Saturday 20 March 2010

Tripod

The Camera Shop
When I got home after I bought my camera, I discovered the camera shop's website was advertising my camera and lens kit for $128 less than what I paid.
Plus the memory card they gave me a 4Gb card when I paid for an 8Gb!

So I went back the next working day with all the camera stuff and I demanded the difference back or a full refund.

No dice.

They'll give me my memory card but not the difference because what I saw was their "Web only" price.
And they don't give refunds.

I was MEGA ZOOM LENS MAGNIFIED pissed off.  Their website doesn't even have an online shop facility and nowhere in the page did they have 'web only price' stated.  

I wasn't going to take their BS.  I told him to keep his 4Gb 'cause I'll see him in court!! (Small Claims Tribunal).

I was furious like a camera set to 20s blinking away ready to explode.  I was so angry I stormed out of the shop.
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Then I had to go back in the shop because I left my camera there.

Totally killed my angry exit.  Hehehehe.

Anyways, long story short, I wrote to the owner and he wrote back the same BS story about online shop price.  I don't believe anything they say, but I decided to stop pursuing this because I compared their list price with what they sold me and to them it looks like I walked away with $120 discount because they heavily discounted my memory card and camera bag.  It was going to be hard to fight this in court (Yes, I'm a pseudo-lawyer too!)

The camera shop is too expensive in the first place! I would have ended paying the same if I bought the camera from Myers.  I did get my 8Gb memory card in the end.


Photographers are Snobs


Yup.   I said it.

Photographers are snobs.    We'll....  a few of them anyways.

I've only been into photography a few weeks so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. But I'm picking up lots of snobbery in my reading of forums.

Its like someone would ask "Should I save my photos in RAW or JPG?" and some super duper photography expert would snarkly remark "You bought a high precision photographic equipment and you choose to throw away detail by saving in a lossy format? You're such a douche!"

Or something along those lines.

And its not just in the forums.  Some of the wedding photographers I've met are like super snobbish.  Its like you're always talking to their nose because they're always looking down on you.  I know of this wedding photographer who didn't talk to anyone except the bride and groom.  He completely refused all other picture requests unless the newly weds said so.

And then there was this other wedding photographer who told me off because I was taking a photo of her composition - Yup. My camera-phone was definitely going to reproduce your composition.  Sorry. But she could have at least been friendly about it!  Seriously, some of these guys need to take a chill pill!

Why all this snobbery?  Perhaps its the 'knowledge is power' thing and a lot of photographers get all high and mighty when it comes to their stuff.  You gotta do this - you gotta do that - because thats how I do it.  And there's an awful lot of super defensive photographers justifying their purchase! The Nikon Vs Canon rivalry is like Xbox Vs PS3 - so many fanbois!

The photographer is using Canon.  She obviously doesn't have a clue.

But I think I know what really fuels this snobbery.

Its the camera body and plastic which is like dark matter which turn normal people to evil snobs.

Because I too momentarily fell for the dark power!!

"Anh, look at all those people taking photos with their box cameras.  So stupid.  None of them can take good photos".

She looked at me and asked if I was alright.

With its big long black cylindrical lens, a digital SLR makes you feel.....   over confident.

:P

But really - like any hobby, there's a few who take it a bit too seriously and these are probably the ones who are spreading the hate.

We should just have the love.



Ebay Stuff
Ebay goodies

I went bananas buying accessories for my camera on eBay.  I was told to get a UV filter so that I don't get so much glare in my pictures and so that it protects the lens.  I got two lenses for $8 delivered!  I also got some cleaning stuff (Giotto blower and Lens pen) for $20 delivered.

But what I though was my biggest bargain was the biggest disappointment.  Nikon batteries retail for around $80+?  So I got really excited when I saw "Genuine" Nikon batteries for $28.

I got the battery two days ago and it looked real enough.  But with careful inspection I discovered its a fake!

I emailed the guy and told him his battery is fake because:
1) Doesn't have proper Nikon indentation on the hologram
2) The label is stuck on crookedly
3) Gap in the middle electrode.

