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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Buyer Beware (dirty laundry)

I was in hospital and can not contact with anybody ..
James Mather received lens with warranty and can contact in any time with Elite to change lens on equal or decide another problem with it lens - I am informed his about it earlier ..
Need not to search me ..

Best regards

Sergey
 
Thanks for the update Sergey. Not everybody shares the same opinion over here. The world or life is more colorful than just B&W.

Hope you get well,
E. :)
 
Aren't you banned from the internet Emanuel?
 
Are you mentioning the IP ban, right Tinkleton? ;-)

BTW, is this your real name? Once you're allowed to post since October 2007, I am sure you could follow the policy since the early days of last December as I have done from day one, I mean, circa four years ago @dvxuser.com, cinematography.com and over these same boards.

I can't respond for the others' actions for sure. Although, if it is for mere satisfaction of your curiosity, you can have a full read where the story could be reported [ LINK ]. Hope you may enjoy it. As said before (also yesterday via PM to Sergey who has been in touch with our group before than last December episode as our worthy supplier), in a certain way, the dirty laundry circus is only a dirty entertainment which only purpose has been to harm decent people. On that, Sergey is right: the real world is far beyond complex than 'the' internet.
 
Sorry about that, Matthew. I'm afraid it is the function of advancing years...
 
I've been rather reluctant to enter this thread, but now that it seems to have cooled down a bit, I want to make a few points and then hear your opinions.

First: Disclosure. I don't know or have ever done any business with Sergey, so I have no opinion of him, positive or negative.

I did sell a lens to Billy Mead last year, and I found him very good to deal with, everything went smoothly as planned. So naturally I'm going to be inclined to take Billy at his word.

I have been working in the camera side of the motion picture business full-time since 1993 (and part-time since '91 when I graduated from film school [horrors!])

I worked in camera department right from the beginning. I became an owner-operator when I purchased an ARRI 16SR in 1994. I worked (and pimped out) that camera for 10 years, and then gratefully sold it for a fair price in 2004.

Being an owner-operator, I was keenly aware of the used professional camera equipment market. I ended up getting involved from the sales and service side in 1999 and started CinemaTechnic in late 2000.

In the over 10 years that I have been closely involved in the motion picture camera marketplace, I have NEVER seen more uncertainty than what we are experiencing now.

Last year was *brutal* for me. The recession hit me early (in mid 2007 for me). My camera repair business dropped 95% within that time (it's all but gone now). Cash flow dried up and I could not complete the construction of the workshop.

Under those conditions, just keeping the lights turned on becomes a huge challenge (not to mention maintaining and trying to upgrade the property single-handedly).

Sometimes, under difficult conditions like these, it is possible for anyone to fall behind in terms of customer service. You end up having to re-shuffle priorities based on which jobs can be completed the quickest and will pay the soonest so you can pay your bills.

I was able to bring the situation under control by working 7 days a week since late last year, at great cost to my personal and family life.

Now that you can see where I am coming from, here are the points that I am trying to make:

1. This is still a specialized low volume business. Despite the appearance of medium sized companies like RED, many of us in this business are one-man operations (I know of several besides me). It is not possible for us to answer every phone call or e-mail every time. Sometimes we fall behind in our work. The profit margins and consistency in this business are too low to justify hiring employees for most of us (not to mention the trouble that government loves to make for small employers).

2. If, after considering all the drawbacks above, we have to live under the constant threat that anyone who gets upset, and does not have his phone call answered on the first or second try, will immediately come to reduser.net and air the "dirty laundry"... I think a lot of us will decide that it's just not worth it.

3. If you always insist on finding the cheapest possible deal, then the risk of buying damaged equipment will always be with you. This is why I recommend buying lenses only from a seller that is equipped to properly inspect and test the lenses (at the very least) if not the ability to perform complete service in-house.

Perhaps a lot of you think that the industry will do just fine with only medium and large sized companies servicing it, and that the small cottage-industry types need to go the way of Kodachrome (or the dinosaur, depending on how snarky you are).

I personally think that if conditions do get to that point, the exodus of talent from the camera side of the industry will be felt.

And you can be assured that the exotic or vintage equipment will be orphaned, as no one will be willing to service it (at least in the U.S).

I would like to hear your opinions of the above, and if anyone thinks I'm wrong, and can say so respectfully and back it up with fact, I would appreciate hearing your opinion.
 
I just thought we should keep this post alive for future purposes.

Y.K
 
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