This could be the last standing storefront offering good old fashioned salesperson service to purchase all aspects of photography equipment. All their competitors have since closed.... Thank you Photo Service!!! read more

This is a great old school photo store located in "Old Montreal" section of the city only a block from the Cathedral. They seem to have everything here from large format film to Fuji color paper in a cooler. I wandered in here and found a great deal on a used lens for my 8x10 camera! They also have a rental section and seem to have a pretty serious video department as well. If your a photo nerd, check this place out! read more

It was a pleasure meeting, Mr. Jean-Charles Savard (President, Photo Service), personally. Since our initial engagements related to a customer service issue, I have been most impressed with his professionalism and expediency in resolving this matter. As an outcome, I want to reaffirm the unparalleled service and subsequent customer support by this store. Credit is due where it is deserved--and you have earned my trust as a customer at Photo Service. read more

I want to give this business a legitimate thank you. I clumsily lost my wallet walking through the streets of old Montreal. I was pretty much lost without. Turns out I dropped it right outside their store. They were kind enough to be detectives and track me down by my company badge. They emailed my company who in turn emailed me. All was recovered within 24 hours. I want to sincerely thank you for the extra effort. It made a vacation weekend a vacation rather than a scramble. Absolute professionalism. read more

Cheapest film lab service in Montreal with good service. I always develop my films there and only once I ran into a problem with them, when they overdeveloped a film that was supposed to be pushed. Except that, only good service. I don't know much about their other services though... Other reviewers have complained about the repair service. I would say unless you have a Leica, that problem is endemic. All repair services, from photoservice to lozeau, to Sony to canon are very badly organized. Not really a photo-service related problem. The repair services are outsourced and often messy. read more

Photo Service is pretty good on most fronts. Their rentals are fairly priced and they have a good selection of lenses, cameras, lighting etc. Their retail floor has quite a bit of stock but tracking down a salesperson can be difficult at times. They have mostly anything that you'd need, but can also order things in as needed. They have a very good selection of darkroom paper (including colour paper), film (B&W, colour, formats up to 4x5), archival binders and sleeves, etc. With the low Canadian dollar, their prices are competitive with B&H. Photo Service's developing and printing services are both good. Personally, I prefer Borealis for development and I find their turnaround quicker than Photo Service. Both labs offer similar services with the exception of E6 (slide/positive) development which only Borealis offers. Though I greatly prefer Borealis and recommend them to everyone I know, I would still recommend Photo Service- especially compared to Photo St. Denis which is really mediocre. All in all, a quality store with good services and a great selection of products. read more

I decided to write this review because I do not really like the direction the store started taking recently. It used to be a very good place to buy photo equipment. I will not cover all aspects of buying the equipment here, but I will concentrate on the subject that bothers me. Purchasing a photo equipment is a complicated thing by itself. Price of owning photo equipment includes not only the price tag you will pay at the store, but also, warranties, returns, exchanges and maintenance among other things. Let me concentrate on the lens business photoservice.ca is conducting. Their lens price policy is one of the best around. They have Price Match button, which guarantees that you will get the best price for the lens which is great. QST at 9.5% is not helping much, you know, but the price before taxes is really good, no questions asked. The problem comes if for whatever reason you decide to return the lens whether it is a tight zoom ring or circumstances had changed for you and you have to return the lens. Their on-line return policy stands the following: Taken from http://photoservice.ca/ENGLISH/return_and_exchange_policy.asp ------------------------- OFFICIAL RETURN POLICY FROM WEBSITE -------------------- Returns: Returns and exchanges are accepted within fourteen (14) days of purchase. The equipment must be in its original condition, with the manufacturer's packaging and all the included items at the moment of the purchase. Photo Service Lted reserves the right to apply restocking fees of a minimum of 10% if the packaging or any item is damaged or missing. The equipment must be verified and approved by a Photo Service Lted sales representative for the return/exchange to be accepted. -------------------------- END OF ON-LINE SECTION -------------------------------------------- This policy is pretty much standard and understandable. Now when you actually purchase the lens on your purchase documentation at the very bottom you may or may not notice a completely different policy ---------------------------- PRINTED ON THE PURCHASED DOCUMENTS----------- Aucune exception. Frais de re-intreposage de 5% a 20% sur tous les retours et echanges. (this means - no exception. Cost of returns or exchanges is 5 to 20% for all purchased or exchanged items ) ---------------------------END------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, when you will be shopping at the store, be very careful if you have any doubt that you may have to return the item. Now why you will be charged 5 or 20%? I tried to figure it out and there are no rules, it's all done at the discretion of the person handling the returns. But one thing I know for sure - even if the item is returned in impeccable condition, not even being taken from the box - first time they will charge you 5%, but if return from your account will happen again - your restocking fee will go up. The way they explained me is that they are loosing money because it's like RENTING this equipment to you. ( They may also mention to you that they are loosing money because you paid with Visa card and it cost them money to do Visa processing, oh-la-la) Overall, I will be looking for on-line purchases for my future purchases. read more

