If you have read my previous post this photo will make more sense. The photo was taken on our last trip to Europe in Bruge Belgium. I was reminded of this photo last summer while helping a family from France with their travel photos of western Canada. They also had a photo of a display of treats taken in one of our North American super stores. Most likely they were on sale. I asked her why and told her of the above photo. She struggled to find the right English words for me but in the end I understood. Her description,"play dough" made me smile. The treats and I cup of coffee that morning in Bruge, I can't remember what they cost but I can sure remember the taste.

In an earlier post I mentioned that I had been thinking of pricing. These thoughts have more to do with my 25 years of retail experience than photography. I don't want this to sound like a rant, but here goes. There is that old saying you get what you pay for. I think it applies more today than ever before. I think the trend in retailing for the lowest price being the most important part of buying something has had its effect. I don't think it is by accident that most things purchased today are from an underpaid sales clerk with no product knowledge and training. The product you buy may not be the right one for what you need, and it may not last very long. It's more important to come back and buy again and again. How many coffee pots does a person buy in a life time? I think most consumers today are under sold. For a sales person this may mean the person could have been sold something that cost more with more profit. It also means they were not sold what they really needed, will be unhappy with the purchase, and did not get value for their money. Do you think the box store or that on-line store that gives you a less than satisfying sales experience, with the lowest price cares? I don't think so, they only care if you come back soon for more of the same, good deals for things you may not need. And the money we save, another old saying, there is no free lunch. Because we have been convinced that we have to pay the lowest price, we drive for hours, we pay to ship things around the world, we put our neighbour out of work and we fill our landfills with waste. As a sales person I see my job as helping people make good buying decisions. To do this I need product knowledge, I need to understand my customers needs, I need to find ways to make the buying experience pleasant. I also need the support from my suppliers and I need quality products. As a consumer I am willing to pay more than the lowest price to get the best value. As a sales person providing good value can be challenging. I address this challenge with my passion for photography and sales. My reward is the feeling one gets when a job is well done and the smiles I receive from happy customers.
With that I am going to hop down off my soap box and hope this is something you may think about when someone tells you they just paid the lowest price. Bill Wilby

Nikon D300, today Nikon announced they are increasing production of this camera to 70,000 per month. I also noticed most stores are taking orders. We have them in stock and will ship anywhere, maybe even deliver if it is somewhere warm. Bill P.S. with that in mind we will be in Italy the last two weeks in Feb. field testing ? camera

I have been learning how to test for back and front focusing in SLRs. I have decided to do this as well as checking for dust on the sensor when selling a SLR. I also upgrade the cameras firm ware. For those of you using a DSLR you will understand how important this can be. Checking for dust is easy enough, cleaning it if there is some a little harder. After finding two new out of the box SLR's with dust I think this is a important thing to do. Checking focus required a good camera stand with precise alignment to feel confident in the test results. I had my friend John the machinist build the stand you see in the photo and it works wonderfull. I have more to learn but I have got past the feeling I have opened a can of worms and this will be a usefull tool. Bill

This is the longest print we have made here at Contact Photo Arts. It is 2.15 meters long, printed on canvas, and stretched on a frame. Stu Brown with me in the photo is the photographer and made the 190 degree composite. Max was the printer who was able to convince our Epson that it could make a print that long. Shelly from Framing Solutions stretched it on a frame that Stu made. Me, I stood around and watched and posed for the photo op. Maybe I should be in politics. The photo was taken at Jewel Lake B.C. The printed canvas is now hanging on a wall in Calgary. Here is a link to Stu's web site. http://bcscenicwonder.com/

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