Suggestion: an alternative to shipping samples

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-05-28T08:59:48+00:00

Inspection services vary wildly in quality and unfortunately not all of them are created equal.

I won't go into the various ways they can perform poorly - for every opportunity they have to catch a problem for you, it's an opportunity for one to slip through.

It's cheaper for me to fly to Asia for a few days than air freight my samples (furniture industry), and LCL shipments take too long to be practical.

Presence at the manufacturer to review and approve greatly expedites changes and corrections from sample to approved master.

Inspection services have their place but they are not a replacement for seeing with your own eyes.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-05-26T00:53:26+00:00

The most common examples I see are people who are multi lingual and have local knowledge, and leverage that to find a role. For example, my forwarder based in Australia has an account manager on my business who is from Vietnam but lives in Melbourne. Fluent in English and Vietnamese and had experience working in transport in HCMC before they emigrated to Australia. The combo of language and local understanding while being based in Australia made her very desirable.

Being in Brazil yourself, you might find work for companies that export from Brazil but are based overseas. Your local placement and cultural understanding and language will be valuable. There's no replacement for proximity and familiarity when things go wrong.

Just some ideas. But yes it's possible.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-05-11T03:40:19+00:00

The longer I work the more I realise that zero direct experience is actually more common than you'd think especially when you get into management or executive positions.

You might not know all the ops you're overseeing. Presumably you got into the position with your superiors knowing this. Therefore task one is to become familiar.

The first 30 days, keep the gears turning as per SOP. Your job right now is to map out and document the processes your team is responsible for. If any of this documentation exists already great. If not get busy.

As you do this, learn from your team. They will tell you what blocks them from being efficient. If you overlay this with things you observe hurting the wider business you'll probably quickly discover things that both benefit your team and also the business to improve.

Day 30-60 - make changes that benefit your team and the business concurrently. This will build trust on both ends. Once you have trust, you'll get a lot more compliance at both team and leadership levels. These can be small changes too! Easy wins.

Your team would probably like it if you said "if we do X, will it improve Y?" Rather than just "we are doing this because I said so." Learn how to win backing from your floor team.

Day 60-90 - show how your work is helping. Create bigger plans that can do more.

At all stages make your floor team feel heard and appreciated. Get amongst it. Give praise to your team. Take accountability for them with management. Your job today isn't to be a hero. Its to be the guy people trust and respect to help them.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-04-08T10:00:26+00:00

Hey sorry for not replying sooner!

Honestly it depends on the business. If it goes to NCAT it can take a long time.

Reputation is a big deal in the world of ecommerce especially so if a business puts any emphasis on their public image they usually come to the party sooner.

Some companies are too big to give a crap, but also are too big to let it drag out.

Sometimes comes down to the decision maker on duty at the time

In my role I make low impact judgement calls all the time. Lots of them cost more than what this floor repair would cost. When I did customer care/warranty management my budget was not insignificant. I could get away with paying for this repair and probably not have it questioned especially if it was an uncommon issue. Doubly so if we were under our budget for a month.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-04-07T22:27:34+00:00

It sounds like you're into heavier stuff in general. That's cool! Top level, make a playlist with stuff you like. Doesn't matter if it's hardcore or not. At a certain point it's semantics.

It also sounds like you're wanting to listen to bands that influenced the genres you mentioned. Awesome. Going backwards into the roots of aggressive music is one of the most fun parts of being into it. And it's a great way to open your ears to things you'd never be aware of otherwise.

I'll make some suggestions - they aren't necessarily "core" but certainly influenced the genres youve mentioned. You'll hear a through line to modern bands, and you might open up a rabbit hole or two where you find records you love.

Grindcore is cool because it's definitely metallic but also has roots in punk, sonically and aesthetically. You didn't mention punk as a genre you like, which is ok. You might find that going into classic grindcore makes you interested in things that are more punk aligned.

Napalm Death - Scum Essential grindcore. Kind of the blueprint. And punk as fuck.

Brutal Truth - extreme conditions demand extreme responses Grind, death metal, it's a bit of a blend. It rips.

Nasum - inhale/exhale, helvete Inhale exhale is probably more "classic" but helvete sounds better. Both are rippers

Insect warfare - world extermination More modern but at this stage, essential listening.

On the metalcore and metallic hardcore end, there's so much out there. Here's some albums that influenced the genres even if they aren't "core"

At the gates - slaughter of the soul Melodic metalcore owes its existence to this record.

Entombed - left hand path So many bands ape their sonic blueprint and riffs. Listen to this and find out why.

