Power protection for your photography equipment

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I was listening to the Typical Mac User Podcast, episode 212, by Victor Cajiao and his guest for the show, George Starcher.  They had a good discussion on the use of uninterpretable power supplies (UPS’s).  Victor explained how he lost a Mackie mixing board due to a power event and he was doing something about it so it wouldn’t happen again with the new one.  They mentioned use them with computer, networking and podcasting equipment but what I didn’t hear was too much about protecting other electronics beyond the home theater gear.  That got me thinking, I already protect a lot of my electronics, home theater stuff, computers, network gear, and my fish tanks with UPS’s and voltage regulators, and I use larger APC devices at work, but how many photographers think beyond the computer gear, external hard drives, and networking equipment and expand the protection to their photography equipment? Read more of this post

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Another day, another rights grabbing photo contest – “The Gerber Generation Photo Search”

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AngerIt seems that lately, these rights grab scams hit my email inbox weekly.  I am so tired of people getting scammed by these companies!

In this particular example, Gerber is asking people to submit photos in a variety of categories, all for the chance to win the monthly prize, a Flip Slide HD video camera and be “featured” on Gerber.com. After 6 months, when Gerber has scammed people out of enough of their treasured photos, there is a small chance to win the “Grand Prize”, consisting of a $25,000 scholarship, and the child gets to “star” in a Gerber ad.  Gee, how much do you think they would have to pay to have that many photos of children, and cast one to star in an ad? Read more of this post

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Disney’s Baby Einstein funny baby photo contest – the “rights grab” that put me over the edge

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I’m really tired of seeing these so-called “photo contests”, which are actually “rights grabs”.  What is a “rights grab” you ask?  I’ll try to explain.

Many companies need photos, photos of everything, from the mouse to the side of your keyboard, the one that scurries past you in the night, the desk in your office, your dog, your family gatherings, your children, you name it, companies need photos to use in advertising, internal publications, newsletters, wherever.  It used to be that a company would either hire a photographer and crew, and get the shot they needed, or, go to a stock agency and buy it.  And now, with micro-stock, buying it is cheaper, but companies don’t even want to pay these lower costs, so, how do they get the photos they need, they run a “contest”. Read more of this post

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