Now Customers Are Being Asked to Answer Questions from Other Customers -- Adorama Goes Too Far!!

OK, I post reviews on Amazon and my blog.  I am happy to say good things about products and companies that I like, and to contribute to Amazon's (and other retailers) reviews so that other customers can benefit.

But I am not willing to do what Adorama has just asked me to do.  They've gone too far.  Here's the email that I just received from them:


Hi NORBERT,

To help make Adorama a friendly place to shop, we enable shoppers to ask our customers questions about the products they bought - because sometimes input from a fellow customer is the most helpful.

A shopper is looking for an answer from a fellow customer about Manfrotto 2-Pack Replacement Screws (Set of 2-Viti 1/4 ) for QR Plate 501PL and 410PL. Since you bought Miller Fixed Length 16mm Pan Handle with Handle Carrier for 75mm Fluid Heads., a similar item, on September 26, 2010, we thought you might be able to help.

A shopper asked: Are these screws threads 1/4-20 ?

Answer Question (Please click here to write your answer. Replies to this email will not be delivered.)

Adorama is too lazy to reply to questions about its products itself?  Now Adorama's customers are being asked to take time out of their day to answer questions so that Adorama can save time?  This is too much.  Me no like.  I say "Boo" to this email from Adorama.

And by the way, while I have recently purchased things from Adorama and been happy with their delivery times and service, this has not always been the case in the past.  Back in the film days, I ordered 500 film canisters from them for duping film.  They made me wait weeks and weeks and weeks.  I finally gave up on them and ordered from another source.  Soon after getting the film canisters from that second source, Adorama finally sent me my first order.  I still have the 500 film canisters sitting in my garage.

I heartily recommend B & H Photo for anything photographic.  They've never let me down.  And I've never gotten the kind of email from them like the one above.   The other retailers that I recommend are Allen’s Camera in Levittown, PA and Reef Photo in Fort Lauderdale, FL.  
 

Mailing books and packages -- some tips

I use usps.com for most of my shipping.  It's surprising, but a governmental agency actually created a website that is fairly easy to use.  My only peeve is that you have to choose a date for shipping and then pay; and they don't alert you if you've chosen a holiday with no service.  If you've chosen a holiday, then you have to cancel your paid labels and do the process all over again, and wait a few weeks for a refund.   I use Priority Mail all the time since it is easiest and USPS will pick up Priority Mail packages from your mailbox. 

Media Mail is the cheapest way to ship books, and all the vendors on Amazon's used bookstores use it.  I just tried it again (rules keep changing).  You simply put a book in a large padded envelope, mark Media Mail on the front, and put Media Mail postage on it.  You can use the usps.com website's "calculate price" function to find the cost.   However, you will generally have to take this to the post office to mail as they do not accept packages over 13 oz (except Priority Mail in your own mailbox) in mailboxes.  It depends on your carrier and if you know him personally.  It also seems that if you want tracking for Media Mail, you have to buy that at the PO.  I just sent a book to Florida, the postage for Media Mail was $3.10, and the tracking will cost $0.85.  I detest standing in lines so my wife is taking the package there for me on Friday...

Rules -- no personal letters, only the book itself can be in the package marked Media Mail. 

Zoom 4596 3G Mobile Broadband Modem--Yes, It Works with AT&T GoPhone Service

Folks -- sorry.  As of 4-22-12, AT&T changed their GoPhone plans.  The only way you can get data on a smartphone now is by buying a $25 or $50 package each month.  This means that I can no longer recommend AT&T's GoPhone service as a good, inexpensive choice for someone needing minimal data and voice. 

Zoom makes several models of USB modems.  These modems accept a SIM card from a cellular data provider like T-Mobile or AT&T.   You then plug them into the USB port of your laptop to get on the internet.  You can then get your email and surf the internet anywhere that you get a cell phone signal.

The speeds can range from slow to surprisingly fast, depending on the network's coverage where you are.  For instance, getting data using one of these modems on the fringes of a network (like Monterey, California, where I live) can be both sporadic and slow; but if I am traveling and in the center of a network, the speed for a 3G modem can be up to 7.2 Mbps, which is as fast as the average broadband speed over a DSL or cable connection.  The great thing about Zoom modems is that they are not locked to a specific cellular data provider.  

