March/April View Camera

[steve simmons]

is on its way to the printers

articles include portfolios from Robert Polidori, Robb Kendrick (no, not cowboys but new wet plate work) Eric Biggerstaff's Zia Types, Comparing TMY and TMY2 by Sandy King, papers for digital printing, Bruce Barlow's journal from a trip to Maine, the 7x17 project Part 3, The Chamonix 4x5, and more

the contest entry form for foto3 photo contest (this will be on the foto3 web page in the next 24-36 hours as well)

This issue has a bonus of 8 additional pages!!!

steve simmons

[roteague]

Thanks Steve!!! I'm looking forward to the write up on the Chamonix 4x5. I haven't used mine except once, but plan on using it this coming weekend.

[Eric Biggerstaff]

Thanks Steve, looking forward to reading it!

[Mark Sawyer]

This issue has a bonus of 8 additional pages!!!

Well, I guess this will call for a pint instead of a 12 ounce beer! Looking forward to it!

[Mark Woods]

Thanks Steve! I always enjoy the magazine. I will lift a glass of fine white to toast the publication.

[Maretzo]

Good news! I have just downloaded the pdf. Even the pictures in pdf are of amazing quality. Noticed that the article "Simplicity" is missing. Cannot access to the subscribers area with the same password though!
Procedures for unfortunate expatriate working in the (fast) developing part of this world could be improved.:rolleyes:

[steve simmons]

Noticed that the article "Simplicity" is missing. Cannot access to the subscribers area with the same password though!
Procedures for unfortunate expatriate working in the (fast) developing part of this world could be improved.

As I have said so many times, if you have a problem posting it here does no good.

Contact

amiles@viewcamera.com


steve simmons

[Maretzo]

I did long before posting, but to little avail! But never mind.

[steve simmons]

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I did long before posting, but to little avail! But never mind.


Nonsense, Andrea answers every e-mail.

steve simmons

[steve simmons]

If anyone ever has a problem with a subscription, etc. please e-mail

amiles@viewcamera.com


thanks

steve simmons

[PViapiano]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I did long before posting, but to little avail! But never mind.


Nonsense, Andrea answers every e-mail.

steve simmons

Ouch!

Never good to relate to any customer like that, no matter who is at fault.

OTOH, Polidori, finally....yes!

[steve simmons]

I don't understand why people come on to a public forum to complain rather than contactiing us directly.

We had a guy last month complain about not getting his log in instructions for the electronic version after signing up through paypal. It turns out he had a name different that his business name (what he used with paypal) and that is why we could not find him in our records:(

we've had people complain about not getting issues and it turns out they'd moved months before and never told us

the kicker was a guy a few years ago who sent us a change of address notice, never moved to that address and then moved to another address w/o telling us and then wanted to know why we weren't sending him his magazines:(

we are good but not psychic

But seriously, Andrea answers every e-mail and gets lots of compliments about her customer service.

steve

[PViapiano]

Understood, there are always going to be people like that and unfortunately most of the time they are the loudest complainers.

But my point was, since this is indeed a public forum, to deal with it discreetly and politely, so that any potential customer, doesn't get scared off by a remark that may seem a little rude or snappy.

[steve simmons]

Thanks and you are probably right. It is just that after 21 years this gets a little old. That is why I refer people to Andrea, she is a much better customer service person than I am.

We are always happy to fix any problems and deliver to people whatever they are waiting for.

I made a decision when I started View Camera in 1988 that we would handle our subscriptions in-house rather than farm the job out to an impersonal phone bank service. We are able to give much more personal service this way. We've never disappeared and failed/refused to answer the phone, return phone calls, answer e-mails, etc. Even when we moved from Sacramento in 2000 we had an answering sevice take the calls from Friday through the following Monday and we had the new phones operating the following Tuesday. We've never missed an issue either.

steve simmons

[Peter Lewin]

