Nikon COOLPIX AW100 16 MP CMOS Waterproof Digital Camera with GPS and Full HD 1080p Video (Black)

I've been looking at waterproof and tough camera for over a year now... and I eventually chose this one!

About me: I'm a techie, over 20 years in photography (started early), played with very many DSLR and compact cameras. I buy best-of-breed and I'm not very brand loyal (SLR I've used/owned include: Leica, Nikon, Pentax, Canon; Compact camera I've used/own: Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, and now Nikon).

I did a lot of research (including Canon, Pentax, Olympus) and eventually narrowed down to: Panasonic TS3 (aka FT3 in Europe), Nikon AW100, Sony TX10

** Sony TX10 I love its image sensor, its rugged yet sleek ultra compactness. Unfortunately the lack of GPS killed it. For an all-weather sports camera, you expect to travel everywhere and often in areas you find difficult to mark on Google Maps.

** Panasonic TS3 vs Nikon AW100 There are many forum that compare the specs of these two cameras so I won't bore you. Both have great specs for a rugged compact; and both have similar setbacks (e.g. no RAW or manual controls, but don't forget they are not suppose to be high-end compact cameras)

Panasonic TS3/FT3 is one of my final 2 because:

1. Panasonic makes exceptional compact cameras (well-designed, and they're heavily invested in compact cameras, including their m4/3).

Nikon's compacts are hit or miss, and more miss actually, when compared to Panasonic or Canon seems lagging behind.

2. Panasonic's TS3 is the third generation of rugged compacts... so Panasonic must have refined it and nailed everything.

Nikon has no rugged compacts and AW100 is the first risky!

3. Panasonic seems to produce very good underwater images (e.g. fishes, corals) seem more natural straight off camera.

Nikon seem to require you to set to underwater mode to ensure it corrects the color hues and color balance.

4. Panasonic has a tough, metal (and seemingly more durable) feel, but that also (unfortunately) makes it heavier!.

Nikon has an aluminum-like faceplate that gives color, but overall seem to be a tough lump of plastic.

Nikon AW100 ultimately won me over because:

I'm a risk-taker, and take the path less traveled (or camera less proven). It's got great specs like the Panny, PLUS some advantages:

1. Lightweight For traveling, hiking, water sports, having a light camera is good. The plastic looks tough and durable.

2. Greater ISO range with ISO 3200 I can take photos in darker situations than with a Panny

3. Screen is larger and higher res 460k instead of Panny's 230k means I an see more and clearer (especially sports can be lots of misses)

4. Image is higher res can be good or bad (I hate large files), but for sports, allows me more flexibility to crop and still retain enough resolution

5. Action button this sounds gimmicky, but it actually works! It serves as a large button for GPS tracking, and changing modes without having to fiddle with buttons

6. Video format I'll save the technie talks, but safe to say, it's Apple-friendly (I use both iMac and PC), high def (1080p) at lower file size.

7. Stereo sound useful in videos where you're filming cyclist/athletes zooming past and creates more realistic feel

Additional bonus that I found very useful in practice as a sports/travel camera:

8. Clock It's clock can synchronize with your location (so don't need to worry about adjusting the clock while traveling internationally

9. GPS it actually works! It can log your route at intervals for period of 6 72 hrs, embed POI info, and select different levels of details

10. VIdeo HS high-frame rate slow motion video are possible with this little camera. Initially, it sounded silly but as a sports and all-weather camera, I can certainly see great uses for this feature.

11. Movie light This gives additional light to dark subject at close distance when its very dark

12. Smile trigger Kids love this... We use this instead of self-timer so that when we take a family photo, the camera detects a smile and clicks it for us.

Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT saying NIKON AW100 is BETTER THAN Panasonic TS3. It's just better for my use (light to carry around in bag or even board shorts, versatile and travels to different country in sea, rain, mud etc). Honestly, I'm just pleasantly surprised Nikon can get so much right this time!

*Added tip: I bought this case and find its a good snug fit Lowepro Dublin 20 Slim Profile Pouches for Cameras and Compact Video Cameras (Black/Bordeaux Red)... I posted some pics here to let you see the fit.

====== ========

See the pics yourself. I've uploaded few pics intentionally provided them straight out of camera no photoshop.

* PANORAMA Quick and easy... no cropping/aligning. Just swing your camera slowly (~5sec) from one left to right or vice versa. Auto-stitched.

* SNORKELING Tried "underwater" and auto modes. Both work well. I did some injustice to the camera as I wasn't stable swept by current and the fishes were all over me

* CLOSE-UP See the white flower and aphid closeup. All handheld, Auto mode, Auto flash. You can go as close as about 1cm or closer.

* DYNAMIC RANGE See the pelican photo. Backlight but still some details on the flying birds. Camera is fast/easy. I just picked up the camera and shoot.

Pls click "Was this Helpful Yes/No" so I know whether it helps in your decision making, and if it does, it can help more people. (I'll post updates soon and refine this review I get more use out of it). Good luck!

I have had this camera a few days now and have been very impressed with the tests I've put it through thus far. This camera does everything Nikon says it will and does them all wonderfully.

Overall Build

This is a small camera in your hands which is a good and bad thing. It's great because it means it's easy to slip in your pants or shirt pocket and always keep with you. It weighs little enough that you hardly notice it's there. I see where some people could see this as an issue because the buttons on it are very small in order to have the back LCD as large as possible. It does not feel cheap even though it's made out of plastic and although I don't plan on doing a drop test, I am confident it would survive a drop from chest high.

Picture Quality

With an 8GB SD card I don't see a reason to shoot at any other setting than the highest resolution, so all my playing around with it was done at this setting. The JPEGs that come out look great. The images are sharp, have good color and the auto whitebalance has done an amazing job. The main thing I was worried about was having to do difficult WB corrections after the fact if it wasn't right on with the WB, but so far it has been spot on in full sun shots, shady shots, indoor with incandescent and indoor with fluorescent lights. I honestly think the 16MP is a little overkill, but will keep shooting at full resolution as I don't know when I'll need those extra pixels. Lastly, low light shooting has definitely exceeded my expectations. I thought with a sensor as small as this one there would be lots of noise in the final result but even at the higher ISO levels the pictures are very clear and useable.

Video

I don't really plan on using this for video too much but have tested it out nonetheless. It is very smooth while shooting at 1080p and looks great when run to my TV to view it. The microphones pick up the noises very well and even have a setting that reduces wind noise (I tested by blowing on the microphone while recording). To shoot video you don't have to change modes or anything you just press the red circle button on the back and you're off.

Button Placement/Menu

Everything seems to get in the right place as far as buttons go. Most can be reached with either your right thumb or right index finger while you're holding it up to shoot without adjusting, although if you are a lefty you will need to get used to holding it in your right hand. I also shoot a Nikon d5100 and had no trouble figuring out what everything did without looking at the instruction manual, so if you've used a Nikon in the past few years this should be a breeze. The menu is fairly uncomplicated and not overloaded with useless features. It is quick to get to the setting I want without too many annoying clicks. This is important to me as I had missing shots while I fumble with the buttons.

Vibration Reduction

I tested this out by holding the camera at arms length with one hand while shooting some test shots. Even from the LCD I could tell the image was doing a lot less shaking than my hand was, and was very impressed by the pictures when they came out. This will definitely come in handy on the boat.

Auto-Focus

Having not used a point and shoot in a few year, I was very pleased with how far the autofocus has come. It quickly locks on to an object, highlights the object and will keep it in focus even if you start swinging the camera around. Going from objects ~1 foot away to 30 feet away has been focused quickly and accurately. No complaints here.

Water-Proofness

The main reason I got this camera is so I could take it out with me when I go fishing. This means the first chance I got, I took this camera in a pool to start testing it out. It worked as expected, shooting at the 10 foot deep end of the pool with no problem. The color correction for shooting underwater was also quite effective. After taking some test shots, I put the camera in my pocket for the rest of the time in the pool just to keep it submerged for as long as possible. After a quick towel off out of the pool, it looked good as new. The battery/SD card door has a foolproof way of shutting and remaining watertight so unless I puncture something I'm not worried about water getting in there.

