Hello all!

I hope I'm not posting in the wrong place... I read the "Where to buy GL-2"-thread, but since that only covers North America it's not very helpful for me. :-) I haven't found anything when searching, either.

Since there are a couple of European forum members here, I was wondering if I could get some tips on where to buy a Canon GL-2 (or XM-2 as the PAL version is called) in Europe.

I have shopped at www.technikdirekt.de (Germany) before and am very pleased with their service. But another German online-shop, www.directshopper.de, is cheaper. And since it seems that dealer is getting good reviews, I might just go for it with them.

Directshopper's price for the XM-2 is € 1.949 with € 28 for shipping.

Is that as good a price as I can get from a "serious" dealer? Is Directshopper.de a serious dealer? It's a lot of money, so...

Thanks in advance!


Kind regards,

Jan Kivisaar
Sweden

It is indeed harder to know where to buy here in Europe (same here in Holland).

Personally I would not buy such an expensive piece of equipment from a
company where I have to send them that amount of money first. So either
use a scheme where you can pay the guy who delivers it, or buy it from
a shop where you can hold the camera first (so to speak).

The price seems pretty cheap for Europe. How much is the price difference
with the shop you are familair with? Sometimes it is worth a bit more to buy
it a place you trust and has good service (if something is wrong).

Do not forget to think about service or when your camera needs to be fixed!

For that reason alone I'd like to buy photo and video equipment in my own
country instead of another. Lot easier to deal with if there are problems.

Good luck!

Last time I looked London was still in Europe - well not mainland Europe .. but - in London:

http://www.askdirect.co.uk/uview?call=ask.productBrowse&id=326&topcatid=10

Great people! Best prices in UK .. I think! Recheck this but when I bought they were an Authorised Canon Dealer too! Presently have XM2 at £1449.00.

Grazie

Thanks for the replys!

Yes, I do agree that shopping in your own country is preferable. Too bad it's so expensive in Sweden... :-(

I bought the Canon EOS 20D (digital still camera) from Germany a couple of months ago. I got it for around € 1.280. In Sweden it would have cost me € 1.470. That's too much of a difference, especially considering that both countries are in the European Union and I therefore don't need to bother about extra taxes or custom fees. Just the shipping. The warranty is virtually the same.

Thanks for the tip about Askdirect, Graham! In Sweden the lowest price for the XM-2 is € 2.362, Askdirect is asking for € 2.149. The only problem should be the electrical curcuit; the U.K. - luckliy for me - is also a member of the EU.

Hmm, I will wait to see if anyone else here can give me some tips on where to buy the XM-2 and then make my decision. I'll keep you posted. :-)


Kind regards,

Jan Kivisaar
Sweden

Hey there! Remember this thread? :-)

OK, so I went and bought a GL2... Just thought I'd let you know how it went, so that other people in my situation can read this and be encouraged.

After much consideration I decided to go for the German site Directshopper.de for their low prices (and their good reputation on consumer sites). The only problem was that they wanted all the money in advance, paid to the company's bank account in Germany...

So I transferred a total of € 2.003,39 (consisting of 1.949 for the GL2, 26,39 for a B&W UV filter and 28 for shipping) or about $ 2.400. Just the GL2 would've been around $ 2.700 if I had bought it in Sweden.

After around four working days I got an automated e-mail, saying that they had received the money and that my order would be processed promptly. After another three or four working days I got another automated e-mail, saying that my order had been shipped. I also got the tracking number, so that I could see where it was during the transport through Europe.

After three days I got a brown box, quite heavy and full of... old newspapers and some bricks.

Kidding! Both the camera and the filter was there. And the camera worked... wonderful! I see now that I have a lot to learn. It seems to be a great piece of machinery. And easy to use; I've imported videoclips to Premiere without any problems and even used it as a webcam.

Ahh... the wonderful world of dv... Can't wait to begin! :-D


Kind regards,

Jan Kivisaar
Sweden

Great to hear.

Good luck with the camera :-) and have a nice time with it!
And if you have a problem or question about it, you know where to go for information ;-)

Thank you for the follow up Jan! Must have been an exciting week for you.
Glad you got it all solved. Have fun and enjoy the camera!