Recommended Camera Shops in Hong Kong

*** Before you ask any questions, please read the main text below! If you want to ask about prices of camera and lenses, please check out my article on camera and lens street price list first. I WILL NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU CAN FIND ANSWERS TO EITHER ON THIS ARTICLE OR AT THE CAMERA AND LENS STREET PRICE LIST PAGE.

I have written an article on “How to Choose a DSLR“. Please read the article for my advise on how to choose a DSLR before you ask me any questions about this topic.

***last updated on 16th Nov 2011

I have been asked by quite a few persons in the past about recommending camera shops in Hong Kong. So here is a list of camera shops that I would recommend trying if you visit Hong Kong.

But before I start, some background info first. The purpose of this article is to help people shopping for cameras and accessories in Hong Kong to find reliable shops that they are unlikely to get cheated. The list are shops that I have shopped with personally and in my experience and also in general were known to be reliable. There are many camera shops in tourist areas in Hong Kong, notably in Tsim Sha Tsui area, who are well known to be scammers and would cheat tourist (read the end of the article for more information). This list is meant to help you avoid those shops.

I am just a photographer and I am in no way affiliated with any of the shops on the list. I cannot guarantee that you will find the cheapest price in town at any of the shops I listed, but I am pretty confident that at least it would be highly unlikely you would be cheated by any of them either, and you should be able to buy what you want at reasonable prices.

Please do not ask me questions like “where is the cheapest place to buy X camera?”. Although I can check out rough street prices in town (usually at Echo Photo & Audio, since I know them well and they would give me an honest quotation on the phone) , I neither have the time or the resources to go and find out which is the cheapest shop for this and that or would I be able to go to specific shops to check out prices.

I have compiled a camera and lens street price list, although it is not a comprehensive list yet, please visit it to see if you can find recent street prices of the camera or lenses you want before you ask me to look for prices for you.

Before you ask me about International warranty policy, please read the following first, I will not answer questions on international warranty that has already been answered below:-

Canon Hong Kong warranty policy

In general Canon Hong Kong only offers international warranty for film SLR bodies, flashes and point & shoot digicams. They do NOT offer international warranty for DSLR camera bodies. They have also officially stopped offering international warranty for lenses since 1st October 2010. Please read the link above for details.

Nikon Hong Kong warranty policy

In general Nikon Hong Kong only offers international warranty for lenses and flashes. They do NOT offer international warranty for all digital cameras including both DSLR and point & shoot digicams. Please read the link above for details.

Sony Hong Kong does not have any international warranty information on their web-site. However, I have been told that they do offer international warranty for their cameras and lenses sold in Hong Kong. If you want to be absolutely sure, you can contact Sony Hong Kong via this link.

Tamron Hong Kong does not have international warranty information on their web-site. However, I have called their hot-line number and I was told by their staff that they do offer one year international warranty, but you will have to exchange the Hong Kong warranty card for an international one at the shop when you buy the lens.

Sigma Hong Kong also does not have international warranty information on their web-site. I have also called their Hong Kong office and inquired about their policy. I was told that if you buy from an authorized dealer in Hong Kong and your warranty card has been stamped by the shop, you can get 1 year international warranty service provided you go to an official authorized Sigma repair centre with your stamped warranty card and official receipt from the authorized dealer in Hong Kong.

General Advise About Shopping for Cameras in Hong Kong

As you can see from the warranty information above, not all camera makers offer international warranty. The usual reason why most visitors buy cameras or lenses in Hong Kong is because it is cheaper than in their home country. However, the trade off between buying at a cheaper price vs. the risk of buying without warranty is a decision that you have to weigh carefully before you buy in Hong Kong. Although it general, the risk of buying a faulty new camera is slim, but it’s not impossible and you do run the risk of having to pay for repair out of your own pocket if you are so unfortunate to have this happen to you. Everyone takes risk differently. If you are concerned about warranty issue, perhaps it’s worthwhile paying more to support the economy at your home country.

Another point to note is that, the consumer protection in Hong Kong is similar to most other Asian country in that it is not as advance as in North America or some European countries. Unlike in North America, in general, camera shops will only allow return of camera or lenses for exchange for clear defect or fault. They will not allow you to return a product just because you discover you don’t like it after you have bought it and tried it out. For defect or fault that can easily be demonstrated and undisputed, most camera shops usually would allow you to exchange for a new one within 10 days. However, for some minor fault or defect, it may be hard for you to convince the camera shop staff that there is a genuine problem and they may refuse to exchange the product for you.

