Not going to burden you with details you already know but this last year has been hard on the photography industry. Please support all of your local photographers the best way you can.
“Olympus quits camera business after 84 years. Olympus, once one of the world's biggest camera brands, is selling off that part of its business after 84 years. The firm said that despite its best efforts, the "extremely severe digital camera market" was no longer profitable.” source BBC
Wow can you believe that. It is really incredible and scary. Will this happen to other camera companies? Only time will tell but it’s not good news.
Apple's iOS 14 will make older iPhones take better pictures!
New features to improve iPhones like Specifically, Apple says that iOS 14 has "improved shot-to-shot performance." Apple claims that users can shoot photos up to 90% faster, at up to 4 frames per second. Additionally, Portrait shot-to-shot is up to 15% faster.”
Go here to learn more…
The slow march of improving mobile photography. Will mainstream professional camera’s survive?
Multi-Day Photography Workshop at The Estate. Booking now for the Summer!
MULTI-DAY Photography workshop on July 11th & 18th. Best Multi-Day photography event near southern Ohio. Located on private property right across the border near Aurora Indiana this location is unique and one not to miss. 15+ hours of education!
Major Highlights:
- 2 Days of Real-Time in-person Education (no zoom!)
-Software Training on Photoshop & Lightroom and more
-Natural Light Photography Lessons
-Off-Camera Flash Photography Lessons
-Amazing Multi-million dollar estate with 200+ acres, pond, fields, stone walls, barn, pool, open sky and grand entrance & more.
-Real tricks on how to be a better photographer
-Live models to work with and so much more
This workshop is both a lesson and a portfolio-building opportunity. Only a few spots left. Thank you for supporting a small business!
How could things get worse for the world and photography? Horrible all around and its been some time coming for the camera business. Please pray for everyone!
“Nikon Releases Brutal Financial Report, Lays Off 700 in Southeast Asia” the headlines read from Peta Pixel. Click here to read more.
New 'Intelligent Vision Sensor' is the world's first to have a on-chip AI processing! Who done this? Sony of course as the keep putting pressure on the tradition camera makers of the world. The processor is not for commercial applications yet but is a important step to compete with AI processing from smartphones like Apple’s iPhone.
Brave new world coming to photographer and people are not ready for the massive impact it will have.
mZ
Here we go again. More bad news for Nikon and the camera industry as a whole.
“Nikon Corporation has issued a statement to investors warning the company ‘expects to post extraordinary losses’ for its 2020 fiscal year (FY2020) that ended on March 31, 2020, and has subsequently made a revision to the financial forecast ahead of the upcoming release of the results on May 28.” credit DP Review
This was happening before COVID but just getting worse and I hope Nikon can hold on! The industry is just getting pummeled right now. Please support them if you can!
Yikes! What’s going on?
Sony sales volume dropped by 44.5%, Olympus by 54.9%, and Canon by 32.3%. Fujifilm, in fourth place, actually saw its sales volume increase year-over-year, but overall sales of mirrorless cameras still dropped by a whopping 50.5%, compared to a more standard 9.9% drop in January.
Why is this? Well, its a combination of things like smartphones, camera technology that is mature (not much is changing really when a new camera comes out), economy which is not good world wide. The average person does not have thousands to spend on the latest gear. Also and this is a big one and no pun intended but the big size of these traditional cameras compared to smartphone cameras. The ease of use and direct connection to social media and sharing options.
If the big camera makers want to compete with Apple the will need to make their cameras cheaper, smaller, and connected easier to the world around them. Not everyone wants to use computer software to share their images.
What do you think is the reason?
Decided to finally take the leap to Cloud Base backup storage. While I have plenty of local backups and redundant drives my 16 hard drives and over 30 TB of images are finally going to crash plan so off site storage.
Now are fire or a flood or theft won't mess me up. I recommend it highly and its truly unlimited storage. For someone with so my date this is very important. The only downside is it slow for me to upload images to server. For others you could get varying results on up speeds. Other than the speed everything else is great. Hope I won't need to use it but it does give me peace of mind...
Are your files backup? Do you store them off site?
Quality of light is the key to getting a amazing images. Its really a simple concept but often never followed. No matter if you like shooting ambient (natural light) or using flash the quality of the light that our subjects are under is key.
I am constantly reminded of this fact when I look at intermediate and professional work. Their quality of light is often terrible and in turn make the image flat and boring. No attention to direction, horrible of camera light placement ect.
Recently I drove past a "NEW" studio of a local wedding photographer and in the window sat example images that IMO were terrible. There were so many things wrong with these images (remember the photographer thinks these are their best work!) but the recurring theme was the quality of light. I almost park my car and entered their store to hear why the work was so terrible. WHY is your work so bad I wanted to ask!
I know I sound like a jerk here but remember that this photographer is charging money to a uneducated public who has no idea of how bad this work really is. There is really no excuse for such low quality images. Why can I judge this photographer? Well no matter if you like my work or not I know I have excellent quality of light in all my images. Its what makes them stand out from the rest of our overpopulated world of social media imagery. I spent years developing technique to produce good light in all situations. This kind of work should not be welcome to anyone who truly love photography.
