Green's Camera World - Monterey, CA

Remi S.

I had a camera rewind my film early, then stop working when I messed with the battery. Staff member at the desk helped me get it running again (I just had the battery in incorrectly!) and also did a quick clean of the inside for me, to try to combat that issue in the future. Developed some prints, too, and they turned out great, at least by my standards. Maybe some reviewers are right that you could find some film stock cheaper elsewhere, but having a local store like this is priceless IMO.

Tee L.

My wife had purchased a ProMaster phone tripod holder, was told was a certain size and when we opened the item at home it was different. We can't find the small 2 inch receipt but go back down to return the item. I spoke with Caleb or Kaleb and the kid makes a hard stance that I need the receipt. I ask for a manger and said he doesn't have one. He said he could contact Frank the owner but he's out of town. I said PLEASE contact him because I want to get this returned, and I am more than willing to show my AMEX account to prove I got it there.

He states "he doesn't want to bother frank with this as he's at a conference". I am sorry but that's a poor answer to give a customer. As a business owner myself, I would WANT to know everything going on.

Frank if you are reading this...this makes it REALLY hard to justify purchasing at your place if this is the customer service we get. I could VERY easily go purchase from B&H, Adorama or Amazon but we chose Greens for a reason and if I get this much push back from a $50 dollar purchase...I couldn't imagine getting going back.

Walker M.

The store is nice, with a lot of good equipment, and the staff are somewhat knowledgeable and helpful. However, if you are looking to buy film or drop it off for development, go somewhere else. To start, their film prices are unreasonably high. A roll of Kodak Ultramax 400 cost me $15, which would have only cost $9 online or at another shop. If you have the ability to buy your film somewhere else I would highly suggest doing so.

When it comes to developing film things get even worse. The price isn’t bad, but the results are well below average. My roll of black and white film was underdeveloped, resulting in flat images lacking depth and contrast. The scans were very low resolution and therefore lacked detail. You might doubt my claims, but I worked in a darkroom and have developed and scanned hundreds of rolls of film. I have also been shooting film for years and I shot this particular roll on a Leica. I am positive that my film was not improperly exposed and that any lack of detail was not a result of my equipment.

I would have loved to leave a good review for this shop. I always try to shop at local business, but I can’t support a service that just isn’t up to par. My review might seem harsh, but I’m just being honest. I just went through a big move so I don’t have my own chemicals set up, but it seems I’ll just have to continue processing and scanning my own film from now on.

George L.

Staffer told me they didn’t have any Portra 400 when I was looking right at it and then charged $25 for a single roll

James P.

I had an amazing experience with this store.
I rocked up, of expecting to buy a lens, but to see what they had. The employee let me try out a couple of lenses on a body in store and then on our own camera body.
After testing out a couple and deciding on one, we went off to drive south on our road trip. About 20 miles away we stopped for lunch, I opened the lens to test it out and it didn't work, drove back to the shop and tested it on a body they had in store, confirming that the lens wasn't working. They swapped it out for me as they knew we were on a big trip and wouldn't be able to send it off. I'm really thankful for the staff here and if I'm ever back in the area, wouldn't hesitate to buy from them again.

Bedredin V.

Took multiple rolls of film with vacation photos to be developed which were destroyed because of their carelessness. I expected better from a photography store than anything walgreens used to have. At least Walgreens never destroyed a roll. This is something that should have been preventable. It looks like they do not take care of their equipment causing issues like this to happen. I get the machines are old but this also means they have to be more strict with maintenance to spot these issues before a customer's film is destroyed.

Raul D.

Bad customer service, want to sell my lens told me it will take a week to get it apprised, never got a call to let me know that it got appraised. Had to go to store for update 3 weeks later , and when I did they tried to gave me a low ball offer took it back and sold on b&h for 3 times what they quoted me.

Brandon S.

SUMMARY: Hit or miss with customer service, and their film prices are comically absurd.

So I’ve only been here about 2-3 times to get film, but unfortunately that was enough for me to understand it’s not going to be somewhere I will shop.

First and foremost, there are two younger men in the shop that were helpful and kind whenever I came in. However, for some reason the woman who works there is fairly rude. I can’t tell if she is trying to be rude, but seems to have a bad attitude towards most customers and seems irritated when a customer asks questions for help.

Secondly, their film prices are the highest I have EVER seen anywhere online or in person. For example - Kodak Tri-X is selling for $10 and some change on B&H and other online film retailers. Here they charged me $16 PER ROLL. I only picked up a roll because I was in a pinch but i will never buy film here again. I understand that film is rising in price, but to me this seems like they are directly taking advantage of being the primary film retailer in the area and up charging photographers. Which in my opinion is not at all healthy for the photography community, it’s just healthy for their bottom line.

Overall, If you are on vacation and need help with a camera, or a hobbyist that shoots digital, or anything in between this is an OK place to go, although I would suggest elsewhere. But if you were at all serious about photography, I would stick to online retailers and other stores in SF and the like.