| Personnel
Unlike
with many other equipment resellers, when you purchase
equipment from Visual Products,
your gear comes with a 7 day money back guaranty and
a 6 month parts and labor warranty—the longest
in the industry. We are able to offer these due to our
well-trained & experienced staff of technicians,
the facilities available to them as well as a
large inventory of equipment and parts. At Visual Products
we do not act as broker or " middle-man” bringing
equipment in one door and selling it out the other door
while marking the price up during
the trip across the room. At Visual Products we fully service
and calibrate the gear that we sell, and it’s our
staff of technicians that make it possible to stand behind
the gear that we sell. Not only can our technicians service
the gear we sell they can upgrade and modify it. Want to
convert your SR or CP16 to Super16?, your IIC to PL mount?,
add a video tap to your Aaton? All that and more is possible
at Visual Products and not just for your camera gear. We
can also repair and modify support gear such as geared-heads,
fluidheads and dollies. Not only do we service the gear
we sell, at Visual Products we offer service for all your
camera gear-- no matter where you bought it.
All about our Technicians:
Mike Budzilek (Shipping Manager)
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Mike has been with Visual Products for over a decade. His job is equal parts science and art—making sure that everything in the order gets shipped is the science. Making sure it gets shipped without damage is the art. Mike has been responsible for shipping everything from a single prime lens that had to get to a neighboring state to an entire camera crane that had to be shipped halfway around the world—quickly, efficiently, and without damage. His background includes warehouse materials handling in several areas of the United States. Mike also handles the repair and maintenance of our lighting inventory. His interests outside of Visual Products include creating stained glass art and any activity that enables him to enjoy the great outdoors.
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Peter Matar (Senior Technician/Service Department Manager)
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As a graduate of the Columbia College Film School, Peter has been working in the film industry since 1983. During those 24 years, he has worked for Alan Gordon Enterprises and Clairmont Camera, Hollywood. Having trained at Arri, Munich, Peter is well-qualified to coordinate the Visual Products’ service department as well as roll up his sleeves and tear into the equipment himself. Peter’s combination of technical knowledge and extensive rental house experience has streamlined the service department at Visual Products helping to ensure that our equipment is serviced quickly and correctly. Peter is an avid scuba diver and enjoys travel. His other hobbies include photography & filmmaking, as well as computer animation.
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Tracy Shirk (Head Machinist & Prototype Engineer)
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Tracy brings over 32 years experience to his position as Visual Products’ head machinist. He has taught machining and has a particularly strong background in the areas of sheet-metal, forging, molding and casting. His education and experience also extends into the areas of safety training and public relations at the state and federal government levels. Tracy’s interests outside of the machine shop include fishing and fine art landscape photography. |
Paul Hillman (Lens & Camera Technician)
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Adding an international flair to the Visual Products camera shop is lens and camera technician Paul Hillman. Paul moved to the states in 1989 from his birthplace in Dudley, England—a city right next to the city that gave the world Robert Plant. Paul is only slightly less famous, and there’s still time. During his nearly 15-year tenure in the business, Paul has worked at Whitehouse Audio Visual in California and trained at Abel Cine Tech and Cinema Products—in fact, Paul was the last person to train at Cinema Products. He is currently the only person in the country doing a Super 16 conversion on the Cinema Products CP16 Camera. Paul also specializes in adapting video assist systems to film cameras. Paul is an avid motorcycle enthusiast having restored several bikes himself. |
Rick Inderrieden (Electronics Technician)
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Our resident electronics technician, Rick Inderrieden brings over 20 years of experience in the electronics field to his bench at Visual Products. Having received his training at TTI Institute, Rick went on to hone his skills as an engineering technician at Meriam Process Technologies, Genesys Industries, Multilink Broadband, and Nu-Di Corporation. Rick is an excellent electronics trouble-shooter and has extended Visual Products’ servicing capabilities into the electronic realm. An avid music fan, Rick likes to spend his free time playing electric bass with fellow musicians and pursuing his interest in photography.
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Paul Scaglione (Senior Technician/Designer)
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During his 20+ years in the business, Paul has covered quite a bit of ground. Having spent years “in the trenches” working as a 1st camera assistant, he can combine knowledge of the inner workings of film gear with a respect for its real-world use. Paul has received training at Arriflex, Panavision, Alan Gordon Enterprises, Cooke Optics, and Victor Duncan Inc. He helped bring in-house as well as outside manufacturing capabilities to Visual Products and has designed several CAD-engineered accessories and modifications now available from Visual Products. A former member of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division, when Paul is not in the shop fixing or re-engineering a piece of gear, he can most likely be found with his Hasselblad or seven iron in hand.
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Ricardo Monte (Lens Technician)
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A native of Brazil, Ricardo brings to Visual Products his 20 years of experience in both the technical support as well as the production areas of the film industry. He has trained with Zeiss, Angenieux, and Cooke Optics. Ricardo has Photosonics training as both a technician and operator. His previous employers include Otto Nemenz International and Panavision, Brazil. Ricardo also has production experience having worked as a 1st camera assistant. Fluent in both Spanish as well as Portuguese, Ricardo spends his free time on two wheels as an avid cyclist and motorcycle rider. He has even completed an “Iron Butt” qualifying, 30-hour motorcycle trip of 1500 miles, stopping only to refuel.
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Marty Drennan (Camera Support Technician)
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Marty
is the camera support specialist in the Visual Products
camera shop.
Geared-heads, fluidheads, tripods, dollies, you name it. If it supports and/or
moves a camera Marty’s on it, bringing a craftsman’s touch to every
piece
of gear he services. Marty has worked in the business for nearly a decade
and has trained at the Ronford Baker factory in England. He is also well-versed
in the service and repair of gear made by Sachtler, Oconnor and Cartoni. Outside
of his surgically-clean workshop, Marty enjoys folk music and working around
his
farm.
He is also quite passionate about working to protect and preserve the environment. |
Michael Weir (Lens & Camera Technician)
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An honors graduate of The National Cameras Photo Equipment Course, Mike has also had warranty training for Bronica, Canon, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Canon, and Samsung cameras & lenses. During his 30 years in the photography industry, he has worked for Vivitar, Hanimex, Olympus, and Kurt’s Camera Repair- San Deigo among others. His extensive knowledge of still cameras and lenses has given Mike a keen appreciation of all things mechanical. Not only does Mike excel at repairing cameras & lenses, he enjoys collecting them as well-- along with caps, coins and cups. He also partakes in photography and travel, particularly the National Parks of the United States.
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