I’d give them zero stars if possible! Never had such rude serious in my life! Went in trying to get an attachment for my camera to be able to get some good sports pictures and the gentleman had no interest in helping me what so ever and wanted to raise his voice at me when I tried asking for help! Will not recommend this place to anyone even if it’s the last place
I have purchased many items for my Canon set up at this location. Carter has decades of photo experience Which has been very beneficial to me. I hope Billings will continue to support this business. Thanks for getting me squared away Camera Cottage!! If you have time to stop in and see Carter, I recommend it, there are photos he took in the 80s on his wall. My challenge to you is to discern which are from that era and current!? They are amazing!
Met a very professional and knowledgeable gentleman. His knowledge of Nikon is spectacular.And, I purchased a used telephoto lens for the D50 that I have rather than the D60.When I upgrade in the fall, Im going back to this location.You know it works while youre there and when you leave! Nice.
Great local store. Carter does not always come across as the friendliest, but he is very knowledgeable and knows his inventory inside out. He is loud and boisterous, but over all friendly and willing to help, if youre willing to listen. He has never treated me wrongly, and to those who complain about high rental prices, remember, he is a small business and losing a piece of equipment really cuts into his profits. For those who complain about selection, or price, read the review from the gentleman from Spokane. I too am from Spokane originally and we had no camera stores there when we moved here 9 years ago. Just dont expect Amazon prices or selection. What he does have is a line up of reasonably priced pro gear that you will only find online from a retailer 1800 miles away with little to no customer service after the sale. The choice is yours, so make it wisely. As for me I will always choose to buy local when I can to support my fellow businessmen and women.
Caters mostly towards Nikon, but he also carries other camera bodies and lenses.Nothing you find in this store is cheap, and the price tag will often reflect that. But the owner knows what hes talking about and doesnt waste his time or his customers on products that arent going to perform at the level he expects them to.
Have been doing business with Carter for several years now, from buying and trading new and used cameras and equipment to rentals and advice. I have met very few that are as knowledgeable about cameras and photography as Carter. I will continue doing business with him for the foreseeable future. he also helps out the local schools with free student film cameras.
Great place! The owner is a wealth of knowledge, and is more than happy to service what he sells. The store is well stocked with a wide variety of photograpic supplies. I definitely recommend Camera Cottage.
Great selection of cameras and related equipment. Decent selection of drones. Prices are on par with what you would expect (market) to find for quality merchandise. Owner/operator is very knowledgeable and friendly.
Knowledgeable camera enthusiasts will appreciate what the average consumer doesnt understand. If you know enough about cameras, the camera cottage has a ton to offer. Better selection than all of billings combined when it comes to high quality camera equipment.
Carter & company are awesome. So much value and knowledge in one store. Whether Im looking for a specific item or needing help troubleshooting a problem, I always know Ill be taken care of when I walk through the door tab the Camera Cottage.
Desperately needed a decent camera to take some photos for a website. Contacted the Camera Cottage and he hooked me up right away. His storefront is easy to find (im not from Billings). Inside of his store he had a wide selection of various professional grade cameras, drones, scopes and other items. He accommodated me with a camera I could use with my basic skill level, I found him to be understanding and friendly.
Ok camera shop with not much more selection than Best Buy. Owner is a bit smug in his answers. Yes or no question if he has something in stock was a long drawn out answer that makes you feel stupid for asking. Sorry, next time Ill go directly to Amazon instead of trying to help the small business. Other answer produced a long explanation how a lens is made and why its so complicated....I simply asked if they had it in stock. Be prepared to not get a simple sorry, no we dont have that. Even if you also have the knowledge, be prepared to be talked down to.
Ive been very pleased with the service Ive received at the Camera Cottage. I purchased a Nest tripod and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 for my Canon 6D. Hes more than willing to help and his prices are very reasonable. I recommend any one looking for quality camera equipment to stop by!
