Lest we forget

Photography

The Declaration of Independence needs to be respected again.


John Trumbull. Declaration of Independence, with timely annotations.

First, we shoot all the lawyers …. then move on to the bums running California.

I’m off to take some snaps. Let’s hope the Pigs leave me alone this time. Just in case, I’ll take a fistful of used notes. Dollar notes.


Pigs. Leica M2, 35mm Summaron.

This Pig asked for my roll of film. I gave him an empty one. Pig.

Motto: Always carry a give-away roll of film or CF card on you.

Ink and paper supplies

Printing

For heavy users.

I have made, and continue to make, many large prints on the Hewlett Packard HP90 Designjet printer. While it’s being phased out it remains broadly available if you do a Google search, typically selling for under $900. If you have priced other fade-free ink jet wide carriage printers, then you will know this is a superb bargain. Add a small desktop footprint and print quality to die for – and it works perfectly with Mac’s Tiger and Leopard OS – and you have a tremendous bargain. After some thirty months of use I would buy another at the drop of a hat if needs dictated.

Printers, however, are increasingly marketed using the Gillette razor model – give away the printer and clean up on the supplies. While HP has no need to give away a non-mass market device like the DJ90, ink and paper still take their toll on the budget if you make a lot of prints.

When it comes to consumables I have long been a believer in using the manufacturer’s recommended products. There’s little point in saving a dollar or two on refilled ink cartridges if the risk is that your printer heads clog up or the inks fade with age. With paper, I have found that HP’s Premium Plus photo satin is superb and maintains its surface sheen when the print is dry mounted at ~190F (88C) in a press. Much warmer than that and the surface looks less pleasant. While rumor has it that HP’s paper is made by Hahnemuhle in Germany, there’s little incentive to use aftermarket papers when each involves a tedious profiling and test session. So I stick with what works for me and now that I have digital’s dynamic range limitations under control, why bother with anything else? One more example where consistency takes out a complex set of variables from the equation. A good thing.

Given the need to have a spare cartridge of each of the six colors used in the HP (the printer uses ink frugally but you can bet you will run out when you least expect it), I found myself about to place an order at my photo retailer of choice, B&H in NYC, the other day. Then, what with the newly found need for frugality dictated by America’s total absence of an energy policy, I recalled that someone had mentioned a Florida vendor named Atlex. A quick click and comparison (3 ink cartridges and 40 sheets of 18″ x 24″ paper – $252 delivered to CA) disclosed that Atlex’s price was some 18% less than B&H’s. Now I like B&H and they have never let me down but 18% is non trivial. Loyalty to my pocket book wins every time. Atlex – their site claims they have been at it for over 25 years – also stocks Epson and Canon printer supplies, all original maker labelled, so what’s not to like? And, unless you live in Florida, you will be doing your bit by starving the beast that is government as you no longer pay sales taxes to the organized crime bosses masquerading as state government.

This is an opportune time to remind users not to mess with roll paper. Even if you have a proper roll paper holder and built-in cutting knife like in the HP DesignJet, life is simply too short to mess with severely rolled up paper supplies – just try to dry mount a print which prefers to roll up. I have tried. It was hell. Use cut sheets.

The bad old days

Photography

Things have never been better.

A fellow old car enthusiast dropped by the other day to take a look at some of my latest snaps and to choose a couple for display on his garage wall.

The selection process was a lot of fun and we spooled off a couple of 18″ x 24″ prints while we chatted. Conversation naturally centered around vintage racers and when my friend mentioned a certain old Bugatti it was a moment’s work in Lightroom to pull up the relevant snap in Lightroom and …. well, we must both confess to disappointment. It’s not that there was anything wrong with the definition of the older picture, taken 5 years ago, it’s that it was taken on film and it looked perfectly horrible on the big screen.

