paulsworld

I refuse to respect any govt that repeatedly does idiotic things like this. Their sense of duty and what the government can/should do is probably one of the stupidest systems I've ever heard of.

Was watching a movie on Star Movies last night... it hit me. Can't watch someone smoke a ciggy on TV but can watch a chick smoke out of her baby chute no problem. If they take care of the latter then maybe I'll pay attention to the first.

There are waaaayyy bigger problems in the country. Till they can take an honest look at themselves they'll continue to be a laughing stock....sad too. Could have done a lot with attention/money that came from Tsunami.

Paul

It's not pre digital lenses...there are tons of pre digital lenses that are great. The problem is with your lenses. They're not very good. Even the best lenses will vignette slightly...typically more so at the ends...so wide and at full tele. Good lenses do it less, but will still do it. Lenses were reviewed for vignetting long before the 5D and these lenses did it on full frame 35mm cameras too. Crop sensors don't read that part of the lens and don't show you...but it's still there.

Shoot raw and you have the option of easily sliding the vignette away. I'm typically adding more so it's not a problem Also try shooting with primes. Some have very good vignetting control. But don't expect miracles. Even the newer lenses like 24-105IS and 16-35MKII still vignette at the ends.

Paul

Don't forget one can also watch 720P content on their tv...hopefully the itunes store willl start carrying HD content to reflect this...regardless this will be nice if you'd like to show HD slideshows to clients on your nice HD TV...not that I need it, been using my Xbox 360 nicely for that for a while now.

Paul

I'm playing it...though after the Taiwan earthquake things have been a bit slow. I'm still around lvl 20 so will wait to get BC. Also just got a Xbox360 so that's taking more time and honestly I'm liking the games a bit more (love games where I don't spend 5 minutes running)

Paul

I think US is in 2008 or 2009. I'm enjoying watching my footage from my Sony HD Camcorder on my TV...also XBox 360 looks amazing.

Plus if one has a HDMI connection you can get a DVD player that will upscale regular DVD's. Most people can't tell a difference if the TV isn't too big.

I'm not investing in any equipment for crappy free TV from Europe. I'd say we're still a ways off here. I am seeing more Thai TV cres running around with the Sony FX1 and Z1 so maybe they're building up some footage, but I'm not holding my breath. I would actually hold off if I wasn't gaming if I was most people as all but the CRT's actually look worse in Standard Def.

Paul

The issue for countries is not whether others do or don't or location...UN (not only US) policy is in trying to prevent NEW countries from developing capabilities as they've realized the mistake of letting others go that route. Of course there are more sinister reasons at work as well...but the fact remains that the policy is in place to try and limit new folks from entering the game

Paul

Thailand...the straw that broke the camel's back

Paul

Went Shopping today...

MBK...bag controls are symbolic at least...

Siam Centre...sporadic controls

Paragon...VERY GOOD control by friendly and caring security

Lets hope, even it is annoying that security is tightened the next days until they catch those criminals

I was out yesterday and there was nothing anywhere. No checks on the BTS (glaring problem to me), no extra security on the platform or on board, nothing at Major on Sukhumvhit...they weren't even mirroring under cars that parked....yikes!

Paul

For me I generally operate on advance planning mode. If I'm shooting a wedding on the beach I have one camera outside the room with assistant staying in humidity and one body inside in the air con to make sure nothing happens. Some days here there's no getting around it, if you haven't adequately planned you're going to fog...it's just darn humid.

I had a shoot one time after a rain...I had a body outside the whole time and all the usual tricks, but there was just too much water in the air (walk outside and sweat within a second). Tried to incoorporate the fog...but darn we're not shooting in the 80's anymore Moved inside and all were more comfortable anyways....

Paul

I was just in FotoFile in MBK on Sunday and they had a used Canon mount one. It's FotoFile on the 1st floor right?

I've seen this flash a lot in those rinky dinky camera shops in the Carefours and smaller malls. Also seen it on the fourth floor Chinese camera shop in MBK (at least they sell a lot of Chinese tripods), and at some place at Fortune.

Paul

the bottom line typically in matters of ownership in photography go to the person who took the picture. Contracts can divide that ownership up a bit, but in cases where things have really been tested it comes down to the person who clicked the image.

I don't know why you still don't have your film developed and shown to her. Possibly she'd like yours even better if you had, say, a high quality medium format film scan at 100 megs or something. Something with way more dynamic range, contrast, saturation, etc. She could be showing "your" work as you initially intended. Get yours developed and see if it came out better. If so, problem solved. If not...maybe you can assist her on future shoots Just kidding.

Paul

There are some programs that strip the DVD of it's region encoding when you rip and burn it...but that's kind of a pain if you plan on buying many dvd's with different regions...

There's two things. One, always have all kinds of stuff in your contract...read other's, copy, etc...other people have run into way more stuff than you could ever think about. Pay to be a member of a pro site and get access to more experienced folks. I have a no stealing my shots clause and a no other photographer stipulation in my contract. Of course I let other folks snap with their P&S day of, but if someone's slowing me down and asking everyone to look at them I quote the contract and WILL walk off if the person doesn't stop. I love letting others shoot though as it just makes my pictures look better every time.