This very inconveniently-sited full-service professional camera store has been in business for years, and is slowly coming to grips with the marketplace. For example, up to a few years ago, they weren't even open on Saturday afternoons. I only deal with them now because the fantastic full-service lab I used to use gave up on black and white completely, they're one of the few remaining places in town set up to competently subcontract a lot of black & white film developing, and they're well-equipped to scan my negatives to CD in house. They have the equipment and know-how to be a four- or even five-star shop, and when they get it right, my films, scans, and digital prints are dead nuts on, exhibition quality. Their problem is that they seem to occasionally hire numbskulls and let them work without supervision. Recent episodes have included having five or six films that were scanned together returned with a huge, immediately-visible virtual scratch right across every scanned frame; negatives scratched in handling; a $35, extremely high resolution negative scan done with so many blotches and dust specks on it that I nearly cried... So when they get it wrong, it's just appalling, and often costly and/or irreversible. Just getting to them to have the re-work done, and then going back again to pick it it up, is such a chore that one most occasions I haven't bothered. They close too early on weeknights for anyone not already in the downtown core to have a sure chance of getting there after work, if there's even a hint of traffic. They do have their good points. I've been courteously called a few times to be told that my scans were going to be a day late because of an equipment breakdown, which is nice because it saves me a trip into the bleak depths of le Vieux Montreal. They've always offered to re-scan, gratis and no questions asked, any muffed job I've told them about. The owner/managers do seem to have their heads screwed on right in that regard. And they still stock as much black & white and color negative film as they can get their hands on. I just wish they had better quality control in their scanning department. read more

I don't use their lab, but I often buy and rent equipment there. On both counts they are very good. The lens rental service ( they have ZF and CP Zeiss!) is a pretty amazing deal. Service is always competent, kind and professional. read more

One of my favorite film cameras was in need of minor repair. I brought it in to see if they or anybody they knew could work on it. Albert was condescending and dismissive in addition to being ignorant about what I had brought in. Not a good look, Photo Service. read more

I went there last w-e to checkout some camera, when I asked the salesman to compare 2 different cameras, one Nikon and one Canon, he looked at me like I was an idiot an said. ''It's Nikon or Canon?'' Like it was impossible to wanna try both. Then he went on talking down some lenses saying that he's a pro and he shoots 2.8, never even asking what my need were, I did my research before so could'nt care less what he tought... just needed him to unlock the display an hand me the cameras. By the look of the other employees, I don't think they were impressed by him. But I'll still go to Lozeau intead. read more

It pains me to write this because I've been a patron for many years buying various odds and bits when I couldn't wait for online orders to ship. But their repair service has repeatedly let me down to the point where I don't think I want to give them any of my business anymore. On the first occasion, they managed to completely lose track of a fairly expensive lens I had left with them to be repaired. They never called me with updates like they kept promising. I was always the one calling them, and having to re-explain my story to people who all gave me different excuses and were more preoccupied with shifting the blame than figuring out where my lens had gone. They seemed to be making time more than looking into it. Thankfully they eventually found it, but the ordeal took a few months. Good thing I had other equipment that could stand in. On the second occasion, my worries began on the day I left the camera with them because three employees were confused as to how the form was filled out, and whether that was the correct form at all, of course blaming someone else in the process. I was glad I hung on to my receipt. I was told they would contact me within about a week with an estimate. After three weeks I was still without news so I called them, and was told off-hand that because of the type of camera, it could easily take four to six weeks. I wasn't happy but it didn't look like I had a choice. Finally after two months with still absolutely no news from them, I called back and explained the situation. Apparently the repairman was waiting to get some additional equipment from me to test the camera. I asked why no one ever contacted me to tell me this. No answer. I asked how long that request had been pending. Apparently since after one week. I asked why I was told 4-6 weeks, and why no one checked my file at that point. He didn't know, and said 4-6 weeks is completely wrong. I'll now be dealing directly with the repairman, as it seems the Photo Service team is incapable of getting their ducks in a row, or of providing a suitable explanation for why things go wrong. Unprofessional and unaccountable are not qualities I want to see in people I let handle expensive photo equipment. Bottom line, if you rely on your equipment for work and need it back in a predictable amount of time - avoid this place. Having broken equipment is difficult enough; if you need the repair experience to not be an additional source of stress and frustration - avoid this place. In fact, probably best getting acquainted with mechanics and repair shops directly and developing your network of people who can stand by what they do. read more

After shopping around and waiting for a sale on a lens for my camera I came upon a what I thought was a great deal on the Photo Service Website. It was late in the day and I thought of buying the lens online that night, but decided to phone and see if they would give me the same price in store the next morning as I always prefer to have a good look at the lens I am buying. I talked to Robert on the phone and he nicely told me it was not a problem and that they would match their web price no problem. So I printed the web price and drove to the store first thing the next morning. Unfortunately for me this is where things turned ugly. The clerk(Robert I Guess) that served me was not extremely polite, his attitude was far from jovial. It was as if I was bothering him. He tells me the price is for another lens, then he asks me where I got the printout, He made me feel like I was trying to cheat them. He then takes of to the back of the store with my printout shows it to some other guy, come back throws my papers on the counter and tells me the price is $200.00 more than the price I have on the printout. I said I was told to come in and the store would respect the price I had. He then has the nerve to tell me that was yesterdays price. Buyer Beware!!! read more