Camera Shops in Bangkok
Introduction
This list is based on a couple of years of wondering through sois and shopping centers searching for camera kit. It isn’t intended to be an exhaustive list of every camera shop in Bangkok. It’s just a list of places which I have found useful.
Just to put some perspective on this blog - I'm a professional cameraman who travels to many remote locations around the World. This means I'm usually looking for very specific high-end camera (mainly video and dslr) gear. If I was in the UK I'd probably be mail-ordering a lot of it from professional suppliers. The fact that even some of this kit is available in high-street stores speaks well of Bangkok's camera shops.
If you have less discerning taste in equipment there are hundreds of camera shops all over Bangkok that cater for consumer level cameras.
Feel free to add a comment if you know a place I might like!
Overview: Buying cameras
If you want to buy high-end DSLR cameras and lenses then Bangkok is a actually a pretty good place. Within the confines of the main brands (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Lumix etc) there is a lot of choice and prices are good. Don’t forget, as with everything, you can claim 7% sales tax back at the airport when you leave. Most camera shops will do the paperwork for you to get this - you’ll need your passport when you buy.
If you’re wanting to buy photography peripherals though - tripods, flashes/strobes etc the choice isn’t great and they’re expensive.
Cameras Shops
Photo File
This is generally seen as the biggest and most reliable chain of camera shops in Bangkok. There are loads of them all over the city - their website has all their incarnations. The main central branches are in the MBK shopping center (by National Stadium BTS station). The three shops are just known by the floor they're on.
Ground/1st floor branch. Near the Information counter at the bottom of the central escalators. It can be hard to notice because it's small and the sign is written in Thai (one of the few) - it's next door to Auntie Annes pretzels.
Blink and you’ll miss it but this is where to buy a DSLR camera or lens in Bangkok. At first I was unsure of whether to trust this place or not as MBK doesn’t have a great reputation but after a few years I can vouch that their gear is real and the prices are good.
You won’t be able to haggle much of a discount here (or anywhere really) but the prices for cameras and lenses are pretty good to start with. When I bought a Canon 5D MkII and L series lens it was cheaper here than in Singapore and significantly less than in the UK.
You can sometimes haggle a 5% discount but then when you try to pay by credit card they’ll add it straight back on! So paying cash will get you a small discount.
3rd Floor Branch
This is the branch for bits and pieces. It has lots of bags and other peripherals. Has a good range of Lowepro and Think Tank bags (which you won’t find anywhere else). Photo File also make some of their own branded gear, it's cheap and OK. My favorite thing are the padded wraps with Velco corners for wrapping lenses in. They're like the 30 USD Domke ones except they cost 5 dollars.
They have some mega-cheap LED lighting (like fake Litepanels) and some equally cheap fluscent lamps. Both feel a bit cheap but they are very very cheap, probably worth a try out for the money.
5th Floor Branch
This is the ‘Canon’ specialist branch so it stocks a lot of Canon lenses and DSLRS including the C300. It’s also the best place for video accessories for these sorts of cameras. It has a remarkably good selection of shoulder mounts, follow focus units, slider dollies etc. Many of these are quality international brands such as Genus and Chrosziel as well as some cheaper Chinese copies. It also sells GoPros, Zoom audio recorders and lots of Think Tank bags.
I’d also go to this branch for a stills tripod or ball head. They have a good selection of Manfrotto and Gitzo heads and legs and some small Sachtler fluid heads and legs too. This shop also has a rack of useful bits like spigots for light stands, lens cloths, LED and fluorescent lighting, reflectors and GoPro accessories.
Don’t expect much of a haggle here either - I once spent over 6500bt (230 USD) on a bag, asked for a deal for cash and they gave me 30bt (1 USD) off. Thanks guys.
Canon Service Center
This is behind PhotoFile on the MBK 5th floor. It will honor international warranties and service your Canon gear. I had an L series lens serviced and it was away for three weeks.
Sony Alpha Cameras
The 5th floor of MBK also has a Sony camera shop.
Other Camera shops on MBK 5th floor
This is one of the main congregations of camera shops in Bangkok. There are 5 or 6 next to each other. There is some choice of cameras and peripheral gear here - between them you will find some Kata bags, Lowe Pro, National Geographic bags and others. There’s various bits and pieces I’ve found useful available here - like a little spirit level you can slide into the flash seat of a 5D. Just shop around, you’ve got more chance of finding bits and bobs here than most places.
