Some of you know that I have been trekking up to Los Osos every couple of months for the last two years to take photography classes at Lepp Institute, owned and operated by Hal & Victoria Schmitt. I go there because I have always gotten great 'Bang for the Buck'. It has been through their classes that I stepped up to shooting RAW and profiling my monitors as well as finally starting to migrate from PhotoImpact to Photoshop. In my mind, Hal Schmitt is the premier photography instructor on the planet.
So, it is a rarity that I have anything less than stellar to say about my attendance there, but this weekend is a bit of an exception. As part of their sponsorship of Hal & Victoria, Canon provides occasional workshops by their representatives. One such presentation was this weekend. From my reading of the flyer, the two Canon reps were going to cover things Canon from cameras and flash, including WiFi through printing. That's not quite what happened. The complete first day was about shooting using a 5D Mark II, two 580EX II strobes and very expensive softbox setup ... oh, but only light from a single flash was used as the other, on camera flash, was only ever used as a Master with flash disabled. Now, I have a lot of equipment. But I don't have a large, $500 BruceDorn softbox with special Wescott shoe for my two 580EX II's and none of the other students did either. So, the extended shooting in the studio with this softbox wasn't useful for anyone. Nor was much of the information useful for those with slightly older bodies/flashes. I guess if the flyer had suggested that only the latest greatest Canon products were being showcased that wouldn't be so bad ... oh, except Canon doesn't make a softbox! That's a Wescott affair. The same thing happened when we went into the field ... softbox! I don't know very many folks who haul a softbox into the field ... literal field with grass and trees. But again, that's all the Canon Rep did. And, while pretty continually saying how much better this was than using true studio strobes, the 580EX II's misfired often and the much vaunted E-TTL system misexposed often. Several times he noted that his flash had not recycled quickly enough but when I offered to loan him a Quantum SC battery (of which I have two for my 580EX IIs) he put them down saying they would burn out the flash ... even though he had just commented about how the flash has circuitry to prevent overheating, etc. There were frequent comments about how much easier this was than having to use a meter as one does with studio strobes, but in almost the same breath the Rep would talk about having to use FEC (flash exposure compensation) to correct the bad E-TTL exposures. And, consider, his entire studio shoot was done tethered to a laptop so he could see and adjust the light. I am one of a very few photographers that I know who always shoot tethered to a computer in the studio. I doubt any other student there has ever done that. I really don't think anyone was favorably impressed by this presentation.
The second day was to be about printing. I left early since the rep spent almost the entire morning demonstrating his favorite Photoshop techniques for retouching women. They never touched on WiFi and although I had explicitly asked, they never reviewed making microadjustments for lenses. In fact, they never seemed to hear any of the questions students asked and anything outside their predefined patter seemed like a big issue for guys who should be experts. And when their vaunted Canon DPP software failed, it was quickly blamed on Apple ... although the computers they used were their own and their own choice. All-in-all, pretty sad from Canon.
But, I gotta' say, Hal & Victoria know full well what they are about. They had a Grand Opening ... although it was really a rebranding of sorts. Huge party! Great turnout! Superb food. Amazing wine. Wonderful guests. Made new friends and ran into old friends not seen for some time. The amazing Kevin Cole was there talking about his pending Canon 800mm f/5.6 purchase and wildlife techniques. There were even some folks who had an interest in my Chumash Casino Resort photography ... a little eqo stroke for me.
My wife, Marna, and daughter, Anna, attended. Anna spent most of the evening playing/dancing with Reagan (I'm not sure of the spelling) who is Hal & Victoria's daughter. And somewhere mixed in was a ribbon cutting for the new LIGHT Photography Workshops! Lepp Institute Gone High Tech!
I will be back up to LIGHT soon. I will not be attending any Canon workshops soon.
Travel Safe!
Dwight
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