Multi Device HDMI Switch Adapter Box - 3 Input, 1 Output

This is an excellent HDMI device switcher! It allows multiple HDMI devices to be connected to a television with only one HDMI Input! The device also automatically switches between HDMI devices. Lastly, this HDMI Switcher is something that does what it says and reasonablely priced.

Keep loosing HDMI signal, had to keep pressing the switch to bring the signal back. Do not waste your money!

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IR LED Night Vision Weatherproof Color Security Camera

Very easy to hook up and use, and the picture quality is GREAT, the night vision works pretty good and all around its worth the money for a AMAZING security camera.

After unboxing and installing this item, i turned on my screen to find that all the whites were blueish,brown was green,and greens were purple. It was like i was on acid . Later that night,the night vision image was grainy and distorted. Very lame and disappointing camera.

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Casio Exilim EX-Z75 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Anti Shake Optical Zoom (Black)

This camera was second choice to the Canon powershot. I did my research online and found a lot of pleased consumers, so I decided to buy it. I have yet to regret my decision. The pictures come out very clear, crisp colors. Very easy to use, menus are straight forward, battery life is AWESOME!! I bought the camera a month ago, have used it several times and have yet the need to charge the battery. This camera is definitely worth the money.

This is a fantastic camera. The menu bar on the right side of the screen makes it really simple to use and adjust settings on the fly. The "best shot" mode is very useful as well, as it tailors the camera's settings for the type of picture you're shooting. It's nice and compact and fits in my pocket comfortably. The pictures look great too

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I got this for my 16 year old daughter just before her team trip to DisneyWorld. She has since taken 43,000 pics....or something close to that. She loves it...it comes in different colors....fits in her purse....she has ZERO complaints. This is her first camera just for her....but the fourth if you count family cameras that she took over.....she constantly had issues with every other camera for one reason or another. We shopped together and she picked this one....Price has continued to drop since I bought this last spring....and I say it is still worth the price.

Read Best Reviews of Casio Exilim EX-Z75 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Anti Shake Optical Zoom (Black) Here

Ok, I had been looking for a high quality 7.2MP pocket sized camera. I researched all over the web and read reviews and consumer reports and found that this camera had great ratings. I always have to see for myself, so I bought this camera as a high ranked, highly reviewed, top of the mountain product. When I got the camera home I noticed that Casio packaged this camera very nicely. The camera is very sturdy and well made, feels like quality in your hands. I charged the NP20 battery, placed it and a 1GB SD card in the camera and have had a hard time putting it down. This camera takes beautiful pictures and very nice video. Small and light weight this camera is like putting a credit card in your pocket. (Just make sure you don't sit on it) I take this camera with me on vacation and anywhere I don't want to take my DSLR. Buy it and you will be pleased.

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UPDATE

There are some newer cameras out there that use bigger lenses, unbelievable processing techniques, and lenslet arrays in front of the sensor to get more light on those pixels. The upshot is, that if you want a camera that just takes the best picture possible indoors in a pocket point and shoot, you will be very happy for example with a Sony Cybershot DSC-WX1, but you'll have to shell out $329. Nevertheless, in 2010, it makes this Casio look like about the least expensive camera around.

OVERVIEW

Up until the past year, if you wanted a better picture in low-light conditions, you needed a bigger sensor and a bigger lens. That typically meant a digital SLR. This past year, Nikon, Sony and Canon have shown that several short duration pictures can be taken, and stitched together to effectively increase the exposure time without the blur from handheld jitter. If you have $350 to spend, consider the Sony Cybershot DSC-WX1 or TX1.

But this Casio is an average to low-end compact camera, and has some nice features and takes good pictures. But like any compact camera designed in 2007, more than 2-3 megapixels clearly resolved is not really possible except in the brightest sunlit conditions. If you look closely, they are going to be grainy and blurry. Some compact cameras are better than others at disguising the grain and blur with aggressive processing to punch up the colors and contrast and sharpness. But if you look really close, you'll see that it is really not much better than 3 megapixels. However, in 2010, the new DSC-TX7 challenges that assumption. See test photos compared to the Exilim Z75 here:Beyond that, this camera does nice snapshots, especially if the light is good. Videos are very nice and high quality, but not HD. Once you figure out the menus and modes, this camera is great if you are looking for a small camera and that's more important than professional quality photos.

The LCD viewscreen does not show sharp images, and it's annoying, but it does not affect picture quality.

If you want to take a lot of pictures under low light conditions (indoors), get used to the idea of a bigger camera than this, or the above mentioned Cybershot. Or settle on fewer pixels.

