p.2 #1 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
I would give her a refund and give her a link from ken rockwell's site where she could go and buy her own d7000. Your clients should not be dictating your equipment.
May 19, 2014 at 01:40 PM
Leethal Offline • [X]
p.2 #2 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
I am not a pro, so take this post with that in mind.
Maybe you can do a search of the internet and get some reviews of how amazing the D700 is.
I don't shoot Nikon, but am aware of how good the D700 is. It is an Awesome tool!
If you can find a different "authority", you might be able to change her view.
Although, my first reaction was to run fast and far...
Good luck with your decision!
Lee
p.2 #4 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
My friend is a professional photographer with a D700 and 24-70 G. She's a good studio photographer who knows nothing about the gear. I'm just a hack. Our kids play on the same sports teams, when she saw my D7000 sports photos she sighed and said she wishes she could upgrade from her old camera. I told her she's crazy and I would trade with her in a heartbeat.
I have two good friends who are talented pros, they never talk gear mostly because they only know their own camera. I would not engage in a debate. Sometimes being a pro just means keeping quiet and letting the results speak for themselves. Then get outta dodge and move on.
p.2 #5 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
John Paul Caponigro posted 22 quotes from Alfred Eisenstaedt on his blog today. Here is one that caught my eye after reading this thread this morning:
“With photography, everything is in the eye and these days I feel young photographers are missing the point a bit. People always ask about cameras but it doesn’t matter what camera you have. You can have the most modern camera in the world but if you don’t have an eye, the camera is worthless. Young people know more about modern cameras and lighting than I do. When I started out in photography I didn’t own an exposure meter – I couldn’t , they didn’t exist! I had to guess.” – Alfred Eisenstaedt
p.2 #6 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
Years ago I used to photograph weddings (hundreds if not thousands of them in total). You should be thankful that you know in advance BEFORE the thing is booked that this person is a problem. I'd do what you committed to and tell her you are now booked for her date. I PROMISE you she will be nothing but a headache all the way around.
p.2 #7 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
runamuck wrote:
You have to learn that in business, the customer is always right.
That's total garbage. Do you think customers should start telling Joël Robuchon how to cook? No, they are there because he is both professional and very talented - they are there to experience his magic. Kowtowing to customers over a camera body is not professional - politely yet firmly telling them they are wrong is.
May 19, 2014 at 02:47 PM
jim allison Offline • • • [X]
p.2 #8 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
If you can't sell her your abilities you are lacking in self confidence. Don't let your anger at
her stupidity get in the way of your professionalism and knowledge. Consider the job a
challenge and wow her with the results. Stop discussing photography with this idiot and make her images that will be so fine that she will reccomend you all over town. If you don'tthinkthat you can do this, you have no business taking this job, as neither of you will be satisfied. That's just my opinion for whatever it's worth to you.
p.2 #9 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
If I read correctly you are already paid. If you do what you are paid to do with or without the camera she want's you to use nothing you do will be correct anyway. If you can afford to do it you should return the money and tell her to call Rockwell to do the shoot. If you cannot return the money do the shoot with what you have and when she protests just let her know that in all the time you are shooting professionally not one single client ever questioned your equipment or work. After all, you never questioned the equipment that got her pregnant, did you?
If you can, my advice is let this one go, give her, her money back and let her find someone else this close to her photo needs.
p.2 #10 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
Paul Mo wrote:
That's total garbage. Do you think customers should start telling Joël Robuchon how to cook? No, they are there because he is both professional and very talented - they are there to experience his magic. Kowtowing to customers over a camera body is not professional - politely yet firmly telling them they are wrong is.
Paul, you're 100% correct.There is a reason why one is a pro who shoots fror a living and the other is a (potential) customer with little or no clue. Changing your equipment because someone has read misleading or incomplete information is not the way forward. "A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing"... someone said. I'm sure this lady makes a habit of second guessing those who provide her with professional services.
p.2 #11 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
Steve Perry wrote:
Years ago I used to photograph weddings (hundreds if not thousands of them in total). You should be thankful that you know in advance BEFORE the thing is booked that this person is a problem. I'd do what you committed to and tell her you are now booked for her date. I PROMISE you she will be nothing but a headache all the way around.
+1, precisely, Steve. Any person, including this woman, who reads KR and adopts his photographic "wisdom" as gospel and then ceases all further research into what makes a great wedding photographer is the last person the OP should work for.
p.2 #12 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
jim allison wrote:
If you can't sell her your abilities you are lacking in self confidence. Don't let your anger at
her stupidity get in the way of your professionalism and knowledge. Consider the job a
challenge and wow her with the results. Stop discussing photography with this idiot and make her images that will be so fine that she will reccomend you all over town. If you don'tthinkthat you can do this, you have no business taking this job, as neither of you will be satisfied. That's just my opinion for whatever it's worth to you.
I'm very confident with my abilities. And I have no doubt, I can deliver fantastic images. She liked what she saw when she hired me. She's in that phase where she has some knowledge about cameras and thinks everything newer is better. And that my refusal to use the D7000 will somehow impact the pictures. I can blow her socks off with a D7000, but I shouldn't have to. My D700 is a better camera for what I do. And I know it inside out, and customized the way I like it.
p.2 #14 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
Hell, as a Canon shooter, a used D700 would likely be my first personal foray into Nikon- it's a completely different camera than my 6D, and would complement it quite well I'd think.
But seriously- you're dealing with a pain in the ass. Lots of professional advice above, but one thing I didn't see mentioned was that the D7000 is itself an obsoleted camera. You could try pointing that out to her .
p.2 #15 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
Tell her that in 10 years time the D7000 will be an obsolete piece of crap yet somehow the photos that she will have from this shoot with a D7000 or whatever will not be any worse, not now, not in 10 years, not in 50 years when her kids will be wondering why these old timers only had broken 2D holograms.
p.2 #16 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
Your problem is not Ken Rockwell but your customer. Ken is just stating his opinion right or wrong. Maybe Ken has done you a favor and now you realize what type of client you will have to work with. Sometimes you have to fire your customer. Good Luck.
p.2 #19 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
I will suggest another approach. Go ahead with your present equipment and "knock her socks off" with your work! Maybe cover the model number with tape.
The wedding? Let her come to you after she's seen your work on the engagement.
Maybe put the quote about an "eye" on your invoice.
p.2 #20 · Stupid Ken Rockwell may cost me a customer!
johnctharp wrote:
Hell, as a Canon shooter, a used D700 would likely be my first personal foray into Nikon- it's a completely different camera than my 6D, and would complement it quite well I'd think.
But seriously- you're dealing with a pain in the ass. Lots of professional advice above, but one thing I didn't see mentioned was that the D7000 is itself an obsoleted camera. You could try pointing that out to her .
This is a very good point that no one else thought of. Why the D7000 and not the newer D7100 or D800 or for that matter D4?
Maybe I'm just more secure in my nitch but I still say let her go and refund the money unless you are unable to do that.
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