Reasonably priced used gear! Great selection too! I cant say either of those things for most shops in the Chicago area. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic.Downsides: No on-site film processing, disappointing selection of development chemicals.

I’m so glad I found this store. Such nice and knowledgeable team, that not Kelly know their stuff, you can see their passion with photography. Thanks for spending an hour with me taking the time until I made up my mind and set on a great film camera. I will be visiting often. The owner has some fascinating stories he shared.

I visited the store yesterday to ask the owner something not even relatedto his product or service but he was so gracious to help me and answerall my question and gave me solid advise. There are not many people who do what he did for which I am grateful. Thank you so much.

We love supporting small businesses, finally someone knows how to take passport photos the old fashion way !The staff are very friendly . I witnessed nothing but respect and professionalism

We have a lot of vintage 35mm films from the early 50s and we wanted to digitize them to preserve them for future generations. Alpine Camera was very responsive to all our questions and their prices are better than our local shop. We were really impressed with the quality of the digitized version. In fact, we were so impressed, we gave them all the rest of the films (about 40) and all our 8mm and videotapes to convert. Would highly recommend Alpine Camera.

Great store. Staff is really knowledgeable and nice to talk with. Their selection is awesome with vintage and newer film cameras, film stock, all kind of camera accessories, etc.. I picked up a leather camera bag for my old medium format camera at a very reasonable price. Ill be going back.

Film or other unique camera needs? If so, there are not many options left where you can get questions answered face-to-face. This is one of those options. Lots of older used bodies and lenses for sale, too!

Great store with great employees! They have a nice assortment of cameras, lenses, and film with fair prices. Im very happy to do business with them.

I very seldom write bad reviews and I couldn’t say how completely disappointed I am with one of the few camera stores left in the area. The owner cane off as an extremely kind man and a great business owner so I was really excited to be working for what I thought was a great storefront and what seemed to be a great staff. From the first day working I felt extremely unwelcomed by everyone there. They would get frustrated when I didn’t know where they put certain things as if I was an inconvenience for not being able to read their minds. They would constantly make comments like “your generation doesn’t do this and your generation doesn’t know that” which to me comes off as harassment. I’m not going to make a huge list of everything wrong with my short experience working there but note this, I WAS NEVER PAID. That’s the type of person the owner is, he ignored my attempts of getting some type of payment for my time and money I put into driving 50 minutes to and from work every day.If you’re not interested in my personal experience at least know this, DO NOT BUY OR SELL ANYTHING FROM THIS STORE. I witnessed the employees bragging about how they would rip people off with both buying and selling camera equipment. A customer came in with a Canon AE-1 Program, a beautiful medium format mamiya (645 I believe) and a Nikon Film camera, and the owner offered him $50 for all three... The customer obviously didn’t understand what the Actual value on those cameras was because he accepted it. The mamiya alone was going to be resold for about $1300. I absolutely could not continue working for someone who doesn’t think twice to rip someone off like that. Absolutely disappointing, I cannot even express how devastating it is to be typing this out but I hope it makes a difference.Hope you read this Chuck, thank you for wasting my time.

They know their stuff there. Need an expert to help know what to buy. The owner is definitely a camera fanatic and it was fun to discuss older cameras and photography techniqi with him. He also was helpful and provided great ideas on photographing the 2017 eclipse.They are a bit pricy though so if you know what you want or need, you may be better going somewhere else or ordering online.

Great local shop, lots of knowledgeable folks. They sell gear, process film (C41 is in house theyll send out other film), and sell film (even Impossible project for your Polaroid.) To be honest their prices on film arent as competitive as youll see online (Tri-x sells for about $5/roll online, over $7 at Alpine), but I also appreciate the value of supporting a local store when possible. Where they really win is in the processing, which is still surprisingly affordable, even with scanning to CD.Lots of accessories, so if you need a special flash hood, filter, spare lens cap, theyll have you covered and its naturally much easier to stop in than wait for shipping.

After reading the reviews, I was unsure about going into Alpine Camera. The second I walked in there, I was greeted by two very friendly people. Michael and Cassandra. I needed to get my photos off of my phone and onto a flash drive because I was running out of storage on my phone. I was met with two options. A 32GB flash drive or a 16 GB flash drive. Michael and Cassandra helped me choose my flash drive and showed me what each one can do and how they work plus the pros and cons. In the end it was and incredibly good experience. I recommend Alpine Camera to anyone who wants good service, friendly people, and a clean place.

