Evil eyepiece obsession in Japan

[castor]

While walking through a big electronic store in Osaka, I came across a selection of eyepieces. Not at the silly prices they have back in the wonderful land of Oz, but actually quite reasonable. I feel like I am about to succumb to the eyepiece mania that has ruined my financial world since I got into this pernicious hobby.......

LVW's were going for about $200 (after conversion). I have the 8mm LVW and the 5mm Stratus, but I am thinking about getting the 3.5mm +/- the 17mm. Also, I'm interested in the LV 2'' 30mm which is a 60 degree FOV with 20mm eyerelief it goes for about $130.

There was also a lone Pentax XW going for $320 and the Pentax XFs going for about half that, although I don't need either of the latter's focal lengths.

Do you have any advice for me?

(P.S. You'd be pleased to know I recently acquired a lens cleaning system.)

[wavelandscott]

I've been to that store on more than one occassion and often considered "loading up my briefcase"...

To date I have resisted...

[DJDD]

I will be in Japan in about 2 weeks.
is it worth investigating telescope shops in Japan, given our good exchange rate, taking into account shipping?

if so, any suggestions for where to look?

where is the store (or what's it called) in Osaka?

cheers.

[Prickly]

Hi,

The LVWs are terrific eyepieces with great eye relief but really quite heavy.
I love my LVW 22mm and 8mms. Have heard the 13mm is great too. The 22 is a little less heavy and just awesome.

My LVW 3.5mm is good as a deep sky eyepiece as well. Still evaluating with planets.

Cheers
David

[StarLane]

Not sure if you are still in Japan or what part of Japan you are in but the best astro shop I have purchased from was in a part of Tokyo, the shop is called Seihosha, 1 minute from the Suidoubashi JR train station on the Soubu line.
I purchased my 10XW there for $270 after the currency conversion. I also saw some LVW's for around $180 AUD. I am going back in March and will buy a 17mm LVW and maybe an XW or two.
If you need directions to the shop, here is their web-site.
www.seihosha.co.jp (http://www.seihosha.co.jp)
After much research, this shop is the cheapest I have found in Japan, and the best service.

[DJDD]

Thanks, StarLane.

I will be in Tokyo for some of the trip and was looking for something more to do there. Tokyo is not my thing but due to circumstance I have more time there than anywhere else...


cheers,
DJDD

[GrahamL]

thats a good price paul ..around $300 or a bit less or more seems
to pop up a bit with current exchange rates.. do any of them ship down under ?

[StarLane]

No, unfortunately not. I have asked a couple of different shops this question in the past and they tell me they only ship around Japan (why?, not sure), also, for certain items they will not even accept a credit card, they must be paid for in cash or COD in Japan. I think credit card fraud is huge in Japan. Luckily I travel to Japan every year, so before I go I make a shopping list of what I want. Can't wait till March.
Apart from the excellent shopping for astro, camera and electronic gear, it is an amazing country. Extremely kind people, excellent food, beautiful scenery (away from the city) and very efficient transport system,....well everything works efficiently, not like here.

[GrahamL]

http://www.kkohki.com/English/kkohkiparts.html

does list list some good prices and global delivery .. have you tried
them paul ?.. though it does mention somewheres there to check first .

[citivolus]

Only two stops from Akihabara. I wish I had known about that shop the last time I was there! Here is a link to a Google map:

http://tinyurl.com/3b6cmn

Eric

[StarLane]

Looks like some good prices on that site, although Seihosha is still cheaper but no worldwide delivery.
http://www.seihosha.co.jp/pentax_top.html
When I purchased my 10XW in August the exchange rate was around 107, now it's around 97 or so, still better than afew years ago. The delivery charge on the Kkohki site seems cheap. Haven't seen this site before, thanks mate.

[citivolus]

I think this has to do with Japan Post rates. Three years ago I looked into shipping an N-Scale train back to Australia from Tokyo, and at the time it would have cost over $100 AU by mail. I ended up just bringing it in my luggage.

[DJDD]

Thanks, Eric. How convenient...Akihabara was my first stop on Dec 30, too... :D

[edwardsdj]

My understanding is that the Japanese were burnt heavily by credit in the late 1980s and have learned to treat it with the caution it deserves these days.

