Moving to digital wasn't easy for me. I am a commercial advertising photographer with clients that want it all, and knowing that, I had to be sure the system I invested in was going to produce. I kept up with the latest greatest, attended seminars and forums, asked lots of questions of anyone who had contact with a digital system. Then made a list of the things I'd be looking for. It had to be as big-of-a-file as currently possible in a single capture, and had to work with both my Fuji680 and Hasselblad systems. And I needed good tech support. But I still had the "chicken and egg" question to answer. If I get one, will my clients like the product? Or, do I wait until they start asking me to shoot digital before I buy. To make matters worse, some of my clients had already been sorely disappointed by their first experience. The ad agency world is a small one and news travels fast.

I had spoken to Chris Bennes, a MegaVision rep in 1999, and asked if he would give me a demo at my studio. I still remember him rolling in and unloading and plugging it all in. I had my typical portrait set ready to go, a soft box as a main and a 2K mole Richardson on the background. He put the S3 back on my Hasselblad and casually said, "here ya go", handing me the camera. I don't think he was ready for it when I told him to "have a seat. I'm shooting you". But he looked stunned when I focused and started to quickly shake the camera as I released the shutter. After a series of shots I explained that it's a technique I frequently use and wanted to see how it looks digitally. After about an hour and going over the fine details a few times, I was loving it. MegaVision is everything I was looking for in high-end professional digital systems.

My fears of timing my entry into the digital world quickly faded. Gateway Computers had been a client of mine for years. They jumped right in to shooting everything digitally. They love the quality but even more so the speed. I've shot pictures that were in national newspaper ads the following day! As business is today, most of my clients prefer I shoot digital. Some like the speedy turn around, some the "see what you get" proofing. In 2001, I shot a handful of jobs on film. In 2002, I think 3 jobs were shot on film and none so far in 2003. I'd like to comment on one other important issue too, that is pricing. I make sure that my clients understand that shooting digital is not cheaper than shooting film at the photo stage. The savings come from the post where they save on scanning fees, and I do have a digital capture fee with every shoot. (That spells bigger profit margins for me!)

In the last couple of years I have put my MegaVision S3 back through it all, and not a problem yet that I didn't create. The team in Goleta is always there, and the emug users group is indispensable. Even with bigger file sizes already on the market, my S3 pro back will always be a valuable tool to my business.

A Personal Thanks to Cynthia, Richard and Tim

If you are interested in a MegaVision product and you still have questions, I'd be happy to tell you more about my experiences.