Cmple Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable, 25 feet

I purchased two of these cables about a week ago. Since then, I ran them both from my TV one into my HD cable box and the other into my blue ray player. The cables go in the wall behind the TV, down through the crawl space, and up the inside of the wall and out to the corner of the room thus the need for 25ft. Both cables work great, and the blue ray picture is amazing.

Before purchasing, I checked with a friend of mine that manages an audio/video store, and he confirmed that hdmi cables are basically all the same they work or they don't. So I went ahead and purchased these, because even at his "friend's and family" discount, he could not beat the price.

Good cables. Good Value.

I had the same experience as another reviewer here. The cable looks very nice and seems very solid... BUT IT DIDN'T WORK AT ALL! I was attaching a PC (with an HDMI-out port) to a TV and could never get a picture with this cable. But if I used another HDMI cable I had, the picture displayed just fine. This cable was DOA! Returned it and bought elsewhere.

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Bought two of these cables 6 months ago for my 52" LCD and my surround sound receiver. Cables have performed flawlessly like the some people said stickers did fall off once touched them but does that really matter. Just bought a third for my PS3. Sure it will perform flawlessly as well. Would recommend to anybody.

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Was a little hesitent based on other reviews, but hooked up the cable to an HDMI received, ran the cable to a 50in plasma and have had no issues over the last month of using the cable.

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purchased item for living room chase pipe application needed long HDMI cable for this (18' chase). Works great I have it on a switch for the HD sat. rx, and the PS3 everything looks good as far as picture watching TV, movies and playing video games. nothing bad to say. Great price was cheaper then a 6' Walmart special cable. Works, good quailty, great price.

SVAT CV0204DVR Web-Ready DVR Security System with 4 High-Resolution Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Su

I recently bought this system and spent yesterday installing and tinkering with it. I am quite happy with it! Here are my thoughts: Everything that came in the box was as expected, save that the DVR didn't have an S-video output as I had seen it with before (I believe I bought an "upgraded" one which didn't have the output). I was initially disappointed, but later found that the regular video-only composite output worked fine for me. That was my only disappointment with the system, and it has turned out to be a non-issue. One of the big things I was looking for was ensuring that each camera didn't require a local power source, as I didn't relish the idea of running receptacles to each camera location. This one has a single cable with an S-video connector that runs to each camera and carries both power AND video signal, so that worked out great. Installation was a breeze (despite spending a day in my attic) and the components worked together the first time I put the system together. Bringing the picture up through the web was also a snap as well the instructions in the user guide are quite good for what you need to do. One of the biggest complaints about this system (and really all others in the sub-$1000 price range) that I had read before buying it is the lack of night vision clarity. I don't know what people are talking about with this particular system because I was impressed with the picture I got from the night vision from the cameras out to about 20 feet away from the camera in a completely dark inside room and with some lights (like indirect lighting through windows) my outdoor cameras were able to have a complete field of view. As far as installation, I am not a techie, but installing it was very straightforward and made sense. It went together quickly and though it took me a day to install, the majority of that time was spent running cables through walls and through ceilings to have all of the cables hidden from view. Data recording is a snap, and changing menu items is easy as well. The only thing I wish I had known before I installed the cameras is their field of view, which I had expected to be zoomed out a bit more than they actually are. Had I known what I was going to see, I would have probably mounted the cameras back a little further from the areas they are recording in order to get a better overall view. My suggestion would be to lay the system out BEFORE installing it to ensure that you are happy with the view that you have before you start drilling holes and running cable. Overall, I am very happy with the system and I have already recommended this system to a family member who is planning on buying it as well. I would highly recommend this to anyone!

My company bought this system to monitor an industrial robot. They work great and the picture quality is decent. It interfaced with our network easy enough. It is a great resource to be able to review the video history and even save screenshots and .avi videos to our pc's.

Only cons that kept this from getting 5 stars:

1. The camera mounts are terrible. They are poorly designed and have to be readjusted often. We fixed this by globbing silicone caulk around the base so they wouldn't move.

2. There is a well known hdd problem with these units. Apparently if you are recording and lose power, the hdd can get corrupted. This happened to us a few months after installing it. Luckily, all I had to do was use the reformat option in the menu and the hdd worked again even though we lost the data.

3. If you lose power you can lose all of your settings (camera setups and IP addresses) It can be a pain to fix but not that big of a deal.

4. When reviewing video history, the dvr makes chapters every 45-60mins. You pick one of these chapters and then have to ffw to the part you want to see. The ffw can be pretty slow and it takes awhile to get towards the end of the chapter.

Other than listed above we have been very happy with this system. At six hundred bucks you just can't beat it. We just ordered another and I'm sure it won't be the last.

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We recently purchased and installed the SVAT web ready DVR system at our place of business after being hit by thieves and vandals. The night vision cameras were unbelievably bright in a dimly lit area. Some of the features I like about this unit is of course the night vision cameras, the ability to view the cameras over the internet, the ability to record continuously or as motion sensors.

This unit was well worth the money. We have not been burglarized or vandalized since installing these. The presence is an excellent deterent. HOWEVER, If they come back -We are ready!

