As the owner of Sideline Sports Photography, I find it quite disappointing that according to "Heineken" and perhaps a few others, I should not respond? I really find this quite odd. I guess it's damned if you do, damned if you don't. Don't respond and it's "they don't care". Do and respond with the truth, and you're a jerk for doing so? I have responded to about 2 threads per year, ever, for about four years. I don't think 6-9 responses to customer service concerns should be considered an issue or a negative. We respond because we do care, period. Per our shipping timeline, and as has been the case for 13 years, we guarantee shipment within 15 business days counting from the first business day after the event. Nothing has changed and the orders from this respective event are no later. This timeline is on our order forms in bold red, our receipts, in our stores/trailers, on the customer agreement all customers sign at the time of purchase and is what we tell each customer when handing them the receipt at the time of purchase. We go to very great lengths to make sure this is no surprise. The fact that only 0-2 people per event, or about 3% of total sales on avg, contact us to see where their order is, means it is neither a surprise nor a problem for the very vast majority of people. Truthfully, it seems that many people (all events, cars or bikes, not singling out anyone here or STT) do not understand what a business day is. A business day, for clarity's sake, is Monday through Friday, not including holidays. We are shooting on weekends and can't process orders while shooting and most race tracks are busy on holidays, as well, and the post office isn't open to ship the orders. As the event in question ended Monday, September 2, the calendar count started on Tuesday, September 3. The day the original post was written (9/20 - above) was the 14th business day, and we shipped on time, as the post mark will show. The purchaser started this count on August 31, the middle day of the event and labor day, besides being part of the event, is not a business or mailing day. I am honestly not certain from where in the country these shipped from (as we travel constantly and produce and ship from the road) but it can take 1-6 days for mail to get to clients, depending on where we ship from. Just the facts. As for why it takes "so long", it's a few things. The volume we shoot at STT events, the volume we shoot monthly/annually and our travel, being the main reasons. Unlike our competitors, we travel and work across the US and in Europe continuously. This has been explained here before, it's the reason and it's the truth. Consider that we generally sell just over 63% of people at an event. On the weekend in question, we sold 88 DVD's at Autobahn and another 41 at Watkins Glen for another event (exact same weekend). This resulted in 129 DVD's, which take about 1-1.25 hours each to sort, burn, label and pack. A calculator tells you that's about 165 hours of post event DVD creation. That's three 55 hour weeks, all done while we are still traveling all over shooting events, usually Fri-Sun (we were at Lime Rock Park, Laguna Seca, Autobahn and Watkins Glen during that timeline, as well as in Washington DC for the US vs Mexico soccer game, our other main work). Our competition, do not shoot multiple events at multiple tracks, traveling all over America, nor do they have multiple events at different tracks at the same time. They also do not shoot the volume we do (for example, the Labor Day event at ABCC saw us capture 38,000 images at ABCC) and they don't have 2-4 days of travel every week, 46-48 weekends per year. Incidentally, and for those who know my wife Leslie, she single handedly does all the DVD production. All of it, and it has her working no less than 70 hours per week, 49 weeks per year. Lots of all nighters each week, every week, just to mer the 15 business day timeline. There simply aren't enough hours or days in the week. Additionally, and why this is a concern, I don't know, but we have not used our semi at Autobahn since August of 2009, a long four years ago. Why this was brought up, and why anyone should care how many computers are in it and what brand, I do not understand. As for why we don't sell online, well, that's because we are a business and our goal is to be as profitable as possible. Hosting 30,000 photos per event or roughly 60,000 photos per week (impossible to even upload while traveling, incidentally - Anyone ever try to upload 750GB's per week? No fun), and knowing the return ratios and profitability of onsite sales vs post event web sales, we choose to do it the way we do. Selling to almost 65% of event attendees, many at STT multiple time at multiple events annually, year after year, has worked well for us. Additionally, we did offer individual photo sales, delivered both via email and onsite at the event via thumb drive for all of 2011. It accounted for 3% of our sales, hence we ceased to offer it. Leslie, Kathleen, Jake and myself work hard to serve the STT community and have a lot of good friends in the STT world, working with the company virtually since it's founding by Monty Lutz years ago. I personally apologize for any confusion per the timeline and the duration of my reply. We literally do not know how to inform people any better and we truly try very hard to prevent any confusion per shipping. I hope this note answers any questions anyone has. I am happy to entertain any questions or concerns at mike (at) sidelinesportsphotography dot com, should anyone want to write me. Thank you for your time, Mike Stahlschmidt Sideline Sports Photography, LLC
