Camtex Camera Service

Great shop for all your camera concerns. Owner goes in depth with diagnoses, and is friendly with customers. Highly recommend for anyone with camera repairs!

So great! Would 100% use Camtex again. They were so friendly and super efficient. Within 4 days they assessed my camera and fixed it in time for Christmas! Apparently the technician was working extra long hours to finish repairs in time for the holidays. I’m so appreciative as I’m sure everyone else is around this time of year. Thank you!

I brought my camera in and I didn’t know what was wrong with it! I didn’t want to get a new one and was looking to see if I can get it fixed. Brought it here and it’s now fixed and working good as new! Thank you so much for fixing my camera!

My recent experience with Camtex left me deeply disappointed and frustrated. After being referred to them by Kerrisdale cameras, I had hoped for a reliable and professional repair service, but unfortunately, the reality fell far short of my expectations.

From the beginning, there were signs of trouble. Camtex quoted an exorbitant amount of money just to analyze the problem with my camera, which was a jammed lever and new light seals. This initial quote seemed excessive and set a negative tone for the entire process.

Communication was a significant issue throughout my interaction with Camtex. Despite being told that I would receive a call within a day, I never heard back from them, forcing me to take matters into my own hands and inquire about the status of my camera repair. This lack of communication was frustrating and unprofessional.

When I finally managed to get in touch with Camtex and asked about the cost of the repair, I was shocked to receive yet another quote, this time exceeding $200+. The inconsistency in pricing and miscommunication only added to my frustration.

Furthermore, Camtex failed to meet the agreed-upon pickup date for my camera, causing further inconvenience and disruption to my plans. To make matters worse, when I retrieved my camera, I discovered that the battery I had purchased for it was broken.

The overall impression I got from my experience with Camtex was that they were more interested in extracting as much money from customers as possible, rather than providing honest and reliable service.

While I appreciate Alan's efforts to be friendly and attentive, it does not compensate for the multiple issues I encountered throughout the repair process. The attempt to upsell me on other products also felt disingenuous, given the unsatisfactory service I had already experienced.

Regrettably, I cannot recommend Camtex for camera repairs based on my unfortunate experience. I hope they take customer feedback into account and make improvements to their services in the future.

Service was beyond good. Alan is not just great fixing cameras but also a great mentor. I brought in an old and dirty camera I found in my mom’s closet and he made it come back to life like brand new. Plus he took the time to explain how all the buttons, shutter, aperture, etc work. Definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a place where they’ll care about your devices and respect them.

Alan from Camtex is awesome! Great service repairing my beloved canon 70-200 L. Service was amazing, super fast and efficient. If you looking for a place to repair your camera lenses look no more, Camtex is the place. Super happy to have my lens looking like new again! Thanks Alan and Camtex team!

Took six months to return my expensive film point-and-shoot back in significantly worse condition. They quoted me a huge sum for work which they suspiciously halved after I shared my intention to take the camera elsewhere. They ordered the wrong part once and delayed repairs by months. Then they took a camera apart and couldn’t put it back together (like, really?) What I have now is worth less than what I gave the shop. The shop never returned the $40 I paid initially for inspection and offered nothing for the damages. The shop promised to ship me back parts they lost while assembling my camera unsuccessfully and never did.

I took my camera to Camtex to fixed my HDMI on myfujifilm X-T3 camera and they fixed it with a good deal. Thank a lot Alan for your hard work.

Service and communication is excellent. Needed my camera's sensor cleaned. Called with an estimate which I approved and was notified when it was ready for pick up a few days later. Thank you Alan and team! You will be my go to for future camera issues.

I recently took my old binoculars in for repair. I had inherited them and was not sure if it was worth having them overhauled. Camtex did a great job and I learned that my binoculars were built with high quality materials and therefore it was worth investing in the repairs. Great service and knowledgeable staff.

Really reliable, fair and prompt service. I had severe internal damage with my viewfinder and they were able to source, repair and deliver my functional Canon 5D Mk2 within a very tight window for an affordable price. They are very thorough and inspect the issues and communicate with you before making the repair. I would recommend them if you own a camera that may be out of warranty.

