Online Store: Amazon & Ebay

As featured in Outdoor Life Magazine for August outdoor gear round-up. They hailed our ZRS as Knock Around Binoculars…”The new Zen-Ray-Summit 8×42 is a terrific bargain. You will like its durable, hard-rubber camouflaged armor, extremely long 18 millimeters of eye relief and sure locking eyecups. Ergonomically, this full size binoculars almost feels like a mid-size, with is compact frame…. they will certainly get the job done on any deer stand”.- Outdoor Life Magazine, Aug 2008, Page 57
I have been using the ZRS (Summit) 8X32 binoculars you gave me to try and I continue to be very impressed with their quality. I have shown them to several other bird watchers and they have all thought they were very good. When I tell them that they cost under $150 they can’t believe it. I think you have a very good product that will easily compete with any other binocular near that price.
From James Davis- Portland Metro Naturalist and Renowned Birder
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I wanted to get a second pair of binoculars for our cruise this past May so we would not be fighting over one. While using this web sight to research other “stuff” I had read some posts about the Zen Ray Summit binoculars so I splurged and bought a pair. My partner thought I was crazy for spending money on a pair of binoculars, then turned around and kept hogging my crazy binoculars because they were so much better than hers (brand name removed). I do not know a thing about binoculars, and I used think the (brand name removed)’s we had were great. But now, they are marked for our next garage sale.
-iluvnm65
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Hi Jen,
got back from Alaska on Sunday night. Have to say we loved the zen ray binos. Can’t thank you enough for the sample 2009 one. We really needed the second pair. Both binos worked great…great quality. We think the vision with the 2009 one was a bit brighter.
will highly recommend your binos to everyone.
Ellen W. from Florida
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How to Use Binoculars
By James Davis , Metro Park Naturalist
You will only get the most out of your binoculars (”binos”) if you know how to adjust them properly. Many people do not know how to use the Adjustable Eyepiece (diopter) and never really see as well as they could with their binoculars.
Here are easy, step by step instructions for making the FOUR adjustments needed to get the best out of your “binos.”
Note: This is why sharing binoculars is not usually practical. Each person needs to have a pair of binoculars adjusted for his or her eyes.
1. EYECUPS
Modern binoculars have either soft rubber eyecups or twist up/down eyecups on the eyepieces that can fold down or rotate down to adjust for eyeglasses. If you use binos with your glasses on, rotate down eyecups so the end of the eyepiece is as flat as possible. Put the flat eyepiece right on your glass’s lens when using the binos. If you are not wearing glasses, leave the eyecups extended. A few types of binoculars have eyecups that screw in to get flat for glasses.
2. HINGE
The two halves of the binos are joined together in the center with a hinge. This is so you can move them in and out until they are the right distance apart for your eyes. While looking through the binos, move them in and out until you have one big, clear, circular field of view. If you get dark patches or crescents in the center or on the sides, they are too close together. You should never see two circles. Keep fiddling with them until you get the best field of view and don’t be afraid to keep adjusting them throughout the day.
3. CENTRAL FOCUS
Hold the binoculars in both hands and reach to the center with a big finger or two and turn the wheel in the center. This is the Central Focus . Turn the central focus back and forth every time you look at something new to get the sharpest, clearest image you can. However, your eyes are probably not the same and you need to make one more adjustment to see as well as you can with your binoculars.
4. ADJUSTABLE EYEPIECE
” Left eye - Central Focus then Right eye - Adjustable Eyepiece “
This is the most confusing thing about using binoculars. Almost no one ever explains it on nature and birding walks and it is often poorly explained in the instructions that come with binoculars (yes, there were some). It is even explained wrong in some bird watching books.
When you use the Central Focus , you focus the two sides of the binoculars at the same time. BUT, your eyes are probably not identical. So you need to adjust your binoculars so each side is in focus for each eye at the same time. You do this by using the Adjustable Eyepiece through diopter .
FIND IT — The Adjustable Eyepiece is the one that TURNS and it will have a simple scale on the underside of the eyepiece with a ” -, 0, + ” and another mark next to the scale on the bino frame. Binos differ, but almost all have the Adjustable Eyepiece on the right. Find your Adjustable Eyepiece and turn it. Find the scale on the underside and set it at “0″ or “in the middle”.
Here is the easiest way to make this adjustment, step by step.
(For an Adjustable Eyepiece on the right.)
• Pick something sharp and clear to look at, a medium distance away, like a sign.
• Make the other adjustments and focus on the sign with the Central Focus as best as you can.
• Close your right eye and use the Central Focus to get the left eye’s image as sharp as possible. You are only looking through the left side of your binos.
• Now, close your left eye and open your right eye. Don’t touch the Central Focus . You are now looking through only the right side of your binos.
• Here’s the tricky move. Turn the Adjustable Eyepiece back and forth with your right hand until you get the sharpest image you can in your right eye . See? You are matching your right eye to the left eye.
• Open your left eye and the object should be in sharp focus in both eyes. To check, focus on something else using both eyes with the Central Focus , then alternate looking with one eye and then the other. The image in both eyes should look the same and be in sharp focus. If not, try turning the Adjustable Eyepiece a tiny bit back and forth to see if you can get it sharper. Sometimes you just have to fiddle a bit with the Central Focus and the Adjustable Eyepiece until you get them just right.
• When you have the Adjustable Eyepiece in the right position, look at the scale and remember that setting. This is your basic setting for those binos, always start with that. Many people find that their eyes change from time to time so don’t be afraid to keep fiddling with it to get the best image you can.
Remember: Left eye - Central Focus then Right eye - Adjustable Eyepiece