You should know that the "anti shake" mode of this is simply a mode that pushes the effective ISO up. That means that it takes an underexposed picture and processes it to be brighter. Of course, it's going to be grainy and noisy. Most other compact cameras in this price range do this same trick. (But the somewhat larger Canon A570IS has true optical anti-shake.)

A lot of people have had problems with getting a camera with a dead battery. If these lithium batteries sit around too long, they discharge too far to recover. Call Casio service immediately and tell them you got a new camera with a dead battery. There is a good chance they will replace it. My battery failed after about one year or so.

DETAILED REVIEW

I got the Exilim Z75 from Amazon, and it arrived in about a week.

The battery charged right up (about 90 minutes) and the camera worked as soon as I loaded the battery and a memory card. I guess I was lucky to get a good battery.

After using the camera for a several months and uploading pictures and movies, I think it is a great little camera. In bright light it rivals the pictures from my Fujifilm 7000, a much larger point and shoot. But with backlit scenes, the lens has more flare, and the images are more grainy.

If you think you need to take indoor pictures in full 7 megapixel resolution and they should come out crystal clear and sharp when blown up to 100% (zoomed way in on your computer,) you need to read the next 4 numbered paragraphs. Otherwise, skip all the technical explanation and go to "WHAT CASIO COULD HAVE DONE BETTER."

Please note that I am an electro-optical physicist and I know the limitations that some buyers may not be prepared for. Let me state some of those:

1. To put 7.2 million pixels into such a tiny space means the pixels will be very small and the smaller they are, the less light they will receive especially indoors. Since the sensor is pretty much limited by photon statistics, (meaning the noise of the photon arrival itself is the limit, not the camera) the graininess in the picture is not something that is really the camera's fault. If you want 7.2 million pixels in a tiny camera, please be aware that it is not going to perform better than a 3 million pixel tiny camera except in very bright sunlight. You might also want to be aware that the tiny pixels tend to scatter some light to adjacent pixels, further reducing the sharpness of the picture. Also note that for this tiny lens, 5 megapixels is very close the the diffraction limit the laws of physics say you need a bigger lens to do any better. Or, you need to put lenslets in front of each pixel to gather more light.

2. With such a small sensor, the lens needs to be very short focal length. This means that it is not really very practical to make a lens that is going to be much larger diameter. In most cases the lens is limited to a diameter about half the focal length or less.

3. If you really want 7.2 million meaningful pixels, you are going to need a sensor at least 4 times as large, with a lens about four times the area and twice the length. However, there are new techniques introduced in 2009 that partially address this problem. If this is important to you, consider a newer camera.

4. 7.2 million pixels is more than you could get from any 35mm film SLR without noticeable fuzziness and graininess. Even low speed, fine grain film. I know, I have tens of thousands of negatives in 35 mm format, taken with a very decent f/1.4 lens.

WHAT CASIO COULD HAVE DONE BETTER

1. The LCD viewer does not display a sharpened image. This gives the impression of a blurry picture, but it is actually not. If you blow it up, it is reasonably detailed and sharp.

2. The movie and sound recording modes are accessed through "Best Shot." This is counter-intuitive, but once you learn where it is, it is no problem.

3. The flash is weak (but similar to other small cameras), forcing the camera to take a noisier (grainier) photo in flash mode than would otherwise be necessary. The trade off to get a brighter flash would have been greatly reduced battery life, and most people do not like that. However, newer cameras make up for this with better sensors and processing.

4. The battery is a little harder to handle than it needs to be and there is no mechanical interlock to make sure it can't be inserted the wrong way. So you have to watch carefully what you are doing every time you handle the battery. (But be aware that to have a slim camera, you need a slim battery.)

6. It is not as thin as other ("S" series) Exilim cameras.

7. There is no light for aiding the focus function as in the Canon Elph.

8. There is no Panorama stitching function.

9. Like most cameras, it does not come with a case.

10. The included 8 MB of memory is slow.

11. The battery charger has a long cable. The Canon charger has no cable at all and is easy to carry.

12. That big LCD on the back has a glass window over it. But there is no way to replace the glass if you scratch it up.

13. The USB connector doubles as an audio-visual connector. I have never used the audio-visual output on ANY camera myself. But the drawback is that the USB connector is not standard, so you will need to make sure you do not lose the cable.

14. The lens is so-so. There is not bad barrel or pincushion distortion, but there is some purple fringing near the edges of the frame if you blow the image up enough, you'll see it. This is seen on high contrast objects like small back-lit tree branches against a bright sky. The most common failure mode of these cameras is that the lens fails to open or retract properly. It is operated by a tiny little motor with tiny plastic gears and cams, but should it ever accidentally get turned on so the lens can not open all the way, kiss the camera goodbye.

