New Supplies in Hong Kong

[finnagainn]

You may be lucky to find this or that piece of equipment in Hong Kong, but I would not count on real LF shopping experience here. There is no real variety and prices are quite high more often than not.
All addresses worth mentioning are in this thread already I guess. I suggest to walk down Stanley Street as well and that's all.
I am not that involved in HK LF life, but the few people I know buy from ebay and similar sources.

To give you an idea I saw 200mm Imagon on display for 1'800 USD (new though) and 4x5 film holders at 50 USD each (used!)

[Michael N. Meyer]

As a follow-up to my earlier post and in response to Rayt's comment, I should have noted that I didn't purchase anything from the shop I gave the address to or its neighbors and only took the briefest of glances at a couple of prices. I'm only pointing out that they might have items of interest.

My recommendation of AO Books is spot on, though. You'd be remiss if you don't visit it.

-m

[JMB]

There are two large photography markets in Shanghai with LF gear, including lenses. One is across the street from the Shanghai Railway Station (begins on the third floor of a department store-like market). The other is at the corner of Xietu Lu and Luban Lu. Both markets have a very large selection of fine lenses, but the sellers seem to want about 1.5 to 3 times the prices that you might pay in the USA from private sellers. It seemed to me that sellers were a bit more reasonable last year after receiving a plain rejection of an inflated price. Still, neither place is the best source of fairly priced items other than Ilford roll film.

[1626]

I just got back from a market in Shanghai. The one on the corner of Xietu Lu and Luban Lu, called Huan Long Camera Market.

The good: There are Chamonix and Shen-hao there to look at. The prices I saw for the Chamonix 045N-1 are around 813 USD. Up from the 778 USD on their website. Not bad I suppose. The 045N-2 is 902 USD with a ten day wait.

They had 4x5 film. I was mostly interested in B&W which they had in the "shanghai film" something to practice and burn up with out losing an arm and a leg.

They also had a fair amount of 4x5 lenses.

The bad: Whatever lenses it is, it's probably around 900-1100 USD. Easy to spot that trend. They all have price tags of around 6000-7000RMB and if they don't the sellers always say 7000RMB.

I wrote some prices down. It's hard to get information from these guys sometimes. Lot's of people shop around and never buy. Suppose that makes them not want to advertise prices.

Scheinder 90mm 700RMB 65mm 7000RMB 1077USD
Scheinder 65mm f4 and f5.6 both around 7000RMB 1077USD

Nikkor 65mm f4 6800RMB 1047USD
Nikkor 90mm f8 5800 RMB 893USD
Nikkor 210mm f5.6 3800 RMB 585USD

Fujinon 65mm f5.6 6000RMB 923USD

Sorry it was hard to see what types some of these were. So take it with a grain of salt.

Like most things here in China, there is a problem with me shopping at one of these places. Actually two problems. One: I'm white, I probably got the quote with the white tax included. Two: There are a lot of rich people in Shanghai that will pay these prices or somewhere close without a flinch. Thus keeping the price high for the people who actually know what the true value is.

I suppose that I might of been able to bring them down a bit.

All were second hand lenses.

So I suppose that the only thing I would consider buying there is the Chamonix or a Shen-hao. There is a Shen-hao store there that is pretty awesome. The Chamonix was a hit or miss. I think I'll try to contact the Chamonix factory first to see if I can buy direct. They are only an hour away at any rate.

Thanks for the info. We'll see what I find in Hong Kong.

[Rayt]

If you are looking for gear at reasonable prices then sign on to the local Hong Kong photo forums and do a WTB at the trading section. Most people post in English.

[pixelatedscraps]

I live in Hong Kong and think I know pretty much all the camera places but to be honest, we're pretty starved of LF gear here. When you do find it, it's no cheaper than KEH and quite frequently much higher (David Chan's stuff is always, always beautiful but you will always pay top dollar for it).

