SimCity Mongkok is the place to go if you like your tech gadgets, cameras and want to spend money. It’s difficult to go into SimCity Mongkok and not come out with something. There’s so many shops in here that I don’t even know the names of, I’ll cover a few here that I’ve bought shit from and a few of the others that seem to be popular.
DX Zone sells a lot of Fujifilm, both new and used, and now has a good selection of film cameras from Japan (bought from Japan). I traded in a Fujinon 14mm and 18-55 for a 23mm and came away with quite a bit of cash. It’s not often you trade in something and come away with cash! I’ve also traded in the 35mm and 50mm Fujinon’s for the Fujinon 55-200mm and came away with more cash. DX Zone is probably my favourite shop in SimCity Mongkok, nice staff, one of which is rather pleasant on the eyes, and they give you good prices. Find it at Shop 217 on the second floor of SimCity Mongkok. I also bought an X-Pro 2 from them.
SimCity Mongkok – DX Zone
Other shops worth noting in SimCity Mongkok:
There’s quite a good little shop on the 4th floor that sells expired film, in there you can get Fujifilm Neopan, Kodak Ektachrome, Kodak Gold 100, Lucky, TudorColor and some Konica. I bought everything and had mixed results, most of the films in here have expired in the 90’s and early 00’s so it’s a bit of a lottery what you’re going to get back.
SimCity Mongkok – Focus Camera
DCFever – expensive, large but not a lot of products in there. They can order stuff for you but I wouldn’t buy from them. Check out their website though where you can buy and sell camera’s both digital and used. I’ve bought and sold quite a few things on there but their shop and service is a bit crap.
D-Base – Small sony shop selling a few the Sony Action cams. This is where I bought the Sony FDR X3000, not much cheaper than buying it at the Sony Store just down the road at the main Sony Showroom, but I got a bunch of free shit, which you can also get at the Sony Showroom when you buy the FDR X3000.
SimCity Mongkok – D-Base Sony
Tin Cheung Camera – I rarely see anybody in this shop, they have branches in Central, TST and Causeway Bay but their prices didn’t appear to be the cheapest and as usual, some of the staff are pretty miserable and will be upset if you dare interrupt their Facebook time to buy something. Give them a miss, there are better shops.
For buying film cameras and lenses, there’s a couple of shops on the 2nd floor as soon as you get off the escalator that sell a lot of glass and Leica film cameras. Never bought anything from them so can’t comment on their prices.
SimCity Mongkok – Used Cameras
SimCity Mongkok is also where you can find OEM camera bags, straps, tripods, pretty much anything you can think of photography related and they also have the cheap knock-off stuff from China if you’re looking for a bargain. A good find is on the 3rd Floor, walk up the escalators, go straight and on the right there’s a shop that sells camera bag inserts/foam protection. I find most camera bags are heavy, extremely heavy, so I use a Deuter Back Pack with one insert and the bag still weighs less than half of what most camera back packs do. Anyway, there’s different sizes, they’re dirt cheap and there’s different colours. This shop in SimCity Mongkok is ideal if you have a normal bag you want to convert into a camera bag. Yes – that’s a guy having a good pick of nose in the photo below!
SimCity Mongkok – Cheap Camera Bag Inserts
Sim City Mongkok is also the place to buy headphones, earbuds and the like. There’s at least 3 or 4 shops that have a massive selection of headphones, some of which are up to HKD$10,000-$15,000. I’ve gone in there a few times looking for some running earbuds but get too overwhelmed by the selection and end up leaving empty handed and going to window shop film cameras.
SimCity Mongkok – Earphone Paradise
If you happen to Mongkok definitely check out SimCity Mongkok, if you have any interest in tech products or camera’s, it’ll be hard to come away from this place empty handed. Prices in general are pretty good, you can compare from shop to shop to shop but I don’t think you’ll find huge differences. Most of the camera shops in SimCity Mongkok seem to open around 11-12p.m, but if you go there later afternoon all the shops should be open. It’s must less busy late morning and although I’ve never personally been there at night, apparently it can get pretty full on – not my scene.
SimCity Mongkok – Used Film Cameras
Best thing to do is just go in there and take a walk around, pretty sure you will find what you want.
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