WHAT I LIKE

1. I can easily turn the flash off or set it to soft. This saves battery life and lets me be less noticeable when taking pictures.

2. I can turn the camera on in play mode without having the lens cycle. Simply press the play button to turn it on.

3. It can record sound for each picture.

4. The movie quality is great, and playback on the LCD is very good.

5. After some initial reluctance, I was brought over to the "Best Shot" approach.

6. The lens has a nice little built-in cap so the lens is protected when not in use.

7. The case is all solid metal and feels rock solid.

8. The pictures are easily uploaded to a Windows OS without any proprietary software. The camera looks like a memory-drive to the computer.

9. There is a tripod threaded mount hole.

10. The flash charges pretty quickly (that's because it doesn't have much power, of course.)

11. You can usually get a decent picture even if you skip the "Best Shot"

12. In bright sunlight, the pictures are gorgeous. If you manually set it to ISO 50 for this, the shots can not be beat in a compact camera.

SUMMARY

It's a great inexpensive camera to have handy. It's not going to replace my FinePix S7000, and if I had a Cybershot, I would get rid of the Exilim, but it's well worth having around. It takes good pictures as long as you don't try to take them in too much darkness. Maybe for some people it would have been better to for Casio to program the camera to just blink "NOT ENOUGH LIGHT" when the conditions are too dark. That way it would be harder to take a bad picture. But I don't like the camera to tell me I can't take a picture, so I am willing to live with some pictures that are too fuzzy. It's better than no picture at all sometimes. So it's a good camera for the money, but it isn't going to be giving a digital SLR any competition.

Alternatives: If you really like the thin cameras, go for the Exilim "S" series. If you would like a sharper LCD screen, seriously consider the Canon Elph series. If you can accept a slightly larger camera, consider the Canon Powershot A570IS. It is in the same price range and even has optical anti-shake, and the pixels are somewhat less grainy and a little more sharp. And it uses AA batteries. If you have $300 go for the Sony DSC-WX1, or DSC-TX1

OKEBA 3 in 1 Mini DisplayPort |ThunderBolt to HDMI /DVI/ DisplayPort Cable Adapter for Apple MacBoo

The only reason I keep this one is...because the HDMI works; the rest...nope. My mcb air doesn't recognize the other outputs.

Very timely with delivery and the item is exactly what I expected. I have a small work area where I use a 13" Mac book pro and a second monitor. I run Mac apps on the main screen and a VirtualBox session running Windows 7 on the second screen. I have used the DVI port and the HDMI ports to connect to my 22" display and and both work as advertised. One issue I did have had nothing to do with the adapter, but my Mac didn't detect the proper screen size of my display so I used SwitchResX to manually set the resolution -no problems since then.

Great product!

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I got exactly what I paid for and hoped for. This does not feel cheap and works perfectly fine. Exactly what I expected paying a little extra for.

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VGA output is unstable, sometimes got black screen for a glance, so I use HDMI which works fine, haven't try DVI display.

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Pentax K-r 12.4 MP Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 and 55-300mm f/4-5.8

Here's my story...

I purchased my first DSLR, an Olympus E-420, in May this year, and really caught the photography bug. The great thing about the Olympus, especially with the 25mm pancake lens, is that it is as easy to carry as a point and shoot, but takes GREAT pictures, **as long as there is plenty of natural light**.

When I read the introductory preview of the Pentax K-R on dpreview.com, it got my attention because it was noted for great performance in low light / high iso conditions, such as shooting indoors without a flash, or shooting your daughter/son playing basketball in a gymnasium, where built-in flashes do not have the range. This, plus in-camera image stabilization and very usable 18-55 and 55-300 kit lenses, sounded worth trying. So I found a great deal through Amazon, and bought the Pentax K-R right around Thanksgiving.

The first thing I noticed about the Pentax when I unpacked it was that it felt much more robust than the Nikon D5000 or Canon Rebel that I had checked out at Costco; but it also sounded like it was broken. There was something flopping around inside when I tipped the camera back and forth. This was disconcerting next to my rock solid Olympus. The second thing I noticed was that after I charged the battery and powered up for the first time, the display glitched. I fooled around and took a few shots, and they came out really great, but I was still concerned, so the next day I called Pentax. Pentax tech support was very helpful, and explained that the part moving inside is the sensor, which floats on a magnetic field so that it can compensate for camera movement when taking pictures. The glitch on startup, however, was not normal, and they suggested I return the camera for a replacement.

So I contacted Amazon, and there was only one problem setting up the return/replacement: They were out of stock. So I waited, and kept reading the K-R booklet and reviews online... I wondered if I should wait for the replacement, or just return it and get something else.