GPS

I have loved the performance of the GPS even when indoors. This is something that will be very useful when I either go fishing or go out in the woods and want to take a picture of something that is in a location I want to come back to. The GPS data is written to the metadata so I can punch it in googlemaps after I get home to see where things were. It also has an electronic compass which is handy for a few reasons and has worked great so far.

Flash

It works and it lights things up. I've sort of grown to love to hate flashes for snapshot while using my dSLR so I try not to use it often. It is significantly better than some of the old point and shoots I've used, so in a pinch I will rely on it.

Battery Life

Don't let the tiny battery fool you it lasts a long time. After the initial charge, I've spent close to an hour just going through all the menus playing with things, testing out the GPS, taking dozens of pictures and videos and reviewing them on the camera after the fact and am still above 50%. I couldn't imagine a situation where I would feel the need to purchase or bring a second battery along unless I was going to be out of civilization for a week or so.

I would highly recommend this camera to anyone who is looking for an outdoor/waterproof camera, or someone who needs a slightly more durable camera due to butterfingers.

I've been nothing but impressed with it so far and will update this review after a few months and a few fishing trips.

Buy Nikon COOLPIX AW100 16 MP CMOS Waterproof Digital Camera with GPS and Full HD 1080p Video (Black) Now

I tend to replace my point-n-shoot about every 3 years. I normally shoot a Nikon D90 but last year upgraded to a D7000.

[UPDATE Feb 2012] The original camera was replaced by Nikon since it failed on the 2nd use in water. This one worked through our Caribbean holiday for 4 full days before it started overheating and would not shut off. It stayed on until the battery drained. Leaving it "sit overnight" and then removing and recharging the battery got it working again, however I could feel the heat the longer it was in use.

The disappointing thing is this camera takes such great photos and now that we got it to work underwater, we know it takes fairly good underwater photos and video. But there's something wrong with either its design or the manufactured batch that we received. Had it too long to return to Amazon for a refund, so I'm probably going to send it a 2nd time back to Nikon. Note their repair service is great, but you have to be proactive and follow up or your repair/replacement will just sit there until you call them and ask for a status update. Once I did that after two weeks of hearing nothing and no status changes they said they'd check and the replacement was shipped out the next day.

[/end-update]

I took it to the Bahamas in order to test out the underwater capabilities. I also took along the D90 for "good" photos. After some fumbling with the crappy menu system, (its just me) I found that the AW100 photos were at least as good as the D90. The default color settings were wonderful. The video was better than expected above water, and much better than the Kodak PlaySport below water. The still photos (above water) were so good in fact, that I left the D90 in the hotel room safe for the rest of the trip.

It has a 16Megapixel sensor that is back-wired. This moves the connections to the rear of the sensor which supposedly gives less noise and lower-light sensitivity. My testing at night showed this to be true for me.

The bad things about it: The buttons are VERY touchy, the "use it in the snow with big gloves on" feature is a bit goofy, but then I haven't used it in the snow.

The battery life is no where near as good a any CANON point and shoot I've owned, but with the GPS off it was acceptable.

Speaking of the GPS, what a cool features. Not only do you geo-tag your photos, after you take a picture, it shows you the POI (point of interest) aka, the name of your location right on the screen. Not sure how that translates into the photo's meta data yet, but hopeful it will.

All-in-all I really don't care for the menu structure which is rather limited and requires that you be in a specific MODE in order to change a setting. This is just silly IMHO.

But the photo and video quality is about the best I've seen to date. So if you're looking for a simply camera, keep looking, but if you're reasonably comfortable fumbling with context menus, this may be the best imaging camera on the market today.

[UPDATE]

People are asking why "3 stars"? Because the controls are VERY touchy. While the camera image quality is beyond what I would ever have expected, the controls are difficult to use because they are so sensitive. Making use annoying.

WATER PROOFING FAILED: On my second trip to the Bahamas with the camera this month, it failed as soon as I hit the water. It was working fine for the two months that I've owned it, and was even working on the Beach. But then when I went into the water, it worked for a few minutes and then DEAD... Since it is more than 30 days old, I am sending to Nikon Service for repairs. If it comes back fine, I won't post again, but it something happens, I'll update this review again. With the U.S. holiday coming up and the timing of it being returned, I really don't expect to see it for at least 3 weeks.

Read Best Reviews of Nikon COOLPIX AW100 16 MP CMOS Waterproof Digital Camera with GPS and Full HD 1080p Video (Black) Here

Picked this camera up at the Maui Costco for a family snorkeling vacation on the way to the beach from the airport. This camera replaced my aging Sony T7 and it's water proof case. I liked that it had built in GPS and that I wouldn't need to use my Eye-Fi card to add geo-tags to my photos.

Much to my dismay the quick reference guide makes no mention of how to turn on the GPS (off by default). It only refers to the reference manual on CD (who carries a laptop with CD drive when travelling anymore?). I finally found it here on page 85:

Here are the steps for anyone googling how to turn on GPS on their Nikon CoolPix AW100:

turn on your AW100 camera (push the small rectangle button at top of camera)

push the GPS/Action large rectangle button on the left side of the camera (screen should show a world map)

push the MENU rocker button on the lower right corner of the camera (bottom right from the screen)

you should see the choice for GPS options. Use the OK button to turn it on (off by default).

you can then turn on "Record GPS data" to add the GPS data coordinates to your JPEG images.

while you are here you should also have your camera sync time/date stamp with the GPS satelitte (you have do to this everytime you change time zones).

Important note: The GPS data is added to your JPEG image file as EXIF data (date photo taken, camera model, camera settings, etc) so if you post these photos online the GPS data can be revealed something to be careful of when posting photos publicly from places you may not want people to know about (like your home's location).

Now when you press the GPS button on the side of the camera you will see markers wherever the photos have been taken. This setting only works for new photos you take, it can't be added retroactively to previously taken photos. GPS data is only stored on photos where the camera was actually able to see 3 or more satellites. All of my underwater photos did NOT have GPS info added to them, so be sure to take a few surface shots to get your location recorded for future reference (ie favorite dive spot).

I've posted a few snorkeling photos so you can see the image quality underwater as well as read the GPS info from where the above water boat photo was taken in Maui.

Couple of notes on product improvements: Although the strap says it is to be removed for use in water it holds up fine. Make sure you soak camera for 10 minutes in fresh water after use in the ocean to remove the corrosive ability of salt water. Would be nice if Nikon included a float with the camera or at least a bright colored water proof strap so you can find it after it sinks to the ocean bottom. be sure to move camera slowly in water and never spray water on the camera both cause increased water pressure which can exceed the 10m pressure it was designed to resist.

Software like Apple iPhoto and Google Picasa can display your JPEG GPS info along with the image. If this review helped you setup your GPS please vote for it to help others find it.

Want Nikon COOLPIX AW100 16 MP CMOS Waterproof Digital Camera with GPS and Full HD 1080p Video (Black) Discount?

First, a few things to know before you buy, since Nikon doesn't tell you these things until you get your owner's manual:

Regardless of the size of memory card, single videos are limited to 4 GB of space (The manual says about 35 mins at the highest quality setting; the camera itself usually says 28 minutes. I haven't come close yet to maxing that out, so I don't know which is more accurate).

The user manual indicates that the waterproof packing in the camera may deteriorate after a year, so it is recommended that you have it serviced yearly to replace the waterproofing (at your expense).

The camera strap is supposed to be removed for underwater use. So be prepared to hold on tight, or buy your own waterproof strap!