I’ve previously used a USB modem from Virgin Mobile, and it worked well.  I describe my experience with Virgin Mobile's modem in a separate blog entry.  I’ve had the VM modem for over a year, and since I bought this modem from Walmart, I could buy a (special Walmart) one-month data plan for $20, which would give me up to 1 Gb of data good for 30 days (regular VM customer only get 500 Mb of data for $20, which also expire after 30 days).  I found that I use 1Gb of data in about 2-3 weeks with typical use of the internet -- emails and web surfing, NO streaming videos.  If I tried hard to use the modem only for emails and only the most important internet tasks, then I could make the 1Gb of data last an entire month easily. 

My problem with the Virgin Mobile data plan is twofold: both personal and impersonal.  First, Virgin Mobile’s computers have decided that I am a bad customer.  I tried to go on their website to start up a data plan a few months ago, and the Virgin Mobile website kicked me out every time I entered one of my credit cards.  This was an ironic situation – I had bought a VM modem for $70 and used it a few times, paying $20 each time for a month's worth of data.  Now Virgin Mobile had somehow decided that I was a bad customer, and I could not pay them to use the modem that I had bought from them!  I solved the problem by using my wife’s credit card, but I was not happy and  decided to try to find another data service provider.  I also don’t need a full month’s usage of a data modem.  Typically, I am at a location only 2-3 days per month where I don’t have easy internet access and need to use a data modem.  Paying $20 for just those few days is a waste. 

I’ve therefore been wondering if the Zoom USB modems, which are touted as “works geat with AT&T 3G…no long-term service commitment required” would work with an AT&T GoPhone SIM card.  In short, yes – using a GoPhone SIM card with a Zoom model 4596 data modem does work, and it works easily and quickly.  I bought this modem for $63 at Amazon. 

I researched the various types of Zoom USB modems out there.  Zoom makes at least three USB modems that should work with AT&T or T-Mobile, both of whom are GSM providers.  Here’s what the website says:

Zoom 4596 3G Mobile Broadband Modem :

The Model 4596 lets you use AT&T 3G service without making an expensive long-term commitment. In the U.S., sign up for service wherever AT&T mobile broadband is sold. A voice service or another account with AT&T is not required. The modem is activated by plugging in a standard SIM card from AT&T or another GSM service provider. Unlike other modems, the Model 4596 is not locked to a specific service provider and can use a data SIM from services around the world. A change to the service provider is accomplished by simply sliding out one provider's SIM and replacing it with another provider's SIM. It takes only seconds and maximizes flexibility in using data plans. 

There are two other Zoom models that might work, but the 4596 was touted on the package as specifically working with AT&T.  AT&T does offer their own USB modems, and I have a feeling that they would not allow you to use their GoPhone service with USB data modems, only for smartphones like Android.  I took a SIM card from a smartphone to try this out. I have a feeling that AT&T would not approve this kind of usage with their GoPhone service, so I am not going to tell them, nor did I go into a store with this modem in my hand asking them about it.  I was gratified to put my GoPhone SIM in the Zoom modem and see that it worked just fine.

The Zoom 4595 seems to be the same as the 4596, but the 4596 modem is specifically tailored for AT&T.  The Model 4597 also says that it is for T-Mobile and AT&T, but has terrible reviews on Amazon. 

With the Zoom modem and AT&T GoPhone service, I can just put in $5 or $15 at a time, and get 10 or 100Mb of service.  I’ve topped off my SIM card with $25 worth of data, which gives me 500Mb of data.  I just need to top this off every month with a $5 purchase, and the unused data will roll over.  If I only use 100Mb of data every month (about one weekend’s use per month), then this $25 and 500Mb can last five months, with an additional infusion of $5 each month to roll over the remaining, unused data.  The total for five months would be about $45.  Using Virgin Mobile’s plan, which has no rollover minutes, would cost $100. 

With this setup, I really am just paying as I go, with just a low $5 to roll over my unused data from month to month. 

All of these modems require that you use their software on your laptop to connect the modem to the internet.  I had trouble with the Virgin Mobile modem initially when having to use their software to connect the modem to the internet. 

