My Review of Camera LC4 Lens Case in Black

Here is a copy of the review I made of my new lens bag from CSN.  I must say that it is very easily the best lens bag I now own.  I'm often frustrated by Canon not including a bag or just giving a cheap pouch.  Olympus usually gives a nice lens bag with their lenses, but this one is nicer than even those.  I'll be ordering more.

We went for a photo walk today.  I only brought my Olympus OM-4t and 28mm f2.8 lens.  I also had this lens bag with a 50mm f1.8 in it and one extra roll of film.  The lens bag was over my shoulder with the included long strap.  It is a fine strap in length, but could maybe use more thickness.  The nice thing about travelling like this though was having absolutely no weight on me at all.

We had some interesting times on the photo walk today, I'll be sure to blog about them soon.


Originally submitted at CSN Stores

Features:

• Constructed of 420d nylon velocity
• Dual density air-hex foam liner
• Mesh accessories pocket under the lid
• Two separate interior padded spacers
• Reinforced belt and pack attachment system
• Four hypalon attachm...

Camera LC4 Lens Case in Black

Sturdy Well Built Lens Case

By Photography Ramblings from Nanaimo, BC Canada on 11/28/2010

5out of 5

Pros: Good Protection, Durable, Well constructed
Cons: Uncomfortable Strap
Best Uses: Storage, Daily Transport, Travel
Describe Yourself: Pro Photographer
Was this a gift?: Yes

A very well built lens case. It offers excellent padding and protection and is sturdy. The strap isn't the most comfortable, but it works well. This is a much better bag that you might get included with most lens purchases and is now the best lens bag I own.

(legalese)

Customer Service Tips I Learned From Smugmug

Taken by Jackson, my Godson, he's 5, he used my little Olympus 850SW point and shoot

So about a year or so ago I ordered a large Float Mounted Metal print from Smugmug (Bay Photo) for a customer.  When it arrived it was damaged in shipping and the top corner was bent over.  I considered trying to straighten it myself but worried about wrecking it.  So I contacted Smugmug customer service and they asked for a photo of the damage and promptly shipped me a replacement.  Another time a 10x20 inch print arrived with the top corner bent over.  A replacement was promptly sent, and again it was the fault of the post office, not Smugmug or Bay Photo.  Recently one of our customers ordered a print and cropped out the Bride and Groom in the photo by leaving the default cropping on without adjusting it.  We did not have proofing turned on (now we do) for our wedding galleries.  I contacted Smugmug and asked if they could stop the printer but it had already printed.  They replaced it though for nothing (it was a 5x7 photo).  Now they didn't have to do that.  It wasn't their fault.  And I took this awesome customer service to my own company as an example.

So we had been working on a big video project for a customer over the past month.  When it was done I presented it to them and they loved it.  As it turned out though the fact sheet they sent us for voiceover content had an error so a detail had to be changed.  No problem, I changed it.  Thing is that there were a total of four different changes, all coming at me not at the same time, none my fault.  In the end they also added a slight theme change.  I accommodated the first three changes, having been inspired by Smugmug and how awesome I feel when they support me and my customers.  The fourth though I couldn't do.  I felt that the fellow that does my voiceovers (thanks Ryan) deserved to be paid for his time even if I was willing to take it on the chin.  So I charged the customer for the revision of the voiceover.  Now I'm out several hours work on this project making up for customer mistakes, but I'm happy that they will be happy.  I'm proud of the project and I've learned some things unique to video to put in my toolkit for next time.  Namely the contract needs to spell out costs for changes by the customer and I need to have an approval form signed with the final script.  All that being said, I know (hope that) the customer will feel I went above and beyond and will love us for it.

Taken with 5D mkII and 50mm f1.4 lens

ISO 100 F8.0 1/160 second

I couldn't decide which way to go with a recent photo.  Doesn't it happen to us all?  So I processed it two different ways to suit my divided mood for the evening.  We are pretty much caught up on all our work right now with about a two week gap until our next wedding.  It feels good, and we will be finally finishing off our studio setup this week so expect a video and photo tour soon.


Taken with 5D mkII and 50mm f1.4 lens
ISO 100 F8.0 1/160 second

I think I like the second one better, but I'm undecided.

Lastly, I received my lens bag from CSN on Friday that I'm meant to review for the blog.  I was surprised about the quality of the bag.  Honestly I thought it would be an inexpensive lens case, but my first impression is that it is the best built lens bag I now own.  I'll be taking it out tomorrow on a shoot, but if first thoughts mean anything then this is a great peace of protective equipment.

A Shadow Falls & We Get New Insurance

We had the opportunity to work with a great young model last week for our third time.  Kendra is a super good person, and for someone so young, is very ambitious, polite and motivated with career goals.  Anyway, it was also significant to us because it was our first shoot in our new studio.  Our background is just a wall with primer on it (no background supports there yet) and we only have one large light stand in the place (the others are our small portable ones) but we made it work.  It helped to have a makeup artist, hair stylist and Kendra's mom there (a super organized person).  The studio is still incomplete, largely because we are busy with work right now which is a good thing.  Our last job of 2010 is booked on December 18th (wedding) so we are looking forward to a small break to start 2011 where we can really get the place fully functional.