Speaking of waterproof, the camera seems to live up to its billing as such. I tested mine in perhaps the dumbest way ever: I set it down on the wet sand in the surf zone at a local beach, held on tight and let an incoming wave surge over the camera. The video turned out very cool, but I had a huge, tedious cleanup job on my hand. The sand churned up by the wave worked into every crevice on the camera. Nothing got inside (the battery and SD card were clean and dry), but every button was jammed with fine grains of sand that had to be laboriously worked out. Worst was the wheel to open the battery door. It still scrapes a bit weeks later. Bottom line, I would seriously not recommend performing this test yourself. Just take my word for it, it doesn't leak. Using it underwater is fine, but you'll want to minimize the exposure to sand.

Battery life: Good but not great. At Disneyland, I started the day with a fully-charged battery and by that night it was depleted to the point where the camera shut down. I did have the GPS and compass turned on most of the time the camera was on, and did lots of chimping and deleting of photos. I left the power-off setting at the default of 5 minutes. All in all I shot 65 photos and eight videos, the longest of which was 2 minutes and 48 seconds. You will want to buy a second battery for multi-day trips or if you plan to shoot all day with GPS enabled. Battery life with GPS off seems pretty good.

Still image quality: Decent to good, but not great. It is a point-and-shoot, after all. The camera performed better than I expected in low light, but I wasn't expecting a lot. I should note that it's been about five years since I last used a point-and-shoot, and my reference point for image quality is a Nikon D700 SLR. I would say the image quality is about the same or a little better than the Canon Powershot A540 that was my last point-and-shoot. The camera does tend to overexpose, so I've taken to shooting at -0.3 or -0.7 exposure compensation.

Video quality: Good. I shot on the top quality setting, and the video looks smooth and sharp on my 47" HDTV. Like most small video cameras, every sound you make, including pressing the zoom and other buttons, will be recorded.

Performance: Vibration reduction and autofocus work very well and there's virtually no perceptible shutter lag. I am very impressed by the Subject Tracking AF area mode. It follows the subject better than the 3D tracking on my D700.

Recording formats: JPG only for photos (no RAW); MOV for video (Quicktime).

Features: If you want a lot of control over your settings, this is not the camera for you. You can turn off the flash and autofocus assist, and you can adjust exposure compensation. But you can't manually dial in your own shutter speed or aperture, and there is no bracketing, although the camera does have an HDR scene setting (an option on the Backlit setting). I tried the HDR setting and it does make a notable difference in dynamic range. You will need a tripod or somewhere stable to set the camera for best HDR results; handheld, you'll get blurring. In Auto mode (which ironically gives the most control over settings) you can select white balance, continuous shooting modes, ISO sensitivity, autofocus area and autofocus mode.

Additional observations: One omission that would be really nice to have is a histogram. Since you're forced to shoot jpg, it would be nice to be able to assess the exposure with a histogram. Mine does tend to blow out a lot of highlights and I've taken to knocking down the exposure compensation to -.3 or -.7

Bottom line: A decent point-and-shoot. Buy an extra battery if you shoot a lot.

If you have any questions I didn't answer, feel free to leave a comment and I'll respond.

UPDATE: Interestingly, another AW100 user pointed out to me that the best image quality appears to come not at the full 16MP size, but 12MP. I've started shooting at 12MP and found it to be at least as good as the 16mp setting. I've also experimented with a lens hood and filters with good results. The hood and filters can be attached using the filter holder included with the camera. The holder takes 40.5mm filters. If you stack filters or use the hood and filters together, you will get some vignetting. Zooming in a bit (to approximately the 35mm film equivalent of a 36mm field of view) eliminates that. The hood I bought is the EzFoto 40.5mm Wide Angle Metal Lens Hood Shade for Leica, Contax Zeiss, Voigtlander and other Lenses. I also picked up a Hoya filter kit with UV, ND and circular polarizer filter, and Nikon's LC-N40.5 lens cap, which works with the filters (but not with the hood, which needs a 58mm lens cap). The polarizer is very handy and helps curb the camera's tendency to blow highlights. Filters and particularly the hood do make the camera a little bulkier. I leave the filter holder and polarizer on the camera with a lens cap, and carry the hood in my pocket for the times when it's necessary. I've uploaded photos of the camera with the filter holder and hood. I highly recommend at least getting a polarizer if you do a lot of outdoor shooting.

Geovision GV-FE110 1.3M H.264 Fisheye IP Camera 84-FE110-100

Purchased this camera about 3 weeks ago and ended up installing in a door way in my house. With placing of the camera, I am able to actually monitor activity in 3 different rooms. More or less the entirety of the 2 rooms the camera is in between and then because of the picture quality I can easily see quite a bit in third room that is catercorner to the other room. It is doing the work of six different cameras easily.

I plan on purchasing a few more for few more rooms.

Unfortunately this camera is not well suited for low light capabilities. And being what it is I really don't see how they could make it so. When all the lights are turned out, You can see very little if anything. This alone unfortunately, to me make it unsuitable for any out door areas that don't have a descent light. Which is sad, Because 4 of these could literally cover just about every square inch of the outside of my house.

Also, I love the software, it has excellent capabilities, However the software that was included with my camera does not seem to support any non Geovision IP cameras.

Overall, Those are the only 2 issues, And if it weren't for the software lack of support for IP cameras that aren't Geovision I would give it 5 out of 5. However, I have to knock it down a star because of that lack of support.

In addition to a quality product offering, BV Security USA has impressed me with their prompt, direct and friendly customer service. We purchased three FE-110 hemispheric cameras for our retail location (in addition to an FE420 and two fixed lens IP cameras). The cameras are simple to network and produce quality images; with six cameras, we are able to do the work of 16 conventional 480 line fixed lens cameras.

One of the FE110s we received had a cloudy lens, and the North American customer service representative swiftly & politely resolved our issue by replacing the camera, shipping paid both ways. This is the kind of customer service you hope for but rarely expect in modern times.

Buy Geovision GV-FE110 1.3M H.264 Fisheye IP Camera 84-FE110-100 Now

The installation is easy and the quality is superb! Excellent for small to mid size room. Quad view for independent view angle. Microphone quality is great, almost no lag thru internet remote access/streamming. Definitely recommend.

Read Best Reviews of Geovision GV-FE110 1.3M H.264 Fisheye IP Camera 84-FE110-100 Here

No moving parts yet covers a near perfect 360 degree by 180 degree area. Has easy, one-click configuration for mounting on ceiling, wall or floor. Two-way audio is a great bonus. Installs incredibly easily.

Would be 5 stars if it included IR capabilities. The lens case has IR printed along the band but there are no IR emitters in this camera and my research indicates that the lens is not built to register IR of any frequency, so I assume the "IR" on the band is for something else.

Want Geovision GV-FE110 1.3M H.264 Fisheye IP Camera 84-FE110-100 Discount?

ePhoto Articulating Magic Friction Arm Small Super Clamp For Dslr rig LCD Monitor RigClamp

I connected this to the ephoto 7 inch articulating arm and it works perfectly for holding my microphone and other accessories on my tripod.

You know, you can have 6 or 12 light stands, but if you have to attach things to them you need easy to use, sturdy clips to hold things in place. These do the job well, easy to store, great product for the price.

Buy ePhoto Articulating Magic Friction Arm Small Super Clamp For Dslr rig LCD Monitor RigClamp Now

This product will give you a lot of choices for temporarily mounting items to tripods, camera rigs, of anything up to about 1 3/4 inches in diameter. Although it is all metal and seems to be well constructed, it has fairly soft rubber inserts, which fall out very easily on mine, that prevent the device from damaging whatever it is attached to and, unfortunately, significantly reduce the holding capacity. I have a small ball-head mount attached to mine that is about 2-inches long. I can't mount anything more than a few ounces or it rotates (slowly) no matter how much I tighten it with my hand. If it is orientated with the mounting hole pointing straight up, it works fine and I'm sure there are many applications for it to be used in this way. But it isn't well suited for my camera rig. It would probably work better if the rubber pads were thinner, harder, and attached with an industrial adhesive instead of hot glue. All that being said, I am keeping it because I can see where it will come in handy in a pinch (no pun intended).

