Dealer for Fujinon LF lenses in Japan

[Peter Brown]

Hi all,

Does anyone know of a reputable dealer in Japan who sells Fujinon LF lenses. Please provide a web or email address if known.

Thanks

Regards Peter Brown

[fw]

If you live in Japan, go to Yodobashi in Shinjuku, where you will find most of the Fujinon and Nikkor LF lenses on display and available for purchase.

You will find it much harder to find a Japanese company who will deal with you by mail order if you live outside Japan ; your best bets would then probably be Robert White or Badger Graphics.

[Gavin Walker]

International mail order, eh? Hmm, not easy. If you can get over here then I'll agree with trying Yodobashi, but only for their ease of use. They're good if you're only in Japan for a few days, but recently they seem to be charging a distinct premium, visible if you shop around. Most of the large chains will do duty free sales if you have a foreign passport, but another option is to use a discount point card, which most of the big chains have. This will give you 5- 15% as points. Not sure if you need to be a resident to get one, so you may need to take someone shopping. You can buy something, get the points, then immediately buy something else using those points. One problem is that the big chains tend to have a stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap approach, so tend not to carry a huge range of LF gear. Fujinon lenses are not a problem though, but anything more exotic and you'd be better off trying a smaller retailer. For example, Yodobashi in Shinjuku is the main store and has the widest selection of LF gear, but it's still a bit disappointing. If you want the absolute cheapest prices and largest range, then pick up one of the larger camera magazines like 'Asahi Camera', but you'll obviously need some Japanese speaking assistance. As an aside, Photo Japan is a pretty useful site for hints. FW is right when he says that you probably won't find a Japanese dealer who ships internationally. I hear the situation is much better if you find a dealer in HK or Singapore. One drawback I'm finding is that even the huge chain stores don't show their LF prices on their websites; you either have to call them or physically go to the store. Anyway, good luck! You can drop me a mail if you want any more hints, and I'll no doubt be in Shinjuku soon (addicted) if you want a price for comparison purposes.

[mike rosenlof]

Yodobashi is www.yodobashi.co.jp you'll need a Japanese capable browser to read it. At least once I found on their web page that they will only ship within Japan. There's also www.sakuraya.co.jp, another large camera store. There's another one called BIC, but I'm not sure of their URL.

The Sakura-ya web site shows shops near Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Shibuya, Tokyo (Yaesu side), Omiya, Yokohama and a couple of others whose Kanji I can't read.

There are large shops near Shinjuku and Ikebukuro stations, and maybe Shibuya. I'll be there in a month and would be willing to investigate a little bit.

[mike rosenlof]

Kichijoji and Okachimachi are the other two.

[Peter Brown]

Thanks for those suggestions everyone.

I'll look into it further.

Kind regards

Peter Brown