Welcome to Michael’s Blog!

Canon Lens Offers From BHPhoto.com – Expiring Soon!

01.31.2013 | Photography

My Friends at Bhphoto.com asked me to let you guys know about the following Canon offers that will be expiring soon. (Feb 2 -2013) Check out these great deals on some awesome lenses:

Canon Lens Rebate Offer! Canon Lens Rebate Offer!

Michael’s Old Store Now Officially Closed

01.30.2013 | Photography

I launched my original photography training store (www.michaelthementor.com/store) almost exactly 5 years ago. It was absolutely critical to the start and growth of my business, and I couldn’t be where I am today without it.

With time customers repeatedly asked for downloads and the way the original store was set up, it couldn’t handle them. For the last 2 years or so, we had DVDs only on the first site and both DVDs and downloads on the second.

With more time, customers also wanted better shipping options, such as Fed Ex & UPS. Again the way the old site was set up, it couldn’t handle these changes (it had to do with plug-ins for the cart on the hosting site). And even recently, when trying to upgrade how we receive orders for shipments, we couldn’t make the necessary changes.

Additionally, there began to be confusion among my customers as to which store was which and why we had 2. Many didnt know the difference and would try to log in to one or the other.

We also did some tests and learned that not only could our download store at www.canontrainingvideo.com handle all these upgrades, it was MUCH faster for customers to check out.

While we considered upgrading the store to new standards, we learned that not only was it expensive, it would have required us to back up and reinstall everything for all the websites I am hosting on that account, including the blog.

With all these things in mind, I have decided to officially close the first store. We still have all of our customer records, but all new purchases from here on out will be made on www.canontrainingvideo.com.

If you ever have any questions about any of your purchases, please contact my assistant Megan at [email protected]

Olympus Stylus Tough TG-2

01.28.2013 | Photography

Today I went on the famous “Commando Hike” here on Maui, Ill be posting some images very soon. The Commando hike is known for being a bit rugged, wet and requires climbing, swimming through dark caves and cliff diving. Its also a little dangerous and people have been killed on it before. Definitely not for children, frail or weak in courage. While I brought my Go Pro Hero 2, Im starting to feel that there are a few things I really dont like about them:

1. Lack of controls. There are 2 buttons. 2. Its maddening to go through the Menus to get it to work.
2. Battery life is awful with the LCD, lasts about a half hour.
3. You have to press and hold to turn off, eats up too much time.
4. Bulky. I cant really throw it in my board shots.

I think the Go Pro Heros are awesome and here to stay, just wasnt very impressed with it today shooting above water. You will see what I am talking about when I post the images.

Enter the Olympus Stylus TG-2:I’ve used many, many point and shoots over the years, but now that the Mega Pixel war has essentially ended (do you really need more than 10?) we are seeing many other bells and whistles added. The main thing I love about this camera is that it is water proof down to 50 feet! Thats very usable for many scuba diving expeditions, and it isnt bulky, could easily throw it into a BC pocket. Some other impressive features:

– f2.0 lens
– Drop (6.9 Feet) and Crush Proof
– 25-100mm Equivalent Focal Length
– Macro focus distance of 1 cm
– Shoots Video @ 120(!) FPS at 720p
– 5FPS still burst @ 12 MP, 60 FPS @ 3MP
– HDMI out
– GPS, HDR Mode

The TG-2 should be released on Feb 20th and I hope to have one of the very first! I will definitely be letting you guys know what I think about it. Looks like a winner, if it could only go down to 100′ (without a housing), wow, that would be amazing. I think such a point and shoot camera is coming.