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SVAT CV0204DVR Web Ready DVR Security System w/4 High Resolution Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Surveillance Cameras I recently purchased this item after going through the past couple of years with some moderate vandilism and criminal mischief around our house (ie. taking our decorative hay bails and lining them up across the road, stealing our decorative garden light, and breaking into our backyard to let our dogs out ultimately with one getting struck by a vehicle.) Anyway, these events led me on the hunt for a way to secure the place my family lives. I researched many types of camera systems and even consulted some experts and with my security background I came to the conclusion I need something simple and easy to install. When I came across this product, I knew I found what I was looking for. Well priced, good coverage, connects to the tv in the living room or any tv in the house for that matter, and I can see it from anywhere in the world! One point here, if you work for the government or somewhere with major firewalls, don't plan on being able to access this system from their network, I already tried and it doesn't work. Anyway, the installation was easy, I did spend most of the day in the attic running cables, but it was worth it. As far as the night vision goes, it works fine for me, although it's so windy here I do have to keep the lenses clean of the dust that blows around. The pictures day and night are perfect for my needs and it's in full color during the day. I did have some trouble with my internet service provider at first when I was attempting to access the system over the internet. But, a couple of phone calls to the SVAT support desk and I was up and running without any problems except the whole government computer issue. I now have full coverage around the house and my worries are minimized.

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I recently bought this system it arrived on time and well packed. This being my first system that was not so complicated to set up. I really liked the power supply / cable connection set up SVAT has with this model. I get only B & W picture on my LCD TV not a big issue maybe needs adjustments and color off my computer.Day time camera pictures are very good and clear to 50 ft Night 25 ft and clear maybe more with outside lights. The best thing is to check the operation of the system prior to running the cables.Do a dry run with the cameras and check your angles set up was quick and simple after that.Up and running a week without any issues well worth the price so far. If not this model I recommend a security video system no matter what the perp says the tapes don't lie busted is busted Better security software & Remote would be a nice upgrade all in all I'm pleased

Supereyes B008 5.0MP 0.1~500X Handheld USB Digital Microscope Loupe Otoscope Magnifier with LED Met

I just took delivery of this digital microscope today after purchasing it here Brand New Supereyes B008 500X USB Digital 5.0 MP Portable Pen Mini HD Manual Focus Microscope Endoscope Magnifier Camera Loupe Otoscope w/LED and Stand

This is the first time I have done a review of a product, so please be kind.

After opening the packaging and looking at the microscope i was pretty impressed with the quality of the item, its about 4 inches long and about 1/4 inch in diameter(actual size is 17mm X 126mm. The case of the microscope is made out of metal and is pretty robust looking and looks like it could take a bit of a beating. After plugging it into my computer it was recognized right away. You have to install the software that comes with it to be able to see the output of the microscope. This comes on a mini dvd and is in zip format.Just unzip into your folder of choice. There is no installation of the software as such..once you unzip into your folder of choice on your hard drive you need to go to the Supereyes folder and look for the Supereyes application file and create a shortcut and place it onto your desktop for easy access to the program. Once you start the program you just select the device if it hasnt already done it and your good to go. The software comes with a pdf. Users manual in pdf format is in English, as does the little manual inside the item box. The software is Windows 7, Vista,XP,Mac and Linux compliant and had 4 different selectable languages. The navigation of the software is relatively easy and shouldnt pose as a problem for the not so computer minded amongst us. The software allows the use of the digital microscope in various ways like taking snapshots and recording video. Taking a snapshot can be done from the software program which is a feature i like as it means a hands free method so as not to shake or move the camera while taking a snapshot. There is also a snapshot button on the LED light adjustment switch on the lead of the microscope itself as another method to take a snapshot. The video can be viewed and recorded at different resolutions including HD. With 5.0 MP it takes awesome high res pictures and video. Software also has a measurement function to be able to measure anything on screen including measuring angles, not many microscopes come with this as an added function.

The microscope is manual focus and is done so by a thumb/fingerwheel at the top of the microscope and there is a small magnified window on the side to tell you which magnification you are using. It was at this point that i noticed that this maybe the first con of the microscope. The cable comes up through the center of the wheel which controls the focus and could cause friction against the cable and possible cable wear and damage with prolonged use. This is yet to be verified and we will see with time and use. My purchase came with an adjustable work station/stand and i have to say this is a must, as the camera is very sensitive and would be hard to get a good picture by holding it with your hand. As I said I only just received this item today and have not really had a chance to use it fully, but in the short time that I have used it I was pretty impressed and was motivated to write this little review. I am looking forward to using this microscope for my work with computers and cell phones. I would also like to say that for $112 this was a good buy on my part as i have seen these at way more expensive prices and they dont come with an adjustable stand.So I highly recommend the seller that I bought this from if you are in the market for one of these digital microscopes.The link to the item and the seller (Digitalscopes)is at the top of this review. If you have any questions on this item, leave a comment on the review and i will try to answer them for you. I will return after a few months of using this in the electronic world and will do another review. Thankyou for taking the time to read this review and hopefully it will have given a little insight into the Supereyes B008 Digital Microscope.

when it doesn't call for a $10,000.00 microscope to look at failed parts in industrial automation it gives high enough definition to see what I need to see, easy on the eyes and on the budget.