I could go on and on but I just feel bad that people are paying good money for bad photography. Please if you ever need a photographer, even if its not me take the time to study the quality of light in their imagery. In the end you will get images that will last a lifetime and be proud to have hopefully hanging on your walls.
I actively teach lots of photography students and I cannot stress learning/knowing the fundamentals enough (the basics). Its the foundation of good photography period. I think when someone is learning and they look at other experienced photographers work the forget the the fundamentals at still be used.
NO photographer can escape using the key ingredients to make outstanding imagery. However you see so many so called PRO's here in Cincinnati who can't or won't follow this simple rule.
So learn those fundamental and your work will improve...
Is it true? Well as an avid photographer and tech geek I will say I do believe that Nikon's have had the upper hand over Canon for some time. I used both in a production setting so I am not just saying this. I been able to compare up close in both shooting and post.
Here is a link to maybe why? What do you think?
http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/nikon-d500-camera-of-the-year-trustedreviews-awards-2016
Need an idea for holiday season? How about a gift card!!! Click here
Wow this is so trendy these days "Mini Sessions" and its driving me nuts! Its all I see these days is advertised Mini Sessions by other photographers or photographer selling their Mini Session training secretes (especially around the holidays).
I absolutely disagree with this formula for MOST photographers. Most photographer have been in business a few years and do not have a brick and mortar store as well as a staff to handle clients. Mini Sessions is a volume game and I do not recommend my students do them at all and here is why...
Mini Session is another CODE for cheap photography! This is something as a collective group we need to avoid. Photographers who couldn't sell their services at their normal and reasonable prices are now resorting to "spending less time with their clients and offering a lower price point" in the hopes of booking clients. All this will do is attract cheap client, waste your time and devalue your services.
Mini Sessions take just about as long to do as a normal session. The only savings in time is your spending less time photographing your clients (in most cases 1/2 hour) but everything else that you would normally do for a normal session is about the same. Client communications, payment collection, further communications, prepping and setup, photographing, post productions, selling, image delivery and so on are virtually the same.
Most photographers are way to cheap to begin with and by charging less devalues you. Giving access to you at a cheaper price will not inspire a client to spend more with you later down the road. Why would they? What they got in the Mini Session will be good enough for most people and most will just wait until you have another Mini Session sale to book with you again.
Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't mean you should too! Let them drive themselves out of business with this model. It won't work... unless you a big established photographer. Don't be fooled!
Value yourself and don't give it away. If you have to do that you might as well just hang up your camera... sorry but lets face reality!
Check this out. Nikon has the best JPEG sensor? Here is the article on that test that was done.
"The Camera Store uploaded a new video comparing the JPEG files from different Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, iPhone, Pentax, Olympus and Panasonic camera and came out to the conclusion that Nikon produces the best overall JPEG files:"
Click here to see the video...
With the massive presence of smart phone camera's being used out there the real question is how good are they compared to DSLR's?
The short answer is smart phone camera's are still not even close to the imaging capabilities of a DSLR. However they are easier to use so for the average person they are truly amazing. The smart phone camera is always with you and for the most part can create images just as good as a DSLR in good lighting conditions. Where things change is when the light is not as good. This is where MOST DSLR shine...
So for the average person a smart phone camera is fine for easy conditions but when things get difficult the DSLR has tons of advantages. Since most of us use cameras to take picture of people we alway need to worry about being able to stop the action. This is the number one issue with new photographers is they can't stop the action which causes blurry out of focus image.
So the DSLR wins hands down and I could write a book about that however the smart phone has come along way and some day COULD rival a DSLR. When will that day come? I would say 5-10 years... who knows but we certainly live in exciting times.
First equipment will not make you a better photographer! I can't tell you how many people I know who have better gear than me who can't shoot to save their life.
Second training/practice which most people don't do enough. Taking one photography class will not help you in the long run. While you certainly will learn something like anything it take time to develop real skills. You need to invest in yourself and LEARN from a real photographer. Don't take a class from someone who travels more than you do. While I am at it take a class from a photographer who focuses on people. See below why shooting a landscape is one more why to hide from people.
Third and this is the real kicker! If your not good with people you can't be a good photographer. Having a bad personality or being shy won't cut it. Great photographers are great people persons and also probably not bad psychologist as well.
Forth and this is a good one. Because you take better images than your friends does not make you a good photographer. Thats like saying your a great football player playing against children when your an adult. Also getting lots of like in Facebook or Instagram means nothing. People love mediocrity and will always like something that doesn't make them feel bad. Your bad photography doesn't hurt their feelings. Why not like it!
Well sorry but its the truth...
Sign up for this all day Outdoor Lighting Masterclass (natural & flash) on private 100 acre Farm. The first day April 23rd is SOLD OUT so we are opening one more day! We already sold two spots so only 7 more spots left. You won't find better education and a better value anywhere in this part of the country.