Then, earlier today I received an email from Costco that the new Rebel x2ti was available at a substantial discount with an 18-55 and a 55-250 kit. I picked one up on the way home, and when I walked in the door my wife was ready to kill me. The replacement K-R had come from Amazon, so I now had two Pentaxes, the Canon, and the original Olympus...

Long story short, comparing the Pentax and the Canon side by side, the Pentax was the hands down, no contest winner. It is a much more substantial feeling camera, with better buttons, and a much more professional "feel." The lenses seem more solid, and the front element does NOT turn the way that it does on the Canon when focusing, which is important if you use a polarizing filter. It's also nice to have the flexibility of 18-55 and 55-300mm lenses with the Pentax kit versus 18-55 and 55-250mm with Canon. And the Pentax SR image stabilization system works great. I'm taking pictures indoors with the 18-55 f3.5 lens without any flash, and getting perfect exposures without blur. Much better results than I can get with the 25mm f2.8 Zuiko on the Olympus with the same light. I'm sure that once I can afford a higher speed prime lens from Pentax, I will be even happier.

In summary, if you value excellent build quality, lens design, and low light / high iso performance, you will be very happy with the Pentax K-R.

Updated (09/2011): This camera has been a disaster. Aside from the front focusing issues the ring at the back stopped working properly after 4-5 months. I sent it for repair and after a week the ring again stopped working. I have gone through 1SLR, 2DSLR (including a Pentax K200d) and prosumer and many other digital cameras. This is by far the most defective hardware i have ever received. I wish i could just get rid of my entire Pentax gear at this point.

---

Amazon was selling the K-r kit with 18-55 and 55-300 lenses for a really good price around Thanksgiving 2010. I had been wanting to upgrade from my k200d for sometime and jumped at the opportunity. 3 weeks with the camera have given me a good perspective on the pros/cons of this upgrade.

My primary motivation for upgrading was the rave reviews about low-light/high-iso performance of the K-r (and K-x). I chose the K-r over the K-x because the high fps and focus point in viewfinder features were well worth the minor difference in price. Here are the pros (+) and cons (-):

+ high ISO performance is excellent. I am shooting ISO1600 indoors all the time. Processed images have no noise at this setting. The performance is comparable (or better) than the k200d at ISO400

+ auto-focus is really fast as promised

+ burst shooting is really fast.

+ camera button controls are much better than k200d (direct iso/flash etc. buttons)

+ it's a much lighter camera (but that's a negative as well)

+ automatic white balance without flash is way better than the k200d (the latter had very warm overtones in tungsten for example the K-r produces perfectly natural white balance for common indoor and outdoor lighting situations)

+ the supplied 55-300 kit lens is excellent. compared to my current 70-300 Tamron lens it's much sharper on the long end.

+ live view is cool and allows shooting holding the camera at all sorts of angles. the screen is bright enough to be visible from just about any angle.

focusing is fast but not as accurate. in particular my camera was front focusing and i found this to be a commonly reported problem on the web. i almost considered returning my camera before reading about the focus fine adjustment option. setting the camera for the maximum front-focus adjustment got rid of the problem for the most part (although it still doesn't seem perfect). not all lenses suffer equally badly unfortunately my favorite lens (Tamron 28-75 f2.8) does.

auto white balance with flash feels weird (it seems that it over-compensates for flash)

(updated: i found that (for my home shots) changing the white balance to 'warm white flourescent' in the raw editor (silkypix) largely fixed the issue).

the supplied software is absolutely terrible. i process RAW images on the PC and the old software was simple but usable. The new one is a labyrinth of features except the ones u really need (like not resetting the adjustment settings on every new image). Morever it crashes (i cannot even start it on one of my pcs)

the new 18-55 lens feels cheap to the one that was supplied with previous models (plastic mount and no hood). i am planning to dispose off the new one and hang on to the old one.

no weather sealing and body doesn't feel as substantial. the k200d used to sell at the same price point but had a magnesium alloy body and was weather sealed. the K-r is neither. The body is not as substantial to hold in particular the battery compartment is smaller and the hand grip around the compartment doesn't feel as secure as before.

doesn't take AA batteries by default. this is really lame i will have to spend extra money to buy a special adapter. rechargable AA batteries are much better than proprietary ones.

movie mode is pretty much useless because of lack of auto-focus. almost all DSLRs are like this so it's not a ding against K-r just dont buy it for taking videos. (Updated: i have found the video to be very jittery even slow moving everyday scenes. it's not clear why that is the case since 24fps is supposedly good enough)

(Updated) one additional annoyance is that choosing the fully automatic 'A' mode does not reset all the customized settings specifically the focus point and AF mode. This means i can't simply set the camera to 'A' mode and hand it off to a P&S photographer (since i always leave the camera at center point focus). That's really painful.