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This was bought as a Christmas present for my son. When the software was installed, everything installed in Chinese. We tried selecting English but only ended up with Chinese (and no, we are not computer illeratewe have programming experience). We just can't get it to work right, so we are going to try to return it.

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HooToo® HT-IP207F(White) Indoor 0.3 Mega Pixel RJ45 Wireless IP Network Surveillance Camera (802.1

This camera met most of my criterion for outdoor (see caveat below) monitoring.

Setup was a breeze, connected it first to the wired network, you do not need to install any of the s/w which comes with the box if you know how to locate the IP of this camera on your router.

Once you have the IP from the wired connection, use chrome (other browsers may need video add ins) to directly http into the camera.

Setup the wireless connection, disconnect the wired IP and power off/on, the camera comes back on the wifi (of course with a different IP),

After this, I installed outside (CA weather is mild, and it is protected from rain).

Works perfectly, setting up automated emails upon motion detect is also easy provided you know your email provider's server and port details.

It does have a tendency to false trigger (ex. shadow of an object moving outside the capture zone, some of the times the pictures captured (6 snapshots sent for every event) have no one in them, so I have to play with the sensitivity and capture delay setting.

Default camera setting seem to work well for day or night (switches automatically).

They have a handy calendar option for enabling snapshots only for the days/times that you want.

My issue is that the angle of view is somewhat limited, so I have to play with "patrol" option and see how well the motion trigger works after that

Cannot seem to limit the range of the "patrol" motion, all or nothing

I have not yet set up FTP or DDNS access but do not expect it to be that difficult given the experience so far

All in all, great starter IP cam for the price/performance this offers

Caveat:

This camera was stated to be an indoor/outdoor in the description "Water-proof structure best for outdoor installation", not sure if this means it was already water proof or it needs a waterproof enclosure!

3 pack Foscam FI8910W Black Wireless/Wired Pan & Tilt IP/Network Camera with 9dbi Antennas

Got 3 cameras a week ago. Easy to set up on my wifi network at home. Called their customer service number on new years day and they were there! Ralph Mendez was awesome! He logged into my pc and set up the cameras for me so that i could access though my iphone and ipad using 3G and 4G. I also dowloaded the foscam pro app from the app store. It is awesome. Well worth the $5.99. I can clearly see and control all cameras on all my apple products. Great product. Great customer service and support. What more can you want.

I have read reviews about this product and was skeptical about buying but I took a chance and it was definitely worth it. It has great picture quality, both color and IR modes. The setup and instructions could have been a bit more user friendly and that's why I gave it a 4 star rating. It took a few google searches to find instructions on setting up the multiple cameras for remote viewing. JUST FOR ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN THISEACH CAMERA HAS TO BE PORT FORWARDED BUT ONLY ONE PORT NEEDS TO BE SETUP WITH NO-IP.COM or WHATEVER HOST YOU ARE PLANNING ON USING. ONCE IN THE CAMERA's PROGRAMMING, USE THE MULTI-CAM SETUP TO LINK THE OTHER CAMS TO THE ONE YOU SETUP.

It is a simple setup but it would have been good if this information was provided in the install manual.

GREAT PRODUCT OTHERWISE. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR THE QUALITY AND VALUE.

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I have to give them 4 stars and say "GOOD" cameras for the money only because the video quality is slightly less than I had hoped. I have to be completely fair with rating these because they ARE a GREAT VALUE when compared to other camera brands in this class. The software capabilities and functions are worth 5 stars! If you are setting up multiple cameras such as this kit, you MUST use additional software such as the FOSCAM Blue Iris in order to easily manage all the cameras at once. You WILL still need to use the included software to make some individual settings. When you combine these two softwares, you have INCREDIBLE capabilities EXCEPT for razor sharp images. These are NOT high definition cameras by any means however that is reflected in the VERY reasonable price tag. GOOD high def cameras can easily cost more per camera than all 3 of these combined! If you are on a budget, these are the way to go! I'm starting out with a total of 9 of these cameras and the FOSCAM Blue Iris software to get good coverage and many angles. If you are not computer/tech savy, you WILL need to read the manuals and help sections! This entire system is very detailed and loaded with features so there is a learning curve! I'm fairly savy so I figured out the basics in about 24 hours. You will need to switch back and forth between softwares to get things dialed in the way you want. IR illumination is great and night vision is acceptable.

Bottom line... if you are on a budget but still want professional system capabilites, these cameras are the ones to get! Just don't expect crystal clear long range images!

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Everything on this camera works well except the sound out. I wanted to use this camera in the dog run so that I could tell the dogs not to bark from work but the sound out is useless. It's probably something that could be fixed with a firmware update but it looks like foscam isn't going to be issuing any further updates. If this advertized feature actually worked I'd give this camera five stars.