Stay away from Camtex! I spent $78, waited 12 days, nothing fixed, ended with grief. I went to Camtex to have my light meter repaired, and their technician immediately speculated certain problems. Camtex charged me $78 for further diagnostic and estimate. One day later, they informed us that the repair fee will be a minimum $120.00, plus $30.00 "shop" fee, on top of everything “extra cost for parts”; nothing definitive for sure. When I asked them what is precisely wrong, or does it need extra parts, they said it has to wait for the “update” from the technician. So, in anticipation for the 'update', I asked them to hold off for my authorization before starting the work because I don't want to get an outrageous bill at the end. After 11 days without any messages, I showed up and asked if they had time to look at it, their answer was: “I (Camtex) was waiting for you (me) to call them, because I ask them to hold off so they did not do any work, and there are no update. ” I was steamed and debate ensured about the meaning of what an "update" should be. The guy repeatedly said “we won’t charge you $120 if we cannot fix it”. That should not be the point. After I paid $78, the point should be how much is the total price to repair, or at least tell me what exactly is wrong with the meter so I can decide whether to toss the meter or let them continue with the repair; they failed miserably in providing any useful information. I can forgive about the $78 and nothing was fixed, but I cannot forgive about this service. At least I got my light meter back with a receipt that required my signature which is their only professional gesture tendered.

The workers here are very knowledgeable of all types of cameras and are willing to share their knowledge to help you improve in your camera skills. They also work fast with good quality. They were also able to save the film I had stuck inside of my broken film camera.

Absolute trash tier repair shop. Dropped off a nice vintage lens (Contax-Zeiss) for cleaning and got it back with rear elements completely scratched. Did you use sandpaper to wipe the glass? Take your business somewhere else and hope that this place goes out of business.

Great service! Had given up on my 5Dmk11 as Canon said no parts were available and repair wasn’t possible. I was very pleased at the service and so happy to have my camera working as good as new again. At a very reasonable price. Will definitely be returning should I need it. Highly recommended.

My experience at Camtex was truly exceptional. I can honestly say I've never experienced service like this before. The technician Alan went above and beyond in every way possible. I received constant communication from Alan on all updates and repairs. Everything was repaired in timely fashion, and I had no hidden fees.

When I first dropped off my camera, I communicated urgency as I was leaving in less than a month on a business trip and needed the camera repaired before my trip.

Alan diagnosed my broken camera and ordered the necessary parts for repair immediately. Unfortunately for reasons out of either of our control the ordered parts were delayed. I was very stressed out because the new date of arrival for the ordered parts would arrive only one day before my departure.

Thankfully the parts arrived the day before my departure and Alan stayed past office hours to work on my camera to ensure I received it before my departure.

Thank you, Alan I really appreciate everything you did and I wish you the best.

The viewing screen on my camera needed to be replaced. Camtex replaced it and had me snapping photos very soon with what was a very quick turnaround. It was appreciated.

This was my second visit to this store. The first time I had my Canon EF 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 L lens repaired, (not cheap.)
The second time my Canon R6 camera with reading constantly popping up "error 20" After many attempts it was finally repaired. The price of repairs was on the high side of course, but the counter guy (Alan) was professional, knowledgeable, and friendly. I highly recommend this place for repair.

Pretty run and unprofessional over the phone, unwilling to provide any information on service costs. Don't waste your time I guess

Left my Canon AE-1 with Camtex to have them replace the light seals. They did a great job and even checked the camera for proper functioning. I'm very happy with the service!

I took my old camera for a simple repair, and they charge $150, just for the “diagnosis”. He said the additional repair cost could be $200, $300, $400, etc.
Price is extremely unreasonable!

WARNING! DO NOT GO HERE! Yet another bad review here: Bad price, bad efficiency, bad repair and bad customer service skills. Took way too long, waaay too expensive and when I picked it up there was a new part of my lens broken. The tech tried to pretend like it wasn't broken after I pointed it out. The tech held the two parts of my shift lens together and said "see it works". The locking mechanism was so very obviously broken and he was making it appear fine by holding it. As if I wouldn't notice. Haha! That part was not broken when I brought it in initially. The price they were asking in the end was completely outrageous and far higher than what I was lead to believe it would cost initially. I regret not reading these reviews before going in. I could not be more dissatisfied and have no idea how these guys are still in business. The other costumers I saw when in the shop were both also obviously angry and upset with these guys. Just bad all around.

I have a Sony A7ii and the finder/monitor stopped working, I went to Camtex only because they were open for drop off on a Saturday, I should have read a few more reviews before doing this, "My Bad". After speaking with the counter employee and filled out all the forms he tells me that its a $195 inspection fee. I paid it! I called them after a week and he told me they still had not looked at it and said we will call you.they called 5 days later and told me that its a $595 repair. I told them to hold on and i would come in the store to review the inspection report before going ahead. The next day I arrived to the store and asked to see the report and he said "we don't do that" I asked him what was the $195 for then, he got upset with me asking for it, then I also got upset and may have said I few things. I did speak to the manager and he was even less help. After a 45 min conversation i hung up the phone. So bottom line i gave them $220 and all i got for it was a lot of frustration and my camera is still broken, I called Sony and they quoted me $325 to fix the issue. If I can save 1 person the heartache "Please stay away from this company" and if its too late file a complaint with the BBB if your not happy with these rip off companies.

I wish I'd read the reviews before I brought my camera in.

