Cheapest place to buy a *ist D in the UK

Hi, i'm new around here

I am looking at getting the *istD and was wondering where the cheepest place to buy one in the UK is?

Is that a good idea? Shouldn't you think about customer service too? I know I was unlucky and possibly unique but I went through three *ist Ds before I got one that was satisfactory in every respect. Park Cameras (Burgess Hill, UK) exchanged each one without a hint of any complaint on their part even though one problem was ill defined - how may dud pixels is too many? I did notice their complexion getting increasingly pink though.

Park cameras do seem to be the cheepest anyway so i shall probably visit them.

Although customer service isnt the top of my list you have bought it to my attentiona little more.

I would certainly expect the camera to be 100% perfect first time for that kind of money. Chances are i will be spending about £1800 on body, lenses and bits when i buy it!

In case it wasn't clear, I'm now on my fourth *ist D, not third, but it's been excellent apart from the fact that it's hard work with my old M lenses and there's little new to replace them with.

I too spent about £1800 by the time I'd finished getting a few 'essentials'. I've been waiting 3 months for the cable release though - I think I'll try making my own.

Although we all want to get a good price for any purchase, the really important thing is value. I really believe that there is good value in being confident in good after sales service - if something does go wrong it needs to be addressed without fuss. So, we often do not buy at the cheapest price, but we buy from suppliers we can trust. This is, I believe, worth a little extra cash!

How much extra it is worth, of course, becomes a personal thing.....

As i dont have a lot of spare cash and finding the money for the purchase will be very tricky i really need to keep the costs down as much as possible.

When things go wrong i hope with my fingers crossed they are a good company, failing that i fall back on my business experience and get all my rights are x,y,z, if that fails then i'm stuck but in most cases the manufaturer is ultimatly liable so you can call on them

As you've pointed out, Slime101 (presumably not yopur real name!), Park Cameras have the cheapest prices, and they clearly offer decent service. It's a win-win situation - for once.

The best place to buy, for me, is my local specialist photographic shop.
However, when I am shopping for a major item, I look around the internet and study the ads in Amateur Photographer and find a low price that at least 2 suppliers have advertised. (prove that it is not a one off). I then show the adverts to my local shop and tell them the carriage costs. On nearly every ocasion the price is matched. I am then happy, I have a good price and after sales service.
I also believe in supporting the local shops. Where would we go for special bits and pieces and a chat, if all shopping was via the internet.

Regards
grahamwalton

George - your right, Slime101 isnt my real name! (Its Simon)

I think i will go over to park cameras later in the week and have a look, its only a couple of hours away

Graham - i'm all for supporting local shops, but we dont have many photo shops round here and they never stock what i am after - so they will never get my business like that, its a sad fact but if i cant try it i wont buy it and generally if i can get it cheeper on the net i will. I'm a child of the Net era - my whole business is basically internet based so i am very pro net shopping. (I dont make money if people dont shop, or want web/IT consultancy & design)

I have to say that the "bits and pieces" sold by local shops, like batteries, film, etc., are nearly all at margins of several hundred percent. I always buy such things over the internet and save 75% or more.
That said, if you do have a GOOD local shop, and they match prices, then obviously they merit consideration.

Out of interest, what was your conclusion on the acceptable number of bad pixels (dead or hot and if hot, how hot?)

I had 32 of the little blighters, there under all circumstances and several in clusters. New as I was to digital photography I had no idea if the camera was within tolerance or not, though I knew I couldn't put up with it. I was very relieved to hear the dealer say "Completely unacceptable".

How easy is it to tell if you have dead or ot pixels in a camera?

I'm used to hunting for them from time to time on a TFT screen but never even considered it on a digital camera :

I first noticed mine when a cluster of 13 fell in a shadow area. I then went back over previous photos at the 200% setting in PS scrolling across and down the picture methodically. They were always there, same place same colours. Mine were mainly red or blue permanently.

I used a programme called DeadPixelTest (appropriately). You can find it at http://www.starzen.com/imaging/deadpixeltest.htm. The idea is to take a photo with the lens cap on and viewfinder blocked and then analyse the results for anything not black. With the *istD you need to make sure to turn off noise reduction (which will try to correct dead pixels)