I met the owner when I went in, he acted like I was a complete idiot. I have never had such bad customer service in my life! Dont waste your time going in!
I dealt with Carter on an on line purchase of a tripod. He communicated via email in a timely manner and shipped the tripod quickly. He provided updates while the product was enroute. I would do business again with him.
First off Im from Spokane2nd Carter Carries more accessories than any camera store nearby me..So all you lucky locals SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CAMERA STORE
I have a friend who had a bad accident and his wife needs to sell their house to help pay for the bills. I let this camera shop owner know that my friend’s wife asked me to take pictures for the listing and I felt honored to help for free, but I left my camera equipment in Kalispell and asked if he could hook me up with a good deal on a camera rental for a good cause. Its not that I can’t pay the full price for a rental, it’s just that I thought anybody in the community would feel grateful to help in a situation like this. Nope, not this guy. I asked for 30% off the rental price. He wasn’t willing to discount even a single penny off the FULL price of the camera rental even with me paying full deposits and everything! I NEVER leave a 1 star review so congratulations Camera Cottage, you earned it!
Very unprofessional place. I wouldnt recommend this place for literally anything. Amazon will be taking this business over in literally no time. Worst owner, and he does not care for any customers unless they are willing to fork over money. Need help? Unless you give him money or have spent a bunch of money recently, good luck. This business will be closed in noooo time
Awesome company to deal with. Very knowledgeable!
This guy gets some bad reviews, but I found him to be to the point, he knew his stuff and he had a decent selection of equipment. He was a bit more focused on price and I felt like he telling me everything in the store was too much for me.
Knowledgeable. Good displays. Competitive pricing
Absolutely awful customer service, messy environment, and overall trashy! I walked in and after a few minutes he came out of the back then treated me like a total idiot. (as if I had no idea what I was doing there) He honestly shouldnt even be in business. I DO NOT recommend supporting his business what so ever.
Great selection, very fair prices, friendly staff!
I had a problem with my Nikon D200 and had no idea what to do with it, I was traveling trough so I popped in to see what he could do, He fixed it there and then on the spot, and gave me some really good advise on how to improve my pictures as I bought the camera just before I left and had no idea how to operate it correctly, Exceptionslly knowledgable guy, with lots of new and used equipment for sale well worth a visit
Literally the ONLY reason I continue to rent from this shop is the convenience of not having to wait for something to ship from online. I began renting from this shop when the owner was out for medical reasons, and that was the only time I have received fair customer service. Since he has been back, I absolutely hate going into this shop and having to exchange any kind of interaction with that man. I have yet to visit his store (thus, KEEPING HIS BUSINESS GOING) and not be treated like a total idiot. He is condescending, rude, and makes no effort to even pretend to be nice or helpful. When I ask a question and dont use the term hed like me to use, he pretends he has no clue what Im talking about until he can fish the correct term out of me. Then, he speaks to me as if I am an idiot and rolls his eyes. I would not recommend this business to anyone for any reason, except for the rental pricing and convenience.