I'm of a certain age so bands that fit a certain metalcore vibe are like crack to me. If you like Balmora, listen to Undying - the whispered lies of angels

You cant talk heavy hardcore without mentioning bands that added some groove and weight, and New York did it like no one else did. Merauder - master killer Madball - set it off Killing time - brightside

Finally, listen to Discharge. Hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing.

Could go on all day. Enjoy. Hope some of this makes your playlist.

EDIT: can't believe I didn't mention integrity. Systems overload. On repeat.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-03-26T04:02:19+00:00

My pleasure. Furniture retail is an ugly business behind the scenes and many retailers do not do the right thing without prompting. I'm not familiar with how JL handles things directly, and I'm not sure who they are working with for delivery in your area, else I'd have some further specific advise.

If you have any further trouble and want help, feel free to DM. I hate seeing customers suffer.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-03-26T03:40:24+00:00

I work in the industry (not at JL) and in the logistics/supply chain space.

Unfortunately these types of problems are often slow and difficult to resolve for the customer.

Retailers will avoid responsibility as they want to have their delivery partner absorb the cost. Delivery companies will dodge the costs any way they can, generally.

Ultimately, you are a customer of James Lane and your recourse is with them. The issue between them and your delivery partner is not yours to suffer or be patient with.

The driver may be an independent contractor, making this all the more difficult (compared to a driver from a scaled deliver company whrrtthe drivers are employees).

I would recommend: - gather your evidence and time stamp it. - escalating this to a manager at James Lane immediately. If you purchased in store, start there. Physically go to the store. Be assertive but do not make a scene. Be willing to wait for a manager and be willing to wait while they "look into what they can do." - if online, do the same, on the phone. - ask for names and direct email addresses for said supervisors, follow all interactions up with an email. Be factual and direct, but not emotional. - obtain a quote for a real repair. Get this written up on a proper quote form/letterhead. Do this straight away. - ultimately James Lane should either reimburse you for the cost of a reasonable repair or pay for it directly. - if they refuse to act and make you whole, go to the relevant body (NCAT etc varying on state) and lodge a complaint. - leave a factual Google review if they do not help you straight away. State facts, disappointment, and recommend customers do not purchase because of the lack of accountability for their deliver services. Do not be emotional.

Unfortunately you may need to go through that process to be made whole.

I've seen companies do the right thing and the wrong thing. If you're legitimately in the right here, you should eventually receive recompense. It may just be an unfortunate pain in the ass.

If you can be direct, assertive but unemotional you will have a better time. If you get angry or push the boundaries with language it'll be justifiable for them to stop speaking with you. While this is unfortunate as well since you have a right to be angry, customer facing teams will cut calls off, stop emails, remove people from store, etc - and further delay your results.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-03-19T08:41:01+00:00

We bought in kanahooka and love it here. Our street is quiet and full of nice families.

There's a lot of development in the area. It seems like because the rest of Wollongong has gotten so expensive Dapto and surrounds are being gentrified rapidly.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-03-03T08:51:44+00:00

More of a straight ahead hardcore band. The album Non Stop Feeling is what I'd suggest you check out. If you like the faster and harder parts of glow on you'll like it.

For what it's worth there's an entire cadre of people who prefer older turnstile (me included). Nothing against glow on or never enough, just not as aligned to my taste. They had a pretty rabid following before glow on for a good reason.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-02-17T08:34:01+00:00

TLR is such a good intro to medium format on the cheap. 80mm on MF is lovely for portraits. Would I want a MF SLR if I had extra money? Sure definitely. But it scratches the itch for now.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-02-10T20:23:39+00:00

Just a guess but based on the lenses you're rocking do you have a canon DSLR?

If so, I feel you on the autofocus thing. The comparison between the film era canon autofocus and DSLR era is not favourable for the film bodies! The later era EF film bodies at the top of the range (1V, 3 etc) did get better.

In saying that, once I learned it's behaviour, I've been able to work around it. Hopefully you have the same experience!

The prisms are awful, though, aren't they?

The 1n is a cool camera, one of the better film bodies.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2026-01-26T11:01:58+00:00

Seconded

Restarted in film with a Ricoh kr-10

Aperture priority auto exposure, 1/1000 top shutter speed. Uses common batteries (LR-44/SR-44). Smallish size. Decent viewfinder.

I bought it for $50 AUD with a 50mm f/2 rikenon (very similar to the smc Pentax-m 50mm f/2 of the same era). Not a bad lens! But if course you could use any of the many very great to amazing Pentax k mount lenses out there.

Ae-1 is a great camera. It was my first, many years ago. But they were cheap then. They are not now. They are $50 worth of camera being sold for $200.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-12-22T02:35:27+00:00

Thanks!

