About two weeks ago, a camera leaped upon me while I was walking innocently through a large local department store. This store has a Ritz Camera store within it, and I have bought from them had cameras leap upon me before, while walking casually to the exit. As I trade in the store often, and wish to continue doing so, I felt obligated to pay for this camera that was clinging to me like a frightened, screaming toddler.
I’m going to stick to that story, knowing full well that nobody will believe it. The kids won’t. They’ll just laugh and say, “Mom, the camera freak, is at it again. Make sure you lock the bathroom door, or she’ll be in there with you while you’re sitting, trying to see how well the new flash works.” Husband won’t believe it any more than he believed us when Daughter and I came home with a ferret and tried to tell him that a total stranger handed us this cute wee baby while we were stopped at a red light!! (He’s a sharp one, our Pop)
OK so that bullshit is out of the way. For years, I shot 35mm. Way back, I had a nice Pentax set-up, back when I was taking pictures mostly of my own, then young, children. We chose Pentax at that time because 1) we could afford it, 2) fairly decent lenses were available at fairly decent prices, and 3) the camera body was the lightest in its class at that time. Because I expected that my primary photo work would involve following around 3 children for hours at a time, waiting patiently (or not) for the perfect poses to happen naturally, camera weight was a real factor in the decision. Being a skinny little thing all my young years, with wrists like twigs, I was afraid that I couldn’t go the distance with a heavy camera. I expected that much of my work would be done indoors with a flash; when you factored in the weight of a flash unit – which, back in the day, was 3 times the weight of today’s units, it was a valid concern. We went with Pentax, and over the years, I added lenses. It was a great little camera and I still have it.
And then, when they became available, I upgraded to a Pentax that had the auto-focus capability. For me, a picture-taking mommy, taking pictures of fast-moving kids so much, it was quicker and easier. Between the two cameras, I was shooting 35mm for more than 20 years.
When digital cameras came out, Pop got me a little one for Christmas one year. It was on the “lesser” side of the camera scale. As he said, he didn’t know whether or not I’d like that media. Well, it took me about a week or so to realize that this was going to eventually, in the not too distant future, overtake film. I played with the little camera for a few months, then bought a bigger fancier one, and have had several since then. I’ve shot digital exclusively for the last 4 or 5 years, ever since my old film body died. It loused up 3 or 4 rolls of film before I gave up on it. And I figured that any repair it needed would probably cost more than it was worth. So digital was the way to go.
But way back in the bottom of my closet, a good Lowepro bag full of lenses has been lurking, calling to me every now and again, and that damn 300mm lens has been the loudest. And when I read that, due to the difference in the size of the “capture devices” in film and digital cameras, my old 300mm would effectively become a 450mm lens, well, it was about then that all the lenses started screaming at me.
So, about 2 weeks ago, a Pentax K200D attached itself to me, and I’ve practically slept with it ever since!
And yes, that 300mm lens is doing much more than it ever did on a film camera. (Damn thing should have kept its mouth shut while it had it nice and easy back in the closet. Now I’ll be dragging it everywhere)
So, along with a camera purchase at Ritz Camera, you get some freebies. A small photo printer that only prints 4×6″ size. A coupon for some free prints. A photo album. And a pamphlet about their “Ritz University” photography classes, with 18 class coupons. Admittedly, I’m not a complete beginner at this, but there’s always things to learn, and I figured that I might pick up some tips. A few good tips that enhance photo-taking or processing, or save time, used often, can be a really big deal. 18 classes. I was pleased.
So, when I got home, and played with the new toy for quite a bit, I sat and read their pamphlet. And I wasn’t so pleased. 18 coupons each to attend a class, but per the book, there’s only like 7 classes offered. Am I to take quite a few of them several times??? Three of their classes are “camera specific” so because I didn’t buy a Canon or a Nikon, there’s really no point in my bothering with those. While some of their stores offered a class in a lesser Pentax camera, my location does not. Hmmm. I’m starting to get annoyed. There’s an Intro to Digital, but no more listed for this quarter. There’s a Digital Photography I, but it is full and there are no openings until late June? The first class I could sign up for was “Organize, Print and Share” and it was last Saturday.
Off to University
So, on Saturday morning I was in the store 15 minutes early, eager little student that I am. Went upstairs to the area where the class is to be held, and I see a gentleman talking to a member of the department store staff, asking, “Well, when is someone going to be here to teach the class?” My ears picked up on this. And she’s on the phone, calling the Ritz Camera section downstairs, trying to find out what’s going on, because the classroom door is locked. Camera dept sends someone up to pacify some 15-18 people with, “Uh, there’s been a mix-up and the lady that’s supposed to teach the class isn’t here. We’re trying to get someone in, if you’d like to wait.” Ugh. One guy had just driven almost 90 minutes, another couple had come an hour. We decided to wait. I decided to wait upstairs in the Service/Gift Wrap area, where I was less likely to buy things. It was one of the few times that I did NOT have a bag of knitting with me. Finally, almost an hour late, a lady shows up, apologies all around for the mix-up.
