Buying photo gear in Phuket?

[SadiesMom]

I was thinking about buying an Inon UWL-100 Type 2 lens (it's a wide angle conversion lens for my Oly 5050) and it crossed my mind that it's possible that this may be cheaper for me to buy when I come to Phuket, since they're made in Japan (at least they don't have *as* far to go )....

They cost $329 here - does anyone there know if there's a good u/w photo store there (I would imagine with all the emphasis on diving in Phuket, there must be several)? Even better would be if anyone is familiar with this lens and the approximate price?

Thanks tons...

 

[Batfish]

Hi,

Well, actually, if available, probably not so cheap. There really isn't much in the way of camera gear to be had here. There is a shop in the Central Mall that may be able to help, or try asking Rene at Sea Fun divers as he knows plenty about cameras

 

[JonnieB]

i second the above. there really isn't much selection of UW camerea housings and lenses in phuket (except for smaller canon and sony models). the best i have found is all for diving shop in patong. they are a distributer of sea and sea camera/lenses, strobes, etc in thailand and have a decent selection. however, they have no inon gear and i have never seen inon gear in thailand. maybe somewhere in bangkok has it but i don't think you will find any in phuket.

in addition, it will not be cheap[er] in thailand/phuket. because of import taxes and such, i find most dive gear 30-40% more expensive than singapore. don't know about japan but i can be almost sure it will be more expensive here.

 

[SadiesMom]

OK. That's good to know and I figured it was at least worth checking. I really appreciate the input . Unfortunately, I won't be going to Japan - unless it's a potential couple hour layover to change planes and from what I understand, I wouldn't be allowed to leave the International Passenger area. And somehow, I doubt they'd have something that specialized in a duty-free shop .

Thank you so much, all. What a wonderful resource this!