The Camera Company — Attraction in Madison

Excellent hidden gem of a camera store in Madison with knowledgeable staff!

I am from three hours north of Madison and came into the East town camera company location this past weekend. I came with the intention of having one of my canon L-series lenses sent out, only to be informed that this particular lens was no longer being serviced. I was very disappointed and I had already educated myself a little bit about the Sony brand of mirrorless cameras. I began asking questions. I used to do professional photography and then after going to graduate school and becoming a mother, my photography fell to the wayside due to being so busy. For the last few years, as my children have gotten older, I have wanted to get back into photography. My main limitations were that my expensive Canon system was was too large to carry with children, and my micro 4/3 system from 2016 just could not perform in low light to capture young children. There are so many options out there now and so many differences from when I last professionally photographed. I was overwhelmed with all my research and I knew I needed to go to a place that had employees who knew about the market. Thank goodness I chose the Camera Company!

Joseph, The employee who ended up helping me out, spent nearly an hour educating me on the different options I had and was very patient with my questions and concerns. He really listened to what my primary needs were: fast focus, low light performance, portable, not the bottom of the barrel, but not breaking the bank. I ended up buying a Sony a7C with two lenses, a flash, and a tripod/remote. When I got home to play with my new camera, initially I was quite overwhelmed with the difference in the Sony menu and was doubting my purchases. Once I spent more time playing with the camera, I realized how powerful the system was and how much better it was than my previous older systems. I am so grateful that I was able to come to a store with such a knowledgeable staff member to help me navigate these new purchases. Being a mother of two young children without much time, I cannot spend as much time researching my equipment as I used to prior to purchasing. I’m very happy with everything I brought home and will probably try to visit the store every time I’m in Madison now. Thank you so much for your patience and for getting me excited about photography again! I am so in love with my new camera system, that in a couple years I plan on purchasing the next step up from my A7C. I will definitely make the purchase from the camera...

Terrible experience. Bad communication! I came to ask how to remove lens protector that THEY recommended me to buy and applied last time I was there. It got cracked, I couldn't remove it even with the tool. I came to the store asking for advice, is there any trick to remove it? Lady at the store said "Lets see what I can do. I will take it to the back room". Left me clueless. I waited a bit and asked another store representative: "How long it's going to take? What is she doing with my camera? Is it going to cost me anything?" He came back saying it's going to be 5 more minutes, and service cost $25. I DID NOT AGREED ON THAT! No one announced the price or the services she is going to perform. She came back. cracked plastic was removed with little fragments still around my lens. She didn't removed the ring. Then I noticed that SHE SCRATCHED MY CAMERA LENS IN FEW PLACES. And every time I pointed to those scratches shy WAS TRICKY and changed subject to other scratches on my camera. I did not took a picture of my camera before I handed to her. I didn't used it for a long time, so I'm not sure if those scratches where done by me. Three times she did that! AVOIDED RESPONSABILITY. Tried to play a trick and change the subject. TERRIBLE MOVE! SCAMMER! Only AFTER making damages to my camera she said nothing she can do, that THERE IS A RISK when you are removing this protector. I'm like WHAT?!

1. No one told me about that risk and consequences when they sold me this protector.
2. That lady didn't told me about the RISK before she took that camera in the back room!
3. She took ZERO RESPONSIBILITIES for the damages she made! I even looked at two others employees at the store for the 2nd opinion. They didn't say a single word, like they were afraid of her. Weird & very bad customer service. Horrible experience! I was running late, I had to leave. Place is overpriced. Stay away from...

I went into the store looking for some very specific parts. I realized at the last minute that the Neewer ring light I had ordered online needed a hot shoe adapter to be able to connect my iPad holder to the light. They located some options for me very quickly. When I asked them if there was any kind of extender so that I could get the iPad up higher into the center of the ring, the guy really nicely pulled out a cool tabletop tripod that could be readjusted several ways and one of them was just using the top tube, giving me the extension I needed. And they did all this even though I came into the store 5 min. before closing time. I rarely write reviews, but I really appreciated all their help and I'm so happy to have my iPad/ring light/tripod working that I decided to...