Tom G wrote:
FYI: There are very few to none (Camera Stores) in case you hadn't noticed.
It is true that every town over 1000 had a camera store when I started shooting(70s) and I started looking for them recently and a lot of those very fine stores are gone today, but many of the old name stores still exist Names like Norman's Camera in Kalamazoo, Mark's in Grand Rapids, The Camera Shop in Muskegon. Yes, they are 50 miles away from where I live, but in rural west Michigan, everything you need is a half day trip.
The kids in Best Buy and Cosco can tell you the price on any camera in the store, and they will always push the model that the store has the highest profit on. I doubt very few have ever shot a camera outside complete automatic. The folks at B&H, Adorama, Focus, and other shops that we all know and use are great places to buy cameras, but they leave it to you to figure out what you want, and all they can do with a camera is receive it from you and send it to Canon.
You and I need that local camera shop to survive! They can fix small problems like Old Roy's, often without cost. and, these local camera shops need us! When I bought my current Canon, Norman's in Kalamazoo had their prices set to match the best of the national market; they didn't have to look up the price at B&H or Amazon as they do at Best buy, They check and set their prices routinely, and the person walking in the door gets the best national price.
And you can fondle the merchandise to see what makes your heart skip a beat. you can try that 10-1000 super duper zoom on the camera of your choice. Most stores will give a trade in so they also have a supply of used lenses and bodies.
That old adage: you break it, you bought it - that applies to your equipment as well; if you use someone's concoction to clean your camera and it never turns on again - then you will just have to go buy a new camera (YEA!), but if you hand it to a representative of a camera store, in a (semi) working condition, and they render it not working, they own the solution. Again, if you try the solution and kill your camera, and bring that tidbit back here, someone is bound to say "Yeah, I've killed a couple of cameras with that solution", and then they will go comment on someone's pictures..... (Peter, that is not a negative comment on you, I have used water, alcohol and soap (a drop of Dawn to a gallon of solution) on fine optics successfully as well)
I will drive the 50 miles to a camera shop.
Where are the camera shops in your state or in a state you may be in when you need one?
http://www.camerashops.us/