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I bought the 3-pack here on Amazon. I had trouble setting up the camera via wireless. I called the support number, and support team member, Anzen, provided excellent help. Through their connection to my computer, he set up the wireless connection, and set up the port forwarding on my router so now I can view my video feed anywhere. Nice and efficient. FYI my issue was regarding the MAC filtering. The wireless MAC address is printed (small) on the bottom of the camera. I had been using the (bigger) LAN MAC address. Thanks Anzen!

Canon PowerShot A460 5.0MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom (Silver)

I bought this camera (Canon A460) as a second camera and was looking for a pocket-sized, compact, digital camera that had zoom and video capabilities, took AA batteries and priced reasonably cheap The Canon Powershot A460 is all that.

It's small enough to fit into your palm and fits into the front pants pocket easily and is light enough that the camera is not really noticeable after a few minutes. It seems to me that Canon designed it to be carried without a camera case because there is a lens shield that pulls into place to cover the lens whenever it is powered off. (The lens retracts into the camera body when it is powered off, and the lens cover pulls into place automatically). The body is well rounded with no sharp edges anywhere that might catch parts of clothing. The LCD screen is exposed but I pasted one of those see-thru LCD screen plastic protectors (sticky on one side) on it to protect it from scratches. All the camera's openings are well protected by covers. The only cover that I thought had a little more play than it should was the battery cover.

The camera powers up extremely quickly. You can focus with either the viewfinder or the LCD screen. One thing that surprised me was that when using the viewfinder, there is no information shown on the viewfinder other than a green light to indicate that the camera is in focus or a blinking orange light to indicate it is not. The LCD mode shows a lot more info (eg, ISO speed, current resolution, etc). But, I guess it makes sense since this is a camera that is meant to be simple, and what could be simpler than knowing when something is in focus or not. That's pretty much all the info that's needed. (Switching to the viewfinder will conserve battery power).

I bought a 2GB Kingston Secure Digital card for about $13 on Amazon for this camera so there's plenty of space. The card can be removed and put into a SD card reader that comes with most modern computers and laptops. (My laptop, the Toshiba Tecra A5 has it, and it was bought about 2 years ago). The computer will recognize the SD memory card as an extra drive, and the transfer rate is extremely fast. If your computer does not have a SD card reader, then the USB connector can be used to transfer the images to your computer instead.

In video mode, the zoom works only when in the highest video resolution (640 x 480). (This was a surprise to me too. On my Canon Powershot S1, the zoom works in all video resolutions). The video is a little more choppy compared to the Canon S1.

There is no dedicated zoom lever. Two of the buttons normally used in menu navigation also serve as zoom controls.(The Canon S1 (my other camera) has a dedicated zoom lever, which is nice). I guess, one of the reasons for reusing buttons for zooming is a more compact design--no lever sticking out that might catch your clothing). Once I got used to it, I did not have any problems using the 2 buttons for zooming.

The pictures taken are the usual Canon quality. You do have to pay attention to make sure that your hands are not shaking when you press the shutter since there is no image stabilizer (I've gotten spoilt by the Canon Powershot S1 which has a image stabilizer). The buttons on the camera are designed and placed so that you could operate the camera with only the right hand if so desired. The left hand is used just to stabilize and steady the camera.

This camera uses a focus beam light that helps it to focus quickly and and has the much lauded Digic II processor. Both are technological improvements over the Canon Powershot S1 which does not have an autofocus light and only has a Digic I processor.

The camera uses AA batteries (either the rechargable or the normal type will work). Easily available power was an important feature for me.

I was very pleased with the Super Macro capability of this camera, which allows for extreme close ups. To access this mode, you have to set the camera to "M" (manual mode) on the dial, and then press the Func/Set button. This will open up a menu where you can set the camera to "Super Macro".

This camera (Canon A460) has a "SCN" mode in which you can choose different scenes (Portrait, Night, Kids, Pets, Indoors, Foliage, Snow, Beach). I've used the "Snow" scene setting and my pictures came out great when I'm skiing and taking pictures. (To access the Scene setting, turn the dial to "SCN" and then press the Func/Set button, which will bring up a menu that allows you to choose the settings).

I'm really enjoying the Canon A460 and it has filled its role in my camera arsenal admirably. I needed a camera that I could take with me when I'm skiing or snowboarding that was light and small and cheap. It fits into my pants pocket and is pretty light that it does not interfere with my balance, etc. (The Canon S1, though a great camera, was a little too large to fit into my pants pocket or in a fanny pack. However, it is still my preferred camera when I'm able to have a camera case or back pack with me.)

Update (4/11/2007)--I've had this camera for about 2 months now and have accidentally dropped it twice from about 2 to 3 feet onto a hard surface floor. Also, have dropped it into a foot of snow while skiing and using the video. The camera is still working flawlessly.

I'll only mention things that I didn't pick up or remember from the other reviews I've read. I also own a 4.0MP Canon A520, so it was easy to choose the same great zoom lens.

The A460 does not have the auto-rotate feature to save photos in the appropriate portrait or landscape modes. The battery and SD card are accessed through a common door, which doesn't have quite the snap and tight fit of the A520's smaller separate doors. The handshake symbol also tends to show up often when taking indoor pictures with the flash disabled something I don't even think about with the A520. The zoom buttons were actually more intuitive to use than I expected. But I do prefer the SET button in the center of the joypad on the A520, as I tend to forget to reach down and to the left for the SET button on the A460.

