Purchasing Lighting Gear in Paris? Pro Photo Stores?

[marissa_c._boucher]

<p>Hi,<br>

Our studio wil be putting on a photography workshop in Paris in early April of 2009 and we're having a hard time finding Professional photo stores that physically stock even the most basic lighting equipment. Ex. Smith-Victor Photoflood kits. We figure that the purchase would outweigh the hassle of shipping our lighting and also purchasing heavy duty power converter units.<br>

We would greatly appreciate any info as I've done google searches, photo.net searches and all the suggested stores don't seem to carry actual lighting gear. Maybe I missed something, but I've checked FNAC, Picto, Lotz, etc. suggested on photo.net and come up short.<br>

My last hope is Objectif but their website doesn't have an english view option. I'll have to give them a call to check. I would imagine with how much photography takes place in Paris in terms of fashion, etc that there's tons of places but they aren't coming up on google searches.<br>

Any ideas? Thanks in advance,<br>

Weston<br>

<b>Signature URL deleted. Not permitted by photo.net.</b>

[aplumpton]

<p>Try http://www.lightcubepro.com.</p>

<p>If you Google "Paris photographique éclairage" you may find some other vendors or lighting renters.</p>

<p>If you are not speaking French, try contacting them anyway in English. The worse you can receive is no reply.</p>

<p>If you talk to them they will undoubtably recognize the roots of your family name if pronounced like the phonetic analogy "Boo-shay".</p>

<p> </p>

[sandor_a._feher]

<p>

<p>The camera stores mostly are located in the Bastille (11th) district along Boulevard Beaumarchais. At 8 Bd Beaumarchais, 75011 the Hotel Lyon Mulhouse Bastille is located and just one door shy from the hotel entrance is to PROFOTO http://www.profoto-fr.com/. Its is a small store comparing to some power giants out here on the West Coast. I was disappointed in most of the stores along this Boulevard. We are spoiled by stores here in the USA as Paris is described the fashion capital, one would think camera stores would be widely to choose from but not so. Prepare, prices are high.</p>

</p>

[gordon_lukesh1]

<p>There is a small Leica store in the Bastille area. We bought our 21mm there several years ago. On the wall was a signed and framed check to the store from Cartier-Bresson. Unknown to us, he lived to about 96! The store is tiny but probably has US$1M in stock.</p>

[steve_unsworth1]

<p>The shop with the HCB autographed cheque - it's a photocopy, I assume they cashed the original - is Maison du Leica. There are maybe a dozen shops from the Bastille end of Beaumarchais up to the Cirque d'Hiver. As mentioned prices are high, so don't expect any bargains.</p>

[marissa_c._boucher]

<p>Thanks for the input everyone, much appreciated. I have been in touch with a bunch of photo stores along with the ones you mentioned but have still come up short. None so far rent gear and the lighting they do carry starts at a super high grade. I'm really just looking for basic smith-victor flood type light kits that are around $100-$200 here in the USA. Basically plan on leaving them there or selling them back to the store before leaving.<br>

The lightclubpro store is actually online only. I suppose we could purchase ahead of time and have them shipped but the logistics and risk involved may be too much for us to chance for the workshop.<br>

I am also trying to find a place that may rent commercial grade power/voltage converters as if I could rent one we could bring our smith-victor lights and use those.<br>

I'm doing some more googling today, wish me luck! Thanks again everyone.</p>

[marissa_c._boucher]

<p>An update to my post in hopes of helping someone in the future...<br>

We ended up finding a company called MatPhot (that has 3 locations in Paris, France) to rent our photography workshop equipment from. Michael, who seems to be the manager, has been corresponding with our studio by email in an effort to finalize a rental quote before we arrive. He has been very patient with us as we've had to make some additions and subtractions to the quote but the store seems to have a solid selection of pro equipment. From lights, to cameras, lenses to specific accessories like sandbags, extension cords. All the things you would need for a pro shoot. The one thing they didn't seem to have though was Photoflood lights but they do have Fresnels, strobes, and continuous 1000w to make up for it.<br>

http://www.matphot.com/<br /> <br /> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><br>

MATPHOT Paris <br /> 36 rue René Boulanger<br /> 75010 Paris<br>

Tel: 01 43 47 20 25<br /> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><br>

Matphot Lille <br /> 145 avenue de la République<br /> 59110 La Madeleine<br>

Tel: 03 20 74 20 25<br /> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><br>

Studio Bastille <br /> 36 boulevard de la Bastille<br /> 75012 Paris<br>

01 43 47 35 96<br /> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>></p>

<p>Thanks again for the help everyone,<br>

Weston<br /> http://www.TheBoudoirDivas.com<br /> http://www.BoucherPhotography.com</p>