Here’s the two week old digital snap:

And here is a section that would make a 50″ wide print:

Now this is the older snap taken on film:

And a like section:

In neither case was the gear used in any way less than the best. The digital picture was on a 5D with the 100mm Canon Macro lens – maybe their sharpest. The film version was on a perfectly tuned Leica M3 with the greatest 90mm lens ever made – the Leica Apo-Summicron M. If you have used it there’s no need for further explanation. If not, trust me on this one. The scan was on a Nikon 8000 Colorscan film scanner.

So even on a small computer screen it’s clear that film cannot hold up at this size – grain beats down definition.

But wait for it – the 5D was set at 320 ISO whereas the film original was 100 ASA/ISO, making the comparison that much more damning for film.

Standards have changed and there’s simply no beating an A/B comparison – no memory, no imagination, just the facts. And there’s no denying digital’s superiority, assuming you know how to properly expose and process, once you have seen nice big prints from the 5D’s full frame sensor.

Great news from Nikon

Cameras

Finally an eyeball-to-eyeball competitor for the 5D.

Nikon has announced a full frame DSLR, the D700, priced at $3,000.

Like the 5D, this model drops the extra battery grip and bazzillion frames per second feature for realistic specifications that will work for all amateurs and all but sports-oriented pros.

It will not be lost on Canon that the D700 has sensor dust removal – the only gripe I have with the 5D. Oh! and a better LCD screen. And a built-in flash.

Will I upgrade to 5D Mark II which will have like specifications? Naaah. I would rather keep using the sensor cleaner and save the $1,500 the upgrade would run me.

Now let’s hope that the forthcoming full frame Sony DSLR (probably with the same sensor they sell to Nikon for their D3/D700 models) will drop the price to $2,000.

How (not) to sell your gear

Hall of Shame

Vive La France!

Unless you are a collector, it’s a solid practice to check that closet full of photo gear annually and sell anything untouched since you last looked. That especially applies to film gear which will very shortly become a genre for collectors only, as there will be no more film. Dump it now!

The very worst place to sell anything is eBay. You are selling to an ethically challenged audience though an auctioneer who disclaims any liability for anything. eBay is like the gun dealer who holds himself innocent because, after all, he did not pull the trigger. (Please, no lectures on the Second Amendment – any modern, civil society which permits handgun ownership is anything but a civil society).

Mercifully the French (no way the US tort-owned legal system would ever do this) have seen through this little game, as the WSJ reported yesterday:

In the US there are many amateur photo oriented sites which cater to classified ads, and you will not have to pay 15% in fees to eBay/PayPal in the process. My experience with these has been consistently good. They include:

  • Fredmiranda.com – if you can ever get them to actually post your ad. Lots of Canon DSLR gear, much of it higher end
  • Photo.net – some of the dumbest chat boards ever (Nikon v Canon garbage predominates), but sales are easy
  • Your local Craigslist.com – cheap (free!) and easy, but less photo oriented, obviously
  • Rff.com – mostly Leica and RF gear

Doubtless there are many others. Sure, they don’t offer fraud insurance but, then again, ask yourself why eBay feels the need to offer this.

A couple of years back when I sold all my film gear (phew! prices have crashed since) I did much of that on eBay because that’s all there really was. The alternatives did not have sufficient followings to constitute a broad market opportunity. That is changing.

In the meanwhile, if you must list on eBay, here are some of the steps I took to avoid being trapped by the ethically challenged:

