I spent hundreds of dollars the other day on a new digital camera. I'm still learning all the ins and outs of it, but I've been having fun experimenting and playing around with it. It's a mid-level model that kicks ass on quality. It's got most of the manual controls of an SLR, but not the expandability or speed of the high-end digital models.


My first stop was by the Camera Co/op, where the staff was ultra friendly and accomodating. They had me take several pictures with different cameras and then load them onto a computer to see the differences in image quality and resolution. Though I wanted to stay on the low end, I was disappointed with what I can only describe as the noisy, digitally look you get with many such cameras. And I do have designs for screen-based projects such as this in the future, so I knew I'd have to hit the mid range at least.


So I pop over to Precision Camera to see what they've got for more selection. And mostly what they have is rude salespeople. The guy first argued that all digital cameras produce an identical picture quality, which is patently untrue. But then when I questioned this and told him I'd just come from doing a series of side-by-side comparisons, he suddenly had to argue that in fact yes, there are differences in quality. But since he had already staked out the opposite territory, he now found himself having to argue both positions. The more I tried to understand him, the more frustrated he got, and the more confrontational. I swear I wasn't trying to start trouble. He reacted to me as though I were trying to catch him in a lie, which I totally was not. I was just trying to understand what the hell he was recommending. Unfortunately, he had painted himself into such a corner that he couldn't really logically recommend anything.

And then I asked if there were any way I could see sample shots, any way to download pictures and do a side-by-side comparison for myself. Of course there was not. Fine, but then he went so far as to tell me that the time it would take him to set that up wouldn't be worth it to him because he's only getting an $18 commission and can't be bothered. For the love of God! That may well be true, but you don't fucking tell a customer that they're not worth the time it takes to help them.

The highly-skilled and highly-knowledgeable staff at Precision Camera are a lot like auto mechanics. They're hired for their expertise and then they end up resenting the fact that most of their job is actually customer service.

So I high-tailed it across the street to Wolf Camera where Alicia, the sales clerk made it extremely easy to find the right camera. I heartily endorse Wolf Camera. True, their selection is about a third of Precision's, but I don't care. I'm starting at Wolf from now on.

Did a life drawing session tonight that was not bad. Tomorrow, I'll play around with the camera a little more.

current music: Joni Mitchell, For the Roses