One more, this is my beware of dog photo. This house is across the road and out our back door, as I think of the side of our house facing the river as the front. The house has been vacant for awhile and gives me much pleasure with its appearance. This may not be shared with some of my neighbours. The infrared photos were taken with the Sigma Sd14 by removing the uv filer that is located just behind the lens. This filter is also a dust protector for the sensor. The images have been taken in a raw file and processed very quickly in the Sigma software.

One of the unique things you can do with the Sigma Sd14 is capture infrared photos. This is new to me and over the holidays I had some time to play. I used a R72 visible light filter and also two linear polarize filters stacked together. It was cold out, about minus 10 so I didn't spent too much time or thought. I need to find out more about where to focus. There is info on the Sigma SLR forum found at dpreivew.

Merry Christmas, here is a view you have seen before many times, the view from our deck and the river in front of our house. It is nice to have time at home to enjoy the view. Camera is my SigmaSd14 on a tripod with a remote release, mirror locked up and with my new liner polarizing filter. I hope you enjoy your holiday as much as I will. Bill Wilby

It is nice to get comments and to hear from people who read my blog. The comment below is very interesting to me because yes, the photo the person is asking about is a photo that I took in 1976. It was taken just out side of Alert Bay, my home town, and is looking toward the mouth of the Nimkish River. The person seen on the boat is David Uhl, Alert Bay fisherman proud of his new seiner. I only sold or gave away a few of these photos so I would be curious as to where it may have been the last 3o years. It was taken during the winter maybe in January as there is snow on the hills. As to the name Pictures, Prints and Promises, that was the name of my photography business at that time. I owned and operated a small gallery and frame shop in Alert Bay and sold my photos.This may not be the right photo, I took one shortly after with Malcolm Island in the back ground and the seiner is captured from the bow. Bill Wilby

No time to post these days with the Christmas rush, but I have lots to say. You will have to wait until things slow down but what is on my mind is pricing. I read DPreview Sigma forum every day because of my interest in using and selling the Sigma SD14. Our name has been there and many people from around the world have been checking our site and my blog. Please check back and I will put my thoughts together. Right now and for the last 25 years I am helping people find the right camera at the right price. I would like to share some of this experience with you. Thanks Bill

This time of the year I don't get out much. But sometimes I look out the window and see the light, drop everything pick up my Sigma SD14, we have more stock coming soon, and rush out side for a photo. This one is at ISO 50 with no tripod so it is not tack sharp. What is important is that this was shot in the cameras RAW mode and processed with the Sigma excellent software on full auto, and saved to a jpeg in a few minutes. I could have done much more with it and it may or may not have looked better, but I would rather get back to my mission of helping people discover what fun a Sigma SD14 is. Hope this doesn't sound to much like an Ad. Bill

It has been a very exciting week. My Sigma supplier has been able to adjust the Canadian price for the Sigma Sd14 so now we can sell it any where in the world and be competitive. The body is now 899.00 Canadian dollars. Also this week the new Nikon D300 arrived in our store. I took some comparison photos and Max posted them on the Sigma SLR forum at DPreview. There was a lot of interest, more than 400 people from around the world viewed the comparison. There was suggestions of how we could have done it better, so on Saturday morning Max re shot the photos and posted them again. There has been more than 200 views again, the last time I looked. The photo is of City Hall. I have thought of making it our on-line store front with the help of photoshop. The photo above may not be Bob the beaver as I saw two beavers swim by early this morning. Maybe one is Betty.

As promised, a update. This photo of me is taken with the Sigma SD14. If you have been reading my blog you will understand that this camera is very unique in how it captures colour. I have been going to photograph people with it but have not had a chance. So here is a photo of me with a hair cut ready for the Christmas season. The camera I am holding is also one of my favorites, and is proving to be a good seller with its resent price reduction, the Pentax K10D. Bill

First snow in Grand Forks. You may think the first camera I would pick up this morning would be the new Nikon D300, but no, a quick photo on a tripod with a relativity simply Sigma Sd14 is more for me. I haven't the time to read the book and set up the Nikon. I would rather leave that to the person that buys one. For me a quick photo and a hair cut. Bill

Nikon D300 update, it is here. I will update you again this week when I have time for a hair cut. For more info on this camera Ken Rockwell received his last week and has been posting info on his site found here.

The Nikon D300 is here, well almost here, I received an invoice today for the first one which means it will come today or tomorrow. As of right now it is unsold, you could be one of the first in Canada to own one. It is also priced about the same as the U.S. only in Canadian dollars with a Canadian warranty. There is no review posted of this camera that I know of as it is still too new, but dpreview have posted a preview found here.