Read Best Reviews of ePhoto Articulating Magic Friction Arm Small Super Clamp For Dslr rig LCD Monitor RigClamp Here

Solid piece of hardware. Bought along with ePhoto articulating arm. I have both a small Manfrotto tripod for my small HD camera, and a large, heavy duty one (with very thick tube-style legs) for my 25-pound SD camera. Fits both easily. Very pleased!

Want ePhoto Articulating Magic Friction Arm Small Super Clamp For Dslr rig LCD Monitor RigClamp Discount?

This is a heavy, bulky device, but works. I have to add 7 more words to this or it will not allow me to submit this. I am sure this it not the 7 words they intended for me to write. Maybe they will take the requirement off when they read this over and over on my other reviews.

Save 50% Off

Marshall V-LCD-MT Monitor Adapter 1/4" Mount Adapter To Video Camcorder Hot Shoe For LCD Monitors

I'm using this item with the combo Canon T3i + Zoom H4n.

As suspected before buying it (just had the other reviews to trust), it works!

Not only the adapter is sturdy enough (as far as you could expect for the price) but it fits both the DSLR and the recorder perfectly, and holds them in place quite nicely.

Easy to use and small enough to carry it around with your other equipment.

Now, since a former reviewer seems to have gotten a different item... I got this one from Tie Photo & Electronics and fulfilled by Amazon.

Very good product for my LCD and I just ordered one for my mic! It makes things on a busy set a lot easier to just twist and tilt, literally two easy steps! And for the price of 9 bucks, you just ant beat that! Thanks! I would recommend to a friend!

Lauren

Owner of a T2i

Buy Marshall V-LCD-MT Monitor Adapter 1/4" Mount Adapter To Video Camcorder Hot Shoe For LCD Monitors Now

I bought this for my Canon 60D SLR camera and my Zoom H4n recorder. Even though I probably won't use this set up a lot it's a great way to get my recorder onto my camera when I need to. It adjust the recorder so that the shadow of the recorder isn't on my camera. I think for the price this is not a bad addition to my equipment bag. It is so small and extremely useful tool in my kit. I'm really glad I have it.

Read Best Reviews of Marshall V-LCD-MT Monitor Adapter 1/4" Mount Adapter To Video Camcorder Hot Shoe For LCD Monitors Here

This is a great product, a friend had one that he purchased from b&h photo video. amazon has it for few dollars cheaper. This unit is very good and make sure you screw in object and secure tightly. This product is flexible and it has a swivel. The only problem i do not like is the company shipping. takes to long. i prefer b&h photo video for future products. I like fast shipping tired of receiving products at the last shipping day.

Want Marshall V-LCD-MT Monitor Adapter 1/4" Mount Adapter To Video Camcorder Hot Shoe For LCD Monitors Discount?

Spend more money on a better quality. I thought I'd just buy it cheap and make it work, but it just won't tighten. Any camera movement will move what you have attached to it. Definitely don't use with a monitor.

Save 38% Off

D-Link DCS-930L mydlink-Enabled Wireless-N Network Camera

I purchased this camera to use as a cheep wireless IP webcam. It offers the ability to hook into your network either with the wireless WSP functionality or with an ethernet connection. It is fairly small with the camera being about the size of an iphone (maybe about 80% that size). The base allows for you to mount it in multiple settings, but be clear, this is a very simple design...not rocket science by any means. The ac power cord is about 4 feet long.

Setup: I ran into an issue when I was trying to set up the wireless connection. I could not get my camera and wireless router to talk at all. I called tech support (the free version) and they were useless. The rep had no clue about the specific devise and it is clear that he was just in a large call center that probably supports dozens if not hundreds of products. I had NO problem when I hooked it into my network via an ethernet cable. The set up application runs very nicely and easily gives you the option to select either wireless or wired set up as needed.

Back to my wireless problem. I decided that I would pay $32 for D-Links premium support for 30 minutes of help...I rolled the dice, as they do not guarantee they will fix your problem for your investment, but I had a feeling my issue was something simple with my network configuration...and I was right. The rep was great, she remoted into my pc, checked out my wireless settings on my router and determined that I had a bad character in my site name. None of my other wireless products had a problem with the character, but the D-Link cam did not like it. She changed the name of my wireless network, we restarted the router,and instantly the camera linked in wirelessly.

I am absolutely convinced that if I had not had a dash in my wireless network name, then this wireless set up would have been a breeze. So, I can't place blame for this issue on D-Link, but it was interesting that no other wireless device I use had a problem with the naming convention of the network.

Once that hurdle was cleared, it has been smooth sailing. I really like the ease of use and the functionality included with the set up...through a web interface, you can control video size, audio (yes it has a mic and sends the audio over IP in realtime), you can set motion detection, auto emailing on detection, and it even has a built in ftp server to send the images where ever you like.

Simple camera that does exactly what it says...it provides decent video and audio wirelessly to your network and then you can do with it what you want.

Pros: Simple, straight forward, nice setup application used on your pc, D-Link offers free remote viewing via their web portal MyD-link, and they also offer a free iPhone app (no audio on the iPhone app).

Cons: Seems somewhat fragile...I would not want to drop it form more than a foot off the ground. A fall from any higher seems would shatter it.

Overall I think this is a really good value.

((Update Dec. 18, 2011)

So I have had this camera in service for over a year now...and it has been installed outside, under an eave of my house. It has no additional protection from the elements...just its own casing and the few inches of cover provided by the eave. It has been subjected to all the weather Atlanta receives in a year...heat 95+, cold 9, wind, rain, humidity, etc. The verdict...GREAT..not one issue with it. So, I just purchased three more for outdoor viewing around the house. I put one into service yesterday and had NO problems with setup at all. Used the auto network connect feature on the camera and my Netgear router and it hooked in within a minute. Great little camera and with the price dropped to $70, I think it will be hard to beat it.

This is the easiest way I found to monitor our home remotely.

I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly everything came together I had the camera installed and transmitting in less than 15 minutes. I plugged the camera into a power outlet, popped the CD in (on a Windows 7 64-bit computer), entered my wireless network credentials, set up a DLink account from which to monitor the camera, and presto!

What works well:

###########

1. The lens is reasonably wide angle it can cover most of a normal size room.

2. It has audio! And it works very well.

3. Image quality is decent you can recognize people, but it isn't broadcast quality by any means.

4. Moving the camera kills the feed for a couple of minutes, but it's back on the network in less than 2 minutes.

5. The iPhone app is cool! We were able to watch the camera just as well on an iPod Touch. As another reviewer suggested, Tiny Cam (the free version is sufficient) worked great for me on Android.

6. The admin interface for the camera is stellar. You can control the refresh rate and resolution of the camera; the saturation, brightness, and contrast of the image; and the volume for the audio. You can even turn off the annoying LED light on the front of the unit!

7. Setting up motion detection is also really easy. You just pick the sensitivity of detection, and click on parts of the frame where you want detection to trigger. That's it! When motion is detected, you can ask the camera to email you the images.

8. Setting up email notification is simple too. I looked up the SMTP address and port for Yahoo, entered my email address and password, and was soon receiving emails from my camera!

9. This device supports WPS. What this means that you can automatically configure it to access your router, with just a couple of button presses. You press the WPS button on this camera, and within 60 seconds press the WPS button on your router (or in your router's admin screen). Then, magically, within about a minute, your camera configures itself with the SSID and password required to connect to your router.

10. It connects via Wireless-N and has an awesome range. It connects without problems to my router from across the house, through multiple walls.

What doesn't:

##########

1. The camera does not work in low light conditions as it does not have infrared capabilities. You need at least a 40W lamp for it to be functional. This tends to be a bit annoying for me, as the camera becomes fairly useless once evening falls. The infrared-capable DCS-932L may be a better choice in this regard.

2. No pan/tilt options on this camera. For me, this is not as big a deal as the low light issue, especially given its wide angle of view.

