Shutterbug Camera Shops

I was running short on time before work and when my daughter had to go to a girl scout event. She needed 3 to 5 photos to make a project. I tried Target online & when i called to confirm, there online system was down. Shutter Bug is right across the street so I thought I would give them a try. 1^st I called & asked if I can upload to them via Internet. The guy said I had to move them from my ph to my pc. ??? What? He says oh wait never mind. Yes, you can do it from our website. Ok no prob. I send pics over website everything is fine. I call to get a ETA. The lady says internet orders are next day. 2^nd prob. Since, when in 2016 with all of the current technology does printing 5 photos take 24hrs! No where on the site does it say it wont be ready until next day. I ask if there is anyway i can get them today. The guy says its considered a rush order and i woukd have to pay double the price. I politely ask if i can get a break on the «rush order» he says No! It will be $.39 each. Not only did he charge double he added on 1 cent to each pic. I will never go there ever again, & I will tell everyone I know not to go there as well. What kind of creep says to a little girl scout NO, you pay double for our company’s lack of technology.

The guys don’t know what they are talking about. Just a step up from Best Buy but not by much.

wow, my shots from my honeymoon are completely ruined. terrible job.
i used to work at a dark room and know how bad it is. the worst part is that i can’t fix the negatives.
you guys are nice enough but the amount that you charge for the job that you do is inexcusable. three color rolls, single photo printing for just under $ 50 and it’s garbage. just sad.

1 star, 5 star, 2 star, 4 star, 1 star… The ratings variance is symbolic of the actual experience you will have shopping here. One time it will be great, but the next time you have to set yourself on fire to get anyone’s attention. There are a couple of guys who know their stuff but the majority of the staff posses only the most basic of camera knowledge. You can only play the «but we’re a small/​local merchant» card so many times before it starts to ring hollow. In an age when the big online stores (B&H in particular) are offering a huge inventory at amazing prices, consistently great customer service and superior product knowledge is a must for any specialty retailer. It’s here, just not consistently.
It must be awful to spend an hour with someone knowing full well they are headed home to make their purchase online. Probably why they focus (unavoidable pun) on print services and high-​margin merchandise like filters, lens cleaners, and camera bags. I really like these guys and try to support them when I can, but when it comes time to pull the trigger on a big-​ticket item I’m probably headed online. Sorry guys.

This one hurts, I fell for it. Jesse no reflection on you.
Words that come to mind: bad, money driven, praying on the unaware. Turns out that the technicians don’t pre-​proof before printing. Meaning they don’t make corrections or warn you that your gonna print dark. They charge as if they do, they claim they do, yet when it happened I got charged and sad to say it took a few times for me to get the message. If I wanted to just get my film ran without caring I would have gone to Costco. Turns out they print better too. Shutterbug plays the sympathy local business card, (very sad) but bottom line, they are for the most part nothing but used car salespeople, so if you’re reading this and need your film to look good, go to the Lab! Every print is perfect and 95% of all my prints placed at the Sonoma County Fair 2012 – 2013.

On our way to a wedding in Oregon, the bride called to see if we could procure a last minute and fairly random photo accessory for her wedding photo booth… an ipad air tripod mount. We called the Apple store and Best Buy, no luck. A friend suggested the Shutterbug and we stopped there before giving up. They had a generic tablet tripod mount that would work perfectly for our needs, and it was priced similarly to Amazon. The salesman was helpful and friendly. After paying, I wandered around the store for a few minutes and wished I had about 3 more hours to peruse! The store is awesome. Tons of merchandise, competitive prices, and lots of helpful sales clerks. Wish we had a store like this in Monterey!

I took my wife’s camera to have the battery replaced. The battery is in the body of the camera without a door so the body must be opened to replace it.
I was met by someone at the counter who immediately said, I have never seen that camera before. A few minutes later, he, with great confidence told me the battery could not be replaced. He also go very upset with me when I told him, he didn’t know that.
I took the camera home and within a few minutes had the battery out ordered another one online.

I am extremely disappointed because I called ahead to make sure that they had the camera that I was looking for in stock and they told me they did, so I asked them to put it on hold for me until I got there. I drove a half an hour to get to the store only for them to present me with the wrong camera model, I told them that was not what I had asked for and what the guy on the phone had confirmed for me. One man looked around the store saying he was sure they had one in stock. He then searched the computer system and said that they were in fact sold out! He could not even tell me if another location had the camera in stock and couldn’t suggest anywhere that really might. All they could say was sorry. Well sorry isn’t going to pay for my gas buddy!