I bought a Cradlepoint PHS-300 wifi hotspot, and this has solved the problem.  I just plug in a USB modem into this little box, and it creates a wifi hotspot instantly.  Both my Virgin Mobile and AT&T USB modems work with this great little device, and I don’t have to deal with complicated modem drivers on my laptop anymore.  Any of my wifi devices can then hook up to the network, such as my ipad.  Awesome, simple to use, fast. 

Review of Maluku Divers, Ambon, Indonesia: Photographer’s Delight!

I have been a professional underwater photographer for 28 years.  I sold the rights to my first photograph, a cornetfish, to Sea Frontiers magazine in 1984, and I had a portfolio of my images published by Underwater USA in 1984 as well.  That was a heck of a long time ago.  Since then, I’ve spent more than my fair share of time on liveaboard diving boats, ranging from Cousteau’s Calypso, to my friend filmmaker Bob Cranston’s Betsy M, to Mike McGettigan’s famous Ambar, to luxury liveaboards like the Caribbean Explorer, Nautilus Explorer, Undersea Hunter, and Solmar V.  I’ve been on many of the Aggressor and Peter Hughes boats also.  Oh, and I have to add Jim Abernethy’s Shearwater, which has taken me to some of the most memorable shark diving in the Bahamas that I’ve ever done. 

I am finding that I prefer the peace and pace of land-based operations in my middle age.  Liveaboard operators are usually forced to cater to divers who want to go to a different dive site on every dive.  As a photographer, however, I am different from most divers.  If I find a good reef or a good diving site, then I want to go back there again and again.  A big part of the fun in diving is discovering things yourself, and a land-based operation lets you do that. 

In the past couple of years, I’ve traveled almost exclusively to dive from land-based resorts or destinations.  As I write this, I am waiting out the weather in South Australia, where I’ve come to film leafy seadragons and blue-ringed octopus, diving from shore.  I have been comfortable in my motel room.  Although a bit bored, I am having far more fun than if I were in a boat, rocking away out there in the Southern Ocean, waiting for the 10-foot swells to subside.  Instead, I spent an hour trying to lure in the local magpies closer to my camera yesterday morning before I was forced back inside by the wind and rain.  I have not been seasick, nor have I been forced to tell the truth and suffered pupil dilation by using the anti-seasickness drug Scopolamine. 

Don’t get me wrong.  Being able to dive with great white sharks on the very comfortable boats Solmar V or Nautilus Explorer is wonderful.  But I’ve had a great time in the past two years diving out of land-based resorts like God’s Pocket on Vancouver Island; snorkeling with aggregations of huge whale sharks from Isla Mujeres, Mexico; and swimming with sperm whales from Dominica, in the Caribbean. 

Indonesia and the Philippines have become known for their land-based diving resorts, along with guides who specialize in finding elusive, rare, and bizarre critters to photograph.  Maluku Divers in Ambon, Indonesia, is one of them.  I spent three weeks out there in February 2012, and it was just what the doctor ordered – plenty of diving at my pace, lots of incredibly interesting marine life to photograph, good food, and comfortable accommodations.  Maluku Divers in Ambon, Indonesia, has just become one of my favorite land-based dive resorts. 

It can take a while to get to Ambon, but once you are there, the diving life is easy at Maluku Divers, undoubtedly the best diving resort on the island (this is easy to say, as I believe that there are only two diving operations on the island, Maluku Divers being the only one that can be called a resort).  The resort offers everything a spoiled American diver needs -- air-conditioned bungalows, great diving (mostly muck diving, with incredible critters), three to four dives daily, great Indonesian-themed food, and splendid service from the diving guides and the resort staff.  Highlights of the diving and critters include the rare and beautiful Rhinopias scorpionfish, which come in purple, pink, red, and yellow (and in lacy and non-lacy varieties); the incredible wonderpus octopus, Coleman's shrimp on fire urchins, and my favorite, stargazers.  These amazing animals are highlighted in the web gallery at:

http://www.norbertwu.com/nwp/storycode/amb-web/index.html

Getting to Ambon can be a hassle.  I have written about some of my trip in my February 2012 blog entries.  Most folks fly to Ambon from Singapore or Hong Kong, through Jakarta.  I myself wanted to spend some time diving in Australia, so I flew round-trip from California to Sydney, then booked an incredibly inexpensive (US $1400) business class seat from Sydney to Jakarta on Garuda Airlines.  I was pleasantly surprised – the service and the seats on the Garuda flights were just fine, comparable or better to any other airline. 

