That lens is naked! Why UV Filtrers are important.

A UV Filter is a necesscity for any lens. From the first thing they do is protect your lens from dirt, grit, fingerprints, scratches and dust. Thebadcam says that it is against my religion not to have a UV filter on a lens.
The best insurance you can get for your lens is a filter, here is an example of one of my customer's UV filter.

A cracked UV Filter

She was very happy that all it was going to cost her was a new filter instead of replacing a whole lens.

Another great benefit of UV is that the filter reduces the UV haze in your shot, improving your results particularly near the ocean.

Break the Rules! How to bend photography rules to make amazing photos.

There are many rules and guides in photography to help everyone learn to take a pleasing shot. Once we learn these rules and get good at them then we can learn to break the rules and become creative.

Examples of broken rules are everywhere, Christopher Columbus broke the rule that the earth was flat, Wright brothers broke the rule that people could not fly. Once we master the basics of photography we can learn to reshape these rules to our world to tell the story we want.

With this photo of my brother, landscape shots are meant to be square, I wanted an Epic feel to the shot. I slanted the photo, got down low and really captured the essence of what he is thinking.

Tristan at Lake George

Find a good mentor that you can run ideas past and work together on projects to push your boundaries.

Is more megapixels better?

Less is more, so goes the saying.

I have spoken with sign-writers and graphic designers who have explained to me that megapixels are only useful when you want to blow up large sizes. So we need to pick a camera not on the size of megapixels.

As a general idea sizes can be reached from:

• 2MP – 6x4
• 2.1MP – 1920x1080 TV Screen Resolution
• 5MP – A4 piece of paper
• 10MP – Poster Size or 20”x30”

Science is bringing us more megapixels and most entry level cameras have lots of megapixels. Enthusiast level cameras tend to have less, example Canon s95 has 10MP which is a great high detail camera for any photography lover.  Nikon’s new 1 system has 10.1MP on their new Mirrorless Interchangeable Cameras. Olympus’ XZ-1 has 10MP also and has one of the most amazing macro functions in a compact camera.

Olympus XZ-1

If your salesperson talks about needing high megapixels for quality, then you can see they need to do more research. Hope this helps.

Helping Kids to Photograph their Story

Kids love playing with what we are playing with, it is how they learn. I have seen too many parents buy a 'cheap' camera for their children because of the fear they'll break it. 
Children have a great "eye" for photographing the world as they see it, giving them a cheap camera sometimes can limit tell the story they want to share. I know I don't want to give my boy an expensive camera, he could break it or lose it, so what do we do?
I have been recommending Tough cameras to parents for a long time, most are shock proof, waterproof, dust and freeze proof.

Olympus TG-820 - photo from www.olympus.com.au 

There are several on the market that you can choose. All of them take a great photo and now take decent movies to tell the best stories. Olympus, Nikon, Panasonic, Canon, Fujifilm, Pentax just to name a few. Each has their own features and fit most niches.
Now you can give your young ones something to tell great stories and not worry about them breaking it. From swimming to running through muddy puddles, kids get to be kids and share their story. 
Just imagine the DVDs you can send to their grandparents for Christmas.

The Cost of Cheapest Price

More and more we see companies advertising cheapest prices guaranteed or we'll beat that price... shows that it really isn't the case right?
What if we turned the tables and advertised Best Advice and Best Service?
What is the cost of cheapest price? Yes we get a great price on a camera, laptop, tv or anything we get cheap. Do you get what you need? When the lowest price is on the table something is lost to achieve this.


Things that are lost:

• Service - you walk into a discount store you may be lucky to be served and when you are you are met with someone that lacks knowledge, passion and conviction.
• The whole package - Ever bought something and then shown it off to a friend and they say "I got this with mine" you feel like you have missed out on something, I know I do not like it when someone else has something better than me, why didn't "the guy" tell me about it? Even McDonald's has reduced up selling, I haven't been asked in 5 years "would you like fries with that?". So I go home without a Sundae because I didn't think I needed it at the time, but if asked probably 1 out of 5 times bought one.
• Loyalty - If you are programmed to seek the lowest price, why are you going to go back and shop with that company? Would you keep loyal? Why would you keep loyal?
• Professionalism - There is an art to the whole sales process and I for one loved to be entertained. Do you feel like someone has dressed to impress you or do you look at your attendant and see them dressed "cool"? Who makes you feel more confident in your purchase, the person with a tie on or the person in sneakers? Take the time to find your sales professional that will deliver for you every time. Test them out, research your salesperson and see if they are here to help you or just here to have a job.

Go out there and find your bargains, just also look for exceptional service. Tell me about your nuggets of good and exceptional service in the comment section to help others find experience it.

Introduction to Thebadcam

The purpose of my blog is to create a basis for my book I am to write called "7 Things to look for in your next Camera". This book will help people get the right camera for their situation. 

The other purpose of this is to build my reputation as an Honest person to deal with that knows what he is talking about. For do you want to talk to a Camera Salesman or a Camera Expert when investing in your new piece of equipment?

A lot of what I am writing is from the questions that I have asked my customers and clients, and the questions they asked me. So if you have any questions on cameras feel free to send me an email and I will answer the best I can. For if I do not know I can find someone that does!