Karl Kantrowitz - Village Camera and Video - South Orange, NJ, USA - (973) 763-6450

Dear Chris:

You know that I'm a film guy with a genetic thread that can be traced back to Henry Fox-Talbot (oh, how I love that name!)

Sometimes you must return to your roots to gain perspective and get re-energized.

I saw that prices had fallen drastically for wonderful film cameras, particularly the medium format jewels, such as Hasselblad, Fuji, Pentax, Mamiya, Rollei and Bronica. So, after Christmas of 2007, I went on a buying spree and bought about ten used cameras, about twenty lenses, some backs, film inserts, prisms, grips and some Metz 45 Series electronic flashes.

I bought some of this equipment over the counter, some from KEH, some from evilBay, and some from other dealers.

I checked all the equipment out myself and priced them at about double what I paid. Then I displayed them near the digicams and waited for the customers to hand over their credit cards. Well, it didn't happen right away, but after about six months, here is the tally of what sold:

• 2-Hasselbads (one with three lenses)
• 1-Mamiya RB67 outfit
• 1-Bronica SQ-A outfit complete
• 4-Mamiya 645 packages
• 1-Mamiya C33
• 1-Mamiya C330
• 4-Metz 45 CT flashes
• 3-Sunpak 522/544 flashes

The best part is that I'm having fun and I feel like a kid again.

Chris Lydle - Chris' Camera Center - Aiken, SC, USA - www.chriscamera.com/passports.htm

If you've ever had a customer come back to tell you his passport photos were rejected by the post office or the passport agency, you know that a reject rate of 1 in a million is still too high.

If the head size in a passport is even a millimeter too big or small, that's an automatic reject.

At Chris' Camera Center we now use a template to examine the finished pictures.

The one for USA photos has two cut-out windows.

One window is precisely 1" square and it says "Head no smaller than 1" high. If you can see any space above the head when you have the chin (lowest chin if multiple) touching the bottom, the print is too small. Print it over."

The other window is precisely 1 3/8" square and it says "Head no larger than 1 3/8" high. If you can't see any space above the head when you have the chin (lowest chin if multiple) touching the bottom, the print is too big. Print it over."

August 10-14 - IPI Convention, Las Vegas, NV, USA

August 12, 2008 - August 13, 2008 - PMA Latin America Imaging Conference Lima, Peru Sheraton Lima Hotel & Convention Center

August 18, 2008 - Annual Golf Outing of the NY/NJ Metro Division of PMA. Cherry Valley Club, Garden City NY. Contact Joel Paymer for details 212-753-5128

September 11, 2008 - September 13, 2008 - PMA Canada Exposition 2008 Palais des Congres de Montreal Montreal, Quebec Canada

September 13-14, 2008 PMA Northern California Division Annual Meeting and Tabletop Show "Veni, Vidi, Visa" (I Came, I Saw, I Shopped!) Cache Creek Casino Resort, Brooks, CA

September 23-29, 2008 - Photokina Koln (Cologne) Germany

October 3-4, 2008 PMA North Central Division Annual Meeting Riverwood Inn, Otsego, MN

October 10-11, 2008 PMA Pacific Northwest Division Annual Meeting Seattle, WA

March 1 - March 4, 2009 - DIMA 2009 Las Vegas, NV, USA

March 3 - March 5, 2009 - PMA 2009 Las Vegas, NV, USA

Did you know that every single issue of the McCurry Marketing Idea Exchange is archived on line - going all the way back to Issue 1?