Los Angeles purchasing advice on the FA 50mm f1.4

Hi all. I am taking a group of students from my school on a graduation trip to

California (from Taiwan). We will be in LA for 4 days (26-29th May), and then in

San Francisco for 3 days. I am keen on getting hold of an FA 50mm f1.4. The

price I see on B&H is far cheaper than the best I can find here in Taiwan - the

best I can get it for here is about US$ 275 (depending on the exchange rate). I

see that B&H have it at US$199, but it is presently out of stock.

 

I will be staying at the Holiday Inn on Firestone Boulevard, Mirada. Are there

any good photographic equipment outlets nearby? And how would their prices

compare to B&H? And I would probably be more able to leave the kids in the

evenings - so a place that doesn't shut down at sunset would best. Alternatively

I could persuade the bus driver/tour guide etc. to go via somewhere on our way

to one of our many exhausting stops - (Long Beach Aquarium, J Paul Getty Museum,

Disneyland, Universal Studios, UCLA)

 

I would prefer to acquire this lens before all the traveling around and all the

photo ops that go along with all the attractions.

 

Anyone able to give me advice?

Check out buydig.com

 

http://www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=PKFA50F14

Hi Ryan. Thanks for the link.

 

My other problem is that Taiwan has a fair amount of import duty, so even if I did purchase the lens online and had it shipped out here, I would end up paying a fair amount for it with the postage and import duties.

 

I am more interested on the possibility of walking into a store in LA and buying it that way, unless of course shops in LA sell it for a lot more than the online option. In which case I might as well buy it here for US$ 275.

I'm in Georgia, so I can't speak for the shipping to CA, but you may want to consider having it shipped to your hotel. Even with the cost of express shipping, you may come out ahead. I bought mine last month from Adorama with no problems. They still have it in stock.

 

http://www.adorama.com/PX5014AFA.html?searchinfo=pentax%201.4&item_no=1

That sounds like a possibility Joe. I will look into that.

Hey Garry,

 

Not too far from where you are staying is a Camera shop called Bel Air Camera.

 

They have that lens for 199.99, and its in stock.

 

http://www.belaircamera.com/pentax1700_1.php

 

Good luck & have a safe trip.

 

Cadman

Thanks Cadman! Exactly what I was looking for!

 

Although your idea of nearby is not quite as close as mine! But I can see if we will be going past there on one of our outings. Thanks again.

The next question is how much the lens sells for when you walk in off the street. The website states that the prices shown are for internet purchases only. I don't want to wait until I'm there only to find that there is no great difference in price, meaning I could have supported my local dealer here without loosing out on saving much.

 

I could call or email the shop, but first I'll try and abuse the good folk of this forum ;-). Anyone have an idea?

Actually Cadman, the shop is right on our route for the first day. Thanks.

I have a manual M 50mm f1.4 that I'm currently experimenting with. Your posts now have me wanting to trade up from my F 50mm f1.7. Dang LBA.

from la mirada, you can shoot down (i mean crawl) the 5 fwy to the 55 fwy south, and go to either calumet, pro photo connection, or samy's . google any of them. la mirada is not exactly near any camera stores. the ones in OC i mentioned are probably closer than bel air camera.

Yeah, its right by UCLA. You said that you'd be in that area. I bought mine there for that price. I'm sure they will give you that price.

Jemal, I am willing to take the blame;-)! Go ahead, just say my name every time you feel bad or every time someone questions your LBA!

 

Dave, I'll check them out, thanks.

 

Cadman, a walk in price of 199 is great. That is really good news. Thanks again guys.

Garry, next time you are thinking of doing something like this.. give us some lead time. In which case somebody could order the lens for you ahead of time off the internet, and then when you get here.. you can have an exchange :-). Like if you were coming to the Phoenix area, I would have been happy to do that. Just a thought for the future..

Wow Haig, that is very thoughtful of you. I will definitely keep that in mind. Unfortunately, I only got the LBA craving for this lens this week. More time would definitely have been an improvement.

By the way Gary, does any of this look familiar to you ?<div></div>

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Maybe this? I visited Kaohsiung in February for 8 days. Unfortunately I was stuck playing in the Yeh Cup bridge tournament for most of it, so did not really get to visit too much. Next time hopefully..<div></div>

Wow Haig! Didn't know that the Chinese played bridge!

 

Cool shots! Next time you really should spend more time looking around. I personally don't like Kaohsiung that much. I think the center of the island is really the most beautiful - and that is why I live in the center!

 

So how did you do in the Bridge tourney?

Not all that great.. Got to the finals of the pair game, unfortunately i was playing with a very young Australian junior, and I think the pressure got to him a little bit :-). I would love to visit more of the island another time.. you are right about Kaohsiung.. but I took a tour to the south east side of the island, and that was quite pretty.. I hear there are some beautiful gorges.. and of course the museum in Taipei has to be worth seeing. The tournament is called the Yeh Brothers cup if you are interested enough to look it up. Hope you have a good trip!

Thanks Haig. The East is indeed beautiful. That is where you can see why the Portuguese named the island Formosa, meaning beautiful island.

 

Bridge is a great game in my limited experience. The only time I played a serious game of bridge was 20 years ago, within 150 meters from enemy positions on the border of Angola and Namibia, in a military underground bunker with a madman. A really freaky few nights!