mattie9052 - Our records show you ordered a little over a week after the event, not at the event. Orders are processed as they come in. Example: If someone orders 16 business days post event, we obviously couldn't meet our 15 business day shipping timeline. Accordingly, your shipped by date would be September 27, but I do believe your order shipped earlier than that. Have your received it yet? Mike Stahlschmidt Sideline Sports Photography, LLC
Lastly, out of my concern for the posters concerns above per pricing, I went to Gron4's site tonight to see what their pricing was on the denoted 8x10's and CD of photos. Their CD is $100 for high res (what we provide) and their 8x10 is $25, while ours is $28. Both our firm and Gron4 charge $5 for shipping for these items. Additionally, I know the guys at Gron4 and totally respect them as people and photographers. They, too, use very high quality gear, which is not normally the case in the industry, sadly. While some in this thread may not feel that megapixels are important, even the most basic of eye will notice the difference between a 12mp, 22mpp and 36mp file at any size over 4x6", and it will become very evident at 8x12 and above. Think of a standard tube tv vs 720p vs 1080p. In reality, the difference is greater in the above megapixel example (in general). Images are also far better when captured through professional camera bodies with faster AF, more frames per second and most importantly, through professional telephoto lenses. Many of the lenses that Gron4 and SSP use are in excess of $11,000 each, and the cameras range from $4,000-6,000 each. If anyone doesn't believe this level of gear doesn't produce a sharper, more colorful, higher resolution image, one that is most often closer to the subject, they are honestly wrong. There truly is a big difference in a Canon 1Dx and a 7D, or a Nikon D7000 and A D4 or D800. I am sure the Gron4 boys would concur.
To be fair, since there is so much SSP bashing, they are really great photos. Good quality, good angles. I bought a $20 CD at BHF, but the quality was noticeably inferior. I figured I got what I paid for, and I was satisfied with that. My only complaint is we can't buy individual photos cheap. I don't want to pay for a whole collection of photos, I just want one or two of my favorites. That's the only reason why I bought anything from Electric Eye. A full day or weekend would've been too expensive. Yesterday, I just wanted one good shot of me doing a power wheelie after turn 2. It would be really cool if we can just buy individual photos directly from the kiosks at events. Enter our CC info right into the computers, receive the photo in our e-mail instantly. Not sure if you have internet access at ACC or if individual photos can fit in an e-mail. Maybe DropBox or some other cloud storage. If you limit uploading/hosting to only the photos people already bought, maybe it would be feasible?
+1 on all accounts. I bought prints last time because only a couple really stood out. I'd like to have got the files of them, not to make my own prints, but just to have for sharing with family that can't attend. I was extremely happy with the quality. I did buy a cd this weekend. Was really happy with the selection they had took.
You did forget that Gron4 sell individual photos as digital download for $10 which is a very fair price for a single shot. I just came back from ACC weekend and I after going through all my pic from the entire weekend I found ONE that I really liked. It was a very important weekend since I got bumped and I would love to have that shot but I would have to be mad or a millionaire to pay $100 for one pic Gron4 also offers discounts for returning customers and all the pictures are perfectly composed.
Like Kot, I too got bumped and would have loved some pics, but as I said before, I don't feel like I have the time and capacity to devote to photo browsing at the track. I fully understand Sideline's position on all fronts, but it creates a situation where their services don't meet my needs at a level that allows my desires to make purchases. To Chris's suggestion, photos could be copied to a "rider/purchase" directory or whatever onsite and uploaded after the fact as well. If there is no hard line internet access, all the chained 4G hotspots in the world would hate to try to upload all these photos given race track locations. 4G should be plenty accessible for CC processing though to avoid the hassle/risk of CC info storage. Or - just sort photos and provide a photo code. From there, everything could be done any number of ways from email/dropbox/paypal to a web interface with rider code lookup, online CC processing and secure download. Another thought, perhaps there is some way to create verified accounts with Sideline that we could even pay a sorting/finding fee for the ability to browse or purchase digital downloads. Sorry if the suggestions are unwanted, but digital media is kinda what I do (so I can't help myself) and I genuinely want a way to buy your photography.
