Yesterday I went to Namdaemun market in search of a digital camera. I didn’t go to Yongsan because I read that if you go to Namdaemun you could find the Japanese version of certain cameras that sell at a discount.
Now, nothing is for free so the the trade off is that you don’t receive a warranty for the camera you purchase. This whole deal is called the grey market in Seoul and since I rarely, if ever, use warranties I thought it was perfect.
Once in the market I found the street with store after store of camera shops. Most of the places sold Canons, Nikons, or Panasonic digital cameras from point and shoot to SLR monster cameras ready to go home with their new owner.
Beforehand I did a bit of research and so I knew that I wanted one of several particular cameras including the Canon Powershot SD850, the Canon Powershot SD750, the Nikon Coolpix S50c, and the Sony DSC N2 Touch screen model.
The touch screen DSC N2 from Sony really grabbed my attention. I couldn’t stop playing with it, but in the end I thought it might be better to go with a Canon. I ened up with the Canon Powershot SD800 with a 2.5 LCD, 3x zoom, and 28 Wide angle lens.
The Japanese model is called the Canon IXY 900 and sold for 270,000 won, for an extra 30,000 I got a case, extra battery, and a 1 gig memory card. I like the Canon a lot, but a small part of me still longs for that Touch screen!
