The Camera Store

I spoke with John at The Camera Store. It was the best service I’ve ever received at a camera store, and I used to work at a camera store! He took the time to answer all my questions and show me the physical cameras. Another great reason to go in person rather than buying online. Thanks so much! I’ll be back!

Every time I try go to another camera store I wind up wondering why I didn’t just save myself the hassle and go to The Camera Store first. There is a reason they are ‘The’ Camera Store, not just ‘A’ Camera Store.
Sure, they’ve got an incredible selection of what seems like everything camera related. They run classes and clinics to help build the photography community in town. They have a great rental selection so you can pick up special lighting, lenses or body’s for a cool shoot you’ve got in mind. But here’s the real reason you should shop at The Camera Store…
I’m not a photographer or really even a «Faux-​tographer», but over the years I’ve had many reasons to shop at the camera store — a point and shoot for me, gifts for others, lighting and backdrop rentals for my event photographers. Even as a non-​photog I still seem to always have reasons to pay them a visit and I’ve always been very impressed by the level of non-​pushy, and friendly customer service they’ve provided. But, my most recent experience at The Camera Store is by far the best example of this.
I was in a rush and in a bind. I needed to charge my camera battery so I could shoot an event that evening, but since I don’t use my camera that often, I was unsure that I even had a charger. (This is why you should hire the pros, folks!) Without having enough time to go home and look, then purchase one if I turned up empty handed, I wanted to buy a charger on the way home, and if I already had one, return it, and if I didn’t, use the one I just purchased. Sounds simple right? Not quite. The Camera Store was already the second camera store I stopped at as Saneal Camera’s doesn’t have a return policy (that they were unwilling to budge on even in my situation) and The Camera Store does.
Relieved by The Camera Stores willingness to allow me to return the product for a full refund up to 11 days after the sale, this let me cover my bases and buy a charger that I very well might find out I already owned when I got home. Saved! Instead of sending me away unhappily to the competition like the other guys did, The Camera Store helped me solve my problem! But here’s where they really stood out…
Just as I was arriving home, frantically getting ready for my event now only a few hours away, I get a call from John at The Camera Store saying that I’ve left my camera battery on the till. We took it out so we could see what type of charger I would need and somehow I manager to leave it there. Oh no! They close in 20 minutes and I don’t have time to get back there. Instead of leaving me high and dry, John personally delivered my camera battery directly to my event. I was blown away.
I don’t expect this level of service from anyone, and I certainly wouldn’t expect them to do this type of thing all the time, but I got the distinct impression that they would. When it comes down to it, this is how far they’re willing to go to help their customers out, even the relatively small spending ones like myself. I’m beyond impressed, incredibly thankful and will be going to The Camera Store and The Camera Store only for all of life’s photo moments from here on in.
I hope you do the same, because these guys seriously rock!

I went to The Camera Store on the advice of Unilocal reviewers, I was amazed at the selection in the store. However, the place didn’t have the camera I was looking for. Plus, the service that I received was somewhat unprofessional, the salesman was putting down Sony products right in front of a customer who was looking at the Sony camera. I found the staff to be somewhat young, a few hipsters, probably not as professional as I would have liked, I don’t think I would go back here to buy a camera.

Fantastic Place! I’ve been going here for years. Great selection, staff is awesome… Ask for Chris. He’s been there for years, does a lot of their blogging & instructive videos, though I have yet to get subpar service here.
Been meaning to give these guys a review for a while now. too often, you only hear about a place when someone is pissed. Always happy here though!

