About us
“Serving Photographers in Devon since 1957”
Reasons to shop at D.C.C.
As the West Country’s leading independent photographic retailer, we have been in this family owned business for over 50 years.
We have served a lot of good customers in that time and like to think that the reason that our clients keep coming back is for the best of reasons – they like us.
Our retailing policy is simple – we want people to go away happy knowing that they will think about us when they want to update their equipment. It’s as simple as that.
It’s a “cyclic” approach to business; What goes around, comes around.
We aim to stock the very latest in digital camera equipment. We are a totally independent, locally run family business and have been dealing with genuine UK stock from Manufacturers such as Canon, FUJIFILM, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax and Sony in some cases for almost fifty years.
We don’t just stock digital cameras though we also sell all the accessories: batteries, digital media (memory cards), filters, flashguns, gadget bags and tripods.
We offer an excellent quality and locally renowned in store digital printing service alongside traditional 35mm film processing.
Web exclusive price
We have always aimed to offer competitive pricing both In-store and Online.
Some of the prices on our Web site are exclusive to Web purchases only. We also have these goods available in store where we offer demonstration facilities and free of charge printing if necessary for testing the equipment.
The In-store price may differ from the Online price and reflects the increased cost of offering demonstration facilities within a bricks & mortar retailing environment which of course attracts much higher overheads such as shop rental, business rates and of course qualified staff.
Company History
Devon Camera Centre was established, as a specialist photographic supplier, in Princesshay, Exeter in 1957.
The business was founded by two ex MOD photographic staff. Their intimate knowledge of more technical aspects attracted interest from local authorities. Establishments such as The Devon & Cornwall Constabulary and Exeter University required specialist knowledge and equipment and Devon Camera Centre offered the solution. Business with these authorities and others such as Plymouth University and Devon County Council still remains a backbone to the retail outlets.
In 1990, the Exeter shop shifted to larger premises within Princesshay. This move permitted the installation of the innovative Kodak “Create-a-print”. A machine, that “wowed shoppers”!
Imagine being able to present a negative for an instant, (15 minutes) 10” x 8” enlargement!!
This Hi-tech and very expensive wizardry complimented the advances in domestic photography.
Canon, Minolta, Olympus and Pentax were toe-to-toe in advancing the auto-focus phenomena whilst Kodak seemed determined to bestow the world with DISC and later APS film to ease photography.
Developing & printing film was big business and Devon Camera Centre had their fare share of photo finishing partners including Colour Care, Kodak and Topfoto.
Devon Camera Centre added a second store in the sea side town of Exmouth in 1979 offering a similar stock level and knowledge base.
After trading within the Princesshay development for almost 50 years, Devon Camera Centre has moved its Exeter premises to a more central location. This timely move coincided well with the current redevelopment of Princesshay.
Devon Camera Centre is now conveniently positioned within the Guildhall Shopping Centre; from where we have been successfully trading through the store and online for approximately 5 years.
We have installed digital printing facilities in both our branches to ensure our customers gain access to the very latest, touch screen printing facilities.
Our core business remains with SLR and compact cameras, but disappearing are the days of film with more than 90% of our customers choosing the digital format.
We are proud of our heritage and our staff. We pride ourselves on our knowledge and service.
