Since my newly-found interest in photography started last April or so, I had used eBay to buy several things for my camera collection. Most of those purchases went just fine, the items were exactly as described, they were shipped quickly and the sellers seem to be honest people. Even in one case where there was a problem with a camera (a Nikon F4) the seller was honest enough to cover my expenses to locally repair the camera. I also used eBay to sell some items too, again without any issues.
There was one case though which really proved to me the deficiencies in eBay's operations and rules. A little while ago, I purchased a second Nikon SB-800 speedlight. The price was OK, and the seller was willing to ship to Greece (where I live, he was in UK). He told me that he would ship the light with Parcel Force, for which I should pay 25 GBP, to which I agreed, since Parcel Force meant that the item would be in my hands sooner and hopefully safer.
As always, I paid the seller immediately and was waiting for him to send me the Parcel Force tracking number. After a week had passed with no information about the shipping of this item, I contacted him to ask what's happening. No reply. Two or three more messages were sent, before I reported this to eBay and to Paypal. Eventually the seller answered saying that he had some personal issues with a very sick ex-wife and having to take care of his two kids etc. His attitude was not apologetic at all, instead it appeared that I was over-pushing him. More than 15 days have passed since the day I paid for the item. Now usually, I am a very understanding person, so I asked him when he planned to ship my flash. He said he would do it the next day.
Indeed, next day I received an email with a tracking number, but that was no Parcel Force tracking number, my flash was shipped with Royal Mail International Signed-for. Of course, the cost to the seller, for this service was almost half of what I had paid him for the shipment.
Now, I am not the person who would make a whole fuss about 12 GBP (about 16 US$) but when the flash arrived, it was not what it was shown in his auction page. The picture used in the auction page was a generic picture of the SB-800 and not the item sold. There were some items missing from the item I received compared to the item shown in the auction page. I updated my complaint with eBay and Paypal, explaining the issue. However, it seems that the only alternative I had left (according to Paypal and eBay rules) was to send the item back (at my expense) and get a refund. In other words, I had originally paid 243 GBP for the flash and the shipping, I would have to pay another 12 GBP to send it back, to get a refund of 218 GBP which was the item cost. How logical does that sound? And the flash was working OK, why should I spend more money to send it back?
In this particular case, neither eBay nor Paypal were willing to do anything to refund me the additional money I was charged for the shipping, let alone a refund for the missing items (a cover for the external power plug of the flash). Their suggestion was to solve the problem by amicably discussing the issue with the seller, who was not answering my messages.
So in this particular case, it is evident that eBay can't help you much, if you fall victim to a fraudulent seller. What I suggest to do in such cases? I wish I knew what you can do about such an issue. All I did personally, was to leave a very negative feedback for this seller and call it a day.
Any other ideas are welcome.
So, what's my overall opinion about eBay? Will I used them again for things I want to buy?
I think I will, my overall experience with eBay and the sellers in it (eBay UK) is quite positive. However, I will make sure that the seller's feedback is always above 98%, if not 100%. And I'll make sure I ask for a full description of the sold item, before I commit my money to buying it.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Do you ever finalize your pictures?
The digital era has brought a lot of new and convenient features in our picture-taking and processing methods, which allow us photographers to do things we never thought possible in the past. Being a newcomer to "digital photography" (in the sense that until a little while ago, I never altered my digital pictures in the computer), I am amazed by the ways you can improve your images these days, after they are shot.
Some clarifications are in order: I started shooting pictures at the age of 17. My first camera was a Russian "Zenith B" which was soon replaced (thanks to Dad and Mom) by a Nikon F2 Photomic. I kept shooting pictures until about 10 years ago, when during a trip to Hawawii, I got tired of lugging around a bag with two camera bodies, 4 lenses and the associated paraphernalia and sold all my film gear. I replaced them with a Sony point-and-shoot camera and became a ... "Japanese tourist", shooting only family photos. I did upload them and stored them in a computer, but that was all I did to them.
That was until about eight months ago when some friends from my internet sites, showed me some pictures of my old love, the Nikon F2. That reignited the flame. Very soon, I was heavily into cameras and lenses again, and started taking pictures the way I did when I was in my twenties.
