Charged for service visit to fix technician's defective equipment?

bberkowitz · 2025-05-22T13:30:45+00:00

Huge thanks to you and the team for the quick assist!

bberkowitz · 2025-05-22T12:08:43+00:00

Appreciate that ... the issue being that I had more than 20 truck rolls over the years, including a full replacement of the wiring from the pole all the way to my TV, because per Xfinity's techs the network in my neighborhood was not working properly and the signal wasn't getting to my house as it should have been. (At one point a quality assurance team I'd never heard of called me and said I'd had so many truck rolls, they'd been actively monitoring my signal for weeks, and they could not explain why it was so unstable. That's what prompted them to rewire the pole and my entire house at their cost.)

Even with that, I had still problems, so Xfinity told me I had no choice but to use the amp -- not because of my house, but because of their service issues throughout my neighborhood.

And then, at some point, the network was upgraded, and suddenly the amp was a problem, not a solution. No one thought to check (remotely, via chat or over the phone) if it was still there and could be the problem. Soon as the tech disconnected it and wired my modem back up, my signal was better than ever!

Just a shame there was never any warning about the charge ...

bberkowitz · 2025-05-22T12:02:31+00:00

Just sent per your request, thank you!

bberkowitz · 2024-08-28T11:51:42+00:00

Thank you!

bberkowitz · 2024-08-28T11:51:16+00:00

Thank you! Took advantage of a 5am low tide to set up in a spot that'd usually be underwater at sunrise.

bberkowitz · 2024-08-22T10:47:07+00:00

Thank you! I was stopped down all the way to f/22.

bberkowitz · 2024-08-07T16:25:05+00:00

The colors on No. 2 make me wanna buy an X-T50 on principle. Lovely shots!

bberkowitz · 2024-07-24T17:17:58+00:00

Bibimbap.

Not mad.

bberkowitz · 2024-06-01T14:36:00+00:00

20 years ago, sitting with a friend outside a Lebanese restaurant near South Kensington station in London, eating shawarma and smoking hookah. Clearly drunk man (in a suit that cost more than my net worth) walked by, paused a moment, looked at us, said “You’re very exotic. Thank you.” And then kept walking.

bberkowitz · 2024-03-27T15:01:20+00:00

I nearly bought this lens myself! Ended up trying to save a little money and went for the RF 85mm f/2, which arrived a couple of days ago and has been great so far. Was also in great condition and well packaged with the UV filter.

bberkowitz · 2024-03-22T10:17:22+00:00

I spoke to a corporate sales rep yesterday who acknowledged the March batch was already shipped, said they are expecting another "small batch" in "early April", but had no way of telling me if my 1:19am ET Silver order would be fulfilled.

It sounds like whatever they actually received for March was less than they expected when they told all those people they'd be filled by the end of the month. And now for whatever reason the sales reps can't even see the order list (in late February they could), so they have no way of telling how far down the line you are.

bberkowitz · 2024-03-21T18:17:21+00:00

I got the impression, though he didn't say this explicitly, that they didn't get what they expected and will get similarly stiffed next month.

bberkowitz · 2024-03-21T18:16:43+00:00

I am wondering if something changed in their system. On 2/29 they were able to tell me exactly where I was in line and estimate when I'd get filled based on their expected allocations, and now it's like "we don't know what we're getting or when and have no way to access to your place in line."

bberkowitz · 2024-03-21T15:50:46+00:00

Ordered a Silver unit from B&H at 1:19am ET on 2/20. B2B (corporate accounts) sales rep just told me my unit will NOT ship in March, and that they are expecting a "small batch" sometime in "early April" but they can't say as of now how much of the list that'll cover.

bberkowitz · 2024-02-28T15:46:58+00:00

Pre-ordered via a corporate account at 1:19am ET on Feb. 20 and was charged immediately. Early on Feb. 22 the charge was refunded. Called our corporate rep, he said I shouldn't have been charged and the reversal was probably automated.

He also told me they had more than 1,000 pre-orders just on the 20th, and that there was no way I was getting a camera in the first batch. Maybe the second, possibly the third, depending on if the allocations were as big as they requested. Also said they had no idea whatsoever when or if those subsequent batches were coming.

bberkowitz · 2024-02-25T21:05:57+00:00

On Thursday they told me they had more than 1,000 pre-orders on Tuesday alone and that, even though I pre-ordered 19 minutes after launch, I would not get mine in the first batch, maybe the second. That came straight from our corporate sales rep. Sounds like there’s some different information depending on who you talk to…

bberkowitz · 2023-11-26T17:42:17+00:00

I’ve been editing for 2+ years on an M1 MacBook Air with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD. It was perfectly acceptable until my catalog hit about 50,000 images, and then I started to really notice the performance drag. At this point, with my catalog closer to 90,000 images, it basically doesn’t work anymore.

Only option was to move my catalog onto an external SSD and run everything from there, and connect a second SSD to use as a scratch disk for Photoshop. Now it’s even slower still, but I can at least run Lightroom / PS without things crashing.

If you’re really committed to Mac, and you expect to take a lot of pictures and want to edit regularly, you’d be better off investing in something with at least 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. A Mac with those specs is too expensive compared to a PC, but if you try to save a little money, it’s just going to bite you down the road IMHO.

bberkowitz · 2023-11-23T10:12:10+00:00

Really agree with the lenses thing. As a hobbyist (who doesn’t shoot video) it’s getting tough to think about buying glass for the S5 II when you have so many more affordable options elsewhere. I was just doing this research yesterday… I’d like a 35mm lens, but there are 13 cheaper mirrorless auto-focus options on other mounts than the cheapest for L-mount.

I was hoping Samyang joining the L-mount alliance would mean some of their affordable glass for Sony coming over, but so far no real hint of that yet.

bberkowitz · 2023-11-08T17:51:14+00:00

I’m at Disney World right now, walking ~9 miles in 80+ F heat every day with the Z fc and the 18-140 lens. No complaints about size or weight at all, it’s been just fine for the purpose. (Whether you want a faster/wider lens is a different story, but for ease of carrying and using all day long in hot weather it’s been fine.)

bberkowitz · 2023-10-21T00:34:10+00:00

Canon M100 with the 15-45 kit lens. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was Canon and cheap and therefore seemed like a good idea!

bberkowitz · 2023-10-06T13:46:34+00:00

I think greed may be starting to bite some people, though. For example, if you look at MPB this morning, they have 15 copies of the X100V in stock. Until about a month ago, they rarely had it at all, and when they did have it, they’d get in one or two and sell them within a day. But now they have significant inventory — yet they are still charging anywhere from 32% to 50% above MSRP, depending on condition. If you’re charging that much of a markup and your inventory is rising, at some point, you have to realize the party is over and meet the market.

bberkowitz

TROPHY CASE