For school this semester we're doing darkroom, which of course means a bit of spending.
Although I try to support local Australian stores where possible, as a student, this becomes increasingly difficult with prices being double what that are, compared to an American online store such as B&H.
I buy main pieces of gear within Australia - such as my Pentax K5, Sigma f2.8 28-70mm, Sigma 18-200mm, flash units etc. I like to know I have a warranty for this gear. Or more importantly, an individual I can look at and explain my issue to, face to face.
When it comes to accessories and media, smaller scale items, my budget forces me off shore.
School items such as paper (Ilford MG Fibre, Ilford MG Fibre Warmtone), film, focus scopes, flash diffusers, spare batteries - are around 50% cheaper at an online store with huge buying power, like B&H. When a group of us get together and buy all of our bits and pieces, we still come out well after shipping.
When the savings quickly add up into the hundreds of dollars and the cheapest shipping takes less than five days to arrive (my most recent order arrive this morning after I placed an order on Monday afternoon), it's difficult to help the local stores and spend more money, when I could buy more for the same price.
