Unfortunately you can't always trust the reviews. My wife says that if you go in and rate someone, you often get store credit, like 10-15 yuan but the store of course isn't going along if you tear them down. My wife always goes to rate and I think always picks the highest one, as I suspect many other Chinese do.

thanks to everyone for their input. i think i'll avoid taobao altogether.

tiger, you might be interested in this since you mention you like to go to hong kong. it's a run-down of some of the camera shops in HK.

japancamerahunter.com/[...]

@Magnifico
Thx for the info.

no problem.

I will probably take your advice and go the HK route.

Sony, Canon, JVC all have official stores with web sites in English. And And I think it's possible just to buy directly online from them and get it shipped here.

Thanks.