But I'm nit-picking here. Otherwise, it's a great point-and-shoot camera, with a great zoom lens, and at a great price.

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I've used a Canon G3 for about 4 years, and have always been pleased with the image quality. I've tested the A460 against it in several situations and can report that:

-it's faster the powerup and shot to shot speed are excellent.

-it's easy to learn and use.

-it focuses better and quicker in macro mode.

-The flash works well and quickly, and creates reasonably pleasing light in a variety of circumstances.

-The images in sunlight or reasonably bright cloudy circumstances are fine.

BUT the images at lower light, without flash, are unusably noisy a major drawback for me as my intended use is to take a small light camera with me on my evening walks and jogs. If low-light photos aren't important to you, it's a fine choice.

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We bought this camera for our grand daughter who is turning 15 in July. She took 200 pictures with it the first week...loves it. Video is subpar, but expected with a camera this price. It can handle up to a 2gig SD card, so she has lots of room for the cruise her grandma is taking her on this summer. If we had to do it again, we would probably move up a notch, to get better video. But in her case, as fast as video eats memory, maybe we did the right thing after all. Bottom line, it's great for the money, and Amazon's price beat almost everyone else out.

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This is my first digital camera. It can be used on fully automatic settings, fully manual, or a combination of auto and manual. It's very versatile that way. I didn't read the user manuals that came with it, I just started using it. It took me about an hour of shooting and two sets of batteries to figure out all the different options and features it has. So I'd say the controls are pretty easy to learn and understand.

It's pretty easy on batteries, as long as you don't use the flash. I put some cheaper Rayovac alkaline batteries (size AA) in it after the first set went dead and the camera has no problem with them. The flash drains the batteries quickly though I didn't count the number of photos, but I probably only got 20 or 30 flash photos before the "low battery" warning started blinking. But the warning comes early you can take another 15 or so photos after the low battery warning pops up. I don't know how many it'll take without the flash, but it's a lot more than when you're using the flash.

The upside is that this camera is VERY sensitive to light, so it hardly even needs a flash. Frankly, as on most compact cameras, the flash sucks. It's too bright and flattens images. But if you have decent lighting indoors, the thing is so light sensitive it takes good photos without the flash. I suppose you'd need the flash if you were taking photos inside someplace dark, like a pub or bar, but in places like houses where there are usually plenty of lights on, it does great without a flash.

It'll record up to an hour of video on a 1G SD card, which is great, because it also has a mic that works perfectly so you get good audio too.

The photos are great crystal clear and sharp. Most cameras come with a 3x optical zoom at this price, but this camera has a 4x optical zoom. It really helps, especially when you can't simply step closer to your subject for some reason.

Here's the one thing I didn't like about this camera. Out of the box, on the fully auto setting, it takes very bright, sharp, and high contrast photos. Great, right? Unless you're taking pictures of people.

Few people look their best with their foreheads, cheekbones, and chins highlighted by bright, high contrast photos while their faces are somehow oddly flattened. But if you play around with the manual exposure and color settings, you can pretty easily set it right so it takes normal looking pictures. And because you can adjust only those setting you want to change, you can still benefit from the auto features you want to use. Once I found the settings I liked, I left it that way and the camera remembers them, so it's still a point and shoot camera, but with my customized settings.

It seems very sturdy, much more so than many of the cameras I looked at in stores before buying this one. It's too heavy to carry in your shirt pocket, but it's no problem in a cargo pocket or in your pants pocket if you're wearing pants with big pockets.

I think this is a high quality, versatile camera at a great price. It's great in almost every way, but just be aware that there's a bit of a learning curve at the outset to find the combination of settings that'll allow you to produce more "natural" looking photos if that's important to you.

Nikon D50 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor Lens

First of all, I must admit that this is only my third digital camera, and first digital SLR. But it isn't my first SLR ... I have used a Canon Elan IIE for a number of years, and trust me, that camera is no slouch.

But enough about me ... the D50 is the real star of the show! I have had the camera (along with the standard lens included with the kit) and so far I am extremely happy. I purchased it just in time to capture some photos of my new neice, and my family swears that the pictures that I was just casually snapping at the hospital look like they are professional portaits. Granted, some of my family members ... well, their necks are pretty tan, if you know what I mean, but you get the point. The camera has a slew of modes that are ideally suited to your subject (portraits, action, etc etc), and they do a great job of making all of the fine adjustments that improve the overall quality of the photo for the non-experts. But this camera has varying levels of automation to where you would practically require a photography degree to get your picture. My skills are somewhere in between, but trust me, if you are an absolutely beginner, in 5 minutes you can be taking photos that are 99% of the quality that a pro with a $5000 setup would take. Now you might need to snap a few dozen shots to get just one that is amazing, but that is what is just wonderful about digital cameras. And with a huge, super sharp LCD preview window, you can see in an instant if you have a decent shot, and if not, delete it and try again!

