CLOSED! No longer at Spitalfields, after searching for close to half an hour. Only after searching…read moretheir ancient Twitter did I learn they had discontinued their presence at the market. Website still lists the stall location. Such a bummer, was looking forward to visitin

I found my vintage camera as I was wandering around in Spitalfields Market. You have many film…read morecamera dealers here on thursday. As the others sell a bit of everything my vintage camera focuses only on photographic equipment. Their stall is like a complete camera shop. Film cameras from all periods, leather cases, lenses, tripods, films, flashes, straps and even lens caps and cable releases! What really struck me is their dedication. They guide you through all the features of the camera of your choice, giving you advice and tips. Their cameras are guaranteed to work and if you have a problem they look after you. If you are looking for a film camera, they are my best pick! Oh and they are much cheaper than camera shops.

I needed to get my passport renewed and as per my usual last minute style, I remembered exactly 6…read moreweeks before I'm next travelling (which is how long they say it will take eek). Despite having a particularly lazy day appearance-wise (of all the days to wear zero make up and not wash my hair!) I had no choice but to get some photos taken. Being painted bright yellow on the outside, this place had stuck in my head when walking past. I wandered in and asked one of the three staff members if they took passport pics. She asked me to follow her downstairs where they have a plain coloured background and lighting set up to take them straight away. It took me ages to take all my layers off from the cold outside; I found myself automatically making small talk to fill the silence, but the woman holding the camera clearly wasn't a fan. It was actually a little disconcerting how silent she was. By this time I was too embarrassed to ask to check my hair (so my own fault there's a little tuft sticking out of the side of my ponytail in the pics). I was also was smiling far too much in an attempt to cover my awkwardness, which you're not supposed to do in passport photos, meaning we had to take three. By the third one I actually had to think of something really dark (like, even worse than Mufasa dying) to keep a straight face. Back upstairs we went and the unsmiling but extremely efficient lady printed my mug shots from one of the machines. She then stamped each of them out at the correct size using a handy pre-sized rectangular cutter and charged me £10 for 6. In total I couldn't have been there more than 10 minutes which seemed amazingly snappy service to me, and the part that took the longest was me taking off and on my coat/scarf/mittens. You probably don't have that default nervous smile issue like I do either so would be even quicker. My only suggestion is to give us the option of paying for 2 photos rather than making you print 6. It's bad enough that one of them will stay with me for the next ten years every time I travel, but nobody needs to see the other 4 so they're a bit of a waste. Still, I'm very grateful to this place for making an annoying last min task almost too easy to be true - now let's just hope the passport arrives in time!

Red Dot Cameras has recently relocated from their original shop in Old Street and now they are…read morecurrently located on the Goswell Road. Red Dot Cameras usually have a decent selection of Leica cameras both brand new and second-hand and they also stock the Japanese brand, Artisan & Artist; which specialise in camera accessories designed for mostly Leica Before Red Dot Cameras moved and relocated to Goswell Road from Old Street, the London Graphics Centre (an upscale artist shop) was in fact located at 86 Goswell Road; and that was fairly recent. Well, I have to say Red Dot Cameras have a pretty good website, that keeps being updated every so often. But a visit to Red Dot Cameras is always worth my time.

This place is owned and run by a husband and wife team. They are very personable; he is friendly…read moreand nice, she is friendly and sour. They are a Leica dealership that also sells Billingham bags and a few very funky little Manfrotto tripod - table top stand thingys. They also have a broad and ever changing range of second hand equipment that includes anything you might screw in, mount on or wrap around a Leica or other rangefinder camera. They often have a fair selection of Voigtlander and Zeiss lenses as well as a vast selection of used Leica lenses. It's the only Leica dealership within walking distance of the city (Jacobs doesn't count as a body and 3 lenses do not a dealership make). Their new prices are in line with everyone elses, the bags are possibly cheaper from Fleabay, but you can come in here and try them out, their secondhand lenses are cheaper than Fleabay and warranteed for 6 months by the shop, again, you can also have a look at them here and check them out on your M8/9 or whatever. I like the place, it's just a little too close to my place of work, which makes it a dangerous place for my credit card.