A Few Words About Freebies

I have been asked numerous times about whether camera shops in Hong Kong bundle freebies or not. So I will talk briefly about it here.

One has to remember nothing is really free as such and the so called “freebies” are something that you have already paid for and are not really free. There is really no free lunch in this world.

In general, smaller independent camera shops that may sell at the best prices usually do not give you any freebies. Large chain stores often may bundle some freebies, but often will sell at higher prices as well. Sometimes, even subtracting the prices of the freebies may end up with higher prices than in smaller shops that do not bundle freebies. Occasionally, of course you maybe able to find a good deal with good price bundled with some freebies too, but that is usually the exception rather than the rule.

Often, the bundle freebies may not be really useful or the stuff that you really want to buy. For example, they may bundle a memory card, but it maybe a slow card with a smallish capacity from a not so well known maker, say a 8GB Class 5 SDHC from Transultraman, but if you were to buy one yourself, you may want to buy a 16GB Class 10 Sandisk Extreme SDHC card. Often, they may give you useless items like a cheap flimsy tripod that is really not good for anything.

So in general, I would say do not be tempted by freebies. You will often get a better deal without the freebies.

Bargaining

In general, camera shops that give you the best prices sell already will be selling at the lowest margin. Of course the is never any harm in trying to bargain, but they will unlikely to be able to sell it to you any cheaper if they had already quoted the best price in the first place.

Shops that initially quote higher prices may give some leeway for bargaining. In the end, the final take home price may still be the same or higher than shops that quoted you the best price they could say at the first instance.

So you can always try bargaining, but if you have done your research and you know you are already getting the best price in town, then you will unlikely to be able to get it any cheaper.

In general, it also does not matter whether you are getting one item or 5. Shops that quoted you the best prices in the first place will not be able to sell any cheaper if you buy more items from them together.

Payment Method

All the shops listed below will take credit cards or cash. In general, expect to pay a little bit more by credit cards. Some shops will charge 2-3% extra for credit card payment depending on which credit card you plan to use. Instead of charging extra for credit card payment, some shops may give you a discount if you pay by cash, which is basically just the same thing, but circumvents the credit companies rules.

The following is my list of recommended camera shops in Hong Kong

1. Echo Photo & Audio (ask for Mr Andrew Yip)  at Shop D, G/F, Hanyee Building, 19-21 Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon ( tel:23760478 ),  is the camera store which I shopped from most. I have shopped from them for over 20 years. It’s a small camera shop (they didn’t used to be that small, but that’s another story) a few steps from the Adidas flagship store. Although it is not a big store, they are good and honest store and usually sell at good prices. Since they are not a big store, they may not have everything in stock, but if the distributor have the item you want in stock, they can usually get it for you within the same day or the next. 

Although in general you should get good prices here, but the different salesman here kind of operate semi independently and you may get slightly different price quotes from different salesman. Over the years, I have found Andrew Yip to offer the best price and service, so I would strongly suggest that you should ask for Andrew Yip if you do decide to shop at Echo.

I have been asked so many times if Echo Photo & Audio has an email address, so here it is:- echopaltd@biznetvigator.com . However, they are a very traditional camera shop in the sense that they don’t have any staff who knows how to use the internet well and has no one to answer email regularly. Of course you may contact them by email, but it’s something that I do not generally advise, since their response time can be rather long. The best way to contact them is of course by the good old telephone.

Other camera stores worth trying (yes, I have shopped from these stores too) includes:-

2. Tin Cheung Camera at Shop 301, 3/F, K11, 18 Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon (tel 2722 1265). They have recently moved to a new location in the K11 shopping mall. They are a big shop with a wide variety of camera lenses and accessories. They carry a large selection of camera bags, a pretty extensive selection of Lowepro, Tamrac, Billingham and others. They probably have the widest range of Lowepro bags I have seen in Hong Kong.  They also have a good collection of tripods and ballheads from the like of Gitzo and others. They also deal with buying and selling 2nd hand cameras and lenses.

A word of caution though, they carry both officially imported and gray market cameras and lenses. The gray market stuff would obviously be cheaper, but if you want want officially imported goods, make sure you ask them before you buy.

The new shop in K11 mall now only sell new equipment. They have moved the 2nd hand equipment to a separate shop at:- Shop 31, G/F Mirador Mansion, 1E Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. tel : 2722 1286

They also now have a branch at Mongkok are, their address and telephone number are:- Shop 120 – 122 & 136, 1/F, Sim City, 47-51 Shantung Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong .

