We had a dreadful experience shopping at Sim Lim Square in Singapore last weekend. Three of us, my mum, my father, and myself went to Sim Lim Square in search of a new video camera. We wanted the latest and newest. Since we already have a DV model, we wanted one that records onto HDD (Hard disk).

Shopping in Sim Lim Square was a waste of time, un-enjoyable, confusing, and unproductive. I’ll explain to you why. They are deceptive and will try trick you. Not all the shops of course. Really got to keep your wits about you and go in informed.

To elaborate, we were in the market for the top of line JVC camera. So as any buyer would do we ask a shop what the price is. The shopkeeper presented the top of line JVC camera very convincingly. I got to admit I was sold. He then said today was the last day of an exhibition so there is a promotional price on the camera. It is usually $2100 but just for today the price can be $1500. As it happens we didn’t know the true value of this camera. As we were about to leave my mum asked them what the ‘best price’ they could give was. They shopkeeper replied $800! At that moment I thought let’s just buy this one. For this camera this is a bloody good deal, but this was the first shop we approached so naturally we wanted to check out some other shops.

The price was $2100 in the beginning now its $800. That’s no normal reduction. I would expect a $50 or max a $200 reduction in price, but this was over half the price knocked off a premium camera! In the back of my mind I was thinking “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” Still I was entertaining the possibility that this was such a good deal. It could be a genuine promotion.

So off we went surveying prices in other shops. We were surprised to find out that the prices were all over the place. I mean a much older camera not even half as good cost about $1500. Near the exit of the ground floor a shop quoted us $1800 for the JVC camera we wanted. I mentioned to him that there was a shop was offering us it to us for $800. He simply said that they were pulling our leg. I wasn’t sure what to believe at this point.

We then went upstairs and went to the shop to the right of the escalator. We asked the seller how much the JVC camera we wanted was. He quoted $2200; he also explained that everyone here will tell you a different story. He gave us a demonstration of the camera, at the end we asked for a reduction in price but he wouldn’t budge from $2200. This was strange; we didn’t really know what the real story was.

Apart from the price differences the shopkeepers would not tell the truth. One would say the 3CCD sensor was superior for low light. Another would say CMOS is far superior for low light. This model is the new one, that model is the old one. There was no consistency. They would just arbitrarily say things without really knowing the facts or rather; they are simply trying and fool us. This was so annoying, especially so because we couldn’t separate fact from fib.

We then went to the shop just directly in front of the escalator on the first floor. They were friendly and we asked for a demonstration of the camera. We were comparing the CMOS and 3CCD version of the JVC HDD camera. The initial price here was $1800. We asked the best price they could give and they said $1500. Then as we were leaving the shop he dropped the price to $1000. This was bewildering. Why these sudden price drops?

We decided to go to the food court to have a rest, drink, and gather our thoughts. We wanted to know the real price of these cameras. I had made a note of the model number and we called a friend in Indonesia to check the price on the internet. He came back saying that the price was in fact about US$1800, equivalent to about SGD $2200

So in light of this information we then decided to purchase from the first shop which offered $800. If we could indeed get it for that price then it would be good deal. So we went to the shop and said we wanted to buy that camera. I thought this would be straightforward. No chance. The salesman then proceeded to insist on us buying the “really essential” wide angle lens. He tried to sell this especially hard. He wouldn’t shut up, rambling on and on and on, pointing out everything that was written on the packaging repeatedly. This was giving us a headache. When he came to how much it cost he mentioned that the wide angle lens cost $450. I knew from browsing on cameras on eBay that this is often something that is included as a bundled extra for no additional cost. We then asked how much an extra battery would cost. He quoted $400. I don’t know how much a battery costs but I know they don’t cost that much.

We kindly pointed out that we just wanted the camera and didn’t have a need for any of the extras. He then simply said the product was out of stock, to come back tomorrow at night. At that moment it became clear what his tricky tactics were. What a bastard, what a waste of time.

Customers really need to beware of these shops that employ these stupid, cheap, underhanded tactics, to try fool customers to overpay for items. Surely it is completely unproductive. I feel sorry for the customer who doesn’t know much about the items they are buying. They will be easily tricked into overpaying. These people are convincing, cunning, sly and aggressive. Watch out! My advice stays clear of Sim Lim Square if purchasing consumer electronics, especially the first and second floors. It is certainly the last time I will step into the building.