Got my pic's this weekend and totally worth the wait. There were over a hundred images on the cd and the quality was very good. I don't see what the problem is but that's my opinion. Thank you sideline crew keep up the good work.
my photo's i got from them at grattan were great, i'd def spend more $$ but I don't make the time to go to the trailer and see whats there, not to mention its typically for one image only or on occasion a few. but oh well
Herr Stahlschmidt, As predicted, you explained in great detail why it takes so long to get the photos and your mega pixels are bigger. But the point you are missing IS your attitude towards current/potential customers. Maybe one day you'll figure it out, maybe not, maybe you should handle the part of the business you are VERY good at (taking action photos) and leave PR to somebody who understands it and can do it. I can't deny the quality of your work, I find it OUTSTANDING (Yes, with CAPS, I own some of it). BUT you have been rude to me, my girlfriend and other people I care about and love and that's the reason I'll never be a SidelineP customer EVER again, regardless of how good your work is. And please do not compare SSP with Gron4, HeavyPennyPhotos( Unfortunately retired..) or Electric Eye Images. I was a customer with them before and will be again, because they respected me as a customer and provided quality service. If you think my criticism isn't called for, let me know, and I'll explain in great detail in an e-mail where STT management will be on the cc list. Best, Ionut Bogdan Sandru Ex-SSP Customer Happy STT Customer and Supporter
Got my pics along with a sorry letter they didn't get many images of me 62 total, 32 of then of my crash. So they gave me a $45 credit in a future purchase. GREAT now I have to spend more money with them since nothing is $45.... Oh and out of 38,000 photos 62 were of me Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Well it sounds like they tried to make it right, your right there's not much for $45. I was very happy about how many pics were on my cd. I even bought another this weekend and I hardly rode on Sunday but that's me. At least you got you crash photos I never seem to get in the Lens for mine.
Last time I was a customer with SSP I bought my 3-day DVD on Saturday morning, got about 90 pics back and a letter saying I can get $35.00 bucks off next time... There was no NEXT TIME after that.
OK, I'm not wanting to get into the argument, but this comparison to TV makes me cringe. I'm a TV studio engineer, and these comparisons to TV are way out of whack. Standard definition TV (old tubes) were 337K pixels. Actual perceived resolution is about 15% less than that, on a studio monitor. On a home TV, it was somewhere between 50 and 75% of that. HD TV is 996K pixels in 720P and 2.1MP in 1080i/P Again, actual perceived resolutions are a bit less, around 15% less in each case. This is because of the way pixels are scanned vertically over time in TV, and not a function of the number of pixels in a frame. [Still photography captures all pixels in a frame at the exact same time, eliminating the perceived reduction in resolution [due to motion blur] we have in video which is caused by the time offset from capturing the first pixel at the top left of the frame to capturing the last pixel at the bottom right.] Again, most home TV screens cannot display the full resolution of the original video for a number of reasons related to screens, processing electronics, and techniques used in transmitting those streams over the air or on cable. Note that 337KP to 996KP is a ~3x increase in resolution; 337KP to 2.1MP is a ~6x resolution increase. So if we were to make a comparison to still cameras, going from 12MP to a 3x increase is 36MP, and to a 6x increase is 72MP. I also dabble a bit in digital still photography. And I agree that the higher the MP, the sharper, clearer and more color rendition you have in the image, and that this improvement is more evident at higher display sizes. Additionally, at higher MP rates, the quality of the lens is more a determining factor in picture sharpness than the number of MP. But there is no way a 36MP camera compared to a 12MP camera is like SDTV to 1080 HDTV. Let's keep the technical stuff at least a bit realistic. Thanks.
no , worries,, im still waiting for the pics, i was not bashing ssp.. i have seen ur pics, they are good quality,, the wait is just a killer,
You can cc me: trevor (at) sportbiketracktime (dot) com And Nick if you'd like: nick (at) sportbiketracktime (dot) com regards, t
finally got my pics. the sharpness of the images were amazing. . too bad i was wearing a helmet.. lol.. the amount of pics i got. 70. and 3 each of the same pics.. .. but i got a 20 dollar store credit. with i will not be using ever. .