New Olympus EP-L2

We got a shipment of the new Olympus EP-L2 cameras in, charged up the battery, and took some test shots. It's a good thing we got them when we did-- our Philly locations are all closed because of their foul weather, while up here in Buffalo we're basking in our sunny 29-degree weather. (Isn't it funny how in the depths of January 32 degrees seems so eerily warm?)

Here's a pair of test shots. The subject is a pointsettia plant gifted to the Transit Rd store for the 2009 season, which has survived over a full year and is, somewhat tardily, slowly starting to bloom again. (Did you know those things were perennials? I did! I've been feeding it coffee. Yes really. If it dies, we have nothing to take pictures of.)
Both shot in JPG, high quality, on the P setting. (By my lovely and talented associate Sarah.)
EP-L1:


Compared with the EP-L2:


The EP-L2 is redesigned, with a moderately smaller body and a significantly smaller lens. It's still a kit 14-40, but it's much smaller and smoother in operation. It focuses faster, too.
Sarah preferred the EP-L1 still; its in-camera image processing gives a sharper, more vividly-colored image, while the 2 yielded a softer, brighter picture in identical settings. But we haven't tried out the video or subjected it to any kind of rigorous testing yet, so the jury's still out. (We can't video a pointsettia plant. It's really not very interesting. The only thing interesting about Transit Rd. is the traffic, and we're not going to go play in traffic for your amusement!)

The best thing to do is to come down to one of our Buffalo stores, which are open because we have nice weather, and check it out for yourself!

Winter Blues

Chase away the winter blues with a little continuing education! We have new class schedules posted on the website-- remember, we've got separate schedules for the Transit and Delaware locations, so you don't get confused and show up at the wrong time.
We've also begun offering classes in our Pennsylvania locations, for those loyal Jack's Cameras customers!
We're continuing the basic classes, one each for compact and DSLR cameras, and offering those about once weekly. But we're expanding the advanced offerings. There's one on Understanding Lenses, which gives DSLR users really practical insights into which of the bewildering array of available lenses is most likely to meet their needs. There's one on Amateur Sports, which are a popular genre of photography and one of the most challenging you can take up. And there's one called "You've Got Your Pictures, Now What?" that deals with the perennial question of what on earth to do once you've mastered the use of your camera.

Here in Buffalo we're dealing with the perfectly normal weather one expects this kind of year. Thing is, after the holidays, we're all pretty ready for the winter to be over! February is always the longest month, despite having fewer days than most. One thing we did at both Buffalo stores was the "Two Minute Challenge," where each employee was handed the same camera and given two minutes to go outside and take the best picture they could. We haven't judged it yet, but that'll be a fun pastime-- see how different everyone's take on our mundane surroundings is.
I think I got the best one-- tire tracks in the snow-- but Jeff managed to get an action shot of a squirrel, so... It's some proof that winter can be beautiful. We'll see how the voting goes! And I'll be sure to put the pics up here, or maybe on Facebook, when we're done.

The Myth Of "Great Deals"

One of my friends, along with many many others this holiday season, has engaged me at great length in conversations about cameras, asking my advice, only to turn around and make a purchase somewhere else. I needled him about this, I thought rather justifiably; I'm spending all this time advising you on cameras, and I know you're going to come to me with it later asking more about how to use it, so why don't you buy it from me?
And this person said, and I quote, "Small shops can't compete with online prices."

Needless to say, this isn't a friend I'm speaking to currently (let him figure out how to use his camera on his own first, then we can make up), but if someone who I considered a friend felt able to say this to me, then the rest of you (most of whom don't know me; hi, I'm Bridget, I work at Store 406 on Transit Rd) are all thinking it. Customers coming into the store have said things like "I'd rather spend a little extra and know I can get the camera looked at if I have questions!"

But it's not true. We sell online. We sell online competitively. Most of our prices are the minimum advertised price set by the manufacturer and adhered to by every one of their licensed dealers. Yes, that means Best Buy. Yes, that means Wal-Mart. Yes, that means Amazon. (We sell on Amazon. The link's to the right of this page.)

The camera he bought, we had for $50 cheaper, in store, no shipping. We also had a better deal on a memory card to go with it.

So our prices aren't any higher. Where this idea comes from, I don't know.

If you find it for a better price online, print out the page showing it in the shopping cart at that price. Then go to Google and type in the shop name, and look for Reseller Ratings.com. That's what we do, in the store. If it turns out the shop in question really is on the up-and-up, then bring the page in to us, and we'll match the price. I promise you, about 19 times out of 20, if the price is really really good, it's because you're not actually going to get what you think you're going to get. There are a million and one scams on the Internet, and even more of them this time of year. If it's good, we'll match it! If it's not good, then we can't afford to match it, because we're not going to sell you the wrong camera or give you an illegally imported gray-market no-warranty camera or take the included charger and battery out of the box and sell them to you separately or insist you buy some shady "extended warranty" or we'll cancel the sale, or any of those things that make those "incredible online deals" worth exactly what you pay for them.

So really. You trust us for camera advice. Trust us to sell you your cameras. Or we won't be here indefinitely to keep answering your questions.


And if you did buy a camera somewhere else after benefitting from all our advice and expertise, c'mon. Buy a camera class or get your pictures developed here. Support a local business; reward those who try harder to serve you; keep the knowledge base local.

Whew!

