Issue link: https://in-sync.uberflip.com/i/998069
3 Beware the Amazon! by Robert Render Harrison Not the jungle, nor a single-breasted female warrior, but the marketing giant that seems to have exactly what you want at the best price possible. Mostly, you get what you want, sometimes you don't. Intending to use a little Sony FDR-AX33, as a behind-the -scenes camera on a location shoot, I needed a microphone for it. I ordered through Amazon. While unpacking shipments at our hotel, one of my assistants handed me a mic. "What's this for?" The wrong mic, of course. Other things claimed my attention, and a month later I came across the mic in a cardboard box full of camera boxes, bubble wrap, warranty cards and instruction books - everything that wasn't necessary on the shoot. Too late to return the mic. OK, my bad. I should have checked it upon arrived at my hotel, and returned it ASAP to Amazon. Like that's going to be a priority during a shoot! Had I called B&H, I would have got the right mic, because they service our business. To Amazon, it's a box with a stock number on it. My only financial connection with B&H is that I've given them tens of thou- sands of dollars for gear over the last eighteen or so years. Any problems, of which there have been few, are dealt with by someone in New York who speaks American English as a native language, which even an Englishman like me can understand. My belated complaint to Amazon's customer ser- vice person was routed overseas, and neither I nor the customer service person could understand each other. Anyone want to buy an unused Sony ECM-SST1 mic for NEX3 and NEX5 cameras? Whatever that is. I don't think it makes movies.