3. The camera feels a bit delicate, but should hold up well given that it isn't going to be handled much. It did take a couple of falls and has survived.

4. The camera needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet. Its short power cord does limit the locations where it can be placed.

Conclusions:

########

Overall, this was plug and play installation at its best.

I also can't believe there is a simpler way to get all of this functionality in a single unit. This device is extensively customizable. I was particularly impressed that the designers had thought about putting in a way to turn off the blinking LED in the front of the camera. This LED is a very useful diagnostic tool (it flashes amber when it is setting itself up, and green when it is broadcasting), but it drove me nuts, until I found this option in the admin panel.

Updated Feb 06 2011:

##############

Okay maybe I spoke too soon.

Access to the camera that I tested when I wrote this review was from within my internal network. Unfortunately, the feed from this camera was not visible from outside my home network. My router and this camera were UPnP compatible but that didn't seem to help.

Networking Primer:

#############

Before you begin, remember that you only have one publicly visible IP address and this is allocated by your ISP, and is assigned to your router. Inside your network, your devices are allocated private IP addresses, in the range 192.168.x.y. These addresses are termed "private" because they only make sense within your own internal private network.

A computer outside your network only recognizes the public IP address of your router. It has no idea how many devices you might have on your internal network.

The workaround below, lets you use the mechanism of [port forwarding] to uniquely identify one of your internal devices, and make it addressable over the Internet. You do this by reserving a particular port (say, 81), and telling your router that any attempt to access that particular port on the public IP address, should actually be sent directly on to the internal device (say, a camera) identified by a given private address (say, 192.168.1.5).

You have roughly up to 65535 ports that you can forward, though many of these ports are reserved for well known applications (such as a web browser on port 80). Ports between 49152 and 65535 are considered private and usable for reasons such as this one.

For each camera you want to expose externally, you'll need to pick a port number, and then add a port forwarding rule to your router.

The workaround:

#############

1. Log in to your camera's settings page:

...a. on the Network Setup tab > set Port Settings to listen for HTTP requests on port 81.

...b. Disable UPnP

2. On your router

...a. Turn off UPnP

...b. Add a new Port Forwarding Rule

.....Service Name: DCS930L.

.....Protocol: TCP/UDP.

.....Starting/Ending Ports: 81.

.....Server IP Address: set this to the internal network address for your camera.

.....This will be of the form 192.168.x.y, where x usually is 0 or 1, and y will vary.

A port forwarding rule causes any request coming to your router's IP address at this port to be forwarded to the server IP address that you specify.

3. Now access the camera using your static IP address as assigned by your provider @ port 81.

...This will take the form: . Note this is your externally visible IP address (not of the form 192.168.x.y)

...Provide login credentials.

If you want to get really fancy, and are tired of keeping up with changing IP addresses, then you might wish to register at dyndns.org. My router Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router WNDR3700 actually keeps dyndns informed whenever my ISP changes my IP address. You can then use a simple textual host name and it will be automatically converted to your IP address whatever it may be set to currently.

Hope this helps.

Happy Monitoring!

~Damodar

Buy D-Link DCS-930L mydlink-Enabled Wireless-N Network Camera Now

4/4/2011: The day and night video is pretty good. The installation process was flawless. Unfortunately I can't use the camera as a baby monitor since the audio static is awful. The static is so loud you can't hear anything. Hopefully Dlink will address my concern. I'll update my review once I hear back from them. See my video if you'd like to hear the bad static. Also Dlink hasn't fixed the audio problem with the Iphone App. You only get video with the Iphone. I have the Iphone 4 with iOS 4.3 installed.

4/5/2011: I contacted Dlink support. They said they know about the audio problem and they don't plan to fix it. Ughh! I'm going to return this one and see if a new one sounds better. I'll post more once I get the new one.

4/14/2011: I received my new DCS-932L from Amazon today. The audio is just as bad with this camera. What a shame. I even upgraded my java version to 1.6.0_24-b07. Ughh. Time to send it back or pray for a firmware fix.

8/31/2011: We've started to use this camera all the time since our baby is older and Iphone support has been added. The audio is good enough where we can hear him. I just wish Dlink would get rid of the static.

3/5/2012: This camera has become our primary baby monitor for our 14th month old. The iphone apps work very well. Our Philips Iphone dock works great with the Dlink Iphone app. It amplifies the audio and cleans up the audio a bit. I'm adding 1 more star back. I still wish the the audio didn't have so much static, but this camera has turned out to be a great baby monitor.

Read Best Reviews of D-Link DCS-930L mydlink-Enabled Wireless-N Network Camera Here

I purchased one of these cameras several months ago and it worked so well for the first month that I decided to get a second one. I have now had both for about two months and am finding that my first camera's wireless connection has slowly gotten less and less reliable. It had been in a fixed location the whole time with two walls and a floor between camera and wireless router (about 25 30 feet away). Router settings have not changed. I have performed extensive diagnostics, i.e. went through camera setup several times, changing router settings (removed all wireless security, used fixed IP) and nothing worked. Reset button on camera did not help. Firmware update did not help.

I have finally found that the camera now only works within 15 feet or so of the router, and it must be on the same floor as the router with no walls in between. This is unacceptable for a wireless camera, and my concern is that the wireless card within the camera is losing strength. The other camera I own once worked outside of the house entirely and now will no longer work there nor in the location of the first camera (which is closer and less obstructed than being outside). All other wireless devices we own have ample wireless signal throughout the house, our garage, and most of our yard, and as far as I can tell none of that has changed.

As I am using an Airport Extreme router and thought that there might be some sort of compatibility issue I have even tried running the camera wireless through my old D-Link DIR-615 wireless router with a fully open wireless connection and have not had any luck...the signal range for the camera is the same. DLink support has been no help, other than suggesting only using their routers (which didn't help) and rebooting everything and reconfiguring the camera (also did not help).

I cannot recommend this camera to anyone due to this reliability issue. It is fairly easy to set up and has a useful iPhone app available, but will likely be no use to anyone unless they can keep the camera within 15 feet of their access point with no obstructions in the long run. All I can do is wait until I have the money to replace these cameras with something better. Don't let this happen to you. Start with a different camera first.

Want D-Link DCS-930L mydlink-Enabled Wireless-N Network Camera Discount?

I was looking for a low cost wireless camera with better image quality than the Linksys WVC80N cameras that I have been using for a while. Side-by-Side, this is how the cameras compared.

Bottom Line: Unless you need Night Vision or need the mobil phone apps, the Linksys WVC80N performs better at a lower price. Linksys has better image quality than D-Link at any distance, handles outdoor scenes when the D-Link won't and will deliver video clips (not just snapshots) by email or ftp. The Linksys does not have phone-apps, but it can email a 5 second motion triggered video clip that can be viewed on your android phone.

Best Useage: The D-Link would be great as a baby cam or pet cam. The cute design, better audio and the night vision outperform the Linksys for these uses.

The Linksys WVC80N would be better for any other use where the video quality under all lighting conditions (except dark) is the highest priority.

Compare Image Quality @ 640x480

1. Color Quality D-Link is a little better than Linksys, unless it is an outdoor view. The D-Link exposure control cannot manage any sunlit surfaces. Even grass and trees are completely washed out to white if they are in direct sun. There are no settings to fix this. In moderate light, the D-Link color is better than Linksys because the Linksys has a color hue gradient of red in the center to green at the perimeter. This color balance problem is distracting when viewing a white scene like snow or other very light backgrounds.

2. Image Clarity With the two cameras side-by-side with the same scene of near-and-distant objects, the D-Link by comparison looks optically out-of-focus, though neither camera is great in this respect. If you want to recognize a face at a distance Linksys is better. The D-Link video clarity is fine for a baby's bedroom, because a near-field view does not demand the same sharp focus as a distant view.