This class includes:
• A unique private location with two massive barns one of which was built in the civil war era. Other highlights are 7 other outbuildings, fields, fences, grass and more
• Two outstanding commercial looking models
• How to overpower the sun with flash lesson
• Studio Strobes and all equipment provided for the best learning experience
• Small workshop size with 5:1 student to model ratio
• Professional makeup Artist
Official Website with larger images on this workshop can be seen by clicking link
Need a great deal some new gear? Have some old gear you want to sell? Then come to this used gear swap. 4 camera's and over 12 lenses as of now! Also come and meet some new people and talk some shop at the studio.
There is no additional SELLING fee's charged to buy or sell any items at the swap. These items are for sale. Prices are determined by the owner of the equipment.
Only requirement is that if you want to place something here in this ad is that you show up with the item to sell. Please send me a detail list of your items you want to sell and I will post them in the main list. If you intended to come and check out what's available all you have to do is RSVP that you're coming. Real simple… you might be able to sell a used item or pick up a good deal on used gear. Also NO FEE unlike almost every other place that sells used gear especially locally. Why give all your hard earned money to them just to make it easy to sell?
Over a 4000+ real local photographers will see this through meet up and my other connections. Also keep in mind people are coming who are not in this Meetup so you have access to their items and a potential sale to them.
NOTES:
Why no advertised price? Since most of these items are not mine I cannot be responsible for the accuracy of the advertised price. Again Since most of these items are not mine. So I will not post it here...
Item condition? Again Since most of these items are not mine I cannot be responsible for the accuracy of the advertised condition of the item. That is between you and the seller or vice versa. So I will not post it here...
Warranty? Again Since most of these items are not mine I cannot be responsible for the accuracy of the advertised condition of the item. That is between you and the seller or vice versa. I will say that most will come without warranty since items are used. That is between you and the seller or vice versa.
Item availability? Again Since most of these items are not mine I cannot be responsible for the accuracy of the advertised items availability to you when you do arrive. Item could be sold before you arrive or some other factor.
Item images? Again Since most of these items are not mine I cannot be responsible for the accuracy of the advertised items images. You can inspect and work your own deal with the buyer or seller.
Payment? Again Since most of these items are not mine that is between you and the seller or vice versa. HOWEVER I would advise CASH since its the easiest. I can however take credit card for the items I am selling (with a small fee) but this again is all up to the seller and what is negotiated.
All theses item have a basic value that would be easy to fine before you arrive BUT the seller could want more or less. Some of these items might also be hard to find. Also keep in mind you actual get to see the time unlike most online sellers.
ALSO YOU CAN POST YOUR USED GEAR HERE AS WELL. PLEASE SEND ME THE ITEMS INFO VIA EMAIL. THE MORE GEAR LISTED THE MORE INTEREST IN YOUR ITEMS. THERE WILL BE TABLES FOR THE SELLERS (depending on how many people there are we might not have enough for everyone so arrive early).
Here is what will be for sale as of now. I have already collected a good amount of gear that is for sale for something like this. All gear here is used unless noted. Please send me a detailed email if you would like something added for all to see. I will except anything that is photography related and that includes other technologies that support photography like a computer, hard drives, ect. If your not sure just email me and ask... I will updates this regularly if I get more items.
Camera's
• Nikon D800 (full frame digital)
• Nikon D600 with grip (full frame digital)
• Nikon D700 (full frame digital)
• Nikon D300 (DX digital)
• Nikon F2 (Film)
• Mamiya 645 AF (Medium Film)
Len's
• Nikon 18 -105mm VR f/3.5 - 5.6 AF
• Nikon 24 -120mm f/3.5 - 5.6D AF
• Nikon 80 - 400mm f/4.5 - 5.6D ED AF
• Nikon 105mm Micro f/2.8D AF
• Nikon f/4mm IF-ED AF
• Nikon 70 - 200mm f/4 - 5.6D AF Macro Zoom
• Nikon 24mm f/2.8D AF
• Nikon 85mm f/1.8D AF
• Nikon 30 - 70mm f/2.8D AF Macro Zoom
• Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM
• Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM
• Canon Extender EF 1.4x II
• Mamiya 45mm f/2.8
• Mamiya 80mm 2.8
• Mamiya 80mm f/4 Macro
• Mamiya 105-210mm f/4.5
• Minolta 135mm f/2.8
• Sigma 150-500 in Nikon mount w/B&W uv filter
Accessories
• Nikon SB 910 Speed-Light
• Nikon SB 800 Speed- Light
• Nikon SN-26 Speed-light
• Nikon MB-D10 Camera Grip
• Canon CP-E4 Battery Pack
• Canon BP-E6 Battery
• Canon E Dust Cap
• Canon Battery Magazine BGM-E11A
Apple
• Apple Time Capsule 3TB 802.11N Model (never opened)
Thanks for looking and lets all have some fun and sell some gear!
All the gear featured here is for sale. The no fee is referring to an extra change by me for hosting event, providing space to sell your items. I don't want to imply that these items are FREE. All sales are final and I am only providing the place for us to showcase gear. I am not responsible for any of the items, their conditions or the transactions here at the swap.Happy New Year from michael Zero. May this year bring peace and joy into your life. Have a wonderful New Year's Eve and be safe everyone!