Decent service, guy seemed quite laid back (ozzy) but got what i needed in 30 mins and was cheap!read more

Located virtually next door to the Savoy Hotel, is the London Camera Exchange in the Strand;…read morethis shop branch is just part of a nation-wide franchise, under the LCE Group and they have other branches up and down the UK, trading under the same name. The only thing, I like from this shop is the Think Tank camera bags. But I have strongly dislike the customer service from these people. You'd be better off shopping at Richard Caplan (Pall Mall), Classic Camera (Bloomsbury) Aperture Photographic (Fitzrovia), Calumet (Euston & Soho) and/or Fixation (Vauxhall)

Went here while on vacation, and I was very pleased. Robin gave an excellent consultation and I…read moreleft happy with a new piece of equipment. Yes, it cost more than ordering online or purchasing in the US, but I would have missed all those extra shots without my new 18-270 Tamron. :) Well worth it. Go check them out! Look at their used filters/lenses/etc because they have lots of stuff to choose from.

This is one of the last best places to buy 35mm & 120 film stock in London, the prices are…read morecompetitive enough to make me dust off my Lomo & my Bronica and get away from the seductive convenience of digital stills! It's also a one stop shop for all your photoshoot needs with friendly service thrown in!

From the owner: Photographic and Lighting rental, sales of consumables for professional photographers.read more

I brought some film in to be processed and scanned. They scratched the negs and charged about £15…read morefor the devloping and CD with the TIF files that clearly show the scratches. Never again!

One of the worst photoshop in the world. Beware they will rip you off for just 4 passport photos,…read morethey charged £ 23 this is seriously day robbery. I like to complaint about them to Consumer Court. Any help is much appreciated. These people are just robbing money from common citizens. Thanks, Sakthi

Sendean Photos saved my camera and it was worth every penny. Their free estimate gave me enough…read moretime to realize I needed the repair done (and by someone I trust) because I started to miss my camera so much. Sitting on the price and thinking about it gave me the time to realize I could drop that kind of money on my camera. The work they did was perfect - my camera came back two days later (expedited) looking good as new. I would recommend Sendean to family, friends, and anyone I meet. Lovely service on the phone, in person, and my camera says thank you!

I like this place a lot: They were very straight over the phone, telling me exactly what my Nikon…read morerepair was LIKELY to cost, they didn't pretend to change that figure on inspection (though they did OFFER additional services), they did a very quick repair WHICH I KNOW TO BE A DIFFICULT ONE and accepted their pre-inspection estimate, and then they actually charged slightly LESS! Everyone else quoted TWICE AS MUCH AS SENDEAN as a "standard charge" for any repair to this lens and wasn't in the slightest interested in having anyone who knows anything about the repair hear what the symptoms were. Even worse, those other places insisted on wasting my time getting me down to their premises by pretending they would give me an estimate before telling me about this crooked standard charge when I got there! The repair itself, to an 18-200 mm lens which had previously been repaired by Nikon under warranty was BETTER than Nikon's. In that they cured a known problem with this lens (zoom creep) which Nikon didn't cure. And they even commented that the creep was a probably cause in the failure of the lens as creeping had admitted dust which eventually gummed up the lens! To "cap" it all off, they sold me a lens cap FOR ONLY A FIVER which is better than the original and after market lens caps in that it simply doesn't fall or get knocked off.

Great range of product. Miserable staff (but actually quite…read morecharming). Hardcore sales tactics "You are wrong, we are right. Seriously, forget what your professional photographer friend said about Canon, it's the Practika you need". Let you get hands-on with stuff, so you can see it working - which is a huge bonus. But, after all that, then you have the pricing. Good web sites beat John Lewis by around 30%. John Lewis beats most high street stores by around 10% - and often give a better warranty. Other high street stores are probably 10-20% cheaper than Spectrum. When you add it all up, the real cost of buying here is phenominal.

Had a passport photo taken here. It was only after the photo was taken I was told it was the…read more'£12.99 special' which is more than double the price you would pay anywhere else in London. Nigel who took the photos was very friendly however I was not shown the photos or given an option before printing. The photos provided were unusable and rejected by the passport office as they were taken against a dark grey background. I went back in to the store the next day where I was offered a replacement however as the photo printer was broken I would need to wait 20 mins. In fairness the background was much improved but instead of receiving a set of 8 different photos (as with the first attempt) I was given 4 photos - of what I assume was the worst shot. This is not a photo I will be using in my passport. I have since given up and gone two doors down where the cost came in at £6. It also turns out this is where Nigel had gone to print out the photos charging a considerable markup. To cut a long story short - avoid at all costs. Rip off merchants.