If anyone else has anything to share about bad experiences shopping at sim lim square it would be interesting to hear about them.

The tricky sellers - with the jvc banner above it.

Jl. Panjang No. 99, Arteri Kelpa Dua – Jakarta Barat, Telp : (021) 532-9791

I went to a Manado restaurant today with 2 of my aunts. The food was good, very good actually. I’d recommend it to anyone whether a long time fan of Manado food or still yet to taste its delights. The restaurant was exceptional value. They don’t rip you off on the drinks; personally I think that makes such a difference. The food it top notch. The décor is simple and plain, color choice is a bit off. Service was friendly and courteous as well. All in all it was a great fresh food at a great price. Shame it’s a bit far in Kebon Jeruk.

In terms of the menu would definitely recommend the crispy perkedel jagung. Freshly cooked it is an absolute delight. You can tell they select out their ingredients from top sources. The corn is sweet and crunchy.

The Sirip ikan pari is also one that stands out. It’s the fin of I would imagine quite a big fish because it has a lot of meat on it. The meat is outstandingly delicious it slips off the cartilage and delightfully melts in your mouth. The chilli sauce Manado style complements it perfectly. Superb.

Too bad I didn’t carry my camera around with me. Otherwise I would have taken some photos of the dish. I should have my SLR soon. Finally decided to go with a Sony model, either the A300 or the A350, there’s about $150 dollars difference in there. Just researching it at the moment, what the real differences between them are.

Went to the JPC centre in Kemang, it’s a great shop actually. The layout was wonderful. Pretty much got service as soon as I entered the door. The staff was helpful and remained friendly even though I asked to see about 5 cameras, including the Nikon D3. That thing is huge though. A serious piece of kit.

If you are anything like me then you will be tirelessly searching through the reviews in magazines, the internet, the blogosphere, and forums. It surprises just how much information is out there. I mean take magazines for example. In Aksara there are 5 magazines all dedicated towards digital SLR photography, I wonder why this is. I didn’t realize it was such a popular field. I mean I would say it’s still relatively seldom to see people walking around with DSLR cameras.

Another thing that confuses me is that there are no magazines concerning video cameras, either amateur or professional. I mean I bet there’s a wealth of knowledge there that the magazines can publish and that people would be looking for. So why not?

Anyways back to the search for a DSLR. The problem is there are so many sources of information, and a few which are conflicting. For example last night I went to 2 photography shops in Kemang. Octagon and the photography shop opposite to flash. I was actually in search of a Nikon D40. The most basic entry level DSLR. Ken Rockwell (kenrockwell.com) recommended the camera as a good place to start. He highly commended it in fact. Saying it’s a great, fun, light DSLR camera. I checked the prices on the net for it and it seems to retail for about Rp 5.000.000. I think it’s a fair price. Well I went to the store and found out that you can’t get this camera anymore. It’s been discontinued and replaced now by the D60 which retails at Rp. 6.000.000. Now I got to reconsider my options. The shopkeeper said they got none of the cameras in stock anyway. There has been some trouble obtaining them from Nikon apparently.

When I asked about the D40 the shopkeeper asked me whether I would be using the camera for travel and hobby or if in the future I would like to do something more “professional” with it.

“Professional” is a bit of weird term realm of photography so I wasn’t entirely sure how to interpret this question. I mean I’m not looking to get paid for photography, but then again I would like to aim for professional grade shots. I wouldn’t want to be limited by my equipment. I’m still not entirely convinced the extent to which the tools can limit you in photography.

Like suppose a photographer is a fully competent pro. Is having a D80 going to limit the quality of the pictures he takes? Would be he able to get far visibly superior results if he had a D3 instead? Not entirely sure what the interplay is here. There should be some comparisons about it. I bet there are somewhere.

Although a Nikon D3 would be nice, buying one at this stage is ultimately extremely unlikely. No matter how much I convince myself it’s better to save up for a pro one. This piece of kit is way out of my price range. Being a trained in Economics, the opportunity cost is just far too large. Think what else I could do with that money. Then there would be the constant fear of having it damaged, lost, or stolen. You could get like 3 brand new motorbikes for the price of the camera. And that’s just the body. The lens itself is going to cost me anther motorbike. Furthermore, at our house we often have kids or aunts and uncles come and play. So yea, pretty much ruled out that one.

What brought my attention to the D3 were these photos taken by Burma lay, a contributor to www.flickr.com . His photos are exceptional, would recommend you to look them up.