Of course, the digital aspects of contemporary photography were not ignored and I got interested in image processing, filing etc. I knew Photoshop from the past, and I knew it was rather difficult to learn, so I never gave it a shot. When I was using Windows computers, my favorite image editing program was Paint Shop, but that was not a photographer's tool. Since I had switched to Macs last January, I tried to find out what programs were there for post-shooting processing of digital images. I soon got an evaluation version of Apple Aperture, which I found very intuitive and powerful. So I stick with it for my picture processing needs.
Now, I have all my pictures stored in my Mac (even my slides, thanks to a Plustek film scanner I got) and organized. And of course, I used Aperture's capabilities to edit some of these pictures, to improve them. As you probably know, Aperture editing is non-destructive. In other words, your editing never affects your original image, unless you want to. So far, I never finalize my pictures, in the sense that I never save copies of my edited pictures in TIFF or any other format. My edits are saved in Aperture library and my initial raw files are saved as shot. In that way, if I later change my mind about some edit I've done (too much contrast, or too underexposed, or too much vibrancy etc), I can always change the edits to something I like more.
While I very seldom change my mind and re-edit my pictures, I read somewhere that a well-respected photographer finalizes his images, by producing PDF files of his pictures, and stores those PDFs for archiving purposes. The reason he used PDF files is not important at this moment. While it is not important if you finalize your images by creating TIFF files, or PDF files, or whatever, the question is:
Do you guys finalize your images?
And if you do, why?
Or do you create "final images" but also keep the raw files in case you decide to do some different editing in the future?
I can understand that professional photographers, who sell their images to customers, want to have the ability to print the same image again and again. So a PDF file which includes both the image and the printing formatting instructions is something very convenient for a pro, but for amateur use, is there any reason why you should finalize your images?
Some clarifications are in order: I started shooting pictures at the age of 17. My first camera was a Russian "Zenith B" which was soon replaced (thanks to Dad and Mom) by a Nikon F2 Photomic. I kept shooting pictures until about 10 years ago, when during a trip to Hawawii, I got tired of lugging around a bag with two camera bodies, 4 lenses and the associated paraphernalia and sold all my film gear. I replaced them with a Sony point-and-shoot camera and became a ... "Japanese tourist", shooting only family photos. I did upload them and stored them in a computer, but that was all I did to them.
That was until about eight months ago when some friends from my internet sites, showed me some pictures of my old love, the Nikon F2. That reignited the flame. Very soon, I was heavily into cameras and lenses again, and started taking pictures the way I did when I was in my twenties.
Of course, the digital aspects of contemporary photography were not ignored and I got interested in image processing, filing etc. I knew Photoshop from the past, and I knew it was rather difficult to learn, so I never gave it a shot. When I was using Windows computers, my favorite image editing program was Paint Shop, but that was not a photographer's tool. Since I had switched to Macs last January, I tried to find out what programs were there for post-shooting processing of digital images. I soon got an evaluation version of Apple Aperture, which I found very intuitive and powerful. So I stick with it for my picture processing needs.
Now, I have all my pictures stored in my Mac (even my slides, thanks to a Plustek film scanner I got) and organized. And of course, I used Aperture's capabilities to edit some of these pictures, to improve them. As you probably know, Aperture editing is non-destructive. In other words, your editing never affects your original image, unless you want to. So far, I never finalize my pictures, in the sense that I never save copies of my edited pictures in TIFF or any other format. My edits are saved in Aperture library and my initial raw files are saved as shot. In that way, if I later change my mind about some edit I've done (too much contrast, or too underexposed, or too much vibrancy etc), I can always change the edits to something I like more.
While I very seldom change my mind and re-edit my pictures, I read somewhere that a well-respected photographer finalizes his images, by producing PDF files of his pictures, and stores those PDFs for archiving purposes. The reason he used PDF files is not important at this moment. While it is not important if you finalize your images by creating TIFF files, or PDF files, or whatever, the question is:
Do you guys finalize your images?
And if you do, why?
Or do you create "final images" but also keep the raw files in case you decide to do some different editing in the future?
I can understand that professional photographers, who sell their images to customers, want to have the ability to print the same image again and again. So a PDF file which includes both the image and the printing formatting instructions is something very convenient for a pro, but for amateur use, is there any reason why you should finalize your images?
