Day: 4 August 2009

Purchasing New Equipment

Dave Sumner

Whilst on the outing on Sunday, it was discovered that one of the members had been sold a camera with twin lens kit by a well known electrical and furniture store and had been informed by an in store so called “camera expert” that they needed to purchase a polarising filter for each of the lenses. These had been sold using the ‘you must protect your lens’ trick to make you buy more things.

Now the more experienced of us know that these so called protective filters should have been UV filters and not polarisers but the person concerned, being a novice did not. They also didn’t know about what quality filters they were getting. This person has been taking shots with the polarisers on wondering why the viewfinder looked so dark when taking indoor and low light images. This isn’t their fault, it is poor sales tactics and bad advice and possibly a hint of the fact that they don’t care a hoot about the customer, only their money.

To help avoid this happening in future and just to give general advice as well. I’m sure that anyone who needs help with choosing their new investment can approach any of the committee for advice before they purchase the gear. We can’t tell you what to buy but can help with making your own decision and if we can’t help then I’m sure we’ll know someone who can.

If you do intend to buy some equipment from a high street store that doesn’t specialise in photography, I would take their advice with reservation. Their goal seems to get you to buy as much as possible instead of what you might actually need. I would recommend visiting a reputable camera store that comes recommended by someone you know. My favourites are Kirk’s Cameras in Ringwood (ask for Jason) and The Camera Exchange in Lonsdale Street(behind Michaels). There is also a camera store in Oakleigh which is owned and operated by a professional photographer, I’ve only been in once but he seemed very fair and gave honest advice. I’m sure that most of these will be at least as competitive if not better and will provide advice after you have spent your money.

It has also been suggested that the EBay store – Digital Rev is very reputable and can also be contacted by telephone if required.

I hope this has been of help to someone and it saves you some concerns in the future.

Update – Perry’s Fall

Dave Sumner

I have spoken to Perry regarding his fall on Sunday and it is good news that not only is he okay but more importantly (just kidding) his lens has survived it’s meeting with the concrete in Degraves Street. Perry informed me that after removing the broken glass from his UV filter and then snipping the outer frame, he was successful in removing the filter and the only damage to the lens was to the threads where the filter screws on. The lens threads will still accept a filter so all is well.

This is one side of the filter / no filter argument that rarely gets discussed but in Perry’s case it has saved him a lot of money because it is fair to assume that if that filter hadn’t been there then it would have been his lens that he would have been throwing in the bin and as it was a $2,000 Canon L Series lens, that isn’t a cheap option. I’ll be keeping my filters on in future especially in Degraves Street.