Sony Video Cameras
3rd Floor MBK - by the Sky Walk entrance.
As soon as you come into MBK from the Skywalk there is a Sony electronics shop on your right. This is one of the few shops in the center of town where they sell pro-sumer video cameras. Things like the Sony EX and NX ranges. They also have some Manfrotto fluid heads and tripods. They have Sony radio mics and also other Sony stuff like TVs, laptops and headphones.
This list is based on a couple of years of wondering through sois and shopping centers searching for camera kit. It isn’t intended to be an exhaustive list of every camera shop in Bangkok. It’s just a list of places which I have found useful.
Just to put some perspective on this blog - I'm a professional cameraman who travels to many remote locations around the World. This means I'm usually looking for very specific high-end camera (mainly video and dslr) gear. If I was in the UK I'd probably be mail-ordering a lot of it from professional suppliers. The fact that even some of this kit is available in high-street stores speaks well of Bangkok's camera shops.
If you have less discerning taste in equipment there are hundreds of camera shops all over Bangkok that cater for consumer level cameras.
Feel free to add a comment if you know a place I might like!
Overview: Buying cameras
If you want to buy high-end DSLR cameras and lenses then Bangkok is a actually a pretty good place. Within the confines of the main brands (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Lumix etc) there is a lot of choice and prices are good. Don’t forget, as with everything, you can claim 7% sales tax back at the airport when you leave. Most camera shops will do the paperwork for you to get this - you’ll need your passport when you buy.
If you’re wanting to buy photography peripherals though - tripods, flashes/strobes etc the choice isn’t great and they’re expensive.
Cameras Shops
Photo File
This is generally seen as the biggest and most reliable chain of camera shops in Bangkok. There are loads of them all over the city - their website has all their incarnations. The main central branches are in the MBK shopping center (by National Stadium BTS station). The three shops are just known by the floor they're on.
Ground/1st floor branch. Near the Information counter at the bottom of the central escalators. It can be hard to notice because it's small and the sign is written in Thai (one of the few) - it's next door to Auntie Annes pretzels.
Blink and you’ll miss it but this is where to buy a DSLR camera or lens in Bangkok. At first I was unsure of whether to trust this place or not as MBK doesn’t have a great reputation but after a few years I can vouch that their gear is real and the prices are good.
You won’t be able to haggle much of a discount here (or anywhere really) but the prices for cameras and lenses are pretty good to start with. When I bought a Canon 5D MkII and L series lens it was cheaper here than in Singapore and significantly less than in the UK.
You can sometimes haggle a 5% discount but then when you try to pay by credit card they’ll add it straight back on! So paying cash will get you a small discount.
3rd Floor Branch
This is the branch for bits and pieces. It has lots of bags and other peripherals. Has a good range of Lowepro and Think Tank bags (which you won’t find anywhere else). Photo File also make some of their own branded gear, it's cheap and OK. My favorite thing are the padded wraps with Velco corners for wrapping lenses in. They're like the 30 USD Domke ones except they cost 5 dollars.
They have some mega-cheap LED lighting (like fake Litepanels) and some equally cheap fluscent lamps. Both feel a bit cheap but they are very very cheap, probably worth a try out for the money.
5th Floor Branch
This is the ‘Canon’ specialist branch so it stocks a lot of Canon lenses and DSLRS including the C300. It’s also the best place for video accessories for these sorts of cameras. It has a remarkably good selection of shoulder mounts, follow focus units, slider dollies etc. Many of these are quality international brands such as Genus and Chrosziel as well as some cheaper Chinese copies. It also sells GoPros, Zoom audio recorders and lots of Think Tank bags.
I’d also go to this branch for a stills tripod or ball head. They have a good selection of Manfrotto and Gitzo heads and legs and some small Sachtler fluid heads and legs too. This shop also has a rack of useful bits like spigots for light stands, lens cloths, LED and fluorescent lighting, reflectors and GoPro accessories.
Don’t expect much of a haggle here either - I once spent over 6500bt (230 USD) on a bag, asked for a deal for cash and they gave me 30bt (1 USD) off. Thanks guys.