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Computers and cameras blog
This blog was created very spontaneously, after some very frustrated attempts to contact Apple customer service about an upgrade I wanted to buy. This incident followed another similar incident a few days ago, when I had to pay $45 to have the local Nikon representative fix me a Nikon camera I bought and which was supposed to be under warranty.
So you can say that this blog is the result of frustration. Or maybe it is the result of common sense, which seems to be lacking from companies and individuals lately. Let me try and explain to you readers, what I mean.
A couple of weeks ago, I was in Las Vegas NV, for a show I attend every year. Of course my wife had asked me to bring her back some presents, and of course I had to visit the nearest mall (The Fashion Show Mall, on Las Vegas Blvd) to get her things. And naturally I didn't miss the chance to visit the Apple Store in that mall, from which I purchased an Apple Might Mouse, two iPod Touch's for my twins and Apple Aperture, a professional software for managing, editing and organizing pictures. Overall, I can say I spend over $650 in that store.
While I was in LV, I also purchased a camera, from Adorama. It was a Nikon D40X camera, refurbished by Nikon. I was told that refurbished equipment are covered by Nikon's warranty for 90 days. I also asked some friends if I should buy a refurbished camera and all their opinions were "by all means, that equipment has been back once, they want to make it nice and push it out the door in excellent shape, so that it is off their back" or something to that extend. I did try the camera out taking a few pictures inside my hotel room and outside my window, but nothing serious, since I had my Nikon D700 with me and I was using that camera for my job, so I just snap some shots to verify that the camera was working OK, which it did.
Of course, since I had Adorama ship me the Nikon D40X camera, I thought it would be a good idea to add another small point-and-shoot camera in the box, so I bought myself a Canon PowerShot S90.
When I returned back home (I live in Athens, Greece), I installed the software in my iMac computer and started using it to organize my pictures. Due to my week-long abscence there was a lot of catching up I had to do, so it was a few days before I got to try out my new toys.
And here is where the fun begins. As soon as I took the first pictures with the D40X I could see that there was something wrong. The white balance was way off, especially in direct sun light, where everything was showing up ... green.
That was the beginning of my frustration. I started investigating Nikon warranty policies, only to find out that if I wanted my camera repaired, I had to return it to US. Come again? There is a Nikon representative in Greece, why should I return it to US? Ahhhh because Nikon has some strange policies, which separate this world into regions. If you buy your Nikon camera in one region and need to have it repaired in another region, well, then your camera is a "grey market" camera according to Nikon, and they won't touch it. The Nikon warranty is not "worldwide", it's regional. US, Europe, Asia, etc.
So, let's see what we got here: we got a camera that has been refurbished by Nikon USA, who eventually didn't refurbish it very well, and who wanted me to pay $150 to have it sent to US, so they have a second go at fixing it, while at the same time the local Nikon rep can fix the camera for much less, but they can't do it because the camera is considered to be a "grey market item". So is Nikon stupid or what? We keep hearing that the world is now a large market, and there sure are examples about that. But it appears that Nikon likes to play games with its customers, by segmenting the world market to regional ones. Interesting marketing approach.
Luckily, the local rep is much more intelligent than the mother company. They took my camera in, had it fixed in less than a week, and charged me 40€ for that, a very reasonable price, if you ask me. So all is well, when it ends well? As far as the D40X is concerned yes, but why should I have to pay for the repair? Why isn't Nikon warranty international. What if I go for vacation to US and the Nikon I have with me fails? Why is it so irrational to expect Nikon US to fix it for me, either under warranty or with payment?
Nikon is not alone in embracing stupid business practices.
Take Apple for example. Remember that Apple software I bought from Apple Store in Las Vegas? Guess what? It didn't recognize the images that my new Canon S90 produces. To be more precise, it doesn't recognize the raw image files that the S90 produces. Well, that is an issue, but it was nobody's fault but mine, I should have checked the specs of Aperture to make sure it supported that camera, before I put down my $200 for it. Or I should have bought a different camera.
