Lens protection rip off !

andy1249

I was in the Camera Centre in Grafton street looking around recently and saw this woman buying a 350D for her husband as a present , anyway the assistant talked her into buying a UV filter to protect the kit lens at a whopping 35 euro !!:eek: .
I was outraged , I was sorely tempted to butt in and inform the woman she was being ripped off but in the end decided I was better off minding my own business , and just left the shop.
I will definitely not give them any business and will be telling everyone to watch out for this scam.
Is this anyone else's experience while buying camera's ? Has anyone else seen this practice ?

FYI , the filter in question is just a piece of glass on a 58mm mount and typically retails for 7-8 euro and Ive seen em even cheaper online.!!

Zombrex

andy1249 wrote:

I was in the Camera Centre in Grafton street looking around recently and saw this woman buying a 350D for her husband as a present , anyway the assistant talked her into buying a UV filter to protect the kit lens at a whopping 35 euro !!:eek: .
I was outraged , I was sorely tempted to butt in and inform the woman she was being ripped off but in the end decided I was better off minding my own business , and just left the shop.
I will definitely not give them any business and will be telling everyone to watch out for this scam.
Is this anyone else's experience while buying camera's ? Has anyone else seen this practice ?

FYI , the filter in question is just a piece of glass on a 58mm mount and typically retails for 7-8 euro and Ive seen em even cheaper online.!!

A lot of places do that, be it a UV filter for the lense, or a new memory card, or a "specail offer" bag. But Camera Centre seem particularly bad for trying to sell you "essental" accessories. I bought a 300D from them and even after I said I already had a CF memory card he kept trying to get me to buy one of them because this one was "high speed" .. groan

You are right, 35 euro is ridiculous for a UV filter. What is amazing is that Jessops are selling their UV filter for 30 euro and you can buy the same filter (from Jessops!) from Gunns for about 11 euro.

Dimy

I got the UV-Filter for free with my 70-300mm lens when I bought it at Camera Exchange. They usually do that if you ask for a UV-filter 35 euro is a rip-off indeed.... maybe that's how they get money back from the ones they give away to people who do know about cameras ;-)

elven

I remember almost being sold the same when I got a new lens a few years ago, in Glasgow. It's one of those things - some people say you should always keep a UV filter on simply for the sake of protecting the glass and as with all things you can pay as little - or as much - as you like on it. I think I had a £10 one for a while but nowadays I don't bother with it.

heffsarmy

What brand was the filter...I use B+W slim 58mm filters from bought from bh and they cost 79.95$ plus shipping. They are handy for protecting the front element of the lens from scratches, cheaper to replace thatn a new lens. Also the biggest difference between cheap filters and expensive ones is their coating. A rule-of-thumb is that multi-coated ones are always much better than single-coated or clear glass because of higher pass-through rate of light and are also less prone to flare. 35 euro is not expensive if its going to add some protection to the front of an expensive lens.

elven

Wicknight wrote:

I bought a 300D from them and even after I said I already had a CF memory card he kept trying to get me to buy one of them because this one was "high speed" .. groan

I actually asked the guy when I just got my 350D in Jessops for a cheap, slow card and said I would upgrade later to a better one. He told me that unless I wanted the maximum burst speed possible, a slower card would do me fine and having got it home and played with it he was right. It was nice for someone to not try and maximise every single sales opportunity for a change...

FX Meister

Does the OP know what quality the filter the woman was sold? Perhaps it wasn't just a cheap crappy one?

bp_me

elven wrote:

some people say you should always keep a UV filter on simply for the sake of protecting the glass

Doesnt having a cheap ass filter in the way negate the benefit of buying a good lens?

andy1249

It was a no name cheap as chips glass filter , available from most places for less than a tenner , there was nothing fancy about it at all.

dalk

The reason why UV filters are pushed is because the margin on the camera is usually tight, but on a €35 UV filter (and other "add-ons") the margin is very generous... Which equals more profit for the shop.

Personally, i don't even bother with UV filters any more. I've never scratched a lens (yet). I had a second-hand lens that had a noticable scratch on the front element. It made absolutely no difference (except resale value) to the printed image.

BTW I am not suggesting that you do not use a UV filter.

andy1249

I guess the thing to take away from this is never buy "pushed" accessories when buying the camera , shop around and get your UV filters and memory cards at a normal price.