@RobertTheFat wrote:
@Skirball wrote:Yeah, I meant to say... buy it from a reputable dealer, like Amazon or B&H, over a place like eBay. Now that B&H finally got competitive with their shipping turn around I've been using them a lot more.
This is a tad OT, but what was your previous experience with B&H and what did they change? Over the ten or so years I've been dealing with them, I've found them to be reliably faster than finding time to drive to the nearest mall. I don't doubt that my location has something to do with that; the shipping services between New York and the Boston suburbs do a remarkably good job. The biggest problem I've had is not being home (or not noticing) when they came around, and having to drive to the absurdly remote locations where they load and unload their trucks.
Yes, you're practically down the street from them. It used to take a week+ to ship to the west coast. I bought my 6D from them, in a kit, along with a couple other items. Total bill was just over $3000, and they sent it via ground. It took almost a week and a half, which feels like an eternity when you're waiting for a new camera 🙂 I expect more prioritized shipping on purchases of that magnitude.
I recognize that we're in the era of instant gratification, and ordering online is not exception. But I've been an Amazon Prime member for several years now and once you get used to it there's no going back. Half of the items I order are here the next day (benefit of living in a major city), but all within two. And I'm talking cheap little trinkets. I've had $5 items shipped priority via Amazon; the shipping had to cost more than the item. Conversely, I've had orders from B&H that took two days to just to get to the carrier.
I think B&H is a great company, and try to support a camera specific company with my purchases, but it just wasn't worth it to me when I could get it the same price, much sooner, on Amazon. B&H is a big company, they need to keep up with current practice if they want to be competitive. About 6 months (?) or so ago they introduced priority shipping. I've had two orders since then and both were too the carrier that day, and here two days later. I was really glad to see it.
" As i recall, you friend use tracking mount." 
And you would be correct. But I see there are other "experts" here on photographing the nighttime sky and if they believe an f1.4 is required for it, then who am I to try and set them straight. By all means have at it.