On a slight side note, here are some suggestions for people looking for 35mm / MF stuff in HK:

-Champagne Court, Tsim Sha Tsui (All Good Friend, David Chan, and about 4-5 other camera stores are located on the G/F and 1/F of this very famous arcade from the 70s. The aforementioned David Chan has Hong Kong's greatest selection, but at its highest price. All Good Friend (Jimmy) has a decent selection, with decent / high prices. Bargaining is allowed here)

-Star City, Mongkok: 3 floors of 35mm, MF and digital gear. Decent to good prices, some new stuff as well.

-188 Oriental Shopping Arcade, Wanchai: Mish-mash of second hand gear but the main thing here is the selection of video game stores.

-298 Computer Centre, Wanchai (round the block from 188 Oriental): Mostly computer hardware at cheap prices (but not as cheap as Golden Arcade in Shamshuipo) but lately quite a few second hand camera stores have opened. Some occasional finds, some decent prices, but you need to look hard.

-Xuan Guang (I think this is the name) Cameras, used to be on the ground floor of the Kimberley Hotel but this store has now moved directly across the road and up on the 7th floor or something - check the building directory in the elevator lobby to make sure. They stock some LF, both old and new, here, and most of the guys really know their stuff.

-Tin Cheung Cameras (Stanley Street, Central and Tsim Sha Tsui) everyone talks about this place, I have yet to find a bargain. Good for new stuff and expensive Leica / Hasselblad, etc.

-Stanley Street, Central: Mirama Cameras, Kinefoto, Chung Pui, Photo Scientific and Tin Cheung are all on this street selling a random assortment of 35mm, MF and the occasional LF camera. Prices and quality vary according to the time of day and who you know. Good place to stock up on film though and very central, no pun intended...

[dikaiosune01]

I would like to add to pixelatedscraps.

David Chan does have a great selection. There is another shop next to David Chan (All good friends) that have a wide selection of used large format lenses. It has a good selection.

The place being refered to in Mong Kok should be "Sim City" on Shantung Street.
Has some film stuff not a lot though. Most of it is digital.
You'll find some decent leica gear on the top floor, as you exit the escelator.

I haven't checked out the place at Kimberly Hotel, but I may take a look some time soon.

Tin Cheung has a complete set of everything. And by far the only place that has a decent understandable website. It is an average price. Nothing to write home about. Out of all the chains, it does appear the best kept. But not always the best deal. (FYI, in my opinion, they sell a lot of large format gear when they were priced at their peak. They never dropped in price)

Where to buy film:
- Photo Scientific on Stanley Street in Central
- Kowloon Photo Service (5 woosung Street in Yau Mai Tei)
- Wing Shing in Mong Kok (They only have Provia 100 in 4x5 format. Everything else is 120 or 35mm)

[1626]

Hey thanks for the updated info. If anything I am going to stock up on film in anticipation of buying the rest of my gear. There wasn't much film in Shanghai and most was a little expensive.

I did see that All Good Friends has things on Ebay for prices that are sometimes what I could find other places and sometimes a tad high. In anycase we will see.

I'll be checking a lot of these places out time permitting.

Thanks again.

[pixelatedscraps]

I would like to add to pixelatedscraps.

The place being refered to in Mong Kok should be "Sim City" on Shantung Street.
Has some film stuff not a lot though. Most of it is digital.
You'll find some decent leica gear on the top floor, as you exit the escelator.

My mistake - yes, Sim City!

I did see a Carl Zeiss 100mm f/2.8 4x5 barrel lens the other day but the coating was pretty much non-existent on the rear element. Looked in pretty poor shape. I think it was HK$2300

[1626]

Today I went to pretty much all the shops that I heard were worth anything. I have to say, uh yeah, I will be buying LF stuff from the Internet. All the lenses I found here were over priced, and they would come down to anything close to what I had found other places. So that answers that question.

I couldn't find AO Books. Is it in Sim City? I found an address there but it turned out to be wrong or they recently moved because it was for sure not a book store.

Anyway if I can get there tomorrow morning I will check them out.

*Never mind I found the address for the actual AO Book store in central.