Alpine Camera Company

Went in late on a Friday night to see if they had any Tokina lenses I could look at as I was in the market for a replacement for a Tamron 17 – 50 lens. The gentleman behind the counter (I didn’t get his name) was very helpful and was able to answer my questions about the lens line and suitable replacements.
I also was looking at the tripods they had in back and both he and Chuck (owner?) offered enough guidance to help me make an informed decision.
When I told Chuck I wanted to see the price on the Tamron lens he had in stock that would be a direct replacement to what I had he showed me the lens and was very helpful.
Initially I walked in the door thinking of just looking at a few items, but the prices Chuck gave on the tripod, head, lens and a filter were as good as if not better than what I could get online. Chuck was honest about the prices and how much wiggle room he had to make a good deal. At the end he suggested I come back with photos to show him and tossed in a small lens cleaning cloth for free.
Bottom line — very helpful and patient, very fair prices on equipment (minus some more common filters) and honest group. If I need any other big items I’ll talk to them first.

I needed a camera for my daughter’s photography class when she starts school on Monday (yeah, I know. way to wait until the last minute, mom.). When I walked in, what I found was knowledgeable staff and a good selection of used cameras. I experienced ZERO pressure to buy anything new or expensive, which I really appreciated. My father was an amateur photographer who worked at a camera store, so it was a real treat walking into a camera store after all these years. We will definitely be coming back to them for our photography needs, as I believe it is important to support local, small business.

Visited Alpine Camera last week to get some advice on some film. Owner was extremely helpful in providing me with all of the information needed to complete my project. Really made me feel like I was visiting Mayberry, because of the friendliness and willingness to help. The owner, Chuck I believe, spent twenty minutes helping me. I highly recmmend this place for supplies and advice on camera and film issues.

I’ve visited Alpine a handful of times now and both Chuck and Cassy have been extremely helpful and knowledgable. I’ve purchased a couple of used lenses and both were in great condition. In addition, Chuck gave me pointers with them and showed me the best ways to use them.
It is tough to find an actual camera store now a days. On top of that to find the employees to be so knowledgable and helpful. I’m looking forward to doing more business with them and support a local business.

Don’t develop your film here. They improperly handled and developed my 120 film and gave me a bunch of excuses. Counter staff was friendly when I dropped off and told me the medium format would be close to 4×4 square, which makes sense. But when prints came back (a week later) they were rectangular just like 35 mm, which means they were cropped. And worse still, they printed them BACKWARDS. Yes, all my images were flipped so they printed the film from the wrong side b/​c their machine «failed to alert them» it was incorrectly fed. The negatives were filthy (fingerprints, splotches, dust). They clearly don’t know what they are doing concerning medium format film (they said my film was «old» which is not true at all… Fresh arrival from B&H, shot and turned over to Alpine within a 2 week period). As other reviewers noted, the owner, Chuck, is rude — annoyed and heated with me on the phone instead of helpful. He would not give me a refund for the 2 rolls of film printed backwards but offered to re-​do them. Not a chance! It was only when I got really upset that he offered to refund the prints but said he could not do it over the phone and that when I came in, he would be taking possession of my prints because they were HIS property! Well, that IS funny. I am finishing my degree in Fine Arts-​Photography and exhibiting film photos in shows… Why would I give Chuck possession of my work? Or hand him my negatives, ever? If you are serious about your film, CSW is open in Chicago and so is Central Camera and Gamma Imaging. And Alpine is just as expensive as them so you won’t be saving money by going here. I can only justify the one star for some of the staff who work there and put up with the boss.

Alpine Camera is a cool little camera store, with a decent selection of film and digital products. However, Chuck, the owner, is a crazy aggressive salesman. He’s persistent to the point of rudeness, and will almost definitely make you feel uncomfortable. Don’t go in if you simply want to look around.

Brought my photos here after having a poor experience at a competitor’s store. He was very helpful and said he would work with the pricing since I had been somewhere else and had not gotten a refund for the job that I was unhappy with.
When I went to pick up the prints I was surprised to hear that my total was more than it was at the first place. When I reminded him he said he would work with me he said it was their prices.
They were nice but Basically I’m going to use snapfish, jewel, walgreens, or my own printer from now on.

