Posts Tagged ‘buying guide’
Sunday, October 28th, 2007
Which camera is right for me? Do your research at dpeview.com.
DPReview.com is probably the most visited photography website on the internet. Its vast library of articles includes unbiased and comprehensive reviews of the cameras, as well as previews of models yet to be shipped from their manufacturers, and active forums for specific cameras where owners can discuss the problems or features they have encountered. If you’re interested in buying a digital camera but are having a hard time choosing a model, or if you have run into trouble with your current camera, this is a fabulous website to do research on.
The reviews at dpreview.com touch on everything you need to know to decide on the right camera for you. This includes a walkthrough of how each camera works, objective appraisals of how well and quickly the cameras perform, photographic tests comparing the images taken by each camera with images taken by its major competitors, and complete spec sheets. Along with all the data are numerous illustrations, pictures taken by the camera under controlled conditions and pictures of the camera body itself from all angles.
The reviews are very thoughtful. Each has a conclusion with a list of pros and cons and some very illuminating notes on what makes the camera being reviewed a good or bad choice. Since some cameras are better in different situations, suggestions are often given about other models similar to the one under review.
All in all, I think the website is the best way to make a confident choice about what can be a very expensive purchase. You will be less likely to feel any buyer’s remorse over your new camera purchase if you spend some time reading the articles at dpreview. What’s more, you’ll be vasly more knowledgeable about how to operate your new camera once you get it. So if you don’t mind spending the time and do like knowing your stuff, this is the site for you.
http://www.dpreview.com/
If you use dpreview, you should be aware that there are two major types of articles. The larger (and probably more numerous) are the reviews discussed above. There are also “previews” for cameras that have only been announced by their manufacturers. The previews should not be confused with the reviews, because the information in them is provided by the manufacturer itself. No unbiased opinions based on hands-on experience are yet given because the camera has yet to have been made available to the website’s authors. So if you are thinking of buying a cutting edge new camera, I would recommend waiting until a full review has been posted at dpreview, rather than basing your purchase solely on the promises made in one of the previews.
Permanent link to this post (454 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)
Tags: buying guide
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Friday, October 26th, 2007
Why pay full price for software?…the magic of Educational Discounts
I suppose there are many of you who don’t have any moral compunction about simply downloading copies of commercial software from bitTorrents or file sharing services. Those people might as well stop reading now. For those who actually feel like they should pay for their software, but who find the costs of the product they want a little overwhelming, I have a suggestion.
Take a class. I recently bought the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection, which includes the full versions of all of Adobe’s flagship software, including Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Flash, Premiere, and After Effects. The Suite retails for $2,500. That was a little pricey for my sensibilities. On the other hand, I do like to be able to look myself in the mirror and not see a pirate, so I didn’t want to get a free, hacked copy of the software online. My solution came through my desire to learn how to play the guitar.
I enrolled some time ago at Santa Monica College, an accredited 2-year public community college. For three semesters now, I have been taking a 3-credit hour guitar class. The total cost of each semester for me is only about $80. The major bonus, I have discovered, is that SMC supplied me with a lovely student ID card with my name and photo on it, and a sticker on the back showing that it was current. With that card, I was able to visit an online software purveyor (in this case, Provantage Personal Computer Products had the best price among the reputable store listings) and order my software at the Educational Discount rate. I just needed to e-mail them a scanned image of my ID card to prove I qualified.
Adobe, probably in order to increase their corporate sales, gives massive discounts to student and teachers (or anyone with accredited educational credentials), hoping that the students will grow up to use (and demand) the same software packages in the workplace. Many other companies use the same strategy.
As a result, my Adobe CS3 Master Collection cost a whopping 3/5 less than the normal retail price. Spend $80 on a class to save $1,500 on software? Sounds like a good idea to me. There is no difference between the student discount version of the software and the regular price version. So for you artists out there who need Photoshop, but don’t want to steal it, maybe it’s time you went back to school. If you are currently in school, buy your software now.
Some shops I’ve used for the educational discount:
http://www.creationengine.com
http://www.provantage.com
For price comparisons:
http://shopper.cnet.com
And to make sure the shop you intend to buy from is on the up and up:
http://www.resellerratings.com
Permanent link to this post (461 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)
Tags: buying guide
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Wednesday, October 24th, 2007
You ever notice that little box for a “coupon code”?