I’ve noticed some interesting things from this business. First, the owner (or perceived owner) has terrible customer service. I over heard a conversation he was having with a customer over the phone and he was borderline yelling at this customer, rolling his eyes and throwing his hands up I the air, all because this customer did not understand what he was saying, and he had to repeat himself. I also run a business here in billings and I would tear my employees a new one if they ever spoke to a customer with such condescension and disrespect and not only did he do this to a customer he did it in front of other customers, I was not the only one in the store when he was on the verge of yelling at someone over the phone for asking a question. Then there was my experience. I rented at camera body and wanted to rent a backup battery and the “owner” told me that each battery last 1500 shots and that I probably would not need another battery, so I took his word for it. He said that he had just finished charging the battery and when I got home I plugged it in just to make sure. This battery only lasted 350 shots and died. So half of the wedding I had to use my cheaper DSLR that captured inferior pictures(which was why I was renting a professional grade body). Was that his fault? No, not at all. It could have been a bad battery, or a bad charger, who knows. But what was his fault was, when I returned it and he asked how it went and I told him, he made zero effort to make it right. His response was “that should not have happened it was a new battery. I’ll have to run a cycle on it to make sure it is working.” That is great, but I just wasted my money renting a product that I could barely use. He didn’t offer anything for my trouble-refund half my money, give me the next rental on the house, nothing. Again, I’m a business owner and I pride myself in customer service and this left a bad taste in my mouth. Lastly, it appears the owner is a little sexist. He seems to be much nicer to male customers and extremely rude and condescending to female customers. He is straight up distasteful toward my wife and is acceptable toward me (not nice but acceptable). My wife refuses to step foot into his shop due to his vicious condescension and disrespect. All this to say my family will not be returning to camera cottage to give them any business. I would rather rent from an online source and pay more money then deal with this man again. He needs to be the owner but not the one who runs the business. He needs to hire someone to manage the store who actually knows how to interact with people and run a proper business. Honestly, the moment a different camera shop opens that knows how to properly treat customers I see this place going out of business. If you are new to the photography world BEWARE if you say anything that gives that away-you will be eaten alive by the Owner at camera cottage.“responseOk so you are saying I paid you $80 to rent the camera plus a $1000 security deposit, asked to rent an extra battery (aka pay more money)which you told me I didn’t need, then I found an old battery for a camera I don’t have and return it instead of the one I rented all to write a bad review. Oh not to mention that you inspected the camera body, charger and battery upon returning and issued me a full refund of my deposit. If it was the wrong battery you would not have given me my deposit back. You are scraping the bottom of the barrel to lie and slander me in order to deflect from the fact that you have terrible customer service and business practices. A simple apology and an effort to make the wrong right would have been sufficient for me not to have written this review. But instead you continue to show your lack of ethics and lack of ability to receive negitive feedback. the state I was born in means nothing and your response was childish.
My husband recently bought a DJI Mavic drone and has been working hard to improve his photography and videography skills with it. We did a little research on places in Billings that might be able to offer some expertise on improving those skills/give us some recommendations for add-ones (types of lens filters, etc.) That’s how we found the Camera Cottage. We took his drone and accessories to the shop - excited to explore our options - and ended up disappointed. My husband asked him for tips on how to make the most out of his drone; all he told us was that it’s a fixed lens and to put it in 4K. We came there hoping to learn about the craft of aerial videography from someone who might know more than us, and all we received was essentially the same factory specifications that you could find on the outside packaging of the box. So my husband asked him a second and third time (using different phrasing) if he had any tips for getting better shots with his drone. His response was that the drone will go lots of places that humans can’t. It was such a bummer to come in hopeful and leave feeling a lot of condescension like we were idiots. I guess we were hoping that even if he didn’t have much advice to share, that he could at least have given us a place to start or some fun add-ons to try out and experiment with. I would not recommend this place to anyone.
Carter is knowledgeable, and deals lenses at a fair market value.
Interesting selection of new and used equipment at reasonable prices.
Great place, very friendly and willing to help.
Good selection, very helpful in picking out a new DSLR and very competitive prices with the ability to trade in or rent.
The owner is very knowledgeable
Over priced and rude staff. Gentleman at the counter acted like I was the stupidist customer in the store. Than he sold me a cable for my camera and come to find out I could have bought it at Walmart for 4 dollars, but at Camera Cottage it was 14.
Can you say over price markup for 400% and rather rude
Customer Service was awful, no welcome or goodbye, few drones- even less knowledge, better off purchasing through Amazon
The owner is unprofessional I am new to the camera seen had a couple questions and he talked to me like I was stupid I would not recommend this store and he is high priced for used items when you can buy brand new online cheaper.
Didnt have done parts I was looking for
Called for a repair and they were really rude.
He is serious about what he does, and he does it well!