I enjoyed taking a DSLR class with John about a year ago, but my experience with Shutterbug’s printing of photos and photo books has ranged from OK to horrible. They did a fine job printing 4×6, 5×7 and 8×10’s that I sent the electronically, but a 16×20 print I made from their in-​store kiosk machine completely wiped out the purple of an evening sky that was stunning in a smaller version. Shutterbug then sent the print to its lab for chemical processing instead of ink jet printing, which gave good color but the paper wrinkled terribly inside a frame.
Shutterbug’s in-​store kiosks are really bad. They’re heavily used, and the number of complaints voiced by other customers using these devices has now become very understandable.
Recently I created a 40 page photo book of wildlife shots that turned out nicely, except that certain species-​identifying captions got carried over from one page to another in some random manner, and the pages’ background color shifted from beige to white to gray at random for no apparent reason. I should have previewed the book more carefully, but was getting apprehensive about the crashes that other customers were experiencing and just wanted to get it done before that happened to me.
I would have composed the new book on my Mac and sent it to Shutterbug electronically via their website, but an employee had told me that the color of photos in the book they assemble often do not run true to what the customer transmits through Shutterbug’s website and the kiosk is far more accurate. So today I returned to the Santa Rosa store and spent 3 and ½ hours, cropping and adjusting brightness and contrast for each photo, enhancing most and getting all the layouts, background colors and captions just right. Just before starting to preview the whole thing, I mentioned to an employee about liking what the «enhance» function on their machine was doing to the images. He strongly cautioned me against that, as Shutterbug has been having trouble with a sandy wash appearing on prints where that editing function was used. I asked about going back and eliminating the enhancement but was told I would need to start each photo afresh. I figured the certainty of proper colors would justify another 45 minutes of efforts, but right in the middle of the process the software crashed and, like every other customer with a printing problem, nothing could be salvaged from the effort. No words of apology were forthcoming, either.
It’s pathetic that Shutterbug 1) does not prominently display a warning not to use «enhance»; 2) uses a software system so substandard that it does not let you save a work in progress, times out after just a few minutes and is so crash-​prone; and 3) offers you absolutely nothing, not even some free printing, to compensate for the immense amount of time that I and many other customers have wasted this way. I have no idea whether management reads these reviews, but want them to know that my purchase of the newest 120 – 400 mm Nikkormat AF zoom lens that I’d been discussing with John wilI now be coming from B&H.

My last two visits to this shop were reasonably good, and very bad. In the first visit, I returned a Nikon camera I had bought a little after a month, after finding out it performed poorly on a backpacking trip. The lens would often not open up completely, the zoom for both still and video would occasionally lose focus completely. Shutterbug took back the camera since I was willing to trade for another one.
This is where it gets bad.
The rep at the store, an older guy who I believe has been there for some time, tells me to upgrade to a NIkon Coolpix AW120. Tells me it is great for backpacking, nearly indestructible case would protect it even if dropped from a rock. This is not much of a concern to me, since I am quite careful with cameras when I backpack, but his assurance that it would perform much better than the previous camera and his sincerity sold me. Since there was no lens to come out when you turned it on, it solved the problem of the lens not opening properly. So I bought it, getting credit for the other camera, and took it on a backpacking trip.
The zoom problem was just as bad on this one as the previous, both for stills and video. Often it worked fine, but it also from time to time completely blurred out upon zooming (I am referring to the optical zoom, not the digital zoom beyond that).
So I took it back to the store.
The same older guy who had urged me to buy the camera because of its near indestructibility, pointed out the case was cracked, which I had not realized. He then lectured me about how badly I must have mistreated the camera, dropping it on a stone or hitting it against a stone, neither of which in fact happened. And regardless, the zoom problem occurred from the get-​go.
So Shutterbug would not take the camera back. The gentleman also assured me there was no portable camera manufactured which did not have the zoom problem, in contradiction to what he told me when he sold me the camera.
I am still looking for a good, portable camera I can stick in my pocket, take on a backpacking trip, that will take high resolution videos that stay focused as it zooms. i will not be getting it from Shutterbug in Santa Rosa.

It’s sad to have to give less than high stars to one of the last remaining brick and mortar camera shops, but alas.
First off, the good bits. They’re non-​corporate. They employ real local folks who have an honest interest in photography. Photo prints are available, as are film developing and help is for your gear available as well as service for hardware like lenses & bodies.
The bad bits are, sadly, more numerous. They have a somewhat selective inventory — although this has improved a fair bit in the last year or so. I’ve overheard staff clearly playing brand favorites and witnessed some aggressive upselling of pricier gear to beginners. Their mirrorless selection is getting better (they used to not even carry Sony A7 cameras) but you can tell their emphasis is still on Canon and Nikon DSLR stuff.
That’s the other big issue — price. They will claim to do price matching (sometimes), but generally you pay a hefty premium over online pricing to purchase here, and honestly, their sales pitch is not as informed as I’d expect from a store that ought to be doing that part exceptionally well.
Film processing services here are also premium priced. I heard some folks balking at an extra $ 170-​ish being tacked on for simple photo adjustments because ‘we outsource our photo editing services’ (really??). Lens rentals are totally ridiculous compared to online options like Lensrentals. At Shutterbug, renting a Canon 24−105L will run you a cool $ 40 per DAY while at Lensrentals the same lens is $ 29 a WEEK! Wow, guys. Maybe you could cut the locals a little slack, there? Your overhead can’t be that high on rental gear.
I purchased two cameras from their Petaluma store around 2010, and have bought several lenses and accessories from the SR location since then. I only use them in an absolute pinch because of the prices — and always be sure to arm yourself with lots of research before you buy something expensive. Haggle and make them price-​match.