3. Sound Quality The D-Link has good audio performance on an wireless "N" lan when accesses directly within your home using the camera's local IP address. Very little "noise", no skipping or break-up and good microphone pickup. I didn't check it out across the internet or with the "MyDlink" connection, but I am guessing audio would not perform so well there . . as other reviewers have noted.

The Linksys has more audio artifacts and is more vulnerable to the audio breaking up when the video settings are too demanding even on the local network. Across the internet with high speed cable service at both ends, the Video has to be set at "Low Quality" and 2 or 1 frames per second for the audio to work without breaking up.

Some Feature Comparisons

1. The one obvious advantage with the D-Link is the night vision. It works pretty well up to 20 feet but the pictures are very soft-focus. For your night-time application you may want to consider that the 4 red LEDS are very bright and draw your eye to the camera.

2. The D-Link camera cannot stream video to a PC without using the full web management interface or using the MyDLink web service. With the Lynksys you can play the video stream directly on an iPad or on a PC using Google's Chrome browser without the surroundings of a web interface. Internet Explorer will only show 1 frame of a video stream if you bypass the full management interface explaining why Google Chrome is mentioned. With the Linksys camera, Right-Click on the video in the normal interface to get the URL for the direct video stream to used on your iPad or Chrome.

The D-Link can display a single .jpeg snapshot without the managment interface. This feature can be enabled in the camera's web interface and it tells the address format to use. This is for direct access, not using MyDink.

2. The D-Link cannot upload a video clip to an ftp server when it sees motion. It will only upload a single .jpeg snapshot. This will often give you a useless premature snapshot of a shadow but not the person, or a door opening but not the person. With the Linksys .mjpeg video clip, no video compression is used so each frame is a good .jpeg snapshot. You can select the best frame from the 5 second video that would give you the best view of the motion event that triggered the clip.

3. The D-Link will only email 6 frames when it sees motion. You can choose 1 or 2 frames per second. It will include the 3 frames it had buffered before it saw motion which is a good feature. This makes the email feature much more usefull than the D-Link ftp upload of a single .jpeg snapshot.

For motion detection features, you may prefer the Linksys which will email, ftp (or both) a 5 second video clip at a normal video frame rate.

I had no reason to examine the motion detect performance on the D-Link camera, but the motion detection on this Linksys camera works much better that on the prior similar models. With careful detection-area and sensitivity tuning, motion detection works great. Motion Detection responds to shadows which makes outdoor use tricky but manageable. Shadows on the ground caused by wind blowing the trees will trigger the camera so your detction areas need to be carefully targeted at areas of interest.

Setup / Wireless Compatibility

Working in a related tech business, I believe the negative reviews on either of these products regarding wireless compatibility or networking issues are the result of bad programming on the manufacturer's setup CD or the buyer's lack of network troubleshooting experience. If you have a friend who is very tech-savy to help you get past wireless and networking complications, either of these products will work reliably on virtually any wireless network. Sometimes the installation CD's will simplify networking issues and sometime they won't.

Reading the complaints on Amazon about the D-Link setup, I had the same problems but they were caused by poor programming on Setup CD; not the camera. If you get failure messages going through the Wizard on the CD, just use the web interface on the camera and save yourself a lot of grief. The web interface on the camera is excellent.

Another reason to skip the DLink CD . . . it forces you to to create a MyDlink account with DLink even though you may have no need for the service because you prefer to port-forward to this camera.

I returned this camera because it was a video quality downgrade from the Linksys cameras already in service.

Save 67% Off

Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens + EN-

itis one of the best product you can opteen or you have for this quality and this unbelievable price the respond was in verey reasonable time with lot of Accessory.

Save 14% Off

Nikon Coolpix S3500 Digital Camera (Silver) with 32GB Card + Battery & Charger + Case + Tripod

For what we need to do with it, it's ok.

We took 500+ pictures in 13 days and we are happy.

We bought it because of all the accessories included with the camera.

A great price for the bundle.

A pity there is no international delivery, but we managed to have it delivered in the United States and retrieve it.

So, so far so good.

Manfrotto MVT502AM Video Tripod with Telescopic Twin Legs (Black)

I am using these legs with a Manfrotto MVH502A Video Head with 75mm Half Ball as pictured. The best feature is how light this tripod is. It folds down short enough to fit in my rolling camera case after I take the the video head off. Very easy to move around with my full rig on top, and the bowl allows me to make easy and quick leveling adjustments. Breaks down and sets up fast because of the levers they use. This is a great setup for a run and gun shooter, or traveler.

This is pictured as legs, head and bag, but it is only the legs. I was in a hurry and just saw the 502 with legs and the picture. The price was good, but not way out of line for a whole kit so I bought it and had it rushed delivered to make it in time for a shoot. Amazon gave me an instant refund so I could get what I needed. I can't say anything good or bad about the product as I didn't even pull it out of the box before returning it.

Buy Manfrotto MVT502AM Video Tripod with Telescopic Twin Legs (Black) Now

Canon FS22 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder w/32GB Internal Memory & 48x Advanced Zoom - 2009 MODEL

Great camcorder. Lightweight, easy to use, great video. Took it on a 16 day cruise/tour one week after purchasing, and it met every need. Battery life exceeded 2 hours per charge, plenty to support a full day of touring. The entire trip still didn't fill the 32GB internal memory (we recorded just over 5+ hours of the 7 hours available, all in best quality. Purchased and used a 16GB SDHC card for the still pix, and it worked beautifully also. Downsides? Extreme small size and light weight make controlling camera shake difficult, particularly when zooming; lack of viewfinder is a real detractor.

I had high expectations for this camcorder. I did some research and dispite limited reviews I decided to purchase. It had all of the features that I required for a standard def camcorder, and I thought the price was fair. It had a long zoom and it was small, compact, and lightweight....almost toy like.

The quality of the video in bright light was great. Indoors is where the camcorder failed to impress me. In typical bedroom lighting the video was very very grainy and unacceptable. When zoomed out the video was extremely shaky, but a tripod would have helped. The deal breaker for me was the low light performance, and when I say low light I mean in a well lit room with a lamp and a 75 watt bulb.

I wanted to like this camcorder because of the Canon name and the features, but in the end the quality was not there especially for the price. I would not recommend this camcorder in situations where the lighting is not perfect.

Buy Canon FS22 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder w/32GB Internal Memory & 48x Advanced Zoom - 2009 MODEL Now

Great little portable recorder. Amazed by it's actual size. Perfect for taking everywhere!Canon FS22 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder w/32GB Internal Memory & 48x Advanced Zoom 2009 MODEL

Read Best Reviews of Canon FS22 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder w/32GB Internal Memory & 48x Advanced Zoom - 2009 MODEL Here

Canon FS22 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder with 32 GB Internal Memory and 48x Advanced Zoom

ESTOY MUY SATISFECHO Y COMPLACIDO POR LA CALIDAD DE IMAGEN Y SONIDO QUE OBTUBE CON LA VIDEO CAMARA CANON FS22, SOBRE LA CAMARA SONY HANDYCAN VISION ,AL GRABAR UN CONCIERTO AL VIVO Y EN UN CLUB DONDE A PESAR DE LA POCA VISIBILIDAD PUDE LOGRAR MEJOR IMAGEN,CLARIDAD Y ESTABILIDAD CON LA CAMARA CANON FS22.

EL PRINCIPIO DEL VIDEO ESTA GRABADO CON UNA CAMARA SONY Y EN EL FINAL DEL VIDEO CON UNA CAMARA CANON FS22 QUE MUY CLARAMENTE SE PUEDE OBSERVAR LA DIFERENCIA , POR LO QUE LES RECOMIENDO A TODAS LAS PERSONAS INTERESADAS EN OBTENER Y GRABAR UN BUEN RECUERDO DE SUS MOMENTOS AGRADABLES PLACENTEROS Y DE DIVERSION, LAS CAMARAS CANON SON LAS MEJORES.