We are all herded into a very small room, a very warm room. In one corner is a small monitor/TV and a player of some sort. And the lady starts what appears to be a slide show. The word “Organize” briefly shows on the screen, then it disappears. Blank screen. Then it clicks through the next 14 slides, then back 10 or so, then it locks up. The “teacher” says, “Oh, this always happens,” as she fumbles around with the remote, pushing many buttons, making me feel like I’m home with the husband. (When things like this happen, its usually because of one of two causes. Either a) the equipment doesn’t work right and needs to be replaced/repaired, or b) the operator doesn’t remember how to use it and needs to be retrained. Neither one looked likely. Must admit, though, that after about 20 minutes or so, she did get the hang of it, and from then on, the slide show part went well.
So. Organize.
Our class was a diverse group. There were some younger ones in there that were raised with a computer in their bedrooms, and are as familiar with its innards as we are with ball-point pens. There were a few of us “middle aged” ones. There were a few that clearly had quite a few years on me. Several that had little or NO computer familiarity at all. So, per the slides and the instructor, we are told to use Explorer, My Docs, My Pics, right-click and make a folder for downloads. This was said in about 4 minutes while the screen clicked thru a progression of the steps. The screen is maybe 27″ and at least 10 feet from the ones in the front, closer to 20″ to the ones in the back. No one can read what’s on the screen since we went past the big “ORGANIZE” title page. Several tried to take notes, but gave up. Rather than fall asleep and risk falling out of my chair, I started looking around. As I suspected, the younger ones were showing signs of boredom. So far, any of them could have taught the class, I’m sure. Sadly, the older ones and the ones that indicated they are not skilled on a computer, are starting to look a bit lost. By the time the teacher went through downloading, dragging, dropping, right-clicking and deleting files, the older ones were looking glassy-eyed. One couple had a brand new beautiful 8mp Nikon point and shoot, and had a stunned and fearful expression. The camera was in front of them on the table and they were looking at it like it was some sort of demon, a money-sucking demon that they probably wish they hadn’t bought. New-fangled damn stuff. We were told to make a folder for downloads, and then to empty it out by dragging the files to folders of our choice. We could do it any way we wanted. Duh. IMHO, this part of the class was a waste. I felt bad for the older folks.
So. Print.
I thought – printers, they sell printers there. I’ll get some tips on printing, getting the files sizes best for what the printer needs, maybe something about getting the colors right. Uh, no. We were told of all the wonderful printing services that Ritz Camera offers, all the different size prints that can be done in-house and all the larger ones that have to be sent out. Photo albums can be designed at their terminals, cups, books, glossy, matte, blankets, I supposed you can have a picture of the grandchildren turned into a tattoo and then needled into your ass. There was no teaching, no learning. It was an advertisement for Ritz Printing Services.
So. Share
Use a program, provided by Ritz of course that will attach and downsize the file, when you want to send a picture. Thanks.
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I guess you can tell that I wasn’t that impressed with this class. I learned nothing from it.
But Mom always said to say something nice, so here goes:
The entire classroom program followed the prepared slide-show presentation which was designed by Ritz Camera, not by the lady who delivered it. She clearly was not the regular teacher, which explains her unfamilarity with the schedule or the equipment, located in the department store’s training room. It did not appear to be provided by Ritz Camera. (I’d like to think that they would have done better, equipment-wise, given the chance)
The Organize section was poor. Your choices were Bored or Confused. It was far too much, too basic, for anyone with computer skills, and went far too fast for anyone who really needed to learn this stuff. I still feel bad for that one couple with the Nikon. They had bought the camera very recently and were on their way to some sort of religious event (baptism, confirmation?) of a grandchild. I’ll bet those pictures, if any were taken, are still inside the camera, and they haven’t a clue how to get them out. Must also say that the instructor, sensing their complete confusion, offered to come to their home to help them. Now that’s going “above and beyond.”
After the class, I spoke to the instructer. I had a few questions, and she was able to answer them quickly; she clearly knew her stuff.
I had brought in a CD with picture files on it, as I was told to do, although it was never used or needed in the class. Afterwards, I went down to their picture-making computers and ordered matte prints of 13 files. There were ready shortly after and were beautifully done.
I’m going to try one more class. I hope some of the others are better than this one was. Gas prices what they are, it wasn’t worth the gas I burned on the 5 minute drive to the mall. And going to the mall, I always risk causing serious financial hardships.