The camera takes the small "big-toenail" SD memory cards, which is a departure from what you will typically see in a digital SLR. I personally like the smaller size; otherwise, I don't believe there is a significant difference. If you pick up one major point from this review ... READ THIS !!!! I initially tried shooting with some SD memory that I had been using in my MP3 player. It worked fine, but if shooting a series of rapid shots, it would take the camera what seemed like a couple of seconds to write to the memory. That is typical with all of the digital SLRs that I have read about ... you get maybe a dozen high-speed shots, and then the camera sort of "bogs down". And most of the time that is fine. But this camera takes advantage of the slightly more expensive "pro" SD memory, which can be written to at extremely high speeds. Because of this, the camera can take an unprecendented number of shots (I believe 137 according to Nikon)!!! Folks, that is amazing, let me tell you. You can just hold the button down and fire away, and capture all of the high-speed action that you can imagine. No more excuses for missing that perfect action shot. Sure, you aren't going to require this feature very often, but it is nice to have, just in case. And even with normal shots, the high-speed memory seems to work much quicker than normal memory.

The camera can save files in three different size (resolution) levels, three different JPEG quality levels, and the complete uncompressed RAW format. I've been shooting using the medium resolution and medium JPEG quality, and the photos look sharper than my old Canon 35mm SLR. You could easily print out 8 x 10 photos and they would look perfect even at the medium quality setting; poster size would look fine at the high quality setting.

The rechargeable battery that is included is simply amazing I believe they rate it for 2000 shots, and I believe it. It would be VERY diffult to drain this battery in a single day, even with numerous flashes and auto-focusing shots.

The fast auto-focus, very user-friendly menus, flexibility with all Nikon lenses, and near-pro quality at a price that the weekend-photo-warrior consumer can afford, I don't see how you can go wrong with this camera.

Happy photographing!

This camera feels so much like my old Nikon film camera, it was love from the first moment I held it in my hand. Using a 1 Gig memory card I can now shoot 350+ "fine" quality photos without having to change out ten rolls of film...or pay the processing! And a handy battery recharger quickly restores battery capacity when needed. Even with lots of flash pictures its charge remained strong for very long periods of time. A handy icon appears in the info screen area to let you see at a glance who much power remains.

I bought the D50 for a vacation to the photogenic Southwest, and this camera was more than up to the task. The fast auto-focus, the simplfied auto controls that give quick choices for portrait, landscape and full sun, cloudy, night etc. let me shoot like a pro while it was the Nikon that converted my impulses into reality. Neat.

With the ability to interchange lenses, and a great Nikon Zoom lens to start, I believe this camera proves that it is the optics which are every bit as important as the pixels. My earlier digital camera has suffered sudden retirement.

I have a wide carriage Epson printer and have been printing out some of the images as 12x18 prints. Even with cropping, the images look like they were taken with a medium format camera. Progress!

If you like crisp and detailed images with no hint of digital-itis, this camera is a great choice. I love precisely composing pictures through the lens rather than approximating the cropping with the display screen; but I also benefit from the ability to quickly check that screen to see the results at once. Never could do that with my old SLR without a Polaroid back!

Overall, this camera and lens is a real find and I do not think you can go wrong with it. Its only drawback is a short learning curve to become familiar with the many features and options it includes, and that is not really a complaint. This camera has more tricks than I will ever use!

Buy Nikon D50 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor Lens Now

I have used Canon and Nikon film cameras for more than 20 years (love my N55 and still use an AE1-P) and own other Canon and Nikon digitals but this was my first D-SLR. I scoured magazine and online reviews and the choice came down to the Canon EOS Rebel XT and the Nikon D70.

They are very similar. The EOS is 8.0 MP vs. the D70's 6.1 MP but for the type of photography I will be doing (max 11x14 prints) that is not a problem. The D70 has quite a few more control features. That and the price difference tipped me towards the Nikon.

Once I made up my mind to buy a Nikon, I compared the D70 to the D50. They are quite similar and in some ways the D50 is superior to the more expensive D70. Besides a more rugged body, the D70 has a few nice features the D50 lacks: a lighted control panel, a front sub-control thumbwheel, depth of field preview, and you can fine-tune white balance. But the D50 has some features over the D70, notable a larger LCD monitor, higher capacity battery, and USB 2.0 high speed support. Every magazine I read raved about the D50 and none of the features it lacked made me willing to pay more for the D70. I purchased the D50 with the Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G Zoom Lens.

After using it for several weeks all I can say is, wow! It is easy to use but I can fiddle with nearly all settings when I want to get creative. Using a digital with almost no shutter lag has spoiled me. I've taken many great shots with a Canon PowerShot 1S IS but it's my backup now. In the D50 I have finally found an affordable digital camera that is as fun to use as my film cameras.

Pros will probably prefer higher-end Nikons but if you like using film SLRs and would like to get into a D-SLR for less than the price of a decent used car, I highly recommend the D50.

June 2006 update: I recently used my D-50 to photograph friends doing a triathlon to raise money for cancer research. It performed flawlessly in all settings and I ended up with many outstanding photos. The triathlon gave me ample opportunities to use the D-50's "sports" setting and continuous exposure feature to capture athletes swimming, bicycling, and running from a variety of distances. The colors are perfect and I was able to get 5x7 and 8x10 prints on photo paper (from a lab) with hardly a tweak beyond cropping. The D-50 is now my favorite camera. Yes, there are cameras with higher resolution and more features but it is hard to beat the "bang for the buck" factor on the D-50.