GRUPO MASALLA

JUAN TARDIO

Want Canon FS22 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder w/32GB Internal Memory & 48x Advanced Zoom - 2009 MODEL Discount?

Sony Alpha NEX5K/B Digital Camera with 18-55mm Interchangeable Lens - Black

People, I LOVE this camera. I bought it thinking there was an 85% chance I was going to return it, but am happy to tell you that as soon as I uploaded my first pictures, I was smitten. I was most worried about picture quality, because I had previously owned a Sony a200 and a700, and ended up selling both for a Canon and Nikon, because the picture quality just wasn't up to snuff. My most recent camera was a D300s and I would say that the nex5 performs almost as well as it in most situations and even better in a few. And the nex5 video blows the D300s out of the water! Obviously everyone has different needs and preferences from their camera so all I can do is tell you what my needs were and why the nex5 is so great for them.

The picture quality was the most important thing for me, which was more than adequate so the next most important criteria was the LCD. The LCD on my D300s was a complete joke, as I couldn't see squat on that thing in even moderate sunlight. This was extremely frustrating but since it was based on an OVF anyway, I just dealt with it. But I started my photography in this digital age on a Canon S2IS which had a swivelling screen and full-time live-view, and honestly, I've missed that method of taking pictures ever since I moved up to dSLR's. The two things that I wanted most out of the LCD on the nex5 were adequate visibility in bright sunlight, and real-time exposure compensation, so that you know EXACTLY what your picture would look like before you take it. It passed both of these tests with flying colors. The second day I had it, my wife and I went fishing on the river, in the afternoon sun. Live view photography would have been impossible on my D300s but I had no problems with the nex5. Understand that it will get a little washed out, but I was still able to compose as well as I needed and set exposure almost spot on. When I got home and uploaded my pics, this was confirmed for me as they just looked amazing. The best part about it was knowing that I wouldn't have gotten any of those shots with my D300s, simply because I wouldn't have brought the dang thing because I already had a bunch of stuff to carry. The sony just fit in my pocket (cargo pocket, with 18-55) and was out of the way until needed.

The other great things about this little guy are the ISO performance, which is ridiculous (better than D300s) and the high-speed continuous mode. Just to be straight on this, it will take 7, full-resolution photos a second, but locks exposure and focus. If you want it to refocus and adjust exposure, the best it can do is about 2 1/2. Of course there's the panoramic mode (haven't tried it), HDR mode (don't like it), and twilight mode (don't like it). Oh yeah, and I love the detachable flash which is solid as a rock when attached, but since I hardly ever do flash-photography, I love to be able to get it out of the way for the majority of the time.

For me this is the best camera on the market right now. I tested it against the Lumix G2 and thought the picture quality is noticeably better on the Sony (I do think focus is faster on the G2 though certainly a great camera too), not to mention the form factor is so much smaller! But, with all that said, I fully plan on selling it in the fall when the new batch of cameras come out because there are a few things that the nex5 doesn't have that I desperately want.

First of all, the menu sucks. There's no way around it if you ever try to change the settings, you are going to be frustrated by it. I could live with that, but there are other things missing. As good as the LCD is, I really want an EVF, even if I have to have a slightly larger body. I also really need just a few more buttons, namely: ISO, Focus lock, AE lock, but I do like the minimalist approach, because I absolutely hate the millions of buttons that Canon and Nikon throw on their cameras. As I mentioned, the video is very good, and although it does have an exposure control, so you can increase or decrease the brightness by two stops at any time (kind of neat), I need full manual control over video. The only other things that I don't really like are just nagging things that I could live with, but I'm hoping will improve in my next purchase, they are: battery life, screen blackout, and shutter noise. Battery life goes really fast on this camera and spares are ridiculously priced at $70, but I can understand that it takes a lot of juice to run that screen, so I could live with it. The screen does black out when you take pictures for what seems just a hair too long. It's not terrible, and for a $700 camera it's actually very good, but it's just something that would bother me in the long run. The shutter is surprisingly loud. The first day I got it I took a picture of my wife taking a nap on the couch and it actually woke her up! I'm not saying it sounds like a freight train, but unfortunately, I love taking incognito pictures in crowded places and would definitely have to be a little more careful with this little guy.

So, all in all, this is my favorite camera I've ever owned. I mention that I plan on selling it only because I know that the evolution will be to bring more and more functions to this small sized, mirrorless style camera, otherwise I wouldn't. If I had to choose between every camera out there right now, I'd choose this one every time. But I'm keeping a keen eye out for the nex7 and gh2 that should be coming out this fall, and guess that one of those cameras will be pretty much perfect for me.

UPDATE

Now that they've started manufacturing adapters for the NEX, I got myself a Canon FD lens adapter which has really taken the camera to a whole new level. Understand that you will only have manual focus with any adapter but Sony makes it very easy by dedicating the bottom button to MF Assist which zooms in so you can make sure that your focus is sharp! Even though some of the lenses dwarf the tiny little NEX, it still handles very comfortably and efficiently. If you love this camera but are frustrated with the selection (or lack of) of lenses, check out the options on ebay those old lenses are a real bargain now.

I figured I'd share my thoughts for the vast majority of people who most likely purchase some things like I do. We have a 10-month old and my wife and I wanted a camera that would allow us to take awesome pictures. DSLRs were too big to lug around and after reading the specs and seeing the Olympus and Panasonic I decided to hold off until this Sony came out. Very happy that we did. This camera makes you feel like a professional photographer. Don't worry about trying to get that one shot, I just hold the button down and grab tons of photos hoping to get the kid posed with the right facial expressions. We've taken it to the beach, outside in the yard, in the house, etc. and the photos are stunning.

Then there is the absolutely undeniable "coolness factor" of having this camera in your hand as you are snapping photos. It is so small compared to anything else that you are just amazed as to how it feels perfect in your hands. I held the NEX-3 and it's garbage compared to this one. It's not just the difference in movie quality, the NEX-5 has superior quality to the NEX-3 when you play around with them. They shouldn't even sell the NEX-3 when you compare how much worse it feels in your hand. You still hold the lens like a professional would and I love the LCD compared to a viewfinder. Since you can bend it all over the place even in crazy light you can still see the image. Cannot wait to take this on vacation.

The videos are breathtaking. Yes they are amazing. The camera does it's best job trying to auto-focus and there is an occasional time where the video might go out of focus, but even with manually zooming in and out the quality and focus seem to stay extremely well. Keep in mind that since the LCD is your viewing option you may notice your breathing over the audio of the video depending on how you hold it. Didn't bother me though once I corrected for it.

Don't open the box and just expect to start taking amazing photos if you've never had a camera like this before. But it doesn't take long to get adjusted and make your wife wonder why you ever wasted money on a professional photographer. It'll pay for itself within a few years.

As far as I am concerned the target audience for this camera is families or individuals who are sick of crappy photos with a point and shoot. If you want to be a camera snob and dissect the features it has or doesn't has, that's your choice. But I'll never use half the stuff on here and if I do figure it all out, then I'll probably be obsessed with a really nice DSLR and photography as a whole. But I'll always love this camera.

The panoramic mode is really nice too and this camera has taken it from gimmick feature to legitimate. Haven't had a chance to play with 3D yet but that's a gimmick right now and I really could care less.

If you want a small, really cool, well built camera that takes unbelievably awesome pictures and 1080p video...buy the NEX-5!

Buy Sony Alpha NEX5K/B Digital Camera with 18-55mm Interchangeable Lens - Black Now

Years ago I was a serious amateur photographer using the best SLR gear available. I've been point-and-shoot for the last decade, largely because professional quality DSLRs were quite expensive and too big & heavy to take along on hikes and trips. The Sony NEX5 enticed me to upgrade from my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 (a very good point and shoot). Based on the specs and the initial reviews, the NEX5 seemed to have everything I wanted and needed: small size and weight, interchangeable lenses including lenses from other cameras with adapters, manual control of aperture/ISO/shutter speed when desired as well as sophisticated automatic controls, big CMOS sensor, reasonable price, and SONY reputation for quality. HD video is a nice feature as well.

