SMART Phone and Photo Blog

1.  you may return your phone for full credit within 30 days of purchase (that’s the law and it applies to ALL phones sold in California, from ALL carriers).

2.  all cables, manuals and the box must be returned intact.

3.  no returns after rebate submission.

4.  returned phones will be sold as is, used, at a discount (if you need a retail replacement, ask about one of these).

5.  restocking fee will apply ($35 in most cases).

At SMART Phone and Photo we work very hard to only sell you the phone you need.  If a mistake is made and you get the wrong phone, we’ll gladly take it back and exchange it.  If you’re just shopping around and want to try out different phones, you have that legal right, but we’ll probably coach you to do that direct through the corporate Verizon store or through Verizon’s website.

4:3, 3:2, 7:5, 5:4, 16:9 who cares?  Those are critical ratios any good photographer should understand.

From the “old” tv standards, most cameras today take pictures in a 4:3 ratio. 

Most prints made are 4×6, which is a 3:2 ratio.  When does that matter?  If you take a landscape (sideways) photo with a tall person in the middle, that guy’s (me usually…..) head will get chopped off if you send that out for a standard 4×6 print.

5×7’s are slightly different and of course 8×10’s (4:5) are different again.  16:9 is the HD tv standard.

So what to do?

1) when you take photos DON’T crop too close.  Get close to your subject, but leave area around your subject for future cropping.  Leave your original in its original shape while editing it (light etc.) and then crop just before you print.

2) be involved in your printing.  If you make 4×6 prints here in the store on our Sony kiosk, you can adjust the crop on your 4×6’s before you print them.  If you send them out for wholesale printing, you lose control of what is cropped out.  If you print them yourself on our instant kiosk, you’ll know exactly what you’re going to get before it comes off the printer.

Stop by the store and we can walk you through this in more detail.

Return to SMART Phone and Photo HOME PAGE.

SMART Phone and Photo originally opened in March 2008.  We’re now located at 2006 Encinal (near Chestnut) here in Alameda.  We have expertise in photo and photo products and services, and we’ll post our knowledge and insights via this blog.