Forums Music Audio Visual UK : Jessops goes into administration….

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  • #1054829
    General Lighting
    Moderator

      I did get my DSLR from there, the deals for packages are often good value.

      I managed to get one of their own brand digital flash guns for a cheap price as I couldn’t afford the proper Nikon one, its not bad nevertheless for balancing flash and natural light, I half-blinded Process with it when I was at a party with him and was just getting used to the camera (whilst coming up on acid) and read the flash power indicator backwards..).

      Did get a load of good photos from that party including a fair few pretty girls (amazing how many girls seem to just want to pose for you if they see a SE Asian lad with a camera, some racial stereotypes aren’t all that bad :laugh_at: )

      Anyway Jessops have been struggling for a few years now. At least where I am WEX (Warehouse Express) isn’t too far away in Norwich……..

      UK: 2,000 jobs at risk as camera chain Jessops enters administration – News – Ipswich Star
      Jessops goes into administration, putting 2,000 jobs at risk | Business | guardian.co.uk

      #1265238
      Mezz
      Participant

        Much sadness, I also got my first SLR from Jessops, Practica BMS bayonet fit, fully manual aperture & exposure setting, light meter, 50mm lens came with it but I also bought a 35-70 manual zoom, X2 converter, all my filters, tons of film and various other bits & pieces……….. did photography for my Art GCSE project and had to save money from my paper rounds for months to buy that kit……….. and many hours in the dark room turning the tips of my fingers yellow in developer and stopbath lol

        Gave up photography when it all went digital, in IMO technology killed it as an artform, and Im surprised it didnt kill Jessops a long time ago

        #1265224
        General Lighting
        Moderator

          If they hadn’t removed the knowledgable staff they could still do well with the DSLR crowd – digital has some advantages if you are photographing action (such as parties, sports events) or wildlife, especially as you are not worrying about the cost of film – its just that too many folk aren’t choosy enough. For instance I can fill a chip with 300-400 shots of a night (usually duplicates of the same subject with subtly different angles or exposure) and decide only 40-70 of them are any good…

          #1265233
          thelog
          Participant

            Well the writing has been on the wall for quite some time I believe. Todays media/photo processing is either done at home or done at those stupid machines in supermarkets. Me not having camera lenses for eyes like some, I don’t really know what other services jessops provided. Am I imagining things but I am thinking my local jessops had a dry cleaners built into their shop?? Maybe I have got it wrong though.

            Ah no It had a johnsons dry cleaners next door lol (good old google street view)

            #1265225
            General Lighting
            Moderator

              Jessops used to be good in the 90s for random items you could not easily find elsewhere and also video equipment but it does seem CPC and other electronics/AV mail order places have bit into that market as well…

              #1265232
              BioTech
              Participant

                That’s a shame. This town in particular is slowly turning in to a mass of poundshops, QD style shops, supermarket chains, mobile phone shops and cash converter type establishments. Jessops is one of the few shops that still has that “local” feel even if they are a national chain.

                #1265239
                Mezz
                Participant

                  @General Lighting 516479 wrote:

                  If they hadn’t removed the knowledgable staff they could still do well with the DSLR crowd – digital has some advantages if you are photographing action (such as parties, sports events) or wildlife, especially as you are not worrying about the cost of film – its just that too many folk aren’t choosy enough. For instance I can fill a chip with 300-400 shots of a night (usually duplicates of the same subject with subtly different angles or exposure) and decide only 40-70 of them are any good…

                  I agree on the loss of knowledgeable staff, used to be you could ask them anything and get a proper facts and good advice then it turned into the same sales patter you get everywhere else just trying to sell you the items with the best profit margins.

