[Bob Cole]

Good suggestions. Thanks. Since the lenses for the Canon 7d and 5d seem to have similar max apertures, I’d be looking more at the 5d, just because its larger sensor would give less DOF at the same f/ stop. You’re absolutely right about f/4 being pretty good on a full-sized sensor. I’ve gotten so used to 2/3″ and smaller sensors, and living in F/2!!!

As for April Fools, congrats to Philip Bloom. Pretty nerdy, but he got me. Well done, Philip.

I should have known better because I co-write a community newsletter and we always do an April Fools issue. We think we’re hilarious, but it’s really just a bunch of inside jokes that are funny only to people in the community (and not even to all of them).

Safe until next year. (And I hope Canon makes RAW not be a joke some day!)

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Thanks guys. I appreciate your clearing that up.

[Bob Cole]

[Todd Kopriva] “you should be safe uninstalling CS3 versions of the applications using the uninstaller (not doing it manually by deleting folders), as long as you do this _before_ you install the new version.”

Too late for that for me now. But for future reference, are you saying that uninstalling before upgrading will be safe as far as third-party filters are concerned?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Matthew Mullen] “The best thing to do, I would think, is download the 14 day trials for both AE and FCP.”

Great advice. I’ve downloaded the FCP trial. One crash and one lock-up in about twenty minutes, although I was being pretty aggressive. I like what I see when it isn’t crashing, though.

For people who use BCC FxPlug in FCP – is this normal or the result of my being new to the software?

Is the BCC AE software more stable?

[Bob Cole]

There’s a big difference between the real estate brokerage business and ours. Real estate agents are highly motivated to make sales and obtain listings because they can earn 3% to 7% on a single transaction, or $6000-14,000 on a relatively low-cost $200,000 house. (My friend’s success with this model owed a lot to factors unique to his situation: (1) he’s very smart and personable; (2) he happened onto an underserved but booming part of the country.)

A former colleague and I explored this strategy years ago, but we never found the right marketing person. I’m sure that some people are using it successfully, for relatively high-priced contracts. It’s a Catch-22: if your business is lucrative enough to entice a talented commission-only salesperson, you probably could afford to pay him or her a salary (plus some commission).

In many small businesses, the highest-paid person is not the manager or even the owner, but the best salesperson. In many cases, that is justified.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Shane Ross] “I just wonder why posts like this are even started.”

I sympathize, but this thread did not start with that same old ProApps question. As the somewhat reluctant starter of this thread, I can tell you why I posted:

1. The ProApps (or rather, the time I’ve invested in learning them) are a major part of my business portfolio.
2. I’ve been burned before, when discreet logic EOLed their NLE, so I like to keep tabs.
3. I was very surprised to find that Apple is the U.S.A.’s #4 company, ahead of such caring, human-oriented businesses as GE, Proctor & Gamble, Google, Johnson & Johnson, and JP Morgan Chase.
4. I thought that the fact in item 3 would lend a useful perspective to the eternal (and I admit, somewhat tiresome) debate about the ProApps part of Apple.

It’s one thing being a small part of a big company, but we’re customers of a tiny part of a HUGE company, and I think we tend to forget that. Apple has this Teflon coating, as the anti-Microsoft or something. It’s a BUSINESS, not a religion. Publicly traded, with a fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders. If we were customers of a faceless corporation like GE, we’d probably be much more suspicious — well, guess what, we’re customers of a company that’s bigger than GE.

That said, I get where you’re coming from, and I liked your post, Shane. Just replying, that’s all. I think Bob and the rest helped me put this in perspective, which is what I was after.

After the discreet logic experience, I realized I should never tie my fortunes too closely to any company. Just make sure your purchases will pay for themselves before the company goes belly-up, or loses interest in supporting your product. One or the other will surely happen eventually.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[walter biscardi] “That’s one thing I really see lacking these days. People just buying the bare minimum at all times”

You see that a lot with people who are still in business. You don’t see the people who’ve overinvested, because a lot of them are out of business now.

I’m sincerely happy for people like Walter, who have charged competitive rates, invested heavily, have a lot of talent (and perhaps, perhaps some luck) and have prospered. More power to you!!!!

But for most people, the bigger problems are: charging too little, and investing too much.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Fernando Mol] “always trying to convince the shy person to ask trough the forum, usually with no luck. No choice but to respect that, I think.”

Hadn’t thought of that “shyness” aspect, although it is really true. I admit that I’ve often solved a problem just through the process of drafting a question for the COW — and then I’ve not posted. I also confess to having asked a lot of questions that I should’ve been able to figure out for myself. But hey – at least I got those questions answered, and the replies have been, for the most part, very polite. Very few “RTFM’s.”

Bottom line: get over the shyness. The best part of getting your questions asked publicly is getting them answered publicly — that way, if you get dangerously bad advice, it’s very likely that somebody will notice, and chime in.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

The Curse of Big Studios is no cause for celebration. (I assume we have a similar definition of “Big Studios.” In my neck of the woods, a big studio may employ 20-50 people.)

What is really happening is that these “big” video studios are getting squeezed from both ends: large businesses who are trimming costs, and freelancers who are happily undercutting them for work. (BTW – in today’s NY Times, David Brooks (of all people) writes about the ill effects of mega-corporations on small business.)

There are other factors in the demise of the “big” local studio: individual freelancers (and small partnerships) are being empowered by ever-more powerful hardware and software; and technical support no longer requires a tech staff — just a connection to the Internet (thank you COW and Google). One or two freelancers can produce stuff that required many more people, and huge budgets, only 10-15 years ago. But while this added efficiency is great for people like me, I am sorry to see the larger local studios disappear. It is helping us small fry a little bit, but it is helping big business a lot more. One large organization in my neck of the woods has decided to outsource 100% of its work to an agency, which is essentially marshalling the freelance community for actual labor. I’m very concerned that good jobs with health insurance and other benefits are being replaced by freelance positions with none. A lot of my younger acquaintances don’t carry insurance at all, and as for 401(k)’s, forget about it; they’re just trying to get by.

(This reminds me of a friend who was trying to find out a business to go into where overhead would be minimal and the labor was essentially free. He realized that was a good description of a real estate brokerage, and opened up his own agency. Even though he had about 20 people working for him, he only had to pay the receptionist and the cleaning service; the rest were independent agents who only got paid when they sold something.)

I admit to having a brief feeling of schadenfreude when a couple of rather arrogant studios closed, even while I soldiered on. But on “mature reflection,” the disappearance of those “big” local studios has me worried.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Noah Kadner] “one single reason”

The other reason (my reason) for DLT was that it has fewer errors than a DVD.

That was really my question: if I use good media (e.g. Taiyo-Y), can I just use a DVD-R.

It appears the answer is yes.

Thanks.

Bob