I've used the camera for the last month. If I had it to do all over again I would wait for the next version or the next offerings from other companies. It isn't that I don't like the camera -it is fun and I'm still likely to string it around my neck when I go out for walk. But it falls short of what I want in several areas:

1) No viewfinder. The LCD display is big and bright, but if you're outdoors with a bright sun on the display you simply cannot see what you're shooting. If you're in automatic mode, you can shoot a bunch of shots and probably will find what you want somewhere in there, but if you're making any manual adjustments or using a lens from another camera, forget it. For me this is a fatal flaw.

2) Useability with other lenses. I have a large collection of high quality Pentax k-mount lenses from my serious amateur phase. How great, I thought, to be able to mount these on the NEX -I'll have great glass and I won't need to buy more lenses. So I bought a K to NEX adapter (about $25 on eBay). I knew would have to manually focus my old lenses on the NEX body, but I had to manually focus them when they were on my Pentax film camera, so I thought that would be fine. In fact, this works well with a short lens and a stationary object. Thus with a 55mm f1.4 Pentax lens and flowers as the subject, I can get some wonderful pictures with the NEX. But I'm mostly a wildlife and landscape photographer where a longer lens is necessary. Slap a 200mm telephoto lens or a big zoom on the NEX and you've got problems of two types. First there is blur because SONY builds its image stabilization system into the lens rather than into the NEX body. So with a 3rd party long lens there is no compensation for hand shake, and your hand will shake with a long lens. Second, you have to manually focus using the LCD display, but see my first point. The only way the NEX will work well with a long lens from another camera system is if you use a tripod, have a stationary subject, and can shield the LCD display from bright sun. This means that if you want to use your NEX for anything that requires a lot of magnification, e.g., sports, birds, many types of landscape, you'll have to pay $800 for the NEX 18-200mm zoom, which isn't available anyhow. When you add $800 for a usable long zoom lens to $700 for the NEX5 kit, you've moved into a price point where you may be better off buying a Pentax or Canon system camera where used lenses and 3rd party lenses are readily available.

3) Menu system. Yes, Sony has improved the menu system with a firmware upgrade, but you still have to click your way through menus on the LCD screen to set anything manually, whereas on other digital SLRs and many high end point-and-shoots there are buttons on the camera body devoted to particular functions. This is a killer on the NEX because there isn't a viewfinder. So you've got a nice shot composed on the LCD screen of the NEX and you would like to increase the exposure -stop, open the menu system on the LCD screen, switch to aperture priority mode, recompose your picture if your subject is still there, stop again, adjust the aperture using the dial on the NEX body and get the readout on the LCD screen, recompose your picture and if the subject is still there: shoot. On a SLR digital camera with a viewfinder and a dedicated button for aperture control you would compose the picture, adjust the aperture with your thumb, and shoot. The menu system won't get in the way of your use of the NEX if you're going to use it only in automatic mode. But if you want to treat it like a real DSLR, forget it.

4) Service. The battery charger that came with my NEX-5 kit, died after the first use. I've spent maybe 3 hours on the phone with various SONY support people and after nearly a month of waiting have been promised that a replacement unit is in the mail to me. Here is a more or less verbatim version of one of my interactions with SONY support:

Me: I was told a week ago that a replacement was being mailed but I've check online with the order number I was given and can't find a record of it.

SONY: We were having problems with our system a while back and maybe your order was lost

Me: Then please place a new order

SONY: Okay, but I'm technical support. You'll need to speak to customer support to get that done.

Me: Can you transfer me.

SONY: You'll have to phone them during regular business hours.

Me: When are regular business hours

SONY: M-F

Me: (It's Saturday morning). Given that you've lost my order and I'm sitting here with a new camera I can't use because the battery has run down, you'll have to do better than telling me to start over on Monday. I would like to speak to a supervisor.

SONY: I understand your concern. It will be best if we move this up to the next level -SONY customer relations.

Me: Great. Can you transfer me.

SONY: I can't because they're only open during regular business hours.

I gave up and ordered a third party battery charger from Amazon that arrived in two days.

The bottomline: If you want the nicest and coolest point-and-shoot our there and don't need a lot of magnification for distant scenes or sports, buy the NEX. You'll like it. If you want a light DSLR for serious photography, wait until SONY or another company gets it right.

Read Best Reviews of Sony Alpha NEX5K/B Digital Camera with 18-55mm Interchangeable Lens - Black Here

I've had the Sony NEX-5 for a little over a week now. I have it with both the 18-55mm and the 16mm. I chose the black body which I think contrasts well with the silver lens. I prefer the 16mm because it has a nice 2.8 aperture which gives me better low light performance.

The camera is fantastic. It feels solid in your hand and the sound of the shutter and vibration of the camera make you want to shoot photos with it. Overall build quality is great. (The body is metal with a plastic grip.)

The controls on the camera are good, but not great. The dedicated video button is nice and I like the location of the playback and power buttons on top. The LCD screen on the back tilts but I haven't had a need to use it much.

The LCD menu controls are probably the biggest limitation on this camera. It is not easy to work with this camera in manual mode and getting to a particular feature can take a lot of scrolling and clicking.

The photos I produce with this camera are excellent. The video is also quite good.

Low light performance is good and I've never had a need for the supplied flash.

Want Sony Alpha NEX5K/B Digital Camera with 18-55mm Interchangeable Lens - Black Discount?

Let me start by saying that I LOVE this camera... as a still camera. The photos it shoots are very impressive. The lenses, though currently limited in range, are very nice (I have them all.) I love the small, compact size, the progressive engineering and innovative technology. As a still camera, I think the NEX 5 is a thing of beauty.

...The problem is that they also promise that it shoots video and it does in short bursts that aren't too close together. The Sony spec states that you can shoot 29 minutes of video at a time. What they don't say is that the reason you can only shoot in limited amounts is because the camera is prone to overheating. They also don't tell you that to get 29 minutes of shooting time out of it you have to shoot in a refrigerator.

I took it to a Mardi Gras Indian Jazz Funeral Second Line in New Orleans yesterday to try out the video feature. I chose this camera over my NEX VG10 because the NEX 5 is smaller, more discreet and easier to manage in a crowd. It's summer in New Orleans and about 100 degrees so I made sure I kept my shots short under 5 minutes and I tried to give the camera some cooling time in between shots. I thought my conscientious method of shooting would prevent the camera from even coming close to overheating, but I was so wrong. After about an hour of shooting on and off, the procession stalled and I found a perch on top of some stairs with a great vantage and waited in the direct sun for the procession to start up again. I had been waiting about 10 minutes with the camera on standby when the procession started rolling. I shot for about 6 minutes, getting the best footage I had gotten all day. I hit the record button to turn off the recording and I got a message that the camera had overheated. It lost my footage!

I took the lens off so it would cool down faster and ran five blocks to get ahead of the procession again and to try to find another high vantage point. Finally I found a pick up truck and jumped up on the back bumper, reattached the lens and hoped for the best when I turned the camera back on. I shot for about three minutes, but the moment was lost it was so hot that the crowd had dwindled considerably.

I'm sure that under better conditions the results would be much better, but I would never try to push 29 minutes of video out of this camera I'd be afraid it would melt the sensor! If you're considering this camera because you want a high quality still camera that you can also use for HD video, be forewarned that you'll have to manage your video shooting very carefully and it may crash in the middle of your video shot. I certainly wouldn't use it to shoot video for anything important.

I would only consider it usable for video in optimum conditions cool weather conditions or indoors and only for very, very short bursts with plenty of cooling time in between with the lens off the body to help dissipate the heat.

I've attached the video that I shot yesterday. The quality is very nice: good saturation, adequate auto white balance and decent audio if you buy the Sony ECMSST1 mic that fits on the smart shoe. Though the NEX lenses have image stabilization, for video it's minimal at best.