A lesson we've yet to learn in Australia :)

[pvelez]

Thanks for the tip - I'll be there in early Jan and was scouting around for a decent scope shop.

Looking at the website, I see they sell Canon DSLRs. Is it too much to hope that they have been modded?

Pete

[citivolus]

If contemplating a major purchase, remember to take your passport along to the shop and get the purchase duty/tax free. I found that most shops in Tokyo, especially electronics or tourist related, will do it for you if you are purchasing over $100 in items. A camera would definitely qualify for that.

They will staple a page in your passport that you need to present along with the item at the airport when you leave, but unlike some countries your purchase will not be sealed in a special bag preventing your usage in the meantime.

Your manual will likely be in Japanese, but so many of them are downloadable these days that it doesn't really matter much. I was personally amazed at the price of Canon supplies in Tokyo as compared to Australia or even the USA - ink for my printer was $9, vs $17 in the US and $25 here. If you are targeting camera equipment, make sure you visit a place like Yodobashi Camera. The hardware prices may not be the cheapest you will find, but the selection is amazing.

Eric

[citivolus]

Oh, and to answer your question - yes, those cameras are modded. $1200 will get you a modded "KissDX" aka 400D with an IR cut filter installed. For just over $500 they will mod your 350D.

[pvelez]

Cool! Thanks for the translation - I felt I did well just finding the map!

Pete

[MikeyB]

Service from Kokusai Kohki is fast, friendly and reliable, in my experience - delivery by mail to Perth within a few days. The manager, Barry Gooley, is knowledgeable and not Japanese, so there's no language issues in correspondence and the shop is experienced in selling worldwide, so packing/postage are handled easily.

[StarLane]

For cameras, the best deals I found in Tokyo were in Ikebukuro. Most people think that Akihabara is the place to go, maybe for computers and mp3's and sat nav etc but not cameras, Akihabara is not even cheap for these items anymore, they realise tourists frequent the area and the price jumps. Camera stores in Ikebukuro like BIC, Naniwa and Yodobashi are the best in the country.

[castor]

I gave into Temptation and bought three eyepieces in Osaka for the princely sum of 51,000 yen.

A LVW 17mm, a LVW 3.5mm and an LV 30mm which is 2'' and has a field of 60 degrees, although it looks wider.

I see I am going to have some fun with these toys......

[wavelandscott]

Stopped in to visit this shop earlier today while I was killing time before heading to my flight back to Australia tonight...some wonderful gear! The people were very nice!

If I actually needed anything I would sure consider buy8ing from them!

[StarLane]

Top shop that one. When I was there in April I purchased an LVW 17 for 16,900 yen, are they still the same price?? At the moment that is less than $169 AUD, when I purchased my 17mm it cost me around $180 or so with the exchange rate at that time, still cheap.... They are great staff, they even let me test the EP shooting out the window down the streets of Tokyo before I made the purchase.

[wavelandscott]

I actually did not pay a lot of attention to pricing of most things as it was mostly a window shopping adventure to kill part of the morning before the flight back to Australia after a long week of business meetings.

I must confess that I did buy a Homestar Planetarium (including southern sky disc) at a very attractive price from them...but mostly it was just looking and dreaming of a big Takahashi...

[allan gould]

I bought Vixen 22, 13, 8mm LVWs from the above. I was totally surprised that when the Japanese say parfocal, they mean absolutely parfocal. And to boot these are parfocal with my 6mm LV from Vixen and the cost delivered to Australia meant that I got 3 eyepieces for the price of 2.
Excellent service - quick, courteous and precise.

[gb_astro]

Allan, how much were the shipping charges for those three?

Thanks,
gb.

[allan gould]

Havn't got the receipt now but about $AUD35 from memory. I LOve them so much I'm thinking of getting the new 30mm LVW - it would be a real cracker.
Anyway contact them and they will give a firm price in Yen including postage (insured).
Allan

[GrahamL]

I placed an order last week and found it a little strange i hadn't heard anything all week..I got an email yesterday..and it seems as always my
timeing is working to perfection.

..... cool eh ? :thumbsup:

So if your planning an order to japan avoid 10-17 augest :)