I know Mike knows I kidd, but I do remember my first cell phone, I rarely used it. Rarely talk to people on the phone. People want to discuss something with me, they usually have to make time for a coffee, and speak face to face. But the iphone, is different... email and texting get used a lot, as does the ability to present photo and video portfolios to clients. This phone is my business in my pocket. It has changed my way of doing things. I still rarely talk to people on it, but everything else it does, I use.
It is my voice recorder and when combined with a rode mic, it is my foley recorder...
remote control for my home theatre and dj system....
calender, notepad, organizer, photo shoot local organizer (nice to use the photos with gps to mark locales I may want to come back and shoot later) Gps map for finding clients addresses for location shooting..
the list goes on, and on.
Back in the dark ages my land line was used primarily for slamming down on telemarketers... so glad I ditched it.

Austrailia mag reviews..
kr
k5

you're one of those weirdos that thinks a phone is for talking to people?

iphone works ok.
by ok I mean you really have zoom in to to be able to 'click' on things......
a little cumbersome....

I have a demo coming up soon in my video series on how to make stands dirt cheap.
as for smoke bombs, I'd melt sugar over low heat (out doors) add potasium nitrate (50:50 ratio) and cook it till it is caramel colored the drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheets onto strike anywhere wooden matches... these smoke bombs give off a bright white foggy smoke and even burn (once lit) if buried...
or... go the easy ways and go shopping for a fog machine and liquid after halloween... I bought a 400 watt unit for $5.00., again you can see it in use in one of my earlier video of a photo shoot.
as for umbrellas I did a how to for three bucks....
link

Makes me think of the Seven Last Words...
anyhoo...... anybody that doesn't appreciate everything Canadian, has my pity.

I'm thinking there are trade offs with straps..
I mean for every pro there is a con..

Pro: prevents theif from snatching your camera.... Con: a mugger can grab it and swing you to the ground and choke you with it.(but then again when I used to work as a bouncer, I cut my ties in the back and secured then with velcro, that way if somebody ever tried to grab my tie to choke me, they'd lose that fight before they realized I was no longer in it.).
Pro: It can stop your camera from being dropped... Con: a lot of people damage thier cameras when they bend over to reach for something and the camera swings around...

and the list goes on and on..

I subscribe to the belief that a hip pack is better than a strap....
You take your camera out of the bag/hip pack, fire your shot, put it back in the bag/hip pack.
you take your lens cap off, leave it in the bag.
Keep your bags zipped and secure at all times.

ps.. I often put the hip pack on with the camera compartment empty, and the lens cases with spare lens in one and spare batteries and memory cards in the other, and carry my gear in the back pack.... that way when I grab a camera out of the backpack and carry it around, I can use the hip pack as a third hand, when swapping batteries, cards or lenses... as well as having a handy place to hold the camera between shots... as opposed yo having to take off the backpack every time..

It would make sense from a marketing perspective, IF Pentax, has the supplies, then a big lens sale, combined with it's already reasonable camera prices, could push sales and gain market share while other Japanese manufacturers are struggling to recover from quake damages and supply issues....

I don't advertise wedding services in Feb, March, and April, but do offer a lower price deal during the "Buying season" but come May, June and July, the sale is over. My reasoning is this this.... most of our work comes word of mouth, anyways, and competing toe to toe with guys that price thier services so low thier businesses are unsustainable is foolish... so any Bride that shows up looking for a last minute photographer (had one last year, thier $350.00 photographer went out of business a few weeks before thier wedding date) won't balk at the price.

avoid any used viv 285 that says "Made in japan" as the trigger voltage is really high on the oldest model.
the best way to learn these units is to find ones that have manual controls (yes the newer viv 285's are great).

I'm pretty sure he's taller than me, and I still got few chipped/cracked teeth, from my martial arts/bouncer days.. so he prolly has a nicer smile... lol!