Almost every month Advance Camera offers a free workshop at the West Slope Community library, located just a mile down the road from Advance. The presentation is called and is based on “What you need to know about digital cameras.” This class covers topics that can be applied to both compact and D-SLR digital cameras, such as shutter speeds, F/stop’s, ISO, flash and composure.

In order to sign-up for this class, you must stop by or call the West Slope Library. The classroom can accommodate up to 25 people, but tends to fill up fast, so call and get on the list today!

You can find the West Slope Community Library on Facebook or on the world wide web.

The bargain table is hibernating for the winter, but will be back outside next spring. This will give us time to replenish with more goodies. Stay tuned…

Mark Fitzgerald, a local in the Portland area presented his new book “Photoshop CS3 Restoration & Retouching” to the local members of PMPA (Portland Metropolitan Photographers Association). The presentation consisted of him at a table with his computer explaining to all the ins and outs of what the book consists of. I don’t claim to have read many Photoshop books, but because I’ve been in the photo industry for quite some time, I’ve seen my fair share and this one is the best reference tool I am yet to run across. Hear is my take…

I have been a Photoshop user for a couple of years, but tend to only edit the obvious such as exposure, color balance, maybe the contrast and/or sharpness and then I’m done. It wasn’t until recently that I have been using various layers to enhance my images and im finding that I still lack confidence with the abundance of tools and options CS3 has to offer. I relate these inadequacies to sporadic practice. Like anything, practice makes perfect, and if you don’t use it… you loose it. Since Photoshop isn’t my full time job, I find that I forget minor details more often than not. This is where “The Photoshop Bible,” comes in as an amazing resource. First of all the table of contents is written very well. Being able to look up a specific tool or scenario, fast (portraiture, architecture) is vital to a 500 page book of information. This book is relatively new to me and I have already used it several times as reference and I’m happy I did. Each time I have used the book, I start by scanning the index, after finding the page and reading into it I always find additional information that helps me perform the task more effectively. I also find that his dialogue makes for an easy read that’s comprehendible the first time read.

I would recommend this book to anyone serious about Photoshop, who doesn’t have the time to continually practice and learn the new tricks because Mark makes it easy! It’s easy to find what your looking for and it’s easy to read, understand and perform what the author says! If your interested in checking out this book or buying a copy you can check it out at Advance Camera (the cost is $40).

Mark showing off his Adobe Certified skills…

The Sportsman show is an event where hunters, fisherman and anglers come to congregate to look at the latest equipment as well as buy product at the right price. This is also a place where many may not expect to see a local camera store, but for the last 4 years Advance Camera continues to grow with the support of the locals and the vendors whom contribute.

This year Advance Camera brought two new product lines to the show which were quite successful. Zen-Ray, a locally based company in Beaverton that makes high end, low cost binoculars and accessories helped us bring in a large amount of there product, which sold beyond what we had predicted. This start up company is new to the industry and currently only has an online presence. However, that is changing, since they are locally owned, they are able to drive there product over, rather than ship it which means you can come into Advance Camera to see and or purchase Zen-Ray products. In addition to there nitrogen filled 8X42’s (water proof, fog proof, phase coated) binoculars that start around $150. To my knowledge there is no vendor on the market that has this much product, at this price point, which is why we sell them. Though, there is no question that this year, the digital camera spotting scope adapter was the most popular item! We sold out with two days left in the show (Saturday and Sunday). Next year, this wont happen.

Samsung also contributed generously, though we did not sell as many digital cameras as binoculars, they had great show presence and better support from the local rep Ken Long, whom is seen in the picture below. This next year will be significantly better for them as there product line has increased, the price points have dropped below there competitors and there new innovations set them apart from all the other manufacturers.

Below are a couple pictures of this years Oregon Sportsman Show. If you have any questions, or want to see any of these new products, please stop by the store, call or shoot us an email. To contact us, go to…
advancecamera.com

Steve and myself (Jordan) showing off our booth, with product all around.

Both the Zen-Ray rep and the Samsung rep working the booth with Steve Haning

Steve Haning and Ken Long

Just a glimpse of how many people come to this show… on a constant basis. There must be a reason?