sunpech.blog

Monday, April 29, 2013

Laptop Warranties are Worth It

I've owned three laptops over the last nearly twelve years. Each of them, I've gotten some kind of warranty with. And I'm glad I did. If you don't want to read this blog post, here is the shortened version:

Get a 2-3 year warranty for your laptop.

In 2001, I got my first laptop-- a Dell Latitude C600 (15" screen). Over my years using this as my main PC, the screen, hard drive, and battery all broke at some point. With a warranty, Dell was able to replace the parts as needed. I retired this laptop around 2005.

In 2006, I got a Lenovo Thinkpad T60 (15"). This was a solid machine, or I should say is-- since I still use it today as a secondary laptop running Ubuntu Linux. The only thing that ever went wrong with this was the battery, which all models were replaced with or without warranty.

In 2010, I got my first Mac, the Macbook Pro (15", mid-2010). Almost two years ago, in 2011, when I upgraded OS X Snow Leopard to Lion, the hard drive failed. I brought it into the Apple store and they replaced it. Recently, I went into the Apple store to look at Macbook Airs. Speaking with one of their reps about how my current MBP's battery charge just doesn't hold anymore, the rep told me if my MBP was still within the 3-year AppleCare warranty, that I should bring it in and have it looked at. I checked, at my AppleCare doesn't expire until April 30, 2013-- just five days! So I brought it in, they checked it-- and normally a battery is rated for 1000 cycles. I was at around 326. So I was covered. I got my battery replaced for free. I probably saved around $129. They put in a brand new battery too, so it's like my MBP got a new lease on life! It can probably last me another 2-3 years!

From these past experiences, there are a few things that generally can go wrong with laptops:

Hard drives
LCD screens
Batteries

I tend to use my equipment a lot. I bring them with me on road trips, to offices, around the world and back. They go through a lot of wear and tear. I'm careful with my stuff, I don't just drop it or pour food/water on it. It just gets a lot of use.

I highly recommend getting some kind of warranty in the range of 2-3 years for laptops. That's about the age of how long you should keep a laptop before looking into getting something new. If you really take care of you laptop, maybe you can squeeze 4-5 years out of it. My Lenovo Thinkpad is going on 7 years!

What makes it worth it is not having to go through the headache of spending time and money to order parts to replace what's broken, if it's even something you can fix yourself. Warranties probably run a few hundred dollars-- about the cost of parts and labor if something were to break. To me, that's worth it.

Here's a picture of both laptops, still in use today.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Be Considerate of Other Photographers

Last week I was in the Bahamas for a friend's wedding. The people, the scenery, and weather was beautiful up and through the wedding. The day after... not so much. We had a bit of a tropical storm, but it didn't last too long. Thank goodness the wedding day had clear skies.

Naturally, I brought my camera with me on the trip. I do have a post on what's in my camera bag, typically. I knew they had their own photographer(s) for the weekend, so I wanted to share with everyone how you can be considerate of photographers at events.

Get out of their way

If it's an event such as a wedding, stay out of their way. I mean this physically, don't be in front of their shot. Give the photographers priority to get their shots. They are professionals being paid to do their job. Likely you're just a guest to attend the event, it's not your place to get the absolute best shot at the expense of the bride and groom's photographers.

Minimize use of flash

The room isn't well lit. Maybe you think it's time for you to switch from auto flash to always use flash. Maybe you want to start taking photos willy-nilly-- as in all the time now that the big ceremony is over. WRONG. A constant use of flashes can actually be captured by other cameras in the area-- possibly ruining a good photo by some awkward light source. So be prudent as to how many shots with flashes you use. I'm not saying don't ever use flash. Prudence.

Do not just stand there

There may be a time for that group photo where on one side is the group, the subject, and on the other is everyone with a camera(s). So you're there on the side with everyone with a camera. After you take your shot and you're done, leave. By standing there reviewing your photo(s), you're eating up space that someone else could be in your spot to take a photo.

Take turns

Same situation as above with a group photo. It's so annoying to look at your finished group photo of eight people, where everyone but two people are looking directly at your camera. Instead, these few people are looking at someone else's. It's not the subjects' fault either, they don't know where to look! Everyone firing off shots all at once benefits no one. Take turns, call out which one the group should be looking at so they know. Then call out when everyone should be looking at yours when it's your turn.