Three thumbs up for a great little camera store. Please buy some stuff here so that they can continue to be a valuable resource for everyone who likes pictures and photography.

I come here to buy film and send it out to be processed. It has always been a quick turn around and they always have a nice amount of film in stock. Very convenient location for me. I havent looked into their used equipment very much but from what Ive seen they have a very nice selection. Go in there with an idea of what you want and youre very likely to leave with it(or something comprable) the same day.

0 - STARS. STRONGLY RECOMMEND TO OTHER FELLOW CUSTOMERS TO AVOID THIS PLACE FOR ANY SERVICE. THEY KEPT MY CAMERA FOR SO LONG, OVER A MONTH AND WHEN I GOT IT BACK THEN THEY TOLD ME THEY WERE SURE IT CAME WITHOUT THE BODY CAP ...... THEY STOLE MY CAMERAS CAP . What a weird way to steal .... it costs like 5-10 $. Unbelievable, their excuse was that they would normally note in receipt that camera came with a cap, and in this case it didnt say that and that means no cap is to be returned to me ...... its like I would know that when i drop camera for repair the receipt they give has to say I dropped it with the cap on, .....??!!?! How would I know that little trick they have .....JUST AVOID AT ALL COST !!

Poor customer service. The pricing was way off of what I could have gotten an item for on amazon and should I had known this I would have not made the purchase. Upon trying to return the product that was purchased literally the day before I was met with a rude worker. The shop did not offer any form of compensation and was informed that sales were final AFTER I tried to return the product (though the receipt states a 15% restocking fee).Unfortunate turn of events, I was excited to find a local camera shop and was thrilled to be a frequent customer, however, due to feeling lied to about pricing, a rude interaction, and misleading receipts I will not recommend this shop nor return for any future purchases.

Before I went to Italy, I really needed to get a comfortable strap for my camera. The girl I worked with was so helpful and pleasant. The strap was perfect and worked like a charm in Italy. I also purchased a second camera battery and memory card. Their gear is not cheap but it is fairly priced. They are a specialty store that provides expertise to novice photographers like me.

They were able to make copies with a small window of time, great knowledge of cameras. Great people, and plenty of parking in back. I have used them for several projects, and I highly recommend them.

My dad bought me my first camera here when I was in high school. I still have the camera, and come back to this location whenever I can. I find their prices and turnaround time for film development and scanning to be very fair. Same with their repair service. The staff is knowledgable and friendly, and is a great help with trouble-shooting and gear advice.

Definitely not a store Id ever recommend. I was ignored by both the guys in there when the store was empty. I expected them to have far more stock of new gear and lenses and they had nothing. If youre into very old and vintage gear this is your place. If you shoot/record mid to high end shoots like myself avoid this place... youre honestly better off using best buy or abt.

Chuck, the owner, is a very friendly knowledgeable and honest man....If you are looking to buy a nice camera, Alpine is the place to go. Chuck or one of his staff, Cassandra or Shane can show you the strong and weak features of any camera, digital or film....Speaking of film, they develop your film here whether 35mm or medium format....and do a better job than walgreens! Bring in your memory card and make quality prints and enlargements cheap. I highly recommend Alpine fore all your camera and video needs.

What a great place this is! The staff is knowledgeable and very patient. They even stayed opened later to accommodate traffic and my late arrival. I would recommend them over and over! Thank you.

Great vintage camera store fillled with all sorts of cool photography gear.

A gem. This old-school camera shop is one of few remaining, in a dying breed. Owner has great depth of experience; handles lots of used cameras. Staff is friendly & knowledgeable.

Great knowledgeable staff. Iconic and classic film cameras along with more contemporary services like digitizing home movies and VCR tapes.

I bought a Canon t4i and love it! the experience here was great! great people and great store including the printing process which is fast and good quality!

Had a great experience at Alpine today.Was looking for a battery charger and called three different stores and it appears its just too old and not available.I was going to a big box store to check out a new pocket size camera and decided to Shop Local first.I walked in and was overwhelmed with all the high-tech cameras and actually thought I was in the wrong place looking for just a point and shoot, but Cassandra was friendly and when I explained what I was looking for, she pulled the perfect little camera from a showcase and started talking about how great this little Nikon was and half an hour later I walked out with it.Thanks for all your patienceJoan TalmyDes Plaines

They botched my film prints and wouldnt refund me even though they printed them BACKWARDS (all images flipped). They did 2 rolls of 120 film incorrectly. The prints were also CROPPED to look like 35mm prints so the actual photos I took were not fully printed, and the negatives they returned were DIRTY like they had been on the floor and handled with dirty hands. They offered to reprint them but I wouldnt trust them to do it correctly. They are apparently unable to tell the emulsion side of film. The owner was very upset on the phone with me because I wanted a refund, which made me very upset and he finally said he would give one, but only in person if I gave him possession of my photographs. Obviously hell never have my photos, film, or negatives in his possession. Try CSW, Central, Gamma, instead. Oh, they are expensive too.