Being a software tech guy, after some research I found a way to "persuade" Aperture to recognize the CR2 files that S90 produces, and I was a happy camper. Until next day, when I saw Apple's announcement of the new version of Aperture, which included support of the S90, plus about 200 new features. Since I had decided to stick with Aperture for editing, managing and organizing my pictures (I am perfectly happy with Aperture as a program), and since I wanted to have the new version, I decided to upgrade my software right then and there. It should have been something simple right? After all, Apple is supposed to be at the forefront of technology, so there should be a way to do such things on-line, right? Not so fast though, not so fast.
First of all, most software companies, when they announce a new version of their products, they allow those who bought the previous version a few days before, to upgrade for free. Not Apple though. Apple wants $100 for Aperture upgrade, even if you bought it the day before the new version was announced. You have to pay $100 for the upgrade. OK, I could live with that, $100 is not a big sum, so where do I get to download the upgrade??
I went through the various ordering pages in Apple Store, only to reach the check-out page, where it became obvious that Apple insisted to be paid with a US credit card. Now, if Adorama can check on-line my Amex and verify it, and sell me cameras, why can't Apple do the same?!?!?
I thought that maybe it was a site problem and decided to call Apple and order the upgrade. Ah guess again. I was informed that I couldn't order anything unless I was going to pay it with an American credit card. The very friendly customer service agents suggested that I contacted the Apple Store in my country, the only problem with that, is that ... there is no Apple Store in my country. Then I got another bright idea. I could (maybe) call an Apple Store in EU and order the upgrade, after all EU is a unified market, so there shouldn't be a problem ordering the software from UK, right? Nope, that's not possible. Apple Stores cover only the countries where they operate, not the rest of Europe. Ahhhh and where am I supposed to go to order my upgrade?
Burried somewhere deep inside Apple's site, I found a link to a customer service telephone number for Greece! Hurray!!! I thought I had found the solution to my problem. Unfortunately, the next morning, when I called that number I was informed that all I could do, is wait for a couple of months, until the local Apple representative imports the upgrade and starts distributing it to the local shops, and then go and buy it from a local shop in Athens. Huh? Come again? Why the Americans can have it in 2-3 days and I have to wait two months? Especially when I want to get that software to support my new Canon camera?
I understand that Apple can't open an Apple Store in every country and that Greece is a very small country to support a local Apple Store (or isn't it?) but if there is no Apple store in this country, I should have the ability to order on-line the Apple items I need, from another country's on-line store, like Apple UK or Apple Italy or Apple Uganda, who cares? Why is Apple ignoring their Greek customers?
I do not consider myself a big Apple customer, but I own an Apple iMac, a MacBook, two Apple iPhones, two Apple iPod Touch's and some Apple software. In other words, I've invested in Apple quite a lot of money. Why is Apple ignoring me? Why is Apple not giving me a way to get what I need from them? The same for Nikon, I have invested much more money to Nikon over the years. I currently own the following Nikon equipment: F2A, F5, D700, D40X, six Nikkor prime manual-focus lenses (16mm/3.5, 24mm/2.8, 28mm/2.8, 35mm/2, 50mm/1.4, 105mm/2.5, one Nikkor prime AF lens (50mm/1.4), and five Nikkor zoom lenses (18-35mm, 24-85mm, 70-300mm, 18-55mm DX, 55-200mm DX), a couple of Nikon SB-800 speedlights etc. Why can't I have my Nikon equipment serviced anywhere on this planet?
Do you know how I feel about Apple and Nikon? I'll tell you how I feel.
I feel cheated. I feel betrayed. I feel as if someone is laughing at me behind my back. "We took your money when you bought our products, now shut up and live with all the hassles we impose on you. Why should we give you support? Why should we make your life easier?". That's how I feel. And the crazy thing is that I do not plan to stop buying goodies, from either of these companies. Why? Because I like their products, and somehow I am trapped in their brands. That doesn't mean that I am not frustrated with them.
Am I venting? You bet I am. So now you know how this blog got started. I am sure you will wonder, how it will continue and what it will be about.
Well, to be frank, I am not 100% sure yet. I plan to write about my experiences with computers and cameras in here. I plan to bring you my experiences with software and hardware used in photography. I plan to talk to you about new and old things, as you saw, I own some cameras that were build before some of you were even born. I am going to talk to you about something we all love, the Internet. In general, I am going to talk to you about .... Computers and Cameras.