there are a lot of new image processing features in the K-r (HDR, shadow lighting, filters etc.) but these can all be done in software and are not so valuable for me (may be for other users).

if i was shooting daylight/outdoors in good light the K-r is actually a downgrade from the k200d. however the gain in low light conditions are exemplary and outweigh the negatives (of which there are many). So it's a keeper for me. Considering that i would give a five star to the k200d this is at least a four star. (Updated 09/2011 note that i changed the review to one star because of the unreliability/defectiveness of my camera that was not fixed even after a trip to Pentax CRIS. Please see beginning of review)

For people looking to buy Pentax for the first time one word of caution. Pentax seems to be falling further and further behind in the choice of lenses available on their platform. For example the Tamron 18-270 lens is still not available and the 18-250 lens has been taken off the market. There's no cheap 50mm prime lens available (the cheapest one is now $350). It's a rather sorry state of affairs and if i was not already invested in some Pentax mount lenses i would have definitely taken a much closer look at the Nikon D5000 that seems really close to the K-r in price/capabilities. At the same time the supplied kit lenses are very good and if you don't plan to buy a lot of lenses the Pentax is an excellent value (always more functionality and nicer build per $ than Canon/Nikon).

Buy Pentax K-r 12.4 MP Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 and 55-300mm f/4-5.8 Now

I bought my Pentax K-r online. Out of the box, Pentax does not provide that warm and fuzzy feeling that it is not a refurbished camera. Everything is wrapped in a non-sealed plastic or a bubble wrap, and there are no thin disposable protective film covers over the lens and lcd or that plastic tab over the battery compartment. I confirmed with Pentax that this is how their packaging is done even with a brand new item to ease my thoughts.

On to the camera itself, the shutter release action on the Pentax K-r is quite loud. You can hear the gears turning within. I've tested the Pentax K-r vs the Canon T2i side by side using the automatic mode and feel that the Canon is able to focus faster when quickly trying to capture an event that you have no time to fuss around with. The Pentax even on automatic mode still requires little adjustments and you may sometimes have to ask your subjects to pose a little longer for the camera to snap the shot while you hear the gears adjusting.

The pop-up flash on the Pentax is a little on the flimsy side while the Canon T2i feels more durable. For the price you pay, Pentax should have really put in a little more effort on this piece as it feels very plasticky. The entire body otherwise feels sturdy.

The option for a proprietary battery or the use of AA batteries is nice on the Pentax. I also like the quality of the movie that it takes although you are limited to about 11 mins and 30 secs of capture time. I have never exceeded this time, but it would be an extra bonus to have it be unlimited depending on your SD card capacity.

Pentax claims a battery-life of around 1,000 shots using high-powered NiMh AA batteries and 470 shots with the lithium-ion however I was only able to get about 400 shots (with turning on and off and viewing/deleting pictures along the way) using the proprietary battery that it shipped with.

Overall, the camera is nice with many customizations possible. It does what you expect of a SLR and the quality of the photos are great. If you are a new recreational SLR user, I would lean slightly more towards the Canon T2i which is more user friendly with less adjustments needed right out of the box. Otherwise, if you like tinkering and don't mind the little things mentioned here, the Pentax K-r is a good solid SLR.

Read Best Reviews of Pentax K-r 12.4 MP Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 and 55-300mm f/4-5.8 Here

I had problems with Amazon and with my new camera, a Pentax K-R kit including 18-55 and 55-300mm lenses.

Order was received as promised. An adapter to allow AA battery use is not included. As yet I cannot find them in the US, and they cost about $35. The included LI battery seemed to charge fast and last about 500 frames. I also bought a class 4 SDHC card and reader as none are included and my SD card reader wouldn't work with the SDHC card.

I was happy to be able to use this over Thanksgiving until I discovered the thumb wheel was malfunctioning. When you rolled the thumb wheel control knob the selected values hopped around randomly instead of changing predictably. It got worse over the next few days and now the camera is now essentially unusable.

Pentax answered their support phone and offered to repair it but recommended just exchanging it since it was a week after purchase and they thought exchange would be faster. But... Amazon wouldn't allow exchange from some unknown reason, the website only allowed me to return it for credit. So I had to repurchase it. Dumb idea.

I should have replaced it from a different seller, but I can't cancel the Amazon order so I'm stuck.

The camera sn was 3819488.

The camera took beautiful pictures, particularly hi ISO such as 3200 when you could get the settings to change correctly. The lenses seemed to be a good value. If I get a good copy of the K-R I think it will be a good camera. It could be just production line problems (the K-R is a new model) but you'd think QC would be tighter on the first production runs to ensure newer products are fully functional.

Crossing fingers...