I’ve dealt with a number of camera stores over the years ranging from mom/​pop local stores, to the big local photography chain, to big box stores, and not to mention the two big photography warehouses in the US. Especially for local stores, it’s tough to get exemplary service unless you’re a repeat customer. Understanding this, I try my best to go to the same shop for all my purchases, and surely enough I get the odd discount here and there.
In the market for a new toy to buy, I did my research and found that it was very cost effective to ship it in (as the local store couldn’t match the price). A friend of mine brought my attention to The Camera Store– he along with his dad and uncle purchased their cameras from there and received nothing but great customer service. With that endorsement in tow, I proceeded to call up The Camera Store to ask a few questions, most notably whether they would price-​match another Canadian retailer.
Over the phone, I was greeted by a friendly gentleman who answered all of my questions, as well as outlined the procedure for price-​matches (which they gladly accepted).
I then placed the order online, following the directions for the price-​match. A painless and easy transaction later (not for my wallet), I was left to wait for my purchase in the mail.
Not so fast! I received an email saying that my order didn’t go through. Within the thorough email were instructions on how to remedy the issue. I emailed them back saying I was reordering, and as I was 10 minutes prior, I was left to wait for my package in the mail.
Except, there was another issue with the order. It appears that I was charged multiple times which triggered a lock on my credit card account. As it was after closing, I waiting until Saturday to call regarding the issue. Again, I was greeted by another friendly salesperson who kindly notified me that the particular department wasn’t available until Tuesday. So after getting off the phone, I emailed the department (who emailed me previously) to tell them of the situation and how my credit card company outlined how to fix it.
Tuesday comes, and I receive an email saying everything is taken care of. I call my credit card company to verify, and alas, everything is taken care of. And the best part of my experience? The package came in, with less than 1 business day between ordering and receiving.
This was by far the best customer service I’ve received from any electronics company, period. They’ve got a lifetime customer in me, and I’ll evangelize just how good The Camera Store is to all my friends.

The owner/​manager of this place has such a bad attitude I will never go back. Ive heard many great things about the store, and many horrible things about the manager, and his lack of respect for local businesses.

Unlike the people that abuse their knowledge & then purchase product cheaper online, I went the opposite route and did my own research then decided to order a sony NEX E-​mount lense off them. I was going to just get it from B&H but saw that these guys had it so thought it would be more convenient to avoid having it shipped from the states to Edmonton (Would have ended up about $ 20 cheaper, but I thought at the time, take longer to arrive) Well what do you know… ordered Apr.29 arrived May.26.
Took 2 days for them for their first email to say they ordered it and would let me know when it’s available to ship. I thought I had seen it in stock when I ordered, but I may have been wrong so 7 – 14 days was what it now said on the site. Fine… maybe I’ll get lucky and have it for my trip. May.13 comes so I ask for an update, only time I got a same day reply saying they’re asking their rep & will let me know as soon as they hear back from them. May 15 no response so I ask for another update. Left for my trip & didn’t get anything back from them until May.21 saying it should come «any day now» and WOOHOO «they will ship the same day it arrives»…(shouldn’t that be expected?)
They clearly have extremely low priority for online purchases. For email responses to not happen within 24 hrs (weekends I can give a pass) nowadays is insane to me. In store, it must be a different story, but honestly I have never dealt with online purchasing this bad since transactions with Chinese ebayers in the early 2000’s. (actually their responses were more prompt) So, next time I’ll just join the masses and get my camera needs from a big box store I suppose because that was alot more painful than it needed to be. (Hell, I haven’t even opened the box yet, considering this mayhem I won’t be surprised if I got the wrong item, the 2^nd star was just because I’m assuming I actually got my lense.)

How could I not give these guys and gals a review. Super knowledgeable and helpful. I bought some camera accessories here and rented lighting & other accessories. I would have bought my camera and lens here but I got a great deal somewhere else that I couldn’t pass up.
I came in kicking tires the first couple of times. They’ve got a lot of camera equipment and a lot more staff available to help you than other camera shops I’ve visited. I don’t even know if there’s been a time where it hasn’t been busy — its always busy! kudos.
The Camera Store does something better than every other camera shop in Calgary — they focus on the customer’s needs. They have a YouTube channel thats filled with amazing product reviews and helpful information about… cameras! They understand marketing and more importantly know where their customers are.
Keep it up and fantastic job!

As a camera geek, I love this store. I found their prices to be the best in Canada and the service is great. Even though I live near Vancouver, I buy my camera equipment online from these guys. And if I’m in Calgary, The Camera Store is my only MUST visit. By the way, be sure and check out their video reviews. Very professionally done and usually good for a couple of laughs.

Easily the best camera shop in town for the professional or discerning amateur. Well educated staff are professionals and passionate photographers themselves able to give advice based on experience. If they have what you need, they will have the best price in town; however, their best-​in-​class prices don’t mean that much if they don’t have everything in stock (which seemed to be the case with some popular glass for a while. Likewise, if you need b/​w darkroom supplies or chemicals this is one of the only games in town. Oh yeah, and if you’re an orthodontist or cardiac surgeon and need the latest and greatest Leica, they’ll have that too.

