How Is This Possible?

So there's some something that I have had my chest for a while, it's the price discrepancy between camera gear in the US and Canada. I first thought about this when I purchased a cable release for my camera back in June and it's been bothering me ever since.

So I book my vacation to Calgary and Banff back in early May and I am thinking I need something for my relatively newly purchased D200. This happens up until a week before my trip and then it finally hits me! I NEED A CABLE RELEASE ASAP! So I hop on the net to some of my favourite camera stores http://www.henrys.com/ and http://www.vistek.ca/ . I find my release but man is it expensive or what (as if anything is cheap in photography anyways) $220 bucks, so I keep surfing and just for fun I go on the B&H Photo website (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/) in New York and what do you know I find my release for a $100 bucks US.

At this point I am thinking how can this be so much more cheaper then the one sold here in Canada? With only a week to go before my trip I didn't hesitate to call B&H and see if they can ship it to me before Friday. I speak to a great sales rep and he assures me that I can get it before Friday and If I get the express shipping I can have it in a couple days, but it's an extra $60 dollars. With what I saved I am like get it to me ASAP, so we work out all the payment and shipping details now I just have to wait.

The two days go by and I have my notice from Fed-EX, my package has arrived at the depot so off I go to get it. When I arrive at the depot to pick up my package I am charged the GST (thank you Mr. Mulroney) but after I get it home and I go through all the calculations with tax, conversion and shipping, I still came out ahead.

What I am wondering is how is this possible?? How can it be a product sold in Canada at a store 5 mins away from me is so over priced? Is it the mass volume of product sold south of the border, is there that much more that goes in to the cost of shipping to Canada? I just don't get it, if anyone out there can enlighten me as to why it's more expensive please do.

Prices

Now that I have my very first post under my belt, I guess it's time for my first rant of what I am sure will be many. So I posted on the Canadian Automobile Sports Clubs forum, it was a simple post about some pictures I took and posted on my site from their most recent Indian Summer event on September 15-16, 2007.

So I get some feedback, then I get a couple comments stating my prices are too high. So I proceeded to post a reply to justify why my prices are the way they are and the value you end up getting in the long run. The next post states that I some how insulted some of the other photographers that post on the board, but my whole point is that's a free market and I can set my prices as I see necessary in covering my expenses and to make a small profit. I simply stated that you get what you pay for in life and that I believe my prices reflect the quality of my work and the market will be the ultimate determining factor in that.

I don't want this to sound mean but I guess this is to be expected in a market where people have learned to expect less because most of the time the "photographers" at the track give their photos away, which in the long run hurts the photography industry, but then again I guess everyone now with a digital camera can call themselves a photographer.

Welcome

Welcome to the first of what I hope to be many blogs, where I'll talk about photography, sports and just about anything in between. Let me tell you a little about myself and what I am all about. My name is Scott Stiff and I am a 29 year-old freelance photographer from Toronto, Canada.

I mainly shoot motorsports but I love all kinds of photography. I first got into photography when I was about 19, my brother Al always shot pictures of all the races we attended together and I always thought it was kind of neat. So when I turned 19 I went out and bought myself an old used Yashica FX-7 slr camera with a 80-200mm lens. I cut my teeth with that camera for 3 years and it was a great camera but being a Yashica finding lenses for it was a bit of a trial, so being impulsive I went out and bought myself a used Nikon F90X.

At this point my photography was progressing rapidly as I fell in love with the hobby and was shooting anything and everything. At this point I started reading about all these fancy digital slr's that have just hit the market and there astounding price tags that went with them ($5000+).

So a few years later (2004) when Nikon came out with the their first affordable prosumer dslr camera the D70, I didn't heisitate to throw down my $1500 and purchase one. The purchase of my D70 was probably the single biggest help to my photography then any book, or workshop. Afterall you get to see instant resaults and the camera records all the data for you. (woohoo no more note pads!)

So that brings me to 2005 where I hook up with a magazine called Formula Car Magazine, it's a magazine dedicated to the junior and regional open-wheel formula. I have been working with them ever since and have photographed some of the biggest motorsports events in the Toronto area. That brings me to today 2007 where I have one last motorsports shoot of the year, it's the Formula Car Magazine Formula Ford Can Am Cup @ Mosport International Raceway.

I am currently shooting with a Nikon D200 and my lens line up is as follows:

300mm f4

80-200mm f2.8

and a 17-50mm f2.8

It's a pretty good lineup and it serves me well for the most part.