Mitchell and Abby got to experience the (overwhelming) magic of a Yodobashi camera store for the first time on their trip to CP+. Photo: Abby Ferguson The DPReview team recently returned from CP+, the camera industry's official trade show held in Yokohama, Japan.
Most of our focus was, naturally, on the show and interviewing executives from the major camera and lens companies. However, we also had some time before and after CP+ to wander around, taking photographs and checking out some of Japan's camera store offerings.
This trip marked Abby's first time in Japan, and it was a second journey to the country for Mitchell. Now that we've been back for a bit, we wanted to take some time to reflect on our experiences there beyond CP+.
Seeing a new place through the same lens
Nikon Z8 | Viltrox 35mm F1. 2 Lab | F8 | 1/400 sec | ISO 64 | Processed in Capture One
Photo: Mitchell Clark
Mitchell's thoughts
If you've spent any time on gear-related forums such as ours, there's a bit of advice you've probably seen pop up anytime someone asks about upgrading their equipment: you should spend the money you would've spent on a camera/lens on taking a trip with your current kit instead.
While I obviously don't think that's always true, this trip showed me that there is definitely some wisdom there. Being in a completely new place (I've been to Osaka, which has quite a different vibe from Tokyo and Yokohama), where many things are unfamiliar, helped get me out of my photographic groove. I found interesting new angles to shoot things in, and tried out things I might not have at home, just because I was inspired and excited to be doing photography again. Travel, even if it's mainly for work, was a great way to get my creative energy going (especially after what's been a particularly dull and uninspiring winter at home).
Even when I wasn't taking pictures for work, I was constantly pulling out my phone to capture interesting compositions that I saw.
iPhone 15 Pro | Rear wide camera | Cropped to 4:3
Photo: Mitchell Clark
As someone who often shoots at night, I was also delighted to find that Tokyo, in particular, is one of the most well-lit cities I've ever been in. That meant that I was still able to get pictures late into the evening, no matter where I went, something that's definitely not the case in my more rural neck of the woods.
It's also astoundingly dense, its streets and alleyways bursting with people and things to take pictures of. If I'm doing a photowalk in downtown Spokane, it might take me an hour or two to come up with 10-15 good images, especially if I'm trying to find subjects I haven't shot before. In Tokyo, it felt like I could do that or more in fifteen minutes and a few blocks.
Abby's thoughts
The colors, textures and lights in Tokyo and Yokohama were feasts for my eyes. Edited in Adobe Photoshop.
Panasonic S1RII | Viltrox AF 16mm F1. 8 | F3. 5 | 1/80 sec | ISO 500
Photo: Abby Ferguson
I'll start by echoing Mitchell's comments about taking a trip somewhere new. Just like he experienced, this trip to Japan felt like a little rekindling of my photography. It was very refreshing to be someplace new in general, especially somewhere drastically different in almost every way from where I currently live.
Both Tokyo and Yokohama, where I spent all of my time, are absolutely filled with color and lights. The densely packed architecture and infrastructure of both places create lots of interesting opportunities for photography, with rich lines, textures and shapes to play with. It was like a photographer's playground in many ways.
SOOC JPEG
Panasonic S1RII | Viltrox AF 16mm F1. 8 | F2. 2 | 1/20 sec | ISO 640
Photo: Abby Ferguson
Now, this could very well be the case in any major city (which I do not live in at the moment), but it was still fun to have so many opportunities for photographs. I went out with my 35mm film camera on my last day, with just a few hours before needing to catch a train to the airport and easily shot through an entire roll of film. It typically takes me a few days to do that, even when I'm in new locations that I'm excited about.
Another thing I noticed was that we were far from the only photographers wandering around, even well away from CP+. Yokohama is a tourist-rich city, so that may be part of it, but I saw a good number of people walking around with dedicated cameras, which is quite different from what I'm used to. Even though I live in a touristy area, I rarely see photographers out and about. Maybe I felt emboldened by this, but I even worked up the courage to ask two women who were painting near a bridge if I could photograph them, something I never do where I live.
A rich camera history: Shinjuku's used camera stores
I was in constant awe, looking around the used camera stores.
Photo: Mitchell Clark
Abby's experience
I love old cameras, particularly old film cameras. Where I currently live, and really everywhere I've lived in the US, options for shopping around for these cameras in person are remarkably slim. There are a few stores more than an hour's drive away from me right now, but the selection is very small at each. That's also more than I had access to in most of the other places I've lived, and this is the seventh state I've called home.
My experience in Japan was completely different. We went to Shinjuku City while in Tokyo, and within just a few block radius, went into six different camera stores. There were more in that immediate area that we didn't check out, too, and countless beyond that one neighborhood. Even in Yokohama, I found a handful of shops within walking distance and a few more within public transportation distance of CP+.