They also have a branch on Hong Kong Island, their address and telephone number are:- Shop 2, Pearl Oriental House, 60 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong. Tel : 2722 1386

3. Wing Shing Photo Supplies Co at 57. Sai Yeung Choi Street. Kowloon (tel 2396 6886). This is also a big store with stocks of large variety of cameras and lenses and accessories such as bags, tripods and ballheads.

4. DC Fever at Unit 327 & 339, 3/F, Sim City, 47-51 Shan Tung Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon. (tel 2781 1780). Besides cameras and lenses, they also carry accessories such as tripods and ballheads.

You can also try large chain stores like:-

5. Broadway. They have many branches including in main shopping areas like Mongkok, Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay. Although they are a large chain store, depending on your payment method (cash or different kinds of credit cards) you can often bargain with them to get a better price, usually cheaper than their officially listed prices.

6. Sunning is another chain to try. They are similar to Broadway with many branches around the city. You can also bargain with them like Broadway.

7. Fortress is yet another large chain stores you can try. I previously did not list them because they did not used to give much discount, but recently, I have asked about prices of Canon lenses there and they seemed to give pretty good discount. Some of the shops also have some rarer lenses in stock like the Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L USM.

Camera Shops on Hong Kong Island

Some people have asked me for recommendation for camera shops on Hong Kong Island. Since I don’t live on Hong Kong Island side, I have never actually shopped at any camera shops on Hong Kong Island, but there are a few camera shops on Stanley Street in Central and their reputation are said to be good. However, please note that I have never shopped at any of these before and I have no personal experience of any of them. So, with that in mind, here is a short list of camera shops on Stanley Street:-

a) Photo Scientific Photographic Equipment and Supplies. website: http://www.yp.com.hk/photoscientific/

b) Kinefoto Limited. G/F., Shop 1 66-68 Stanley Street Central, Hong Kong Hong Kong Phone : ‎+852 25232087

c) Mirama Photo Supplies., 45 Stanley Street Central, Hong Kong.

Camera Shops at the Hong Kong International Airport

I have been asked quite a few times about camera and lens shopping at the Hong Kong International Airport. If you are a transit passenger and have only a few hours to stay in Hong Kong before your connecting flight, then it is unlikely you will have time to go to some of the recommended camera shops in town. If you really must buy camera or lens at the airport, please read the following advise.

• as in most airport in the world, the shop rentals are quite high, and it is highly unlikely that the shops at the airport will be able to sell at good prices compared to the shops in town. So do not expect any bargains, and sometimes, the prices maybe even significantly higher than normal.
• if at all possible, go through immigration and do not stay inside the transit/departure area. The shops inside that area are even more expensive in general.
• there are more camera shops in the airport after you go through immigration and custom. Your best chance of getting cameras or lenses at reasonable prices would be at one of the large chain stores like Fortress and Sky Photo, most located in shopping area of Terminal 2.
• Go to this link for list of camera stores at the Hong Kong International Airport.

Second Hand Camera Shops

Many people have asked me about advice on buying or selling 2nd hand camera or lenses in Hong Kong. I personally have not buy or sell any camera or lens at any 2nd hand shops in Hong Kong,  I have no personal experience in any, so I cannot make any recommendation. However, I can only point you in the right direction in looking for 2nd hand shops.

1. Tin Cheung Camera as listed above, deals with 2nd hand cameras and lenses as well as new gears.

2. Matsuya Camera & Video Centre at Blk B, Tsimshatsui Mansion, tel: 2724 0893. They are a well known shop specializing in 2nd hand stuff.

3. There are also a few 2nd hand camera shops at Sim City Shopping Mall, 47-51 Shan Tung Street, Mong Kok. It maybe worthwhile taking a look for 2nd hand stuff there.

A Final Word of Warning!

Finally, just a few words of advice on shopping for cameras and lenses in Hong Kong. Avoid shops that have “Tax Free” sign prominently displayed outside or inside the shop. Another trait of these shops is that, most of them have famous brand names like “Canon”, “Nikon” or “Sony” prominently displayed in large signs outside the shop. However, you will be hard press to actually find the name of the shop anywhere. Legitimate and reputable shop would clearly display the actual name of the shop on the sign outside, not just Canon, Nikon or Sony or whatever famous brand. Most of these shops are found along Nathan Road at Tsim Sha Tsui area. These shops are usually scammers, where “bait and switch” is common . They usually have lots of sales person inside a smallish shop. The ratio of salespersons to shop floor area/clients would be far to high to be profitable if these were legitimate honest shops. There is no sales tax or duty in Hong Kong except hard liquor and tobacco anyway. The “Tax Free” sign is basically just a trap to attract unsuspecting tourist. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Happy shopping in Hong Kong!