Steve, two questions which relate to all subscribers (hence maybe more appropriate for an open forum than something relating to a single individual) and aimed at predicting when those of us anxiously looking forward to our copies can expect to receive them:
(1) When you post that an issue is off to the printer, is there a standard "guesstimate" as to when they go to the mail?
(2) Is the pallet shipping which you use the standard for magazine distribution, or does it in itself contribute to the spread in which various regions seem to get their copies? I know mine typically arrives at the end of the first "cover month" (i.e. March/April seems to reach the East Coast around the end of March) but on occasion I'm pleasantly surprised at earlier receipt. You've mentioned the lack of control over the Postal Service, I just wondered if the pallet shipping added to the randomness, or was an industry standard.
Once again, I'm a very happy subscriber, just trying to manage my expectations!

[steve simmons]

The magazines are sent on pallets and trucked to postal distribution centers around the country. For example, there is a distribution center in Oakland, CA. At these points they are put into the postal system. This is supposed to make the deliveries more efficient and quicker. I wish eveyone got their magazines at the same time. Bigger magazines like Time, Newsweek, etc. are printed at multiple printing locations around the country for a more timely delivery. Believe me. I have had many discussions with the printing company, and they are very responsive to these problems, and we are doing the best we can. There was a problem in the SE a few months ago and i can see if this has improved.

I am proofing the magazine today via a remote proofing process we have set up with the printing company. We have had some serious discussions about preventing what happened last time - I revised several pages but they printed the unrevised versions which is why things weren't right. I apologize for this and we are giving everyone, subscribers and retail buyers, 8 bonus pages this time at no extra charge as our way of saying thanks for putting up with the errors in the last issue.

This new remote proofing and uploading system will also shorten the production time and get the magazines out quicker. They should go out early to mid next week.

We republished the scheimpflug article from the Jan/Feb issue with the correctly cropped photographs. This should make his points more easily understood. I also sent him a copy of the thread on this forum about his article and he is writing a further explanation of his material that will appear on the View Camera web site in about two weeks. He is a former aerospace engineer who has gone back and applied a lot of material from optical and aerial photographic principles to his article and while admittedly his nomanclature is not what people are used to, he concepts are very good. He and I both hope the article with the correctly cropped photos and his further explanation will help people better understand what he is doing.

thanks for your high expectations, we have them as well:)

steve simmons

[roteague]

You can't do much about the postal system, it is what it is.

View Camera is the only magazine I subscribe to because of it. I've found that generally I can get magazines at the bookstore, weeks before I can get them in the mail. For example, I received the Jan/Feb 2008 issue of View Camera in the mail on Feb 20th, although I saw it at Borders the week before.

It is frustrating, but I subscribe simply because I want to support the magazine - I never realized how important subscriptions where until Steve wrote about them here a couple of months ago. I've just learned to accept the postal system as it is.

[BarryS]

I also subscribed after reading how little of the news stand price goes to support the magazine. It always bugs me to see the issues of magazines on the news stand before I get my copy, but as long as it isn't there for weeks while I wait--I'm ok.

[steve simmons]

I appreciate the comments about the retail copies appearing on the newsstand before subscribers get their copies. We will work on this by getting the issue done a little earlier and holding back the retail copies from the distributors. Give us 2-3 issues to make this happen.

We do offer our subscribers a bonus with the Subscriber's Section on the web site and we are puitting more stuff up there this year. The TMY vs TMY-2 article has been there for about 3 weeks and the TMY2 vs T-Max 100 comparison will go up there in mid March.

thanks

steve

[Jan Pedersen]

We do offer our subscribers a bonus with the Subscriber's Section on the web site and we are puitting more stuff up there this year. The TMY vs TMY-2 article has been there for about 3 weeks and the TMY2 vs T-Max 100 comparison will go up there in mid March.

And in addition, one lucky subscriber received a free box of TMY2 in the mail today.
Thanks Steve and Andrea.

jan

[Chuck Pere]

Steve, Just a small thing. How about some kind of mark to indicate the end of an article.

[steve simmons]

We used to do that and can start again. We never continue an article back somewhere else in the agazine, each article is its own section and we don't start something else until one is finished.

steve