  • No sales to foreigners – yes, that includes Canadians and the UK. (To make Canadians and Englishmen feel better, the same rule applies at your end). Dispute resolution is doubly difficult, multiple legal systems come in to play and you really want to do all those custom forms and constantly be asked to under-declare value, making you a felon? Eastern Europe? Don’t make me laugh. That’s where you go for illicit anything. Stick with the US and forget AK and HI where you will always lose money on fixed postage estimates. The US contains 100 million of the world’s most affluent consumers. What’s not to like?
  • Mail all packages UPS insured and make it clear in your ad that any damage in transit is the buyer’s responsibility and that the buyer must file the insurance claim with UPS. UPS makes this optional and you do not want to be the one filing the claim.
  • Overpack. Bubble wrap is cheap. “It arrived damaged” is Scam #1.
  • Keep and provide UPS tracking information – “I never received it” is Scam #2.
  • When listing make an extra effort to take the highest quality pictures and be fastidious about illustrating any dings, defects, etc. “You didn’t tell me about the ding, etc.” is Scam #3.
  • No returns. Ever. You want to loan your gear to a crook? “I need to return it” is Scam #4, and means the buyer got remorse (the spouse found out, likely as not) or used the camera for the weekend wedding and now wants his money back.
  • Don’t list for $1 hoping for the best. Set a realistic minimum selling price, make the listing for 7 days and make sure it ends on a Sunday afternoon. That’s when most buyers have time to look at their computers, which enhances the possibilities of a last minute bidding war. You will get fewer bids, but then an opening bid of $1 is not a bid (unless you are really unlucky and it sells for that!). Multiple bids do not correlate with the best selling price. One good one will do. Still, if you like excitement, list at $1 and keep your fingers crossed. You will not do as well as I will.
  • Don’t use price reserves. Would you bid on something whose price is unknown? Plus, reserves cost extra. Use minimum selling prices as described above.
  • Be realistic about setting a minimum bid price. I generally look at completed auctions (active listings are useless as the price is not known), check a few other sites and set the starting price at 80% of the expected selling price. My failure rate (meaning no sale) was 5% using this approach, based on 40 listings.
  • If selling a camera or lens, include some snaps taken with the gear. That says you are a user, not a clueless dealer, and sincere about the function of the equipment.
  • Don’t waste money on listing enhancements like bold face and color. Educated buyers search by description, not listing appearance.
  • If you start your listing at 80%, add a ‘Buy It Now’ option at 110%. This will attract buyers who really want your item and do not want the bidding war risk. Fully 40% of my auctions sold for the ‘Buy It Now’ price, generally within 24 hours of listing.
  • Forget about making a killing. Price discovery in the market for used cameras is perfect, unless you are selling Oscar Barnack’s original Leica, in which case you need to use the higher class crooks at Sotheby’s and Christies.
  • Don’t ever leave bad feedback. You will get in a time wasting argument and do nothing for your sale prospects down the road (because I guarantee that you will get retaliatory bad feedback, and good luck trying to get eBay to remove it), even if you were right. Saying nothing and swallowing your pride is the path to success here. Though, come to think of it, I just checked today and guess what?

    So now, even if your buyer assaults you, he remains a good guy. Great system, huh?

  • If you have high value outfits, it generally makes better sense to sell them piecemeal (body, lens, etc.) than as a kit. You will get better aggregate proceeds. Kits attract what I call the ‘kit discount’. Easier to sell as a kit, sure, but it’s your money.
  • I sold some 40 items over one year and it took a while to learn the above. Since then the only complaint I have is the egregious fees charged by eBay and PayPal (which is owned by, you guessed it, eBay. Based on prior fines, PayPal is the place to launder your illicit drug proceeds – it’s nothing more than a poorly regulated bank, though in the US I suppose ‘poorly’ is axiomatic when it comes to the methadone cases who are bank regulators here).

In summary, if you start with the premise that you will be cheated and follow the steps above you will greatly mitigate the risks. Above all, be scrupulously honest in your listing.

Here’s an extract from my recent listing which applies the above rules:

No problem. The camera was as described, the buyer honest.

If you know a little HTML you can have hyperlinks to your detailed slideshow at your ISP – as above – avoiding eBay’s additional fees and securing a better presentation in the process. The pictures also serve as a perfect record in the event a fraudster alleges damage or other non-existent faults.

Now here’s the one for the lens:

Note the use of a free lens hood teaser if the buyer elects ‘Buy It Now’. The buyer of that one left me perfect feedback ….

…. then filed a claim with UPS alleging the goods were damaged. UPS paid him $300 and he got to keep the lens – see what I mean?

But, best of all, if you have fake gear to sell, list it on eBay because the US legal system will never do anything about it. And then you will be just another typical eBay seller.

And meanwhile, eBay and PayPal, I am pleased to add you to the Hall of Shame – a destination at which you arrived years ago.