While most of these shops were quite small, they were absolutely filled to the brim with cameras and lenses. Each was packed with glass cases with rows and rows of cameras and lenses, and many also had boxes on the floor with even more to choose from, if you were willing to hunt through them to maybe find a gem. The selection was downright overwhelming at times, especially since I didn't have a specific one in mind (other than my husband's request for a Canon P). I could have easily come home with a suitcase full of cameras if my budget had allowed for it.
I hadn't set out specifically for the Olympus M-1. But I saw one in the last shop I checked out, and looked it up since I hadn't heard of it before. The history (and condition of this one) sold me.
Google Pixel 10a | Rear wide camera
Photo: Abby Ferguson
It was also fascinating seeing so many brands and cameras that I'd never even heard of. I am kicking myself for not writing some of them down to look up later, because there were some very intriguing names and form factors. I ended up buying an Olympus M-1 for myself, which I hadn't even heard of before I looked it up in the store after seeing one.
Mitchell's experience
My one thought as a 1. 8m tall American who was wearing a backpack to carry all our filming gear: these stores were DENSE. I barely had room to turn around, and trying to get to a specific aisle could feel like a sliding tile puzzle if someone was between you and it. I remember one store in particular where it was the three of us, and then another person shopping there; when two more people came in, the shopkeeper laughed, saying, “Too many people!”
This isn’t at all meant to be a complaint – it’s part of the density that gave the city its charm – but it’s worth being aware of if you’re going shopping at them. Had I realized just how small they were, I might’ve opted to film with a phone, rather than my full-size camera and backpack full of supporting gear.
Experience of Yodobashi Camera for the first time
My local Best Buy is a surprisingly competent camera store, but certainly doesn't stock every color of the Nikon Zf. . . nor practically every other camera and lens that Nikon makes.
iPhone 15 Pro | Rear wide camera
Photo: Mitchell Clark
Mitchell's thoughts
As part of our trip, our coworker Dale Baskin recommended that we all go to the Yodobashi Camera store in Akihabara, partially for the sheer experience of shopping at a photographic Mecca, and partially because he thought it'd make for a really good video for social media (it did). And despite all the things he told us about it, it still ended up being a much more interesting experience than I'd thought.
The first thing that became apparent right when we walked in was that, despite its name, the store sells much more than camera gear (though I suppose that should've been obvious given that it was seven stories tall). You don't even get to the main photography section until the third floor, after you've gone through a maze of smartphones, computers, monitors, networking equipment, printers and enough cables and accessories for the aforementioned to make a Best Buy blush.
Once you make it to the photo level, though, it is absolutely glorious. They have pretty much every current camera and lens, not just available, but out on the shelves for you to play with. (Though, perhaps unsurprisingly, the one camera I didn't see was a Fujifilm X100VI). Basically, every kind of photography is represented: there were booths for pretty much every brand, as well as displays for various lens makers, video cameras of all shapes and sizes, flashes, film cameras and film to put in them and more. They had pretty much every kind of Instax (which we noted were all completely sold out), and even a wide array of itty-bitty toy cameras for the kids or camera-curious.
It's not all fancy cameras at Yotobashi; they also stock the increasingly popular cheap point-and-shoots and charm-sized cameras.
Photo: Dale Baskin
Of course, it's not just the cameras, it's the accessories too. You can get flashes, tripods, printers and paper for them, bags, film, straps, whatever. The experience really highlighted the fact that there's currently nothing even remotely comparable where I live; no stores that I could go to and feel assured that they would have a particular hotshoe cover or filter ring adapter. For most types of photo gear, if I want it, I’ll have to order it and wait a few days for it to arrive. It’s very cool to experience a store that sells basically everything I could ever want as a photographer.
One final note is that I was told to expect complete sensory overload, and I have to say that I was a little disappointed. Sure, the constant music and announcements took some getting used to, but it wasn't particularly overwhelming; I was mostly just excited to be there. However, your mileage may vary: it may just be that I've completely cooked my brain by listening to YouTube videos at 2x while also playing video games, and that others would find the sheer density of products and information to be too much to take in.
Abby's thoughts
Overall, I very much agree with Mitchell's takeaways. I was surprised by the sheer variety of items at Yodobashi, as there's plenty there that has nothing to do with photography. I really enjoyed and appreciated how well-rounded the photography items were, though. There were products for every step of the photographic process. That included a wide range of inkjet papers, which you normally don't see in camera stores.
Where our opinions differ, though, is in regards to sensory overload. I have not destroyed my brain like Mitchell has, so I did find it completely overwhelming. I was very glad to leave the store when we did for the comparatively quiet streets of Tokyo.
. dpreview.com2026-3-10 16:00