Fake Nikon battery

And sure enough, he sent my money back 5 minutes later.  He gave me an extra $1 compensation but cancelled our transaction which prevented me from bad mouthing his ebay account.

Its no wonder I didn't find "fake" in his ebay feedbacks.

Knock-offs are so common in Asia, its the norm.  But I'm not kosher with fake batteries because they can really explode if not handled right.  You don't want the battery and camera exploding and taking out your eye or finger.

Thursday 11 March 2010

Art Films

We were just watching short films on Vimeo.

If you haven't been to this site, give it a go.  Its a video site like YouTube but a lot more.... mature?  Kinda like - if YouTube were MTV, then Vimeo would be a.......  Art gallery? Vimeo videos are a lot more serious, they can be very weird and bizarre but always very creative.  

The videos we saw were very thought provoking - so much that it's inspired me to write this short post!  Wow imagine that.

Anh asked me "how come you're watching videos from this site?"

I thought maybe because I'm getting old?   Maybe getting tired of the whole pop-culture, consumerism-commercialism, same-o-same-o.  Maybe I'm fancying baguettes over burgers and boutique over bubble tea.  
Maybe I'll look okay in turtle necks, eat free range chickens and discuss Francis Coppola films.

Then I switched back to YouTube and realised I'm not really turning turtleneck.  I just wanted to try something different that's all.

But what was funny was I discovered something about myself after watching this short film.

I learnt that, when watching movies with Anh - I'm actually concentrating quite a bit on predicting what happens next ONLY so I can quip "I knew that was going to happen!".  Maybe Anh will be impressed by this? I dunno.
  
I made this observation because I didn't  pick up how the camera and the notepad played a role in the short film.  I was too busy predicting how it was going to end!

Or maybe I just didn't get it (most probable).

But either way, my brain wasn't running this fast before I watched this film, so that must be a good thing.

Wednesday 3 March 2010

Marching on to Autumn


Autumn is here so bye bye to the Summer heat wave!

Amen to that brother!

I don't think I can handle another day walking around with armpit sweat patches!


Yes.  Grossness.

*****

Autumn means the start of the football season, which also means the time for my wedding is fast approaching!

I'm using the football season as my ruler because we're getting married same day as the football grand final.  I'm just hoping none of the west ozzy teams make it to the finals otherwise we're going to have some very unhappy guests!

Thankfully work for the wedding has been progressing along nicely.  I mean, we're doing as much as we can now but we know there'll be things that we'll have to leave until the end.  We're going to the Dusk Bridal Expo this Saturday followed by grand wedding in Hyatt.  I hope you're not too tired of wedding posts.

*****

Last Sunday, my family visited Anh's family to discuss our engagement tea ceremony.


Nothing like pork chop and broken rice to get the folks together.

Our parents talked about the tea ceremony, but also about random things like fishing, food and tradition.

I must say, I'm very glad both my parents and Anh's parents get along so well.  Family feuds are always unpleasant, so a good start in that department is a good sign.  Since both parents respect each other's traditions and customs I'm sure the engagement will run smoothly.

Plus us young ones will make sure its fun.  :)

****

Last Sunday Anh and I also invested on a new SLR camera!

*insert "wooooo" sounds*

It's very exciting!  It came with two lenses and it goes click click click when you press down on the button -  just like in the movies!!

And we got a sling bag with a compartment to put your wallet!

And its got lots of dials and numbers and stuff.

Its very heavy though.

Quite big too!

*ahem*

As you can see we're complete noobs when it comes to photography.

I was clicking away on Monday and the shots looked good in the viewfiender, but all the photos came out black!  :(

But thanks to YouTube photography tutorials, I'm picking up on photography lingo and techniques very, very quickly. Yey!

I'm actually off the training wheels (Auto Mode) and am adjusting my own shutter speeds and ISO settings!

*inser "wooooo" sounds*

Hopefully in the not-so-distant future, we can take colourful shots of random things which we can enlarge, frame and hang all over the house to make it bright and happy.