I have done a lot of online purchasing in my time. In fact, I’m at the point now where I would prefer to buy something through the web than to go to a brick and mortar shop simply because the prices are so much better and the options are far more numerous.
Something I notice very often during online checkout procedures is a little form box for a “coupon code” or something similar. Many websites offer discounts to customers from specific companies or organizations, and the means by which those customers claim the discounts is through these codes. The retailer simply sends an e-mail to the organization with the code in it, and then the organization disseminates it to its members however it sees fit.
RetailMeNot.com (http://www.retailmenot.com) is a website that collects such codes. If, for example, you were interested in making a purchase from Amazon, and you noticed that there was a place in the checkout pages for you to enter a coupon code, you could first visit RetailMeNot. On the RetailMeNot home page, you could type “amazon.com” into the search box. You would immediately be given a list of codes to type into the coupon form on Amazon, along with explanations of the sort of deal each code would give you, as well as details about what products it applies to.
I’ve already made use of RetailMeNot to get free temporary subscriptions to some websites, as well as discounts on purchases I have made at others. Not every code works (sometimes they’re just too old, and the offer has already expired), but for a few dollars in savings, isn’t it worth having a look-see?
Permanent link to this post (287 words, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)
Tags: buying guide
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Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
Where to buy your next camera or camcorder:
B&H Photo/Video
Every now and then someone asks me for advice on buying a camera or some other device or equipment for making art. I usually don’t flat out recommend one brand or product line over any other, because I think that different companies make better products depending on the specific needs of any particular consumer. So for some people, I might recommend a nice Canon Digital Rebel, where for others I might suggest a Panasonic FZ-50 or something else. It all depends on what they are going to use it for.
On the other hand, not all retailers are created equal. Buying cameras and camcorders can be a harrowing experience. You can go to your local Best Buy (or your local equivalent electronics shop), of course, and just slap down a huge pile of money on whatever device that the poorly informed, 19-year-old salesperson is trying to pass off on you. They’ll try to convince you to buy an extended warranty for your device that you will almost certainly never use, and that might not even coven your purchase if the thing does manage to break. I would not recommend this approach. You’re too prone to spend twice as much money as you should, and end up with a device you don’t really even like that much.
You can go to CNET (http://www.cnet.com) and look at some nice reviews of comparable products of the sort you want. The reviews might be a little skewed by the fact that CNET gets its sample devices donated by the manufacturer, and has to be kinda nice in what it says lest the manufacturer decide to stop sending samples. Nevertheless, it’s a good starting point. What’s more, once you choose the item you want, you can use CNET Shopper to hunt through all the various online stores that carry it, and find the very lowest price available.
Now this is where you might get into trouble. Some online stores are scams. Some of them sell “gray market” material, meaning that the camera you buy from them will be come in unofficial packaging, without a manual, and without a manufacturer’s warranty. If there is a problem with it, getting the store to replace it or refund your money could prove virtually impossible.
Other less seemly outfits will pull a “bait and switch” on you. You’ll visit their website, see the item you want for about 2/3 the cost you saw it at Best Buy, and you’ll click the buy now button and give them your credit card number. Instead of getting an e-mail with your tracking number the next day, as you would expect, you get a phone call. The person on the other end tells you that your order is being processed, and then asks you if you would like to add any accessories to it. The try to sell you a five-year extended warranty, extra batteries, a bag, straps, cleaning gear, etc…all at what sounds like reasonable prices. If you agree, well…fine, your order will ship, and hopefully it won’t be gray market. If you politely decline and ask that they just ship your camera, they may tell you then and there that they are afraid it isn’t in stock and it will be on back-order for a couple of weeks. The couple of weeks will stretch to months, at which point you will realize that the reason the price for the item was so low was that they needed to get you to buy all that extra stuff to turn any profit. In other words, your camera will be on backorder until you buy some accessories. The bait you with the low price, then switch to a different deal where you spend enough money to make it worth their while. Read more...
Continue reading the full text of
Geek/artist buying guide Part 1: B&H Photo/Video.
(1150 words, estimated 4:36 mins reading time)
Tags: buying guide
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