Moti Photo

Have you ever had one of those moments where you were super excited to cover and attend an event that you forgot to put an SD card on your camera?
That was me, 2 weeks ago.
The Russian saleslady probably sensed my panic and desperation so she milked that moment to get whatever she could out of me.
BTW, I love tipping and can be very generous when the person goes the extra mile in terms of service and customer care but what do you do when a person charges you $ 110 for a micro SD card that is really only worth $ 29.95?
I’m not one to leave bad reviews but I can’t sleep with a clear conscience knowing that they could be preying on another camera-​challenged person.

BUYER BEWARE — THESE PEOPLE ARE CON ARTISTS. No wonder they changed the name of the store to Best Camera!
While traveling, my friend needed to purchase a memory card and we stopped here to buy one. The French woman in the store then decided to sell both me and my friend a polarized filter. While still somewhat new to photography, I had understood a good quality filter can be fairly expensive. The french woman pulled out the Filter (her «best») with a price tag of $ 342 and indicated she would give my friend the filter for 120. My friend bargained the price down to $ 90. I similarly purchased a larger filter for $ 120 as the woman represented the list price was very expensive and she held herself out to be an expert. We later discovered these exact same filters are sold online for 20 – 30 $ max. I understand these stores have expensive rents to cover but this price was completely dishonest and immoral. I plan on reporting their «cash only» policy to the IRS and reporting their store to the manufacturer of the product. Btw, the French lady, if you ever read this, you are a bad person!

NEVER GO HERE. This place is a horrible, overpriced, tourist trap.
I stopped in during lunch to pick up a UV Lens filter for my Nikon because it’s close to my office. They charged me $ 40. I was in a hurry to get back to work and wasn’t really paying attention … I should have done my research. The same exact filter is $ 8 to $ 15 online and in most honest camera stores.
None of the prices are marked, you have to ask. If you look gullible they will rip you off. Stay away.

I was downtown doing some errands and had my camera with me because the flash is becoming very dim. I had called a bunch of places, but most people do not do repairs anymore on a small basic digital camera. I saw this store, which is now called «Best Camera» and decided to walk in to see if they did repairs.
I walked in and asked and the guy said that it would depend on what kind of camera. I showed him my camera and said «All I need is a new bulb or whatever for my flash. It still flashes, but barely and at night the pictures are very fuzzy». He said to let him look at it, so I did and he took several pictures of me, changed all the settings that I had on my camera, took several more pictures of me, and then said. You have something wrong with your flashbulb. In my head I said DDDUUUUHHHHH!!! That is what I told you! So then he continues to fiddle with it and I asked if they carried the bulbs in the store. He said no you need to send it back to fujifilm. I am not thinking why is he still playing with my camera? So, he changes more settings that I had worked so hard on mastering and then he goes OK, this is what you do, set it on this ISO and your picture will be fine. I was like OK (knowing that it will not take a proper picture at night still) and before he gave it back he goes, ok so here you go and don’t worry I deleted all frames!!! I was like WHAT??? You deleted ALL of my pictures!!! I think he probably meant to delete all the photos that he took of me, but ALL FRAMES means ALL FRAMES! I could not believe that this guy just deleted all of my pictures-​most of which were not yet on my computer!
I left and was so angry! I would not go back here for repairs, for purchases, for anything. The only time I would maybe go back here is if I moved out of the city, came back as a tourist, needed to buy a disposable camera and Walgreen’s down the street was closed. Other than that, I think this store is a waste of space!

Don’t get caught with your guard down.
It looks like a discount camera/​electronics shop. Paid way over MSRP, 80% above NY internet prices. I know it is not illegal to charge over MSRP but way over and for each and every significant item…
Road to the Consumer Bone Yard:
(a) Lots of no name brands other than camera body
(b) Lens are of name brand but some are low-​end optics.
(b) Don’t let them help you throw away packaging (guarantee way to void returns)
© A give away FREE camera bag to assist in Item (a)
(d) No posted prices in the store for comparison shopping. Items had small stickers with outrageous prices. 50% of outrageous = outrageous.
(e) Fuzzy invoice. One total price. No line item price detail.
(f) Trust Me: You may be told you are getting a sweet deal while no solid basis for the offered price. A scratch paper acts as a prop of objectivity.
(g) Other FREE low cost items offered to sweeten deal.
(h) Requested payment in CASH.
Unilocal does not have a negative rating system. This store gets Negative 4-​stars. Negative 5-​stars would indicate fraud. Negative 4-​stars is a much smarter strategy for long term survival. Consider another store; Adolpf Gasser is a serious photography store in SF with AWESOME (tongue in cheek) prices relative to MP.