This is too much fun. Here are two more photos from the Sigma sd14 that I have posted earlier in colour. I do get to play a little on Sunday. Look for the highlight detail on the flag pole. Bill

Black and white with the Sigma Sd14. In the Sigma software this took me all of 1 minute to make the black and white I wanted. I can hardly wait to print some on our new Fuji Pearl gloss paper. It has been a busy week and no time for photos, but this morning the river look so peacefully with a little ice. These are off the deck ISO 50 too cold for a tripod.

Using the SD14. What a pleasurable experience it is. Even when walking to the mailbox with my grandpa and my dog, the camera delivers true (or better) to life colors and amazing detail and sharpness. This is because of no need for an antialiasing (blurring) filter, that provides a very real sharpness rather than a simulated, noisy one. Later in the day I took the SD14 into a dark room to create some very basic physiograms. The first one was taken over a 33 second exposure at f/8, with the IR filter off, as the LED was infrared, like your television remote. The camera had no problems with the image and I couldn't even see the light as I was taking it. The second is of a medical grade deep violet LED that is so intense it can be harmful to your skin. This part of the visible spectrum is the hardest to capture, the Sigma does it beautifully and sharply. Max.

Yesterday Panasonic lowered the price of the FZ18 in Canada. If you have been reading my blog you will know this is one of my favourite cameras. This camera has been hard for me to sell lately, not because there is not the demand, but because of the difference in cost between Canada and the U.S. Grand Forks is a border town, I can look out the window of our store and see the United States of America, customers here are more aware of differences. There are two reasons that it is hard to sell the Fz18 , my customer not wanting to pay too much and myself not feeling good about it costing more here than there. Of course what I have to offer a customer is very different, and for some more value, than from a larger store experience but there is a point where too many dollars is also important. Canadian warranty is usually better and most customers understand what it can mean to spend the money they earn, in this town, not out of town or out of the country. This brings me to one of my personal rants about how our media and Government have misled the consumer into believing that prices should drop in Canada as our dollar is stronger. As I see it, it is not as much about our dollar being strong as it is the U.S. dollar being very weak. Eighteen months ago was the last time I was in England and Europe and guess what, the exchange was almost the same then as it is today. But in the last eighteen months the U.S. dollar has lost 30 per cent of its value against not only the Canadian dollar but also most of the other world currencies. I think I know what is going to happen next, that Panasonic FZ18 camera that now costs Canadians less in Canada, also just went up in cost on the other side of the border. As well as checking industry news every morning I check prices. I think with the weak U.S. dollar we will see prices rise in the U.S.The photo above was taken with the FZ18 during a dinner cruise of the Toronto harbour where I was able to speak with this industry's suppliers about cross border prices and there was the thought that someday, for Canadians,a camera bought at home might not just be better for Canada, but it might cost less too. Bill Wilby

Using the Sigma Sd14 camera has changed something for me. I have started looking more for colours in my photos. The photo above was taken this morning while looking at the blue reflected in the water. When viewing the photo I began to think that the depth of colour I see may have something to do with the colour black, captured with this camera. The third dimension displayed in a two dimensional flat printed photo often is because of the texture defined by its shadow. An example would be the contrast of the dark shadows that can separate the trees from the forest. Also I was just reading the forum titled "Sigma SLR talk" on http://www.dpreview.com/ and someone wrote that this camera has a personality. If using this camera can affect how I feel and think about my photography I would agree. Bill

This photo is taken with the Sigma Sd14 camera, it is for Leif, who would like to see a photo taken in less than Ideal conditions. I will call it Falling leaves. It was in the shade with a long exposure on a tripod. Bill

Euro Prints, our new print size which is very popular in Europe, 41/2x6, seems to be a huge hit for anyone with a camera that shoots in the 4:3 aspect ratio. This includes most compact, rangefinder, and some digital SLR models. Traditional 4x6 prints use the 2:3 aspect ratio, cutting off the top and bottom of the image. This also means that the subject's heads will often get trimmed as well. Our Euro Prints preserve the aspect ratio of the client's camera, resulting in the image being printed as it was intended by the photographer. This is perfect for scrapbookers or people without the need for standard albums, as your pictures feel more like a 5x7 and less like a 4x6. Move your mouse over the image above to see what I mean. Max.

Golla Bags, most of you may never heard of this Finnish company that produces some of the most fun bags we have ever seen. We have some in stock with more coming soon. They have a great web site here is the link.

News Flash, Bob the beaver was sighted this morning just after dawn swimming down stream. In other news people are now using our new web site Foto Depot to upload photos to share with friends by creating albums. These same people sometimes order photos to print, and put them in one of our many new albums to chose from. There are still others who find our new selection of photo frames very exciting and enlarge their photos to display. I might even pick one for a new photo of Bob, if I see him again in better light. The photo above was taken last Sunday when the light was very nice, with my Sigma SD14. Bill