One of the steps we finally took today was getting our insurance finalized.  We recently both joined the PPOCBC (Professional Photographers of Canada, BC chapter) as members which gave us a discount on insurance as well as access to a pretty cool accreditation process.  The business of insurance though left me feeling rather mistreated as a consumer.  We originally went to see a broker recommended to us as the local rep for PPOCBC insurance.  When I met with her I found her to be a little brash and bullish.  It didn't bother me as I wanted to get a second quote from another broker.  What I didn't realize (and maybe this just happens in Canada) is that the original broker went and got quotes from every insurance company out there for us, in the guise of getting us the best price.  Well I guess there is some sort of insurance policy that another broker can't get a competing quote from an insurance company if one has already been sought by another broker.  So the other broker pretty much brushed me off even though he initially came at me with a lower price estimate.  I was pretty choked.  We are pretty much being forced to go with the original broker.  In a country like Canada I'd expect there to be laws around what is essentially a monopoly for business insurance.  The plan is to ride out our first year and then get a new quote next year from a different broker.  I'd love to hear experiences from others on this from Canada and other countries.

So when I arrived home today there was a box from Amazon on my front step.  Aside from my latest zombie trash novel, there was this gorgeous coffee table book called "A Shadow Falls" by Nick Brandt.  I had found out about Brandt's photography from an online forum about a year ago and thought I might enjoy one of his books.  Normally I'm not a big fan of wildlife photography.  I have seen a lot of really great bear, zebra and monkey photos in my life but even the great ones all start to look the same.  What they are missing for me is the personality and individuality of a portrait, which is why I so very much enjoy 'people' photography.  They are also missing the art of photography for the most part as I find wildlife photographers, like journalists, are often strict about not editing or changing the true to life presentation of their images.  I can't argue with that as I understand the reasoning, but for me, the art of post processing or printing is a big part of what I personally enjoy about photography.

Nick Brandt uses a medium format camera and from what I understand he will stay for hours, days and even weeks in the same place so that the animals get used to him and then take portraits of these amazing wild creatures.  I don't use the term 'portraits' lightly either.  It appears as if he gets elephants, lions and zebras to just sit and pose for him.  Then his printing and developing (I believe he uses film) is just amazing.  The dodging and burning and treatments are all luxurious in such a way that when I was flipping through the book for the first time my wife, daughter and I were all gasping with each new image.  You can see Nick's work online, but if you ever get the chance to see one of his prints, or books please do so.  This huge, high quality coffee table book is a must own.  It will be something I treasure for many many years.

Lens Bag Review Coming

I know I just blogged a few hours ago, but I just heard again from CSN stores, the friendly folks that gave away a lens bag to one of the readers here a month or so ago.  This time we are going to do a review, where they send me one of their lens bags to review myself.  The thing about CSN is that they have pretty much everything on the planet for sale from bar stools, to kids shoes to sling backpacks.  For us camera geeks you can find a lot of camera accessories including bags, cases, tripods.  I tried to get them to let me review this really cool camera they have on there that is a digital version of the old Rolleiflex cameras but understandably they don't know me well enough to send a $450 camera to a stranger.  But I will be getting one of those lens bags we gave away and reviewing it.  If you are like me you have several lenses without lens bags that need a home.  After switching to Canon I've become used to them not including lens hoods and bags (Olympus I miss your awesomeness sometimes), so I'm going to find a bag that fits my new 85mm f1.8 Canon lens (and separately purchased lens hood) that I have been enjoying.  I'll let you know how much I like it.

From Still to Motion, A Review

Well, life hasn't slowed down for us at all with the wedding season being over.  In fact I feel busier than ever.  Our studio is finally nearly done, in fact we did our first shoot there today despite it not being complete.  I have to say it was a blast to have our own creative space.  We had a wonderful hairstylist and makeup artist there as well which was a treat.

Over the past week or two we have been very busy gathering video clips for a project we have been hired for.  Recording video and audio is very time consuming and editing isn't much faster.  Similar to when I photographed my first wedding, I am over-shooting in the hopes of getting enough quality footage.  We have also been learning the ropes of audio recording and using a Steadicam.  One big resource and help for me has been a book I recently purchased called 'From Still to Motion; A Photographer's Guide to Creating Video with your DSLR."

I decided to purchase the book as I wanted to learn to capture video over the winter in my supposed quiet season.  Turns out I needed it sooner than I thought and it is sink or swim time.  We have been using our Canon 7D and Canon 5D mk II for the footage as well as our recently purchased Steadytracker Ultralite and Rode Microphone.

The book itself is very thorough.   It comes with a DVD of footage and lessons that can be viewed on your computer as a reference for the book.  The book itself breaks down video gear, terminology, composition and storytelling techniques, lighting, audio, media management, video and audio editing as well as techniques like time lapse and stop motion video.  There is a lot of detail in the book and on the DVD.  So much so that pretty much any question you might have is readily available to be answered within the pages.

The language is simple and easy to understand, probably because the book was written with photographers using DSLR's as its intended audience.  Surprisingly their photography inside the book is less than inspiring, you can tell these are video guys, but the content is fantastic.  If you are a photographer considering adding video to your toolbox of skills, then this is one handy reference.  I know that by the end of next week, my copy will be well worked over and dog-eared.

We have several projects we are trying to get out the door over the next few days, but once we are caught up I'd like to blog about out studio set-up experiences and lessons.  Thanks for sticking with me during my infrequent posts lately, I promise they will pick up soon!