I have made several large purchases from the USA, B&H and MPEX. Prior to each purchase, I've gone into Vistek with my shopping list and ask for their most competitive quote. I then try to negotiate some additional relief as I wish to keep my dollars in Canadian hands. But the pricing simply does not match.
For example, I purchased some Elinchrom lighting and accessories about 2 years ago. Vistek was about $7500 and B&H was just over $5000 for the exact same products. After shipping, brokerage and taxes, I save well over $1,000. I can not justify giving away $1,000 for no real value in return. Especially, when Vistek is the distributor for Elinchrom in Canada.
I do purchase a lot of things from Vistek such as paper, inks, etc. I purchased my Epson 7880 and 3800 printers from them a while back and paid the premium as the shipping would have cost me a fortune. But Vistek (and Henry's) has to adjust their pricing or at least put pressure on their suppliers to adjust pricing to match the current fx rate. Or better yet, sell their products in $US currency, but that would be treason, i'm sure.