I went to the little camera shop on Mass Ave. in Arlington, the one between Arlington Center and Blue Ribbon, to see if they had it there for me to hold, and see, and mess around with. They did. But here's the (predictable) kicker: they're selling it at full retail price, while Amazon has a significant (over 10%) discount on it. If I buy the camera from Amazon, that's one more straw on the local shops' camelbacks...
There are free market arguments here, and there are tragedy of the commons arguments to be made.
If I buy it from Amazon, do I put a penny in the jar of "Don't let anyone but serious customers look at the equipment" at all the camera shops around the world? I suppose at some point even Amazon has to worry about this trend; I don't think I'd buy this camera without getting to see it first, and I imagine most people are in the same boat.
Bleah. It's the wrong season to be looking at stuff for myself, anyway.
