District Camera & Imaging - Arlington

I would caution professional film photographers from getting your film developed and scanned here. I really wanted to enjoy my experience, especially since film labs are becoming increasingly rare and I always try to support family-run local businesses. I’m normally based in another state, but was visiting family in Virginia and dropped off several rolls at District Camera after reading great reviews. Unfortunately, the scans I received back were extremely dark, with crushed shadows, muddy color, and low resolution. I shoot film professionally and could immediately tell something was off. I sent the negatives to my usual lab to be rescanned and the difference was night and day. I’ve included side-by-side comparisons in this review to show how much shadow detail, tone, and clarity were lost in the District Camera scans. To District’s credit, the staff was responsive when I reached out. They explained that they had automatically applied a high contrast filter to the scans and had forgotten to turn it off. In my experience, professional labs usually have a quality assurance step in place to catch things like this, and I’ve shared that feedback with their management in hopes they might consider adding that to their process. I’m grateful that their team was responsive and offered remediation, so I’m leaving a 3-star review instead of something lower. For professional work, I personally wouldn’t return, but I hope my experience encourages District Camera to make improvements and keep film photography a thriving art form.

I went to District camera on Saturday during a vendor event. I bought a Sigma lens. There was no sales tax but the stipulation was I could not take the lens with me that day. I had to ship it to my house. I was told it would ship on Monday and be to me by Tuesday . I called the store on Tuesday late afternoon after not hearing anything. Whoever helped me on the phone said that they needed to confirm that I paid for the lens with the manager before shipping the lens. I told him that I paid on Saturday, but he said he still needed to confirm. He said he would ship out that day and get to me by Wednesday. I got a notification from FedEx that the label was created later that day. On Wednesday afternoon I called again because it still just said label created on the FedEx website. I explained to the person that I spoke to that I would have liked to have the lens by now because I needed it for a trip, he said that it would get to me by Thursday the latest. Here I am Thursday night without the lens going on a trip that I wanted to take this specific lens. It’s frustrating because I could’ve bought the same lens for cheaper on Amazon even with these discounts and saved $40 and would have had the lens much faster. I recently move to Maryland and want to support the local business but this experience is frustrating. That being said, the store is nice. The event was filled with big brand vendors. I probably won’t be back to this location unless I really need to. Update The owner of the company reached out to me and apologized. Although it did not replace having this lens for my trip. I do understand the busy nature of the event and the strain on the business. My confusion was when an employee stated they needed to confirm that I paid days after I actually paid. Nonetheless, I do not like leaving negative reviews on small businesses. I did eventually receive my lens. It was packed very well. It works very well. The price was great. Again the store, the employees and the vendors were nice and helpful . I still probably won’t come back to the location because it is a pretty far drive/metro from me. I will probably visit their DC location .

I came from far about 1h and 30 minutes and Henry was very gracious to even stay past the closing time which was 7pm as we left around 5:30pm with traffic and He fixed the issue I had with the screw adapter for the tripod and I am very thankful.

I'm very grateful that they were able to remove a stuck lens adapter from my camera, which I've used in a variety of unique situations. Sometimes cameras have a priceless sentimental value. The folks at District Camera & Imaging - Arlington revived a Canon 5D MK3 that captured thousands of images on six different continents. I would highly recommend this place!

The employees are not helpful to non-professionals. I hoped to buy a camera here based on their recommendations. However, they were completely disinterested in helping me determine what camera and lens would be best for me. I left after a few minutes after being made to feel completely inferior. So I guess this place is good if you are a professional. If not, go somewhere else.

I’m grateful that District Camera's team were very professional, courteous, and responsive when I handed over my broken Sony camera. Yes, the shop's reply was after 2 months instead of 2 weeks as they advised earlier. It seems their repair shop has misplaced the camera and didn't update the system?!.. A wonderful follow up and apology call, and giving me a discount on the cost of fixing only because of this delay was the highlight of my experience with them.. Excellent customer's service in all means! Thank you.

Not much to say, they had what I needed and I bought it. There was someone there trying to rent a point-and-shoot. He said they didn’t rent point -and-shoot cameras. She said she would buy one. He showed her some (too expensive). He showed her a used Sony RX100 Mark 3 (excellent little camera) and it was still too expensive (I think her budget was disposable camera). To the sales person’s credit, he never lost patience, was helpful, and didn’t ask why she wasn’t using her phone. That was the excellent customer service.