Second thing, if you liked what she got and were surprised by the results then it sounds like it's not your picture . If she just shot something but you liked the results remember it and use it again sometime...but by your own admission you had no idea the shot would come out like that...but now that it's kind of cool you want credit? Set it up again and do it yourself. She took that pic for all intents and purposes and got a shot you weren't going to get otherwise...not your shot. It'd be the same thing if you setup some shot and someone shot color and cross processed and you didn't know the technique or someone showed up with a Holgaroid.

Paul

When things are newer out around here just patiently wait. They start off higher and come down slowly...towards the end often coming in less than the states. I've seen D70's going for lower than that and I would much rather have that than the D40....(would rather have any model Canon over those though...used to be a die hard Nikon guy too for 10 years).

Paul

I do business in the states over the summers and use this phone so much. Love Vonage. Their customer service stinks...but the product is fantastic. My friends and family probably call too much now so I have to avoid the phone just like when I was back home

Better quality than using a Thai line for me.

Paul

Chang Draught is available at Suan Lum night bazaar and is usually the cheapest big bottle going...and for the price I'd have to say it's not bad. I and my friends rarely touch Chang Regular, but will drink this as long as it lasts (typically due to price it sells out really early in the night)...I mean most beers in Thailand...you're not really drinking for too much taste anyways.

Paul

Seems I read somewhere the laws are strict because of all the Thai moon shining and all the money folks are making with the few legal version allowed to be brewed.

This thread brings back fond memories of living in Boulder, CO (the homebrew capital of the world)...everyone homebrewed there and you could get some really nice ingredients there. I'll never forget saving up and buying my first glass set of bottles instead of using plastic water 5 gallon jugs...

Paul

I have some friends that pay some company that imports from South African...pretty good wines...you pay the folks a flat rate a month and they deliver bottles to you. Always really good and well handled...best part you get wholesale rates....don't know their name though. I'm thinking of signing up for a couple months as I've run through most of the buy one get one at villa and carefour

There are some decent buy one get ones...but seeing wines like Rosemount Estate that were 6 bucks in the states selling for 2000 baht is out of control....hurts so much

I also implement a bring wine policy. I get lots of guests from WA and CA so we get some nice local wines from folks....

Paul

Cheaper in the states...even more so now that the baht is gaining strength on the dollar. They're holding the prices the same though which makes the prices more expensive if you're not making money here and are bringing cash from the states. But sometimes now things can be cheaper if you take them back to the states or sell used stuff here if that makes sense. Since say a 85 1.2 MK1 holds it's used value at 50K...you could buy one in the states if you look for 1200...bring it here and sell and make some money as the baht puts that closer to a 1450 value here in Thailand.

Go Canon and look for deals on Dell.com...they've been doing a double 15% off plus the Canon rebate...they just had 30D's for 840 bucks once you did all the rebates and all that. That's an insane deal.

Ourmanflint...I would have puked too seeing as how the retail in the states when it was brand new and you couldn't get one anywhere had the D200 never over 1800 bucks...that's a hefty premium you paid to early adopt there. I bought a 5D in MBK for less than 95,000 new and that was selling for 3K at the time in the states (not counting rebates)... I would relook at whatever that store was or do some shopping around Ouch!

Paul

Bigger concern...if your shot is less valuable than a shot from a cell phone I think you have problems. Don't wanna sound harsh, but there should be no contest between a professionaly posed, lit, set up shot and a shot from a camera phone...even with the best camera phone on the market today.

Personally no one would get a similar enough shot on their cell phone to a full on set up shot from me (possibly they could get something similar in a grip and grin cheesy snapshot of some friends I fire off at a wedding, but I don't really care about them getting that and I'm not going to fight for artistic credit there)...

I don't really understand...was this a paid job or a TFP? Either way wouldn't she be getting real files from you of quality pics? Or was this something where you hired someone out for your portfolio? Regardless I wouldn't have my name put next to a shot from a cell phone...even if it was close...still not me and I don't want my name anywhere near it

Paul

You're not going to get much for birding at the price you want to enter in. There are some Sony type digi cams that have some tele extenders for the lens that could get you in there.

Personally I'd go with a used older DSLR like a D70 (nikon) or a 20D (canon...heck a 10D might be had for around 500 bucks these days if you look around)....then if you're shooting outside in the sun a lot you can get a nice budget tele zoom like the Canon 70-300...with the digital crop of 1.6 and the length of the lens you could do some nice birding...but only in ample light without a tripod.

Paul

You mean video camera? If so, pm me I've got a great little cam barely bigger than a credit card I'm looking to sell. If still camera I'm still recommending the Fuji F30 or any of the F variants (not the N ones which are also good, but only to ISO800)

Paul

I know you've already purchased, but for people in the future please don't overlook the Fuji F10,11-20, 30....this little P&S beats everything else out there hands down. The newest version has manual controls as well. I shoot regularly with a 5K US plus camera, but we always also have this little guy on us...people look too much at MP's...they forget about low light performance and other things. This camera is amazing for the price and size.

Work your way to a DSLR though....you'll never go back.

Paul

I know this is an old thread but yes Photography is a restricted art form. You can be loose with your job description in setting up a business and find other ways to work...but you have to have more to offer the Thai people and Thailand than just photographic skills. Even though 90% of my bookings explicitly state they book me because they don't want a Thai photographer...it's apparently something Thais have covered

Paul