My husband surprised me with a new lens and filter that he «swapped» out at Alpine. I guess he traded in my outdated lens for a better option. I never knew this service existed!
The service was genuine and accommodating; even educating him on receiving a rebate too, saving him a lil more money. I love my lens and already enjoy playing with it!

With most of the photo stores going out of business, these guys have managed to stick around and keep their film processing in house! Their rates for development and printing are very reasonable and their scans come from a quality scanner, not that cheap stuff I would get at Walgreens.
There is a very large amount of used equipment available. This is the place for obscurities. Chuck, the owner, has encyclopedic knowledge of film equipment. The amount of stuff on the shelves is nothing short of staggering, if you don’t find what you’re looking for here, you’re not going to find it anywhere.
It’s rare to find a store in any industry that has so much talent behind the counter. These guys really know what’s up. Being a small business, they will bend over backwards to accommodate. I had the sales rep pull four different camera bags from his shelves. He explained every single feature of each bag in detail, citing the pros and cons of each product.
It’s a wonderful experience every time and if you’re a film shooter, there is no other place in Chicago that can provide more. Last I went, they had a good amount of digital gear on the shelves. A selection of Fujifilm cameras really stood out as they’re the best point and shoots on the market and tough to come by locally.
If you’re into photography, it’s worth a visit. You’ll get lost in the wonderland of awesome equipment.

A much better experience than getting your photos taken at Walgreens. I always feel odd getting my photo taken in a drugstore. Sears does a good job, but if you are near this place, then it is a good place to go.
They were quick and efficient. Note that two passport photos will now run you $ 13 bucks and not the $ 10 that a reviewer noted.
Also come with cash for purchases under $ 20 bucks.

I understand people’s complaints about the owner. I had a bit of a chuckle reading them knowing how this guy operates and what they say is completely true. He loves to talk and he will keep you going for a while. lol If you know your stuff he becomes a little less pushy.
It’s nice to have a local store to pick something up in a pinch if they have it. The fact that there is no online presence for his used gear must be killing the business. Of course prices (plus tax) are higher than the major online retailers. I would go back but only for hard to find items.

Stay away, this place is bad news. I went in there to look at a Canon 7D, which they didn’t have instock, as a matter of fact they hardly had any DSLRs in there, only the lowest end Nikon d5000. So I browsed around a bit, and as I was ready to leave (without buying anything) the owner came out of his office and basically held me hostage blocking the door. He went on for 20 minutes about this Nikon (the only one the had instock) and why it was SO much better then the Canon. So after him telling me why a $ 500 camera is better then a $ 1700, he started going on about his kids baseball and condo in Branson, STILL blocking my exit! Really??? I later found out that the owner of this business is an ex-​used car salesman… Go figure! Hi-​pressure sales are the name of the game at Alpine Camera. Not only that, but they charge 20−50% more then other local companies for the same product. While I was in there (March 2011) I noticed 4GB CF memory cards were selling for $ 60… I know they have to make a profit, but really??? $ 60 for a memory card that cost him maybe $ 8. After dealing with the slimey hi-​pressure owner, I had to take a shower! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

I’m a photo major at Columbia so I’m always looking for photo stores. I live in the area and though normally I would always go to Helix (Seeing as I had had a bad experience in this store when I was younger.) But since that’s out of my way, I decided to call Alpine one day after sadly central camera didn’t have the film I needed. (You’d think the closest camera store to a school with one of the best photography programs would carry large stocks of the items used in the classes.) I called Alpine in hope of not having to take the trip in the opposite direction of the blue line then fighting the rush hour crowd. Happily, they had the film I needed in stock. They were very happy to put it on hold for me since it was the last one.
Once I got home, I ran to the store to find happily that they’d hidden the film for me and that they also had things I’m ALWAYS looking for. Including photo paper. (First place other than Helix, Calumet, and central with paper) and it’s right down the street. I was happy to find that when talking with the people there, they could and would happily order all the supplies I needed from paper to matt board. As long as I gave them advance.
I can understand that the owner has some social skills problems. But, I cant NOT five star a place that is willing to help me so much, and carries so many things most photo stores don’t have. (Since all are going digital) It’s hard to keep a camera store going without a steady stream of customers like the college kids downtown. So, I can understand why he’d be pushy. But overall, I love this place, it’s my new favorite photo store.