One suggestion: like every other camera manual I have ever read, the Nikon manual that comes with the D-50 is accurate and complete but leaves a lot to be desired. Unless you are so experienced that you do not have to read a manual (and I'm not) I highly recommend you invest in a copy "Magic Lantern Guides: Nikon D50" by Simon Stafford. This book is everything the Nikon manual is not. This Magic Lantern Guide not only thoroughly explains every feature on the D-50 but goes beyond to illustrate how, when, and why you would use a setting or feature. It also throws in tips & tricks that Nikon's writers wouldn't include. Highly recommended.

Read Best Reviews of Nikon D50 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor Lens Here

I had the chance to test the Canon XT and Nikon D50 at the same time during a whole day.....and I leant towards the D50...why??? because I noticed eight differences:

1. D50 is less noisy than XT from Iso 200 to 800 and also crispier.

2. DR is better on the D50, ...

3. D50 grip is excellent (to me)

4. The start-up is also a bit faster on the D50...the XT under low light conditions take more than a second to focus properly and raise the flash.

5. Nikon colors are awesome.

6. Battery life is endless.....much much better than XT battery....no doubt on it.

7. 18-55Dx is sharper than 18-55 EFs, in fact, the Canon kit lens is unusable.

8. NEF is less noisy than Canon RAW.

Want Nikon D50 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor Lens Discount?

This is a fantastic camera and I'm having a load of fun shooting with it. If you want a real short review...solid body, amazing low light performance, get the 18-70 mm lens, shoot away and have fun!

Here is the long version:

A little photographic background about myself first. I'm what you'd call an amatuar enthusiast. My dad gave me Canon A-1 (35 mm SLR from the early 80's) to play with when I was in middle school. I still have and it still works great. I use it occasionally now when I need the telephoto lens it has. My first digital camera was an Apple Quicktake 100, a pioneering product, but not much real use. I bought a Canon S30 in 2002, wonderful little camera took great pictures and can take a lot of abuse, when I moved to a Canon A95 last year, the S30 was passed to my mom. In general, I can't say any bad things about all the Canon's I have owned, except the A95 costed me a bit in batteries. The S30 and the A95 took great photos and are tough cameras.

Anyway, back to the D50. It's my first Nikon, actually it's my family's first Nikon. It's also the most anyone has ever spent on a camera in my family (although what my dad spent on the A1 in 1982 dollars probably came close to this). I got it primarily because I wanted to shoot in darker settings and need longer zoom than my A95 can provide. I was seriously considering the Canon 350D. I knew it would be a good camera because of my past experience with Canon. But but in the end I decided to get the D50 instead on the grounds that the Nikon D50 body is better built and more pleasant to shoot with and has better noise performance at high ISO. I also had a slight 'grass is greener on the other side of the fence' itch...in any case, after two weeks, I'm not disappointed with the D50. Actually I'm pretty thrilled!

Here is my experience with the camera. First of all, the camera feels great in my hand. I feel like 'photographer' when I'm shooting with it. The balance with the 18-70 mm nikkor f3.5-4.5 lens is good. The camera doesn't feel tender or too plasticky. It begs to be held.

Secondly, the low light performance of the camera is absolutely amazing. The camera has very low noise at ISO 800 and I use that setting on a regular basis. At ISO 1600, the noise does increase a bit but the photos are still usable. There is a work around where you can get the ISO 1600+ performance but the ISO 800 noise level. Simply use +5 exposure compensation with ISO 800 in shutter priority mode. Compare to a campact digicam, the difference in quality is night and day. I very rarely use flash now. That said, the built-in flash is not bad! Pretty uniform illumination with good range.

Thirdly, the auto focusing does a very good job and pretty fast. I rarely use the AF assistance lamp. I turn it off unless I'm in an unlit room. The AF will have problems focusing on uniform background but that's understandable.

The last thing I want to mention is that the battery life is excellent. I have yet to drain the battery in one day yet. Turning off the AF assist lamp, use less flash and turn off the sound all helps with battery life. There are many other features of the camera that I haven't really played much yet...WB, sharping, saturation and etc., the auto mode on those parameters seem to do a fine job.

Here are my recommendations if you want to get this camera. First, I'd forgo the 18-55 mm kit lens, get the body only and the 18-70 mm lens (normally part of the D70/D70s kit). You'll appreciate that extra 15 mm often. Second, get a fast 1 GB or more SD card. A 1 GB card gives me about 270-300 photos at best JPG setting. Third, get a nice camera bag like something by Lowepro. It'll protect your camera and allow you to take it to many places that you won't take the camera to had you not had the camera bag. Fourth, get a UV filter with the lens from the get go. They say B+W is good, I got their MRC filter and now I'm worry free. Lastly, send in your lens warranty card right after you get your lens! If you don't you are giving away a 5 year warranty and it becomes a 1 year warranty. My next purchase would be a nikkor 80-200 mm F2.8 zoom lens but that'll have to wait till I replenish my bank account somewhat.