I told them what the problem was with my camera and they insisted on charging a $100 "diagnosis fee" anyway. After the diagnosis, they quoted an exorbitant rate to repair. I ate the diagnosis fee and went elsewhere. Second store's total repair cost (with no diagnosis fee, by the way) was 1/2 Camtex's.

I would avoid this place like COVID.

Worst service ever. Scam! Told me they fixed the camera but did nothing. Charged 300$. DO NOT RECOMMEND

Brought camera to shop for common shutter jam repair. Once repair job was complete was given the price for work which was verbally agreed to. At pick up, charges an additional $100 and would not honor quoted price. Overall, would not recommend.

Do not go to Camtex for your repairs. Visit Vancam instead. Camtex quoted me three times the price to repair my canon lens.

Surprise- another bad review for this place. 2 identical cameras, exact same problem, but had to pay $195 diagnostic charge (for both). Cost $500 and I agreed because they were the only place in town that could fix it. Took 2 months to get back. Wuarantee for work done is 3 months. Same problem came up again at 4 months. This is the only bad review I've ever written. Beware!

Do not use Camtex. Their technician claimed he found water damage in my camera and sent photos, I took it to Vancam and they found nothing. It was a broken LCD board that was the issue. Terrible service, lying technicians and overall, very poor service. Do not use their service.

Went in with an odd request. I tried to tell the worker what kind of camera, what happened and what I needed done. He proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes talking down to me, saying he had no idea what I needed done and trying to make me feel like a fool. Read the other reviews after Ieaving and I'm relieved he showed his true colors before I left my camera there or gave him any money

I read a really bad review in a photographer group then came here to read more reviews and believe that this shop should you avoid.

I have never written a bad review before but I had to for this. I took my film camera there to fix a broken counter and get cleaned. I also brought a broken camera with a working counter for them to use for parts if needed. My quote was $195 (which I asked if the diagnosis fee was included in and was told yes) and then a month later I got a call that the camera was done but it cost another $85 for things that were talked about in the original quote. I went to pick up my camera and was told the $280 was not including the diagnosis fee I had already paid. They also tried to keep my parts camera and I had to come back later to pick it up because the elusive tech wasn’t there. This place is a SCAM! Horrible service

AVOID AVOID AVOID! HEED MY WARNING! I have never in my life experienced such a lack of customer service. Camtex wants free money, your money, for nothing! They want 95$ just to give you a diagnosis (no repair or information given in return) paid upfront BEFORE HAND (poor business practice). The arrogant young clerk with absolutely zero interpersonal skills can't give you any answers, no rough estimates and no general idea of what the repair may cost. Sure, why don't I just give you my debit card and pin to my chequings account and you can help yourself to whatever you deem is fair, SAID NO ONE EVER! I don't have a problem with paying for a diagnosis especially if I'll be receiving a report of the work and parts needed to be done/installed in return, but for 95$ before work has even started and no idea of where that repair might go ($$$$), you're really just setting yourself up to be ripped off. Do yourself a favor and send it to the manufacturer or go somewhere else. Don't waste your time with these guys, they don't want your business, they want your money.for nothing. Camtex, if you're reading, you need to adjust your business practice. Consider taking the job without insisting an upfront diagnosis payment. It's really simple, you take the camera/equipment and explain to the customer that you will need time to diagnose/troubleshoot and there may be a fee for that of (95$) depending on how troubling the diagnosis is. If you can prepare a rough estimate based on previous repairs with similar symptoms (I found it very difficult to believe that a common error on my camera could not be given a rough "ball park" repair cost, but thats not really the brunt of my frustration) then even better! Your current business practice of charging upfront the way you currently do is extremely off putting and implies that the customer is both dishonest and disloyal. It's fair to charge a diagnoses fee but you guys have the business practice backwards and given the previous reviews I'm so grateful I didn't fall into your trap. If you want good referrals and reviews you'll need to brush up on business principles and customer service, you may even want to consider removing such a fee altogether, especially since the manufacturer (Canon in my case) does the diagnosis and estimate for FREE! TIME TO CHANGE CAMTEX!

UPDATE: Vancam charges just 35$ to diagnose and estimate work and parts required.

If you own CANON. Do not waste your time with CAMTEX. Send it in. They do all the diagnostic and troubleshoot free of charge and charge you a flat rate for the repair and part. Might as well!

This is absolutely the worst service and worst repair facility I have ever used. They took almost 4 weeks to finally call me to tell me that my camera was ready and charged me an 'arm and a leg' and come to find out that the repair was terrible. The camera still is non-operational. I paid them too much. I should have just purchased a new Canon and I would have come out so much cheaper. I would never, never recommend them to anyone and I would never, never take this camera back to them to fix what they didn't fix in the first place. There is no condition that I would give them another chance to further destroy my camera. I just didn't want to drive into Seattle (2+ hours) vs Vancouver (45 min). My mistake. I absolutely believe that NOBODY ever even looked at my camera. I visited them a couple of times and never saw nor heard any other people in their area.