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Update:

--Good news, bad news: As noted below, the k-r takes very good, clean images on full zoom; if the light is right you can read a license plate at 450 yards. But I need to use a CPL, and this is another story. I tried two brands of CPL with the Pentax lens and both resulted in horrendous blur and a "ghost image" familiar to B&W TV viewers of an earlier era. (I've used these same CPLs on other cameras with no problem.) I've found online references to an identical problem with long lenses on Canon, Nikon and other cameras. Other users solved the problem by using a high-end filter (retail $75 up). The k-r is so good in every way that if it needs this kind of pampering I'm willing to do it. RESULT: Problem solved with Tiffen CPL ($72 MSRP, $31 at Amazon). (But my CCD-sensor Fuji S100 gets as good or better IQ on a $7 filter!)

--Garish yellow sky: when shooting a beautiful sunset (Manual mode) the beautiful tones of pink, magenta and pale blue-green were all converted to an ugly cartoony yellow. (There was no yellow in the actual scene.) CPL didn't help. This is another problem that I and others have encountered with a variety of cameras (Canon, Nikon, Pentax), both DSLR and P&S. I have not found a total solution (need another sunset for that) but I presume that changing WB will do the trick. I did try moving the WB up into the GB quadrant a bit; that did not have much effect. Next time I'll try the various lighting settings ("Tungsten" for example makes everything very blue). The catch is, of course, that I don't want to turn everything blue; I just want to get rid of the yellow. I don't want to use the preset Sunset mode, because it takes over control of shutter speed and aperture, making it impossible to catch flying birds against the sun. (Any tips on how to fix this problem will be greatly appreciated!)

...........

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I just got the Pentax k-r with the two kit lenses (including the 55-300mm) and have only scratched the surface of what it will do. So far, I have no serious complaints.

I take mostly long-range photos of outdoor action (surfing, breaking waves, seals, flying birds) in high-contrast situations. I need good zoom and decent (at least 4fps at full res, with at least a dozen shots) burst capability. To obtain these, I have tried a number of different cameras, including DSLRs with zoom lenses (Sony A550, Canon T2i) and so-called super-zooms (Lumix FZ100, Fuji HS10, Fuji S100, Sony HX1).

I also own a little Canon D10 (12mp, 3x) waterproof, for in-the-water surfing shots and a Canon SX100 (8mp, 10x), which is pocket-sized if you have big pockets. Neither has any burst worth mentioning.

Two zoom + burst cameras have made the cut: the Fuji S100 and the Pentax k-r. The Fuji has great IQ and a great zoom range (28-400mm equivalent) but the burst is marginal (3.7fps at full res, with a 7 shot limit).

Pentax k-r summary:

The good:

--NEW GOOD: just fired off over 300 shots of waves, surfers, fishing boats, seagulls, cormorants and pelicans in flight, and one squirrel (not in flight), mainly just to see what the camera would do. Never missed a moment. Caught full range of wing motion and positions in flying birds. Long and short bursts, no waiting for write or save. (I use viewfinder, not "live view" and I also use a Class 10 card; maybe that helps.) Even shot a brief test video. And the battery is still holding up. This is a very good camera for action shooting.

--Solid build, right down to the battery compartment door and SDHC door.

--Nice size, not overly heavy in spite of solid build, good ergonomics.

--Dials are firm yet easy to turn.

--Green button can be set to instantly activate a key setting of your choice.

--Great IQ and great glass. I took a lot of pictures of subjects from 500 yards to one mile away at full 300mm zoom. You can enlarge these images until you're seeing pixels; you don't get distortion, CA, or noise.

--Very good controls and menus. All major functions can be changed with one or two pushes of a button or a turn of a dial. Very user friendly.

--If you make changes to default settings (via the Menu), the changed settings are highlighted in yellow in the Menu. Makes it very easy to go into the Menu and see quickly what you've changed. Nice.

--Burst exceeds specs given in manual. At 6fps, full res, I fired bursts of up to 35 JPEG images, at which point the rate slowed but did not stop. (The stated limit is 25 JPEG images). NOTE: I'm using a Class 10 SDHC card; I don't know if that has any effect in this case. Anyone out there have the answer?

TIP: Some setting changes will affect the burst. For example, enabling CA Adjustment will slow the burst somewhat and limit the burst total to 6 or 7 images. The manual (p.211) warns you about the reduction in shooting speed, but they don't tell you about the drastically reduced buffer size! (For the record, I haven't noticed any CA at any focal length, I was just trying out the various functions.)

--LCD is very large and high res. Clear and legible.

--You can use the viewfinder and still have the LCD on. Nice.

--Viewfinder is very good to use, bright and clear. Diopter dial is in a good place.

