I'm Brand New Out of the Box

scooter339 said:
Are the Phantoms as a rule "rugged"?

In your area, has the flying camera business been a big growth factor for your established photography business?

Just an aside, I really miss the days when Kodachrome 32 and Exktachrome 64 were the bedrock media and a Nikon with three lenses could get you started. Wait, that's about the same cost as a fully loaded Phantom, right? Oh, I forgot processing and lighting. I guess that's about three Phantoms.

Surprisingly rugged. Many of us have survived one or more crashes that looked horrible with no more damage than a few scratches on the shell. However, the right unfortunate combination of unwanted physics can still destroy even the toughest casing.

The growth of this business in my area seems to be completely dependent on how much time I have to put in to it lol. Which hasn't been very much so far to be honest. For me, the demand is already almost at the limit of what I can supply in my free time, but I'm not quite ready to give up the security of the "day job" completely to focus 100% on this. Looks like that day may be coming soon though.

We may need to create a separate forum section if we want to start waxing nostalgic about the good ol days of film :D I also fondly remember when you had to perfect the shot at the time it was taken, and you had no way of knowing for sure if you did or not until you went in the darkroom or the proofs arrived. When I first started and for many years after I used a basic Nikon FM2 body, which was dirt-simple but built like a tank. I can clearly recall more than one occasion where I accidentally jammed my finger clear through the shutter while reloading, and was able to just pop it back in place and keep right on shooting.
 
Sorry man, I do not miss Kodachrome or Exktachrome at all...pain in the butt. No tolerance for exposure...hated loading those 4x5 film backs...and the whole nine yards...I did it for 35+ years in my studio business before retirement 3 years ago. I love digital and as I mentioned before I was one of the first pro studios in Va. that went total digital in the year 2000. All the old farts in the VPPA assoc. said that they would never go to digital.....they all were out of business within the next 5 years. In the old days you had to either retouch a portrait on the negative with brush and dyes or the print with a mat tooth spray and colored pencils....pain in the ***...plus the time it took to do it right. I have gotten back into photography again on a limited part time basis and put a full studio and sound stage in my double car garage. Yes, you are looking at major bucks when you add all the strobe lighting, backgrounds, and background systems...to do it right is is around 10 grand... that is a few phantoms! I did design the studio where I could get my car in there when there are no shoots booked..thank god with all the snow and cold weather we have had. Nice to go down stairs on a sub zero day and get into a semi-warm vehicle.

I'm with you on the analog torture chamber. I still miss the quality and warmth of film, but reserve that for going to the movies. I'm now just starting to get dangerous with iMovie. Imagine a client talking about their widget in front of a green screen you can build in your garage that shows their arial footage behind them.
 
Yes, iMovie is a good place to start for editing purposes. Mine crashed last week on a smaller project....goes to blank screen...trashed it and uploaded software again....same problem... so I just use my Final Cut Pro X software, which I like very much. Dissolves are more smoother and consistent without skip framing. iMovie is great, just keep playing around and doing and edit on everything you shoot. Caution: Video takes a lot of computer space...just keep a check on your hard drive free space or run it on and external hard drive....they are cheap as dirt now!
 

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