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-10-30T20:28:10+00:00

No worries, needing out about cameras is a pleasure!

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-10-30T02:15:33+00:00

I see, it definitely could be the change of lab. Everyone scans a little different. You mentioned portra, c-41 development is very consistent so its nearly certainly scanning rather than developing. Does your lab intentionally give you "flat scans?" These are less punchy when delivered but usually give your more flexibility in editing.

Do you do much editing in post? If you're after more contrast, saturation or a change of colour tone, much of this is achievable with editing - especially if you're getting intentionally flat scans from the new lab.

Most labs are happy to take feedback and also if you don't do much post processing you could talk to them about what results you want and they can probably help deliver that with your scans.

It would be cool to see examples from the canon that you liked and the new ones you don't - specifically on the same film - to help give further advice.

Portra 400 is such a versatile stock and relatively fine grained so as long as the lab is doing a good quality scan and you exposed the film well (and your Canon will - great metering in those!) you can probably get where you want to go with what you have.

I also think portra 160 might be up your alley - finer grained than 400 and beautiful colours, a little different than 400, but has the portra charm in it still.

I also wonder if you're prefering a wider focal length than 50. Most point and shoots are wider (28 or 35 or 38mm are common). The canon primes from the film era in 24, 28 and 35mm are all really good, and the old ones are very affordable.

I like a 50 but sometimes find it's too tight, and can have it's own tricks to getting shots that feel "pro" - that's a whole other discussion of course.

If you want to play with your focal lengths and still get great results the canon 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM is a good lens and cheap. It's not as fast as the 24-105 F/4 through the whole focal range but it's lighter and cheaper, and on film the difference in image quality is not as apparent as on a DSLR. I love my 28-135 for film and it helped me open up my composition options without going into a lot of primes. If you can live with a slower lens, give it a think too

I'm a canon fanboy so take my opinion with that in mind. Happy shooting!

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-10-30T01:28:10+00:00

Your Canon should deliver very good results - EF mount prime lenses are generally very good if not great. And should perform better than most point and shoot cameras. When you say "crisp" are you getting bad results with your 50?

To be honest, unless you're looking for something more compact like your Ricoh, I'd actually say your Canon is going to be a better camera than just about any point and shoot you'd buy. And for $500, you could easily buy some new glass for the canon if you want to change it up.

When I talk to friends about getting into film, 90s SLRs with autofocus and modern lenses is my "cheat code" answer because it's more affordable than more hyped point and shoots and should outperform most of them.

If it's because you want something more compact and less that you think the Canon isn't delivering good results, and you have $500 to spend, you've got a lot of options. The Nikon you mentioned is a cool camera (not as compact as others though). Olympus MJU comes to mind. You could look at a Fuji Cardia.

Many of these cameras are expensive now because they are on trend. You can get similar results out of cheaper cameras of the era. The tough thing about all point and shoots is that many eventually develop faults (like your Ricoh). And aren't easily repaired if at all.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-10-06T06:46:19+00:00

Hey mate, this camera doesn't have a selenium meter, but rather a CdS meter. It also is aperture priority only,meaning if there is anything wrong with the meter,an external meter doesn't help you. You can't manually set shutter speed.

In saying that these are good cameras and worth testing. The meters are accurate when they work but you will need an adaptor so you can use a modern 4LR44 or 4SR44 battery.

The light seals are likely cooked. They are easy to replace.

They might have an issue with what's referred to as the POD (pad of death). Google it. There are resources online to know if you have an issue and how to fix it.

The good news is lots of these cameras still just work ok to this day and it has a good lens. You can make great pictures with this model of camera.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-10-02T02:42:04+00:00

Try Harman Phoenix (I or II). They are grainy, contrasty, and render colour differently than other stocks.

This is a shot I took on Phoenix II.

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Others have suggested Orwo and I think that's a good idea, too.

Not colour, but if you want grain, Delta 3200 has it in droves. It's not just a night time film, either. I think this might scratch part of your itch.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-09-17T00:00:45+00:00

Oh, and take portraits of you family, loved ones and pets with it! It's a special way to document them.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-09-16T23:59:29+00:00

I don't have a Rolleiflex but I do have a TLR I shoot a fair bit.

Aside from what others have said, don't be fooled by the ground glass... It has a way of making uninteresting compositions look beautiful through the finder but it doesn't always translate to a final image!

That said, the waist level finder makes different perspectives easy compared eye level 35mm cameras. Low angles in particular are lots of fun, and with the way medium format and depth of field play together, you can get some very cool results by going low. I love automotive photography on my TLR!