Just one more story I'd like to share. I feel as though I'm being too preachy.

During a beach photoshoot, the photographer rounded everyone up. And I do mean everyone-- all 120+ wedding guests for a big group shot on the beach. When the different groups were taking turns, some of us wanted to also take pictures of the group. The lead photographer wouldn't have that. He basically shooed us away so he could get his shot.

At first I wasn't too pleased that I couldn't also get my shot. But I understood. I needed to get out of his way and let him do his job. I was able to sneak in some candid, behind the scene shots that turned out fine.

Okay, rant over. Sharing time. One photo only though, I like to keep this wedding album private out of respect of the bride/groom.

Here is a shot of the gazebo before the wedding. This is one of my favorite shots I took in the Bahamas.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

What's In My Camera Bag

In Feedly, there's a Flickr group that I subscribe to: What's in your camera bag? I like to consider it photography gear porn.

So I thought I would share what I typically carry with me when I'm out and about. I consider this a light package. When I'm actually at an event I know I will take tons of pictures, there will be a bit more in my bag. But overall, this is good enough for most situations.

Here's what is typically in my camera bag, unless otherwise noted:

I have (going from left to right, starting at the top left):

Canon 600 EX-RT Speedlite
A Better Bounce Card (large)
Canon 24-105mm f/4 L IS lens
Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens
Canon 5D Mark III
Western Digital 2TB external USB hard drive (only if I'm bringing my Macbook Pro)
Extra SD memory cards
Flashlight keychain
Lens wipes (I use Zeiss Pre-Moistened Lens Cloths Wipes)
Extra AA batteries (rechargeable, for flash)
Extra LP-E6 batteries (for DSLR)
ThinkTank Retrospective 30 camera bag

In the future, I will definitely do a post of what's in my camera bag when I'm doing a full day event. You may be surprised as to how much this bag can fit.

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Wondercon 2013

Over the weekend on Sunday I went to check out Wondercon down in Anaheim. I would have loved to go all three days, but I couldn't secure tickets as they sold out days in advance-- which I heard was a first.

The ticket for Sunday was only $10. Not bad, but they didn't have long hours on this Easter Sunday. However, they did open the doors early for everyone. Supposedly it said 11am, but they let people in as early as 10am.

This was my first time to Wondercon. But I've been to quite a few comic cons throughout my life now. Of course nothing beats San Diego Comic Con (SDCC), but this is probably the best one in California excluding SDCC.

The other two I've attended were Long Beach Comic Con and Comikaze Expo. Although they're both good, I would say that Wondercon is slightly bigger and attracts bigger dealers. I was surprised to see Graham Crackers from my home city of Chicago was there. CheapGraphicNovels.com, one of my favorite dealers, was also there. They offer 45% their trade paperbacks, which is probably the best deal you can find for TPBs.

So in terms of comic con sizes, I would rank them in this order:

San Diego Comic Con (very very big, several hours to walk entire floor)
Wondercon (can walk floor in about 1.5 hours)
Comikaze Expo (small-ish, can walk entire floor in one hour)
Long Beach Comic Con (small, can see everything in under an hour)

Obviously everyone can walk and look at different paces. This is from my perspective of how I would walk and look at stuff.

The costumes at Wondercon were okay-- granted on a Sunday of any con will generally not have nearly as many cosplayers as Friday/Saturday. Also, like on any Sunday con, there were a lot more young kids and toddlers.

What I love about the Anaheim Convention Center is that it has pretty decent parking. I paid $12, and it was an easy walk. Not many people know this, but if you go early, there's an area of parking that is a mere few steps to the front! There's also plenty of options for food at restaurants nearby as well as an area for food trucks. I don't know why people complain, SDCC, LBCC, and LACC all make it more of a hassle to get food nearby. At the other convention centers you have to cross a big street to get to food! ACC makes it so easy!

Some of my favorite pictures are below. Full album can be found on my G+ page. This directly links to the album, but on G+. Normally I link to my Picasa album, but it seems G+ is getting a big push.