There are times that we overcomplicate our lives. We climb into our own head and complicate our lives. We set unreachable goals, we believe others have something we do not and finally we convince ourselves that we do not have the right tools. Then, occasionally, we have moments of enlightenment. In photography it finally hits me...it's about the subject and the photographer. Everything else is noise. The only signal worth discussing is the subject and the photographer. 

The subject must be interesting...if it is not then why photograph it. The photographer has to make choices and those choices are reflected in the image they take. For example this photographer above, I was on the beach with the family and had an old Pentax film camera that was given to me. I just had one lens and the prism was cracked. The camera was rough but all I need is film and a black box and I can capture an image...so this camera, in its sad state, was still much more than I needed.

My son was getting out of the water and he walked over to us under the umbrella. I asked him to pause for a quick picture and he complied. You can see he is tired, you can see he is serious, not the face of a young kid playing in the water. He seems to almost be looking past me. 

The subject made the picture. I was there, with a box and film. Nothing more. Now this picture, in my mind, is one of the best portraits I have taken. It speaks on multiple levels and just works...thanks to the subject. 

So simplify your life...find the subject that entertains and the rest will work itself out.

It used to be that the purchase of a new devise was something that filled me with pleasure. Finding out what the new technology brought to the table and how I can incorporate it into my daily life was something I looked forward to. The advantage is that each new iteration was a massive change and always seemed to improve what we had before.

The record player, moving to the cassette was a massive improvement. We could easily carry a full album in our pocket. It was bullet proof, being able to be thrown around in wild abandon while looking for the cassette you wanted to hear. You could play it in your car, on the go and in your house. You could record off the radio and get "free" music. 

Then things began to change in a different way. The advances were not always positive, they were coming faster and sometimes you had to accept a lesser quality item in order to obtain the better gizmo. For example the CD, sure you could store more on the CD, sure the sound may have been better (I never noticed a difference but ok I will grant that one) but now the CD could get scratched and you could not record music onto it. 

Times change, technology improvement does not happen uniformly. My most recent example is that I have recently purchased a new Apple Mac mini as my iMac is getting on in years having been purchased back in 2017. The Mac mini is a great little computer and a wonderful price but since it does not come with a monitor, I purchased an inexpensive Samsung.  Good reviews, but a basic monitor.  My iMac still has its Retina display which is leaps and bounds better than what I have in my inexpensive Samsung. 

My old 2017 iMac is not supported and slowly software will stop working on it. So I change to a faster computer, but the display is half of what I once had. And now, I need to change out all my hard drive cables to USB C.  I am at the award technology adoption point where I have legacy technology that I need to adapt to fit with the new and improved version.  

This is why I like my old film cameras. They can still be serviced and once they are they operate as good as new. I don't have to worry about getting the right cable or battery. All I need is film and I am set. I still look forward to seeing all the technology out there. I still like playing with new toys...but now I have to consider what I am giving up.  I miss my iMac screen, I hate using special cable adapters to plug in my Firewire800 into a USB C. The hard drives are still good, not as fast as the new ones, but they have withstood the test of time. I will miss them when they are gone...but their time is near.  

So now, the change of one technology item has to change my entire workflow or I need to go out and change all peripherals at the same time, an expensive proposition to be sure.

We have gone from the evolution of the record player to a cassette, to the revolution of digital music to the convolution of not ever owning music and only streaming it....if you have internet as the loss of internet now means you do not have music. 

I mean that...what does good service mean?  At a time when social media is empowering buyers, what is fair for us to expect and what is not?  Let me give you the reason behind my question.

I have often purchased items on Ebay.  I have had a great deal of success and can honestly say that I have not really had a negative experience.  I have also had some average experiences but I have never felt taken advantage of.  I know there are risks involved but I am willing to take them.

Fast forward to my latest purchase....a wonderful Leica M4 that was CLA, painted and the advance lever replaced with that of a Leica M4.  I loved it.  Olive green, wonderful condition seemed like a good purchase...a bit expensive but allot of work went into it. The reviews were good so I took the plunge and bought the camera.  

It arrived FAST. Like in a week it was at my house.  I opened the box and there, staring at me, was a wonderful....olive green Leica M4 in perfect condition.  I pulled it out and it advanced smoothly, the shutter speeds moved fluidly and the camera was the gem I was expecting to get.

Then I pulled out a lens and it would not snap in place. In fact, it would no Leica, Zeiss, Voigtlander or other lenses that I had would latch on. I wrote the seller an email message and set the camera carefully back in the box.  A few hours later the seller reached out and explained that he had no idea what had happened as it was working perfectly.  He suggested I try a different lens and record the event to send to him.  I did so.  

He and I began looking into it and this is a known issue on a handful of M4 cameras. You need to remove the lens release button, and put in two shims. This lifts the button a bit and allows it to latch on to new lenses. And yes, I tried a 1950's lens and it did latch on...most of the time. 

The seller mailed to me the shims and a couple of screwdrivers.  I began to get to work and it would not work.  I was getting fed up as we were now almost a month from the purchase and I could not use the camera.  Without the lens latching you do not know if the focusing set up is right.  

Finally, the seller suggested a different fix, and sent a video of how to do it.  I attempted it and it worked perfectly.  So a month after the camera arrived, it was working as it should.  Now here is the thing...how do I rate the seller?  Was it an honest mistake?  Yes.  Would the camera have worked without the fix....no.  Do I pay for a working camera and does this establish my expectations?  Yes.  

I decided to give him a good review. I explained what had happened but must agree that he tried to resolve the issue and sent me the parts and tools to make the fix for free.  So I explained the story and gave him a full five stars because I would indeed buy from him again.  

On his part, he has decided to test each camera with different vintage lenses to avoid this in the future.  Good enough for me.

So I suppose good service is the lack of error, but once the error occurs good service is defined by how well the seller tries to make it right.