Buying a digital camera in Florence
 

Hi everyone,
My camera just blew off the terrace and broke at our hotel. I am sure I will not engender too much sympathy with those of you not fortunate enough to be here, but I really want to buy a new camera or get this one fixed. We are staying near the Ponte Vecchio and I have no idea where to go. Can anyone help? Thanks!

rtbotts: I looked online and found this from April 2009. Hope it's still current info. I got a sinking feeling in your behalf thinking about the camera's demise:

Sorry this is so vague, but there's a great shop near the Duomo. If you're facing the front of the Duomo, it's on the street to the left, before the street curves around the backside of the Duomo. When I was there in 2008 they even had a VC 12 on display. There's also another nice shop across the Arno, but I can't remember enough to give you directions. I was pleasantly surprised all throughout Italy to find nice shops with plenty of RDPIII for my M6. The owners appreciated the Leica, and made for nice conversations in my bad Italian.

Thanks, TDudette, I saw that, too, but I was a the Duomo today and there are a virtual wagon wheel of streets spoking out so I am not confident I can find that. There were at least four streets on the left. I cannot be too sad since the view from the terrace was amazing but it would be nice if the wind was not so brisk!

Does your hotel have a phone book? Even if you don't speak Italian, just bring the broken camera to the front desk and say "HELP"

Is your camera actually worth fixing? The reason I ask is that if it is a point and shoot, say with a cost of less than $200 or so, then I'd just buy another camera. Few shops can repair modern digital cameras.

Don't feel bad, several years ago in Rome my DW and I were swapping cameras back and forth. I had my big Sony 3ccd camcorder and she had a decent Olympus, which cost about $400. You guessed it, during the handoff, I dropped her Olympus and knocked the lens out of whack. The next day we found a little camera shop and purchased a small digital Kodak for about $150. I was actually amazed at how good the pictures were.

Here is the rub though. 3 months later, while still under warranty, the Kodak just quit working. After doing some internet research I found that this was happening to lots of people with this camera (I forget the type). I contacted Kodak and they said I must have gotten it wet or dropped it. I had done neither and this was the same response they were giving to everyone. They said they would repair it for $150. By this time the camera was selling all over the U.S. for $99. Yes, I gave Kodak a piece of my mind, why would anyone spend $150 to fix a $99 camera?

Just for the heck of it, I contacted Olympus and asked about a repair. They said they would do a full rebuild and give a new warranty for $99. WHAT? I sent it off and about 10 days later it came back good as new.

So, while the Kodak kept me out of being in really hot water (my DW refuses to use my DSLRs) and took some very good shots, their actions after the camera death has made me swear to NEVER buy another Kodak product.

dave

We also just had to buy a camera -- in Bologna. We just asked at the department store -- I think it's COIN? -- and they directed us to the nearest shop. It really wasn't a problem.

So, rbotts, where did you buy a new camera???