Coleman shrimp are always found on fire urchins. 

Once you arrive in Jakarta, you generally need to wait for 8 to 20 hours for a domestic flight to Ambon.  For some reason, all the flights to Ambon leave around 1AM from Jakarta, arriving in Ambon in the early morning hours.  I stayed at the Jakarta Airport Hotel, which I describe in another blog entry, and which may or may not be the best choice.  I describe my trip to Ambon:

http://norbertwu.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-experience-in-traveling-to-ambon.html

The diving at Ambon is mainly muck diving, meaning it is on black sand or silt-covered rocks – not traditional coral reefs.  If you are muck diving, then you delight in the bizarre creatures that you will find in the muck and patches of coral.  You’ll find all the usual coral reef animals, but you will also find animals that make their living in eelgrass beds, in the sand, and which are camouflaged so well that only your Indonesian guide will be able to see them. 

Sure, you can sit back and let your guide find all the critters for you.  But that becomes a trophy hunt – not so fun for me.  I’ll typically try to get a bit away from the rest of the group, find my own subjects to film, and check on the dive guides and what they’ve found every once in a while.  The guides are always better at finding cool subjects than I am, but if I just follow them around and take snapshots of what they point out, I don’t enjoy that sense of discovery. 

Lembeh Strait, near Manado on the island of Sulawesi, is another world-renowned place for muck diving.  Like Lembeh, diving in Ambon means that you are diving near a port – near human habitation, rather than on pristine coral reefs.  I was shocked at amount of garbage -- mostly plastic bags and trash – that was present on some of our diving sites.  If you come to Ambon, be prepared to find lots of bizarre and cool animals amid lots of trash, and overall a bit of too much human stuff around.  The best sites with the most critters (of course) are located right by some big fishing boats that had no holding tanks and probably delighted in flushing as divers were near.  

Stargazers lie buried in the sand, usually with only their eyes and mouths showing. 

The web galleries show the marine life to be found there.  I saw more Rhinopias (incredibly colored and camouflaged leafy scorpionfish) than I have seen anywhere else, as well as wonderpus octopus, Coleman’s shrimp on fire urchins, and stargazers. 

Sometimes they will extend their tongue out and flick it; the wormlike tongue attracts prey.

  

Maluku Divers is a great resort, with a genuinely friendly and helpful staff, and a photographers' paradise.  My friend and fellow photographer Douglas Seifert highly recommended it to me and I've come to trust his recommendations.  I hope to get back there soon. 

Using a Tripod to Shoot Underwater Video is Essential

A small tripod is the one tool that underwater shooters often don't use, and it is perhaps the most important tool that shooters can use to improve their underwater video. 

I've used all kinds of tripods, for all kinds of video and film cameras.  I’ve used $1500 Miller heads with my giant HDCAM housing under the ice in Antarctica.  I’ve used cheap $150 tripods to shoot time-lapse videos of soft corals and nudibranchs ( http://www.norbertwu.com/Film.html ).   Most of these tripods and heads have frozen up after one season of diving, or I’ve had to spend hours after each trip to take them apart and spray every part down with WD-40 lubricant.  I’ve finally found an all-aluminum tripod that fits my underwater needs and doesn’t need hours and hours of after-dive care. 

Marcel Hagendijk using the Really Right Stuff Ground-Level Tripod with a Canon 7D in a Nauticam Housing, Ambon, Indonesia

I have been using Really Right Stuff clamps and other gear for years and years, both underwater and topside, and I’ve never had the slightest problem with them.  I used their clamps and dovetail plates for all my still housings when shooting underwater, under the ice in Antarctica, back in 1997 when photographers were still using film and I was forced to use 15-second exposures.  I am still using these great clamps and plates to attach my underwater housings to tripods.  Being able to quickly clamp an underwater stills or video housing to a tripod using an RRS clamp has meant the difference between getting the shot or losing the shot – both topside and underwater.  I have RRS plates on all my cameras and lenses for topside and underwater work.  The plates and clamps are workhorses – made of top-quality anodized aluminum, they do not freeze up or rust when used in salt water. 

