Gear for wedding photog. Is B&H the real deal?

[habed]

Hola a todos.

It´s being long since I last posted here, been busy reading my Going pro copy and setting website vimeo channel, facebook fan pages, 500px, etc... to promote my business

Everybody post here about where to get business cards, websites, etc so I guess this is the right place to ask about this.

Let me give you a little background of myself.

I've been in photography for ever, but until recently it became my main (and only) income source. I lost my day job last december. before that wedding photography was like a self maintained hobby. The money I got from events I used to buy gear.

Right now things are very bad and I need to do something about it and after thinking a lot I decided to go to NY and buy a better second camera and more gear (In Mexico, where I live gear can cost between 30 to 100% more than in the US)

I've been searching and everything points to B&H and/or Adorama, but they have the same prices in everything.

In your experience, is there any advantage on buying from one or the other? Is there another photography store which may not publicize as much but offers better prices than those 2?

Have you ever walked in and after having the sales person show you all the gear you wanted and got the estimate asked for a disscount? Is that possible? I'm traveling with a very tight budget and want to make as much as possible for my money.

Here's what I want, please let me know what do you think about this list for weddings.

Canon 60D (just body)
Tamron 18-270 Walk around lens
Tamron or Sigma 70-200 2.8
Sigma 10-20 3.5
Canon 50mm 1.8
Speedlite 580 EX II
Extra battery for the 60D
Flash diffuser (maybe Gary Fong)
Large backpack
Tripoid
iPad 2

Thanks all for your input.

[zona5101]

You would be well served by either B&H or Adorama. They are both great to deal with. Heck yes ask for a discount. It's New York! You might not get anything but it never hurts to ask. I have only dealt with each through their on-line stores.

[Jim Bryant]

So, just how long is forever? I've been to B & H in NEw York, you walk in with money and they will give you the BEST deal possible. Money talks.............I've been dealing with them since the 80's and get the pro preferred treatment. However, you can get them down a bit in prices as they want to make a customer happy.

[jdepould]

Is that a second 60D in addition to the one you already have? I'd skip the 18-270 myself, and just keep the 10-20 on one body, and either the 70-200 or 50 on the other.

[Mike367]

I've only dealt with them online, but I am totally happy with B&H. Their prices are good, their service is excellent.

[Brian Mullins]

You can get a great deal by going there but don't forget you are still legally responsible for paying duties for importing your gear back into Mexico.

I'd skip the 18-270, and get a Tamron 17-55 f2.8 or something similar.

As for the 70-200 f2.8, get the Sigma...the Tamron focus really slowly, and the Sigma is lightning fast.

[habed]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

So, just how long is forever?

Like, since I was about 5 or 6 I always had a camera with me. But I was a point and shoot guy until 91 when I purchased my first SRL. I started my business in 2000

[habed]

Originally Posted by jdepould

Is that a second 60D in addition to the one you already have? I'd skip the 18-270 myself, and just keep the 10-20 on one body, and either the 70-200 or 50 on the other.

Thanks, but I want the 18-270 as a walk around lens (non work related) I think it's way much better than my 18-135 kit lens

[habed]

Originally Posted by Brian Mullins

You can get a great deal by going there but don't forget you are still legally responsible for paying duties for importing your gear back into Mexico.

The beauty of it is that you have the right to pass a one camera and it's accesories.

Cameras and accesories here are expensive not just because the duties, but because we don't have a lot of distributors so there's no competition. So they can mark up the ERPs as high as they want. It's like DVDs, there are like 10 chains that sells DVDs in Mexico, but 3 of them belong to Slim (World's richest guy) and one of those 3, Mixup is the ONLY DVD and CD chain store in the country. So a title you find in Amazon for 9.99, cost almost $20 USD here when I'm sure they get a distribution price, duties on DVDs are not high and sales tax is 16%.

Why not to buy from Amazon then? Shipping is expensive plus DHL, FedEx and UPS function as importation agency so they charge you a lot for duties.

Thanks for all the input. I'll let you know how I did