So, welcome to my little corner of the blogsphere. I'll be happy to see you around.
So you can say that this blog is the result of frustration. Or maybe it is the result of common sense, which seems to be lacking from companies and individuals lately. Let me try and explain to you readers, what I mean.
A couple of weeks ago, I was in Las Vegas NV, for a show I attend every year. Of course my wife had asked me to bring her back some presents, and of course I had to visit the nearest mall (The Fashion Show Mall, on Las Vegas Blvd) to get her things. And naturally I didn't miss the chance to visit the Apple Store in that mall, from which I purchased an Apple Might Mouse, two iPod Touch's for my twins and Apple Aperture, a professional software for managing, editing and organizing pictures. Overall, I can say I spend over $650 in that store.
While I was in LV, I also purchased a camera, from Adorama. It was a Nikon D40X camera, refurbished by Nikon. I was told that refurbished equipment are covered by Nikon's warranty for 90 days. I also asked some friends if I should buy a refurbished camera and all their opinions were "by all means, that equipment has been back once, they want to make it nice and push it out the door in excellent shape, so that it is off their back" or something to that extend. I did try the camera out taking a few pictures inside my hotel room and outside my window, but nothing serious, since I had my Nikon D700 with me and I was using that camera for my job, so I just snap some shots to verify that the camera was working OK, which it did.
Of course, since I had Adorama ship me the Nikon D40X camera, I thought it would be a good idea to add another small point-and-shoot camera in the box, so I bought myself a Canon PowerShot S90.
When I returned back home (I live in Athens, Greece), I installed the software in my iMac computer and started using it to organize my pictures. Due to my week-long abscence there was a lot of catching up I had to do, so it was a few days before I got to try out my new toys.
And here is where the fun begins. As soon as I took the first pictures with the D40X I could see that there was something wrong. The white balance was way off, especially in direct sun light, where everything was showing up ... green.
That was the beginning of my frustration. I started investigating Nikon warranty policies, only to find out that if I wanted my camera repaired, I had to return it to US. Come again? There is a Nikon representative in Greece, why should I return it to US? Ahhhh because Nikon has some strange policies, which separate this world into regions. If you buy your Nikon camera in one region and need to have it repaired in another region, well, then your camera is a "grey market" camera according to Nikon, and they won't touch it. The Nikon warranty is not "worldwide", it's regional. US, Europe, Asia, etc.
So, let's see what we got here: we got a camera that has been refurbished by Nikon USA, who eventually didn't refurbish it very well, and who wanted me to pay $150 to have it sent to US, so they have a second go at fixing it, while at the same time the local Nikon rep can fix the camera for much less, but they can't do it because the camera is considered to be a "grey market item". So is Nikon stupid or what? We keep hearing that the world is now a large market, and there sure are examples about that. But it appears that Nikon likes to play games with its customers, by segmenting the world market to regional ones. Interesting marketing approach.
Luckily, the local rep is much more intelligent than the mother company. They took my camera in, had it fixed in less than a week, and charged me 40€ for that, a very reasonable price, if you ask me. So all is well, when it ends well? As far as the D40X is concerned yes, but why should I have to pay for the repair? Why isn't Nikon warranty international. What if I go for vacation to US and the Nikon I have with me fails? Why is it so irrational to expect Nikon US to fix it for me, either under warranty or with payment?
Nikon is not alone in embracing stupid business practices.
Take Apple for example. Remember that Apple software I bought from Apple Store in Las Vegas? Guess what? It didn't recognize the images that my new Canon S90 produces. To be more precise, it doesn't recognize the raw image files that the S90 produces. Well, that is an issue, but it was nobody's fault but mine, I should have checked the specs of Aperture to make sure it supported that camera, before I put down my $200 for it. Or I should have bought a different camera.
Being a software tech guy, after some research I found a way to "persuade" Aperture to recognize the CR2 files that S90 produces, and I was a happy camper. Until next day, when I saw Apple's announcement of the new version of Aperture, which included support of the S90, plus about 200 new features. Since I had decided to stick with Aperture for editing, managing and organizing my pictures (I am perfectly happy with Aperture as a program), and since I wanted to have the new version, I decided to upgrade my software right then and there. It should have been something simple right? After all, Apple is supposed to be at the forefront of technology, so there should be a way to do such things on-line, right? Not so fast though, not so fast.
