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Best Store in Los Angeles\San Diego for buying professional camera gear

C

Carl Elster

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Hey Redusers,

I'll visiting San Diego and LA at the end of the month and I wanted to pick up some camera gear.

Just some random accessories for my Epic and camera kit.Whenever I'm in New York I stock up at B & H as the prices are significantly better than in Canada where I live. Basically I'm looking for the B & H equivalent in Southern California. Something with lots of professional gear IN STOCK with good selection and knowledgeable staff.

I was thinking of checking out Abelcine or BandPro but don't know how big their retail side is or if they mostly just do online.

I'm looking for random stuff like the following:

Sony NP battery kit
15mm rail accessoires
BNC cables\adapters
Used RED products (looking for a Redmote)
HDMI to SDI convertors (Atomos)
Thunderbolt harddrives

Thanks in advance for the tips!
 
Hi Carl. Hit Abelcine in Burbank first. They have a hefty amount of AKS in stock. You'll Filmtools nearby who will have a good amount of stuff too. I do that two store dance a bunch.
 
Awesome. I think I'll be in Burbank anyhow. Thanks for the info guys!
 
Samys is only useful for photography, they have very few professional grade film gear. Redrock is not professional.

Abelcine and Film Tools have the most, and EVS is between them.

Abel and EVS do rentals, Film Tools does not.

-LA
 
If you're in for an adventure, craigslist LA will have some of the best in used gear. Cheap, available, knowledgeable: pick two.
 
Oh wow, is that new from film tools?
 
AbelCine and FilmTools are worlds above B&H and Adorama, who will freely tell you they make their money from amateurs and pro photographers. Good luck trying to find Arri gear at B&H.

I bought my MB-19 matte box from Abel, my monitor from FilmTools, and a bunch of smaller stuff from
both. Great people all around, thankfully there's enough business to keep em both in business.
 
My first choice is Abelcine, they take care of me because I shop there often. I bought a cable from them and it fried my p-tap backplate because apparently smallhd reverses their polarity on 1 pin ( technically not anybodies fault ) But Abelcine immediately fixed my plate for free, and allowed me to return the cable. SmallHD was also very helpful in sending me a new cable for free with their "specifications". Parts in the film industry have a high markup, but if you shop at the right place, they will make sure to go above and beyond to take care of you. I don't think It would be possible to have this customer service with B and H and Adorama. No pressing numbers to get to a random customer service person etc. I call or email Liz at Abel with any question or concern and I'm well taken care of. Finally, the stores that cater to film are much better educated in film equipment, especially locally here in Hollywood.
 
There is also Birns and Sawyer and VTP. Boutique Cine oriented shops run abundant in LA for the most part. Get over to the Glendale area and go to Filmtools or EVS and if they don't have something they will most likely send you someplace else, often some little tiny place no one knows about except for the people that shop there. LA is spread out, lots of little boutique type shops that still are supported by the industry especially in the Burbank/Glendale area. Hollywood too.

There is a post oriented computer shop and the owners are awesome, and tend to refer people to the best places especially considering they don't really sell production gear. However they do sell computers and support most of the high end production shops for their apple computer based needs so they are plugged into nearly everyone in town. Guy named Drew Kim at Melrose Mac is a good referral source. Gary Carter from studio exchange used to work there after Studio Exchange closed but Drew took his place and i Know drew came from production so isn't typical sales guy.

Look them up, there are three locations but good knowledge source and if you ever need post stuff they do pretty much everything. I worked for them for years and they have become a trusted name in the gear world.

Stay far away from Samys, BandH and Adorama at least they want to try and sell you something. I moved from LA to NY a year and a half ago, Samys although a necessary evil is like they can act like its a privilege for you to even buy something from them and the kids working there are often snooty in my experience.

Its a pretty connected community out there, if you call one place, you often wind up at another. Just be prepared to sit in some traffic.
 
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