Photo Booth?
As those who have been reading these posts know I have been working on setting up a small studio in my apartment. I think I finally have the wireless flash working as this gallery of 10 shots went off without a miss.
In looking at them, I am reminded of those Photo Booths of my youth. The ones you put a quarter in and it took a series of shots of yourself. Of course, those had a mirror so you could see yourself before each shot, while with these I only approximately knew where to stand to be in the picture. I do emphasize that these were test shots to check out the flash triggering, I had no idea of how I would look as I mugged for the camera. I did notice that the background light was spilling on to me and partially fixed that between the fifth and sixth frames (I need to get a short stand because the one I have sets the flash at about head level. These photos are all as they came from the camera.
As it is it looks like 30 minutes will convert the bedroom into a studio including moving the bed and leaning it against a wall. I am pleased with how things are coming along with this. Soon I will have to co-op a model so I can see what is going on before tripping the shutter.
eBay Woes
As I mentioned I have a problem with the seller of the studio flash trigger that would not trigger my studio flash. Somehow that seller besides not giving me a full refund has caused the sale to show as not paid. Seems to know all the tricks, has multiple ID’s, so even if caught she will still be in business. This on in in the hands of eBay right now, how it will end I do not know.
Next I grab what seeme like a bargain via the BIN. $35 for a “like brand new” 16″ 5W refector for the Norman.
In small photo it looks a lot better than it does to the eye.
Ditto
She said yes it is not as described. But that it is just like it came form Norman (I received a new reflector from Adorama that same day which showed that for the lie it was), etcetera. Since I got beat by the previous, seller I asked that this one refund my entire cost before I return the reflector. To which she replied I was trying to cheat her. Guess she figures I am just like her, huh?
And just to prove I never learn, I just bought another LH500 flash head from another seller. I then start to worry although I have no reason to think this seller is anything but honest. It is just that when I used to buy and sell photography stuff quite a bit a few years back, I never had these problems. An occasional slow pay, an occasional minor discrepancy that was quickly set to rights to both of our satisfaction. It seems like eBay has changed a lot.
Maybe it in no longer a place for us mere mortals to be. The only problem is that without eBay I could not buy most of the stuff I want because they no longer sell it in this town.
ADDED LATER:
I have been thinking about this ebay purchase gone sore. The seller had real good feedback, but no selling feedback for over six months. So I am now thinking that maybe she has been ill. That might explain a lot. But just to make it clear this deal looks like this
Item not as described (seller: 10 out of 10. me: 5 out of 10)
Extremely poor packing (actually just tossed lose in a big box)
Lies in emails
Name calling (Calls me a thief that is trying to cheat her)
She did ship promptly however (1 + out of 5)
In fact, I think this is the worst eBay transaction I have ever been in. The problem is she does not come across like a scam artist, I have dealt with a couple of them, she comes across like a mentally ill person.
I know, you are thinking why does he natter on about this, give her a negative and file an item not as described dispute with eBay/PayPal; or just file a dispute with Visa. Sigh, I try to be fair, and half the time that winds up being unfair to myself. I guess I will give here a week to decide to do right. Then, if she has not, I need to make a decision myself.
Misc!!!
Well, a week has snuck by, and I have accomplished nothing.
I sent the radio slave back; the seller is charging me a $5 restocking fee despite the fact that he listed it as a studio flash trigger but it will not trigger my studio flash. I did experiment a bit with one of my old Wein photo cell slaves. Conclusions: A. it is hard to light yourself with a multi-head setup as you can not be too sure just where the heads are pointing. Oh, you can get a gross aim, but delicate feathering is neigh impossible. B. I wish my old Sekonic L-308B flashmeter had not diied.
A friend gave me an old laptop computer. I have been tinkering with it; dead hard drive, dead battery, WiFi not working. I used the drive out of my USB backup box temporarily. Loaded XP-Home from the recovery CD’s. Bad mistake, that! Finally I reformanted and loaded XP-Pro SP3, and the thing now works on AC but needs some drivers downloaded yet. That ate up a few hours.
I have been reading a fat book. Oh, it is crap military sci-fi, but it also has been eating hours.
Then there was dealing with a problem in the apartment complex; that wound up with us having to call the sheriff’s department. I do not know how that is going to resolve out. Personally, I would like the problem to just go away. But you know how the kind of people that will not listen are.
So while I have been doing things, I do not feel like I have been accomplishing much except overeating.