                  I see your point on digital for action, but TBH a good photographer could still get the shot without it, and did for many decades before things went digital

                  Used to be you needed a proper feel for photography, in the start you used formula’s to get the settings right, but with experience you just went with your gut because it wasnt about perfect images, often the best shots were the ones you deliberately under or over exposed, and when getting a shot meant putting in time & effort your really got a feeling of achievement from it……… not just happy snapping and hoping theres one good one in the mass of crap

                  #1265234
                  thelog
                  Participant

                    I was down london road today (brighton) and it made me depressed to see how many cash converter/give us your gold shops have sprung up. Made me feel shitty man. Those type shops are associated with so much misery. Half the stuff sold down there is sold cos peeps be desperate for cash. No one wants to sell their collateral, and the other half of it is stolen gear so that is causing people loads of pain (the theft victim obviously) I was talking to a friend of mine who I knew for my brighton junkie days and I said how depressing it is just to look down that road. The only reason I was donw there was to look in gamestar for a second hand xbox game that had probably been bought of someone for 3 jib.

                    Brighton does have a brighter side though, the middle of the Central business district houses a shopping centre and of course the north and central lanes which has a really nice selection of shops. It’s just that bloody area down near the level that is plagued by nasty shops and of course the scumbags to match roaming up and down slurping their wife beaters and looking hard.

                    #1265226
                    General Lighting
                    Moderator

                      @Mezz 516489 wrote:

                      Used to be you needed a proper feel for photography, in the start you used formula’s to get the settings right, but with experience you just went with your gut because it wasnt about perfect images, often the best shots were the ones you deliberately under or over exposed, and when getting a shot meant putting in time & effort your really got a feeling of achievement from it……… not just happy snapping and hoping theres one good one in the mass of crap

                      TBH I tend to take photos to document things as much as art, and find digital has made it way more affordable to do this, especially for those who aren’t making money out of selling the photos. digital is particularly good for nature photography taken in challenging conditions.

                      A while back I was reading this site of some Singapore Chinese who were uploading pictures of their childhood pets, and bemoaning the fact that many often had a picture of the dog, but not the cat due to the cost of film in those days (you can usually convince a dog to stay put for a photo – it is far more difficult to do this with a cat, especially as most of their local cats are genetically 20-30% descended from these.. (another advantage of digital is cameras can be put out in humid jungle which would trash any film based kit).

                      first+Kina+leopard+cat.jpg

                      #1265240
                      Mezz
                      Participant

                        Fair enough mate, guess I was limited to my own perspective but your right digital clearly has advantages in some types of photography like documentation and evidential for accuracy in poor conditions…………. but I would maintain that it took the artistry out of photography, and thats not to say no digital user can be artists and be great at selecting/composing/capturing shots, Im sure some can, but those people are buried under such mountains of crap that those people are rarely recognised.

                        IMO the biggest problem with digital is it requires so little effort, and as the old saying goes ‘that which requires no effort has no value’

                        #1265227
                        General Lighting
                        Moderator

                          @Mezz 516503 wrote:

                          Fair enough mate, guess I was limited to my own perspective but your right digital clearly has advantages in some types of photography like documentation and evidential for accuracy in poor conditions…………. but I would maintain that it took the artistry out of photography, and thats not to say no digital user can be artists and be great at selecting/composing/capturing shots, Im sure some can, but those people are buried under such mountains of crap that those people are rarely recognised.

                          IMO the biggest problem with digital is it requires so little effort, and as the old saying goes ‘that which requires no effort has no value’

                          certainly for “normal” photos digital has swamped the net with a lot of mediocre photos and even the good ones are so cheap to produce they have removed the recognition/fame aspect. Also the reputation/career risk all the crappy farcebook photos pose to folk is badly underestimated. Flickr is still a good place to find decent photography to be fair, and not just using really expensive kit..

                          #1265235
                          thelog
                          Participant

                            @General Lighting 516493 wrote:

                            first+Kina+leopard+cat.jpg

                            here puss puss.

                            Did you attempt communication with the beast?

                            #1265228
                            General Lighting
                            Moderator

                              @thelog 516546 wrote:

                              here puss puss.