My favorite camera store in the city. No question about it. The staff is always friendly and really knowledgeable. They will talk to you for half an hour even if you don’t buy anything. I have used their rental services, and bought my lanes and other gear from them. They rock!
There’s always lots of people in the store, and it is great place for photographers to network. Also, they offer classes and guest lectures.
I wish they had printing services as well.

I wandered by The Camera Store last Saturday on my way back from MEC. There were tents in the parking lot, which were filled with Camera company representatives and lots of knowledgeable customers. Any notion that smart phones were killing the camera market was not evident on this day.
The first thing I did was sign up for every available drawing for photographic-​related door prizes. As usual I didn’t get lucky, but if you don’t play, you can’t win. I then wandered in a found a great belt-​friendly bag for my point-​and-​shoot Lumix and a replacement micro-​SD card for another Samsung camera. I also explored around and took it all in. This place pretty much has it all and regardless of your film or digital preferences. Yes, you could buy much of this online, but I went away convinced that with all the expertise here, I would leave here buying the right equipment for me.

I write this not to sound harsh, but to maybe inform the buy something or get out attitude a few have at the store… A few months ago I stopped by to pick-​up a bag, lens and some filters, I had spent about 30 minutes looking at bags, seeing which would fit my equipment better, something the sales clerk told me to do and was kindly helping me find, we then went to the counter with bag in hand, pulled out the 2 lens and filters needed (About $ 5000.00 on the counter) and this guy pipes up and yells who’s blue truck is that in the parking lot, you need to move it??? What I ask, as I am one of three customers in the store at the time. He then tells me there busy time is coming up and you have been parked to long (At this point I have been there about 50 minutes), I guess parking cost more than $ 100 per minute there as that was what I was just about to spend in product… I said I will move it in a few, I guess that was not the answer he was looking for and sneered a bit and said something under his breath.
No Problem I thought, I looked the sale gent that was so kind in spending some time helping me find what I was looking for and instead of truly saying what was on my mind at the time, turned and walked out… I know that the money I was about to spend more than likely meant nothing to them as a whole, but in this instants someone else got that sale that day.
As a side note, I want to say that the Camera store is my go to store, and more often than not the service is excellent and the pricing is competitive with a sales staff that you can tell loves the profession, Just that no one seemed to want to get involved and say/​stand up to this guy at the time, calm down, so hence the comments here.

I had a last minute video shoot that required… well…a camera so after calling Vistek, they told me Camera Store was the best place to find a last minute rental for a good price. Yeah they said that. It’s like Tybalt sending me to hang out with Mercutio. (*facepalm* ugh Shakespeare ref in a review, for shame)
This place is pretty cool! I walked in and it was bustling with people. I only had a small amount of time but I wish I could have explored more. They seemed to have a great selection with staff that seems to know what they’re selling, compared to other chain stores who just point at the gadget of your interest and read everything that was on the sign and try to mask it with their own bland descriptions:
«It’s a camera, a red model. We have a sale, you should buy it.»
Seriously that happened to me once… at a Futureshop
Anyways their rental process was painless and easy. For $ 40+ day rate they lent me the camera for the weekend which was a great deal! I didn’t have to go through too much of a hassle in signing things off, all I needed was my drivers licence and a credit card. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t renting a more high tech equipment that they didn’t get me to sign a blood oath, but I was in/​out of the store within 20 minutes max!

Lets start by saying that I have not set foot in the store proper ever as I live in Vancouver British Columbia. I have used their web store on many occasions to order products for my photography hobby. They have been nothing but great to shop with on every occasion. The most recent time dealing with them I ordered something and Canada Post lost it (somehow it ended up somewhere in Ontario not BC). They resent my package after a quick phone call to discuss what had happened and giving them some info so a claim could be started with Canada Post. A week later than expected it showed up on my door step. This was not a big deal though as you can’t win when Canada Posts drops the ball.
This is a great store with an amazing web store staff!

