Like many photographers in NYC, I purchase the majority of my equipment from Adorama. Hell, why shouldn’t I? It’s quite literally the largest photo supplier in NYC. Last weekend however I needed to rent a 70-200 F2.8L lens for a paparazzi style shoot and to my horror Adorama was closed… at 3pm… on a Friday… WTF.

After a short panic attack, I ran a quick search for equipment rental vendors nearby and found Calumet, my savior. Calumet is actually a well known supplier for photography equipment and have been around for quite some time now, I’ve just never had the pleasure of doing business with them. It only took 15 minutes for me to realize how awesome Calumet is.

1. Free customer parking lot in NYC… I always need to bring a buddy with me if I decide to drive to Adorama to sit in my car and stall until I finish my business

2. A+ customer service… Calumet is pretty small compared to Adorama’s epic three floor (or is it four?) store. Due to its size, the employees are a lot friendlier and handle their customers much quicker. I was so impressed with the customer service that I made a mental note to write this blog post as soon as I left the store

3. No ridiculous fees… my last memory of Adorama is arguing with customer service over a $90 late fee they were trying to charge me for returning a set of PocketWizards an hour late. I actually went out and stomached an impulsive $400 price tag to buy my own set of transmitters immediately after the ordeal just so I wouldn’t have to rent from them anymore. To my delight, Calumet gave me no problems whatsoever when I returned the 70-200 F2.8L lens an hour after the due date that was written on the receipt.

Calumet, it was love at first sight, the minute I saw the “free customer parking” sign on the front of your door. I’ll be back!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 1:08 am and is filed under Photographer's Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.