Camera Zone & Art Gallery — Local services in San Francisco

I went to Camera Zone with the confidence from good reviews. Turned out my personal experience there was a fiasco. I told Ray, the store owner, that I was looking for a camera which takes good photos of the northern lights. He asked me what was my budget, I told him 2K. He brought out some "consumer" cameras; I asked for Nikon D7000. He brought out one with 18-55mm lens; I asked for one with 18-105mm. Cost was $100 more than at Calumet, Fireside Camera, and Best Buy until 1/6/13. I asked what made the difference, he said the later has a video capability. I asked where was the infinity focus, he said in the Scene mode. I told him I also needed a macro lens that takes good photos of snowflakes. He brought out one that I don't recognize. The demonstration was terrific, why the names of the different states on a five dollar bill was magnified so sharp. I never could have seen with the naked eye, let alone known that the states are on the bill. I asked him if the discount was still the same if I came back the following day. Answer was no. So, I bought the mysterious lens, camera kit, and a tripod for a subtotal of $1,828. Additional two remotes, two batteries, and one 16 GB memory card brought the total price substantially well above my 2K budget. Note this every one out there, a lens cleaning perk is given. I suppose my business was so drummed up that I was given additional perks that included one year extended warranty, a little vivitar camera "case" and a plug converter, which I don't need, but he gave anyway. During unboxing at home I found out the camera has no infinity mode in the Scene mode, the monitor cover was missing, and the tripod wobbled. I searched online for Nikon with infinity lens and found out Costco has D7000 with 18-200 kit for $1,499.99, only $100 more than the 18-105 mm. The kit includes a 5 year extended warranty, a nylon bag with leather trimWhen I googled "Digital Advance" to find out about the macro lens, there was no official looking website, but only one which appears to be a personal website maintained by someone named Kim. Customer reviews about the product (Digital Professional Lens Digital Pro HD Series .48x58mm DSLR MC AF Professional High Speed Auto Focus Deluxe Super Wide Angle Lens with Macro) are all appalling BEWARE!...

I visited the shop twice and each time it was completely different experience. The first day I dealt with the owner’s son who was genuinely nice and helpful and second time I spoke to the owner… The owner seemed to be very friendly straight from the beginning – judging from the body language.

We wanted to buy Canon 70D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lense. The first day son told us to check the internet and if we found better price they would match it. So we had a look and found the camera for very cheap price ($700). Next day when we came to the shop we showed it to the owner and he started going on and on about that was not a legit website and that they would not match the price. So we asked why they did not mention this the day before. To be honest I did not even expect they would match the price. What I did not like is that they could not be honest or specific straight from the beginning or at least apologize when they made a mistake. The owner topped it off when he kept talking over me and did not even let me finish my sentence. When I asked him: “Would you let me finish?” to which he replied: “No I am talking. This is my turf and I can do whatever I want”. What went on afterwards was just terrible (from both sides as I got completely angry). The point is if he knew how to deal with customers than I am sure we would have found a way and I would have left with the camera and lense and paid him couple/few thousands of dollars, but his behaviour and in matter of fact behaviour of his daughter, who just starred at us as if we bothered her instead of greeting us and asking what she could do for us, was...

This place has amazing prices even compared to online deals. I just purchased 3 Zeiss lenses from Dar at camera zone and I still can't believe how good of a price I got them for.

I'm saying this as a near professional photographer who has spent nearly 20K on photography equipment, owned more than 30 lenses and more than 10 bodies, and is constantly hunting for deals on photography equipment online. I scour craigslist, slickdeals, fatwallet, camera deal blogs, and more. You name an online source of hot camera deals, and I'm on it. In fact I even know someone who works at Sony and who gets employee discounts on Sony lenses.

Despite all of that, Dar's price was STILL better than any other option that I could find after 2 weeks of dedicated deal hunting! Before today, I had never purchased a lens or camera at a brick & mortar store, ever. But I have to say Dar has convinced me that the internet isn't the only place to get a hot deal.

So if you want a great deal on camera equipment, do your research online, and then visit Dar and he'll make you a deal you can't turn down.

Oh I should also add that Dar let me spend 30 minutes in the store testing out the lenses before purchasing and didn't hassle me at all. He just left me alone and I probably could have spent an hour if I wanted to. He didn't even try to upsell me on accessories, which is where I assume he'd make a profit! Incredible!! This whole experience makes me believe in the concept of an electronics brick & mortar...