consider is if the device has a specific power charger. US work on 110V and, of course, we have 240V. Many transformers will work anywhere in the world and will be marked "INPUT 100-240V~" or similar - you should be OK with these. It seems likely that this type would be supplied otherwise Americans couldn't ever use their video/digital cameras in the UK (or only until the batteries run out)!

Of course the plug won't fit in the socket when you get home - you may need an adapter or a different lead. Alternatively you could source the UK power adaptor on return.

 

[MalcolmC]

... or you could cut the US plug off and fit a UK one.

 

[panpant]

Have to say that having just returned, I bought a new Sony digital camera from Circuit City.
The model is the DSC-S75, 3.3 magapixels, zoom...

The cost was $499 and the memory sticks, $89 foe a 128mb stick.

Yes, the voltage is worldwide and can be powered all over the globe.

The plug, is as everyone says different but Walmart, Target, K-Mart all sell adaptors for about $10.

Am really pleased with the pictures, even at second highest setting, can get 133 pictures or so from each stick.


Hope this helps


Greg

 

[dwbakerjr]

We just bought a Sony Mavica-2000. Only about $550, and the big reason we bought it was NO MEMORY STICKS. It writes (and erases if you wish) to a Mini-read/write CD. No downloading.. just stick the CD in the computer CD drive, and edit, or cut-paste, or zip up a group of pix, or whatever.. WE luv it so far (only have had it about 4 months)..