These guys were recommended to me by Broadway Camera in Coquitlam. So I didn't even check these ratings. I wish I would have. I took in my Nikon D7100 for repair. I asked if they were certified to repair Nikon cameras. They said yes. So I left the camera there & paid the $80 inspection fee.
They called me with an estimate of around $500 & I told them to go ahead with the repair. Some days later, they called back, stating that there's another repair required, they didn't see before & would cost some more money. Foolishly, I still said go ahead.
When I got the camera back, it worked, but very slow with the focus. It was impossible to take any clear action shots.
So I called the Nikon repair centre in Toronto & asked if Camtex was an authorized repair centre for Nikon cameras. The answer: NO!
I couldn't believe that these guys at Camtex just outright lie like that.
End of the story: Sent the camera to the Nikon repair centre costing me another $300.
Needless to say, I will never bring anything else to Camtex for repair.

These guys need to be shut down. Complete and absolute rip off. Took my vintage film camera in, mentioning to them that my focusing screen needed to be repaired. They said they had to do a diagnostics of $150 first. I told them that I already knew what was wrong with the camera. They charged me $150 just to tell me that my focusing screen needed to be replaced. Thanks for nothing you jerks. Complete scam. If anyone else has been ripped off by these people I suggest we get together and file a class action lawsuit.

Do not go this store, you must pay unbelievably expensive charges. They charged so called initial checking fee $95.20 and repair fee $290 for just removing moisture of camera lens.

Terrible staff and they charge a useless inspection fee that no other shop charges in Vancouver. Avoid this place at all costs, Beau Photography does a much better job! I brought my film camera in to be cleaned and the associate there could not even quote me at all and kept repeating it would be over $200 + $95 inspection fee. Horrific customer service all around and I do not recommend supporting their business.

Don't waste your time. They don't know anything about how a camera works and will try to scam you

WORST place to repair your equipments. Would never fix your camera so you might have to bring it in again paying them ridiculous repairing fees. Absolutely avoid this place.

The worst rip off do not go there. They asked for $45 for each part of my camera as deposit. 2 lenses and body. After they told me how much it was going to cost to fix it all it was triple the cost of the whole camera and lenses. I said forget it. Then they convinced me to fix one of the lenses at $250 I said sure that lense is worth $800. Once I get there to pay they said my total for the lense was $495. I argued with them on it and didn’t get anywhere. So In total I paid $630 to get one lense fixed that had a tiny bit of moisture. On the lense. SCAMMERS!

Avoid, they will take your money for an overpriced inspection, provide a ridiculous repair quote, and when you ask to see what was wrong the tech is never available to show you. Scam.

CLARIFY FINAL PRICE BEFORE DROP OFF!
I brought in two cameras (Nikon FM2), requested to switch film rewinders one to the another (just switching from my cameras). I asked very clearly the total amount of price, and he told me $95. I dropped off at 1pm, and received call to pick up at 6pm. When I went back to pick up, he told me it’s $190+tax. I was very surprised with different price since I asked very clearly before drop off. I asked why it went up, he said because it’s $95 per camera. Since I requested to switch film rewinder one to the another, which is two cameras.it’s $190+tax. I was very upset. I clearly asked “final price”, and he said $95. If he told me $95 per rewinder, I definitely would’ve not fixed it here. I explained how I understood, and meaning of “final price”, and he said. “This is my living, you can afford Leica, but why not $95? ” First, I’m not talking about anybody’s living here. Nothing to do with living. I asked for final price before drop off, I was told $95, so that’s what I expected. That’s all. He never said $95 per rewinder. Secondly, my Leica is nothing to do with this issue. Because I expensive camera on me, you think you can ask for higher price? He also said “I spent all day to fix this for you”. Sorry but I don’t care how many hours or days you need to spent doing your job, I’m just a customer. I have no problem for paying at all. My problem is that I clearly asked for final price before drop off, and telling me different price when picking up is wrong. Again, I would’ve not fixed it if switching rewinder costs $190. It would’ve been nice if you said $190 when I clearly asked for “final price”. The camera I tried to fix it, it costs a bit more than the price he asked to fix a rewinder in current market. I would’ve thought it’s not worth to fix it if I knew if it’s costing $190. I told him this, he said “Why not you sell it for $1000? ” He has no idea what he’s talking about, no information what so ever about cameras. Anyways, just wanted to warn people, clearly ask, and clarify again for final price before drop off, again and again, because he will say something differently. At the end, he gave me 10%, but still, his communication with customer is not clear at all. Will not go back here again.