Camera Land Inc. — Local services in Town of Oyster Bay

2 stars because the place was clean and had a wide variety of gear. I wouldn't come here as an amateur or hobbyist looking to ask questions. I don't think its a bad place if you're coming in already knowing exactly what you're buying. The staff member that helped me out did nothing but try to embarrass me for my lack of knowledge on random camera modes, manhandle my camera, battery, and SD card, insist I was using the wrong mode to shoot photos with (didn't even ask what I used my camera for. lol.), tell me what a "piece of junk" my camera was. Didn't help me at all with what I had asked and just had the worst customer service. I had come here interested in looking at a Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary lens, to see the size and weight of the lens and hopefully come back here to purchase it in the near future, and instead was "educated" on a Canon EOS R7 body and told that if I bought their $1,300 bundle with a 400mm lens, it would "actually be a 600mm, because the way the camera magnifies, instead of a true 400mm". I have several lenses with EF/S mounts, told him this and that I was NOT interested in a new body, and was just told to buy an adapter and that I should "invest in the long term". Also told me the Sigma lens was 100% incompatible with my camera which is just plain false. Spent the last 20 minutes here talking about Iphones. Guy was rude overall and had zero interest in helping me in any sort of way. Left with a sour taste in my mouth and a horrible impression of the store. If you're anything but an experienced professional, I wouldn't bother. Even then, I'd try to find another place. Doesn't seem they are interested in anything...

I brought a few MiniDV tapes to this location thinking that it was a safe bet. I mean it’s right by my job in Midtown Manhattan and they took the tapes and happily charged me over $200 to do the conversion to DVD. Little did I know that they were going to LOSE MY TAPES! That’s right they lost my precious memories of my grandmother, who might I add is no longer with us. Let me also mention that not only did they lose my tapes but they gave me someone else’s precious memories. How is this acceptable, fair or legal? Guess I will never know. So now I have to sit here and wonder what happened? Who has my tapes? Are there not privacy laws against this gross negligence? The staff is of no help all they do is keep dragging me along that maybe it is in that box. No one has the guts to tell me that they will never recover my data, and my grandmother is now just a distant memory. How can a place lose tapes? Is there no organization? This to me is just outrageous. I will never do business with this company ever again, and anyone out there that reads this should heed my warning. Do not do business with them, I wouldn’t even trust them with my credit card maybe they will give the card number to the wrong person. I hope you take my advice and DO NOT TRUST THEM OR SHOP THERE!

If there are any lawyers that read this post and believe they can help pursue this issue...

I was looking for a good quality pair of binoculars and did my research then started shopping around for the best prices. Doug returned my email right away and we talked on the phone about his recommendations and he gave me pricing. He also steered me away from spending $300 more on three other pairs of binoculars I was interested in. One of which had recently changed warranty policies that would not benefit the customer. I paid him a deposit to hold a demo pair that I was pretty sure I wanted.

The next day I talked to another man whose name I cannot remember, but he was equally helpful and we talked about 80’s metal for a while. I bought my binoculars and they were delivered promptly.

I would encourage prospective customers to give Cameraland a shot. I ended up paying 5% more than the absolute best price I could find. That 5% bought me the subject matter knowledge that ensured I would be happy with my purchase. The type of business that Cameraland represents is a dying breed. If they don’t have the absolute lowest price it’s still probably worth it to avoid regretting...