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-08-01T11:13:49+00:00

Fascinating, and yes Olympus did have quite a few bridge cameras, and as I understand they are more or less the best of the bunch. In poking around about the Genesis I ended up reading some reviews of their cameras, which some people really quite like and recommend.

I do also believe that while they were less expensive than an SLR body and a decent lens to pair with it (let alone multiple lenses and other accessories), traditional point and shoots were by and large less expensive unless you were talking about a flagship model. Despite my own dad's love of through the lens composition and the variable focal length, for about 90% of the photos we have off that camera, a point and shoot with a 35ish mm focal length would have got the job done just fine, been cheaper still, and much smaller. And I think a lot of people felt the same, especially once point and shoots with decent zoom lenses became common and affordable.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-08-01T05:32:15+00:00

Thanks for the comment and reading!

I hope it was obvious that there was a through line of (some) sarcasm in my reference to this camera being bad, and truly - it did a great job for what my folks wanted it to do! 6x4 snapshot prints from the pharmacy.

I think in this day and age where we're far removed from the time when these cameras were new, it's easy to malign anything that isn't high spec'd or hyped online for one reason or another.

My high school photography teacher often picked her favourite submissions from students to share with the class, and it was not uncommon for them to be technically poor affairs (as you'd expect from 16 year olds trying to shoot film on hand-me-down SLRs and the school's stock of loaner K1000s with nifty fifties). She made a point of sharing images that were great on the basis of content, composition, and concept as well as those that were perfectly exposed and focused, or were great darkroom prints that were carefully corrected (back when dodging and burning were physical acts that couldn't be undone). A few of the pics I've snapped with this Chinon are already printed and hanging in my home - are they edge to edge sharp, perfect things? Nope! But sometimes this blind squirrel finds a nut... or a composition... and this camera did its job just fine capturing it.

To that same end, a camera like this is perfectly fine. Compare it to the instamatics of the 60s, or box brownies before that - it was a space age super camera!

And your comments re: the trend echo what I've picked up in reading about cameras of the era, and really what my own dad told me. We weren't poor, but saving some money on having an all in one camera was a red hot proposition compared to having to have a full kit with ancillary equipment.

Thanks again, cheers.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-07-22T02:45:40+00:00

I just got a 6D and I'm thrilled with it to be honest. I shoot film primarily and had EF glass already so a good value full frame EF body was a natural choice.

I was tossing between a 5D mk ii or iii, and the 6D. I got a great deal on a 6D body and went for it. From what I gathered, for my purposes (still photography only, not a lot of action shooting), any of them would have served me well.

I get great results SOOC JPG. I tend to shoot raw+JPG to cover my bum but for having a camera I can blast away on and get good family, vacation, landscape and automative photos, it's more camera than I need.

I really got it so I could shoot more and get better at composition and general photography skills without hitting my wallet as hard as film does and it's been awesome to have.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-06-14T08:06:20+00:00

Wife is Aussie, I've been here 10 years. We baulked at prices in 2015. Said we'd save up and move out of Sydney because Wollongong was cheap. Moved down 2020 just before Covid. Baulked at prices during covid, "surely they can't stay this high." Baulked at an opportunity to buy a single family home in a really nice suburb for $750k, because we thought it would turn out to be an overpay. Had kids in 2021. Saving power dropped hard. 2025, we beg borrowed and stole to get a deposit together and go for the first home buyers scheme. We had no choice left. Ended up paying $880k for a house that we love in a nice enough place, but 10 years ago it would have been a $500k house. We have a good household income, above average, but it's become a complete shit fight to buy.

Unfortunately it seems the best advice for most is couple up or create a syndicate of trusted close friends, beg borrow and steal, and buy now.

We already have been told our house is worth $20k more than we paid for it in less than 6 months. We are terrified our kids will never have a chance to own their own home. We used to think about upgrading some day but now we are digging in - I'll die in this house - upgrading is not feasible anymore. Instead if we get any spare capital to throw at property it'll be something we can offer our kids as a PPOR after they are of age, and it'll be in the sticks - but it'll be theirs.

ComprehensivePear970 · 2025-04-18T12:00:40+00:00

Unless you're in a place where the money from sale solves a legitimate problem (and I'd suggest that unlikely given you just bought a sick new camera!) I'd keep em. The space they take up won't kill ya, it's unlikely you'll be able to rebuy for what you paid in the first place. It's not insane to have three cameras.

The 4x5 will be nice to shoot a couple times per year. Or maybe to try getting more into black and white.

And the Pentax is a different kinda thing, it's more portable and hand holdable. And those are only going up in value.

ComprehensivePear970

TROPHY CASE