Canon 7D in a Nauticam housing, mounted on a Really Right Stuff Ground-Level Tripod

On my recent trip to Ambon, Indonesia, I brought a Really Right Stuff Ground-Level (their TP-243 Ground-Level Tripod), and I recommend this little marvel of engineering highly.  It is made of anodized aluminum, and like all other RRS products, it has almost no parts that will rust or freeze up.  It is a near-perfect tripod for underwater shooting – it is small and low to the ground (almost all underwater close-up shooting will be of bottom animals), the legs spread out to various angles and lengths to accommodate almost any position you may need underwater, and it can get as low to the ground as needed. 

The RRS Ground-Level tripod (I call it a groundpod) will withstand years of abuse, both underwater and topside.  It is light, but not so light that it cannot handle heavy underwater housings, and the legs click into four positions for all kinds of positioning flexibility. 

I put a RRS dovetail clamp (B2-Pro: 60mm clamp with dual mounting) on the top of this tripod and shot dozens of hours of fantastic underwater close-up shots in Indonesia with this arrangement.   I’ve included two clips showing how using this tripod brings needed stability to underwater close-up shooting. 

The only improvement to this tripod and clamp would be a focusing rail.  I used a Canon 60mm macro lens on a Canon 7D body.  This gave me plenty of distance from a subject, but there were many times where I could not place the tripod in the best position from the subject.  Having a focusing rail on top of the tripod, such as the RRS B150-B: Macro focusing rail would be a good solution.  I could then get the tripod fixed in place, then put my housing on top of the macro focusing rail, and then move the housing back and forth on the rail to achieve the fine positioning that I would need.  I could put one of RRS’s nice ball heads on top of their tripod for the ultimate flexibility, but that would raise the housing higher than I would like.  For the best underwater close-up shooting, I usually want the housing down as absolutely low as possible.  I also don’t know how well their ball heads will hold up in salt water. 

RRS also makes camera bars that would allow me to slide the housing back and forth on a bar; an example is their CB-10 Duo Package: CB-10 and B2-Duo.  However, since my housing is designed to accept an RRS plate perpendicular to the lens direction, the rails would seem to be 90 degrees off from what I want. I’d want a bar where the clamp is oriented 90 degrees to the rail, so that the front of the housing can slide back and forth on the bar.  Their 192 FAS Package: FAS Clamp & MPR 192 has this orientation.  RRS’ 192 Precision Plus Package has two mini-clamps which will allow me to orient my housing either parallel to or perpendicular to the rail. 

Buy this tripod.  Put a RRS plate on the bottom of your housing and a clamp on the top of this ground-level tripod.  It will improve your underwater shooting of close-up subjects, turning formerly amateurish, shaky video into professional, smooth footage that you will be proud to show. 

Stuff I Pack for a Typical Diving Trip

Here is a small sample of the gear that I bring on a typical diving trip.  The airline's baggage policies don't help; products like Lowepro's camera backpacks and Pro Rollers are a great help.

Diving gear, clothes, personal items, etc are not included in this photo.

Review of the Lowepro Pro Roller Lite 250 AW

Martin Schuster, a member of my Antarctic crew, using the Super Trekker AW II to carry a large broadcast camera around a penguin rookery. 

The Lowepro Pro Roller 250 AW Lite

I’ve been a huge fan of Lowepro products over my 30-year career. I’ve used their bags for everything, undoubtedly over and beyond what their engineers and designers intended them for.

I used a Super Trekker AW II to carry around my Hollywood-sized Sony HDCAMs for four expeditions in Antarctica.  I’ve always carried the bulk of my camera gear using their superb camera backpacks (the Nature Trekker AW II backpack was one of my favorites), and I’ve used their waterproof Dryzone packs for numerous trips through the Grand Canyon and river expeditions. Their Pro Roller series of rolling airline cases have been my constant companions through years of air travel.

I have to constantly keep familiar with the details of airline travel and what a photographer can or cannot bring on a plane these days. On my most recent trip, to Australia and Indonesia, I was flying Qantas Airlines to South Australia, and I therefore realized that I had to be sure that all my carryon bags would fit Qantas’ restrictions.

