Good deal on powershot g3?

[robbaggio]

ive been planning on getting a G3 for a few months now....just been waiting until a good deal comes along.

I see that their is a deal on the deals page for OneCall for a price of $612.33 with FREE FedEx 3rd Day Delivery. This seems to be a pretty good deal from a reliable vendor.

I have also found it for $525 from DirectSource(http://www.directsource.us/shop/Product.asp?ProdTypeList=1000&Sku=CANG3). It says it is not gray market, is factory sealed with full warranty and all the accessories. If this is true this is quite the deal.

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with DirectSource, and if this deal is reliable or not. If not should i go for the onecall deal or wait for a better one (I need to have it by the middle of April at the absolute latest).


Thanks for any suggestions

robbaggio

[halfmoon]

My opinion is this: I'd go with OneCall. You are assured they will not scam you, I have had many dealings with them and they are first rate. $80 is a good sized difference, but peace of mind is worth more than that. There are alot of shady camera stores out there.. In fact, I recall the first time I was ever ripped off over the telephone (before the internet purchase era), in 1986. It was a Camera store in New York that advertised in big and popular magazines. I think the camera stores invented the ripp-off business model.

Cheers.

[Cubsfan]

Things like this are why we all need an American Express card with Pricematching. I believe that the only one left with it is the Business Gold? Is that right? Anyway, that'd let you buy it wherever you wanted and then just pricematch it to that price.

[halfmoon]

Originally posted by Cubsfan
Things like this are why we all need an American Express card with Pricematching. I believe that the only one left with it is the Business Gold? Is that right? Anyway, that'd let you buy it wherever you wanted and then just pricematch it to that price.

Actually, Good Call. I outright forgot about that. My Bank Of America Platinum Debit card has the same feature.

[dealsdyker]

I am in the same boat as you. My problem is that I don't know if $610 for the G3 gets me the same value as if I spend the same amount on a different camera. Could someone offer me an alternative camera or is the G3 the be-all-end-all. I think I could get 5 MP in a different brand but would that be stupid?

On this company, directsource.com, I wouldn't touch them based on these reviews here: http://www.bizrate.com/ratings_guide/cust_reviews.xpml?mid=31934 :eek:

Lots of quotes on this page like this: "Warren Ng, Arcadia, CA 15 out of 16 people found this review helpful. Jan 24, 2003

IT'S A SCAM!!! Don't believe any of the positive comments listed for this store within the past week. They are all the same..2-5 sentences, overly gushing, no real specifics, lots of misspellings. Look at their entire history. I ordered a Canon G3 online...the website said it was in stock. No email confirmation, so I called them. After I ... (more)"

[robbaggio]

thanks guys....after reading your replys and looking at some of the customer reviews of directsource...im definelty not shopping there.

im probably gonna go for the OneCall deal...prolly wont be able to get a better deal than that in the next month or so.

thanks again

robbaggio

[sbp]

A Zero rating. 17 reviews and all dissatisfied. :eek:
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller3543.html

[shaggymatt]

I just bought a G3 about a month ago, paid like $640 for it. All the places that were in the $570 range, had poor reviews. So it had to be stepped up that much to get to a company with a positive feedback rating. I love the camera, very advanced, has lots of possibilities. Just got a shipment of lenses yesterday! :)

[Leon]

I have the original G1. Still extremely happy with it. :D

[ray]

i'm currently debating between the canon powershot g2 and the olympus digital slr e-10. there is a hefty price difference, but i'd be getting the quality.

however, i just read a press release that fuji is coming out with a 6.2mp f700 camera with a list price of $599.00. I had a fuji before and was happy with it overall...however the shutter speed was a wee bit slow.

[thresher]

Pentax. Do your homework, fellas. that 3 is pretty sweet, though.

[dealsdyker]

Ordered Tues. Received today. Tested it out tonight. Not satisfied at all. Took a ton of sample pictures and out of them maybe 10% turned out crisp and clear. I had the max resolution with the least compression. 30% turned out blurry and not really usable. The rest are just OK and not better than my existing 2 MP camera. I wouldn't say these were in low light but not bright light either. None were taken outside. But I won't be taking many outside compared to in the house (kids, family). My 2 megapixel Olympus takes crisper and more reliable pictures than this pile o pixels.

OneCall gave me a RMA #. There will be a 15% restocking fee which sucks but is to be expected and clearly documented on their web site. My AMEX Blue will reimburse me for that fee. I'm really bummed but happy I purchased with a return protection credit card.

[ray]

I don't know. I have had a chance to take pictures with a bunch of Fuji cameras, the Nikon Coolpix 4300, G1 and G2 and I found that the G2 took the best pictures. hmm.

[Leon]

Originally posted by dealsdyker
Ordered Tues. Received today. Tested it out tonight. Not satisfied at all. Took a ton of sample pictures and out of them maybe 10% turned out crisp and clear. I had the max resolution with the least compression. 30% turned out blurry and not really usable. The rest are just OK and not better than my existing 2 MP camera. I wouldn't say these were in low light but not bright light either. None were taken outside. But I won't be taking many outside compared to in the house (kids, family). My 2 megapixel Olympus takes crisper and more reliable pictures than this pile o pixels.

OneCall gave me a RMA #. There will be a 15% restocking fee which sucks but is to be expected and clearly documented on their web site. My AMEX Blue will reimburse me for that fee. I'm really bummed but happy I purchased with a return protection credit card.

Whoa! That's really odd. This is the first time I've heard anyone being unhappy with it. Are you sure you didn't just get a lemon? :confused:

[shaggymatt]

You MUST learn how to use this camera. You can't take it out of the box and expect to take excellent pictures with it. There are settings which have to be changed from the default settings to take good pictures.

I too was very unhappy with the camera for the first couple weeks. After doing lots of research on the web, I found that others were displeased with the lower light capabilities of the G3. There are a few things that you can do to make it better. I highly suggest reading a site like this: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1010 That is where I learned the most about my camera. There are a few suggestions on there for improving indoor shooting.

Most importantly, changing the auto focus settings is what made the biggest difference in taking better pictures. It makes the camera far less hunty for a focal point. To get even deeper, many people are using one of the manual program settings for a focal point of ~3.5 feet to infinity and playing with the aperture settings. All of this is posted on that site.