8 Camera HACKS in 90 SECONDS!! Video

I stumbled on to this video on YouTube. The first two are kind of lamer but the others are really creative and simple.

Light L16 Camera. The Future of Photography?

The future of photography? Maybe it's not a better camera... but a better cellphone. Are the days of traditional cameras numbered? It occurred to me today the might be.



 #lovemyjob #ottawaphotographer

Do They Have A Betty Ford Clinic For Photographers?

When will the cravings end? You buy a new camera and a newer updated model comes out 18 months later, then an even newer one 18 months after that. Is it just me or do you also feel a craving to buy every newest version as soon as it comes out? The previous versions work great and you can't really justify the newer one, but the craving almost compulsion is still there.

Remember the good old days when you bought a expensive medium format like a Mamiya or Hasselblad and you were good for about 20 years. But then not much really ever changed.

I see the newest Fuji X100F is out today, lots of new bells and whistles. Sooo tempting, for not reason other than it's newer. But can't justify it, sorry Fuji.

FujiX100F Info Click Here

Testing My New Ringlight

Fooling around with my new ringlight. It's supposed to make everyone look like a model...well almost everyone :-)

It's a lot brighter than I would have expected making it hard to look at and that's a concern for the comfort of my clients. Plus the fact it needs to be on, warming up for a couple of minutes before you should use it. The colour temperature is said to be daylight, but not really. So it still requires a custom white balance on the camera.

The other thing I noticed was the rapid fall off of light, your subject has to be almost right against the background or the background goes real dark. I am experimenting with a white background, that way it goes gray and I prefer that.I need to find a couple of people to test this on. But I am optimistic that with a little experimentation it will be great.

Maybe some nice B&W images. If I get some good ones I'll post them.
 #spencerstudio

I Love This Square Gizmo

I love this little gizmo. No paperwork on my part. It automatically sends the receipt to your client, after you swipe their card, it collects the sales tax then sends all the info to Quickbooks. So I do nothing and the money gets in to my account much faster too. 

I've been testing it for over a month now and is great for collecting payments on location shoots. The percentage is higher (about 0.5%) but I no longer pay the $30/month I was to the bank for the use of their credit card reader.

A real win. They offer you a deal if you sign up through a referral, I didn't get it because I signed up direct through the website listed on their TV commercial.

Here is the secret website. When you activate a Square account through this link, you can process up to $1,000 in credit card sales for free during their first 180 days.

Photographers/business people This is a great little device that lets you accept credit cards anywhere. We use it at the park or when doing location/home portraits. Free reader, no monthly fee

https://squareup.com/i/D14B8A3C