Guy Cramer Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 When taking photos - try to turn off the Auto-White balance most digital camera's have set to default - this can change the colors to the point that forum arguments breakout about assumptions of different colors on different runs - usually these discrepancies are due to this Auto-White balance issue and not any change in color in different production runs. Link to post Share on other sites
FallenGuard Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Oh come on now. I understand you want your Product displayed in best possible Way, but don't you think this is going too far? I'm not a Display Stand! If you want to show your Product, hire professional Photographers and Models and a nice Scenery, and the post these Images on your Website. Link to post Share on other sites
Guy Cramer Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Oh come on now. I understand you want your Product displayed in best possible Way, but don't you think this is going too far? I'm not a Display Stand! If you want to show your Product, hire professional Photographers and Models and a nice Scenery, and the post these Images on your Website. Sorry this was not directed at you or your photos. I figured as the packages were now arriving that there would be more photos from others. It was meant for anyone who takes photos of camouflage. Someone pointed this trick out to me a few months back and I am just passing it on. Link to post Share on other sites
FallenGuard Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Okay, sorry for snapping at you. I'll remember the Advice for the next time I take Photos of the BDUs. Link to post Share on other sites
Guy Cramer Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 I would rather see real world photos by customers than perfect placement in ideal matching terrian as other companies do. Link to post Share on other sites
Hobbles Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 I've tried to comprehend this thread a couple of times...and I still get lost every time I try it. 1) Are any patterns commercially available right now? If so...which. 2) If not, whats the time-frame looking like? I'm interested but I'm not sure what status you guys are in, I know you're working on a country's proposed new uniform etc...thats all. ps: Do you make them in long sizes? I love new camo sets, but lots of supplies dont make em long enough for the scrawny and tall people in this world. Link to post Share on other sites
ViscountCharles Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Guy's point about using automatic white balance on digital cameras is a good one. Most digital cameras will get the colours wrong to a degree if you take pictures under anything except sunlight using the automatic white balance setting. This is because our eyes and brain automatically adjust for the colour of the backroung light - we "know" that a piece of paper is white, so we see it as white whether we're outdoors in sunshine, or indoors under artificial lighting, whether it's cloudy or fine, whether the lighting is tungsten or flourescent or even if there's bright orange wallpaper on the walls. But a digital camera will see a big range of shades for that same piece of "white" paper. The automatic white balance feature tries to guess what the lighting really was, and turn that coloured paper back to white, but it's generally pretty poor at the job and can over or under compensate. And it doesn't just skew white objects - it affects most colours. The best way to avoid this is to use a manual set white balance and a grey card, but that's generally something that can only be done on high-end digicams. The next best thing is to use the white balance preset that best fits the light your taking the pictures by (which most cameras offer in the menus somewhere). Oh, and taking photos with direct flash is going to bugger up the results, too, so if you're aiming to show what the pattern really looks like to the humn eye/brain, take a shot under natural sunlight with the white balance properly set. I'm not a pro phpotographer, or even much of an amateur one, but I do know that the white balance is pretty darned important for natural looking photos, and making sure you get it right takes 10 seconds and prevents your picture from bing useless rubbish Link to post Share on other sites
Guy Cramer Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 I've tried to comprehend this thread a couple of times...and I still get lost every time I try it. 1) Are any patterns commercially available right now? If so...which. 2) If not, whats the time-frame looking like? I'm interested but I'm not sure what status you guys are in, I know you're working on a country's proposed new uniform etc...thats all. ps: Do you make them in long sizes? I love new camo sets, but lots of supplies dont make em long enough for the scrawny and tall people in this world. We sold out of Series 1, I have a few extras but I want to leave those until I know all the Pre-Order customers have everything corrrect before I sell the remainder off. Series 2 can be found here but it won't be ready for awhile http://www.hyperstealth.com/spec4ce/order/series2.html Yes we off the uniforms in long sizes - they can be found near the bottom of that page. Link to post Share on other sites
Guy Cramer Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Guy's point about using automatic white balance on digital cameras is a good one. ... I'm not a pro phpotographer, or even much of an amateur one, but I do know that the white balance is pretty darned important for natural looking photos, and making sure you get it right takes 10 seconds and prevents your picture from bing useless rubbish I have a whole pile of photo's that didn't work out (color wise) until I was told about this issue. Link to post Share on other sites
Guy Cramer Posted January 12, 2008 Report Share Posted January 12, 2008 ...(I have the "SPec4ce Forest" pattern, BTW; the brown is very dark, almost black, but it is on a lot of DPM stuff I see too). ... The brown is very similar to DPM but we used Dark Gray instead of Black on this pattern so the Brown and Dark Gray appear very close in color. This pattern should be very good in cover during day - which is why we changed the Black to Dark Gray and it should also work well during the night due to the Dark Gray and Brown colors low IR Reflection, the higher reflection of the green and khaki cause the IR image to appear as if there are holes all through the uniform (not a solid target). This is the same IR effect that the Israeli's have with their mesh-net helmet covers. Link to post Share on other sites