Great store and helpful staff! I just did passport pictures and very happy with the results.

Great place. Like walking into an old time camera shop

I came to check out the used camera equipment, was very impressed with the expertise! Im a total camera noob, and the staff gave me a handy rundown (in terms I could understand) of the different DSLR cameras they had in stock.Personally, I didnt think the staff were pushy at all to make a sale - some other folks have mentioned that, but I didnt notice. Just a bunch of good information :) When Im in need of more expertise, Ill head over to Alpine!

Great service great people its like a toy store for vintage and new cameras

I called in to the store and asked if they would take passport their website suggested a reasonable price when we went in their we were charged 3 times the normal price. I totally disliked the experience at this store, The owner seem to be complain about everything and was very rude to his employes for charging normal price. And charged me twice the price for a simple passport photograph. I wanted to get my cannon camera fix but could not trust the owner and decided not to continue. I guess this is the reason small business tend to give in too big business.

Reputable and Conscientious - dealing with this store is a pleasant experience. Provides services not found in the big box stores. We need small businesses such as this one.

Its a great place to go for any photo and video need. These guys are the best.

My husband always comes here for advice and to purchase accessories, etc. He is always happy!

I have a had a few rolls of 120 format film developed and printed, and everything turned out well. Cool store, for sure.

Had a big variety of products and some services and was very helpful.

Very knowledgeable staff. Very helpful.

Just a little camera store. No frills just a friendly knowledgeable staff.

Great local store. Very knowledgeable and helpful

I had a family photograph needing restoration. I also needed a few additional copies of the restored photos.I opted to utilize Alpine Camera in Des Plaines. After an online search, it seemed to be one of the few companies in the area that does this type of work. I live in Des Plaines and typically prefer to use local businesses when possible so this seemed to be a perfect fit. Unfortunately, that was NOT the case!My immediate impression was not a good one! An abrupt and unfriendly young woman (Cassandra) half-heartedly attempted to assist me and was not very helpful. She made it clear that she was very busy and had other priorities. The lack of customer service was both surprising and disappointing.Against my better judgement, I left my family photo to be restored and to get the copies needed. In an effort to be accommodating I explained that there was no rush but I did need the photos before leaving town for Mothers Day which at that time was a month away. That was a mistake!Weeks went by and I was not notified so I finally called the store. I was told they would call me the next day when the photo was done but the call never came. I called again and got the same story and same results. I called again and was told that the machine was down but they would have it repaired later that same day. I waited two days and called again to find the machine was still broken....I did finally get a call today to let me know my photos were ready. When I went in to pick up the photos my order was incorrect. Alpine Camera had neglected to print one of the copies ordered. They did make the missing copy while I waited, after I requested them to do so. Not once did they acknowledge the inconvenience and confusion.No explanation. No attempt to offer a minimal compensation. No apology was ever offered! I can only conclude that Alpine Camera does NOT value their customers. My first impression was obviously accurate!The final product turned out fine but was over-priced. I will never do business with Alpine Camera or recommend Alpine Camera to anyone! If you choose to do so I encourage you to proceed at your own risk!Lastly, I feel badly for this small business owner as I have no idea how they intend to stay in business if other customers share the same or similar experiences!

Very knowledgeable kind beyond helpful staff!!

They are working hard to fix my 1970s Olympus 35mm RD...

A great store with truly helpful and knowledgeable staff!

Great photography store with fantastic deals on gear.

Great service, helpful and knowledgeable staff.

Poor customer service and workmanship

Unable to work on Pentax, but good customer service.

These guys are a RIP OFF,they sold me a damaged camera lens,they told me to return it for inspection,and they would refund my money,5 weeks later,no lens,no money.I am out $100 dollars,no email response.this is the worst camera store,they are liars.i would never purchase anything from them,and i would advise people to stay away,i already got in touch with the Consumer Affairs,yelp,ebay, and now the attorney generals office in IL.

Dont go here bait and switch !!!wasted my time and money being lied to by them just glad I got my vintage camera back in one piece....

Expected a modern environment