I wish I could rate this place higher. They’ve got excellent customer service and the staff is always friendly and helpful.
The just cannot compete with modern prices on the internet. Lenses on Amazon can often ring in at hundreds of dollars cheaper.
This isn’t the camera’s store fault. It’s a consequence of the times.

I came in today to get service on my very old camera. It had been in storage for quite some time and I wanted to use it again.
I took it in to the store and the gentleman behind the counter serviced it quickly. He looked at the lens and thoroughly examined the parts of the camera. He asked me about the camera and told me that the light meter may be broken.
After further inspection, he determined that the camera was fine and the fluorescent lighting in the shop made the light meter not work correctly.
I was very happy to hear my camera was in good shape. My son has picked up a new hobby and was glad to pass it along to him in good shape.
I recommend this shop to those who enjoy having great customer service from true professionals. :-)

Shutterbug on Santa Rosa Ave should be embarrassed by their employees customer service. No one will acknowledge that you are waiting at the counter and when they do you feel as if you are bothering them. First experience the man getting me my photos wouldn’t even look me in the eye. Had a problem with my photos and went back. They acted like I was talking to them about my plumbing problem. It was a very bizarre and unpleasant experience and I won’t be returning.
They almost have it all: online ordering, easy pickup, fair prices for photo prints. But that doesn’t cut it for me. If you are rude others can have my business.

We have purchased several cameras and many accessories over the years — Shutterbug has knowledgeable employees and great products and it’s our go-​to store for serious purchases. We have shopped their pricing, and found them to be slightly more than discount, and worth the ability to walk in and get personalized, valuable in-​person advice. It seems like the feedback on Unilocal is polarized based on service. I strongly believe that you can get excellent service at this store as we have many times, but like many retail stores, they can also suffer from long waits for help or inexperienced newer staff. If you are not getting the service you want or expect here — I strongly suggest that you ask for a manager. This store can and will exceed your expectations!

Stopped in to buy a Contour camera. The version 2 has been out for nearly a year, and all they had was the version 1. AND THEY WERE SELLING IT AT THE VERSION 2 PRICE ($ 199). The version one MSRP is $ 99. They wouldn’t even talk to me about lowering the price. Also, they told me there is no such thing as a Contour 2. BS guys! I bought it on Amazon. This store is for amateurs only.

I got what I needed here: a camera lens cap. But the people were not very helpful. Sure, a cute girl needs help getting photography advice from the guy at the counter, but when you have five other sets of customers waiting, it’s time to quit flirting and work at giving some customer service. Oh well. I got my lens cap.

Shutterbug Camera has been a huge help for all of my camera and printer needs.
I do professional printing in home, so maintenance and equipment for all of it requires someone on the retail side that understands my needs. From the variety of camera bodies, lenses, inks, paper types, etc. These guys truly know their stuff and have been a very big help!
Thanks Shutterbug! I’ll be back for supplies soon.
For those looking to get a bit more serious about photography, stay local, there is too much trash online. I learned the hard way already. Don’t make re same mistake!
Happy shooting!

Thank the gods for Shutterbug. I had been running around all of Sonoma County looking for a sturdy hard case to ship some firewire drives in and was on my way to a panic attack when we turned into to parking lot of Shutterbug in Santa Rosa.
We walked in and they had exactly what I needed. EXACTLY! They even gave me a free strap for the case. Free is always good.
We walked around the store for a bit and they seemed to have just about everything. Lots of great camera bags, some lighting equipment, back drops, cases (yay!) and other camera-​y stuff.
The staff was very friendly and we were helped immediately with our case problem.

Absolute worst customer service experience that wasn’t on a telephone. I’m sure they have a knowledgeable staff, but none of them extended a «hello, may I help you» or «welcome to shutterbug, we’ll be with you shortly» for what felt like 10 minutes as I squinted over their counter to look at prices for their digital cameras. I thought the young kids nowadays had horrible customer service skills, but apparently so do men in their 50s-​70s.
I wanted to support a local establishment that has been around since I was a kid, but I’d recommend sticking to online shopping and saving time and the hassle.