Creve Coeur Camera

I don’t like to leave bad reviews, but I have never had a good experience here over many years and multiple situations. Staff is unfriendly and not very helpful. It’s like a group of photo snobs who are too good for those of us who aren’t experienced photographers or very computer savvy. Plus they are way over priced! I have asked my «real» photographer friend their opinion and they told me to NEVER go here. True story. Had to use them last night out of convenience, only to find that the CD of scanned photos I purchased is empty!

Convenient location and good prices on products. Friendly and knowledgeable staff. Convenient location and good prices on products. Friendly and knowledgeable staff.

Creve Coeur Camera might be the only place that still develops film, so I will probably go back. However, if you are looking for a new camera, I wouldn’t recommend them. Their selection is minimal unless you are a very serious photographer. All I wanted was a simple, basic digital camera to replace my little Polaroid that broke, and they have nothing simple or basic. Everything has a proprietary battery and the battery does NOT last as long as the manufacturer says it does (100 pictures to their claim of 400). The guy behind the counter at this location was not very friendly or helpful and did not offer any suggestions for me. I paid $ 150 for a Nikon Coolpix S5200, which is the worst camera I have ever owned. I haven’t had it two years and it broke. Nikon refused to honor the warranty and wanted $ 150, the original price of the camera, to fix it. To their credit, CCC offered to split the repair cost with me, but why would I spend $ 75 for something that I was never happy with? I would have preferred for them to stand behind their merchandise – or to not sell inferior products.

It had been a couple of decades since I set foot in a real camera shop… until stopping by this place. The experience of shopping for a camera or accessories online is so completely different — if you are positive of what you want or need it can be just fine. If not, you’ll do well to find an honest-​to-​goodness camera shop… not Amazon or Best Buy.
I had an in-​depth conversation about exactly what I wanted to be able to do before any products were offered to meet my needs. When they were offered a discussion of features and benefits ensued. I was able to very quickly make my selection. On the way home, I stopped by the neighborhood pool (my teenagers had taken the neighbor kids swimming) and shot a couple of hundred photos with my new lens just to make sure I was completely happy.
Being an aficionado of online shopping (screw you, black friday!) I returned home to validate my decision and their pricing and decided that I came out just fine. I probably could have paid less but not a whole lot less. I certainly could not have completed the research as quickly as I did and I would not have had the experience of buying something from someone as enthusiastic about their work.

Love the Panasonic Lumix that the staff at this store recommended for me … A soccer mom whose already taking better action shots the first weekend I had it!