--Slick features: Multiple exposure, HDR feature, lots of filter effects. I wish some of them were available during shooting, not just PP.

--Shot some pix inside the house, with the zoom lens at 55mm. No flash, hand held, got good results.

The bad:

--UPDATED: The k-r has burst, remote, delay (timer) and exposure bracket shooting. You can't use any of them together. No remote burst, no delayed burst. No remote bracket shots. No long delay with remote (Remote function does have its own 3-second delay option).

--The remote is infrared only (cable can be useful and desirable, which is why Pentax included this option on the higher-end K-7).

--The infrared remote sensor is on the front of the camera. (What's next, put the LCD on the front?) A normal photographer is behind the camera, and that's where the sensor should be. Especially if I want to take a remote shot from the edge of a cliff (which I often do); I don't want to be standing in space like Wile E. Coyote. I'm going to rig a Rube Goldberg mirror attached to the tripod, so I can stand behind the camera or off to the side and aim at the mirror. This should work.

GOOD NEWS: I just got the remote and tried using it. It can be used from a position to the side and slightly behind the camera, about 10 degrees back. BUT you must be on the right hand side of the camera, where the sensor is. You can't do this from the left hand side of the camera, so this is still a limiting factor in many real-life situations. One button focuses, the other shoots. Haven't tried the remote range yet. (BTW, a cheap JJR remote from Goja is what I got and it works fine. Plus the battery is included and is easily replaceable.)

--The remote can't be used for burst shooting. (Every cable remote I've ever seen could.)

So the remote is not good for action shots.

--Fixed LCD. This was almost a deal-killer, but there were so many other pluses that I went ahead and bought it. I haven't used it in bright sunlight yet; this is one reason I ditched the Canon T2i. Sometimes you really do need to get an angle. Pentax claims that the screen can be seen from an angle, so maybe this won't be an issue. I'm more of a viewfinder shooter anyhow, but one likes to have options.

--No cord or string on the lens cap. How hard would it be to include this obvious item? I'll probably drill a small hole in it and thread a string through it. But this is a dumb omission.

Haven't really tried the video yet, except to ascertain that it works (it does); for me it's not very important, but nice to know it's there.

Haven't tried the short lens yet. I assume it's just as good as the telezoom.

Bottom line: I'm very happy with this camera. Images are crisp, colors are nice without any adjustment, zoom is great. There are a lot of upgrades over the k-x. I got lucky and got the k-r kit for only $100 more than the k-x kit. Otherwise I wouldn't have bought it, and frankly, I would have missed out. I'm keeping the Fuji S100 also; it has cable remote and takes great pictures at all ranges. But it doesn't have the same burst capability.

Advice: IF you don't use remote for action shots, and IF you don't use filters--or don't mind spending a bit more for better filters, buy the k-r. It really is outstanding for action shots and distance shots. Don't bother to go below the 200 native ISO; it works fine, no noise, and you gain nothing by using the option to lower it.

Nikon COOLPIX L810 16.1 MP Digital Camera with 26x Zoom NIKKOR ED Glass Lens and 3-inch LCD (Black)

This camera was something that I was dying to get. I've had a very old, 8 year old in fact, Coolpix camera that still works but it's so old that I hate using it. The time in between taking one picture and the next if you need the flash is horrendous. So I finally went on the search to revamp my camera owning. And I found the Nikon Coolpix L810.

I have to admit what I really wanted was something close enough to a professional photographers camera. I take pictures everywhere I go. Especially with my son. I also don't buy photographer pictures, I tend to do them myself and they always turn out really well. But I wanted a camera that could take that even further. When I read that this camera could take pictures that were professional grade I was pretty sold. Not to mention that it came in colors. I love color choices! It just makes everything a little bit more fun.

Upon recieving it, I read the manual and figured out how to use it. It takes a little time to figure out exactly how to. Because you don't just go clicking away like most cameras. You hold the capture button half way down. There is a small square on the screen that will turn green when your camera is properly focused. That is when you press the capture button down completely to capture a picture that is not blurred. You can 'snap snap' but sometimes you will get blurry pictures because the camera takes pictures so fast if you don't focus you will get blur.

It doesn't have any problems with the lens cap. If you forget to take it off a message on the screen informs you to turn off your camera, take the lens cap off, and try again. Which was nice because I have heard of people ruining their motor because they left their lens cap on. There are two places to zoom on the camera depending on how you hold it. On the top and on the side, which is really handy. It does take video though I haven't tried that yet.

I was also worried about the size of the pictures. How much room they would take up on a memory card. I bought a 16GB card and haven't had to stop taking pictures yet. In fact, I went to the zoo took over 80 pictures and still only came to 300mb. So I am extremely pleased with that as well. I have already recommended it to a friend that is interested in a nicer camera.