                              Did you attempt communication with the beast?

                              unfortunately not, as it is in the Borneo jungle and the camera traps are fairly low cost single function devices. There is no technical reason why they could not text someone when they had got a picture (to save the natural historians from having to camp out in the jungle) but its hard enough to get a mobile signal in built up Kuala Lumpur as it is, and worse in that area as bears disrupt the cell site towers. (they also hauled down at least two camera traps but the clever folk running the wildlife park rescued the cameras and got the pics).

                              Kina+sun+bear+1.jpg

                              BTW this is the national cat of Singapore (compare it with the one above).

                              Singapura.jpg

                              #1265229
                              General Lighting
                              Moderator

                                All Jessops stores closed yesterday – everyone made redundant. Unfortunately they seemed to repeatedly miss opportunities and let their customer service slip at the start of the economic depression (when it would make more sense to try and improve it, as bad economic times make competition more ruthless). What does for a lot of retail shops is not having any stock but still expecting folk to pay a price premium.

                                @thelog 516490 wrote:

                                Brighton does have a brighter side though, the middle of the Central business district houses a shopping centre and of course the north and central lanes which has a really nice selection of shops. It’s just that bloody area down near the level that is plagued by nasty shops and of course the scumbags to match roaming up and down slurping their wife beaters and looking hard.

                                very similar to Ipswich, other than drinking in the street is illegal here and the CCTV watches out for folk doing that and gets cops to move them on. However I do see a lot of “young trendy hipster” shops what open up for a couple of years and then close when they owners have burned through their cash reserves, not realising everyone is too skint to buy anything! Also I’ve found a lot of shops run by younger people to lack the levels of customer service folk want – not so much staff being like the “suits you sir” dudes but simply having things in stock, not ignoring people walking into the shop whilst talking to mates and being able to add up straight …

                                A few friends of mine have been suggesting the empty shop units are used to park bicycles in, which would make sense and even revitalise the town centre (from most estates town is too long to walk, to short to be worth driving into but just right for cycling) but the property owners all want full market rates for a retail shop and would rather let them stand empty (even though they could recover the cost of guarding and maintaining them by turning them in to bike parks).

                                #1265236
                                thelog
                                Participant

                                  @General Lighting 516623 wrote:

                                  Singapura.jpg

                                  I must have this cat, how much for your pussy?

                                  #1265230
                                  General Lighting
                                  Moderator

                                    Not cheap for the pedigree ones, similar cost to a Bengal (which is the leopard cat above crossed with a larger Siamese).

                                    You can in some areas of SE Asia rehome a wildcat hybrid via the rescue homes, they can be a bit of a handful. I know this middle aged couple in Blighty who have a Bengal and some other cats, and the Bengal not just gets up to mischief but teaches it to the others :laugh_at:

                                    Singapura (cat) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

                                    Some elderly couples in SE Asia were even keeping the bears as pets, (they aren’t as big as other bears, about the size of a large bull terrier) but this causes a problem when they get too old to look after them – there are two Sun Bears in East Anglia at Colchester Zoo, as the Cambodia Environment Ministry couldn’t find any local zoos for them..

                                    #1265237
                                    thelog
                                    Participant

                                      They sure are beautys, they seem to have larger eyes or smaller heads which maks the eyes look bigger. 9/10 on the aaaww scale

                                      #1265231
                                      General Lighting
                                      Moderator

                                        pet cats in Asia have a lot of genes from these wild species..
                                        Prionailurus – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

                                        I’m assuming you mean cats, and not bears. Its not completely impossible to keep a sun bear as a exotic pet but not a trivial matter as you have to get a CITES export license from its home country submit a formal document to Defra and the Council explaining how you will look after your bear, and that you have a vet who can give it appropriate medical treatment when required.

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                                      Forums Music Audio Visual UK : Jessops goes into administration….