It’s holiday time, click the link below to order prints and novelty gift items.

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?

Being a camera repair facility we frequently see the E-18 error code throughout Canon’s line of Powershot models. There are a huge number of Canon cameras in service. With so many Canon Powershots around it’s inevitable that we will see many of the same issues come through the door for repair. Many people do not know what E-18 means, or how it is caused. This article is meant to shed some light on this often miss-understood error.

E18 in the Powershot family signals a general lens failure. The camera turns on and attempts to extend the lens, sensors inside the lens detect something is not in the correct position, and an “E18″ message is displayed at the bottom left of the screen. After a moment the camera turns off. Canon has acknowledged that you can experience an E 18 error from any of the following situations:
- Lens opening while in confined space
- Low battery condition as the camera turns off
- Sand, water or substance damage
- Abuse/impact

We primarily see E18 caused by impact or sand damage. Let’s take a look inside a Powershot SD300 which is experiencing an E18 failure.

Here is our subject, the Powershot SD300 ELPH. All of the canon SD/ELPH series of cameras are very similar. The E-18 failure and its causes are common to all Powershot models, even outside the ELPH line.

These are the major assemblies of the SD series cameras. These components include the frame and battery power unit, the flash unit, the main circuit board, and the lens.

On the left you can see the zoom drive assembly with the cover removed. This is a common source of E18 failures due to sand or substance contamination. A single grain of sand on one of these fine gears can completely jam the lens. While contamination in the zoom drive is a common cause of E18, it was not the cause of this camera’s lens failure. This unit was dropped onto a hardwood floor from just a couple feet up.

In the black and white photo on the right you can see the Lens optical assembly with the back cover and image sensor removed. In the center of the lens you can see the assembly which carries the shutter, aperture, and sunlight filter. This element floats in the middle of the lens supported by 3 guide pins and can be knocked off it’s tracks during an impact. If you look closely at the picture you can see that this in fact is what occurred in this camera, the element is askew and is preventing the lens from closing properly. In this case the element can be removed and the lens re-set in the fully retracted position, no parts required.

The third and final common cause of E-18 is a jam in the zoom barrels themselves. This is the most severe condition of the three and can occur if the camera falls directly on the lens, or opens in a confined space. In most cases the barrels can be disassembled and re-set if they have not physical broken as a result of the event. On occasion a Powershot with an E18 failure cannot be economically repaired due to parts costs. While this does happen, the vast majority of the cases we see are repaired and go on to work perfectly for the remainder of their useful life.

If you’re experiencing an E-18 error message and are in need of repair head over to our online quote system and tell us about your problem. The cost for E18 repairs ranges from $89 to $125 depending on the cause of the failure, and an evaluation and specific estimate will be given before any work is done.