Definatly worth the purchase.

True story: Had my heart set on the Nikon D3100, but I couldn't bring myself to pay that much for it. Rewind to my son's 8th grade graduation in May. I didn't have a camera at the time so I was using my cell phone which ran out of batteries by the time the graduation procession started. I was devastated. FORTUNATELY a good friend whose son was also graduating was sitting right behind me and she had a gorgeous professional looking camera. She offered to take pics of our son for me. When she emailed them to me the next day, her pictures were amazing! The zoom, picture color and clarity was so unbelievable! I HAD to know what the name of her camera was. She said a "Nikon Coolpix L810". I quickly looked it up online and found it cheapest on Amazon. I ordered it on a Friday and got it on Monday! I'm in LOVE with this camera. I've been practicing taking photos with it outside my work during breaks and the pictures are just beautiful, the zoom is AMAZING. Now, it's definitely not a quick point and shoot camera. You should ABSOLUTELY read the focus instructions VERY carefully before you use this otherwise your pictures come out blurry. BUT that's not a camera issue, it's a "you're not focusing the camera correctly" issue. Lol. You need to press the button down only halfway to allow the camera to focus first, once the focus light turns green, THEN press it all the way down. Tricky at first but gets easy after about 5 pics. So take your time practicing with the focus and getting to know all its shooting modes and features before you try to use it for special occasions like graduations, weddings, vacations...etc. After you get used to it, you will be in love with it. The price for the quality of this camera is outstanding. Love the size of it too. Big enough to be taken seriously, but small enough to fit in a purse or bag for travel. Not heavy, but just enough weight to it to give that quality feel. It's perfect!

Comes with: Strap, four AA batteries, USB cable, audio video cable, lens cap and software CD-ROM. Didn't come with a carrying case but no biggie, found one on ebay for about $6 w/free shipping (Ebay item #380422196943)

Buy Nikon COOLPIX L810 16.1 MP Digital Camera with 26x Zoom NIKKOR ED Glass Lens and 3-inch LCD (Black) Now

Okay first of all i love the 26x zoom and second i love the 16.1 mp. I recently went to the zoo and took pictures that were making professional photographers mad because of the clarity and at full zoom. Side by side comparison told me i did the right thing in purchasing this camera. And for those of you that think somethings wrong with the camera just spend some time using all the different scenes and adjustment's this camera has. one more thing i really liked was the ability to just push the video button to record video instead of having to change modes...and it doesn't matter what size sd card you have it will only record 29 min at a time, you can record multiple 29 min video's.... take it as you will.

Read Best Reviews of Nikon COOLPIX L810 16.1 MP Digital Camera with 26x Zoom NIKKOR ED Glass Lens and 3-inch LCD (Black) Here

I was very happy to see this camera finally come out. I have been using it for about a month now and I am very happy. I read a review about the images being out of focus and I simply took the picture again with the flash on or with the camera on a different setting. The application that comes with the camera let you view the pictures with great clarity. I bought and would suggest the following 2 items to go along with the camera:

Nikon CoolPix L810 HDMI Cable HD Video Cable for Nikon CoolPix L810, which lets me hook up to my tv in HDMI or even my computer through HDMI.

and

Energizer CHP4WB4 Recharge Smart AA/AAA Charger with 4 AA NiMH Batteries, along with n extra 4 pack.

Bottom line is I really enjoy this camera.

Want Nikon COOLPIX L810 16.1 MP Digital Camera with 26x Zoom NIKKOR ED Glass Lens and 3-inch LCD (Black) Discount?

This is a fantastic camera for the money if you take a lot of stills. If you take a lot of actions shots, like kids in sports, etc.....don't get it. It's focus time and shutter speed are just too slow for action. Some of the other reviews saying all the pictures turned out blurry make me suspect they did not download the CD that came with it titled "Reference Manual". If you read through it, and practice for a few days adjusting ISO and white balance, you'll get fantastic photos. The physical paper manual in the box is really just a quick overview, and doesn't provide much help, but the downloadable manual really does. This is indeed a point & shoot camera, but a little fancier, so you will have to spend some time with it. Don't order this and expect to pull it out of the box and go on a trip the next day with it. You'll be disappointed. I've had it a few days now, and I still have lots more to learn. It is very comfortable to hold, great grip, and great screen on the back. I'll post an update after I've used it a bit, too.

****Update 11-27-12******

After using this a lot more, I have actually gotten really good action shots now too. It just takes some time to get used to and practice with. Brought this on a trip this past summer, great shots, and used it to take pictures of my kids' summer sports activities, all action, also with great results.

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