Pick the right sales person and you will be rewarded with honest information to help you choose film and photography equipment. They do their best to service, educate and inform their clients. I refer all of my clients to The Camera Store.
Brett Gilmour Photography

I know about as much about cameras and photography as Cookie Monster knows about broccoli. Okay, I’m not quite that bad! When you say words like «aperture» I have a vague idea of what you’re talking about. But beyond playing with some of the big kid cameras some of my friends have, my experience has been limited to my point and shoot.
I needed to rent a big kid camera earlier this week, and after poking around The Camera Store’s website, found they had rentals. Nice! And the option to call in or email to reserve or just walk in to book what you need.
The rental counter is at the back of the store. Go find Pierre, he’ll hook you up. Pierre asked me questions like what kind of shots I’d want to take (more up close portrait types or full body/​head-​to-​toe types), what my experience was with cameras, what brand I had used before, etc. He then set me up with a Canon and a corresponding lens. It was the lowest price point for a rental at $ 75 and $ 30 for the lens. Before sending me out the door, he gave me a run down on all the different settings of the camera and a bit of instruction on how to change a few things like aperture and what levels to set things to for indoor vs outdoor shooting. Oh, and a full battery! He didn’t miss a thing.
The shoot went well and I had a lot of fun pretending to be a photographer for an evening. Returning my camera the next morning, there was Pierre again with questions on how the shoot went for me. I love it when places take an interest in the projects their supplies/​equipment are being used for :). Thanks Pierre!
Tip: Make sure you’ve got your own memory card. The rental doesn’t come with one. Also, be prepared to pay a deposit equal to your rental fee. Don’t worry, it’ll all be refunded so long as your stuff is back on time and in the same condition you rented it in!

I love The Camera Store. Conveniently located on 11^th Ave SW, they have some of the best everyday low prices on photography equipment in the city, and in some cases, in the country as well.
Their in-​stock selection isn’t as great as say Vistek, and their website doesn’t seem to list all of the items they have in the store, but if you find that they don’t have it in stock, they’re usually willing to special order it for you. But chances are, if they don’t stock it, you probably don’t need it unless your needs are very specialized.
They are one of the few official resellers of Singh-​Ray filters and Think Tank equipment in Canada. The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable, and if you go visit often enough, will eventually get to know you by name. In fact, if you manage to find a lower price for an item they carry, either locally or on-​line, they’re usually willing to price match. My only complaint is that they close at 5:30 p.m. on most nights (except for Thursday, when they close at 7:30 p.m.) and that they aren’t open on Sundays, which makes it hard to shop here if you can’t get downtown fast enough after work, and are unavailable on Thursdays and Saturdays as well.
I’ve purchased a little bit of everything from here: camera bags, filters, tele-​extenders, tripod equipment, point-​and-​shoot cameras, camcorders, various photo accessories and more. They’re a great resource, especially in-​town, when you need something right away and don’t feel like hunting around for bargains or the best price. If you’re looking for some photog gear, The Camera Store makes a great first choice.

I think I’m one of those people that buys expensive cameras and thinks he is a professional photographer. Luckily for people like me, there is the Camera Store.
Last year when I decided to invest some serious money into the Canon G10, I really did my research as to where to buy it for the best price. The Camera Store was about $ 10 more expensive than anywhere else, but then I considered what you got when you buy something there…
They are by far the most informed staff on all things cameras, they have an amazing selection of cameras, supplies and if you look in and round the binds, you can always find great stuff on clearance.
About 10 months after I bought my camera, the sensor got some dust on it and it had to be replaced. I had misplaced my receipt and thought I was going to be out an awesome camera, but I took it back to the store and were able to track down my receipt, print out the warranty and send it off to Canon. Two weeks later, I had my camera back good as knew.
You could look at buying something at the Camera Store as throwing away an extra $ 10 or $ 20, but it is an independent business that proves time and time again why the big guys still aren’t doing it right.

Sapna and Bernard pretty much said it all. There is really no reason for anyone — from professionals to those buying their first point and shoot — to go anywhere else for anything related to photography.
The only exception would be if they didn’t carry something and it was available somewhere else (for me, that was gaffers tape, which I bought at Vistek, and a 70 – 200 lens, which I had to buy from *shudder* Saneal, which has the world’s worst return policy — as in, they don’t).
When they do carry something, you can be almost certain it is the cheapest in the city. Except maybe Costco, but they only carry about a dozen cameras at a time and their return policy on electronics is no longer great like it used to be.
They have cameras, memory cards, film (the only place in Calgary with Polaroid), lighting (not much though — buy that online if you can), books, tripods, stands, camera bags, good glass (lenses), photography-​related software, light modifiers (grids, reflectors, etc.), flash triggers (i.e. PocketWizards), filters, backdrops, and all sorts of accessories. They rent camera equipment. They also sell video and film processing equipment (enlargers, etc.). Not to mention a bunch of other video and audio-​related stuff.
If it’s photography-​related, always make sure AT LEAST to look here first before buying anywhere else.