Maple-Leaf Posted January 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2008 Interesting point about the auto-white balance - I'll have to remember that, as I take a lot of photos of camo gear for Ai. Both indoors and out. I often find that I have to spend a fair amount of time in Photoshop fixing pictures that don't look right - or trying to fix them... so this could be a really useful tip. I've also found before that trying to take close-up photos of Guy's patterns can be really tough (I have some cloth samples that he sent me ages ago). It would appear that the complex micro and macro patterns make it hard for the camera to focus or something... I hope my uniforms turn up soon - you guys are making me jealous. Link to post Share on other sites
seawulfhornblower Posted January 12, 2008 Report Share Posted January 12, 2008 Interesting point about the auto-white balance - I'll have to remember that, as I take a lot of photos of camo gear for Ai. Both indoors and out. I often find that I have to spend a fair amount of time in Photoshop fixing pictures that don't look right - or trying to fix them... so this could be a really useful tip. I've also found before that trying to take close-up photos of Guy's patterns can be really tough (I have some cloth samples that he sent me ages ago). It would appear that the complex micro and macro patterns make it hard for the camera to focus or something... I hope my uniforms turn up soon - you guys are making me jealous. Hi Guy, I´m very interessted in your Spec4ce-Timber-3c as it seems to be made for european regions. Would you mind explaining what regions the Spec4ce-Canuck Pattern is proposed for ? as it looks it could work very good over here as well. Also , woud it be possible to get some "spare" fabric in order to modify the webbing to match the BDUs ? Thanks Hornblower Link to post Share on other sites
Guy Cramer Posted January 12, 2008 Report Share Posted January 12, 2008 Hi Guy, I´m very interessted in your Spec4ce-Timber-3c as it seems to be made for european regions. Would you mind explaining what regions the Spec4ce-Canuck Pattern is proposed for ? as it looks it could work very good over here as well. Also , woud it be possible to get some "spare" fabric in order to modify the webbing to match the BDUs ? Thanks Hornblower The Canuck scheme was designed as an improvement over CADPAT with a better macropattern to better breakup the human shape and the removal of the lime green color within CADPAT. CADPAT was ranked as the best camouflage for Temperate and Tropical settings by NATO trials a few years ago. We can't get spare fabric yet (export regulations with the material due to the small size of the order), but we are trying to find a way to do so. Link to post Share on other sites
seawulfhornblower Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 The Canuck scheme was designed as an improvement over CADPAT with a better macropattern to better breakup the human shape and the removal of the lime green color within CADPAT. CADPAT was ranked as the best camouflage for Temperate and Tropical settings by NATO trials a few years ago. We can't get spare fabric yet (export regulations with the material due to the small size of the order), but we are trying to find a way to do so. Hi and thanx for the reply. Sounds promising to me. Link to post Share on other sites
Guy Cramer Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 We just did a test run for Air Mail to the UK. One of our customers ordered 3 seperate items (surface shipping), we only sent one of the orders by surface held the other two. Last week when I heard that the surface items were beginning to arrive in the UK after 6+ weeks, we air-mailed the other two items to the same customer (at our own cost). He recieved the Air Mail items today, and is still waiting for the surface item to arrive. Why did we do this test - to see if UK Customs was a delay for our parcels - surface or air. Link to post Share on other sites
Maple-Leaf Posted January 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 Well my order is in-country. I got a letter from Parcel Force today demanding a big wad of money for import duties and value added tax - plus their "clearance fee". So I'll have my stuff by the weekend! Link to post Share on other sites
Guy Cramer Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 Can you explain what a value added tax is? Link to post Share on other sites
Maple-Leaf Posted January 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 Is that a rhetorical question? It's a fancy name for sales tax. Link to post Share on other sites
Guy Cramer Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 It's an Oxymoron! Link to post Share on other sites
Maple-Leaf Posted January 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 It's an Oxymoron! Word. Link to post Share on other sites
ViscountCharles Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 Sometimes we get charged Value Added Tax (17.5% of the cost of goods plus cost of shipping), plus importduty (usually about 5%, depending upon item type), and a carrier's "handling charge" (usually about £10 - $20 - which hurts when you've only been charged 50p in VAT). I was lucky - my Hyperstealth Spec4ce arrived without any of those "extras". So I'll just pop along to HM Revenue & Customs and declare the items now so that I can keep the slate clean ... Link to post Share on other sites
The Reptile House Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Mine arrived yesterday. No duty - so even better! Link to post Share on other sites
Maple-Leaf Posted January 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 You lucky buggers! I got nailed - big time. So which sets did you guys order? I got: * SpecAm Standard Woodland * Spec4ce Woodland * Spec4ce Tropical * Spec4ce Urban Link to post Share on other sites
The Reptile House Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 I got SpecAm HCD Woodland. I'm very, very impressed with the fabric and build quality. The design is great too: feature-rich but not over-engineered like Crye or TAD. Link to post Share on other sites
Maple-Leaf Posted January 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 I dig the SpecAm pattern too - quite unusual/different in the way it blends splotches and speckles. Comparing the two patterns side-by-side from a distance of about 5 metres at the moment, the Spec4ce pattern is much more disruptive already at this close range - the SpecAm looks like it will blend into background foliage at a little bit of a further distance. Link to post Share on other sites
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