Prem Studio, Delhi - Review & Rating

They were good in the 80s, but they have no idea what is trendy these days. They will show you the same 3-4 locations, the same stupid running in slow motion shots and the same placards holding bride and grooms in their pre-wedding.

Go with other indie photographers as they understand you better. They are cheaper and much cooler. You will have an album that will be unique. Prem Studio is run by arrogant old people who will smooth talk you into paying a lot more for 90s stuff.

We hired Prem Studio for both sides. I saw their bad reviews but the person said they were left by a competitor and I believed them.

I was still a bit skeptic so asked them for price upfront. Their price is usually 3 times the other people but I thought may be they were equally good.

As soon as we paid them they started playing tricks with us. For our mehndi, on the day of the event they said it was not part of package. They wanted more money. They asked us to pay right before the function or they would not shoot the event.

They also asked us to pay for air fare for 12 of their employees. The funny part is that they came with us in train and only 6 people attended the event. They said it is their regular practice to charge for 12 people regardless of how many people travel.

They then finally claimed that the albums are not part of the package. We had to pay extra for albums.

Also, the work quality is really old and they have not updated to what is new in the world. Please hire someone younger who is passionate about their jobs more than the money involved is my recommendation for others.

We went with Prem Studio as we heard a good things from our relatives who live in India. However, their album and CD quality was good in 1980 and they have never taken time to upgrade it since then.

They asked us for 15,000 USD (about 10 Lacs rupees) for the entire package. We agreed to it as we expected great quality. However, they tried to extort more money from us by claiming that the package was only to shoot our Shagun and Shaadi. They charged us $4000 (about 250000 Rupees) extra for pre wedding shoot. If this was not enough they later claimed albums and CDs are charged extra. They asked us to pay $800 (about 50,000 rupees) for each Album we wanted and about $1500 (about 1,00,000 rupees) for the video CD.

This was outrageous and we had to twist their arm via some of our acquaintances and only then they gave us our albums and CDs within the package. They still took $4000 extra from us for pre wedding.

I would say stay away from them and if you have already hired them then have them write everything in writing. Umesh Sabarwal is the person who is a sweet talker. Don't even fall for his trap.

They are OK at best when it comes to quality. However, they charge three times more than what others charge you. They do not mind going at any length and stooping to the lowest level to extract more money than confirmed from you. I wish I had checked their reviews earlier and went with someone else for my wedding.

We hired Prem Studio to cover my wedding and other rituals such as Mehndi etc. He was hired to cover both bride side in Delhi and the wedding (destination) in Silvassa.

It was a nightmare working with them. They would keep our memories hostage to extort money from us and even though it has been over 7 months he has not given us all of the albums and no pictures at all. We do not have original videos either yet.

We had decided on a package before getting into business and he kept raising his prices. His team traveled in train with us to Silvassa and food and lodging was also provided by us at the same place where we stayed. Yet, he claimed he charges for airfare for his team. His own elder brother, who was also a part of Prem Studio, condemns his practices but even he could not talk senses to them anymore. He has taken about 2 lacs more from us yet he has not given us our pictures yet.

Once he was paid off, he asked for more money claiming that rituals are not part of it and had to be paid extra for those. So basically we paid him 2.5 Lacs for each day and then we paid him a few lacs for rituals on top of that.

We expected the work to be good, but it was not something you would not get from a semi-decent photographer who charges at least 3 times less than them and has a professional work ethic. You will have to get someone to check their English as they made at least 20 grammatical and spelling errors.

He charged us for 3 cameras yet when his team shot our venue they chose locations where lights blocked everything. You can barely see what is going on on stage. I wonder where were the other two cameras. Furthermore, the album proof that he sent us was really bad. It was as if someone pasted 20 pictures in a sequence on a template. When we complained about poor quality of design, he asked us to number the sheets with bad design and improvements that are needed. Why would I pay you if I had to do all that?

Finally, they have no hesitation in lying so watch what they say. All in all, I'd avoid these people at any cost.