First of all, most software companies, when they announce a new version of their products, they allow those who bought the previous version a few days before, to upgrade for free. Not Apple though. Apple wants $100 for Aperture upgrade, even if you bought it the day before the new version was announced. You have to pay $100 for the upgrade. OK, I could live with that, $100 is not a big sum, so where do I get to download the upgrade??
I went through the various ordering pages in Apple Store, only to reach the check-out page, where it became obvious that Apple insisted to be paid with a US credit card. Now, if Adorama can check on-line my Amex and verify it, and sell me cameras, why can't Apple do the same?!?!?
I thought that maybe it was a site problem and decided to call Apple and order the upgrade. Ah guess again. I was informed that I couldn't order anything unless I was going to pay it with an American credit card. The very friendly customer service agents suggested that I contacted the Apple Store in my country, the only problem with that, is that ... there is no Apple Store in my country. Then I got another bright idea. I could (maybe) call an Apple Store in EU and order the upgrade, after all EU is a unified market, so there shouldn't be a problem ordering the software from UK, right? Nope, that's not possible. Apple Stores cover only the countries where they operate, not the rest of Europe. Ahhhh and where am I supposed to go to order my upgrade?
Burried somewhere deep inside Apple's site, I found a link to a customer service telephone number for Greece! Hurray!!! I thought I had found the solution to my problem. Unfortunately, the next morning, when I called that number I was informed that all I could do, is wait for a couple of months, until the local Apple representative imports the upgrade and starts distributing it to the local shops, and then go and buy it from a local shop in Athens. Huh? Come again? Why the Americans can have it in 2-3 days and I have to wait two months? Especially when I want to get that software to support my new Canon camera?
I understand that Apple can't open an Apple Store in every country and that Greece is a very small country to support a local Apple Store (or isn't it?) but if there is no Apple store in this country, I should have the ability to order on-line the Apple items I need, from another country's on-line store, like Apple UK or Apple Italy or Apple Uganda, who cares? Why is Apple ignoring their Greek customers?
I do not consider myself a big Apple customer, but I own an Apple iMac, a MacBook, two Apple iPhones, two Apple iPod Touch's and some Apple software. In other words, I've invested in Apple quite a lot of money. Why is Apple ignoring me? Why is Apple not giving me a way to get what I need from them? The same for Nikon, I have invested much more money to Nikon over the years. I currently own the following Nikon equipment: F2A, F5, D700, D40X, six Nikkor prime manual-focus lenses (16mm/3.5, 24mm/2.8, 28mm/2.8, 35mm/2, 50mm/1.4, 105mm/2.5, one Nikkor prime AF lens (50mm/1.4), and five Nikkor zoom lenses (18-35mm, 24-85mm, 70-300mm, 18-55mm DX, 55-200mm DX), a couple of Nikon SB-800 speedlights etc. Why can't I have my Nikon equipment serviced anywhere on this planet?
Do you know how I feel about Apple and Nikon? I'll tell you how I feel.
I feel cheated. I feel betrayed. I feel as if someone is laughing at me behind my back. "We took your money when you bought our products, now shut up and live with all the hassles we impose on you. Why should we give you support? Why should we make your life easier?". That's how I feel. And the crazy thing is that I do not plan to stop buying goodies, from either of these companies. Why? Because I like their products, and somehow I am trapped in their brands. That doesn't mean that I am not frustrated with them.
Am I venting? You bet I am. So now you know how this blog got started. I am sure you will wonder, how it will continue and what it will be about.
Well, to be frank, I am not 100% sure yet. I plan to write about my experiences with computers and cameras in here. I plan to bring you my experiences with software and hardware used in photography. I plan to talk to you about new and old things, as you saw, I own some cameras that were build before some of you were even born. I am going to talk to you about something we all love, the Internet. In general, I am going to talk to you about .... Computers and Cameras.
So, welcome to my little corner of the blogsphere. I'll be happy to see you around.
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