PhotographyBanzai.com

I'm always looking for ways to upgrade my camera gear without the hassle of selling it myself. Recently, I decided to try something different: swapping my old equipment for new gear with MPB and getting some cash at the same time. I've used them to purchase equipment in the past, but this was my first time trading in. In the video I explain how it went, and I'll walk you through the entire process, from getting a quote to unboxing the new-to-me equipment.  It's a simple concept: you send them gear, and they send you stuff back. In this particular case, I even got some money in addition to the equipment because my trade-ins were valued higher than what I wanted at the time.  Why go this route instead of selling equipment directly? For me, it all comes down to time and convenience. The entire process, from shipping my gear to receiving the new equipment, took 11 days. They received it, assessed everything, sent me a final quote, I approved it, and then they shipped the n...

In this article I unbox and give first impressions of the Sony 16-70mm F4 OSS Lens from "Used Photo Pro" which is part of Robert's camera based in Indianapolis Indiana.  The lens that I bought from UsedPhotoPro for the video. Unboxing the Lens UsedPhotoPro packed it well with plenty of paper padding, and bubble wrap. The lens itself was wrapped in a plastic bag with a rubber band to hold it flush. No complaints!  The lens and some of the paper packaging below it. First Look at the Lens UPP's "Good" rating details as of the publishing of this article. They had the lens rated as "Good" (75 to 89 percent). The zoom ring feels pretty smooth, but the focus ring is a tiny bit loose. It could be how the lens is normally. Totally fine though I might as well mention it. The lens feels within their rating description.  Worn text "Steady Shot" on the bottom. Non-vital text on the lens is a little worn, which is probably one of the main reasons why t...

A great overview by Gerald Undone on his experiences in the field of camera gear related videos! It is an important topic. The more open the better, I’d say.  After over 13 years making photography and videography gear videos, I’ve not had a huge amount of success comparatively, but I’ve also never been especially brand safe to begin with for these companies to consider me. 🤣 I think his mentions toward the end of the video are especially important. The unwritten pressure, or worse with companies like Insta360 , shouldn’t be acceptable and should be publicly called out more often. That’s probably the only way things will actually change for the better. More of my comments on the video… His YouTube channel. 4:30 I understand that’s what Gerald does, but are there situations where companies are paying for flights and hotel costs of other reviewers with the expectation of a video/article being produced? (EDIT: I’ve seen confirmation that companies pay for the flight and hotel in some in...

I heard recently that the owner of my local camera shop is looking to retire. According to this article on Rock River Current he’s soon to be 67 so that makes sense. I wish him well! Camera Craft Tom’s father Bob had purchased Camera Craft in 1966, so for its current run the shop has been in their family for effectively two generations. That’s a lot of built up knowledge and expertise. Here is a statement in the Rockford Current article about the shop’s overall age: “Camera Craft has enjoyed an excellent reputation in our community for nearly 100 years, and it is due to a long list of dedicated team members over the years who are passionate about photography and sharing their expertise with our customers,” he said.Tom Brady Before them it looks like the shop had been around a long time. Impressive longevity! I do personally remember going to their Edge Brook location a few times many years ago. In a local photographer group, Tom made a post about what he would like to get out of the e...

I purchased a refurbished Canon EOS M6 Mark II back in early August 2022 after selling equipment to KEH (side note, I’m trying to go back through my earlier videos and create at least a simple website article about each. One of which will be about the KEH selling process ) Information from Canon. Here’s how buying the camera and initial unboxing went: The purchasing experience was good, but the camera had a few issues… The AF point positioning button doesn’t have as much travel as the other buttons. The bottom panel shows a bit of paint gone. The LCD does have a dark spot toward the center of the screen. Technically everything worked, but the one button was especially odd. I ended up keeping it. In retrospect not the smartest idea. I used that camera for photography a number of times, but eventually swapped it out with the black M6ii I had in my indoor video rig. The silver version didn’t seem as robust as the black so it made sense. The button with an issue. Five months later I notice...

Buying used equipment is a great alternative to new. Is there a budding photographer in your family that only has a smartphone camera? Give them the gift of photography gear to grow that interest at a reasonable price. Does your cousin love adapting vintage film era lenses to mirrorless cameras? You know where to go. In many situations it’s impossible or impractical to buy new, so today I’ll be talking about used cameras. I was compensated for this post*. This post also contains affiliate links, and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.  I love adapting old lenses to my mirrorless cameras! Let’s start with Digital Single Lens Reflex Cameras (DSLRs)! There is a huge number of options to choose from. Keep in mind that KEH doesn’t often sell cameras with a lens, so you will need to get something to go with one of the cameras here if you don’t already have a lens. Make sure the lens matches the mount. If you are confused then you could probably call ...

While waiting for my car to be worked on, I recorded a video talking about trying to stay productive doing creative work. I go over various things to avoid and ways to split up work to get it done. Let’s talk about being an effective creative! Yep The video where I go over these tips & tricks. 1. TRY TO AVOID WHAT YOU KNOW YOU ARE WEAK AGAINST (EASIER SAID THAN DONE…) It’s easy to burn through hours on things you enjoy that are more consumer focused, but are not especially helpful to being a creator. In my case I watch a lot of YouTube content. It’s definitely easy to spend too much time doing that. The same for video games. At least in my case I’ve been good about removing most of that. Figure out consumer focused time is taking a lot of your day and work on limiting it. 2. SPLIT PROJECTS INTO DAYS BASED ON TYPE OF WORK I’ve found it helpful to break up video projects into pieces. One day I might write up production notes on a few videos. Another day I might do the filming for one...

Earlier in the year, my friend Chris of Simply Photo Studio asked me if I was interested in being a second photographer for one of his weddings. His usual second had a higher paying event to cover. While I’ve taken photos at other weddings before, this is the first time that I’ve photographed a wedding for people I don’t know. Plus, I was going to be paid. I wanted to try it out and had an intent to make some type of video for the YouTube channel about it.  Links are potentially affiliated in this article, I earn from qualifying purchases!  Check out the for this article. We started out the day with a gear check after meeting up at the ceremony location. Initially he had wanted me to take photos of the groom group at their hotel, but that didn’t work out. Apparently the hotel rooms were really bad and cramped. It would have been a lot more effort for me in driving around, so I’m glad how things turned out. The actual wedding location was really nice as well.  The first task was taking...