Mike's Camera — Attraction in Sacramento

Mike's Camera Inc is a beautiful store. My concern is for the customers who happen to be people of color and their treatment from the employees. I entered the moderately busy store about an hour and 45 mins before closing looking for 35mm film for a class I'm taking. Immediately after entering the store an employee, a women of Asian decent, approached me asked me if I needed any help which is all fine. My concern came when I declined her help and informed her of my intent to look around the store but she stood there briefly monitoring what I was looking at. I knew immediately that this woman thought I was there to steal. My concerns were confirmed as she went behind the counter at the back of the store and continue to monitor my movements from behind the counter. I left the middle aisle, walked around the back end of the last aisle and she conveniently placed herself behind the counter where she could see me. I then walked to the front part of the store and circled back to the center aisle where she seemed overly concerned with the products that I was looking at. My fear and anxiety of being racially profiled almost prevented me from purchasing anything, but I took a risk and picked up a paper/film combo pack and an additional roll of film from the back end cap located in the back of the store. By this time, said employee is engaged with another employee and there are other customers coming into the store who are actively seeking her attention for whatever reason. I took my rolls of film and paper and decided to circle around the back of the store (where she could see me) to the first aisle, which happens to be the aisle that is facing the door. And despite the customer who is now standing at the counter and the additional customer who had just walked in, and was approaching the counter she is standing behind, she felt compelled to call out to me across the store signaling me that I could purchase my products are her register. "Oh excuse me, I can help over here at this register!" she stated as the dumbfound customers who are actually standing in front of her were probably wondering why she's yelling at me and policing me from across the store and not attending to them. It very clear she thought I would make a run for the door with my $35 Ilford combo pack and my one additional roll of 35mm film - about $40 bucks worth of supplies. I responded back that I was just looking, if that was okay (it's now the second time I've told her this) however I returned my products. Thanked her and left.

I don't blame her - I'm sure she's a very charming woman and regular customers adore her. I, however, cannot support any business where the color of my skin raises concerns of my ability to pay for the products located within that store. Photography is a beautiful art form that should bring people together especially in a specialty store where people come because they have an active interest in photography! Word of mouth is very powerful so I'll do my part to make sure other POC (or anyone who will listen) are aware of the treatment they may face entering this store. I hope Mike's considers a little sensitivity and diversity training for their employees. Shout out to Photo Source on Elvas Ave who had no problem with me rushing in the last 5 minutes of business and letting me...

I am not one for writing reviews however, the short experience I had at this establishment completely ruined my day. I recently uncovered my family's old Sony camcorder, and a bunch of old DV tapes that we were incredibly excited about. As I was playing around with the camera, the cassette function suddenly stopped working, and the screen was flashing/beeping. I have absolutely no experience with cameras in any sense. I wanted to get this issue checked out immediately, as I was afraid the video on the cassette would be damaged. So, I decided to check out Mike's first thing the next morning.

I approached the “repairs” desk, and the worker sitting there was busy on his phone. I figured he would have noticed me walking up to the desk and standing there. After a good minute of waiting (while he was distracted on his phone), I let him know that I was there for help. The minute I spoke up, his demeanor was incredibly hostile, and he looked as though I was being a huge bother to him. I pulled out the camcorder, and immediately after seeing it, he chuckled rudely and said that this camera shop does not work on camcorders. If he didn’t say it in such a rude way, I would have totally understood. I even asked if they could possibly ship it out somewhere that does, or if he could refer me to any place else that does work on these devices. He immediately shut down those suggestions and claimed that he couldn't.

With that being said, he still took the camera from me and started looking at it and playing around with the functions. As he is doing this, he is also actively telling me how there is nothing he can do, and how he doesnt know what the problem could be. After opening up the cassette function, he was literally PUSHING on the parts of the device where it had a bright sticker on it saying “Do not push”. After messing it around for a few more seconds, he does not even close the camera or turn it off. He placed it back on the desk, without saying a word. At this point, I was looking at him thinking he would say something or tell me he was done looking at it. But he stays silent until I finally ask him if he was done. To which he rudely replied that he was. He immediately sat back in his seat.

I had never had such an awful experience in my life before. And I surely was not expecting to be met with such hostility at an establishment that had such outstanding reviews. I grabbed my stuff, and immediately left the store. I will absolutely not be coming back, nor will I recommend this place to anyone. This experience had completely...

Mike's Camera Sacramento has the best creative and technical talent I've ever encountered. Mike's staff has been brilliant for three successful projects described below.

Two parts here. Part 1: Recently I had two entirely dissimilar photo printing projects needed. The first was taking 30 1960s slides, scanning, and making of 5 X 7 prints. Mike's Camera did a terrific job. Second, I found a 4 year old electronic image of my grandkids in front of a lighted 1/24 scale Christmas Village set painted by my sister in 1981 for my then 1 year old son. Three things I wanted done: brightening the faces of the three grandkids, second "photo-chopping" in a picture of my departed sister on top of the village/grandkids image (kind of like an angel above the grandkids), and printing some small type at bottom edge describing who/what/when. A complex image to make. Mike's Camera staff did a stunning job. I had high expectations and Mike's met or exceeded them. We have a new family treasure to pass down. While not cheap, the result was well worth the bucks. Mike's is now my "go to" shop for photographic needs. Oh Yes, the "go to" person for my work was Joslyne. She is an ace. By the time we finished talking, she knew what I expected and delivered what was in my mind's eye; not easy to do.

Part 2: On 8-16-23 I sent two photographs and two documents needing "photo Chopping" to work in a book I'm writing. The two documents and one chop job, replacing a dark background with a blue sky from another picture, was perfectly done. The third image was combining a 1965 photo of 'Mr. Cool Me" on my BSA English bike into a 1967 picture of my stunning (for over 50 years now) wife on a beach in a swim suit. I did not think it was possible to make it believable we were side by side due to settings of the two pictures. Joslyne was upbeat about making it happen. Today I received the finished image and was stunned. Their was 24 year old me next to my 19 year old future wife on the beach with a wave coming in behind us that I doubt an expert could tell was a "chopped" picture. The 'Biker and the Beach Bunny" is the caption for it. Both Shari and I were startled. Okay, I'll shut up now. If you have a need for just quality prints or photograph manipulation Mike's camera is the place to go. While everyone I've talked with is pleasant and knowledgeful, I'd ask for Joslyne if you need a creative vision for the image you are trying to create. She is batting three for three; that is 100%.

I've tried to upload pix but,...