Camera Works

My dad, retired to near Durham, tried to get his broken slide projector fixed everywhere in the area and they told him go to Camera Works in Durham.
He has probably three thousand slides to figure out and now he can!

My first visit ever was today. Enjoyed my visit very much. Sebastian was very friendly and helpful. I purchased a couple used Filters at 13 bucks total. Online the Filters were from 4 to 60 dollars each, w/​o freight — to boot. I am very happy with the service, and prices today. Will surely be back. Glad to find about online pricing at a local shop, good to support them.

Kinda wish I had more cameras in need of repairs. This place is a hoot. They fixed me right up and for a very decent price.

just took my first trip to camera works with my daughter to see if they could fix her (my old) nikon d70. she’d been told by the camera geeks at her college that it was broken; turns out there was a kind of obscure setting that needed tweaking. 3 minutes there and we were ready to go. owner was lovely, low key, knowledgeable and very helpful. i will be back with some geriatric film cameras that i would love to resuscitate.
this is a place that you need to know about if you have the kind of cameras that you don’t throw away after a year or 2.

I have had my Canon t1i and a 18−135mm lens for 2 – 3 years now and in the last few weeks I noticed the zoom was either jamming or finicky. Based on what I’ve read on the internet I thought it was a loose screw, but either way there was no way I was going to take my lens apart myself.
So the day before labor day I found that Camera Works was the closest to my house and based on the other reviews I decided to give it a go. I emailed the owner, Sebastian, and asked if he would be open on Labor Day. I got a pretty fast reply saying although the store wouldn’t be open, he would be in at certain hours and that I could drop in then. It took all of three minutes to explain the problem and drop off my camera; I was told I’d hear from him via email on Wed, which was two days from then.
Wednesday came and went, and on Thursday I shot him an email inquiring about my lens. He was again quick to reply and explained that a screw from a wiper blade (looks like a little rake) was loose and that he’d have to order a replacement part. Yesterday I received an email saying the part had come in and I could pick up my camera at any time. Since I typically work during store hours, I would have had to wait until next week to be able to get my camera back, but Sebastian would be seeing a customer this weekend and I could drop by then.
He had also saved the defective wiper blade and showed me how the prongs were bent out of shape, and he said he sealed the screws on the wiper blades in my lens so that this shouldn’t happen again. $ 116 later, I walk out of the store with my $ 420 lens in perfect order. All in all it took a week, from my initial email to getting a functional camera again.
I would not hesitate to come back again; Sebastian was very generous about meeting with customers outside of normal business hours, super informative with all the questions I had, and quick to respond to email. I was about to give this place 4 stars, for that minor thing about not getting back to me on the day he said he would. But after thinking hard about it I do think that everything else, especially prompt replies and exceptional service, outweighs that small blemish.
One thing I am unsure of is the fact that all of the above was just –done-​, no questions asked. Understanding the fact that a person has spent the time and labor to take apart the lens to see the problem… I’m not sure if in other places they would typically ask, «Are you willing to pay $_​_​_​_​to fix this problem?» before going ahead with it. Just a thought. I did go in with the intention of fixing mine, not just getting a price quote.

Total ripoff! I was completely taken advantage of and the owner should be ashamed. I usually go to Peace Camera or Southeastern, but I was in Durham, passed by the shop and checked it out. Very quaint and obviously needs the business. I didn’t need anything that day, so I made a special trip out there when I needed a ¼ to ³⁄₈ screw converter. This screw is smaller than a thimble. I ask for it, he gets one out of a small baggie, and just says 5 dollars. Since I’d never bought one of these, I figured that they must be hard to order and 5 dollars must be correct. A week ago, I was in Southeastern camera, and I saw a package of these screws, 8 of them, to be specific, for 4.95!!! And it’s obvious now that the owner at CameraWorks saw someone who didn’t know any better and decided to take advantage of him for 5 measly dollars. Anyone who could be that petty is not worth giving business to!

I have been to camera works a few times. I love Camera Works. The owner is very nice and very helpful. One time my old point and shoot needed some major repair and they helped and sent it off to Canon for me, it came back and has been working great ever since. I went another time to have my Canon 50D evaluated for a problem possibly with the sensor and I got some good advice about it without automatically taking it and sending it off somewhere. Some places would just tell you that you need a part and charge you out of the whazooo but Camera Works wants to assist you. I appreciate that… because as we all know– camera stuff is so expensive.
I highly recommend this shop to anyone needing work done to their camera!

I have only had two experiences with Camera Works, but they’ve come through for me each time.
The truth is, you don’t ever want to be in the position of needing camera repair, but it happens. My first time was after my dear Canon mid-​range point and shoot was dropped. The case was misaligned, and though the camera worked, I was concerned that dust and moisture might get in and ruin it. I called around, and the only place that would help was Camera Works. The price wasn’t cheap, but it was reasonable… and the work was done on time… best of all, I didn’t have to go through the trouble and expense of finding a new camera to love.
Then just the other day, I was in a panic. All of a sudden, the video viewfinder wasn’t working. I tried everything I could think of and did the dreaded Internet search. Yikes! Looks like it would cost a lot to fix.
Anxiously, I called Camera Works. The repairman walked me through checking a couple of settings. Turns out, I had accidentally turned off the video viewfinder. Who knew? One of these days I’ll read that manual.
Thank goodness Camera Works was kind enough to help me over the phone. They could have charged for that service, but they didn’t. I hope I don’t need another camera repair… but if I do… I know where I’ll go.