The guy has such a vast array of models!If you like the "painted lady look" that Ed at Colight always seemed to lean toward, Fran's got 'em. If you like the girl-next-door glam look often associated with Specialized, he's got plenty of them too. If you like the RandomSnaps type of professional-model look, he's also got you covered. He's even shot some of the over 30 "seasoned-smoker" types and fans who like that type of smoker have traditionally had very little to pick from.
If forced to cite any negatives, from strictly a personal viewpoint, Tampa doesn't care much for: (1) footage where the model is moving about -- especially outdoors, (2) footage where the model is prone and the camera is moving around or placed at an obtuse angle, (3) footage that includes an image from a mirror, or (4) footage of any model smoking multiples. BUT IN THE SAME BREATH, there must be plenty of people who like those things because Fran shoots a lot of video using one or more of those aspects.
BUT ULTIMATELY, the thing that OVERRIDES ANY & ALL ISSUES OVER TASTE is the fact that all of his footage is separated into clips and there are 251 of them. There is plenty there for everyone and the guy also takes "requests". If an 18 year old vixen with 38D's is featured smoking multiples in the park, all you have to do is suggest to Fran that you'd gladly pay money to see her inside his studio in black lace lingerie smoking one at a time and you just might see it happen!
One more very important thing -- just about every clip Tampa has purchased thus far features at lest some dialogue and/or subtitles in English. How good is that? Plus Fran doesn't ask women about movies or whether they've read any good books lately -- it's all about smoking and nicotine, with heavy emphasis on how the act of smoking makes the woman "feel".
This post is NOT intended to knock any other SF producer out there, but our man Fran has it goin' on at the moment. The guy is shooting with good equipment, he's one of us, his footage seems to be getting better with each new release, plus he's working in an area of the world where smoking is still going on as if it was 25-30 years ago here in the U.S. Thus, he's got almost an endless-array of talent to choose from. Others here in the U.S. do not. Witness what Scott from Visualsmoke posted here yesterday.
Please forgive Tampa for the length of this post, but there are two more things that definetly bear mention:
Price: If you want an entire volume (4+/- hours of video), that's roughly $40.00 USD depending on which volume. By the clip, he just released a 27 minutes of footage of a Euro-hottie that Tampa can't wait to see -- present cost is just over $9.00 USD.
Any of the old timers out there remember the good ole days(?) when a 30 minute vid from "Up in Smoke" shot with a Hi-8 shake-cam and featuring a San Francisco crack whore (who just might have been transgender) cost $35-40.00 plus shipping and handling? And the she/he? didn't inhale one drag? If you've been around since the advent of Smoke Signals Online, don't try to lie your way out of things. You bought one. You mighta bought two. We ALL did :-)
Sale: As if things weren't enough of a bargain, Fran runs s 3 X 2 (Buy 2, get another one free) deal a few times a month.
Note to VT Readers: If you've purchased some of Fran's material, feel free to post reviews and let the rest of us know the score.
(Reviews of all other SF material are, of course, welcome. Thanks.)