Canon Service Center
This is behind PhotoFile on the MBK 5th floor. It will honor international warranties and service your Canon gear. I had an L series lens serviced and it was away for three weeks.
Sony Alpha Cameras
The 5th floor of MBK also has a Sony camera shop.
Other Camera shops on MBK 5th floor
This is one of the main congregations of camera shops in Bangkok. There are 5 or 6 next to each other. There is some choice of cameras and peripheral gear here - between them you will find some Kata bags, Lowe Pro, National Geographic bags and others. There’s various bits and pieces I’ve found useful available here - like a little spirit level you can slide into the flash seat of a 5D. Just shop around, you’ve got more chance of finding bits and bobs here than most places.
Sony Video Cameras
3rd Floor MBK - by the Sky Walk entrance.
As soon as you come into MBK from the Skywalk there is a Sony electronics shop on your right. This is one of the few shops in the center of town where they sell pro-sumer video cameras. Things like the Sony EX and NX ranges. They also have some Manfrotto fluid heads and tripods. They have Sony radio mics and also other Sony stuff like TVs, laptops and headphones.
Dunk HD Solution www.wedunk.com
This place is amazing - as near to B&H as you're going to get in Thailand! It's aimed squarely at the broadcast professional. It's only a small place but they have a large stock of high-end gear.
It's a little bit out of the centre of Bangkok - it's in The Crystal Park shopping centre on Ram Intra Road in Lad Phrao. I think the best way to get there is take the MRT to Lad Phrao and then it's 15 mins in a taxi from there.
For cameras they stock some of the Sony EX range and the Sony F3. There is a lot of the Panasonic P2 HD and AVC codec range including the AF101. Their website is in Thai with some English so you might be able to find what you want before you go.
They have a lot of genuine Zacuto DSLR shoulder mounts and Manfrotto tripods and fluid heads. They have loads of mattebox, monitor, viewfinder and follow focus set-ups for DSLRS. There are some lights - tungsten, fluorescent and LED Litepanels copies. These LED panels are a 5th of the price of real Litepanels and are good quality.
There is also edit hardware, HD/SD up/down converters and SDI to HDMI converters - generally a lot of stuff that is very hard to get around here so this shop was quite a find! The staff are friendly, knowledgeable and speak English too.
PanTip Plaza
There are a few camera shops in PanTip Plaza (Petchaburi rd, near Pratunam). There’s nothing really camerawise that you can’t get else where. I've found one shop on the 4th floor (opposite the Apple service center, near the up escalator) which has a better than average selection of camera bags, silica gel, filters, reflectors and tripod heads.
Also on the 4th floor is a shop which will make-up cables for you. It’s almost impossible to describe where this place is but it’s on the ‘front’ side of the building in a fairly tatty area of shops, one row back from the balcony. The guy speaks english and has loads of plugs and sockets so you can find even quite unusual stuff. Then they’ll make up the cables for you for 150bt. You can also take your own cables for mending. He sells cable making tools like soldering irons and crimpers.
Again on the 4th floor there is a shop at the back of Pan Tip which sells GoPros and is the best place I’ve found for GoPro accessories, probably because no one know's it's there so they never sell anything.
Pantip is probably the best place for hard drives and USB memory sticks. Almost every shop sells them. I like the Speed Computer shop - explaining where it is is probably futile so I'll just say it’s on the 3rd floor down the right hand side - good luck with that.
Pantip is also useful for things like mains to USB plugs (for charging phones, cameras and GoPro etc), mains extensions/surge protectors, audio cables, audio plugs, LAN cables and ANYTHING computer related.
Film Processing and Printing
IQ Lab is a great facility. There are two branches - one in Silom and one near the Sukhumvit end of Ekamai (Ekamai BTS - walk up Ekamai on the left hand side for a few hundred meters, past the big Chinese restaurant and it’s down a little soi that looks like nothing is down there). Their processing and digital scan service is fully pro quality and is about the same price as I pay at a pro lab in the UK. Their printing is very good but pricy - as you’d expect at a pro place.
Cheap Photo Printing
Under BTS Ratchathewi near Asia Hotel there is a small print shop. Their printing isn’t pro quality - sometimes they screw it up - but sometimes it’s very good and it’s always insanely cheap. This place also sells and good range of Fujifilm and Ilford 35mm and medium format film very cheaply.