Qantas Airlines is known for being extremely strict about forcing passengers to adhere to their size and weight restrictions for carryon bags. I have not flown Qantas Airlines in many years, and the last time I flew with them, the flight attendants gave me a tremendous amount of trouble since I was carrying a long 500mm f4 lens in its own box, along with a backpack and another case. I’ve learned by talking with other travelers that Qantas remains as bad as ever about charging for excess bags or too many carry-ons.

For this trip, therefore, I started packing a full two weeks before leaving. In fact, packing my carry-ons within their limits was on my mind for several weeks. I was careful to make sure that my carryon gear would fit within all of Qantas’ restrictions. I was fortunate to browse through the North American Nature Photography Association’s (NANPA) newsletter and read a news item that Lowepro had just come out with a new Pro Roller Lite AW series. These looked perfect for my upcoming trip. After carefully studying Qantas’ restrictions on carry-on bags, I traded in my old, largish carryon bag for a new Lowepro Pro Roller Lite 250 AW. It was the best thing I did to plan for my entire trip.

Lowepro hit a home run with their newest line of rolling cases for air travel. I used a Pro Roller Lite 250 AW for my recent trip to Indonesia and Australia. It was the perfect fit for my travels and numerous connections in various airports.

The Pro Roller Lite 205 AW is a rolling case that contains Lowepro’s usual fabulous set of padded dividers, which let you organize, pad, and separate all your gear. Unlike earlier Pro Rollers, this model has the padded dividers within the case itself, rather than in a separate bag that fits within the rolling case. I prefer this, as space is at an absolute premium when traveling by air today. I used the dividers to separate, pad, and divide my larger and heavier items.

Whenever I travel, I pack a change of clothes in my carryon bag, a DSLR body, a wide zoom lens, and a long zoom lens. I always pack some energy bars and my favorite, a pack of Pepperidge Farm Geneva cookies, in case I arrive somewhere and there is nowhere to eat – or if I am suck on a plane for 12 hours with no food. In this case, I also packed some heavy underwater photography gear and scuba gear in my carryon so that I would not be charged excess baggage fees. Lastly, I packed my usual complement of electronic and computer cables, my 15” Macbook Pro, laptop power adapter, and iPad. All of this fit in the Lowepro Pro Roller! I could barely lift the case, but that was not a problem. If I needed to lift the case into an airplane overhead compartment, I just took out my computer and iPad. When making my mile-long walks from airplane to customs counters – I put my laptop and iPad in one of the inner or outer pockets of the Pro Roller, and the wheels took all the weight off.

I was astounded at how easy packing the Pro Roller was, and this is because the padded dividers can be so easily set up and changed to accommodate different items. I was also pleasantly surprised at how easy having this carryon made my trip. The various pockets, both inside and outside, are well thought out, so that I could quickly put in or take out a laptop, for instance. There is a flexible, mesh outer pocket that I found was perfect for sliding a MacBook Pro or iPad into; and two smaller, zippered pockets on the outside and inside flap of the Pro Roller were perfect for my passport and assorted customs papers.

If I had anything critical to say about the Pro Roller Lite 250 AW, it would be that the telescoping handle seems a bit flimsy. It does move around a bit, but I have a feeling that this is something that Lowepro planned – the handle will allow you to put a heavy second bag on top of it and while it does seem flimsy – it is likely not all delicate as it held up just fine through all my travels. Having four, rather than two wheels on the bottom would make those mile-long treks through airports a bit easier. As it is, if I put a second bag on top of the Pro Roller and walked a long distance, the weight of the second bag on the handle became significant. Having a dedicated second bag designed to fit the top of the Pro Roller in a fashion that minimizes the weight on my arm would be a welcome touch, and it would make a perfect bag even better.

By the way, my flights to Qantas went without a hitch. The flight attendants did not hassle me about the size of my carryon bag, and the Pro Roller fit easily in the overhead compartment. Small things like this make a huge difference in relieving the stress of airline travel.

This Lowepro Pro Roller Lite 250 AW will be my constant traveling companion for years to come. It is a perfect fit for me and my travels, and it should be a perfect solution for most traveling photographers.