I went into Alpine Camera because I wanted to get an estimate for fixing my broken camera.
This is probably common, but Alpine charges $ 20 to cover the cost of shipping the camera to an outside facility, which would then look at it and give an estimate. I told the teenage boy at the store that the camera only cost about $ 100 and that if the repair cost more than $ 40, I would just buy a new one, so it didn’t make sense for me to spend $ 20 before I even had the camera looked at. Then the teen tried to sell me a camera. He was helpful and knowledgeable, but I finally had to say, «I’m just not ready to buy a new camera yet.»
So I’m about to leave the store and this older guy (I think it was the teen’s dad) is like, «So when do you need that camera?» And I’m like, «I’m not in a rush.» So then he starts talking about all the different cameras and asking me all these questions, and I’m a little annoyed that I can’t get out of there. I was about to walk out of the door — let me leave! I’m clearly not ready to buy yet! So I finally have to lie to the guy and say that I’d be back in a week to buy a camera.
The bottom line is that this guy is just way too pushy. I know that small businesses have to be aggressive if they’re going to survive, but this guy made me feel uncomfortable. I’m sure the staff at Alpine Camera is very knowledgeable about cameras, but they could take their sales approach down a notch.

Insulting Owner, Helpful Staff
I don’t enjoy writing this review, but the review must be made.
Over 4 months I spent $ 400 to $ 500 dollars on a new camera, used camera, and camera repairs. Isn’t that enough to qualify as a repeat customer and expect some modicum of gracious service?
PS: At my wife’s suggestion I am increasing Alpine’s rating from 1 to 2. She isn’t a big fan of anonymous Unilocal reviews, although I feel my review was accurate. I am increasing my rating from one to two only because this store’s owner is honest, albeit clueless about customer relations and satisfaction.
I became hooked on used cameras and purchased them from eBay or Craigslist only to hear the owner say, «Don’t discuss your camera purchases in the store.»
I purchased one of the store’s used books only to have the owner say, «Don’t leave the price tag on the book. It makes you look cheap.»
The owner asked why I didn’t have my 35 mm film developed at his store. I quietly told him that his prices were too high and that Costco or Walgreens could give me 90 minute turnaround. Then I had to listen to the owner tell me how undependable the other stores were compared to him. (Denigrating the competition is never a good idea.)
The two young people were always helpful at the store. I visited on Mondays to buy a few things, check up on my repaired cameras (they were normally later than promised), and visit with my young camera friends.
A few days ago I came in to say good-​bye to the nice young staff working at the store. The non-​customer friendly owner finally turned me away from the store.
The owner knows his cameras. Sadly, he doesn’t know how to treat repeat customers well.

Quick, easy and painless!
I came here to get my passport photo taken and was done within five minutes. $ 10 for two photos. The guy who helped me was nice, made conversation while I waited.

The salespeople are nice and knowledgeable but the owner is very condescending, I could actually use more expletives. I knowingly bought a Tokina 11−16mm ultra wide lens for $ 650, and thats $ 50 more than I could get at major online retailers just to support our local photo store. He sold me a CPL filter with it. Later on, I found out that using the CPL filter on an ultrawide does not get good results so I returned it 1 week later. He gave me the BS that they do not take returns on filters and the kicker is that he insists that he uses CPL filters on his wide angle and it OK. This is a local guy who I will not support anymore. «SELL SELL SELL» is his motto and not helping the hobbyist in which in turn will buy more from him. This guy will not be able to keep patrons if he does not change his attitude.

This is one of the true pro photo stores. They’re very knowledgeable and helpful. They have used gear available, and an incredibly variety of specialty products. Their retail prices are justified by their service.

This is an incredible store if you can afford to shop here. It’s a strict camera specialty store and what’s great about them is that you can pick up paper for printing your pictures on. It’s EXPENSIVE but readily available. I recommend their negative case which snaps closed all the way and completely keeps out all the dust and whatnot from your negative sheets. (which you can also purchase here.)
Pro film is available but you don’t necessarily need to buy it here every time because you can get it at Wolf Camera stores which there are many of. The staff is slightly elitist-​jerkoffey but they know their shit. Careful if you’re not familiar with Des Plaines roads because it’s easy to pass up and get lost.