So we survived Black Friday. Still holding strong with lots of stock in many items, including a new shipment of memory cards and batteries that came in midday yesterday. We're running a bit low on a couple of colors of some cameras, but Nikon USA has assured us that stocks are good and whatever we order now ought to be in before Christmas. So if you want to get the super-low Black Friday prices on some of these hot items, give us a prepaid order so we can get it in to Nikon before the cutoff date, and you'll get your gifts in time for the holidays.
We've got a lot of good deals left, though, and tons of whatever you're looking for in stock.
So avoid the big-box stores-- don't get trampled, don't get stuck in a line for an hour only to realize it's the bathroom, not the checkout, and as a huge side bonus, get actual intelligent answers to your questions, from real live human beings. Come give us a shot.
Apparently some people are calling it Small Business Saturday, to follow Black Friday-- come support a small local business.
And for those of you who stopped by yesterday, thank you!

Your Win!

We were a little surprised to discover this morning that the Buffalo News ran our Black Friday ad yesterday. We had a Pre-Black-Friday ad all ready to go, via our agreement with Nikon, but when we opened the paper, there was next week's ad!
We don't really mind, we're honoring the prices, but it's a bit confusing, and now we're a little bit worried we'll run out of cameras. Still and all, that'd be a nice problem to have. (We can always special order whatever you want, if we run out!)
We are stocked up and ready with everything you want for the holidays. And at the lowest prices of the season, ahead of schedule. So we're just gonna give you a little piece of advice-- don't wait, come in now.

Where Do You Go To Take Pictures?

This morning we got a call at the Transit Rd. location. The caller on the line wanted to know where in the area she should go to take pictures.
We hemmed and hawed and suggested a few scenic local areas, but were a little taken off-guard by the question. Someone looked us up in a phone book to ask where to take pictures in the Buffalo area? Why would you call a camera store with a question like that?

But actually, it's a really good idea. All of Delaware Camera's employees are avid photographers, to one degree or another. All of us take pictures all the time. Even if at this busy time of year we only have time for the pictures we take to show customers how to use cameras, we still do it daily, and most of us do even more than that. A few of us have side businesses, doing weddings or portraits. Some of us tinker with old film cameras. Some of us love to photograph sports. Some of us are art students whose cameras live in our school bags and go with us everywhere. All of us, given a day off and no other obligations, are highly likely to grab the camera bag and head somewhere pretty. There's not a lot of downtime at this time of year, in the retail sector, so most of us are only going to be taking photos of the inside of the store until after the holidays are over, but at least we're taking photos.

And this is why we can help you with your photography questions. You may get different answers from different employees, because photography is a highly individual pastime, but we all are passionately interested in photography, and handle cameras and photographs every day.

So I'm sure we all have our suggestions of where we'd go shoot, if we had a nice camera and a day off.
Where is YOUR favorite local place to take pictures?

Leave us some suggestions here in the comments or on our Facebook page, or @ us on Twitter!

The Most Important Thing About A Camera

No camera is a good camera if you don't know how to use it. It doesn't matter whether you have a high-end pro camera that cost more than your car, or are trying to document your family's life with the built-in camera in your cellphone. It doesn't matter what it is or is not innately capable of-- if you don't know how to make it take good pictures, it's not a good camera for you. Because the point of the exercise is to take pictures, not just to impress the Internet with your tech specs or indie cred.

Here at Delaware Camera we get a lot of questions about how to take pictures. Because, as it turns out, the other stores that sell cameras around here tend not to have employees who actually can explain to you how to take pictures. And as for the Internet, well, it's full of people who are pretty sure they know how to do everything there is, but when it comes down to actually figuring out how you can take the pictures you want with your camera... Predictably, as it turns out, while they know an awful lot, they tend to fall short there.

So with that in mind we've started offering classes again. Since we know how to take pictures, and you want to take pictures, it's the most efficient way to make that connection happen. Come in to one of our stores and see what time slots are available, and sign up. (Times are listed on the website-- Delaware Ave location here, Transit Rd location here, but the signups are managed in stores so that no one session will be too crowded.)

What classes are we currently offering?

Intro To Basic Digital Photography

So you have a digital camera, and it turns out it’s pretty complicated, even frustrating to use. Don’t worry, the fantastic pictures you’re looking for are within your reach! Come to our introductory class, where we’ll review the basic principles of photography, and cut through the confusion of today’s sophisticated digital cameras to give you the simple, basic knowledge you need to take great pictures.

Digital SLR Basics

There’s no substitute for an SLR when it comes to picture quality and total control over your images. Problem is, if you don’t know how to take that control, you don’t get the results you want. This class helps you move that dial off of Auto mode and start to take advantages of all the power and control your digital SLR offers you, so you can realize the potential of your SLR camera and get the best possible pictures.

Understanding Lenses

Cameras with interchangeable lenses offer unparalleled control. But there is a bewildering and expensive array of lenses available. Get a solid overview of how lenses work, what different types of lenses are available, and most importantly, how to choose lenses that will allow you to take the kind of photographs you’ve always wanted to take with this intermediate-level class.

Let us know if there are other classes you'd like to see!! We've had requests for a class on taking better pictures with a cameraphone, but the boss doesn't believe us. So if you really want something like that, drop us a line so we can prove it. We've got all kinds of ideas in the works for new classes, so watch this space. But in the meantime, start off with one of the basics-- it's knowledge you can use now, and most importantly, since the class sizes are small, you can ask a real live human your questions, and get intelligent answers.