In summary, this is a great camera for serious amatuars upgrading to their first dSLR. Highly recommended.

You can check out my photos at

It has photos taken with all of my cameras (Canon A-1, S30, A95 and the Nikon D50).

Remanufactured Minolta Dimage Xt 3.2 MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

I've been looking for something to replace/augment my giant three-year-old Sony, which I love but is just too big and heavy to cart all over Europe and around town. Plus the shutter lag drives me nuts. I needed something that was shirt-pocket small, fast, but with enough features to be useful for more than the most basic snapshots.

Specifically, I wanted a bit of optical zoom. When I travel, I find I'm using the zoom constantly to frame up the shots a little better. Frankly, I don't care about resolution; 2 megapixels is plenty for me, and that's what I'll use my Xt for most of the time.

I compared all of the leading contenders (as of July 2003) -various Canon ELPHs, Casio Exilim, Pentax Optio S, and even the new "lipstick" Sony DSC-U30. Everybody loves to rag on Memory Sticks, but if you already have a Sony camera and a Sony laptop and a good supply of big Sticks, they're a plus, not a minus; going with SD or CF was going to cost me a lot extra. But the Sony dropped out early because of the lack of zoom. The others, well, people like to pretend that making a decision like this is science, but it's not. I read everything I could and took a stab at it. Frankly, from what I've seen I would have rated the others just as high because they are all AMAZING. But I chose the Minolta. And I love it.

In short: Optio too slow, ELPH too heavy, Casio has no TV-out (and was out of stock in my local shop, or I might very well have bought it instead).

One thing I noted to my great relief with all of these, and which is usually stated nowhere on any of the manufacturer's pages even, is that they all have battery chargers that are small and 110-240 volt, which means you can charge batteries in Europe without a bulky converter -just the right-size plug adapter, which you can get anywhere for almost nothing. So the problem with the battery isn't a problem at all -buy a second battery and keep them both charged up overnight and you can snap all day with any of these cameras in any country in the world (unless you're camping or something).

What sold me on the Xt was the folded prism lens. Less mechanicals is always good with miniature things, and less fragile things poking out of the front is good too. The Minolta's not as small as the Optio (which is the clear frontrunner in the micro-coolness stakes -that phrase "fits in an Altoids tin" is very tempting. But the Minolta STAYS small even when you're shooting, and because it doesn't have to run a motor so much, it takes faster pictures. Which was probably my #2 criteria after size.

I haven't had any trouble at all with the small controls; they're extremely well-designed and you can figure out 90% of what it does just by fiddling with it -I read the manual but I don't have to carry it with me! If anything, and this is a general complaint with all cameras in this range (and others), there's TOO MANY features, most of which can be found in PhotoShop later. "Digital zoom" is a con and could be left out, and who really uses the "sepia" setting? But the stuff I DO want is all there, within reason (no f stops, but ISO and Exposure Level controls). I do like the many presets in the Casio, but realistically I know I'll never use them. I'm pretty adept in PhotoShop/PaintShopPro. Note that I have horrible eyesight, thick specs, and big stubby fingers and have no trouble. You might want to trim those nails, though; fortunately I don't have any.

Picture quality is excellent. I believe it's a little better than the contenders. The flash is very good, better than I expected; in fact it's a little TOO good if you're at the close end of the scale; I'm going to try the "square of white paper" trick on it. Is it the best camera on earth? No. But it's better than the other sub-micros.

The coolness factor isn't as high as the Pentax, but then how could it be? But it's faster-shooting. And, really, if the Pentax is a "10" for coolness, the Minolta is a 9.6. It doesn't fit in a tin, but it's smaller than you can believe, and the engineering is just as amazing (just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not amazing -quite the opposite, I'd say). And, of course, I have a friend with an Optio (and another with an ELPH), so you'll understand I had to have a different one!

One unanswered question: is it "DIMM udjge" (like "image") or "dim AJZH" (like "DiMaggio")? Another one: why does Amazon "recommend" batteries that don't work in this camera?

Bottom line: it does everything my big camera does and more, and when I put it in my shirt pocket it doesn't even sag. Comes on fast, shoots fast, enough for no-look street candids. Easy to use. Flat-out amazing. What else are you looking for?

the Dimage Xt is the third generation of minolta's X-series ultracompact cameras. the first X was a hit because it was ahead of its competition. but that competition has not stood still and today, there are other (better) cameras at the same price point with the same capabilities.

pros:

3MP resolution, 3x optical zoom.

smaller size than the Xi (this camera's predecessor) with dimensions of 3.4 x 2.6 x 0.8 in, weighing in at 4.2oz.

colors are vivid and natural-looking.

automatic white balance performs well.

has spot metering.

AF locks rapidly and decisively in good light.

short shutter lag in good light.

fast startup.

fast shot-to-shot speeds.

ability to record in movie mode until memory card is full.

supports TIFF mode.

cons:

above average noise at ISO 400.

frequent underexposures.

some purple fringing.

corners are soft.

some vignetting.

above average barrel distortion.

some redeye occurrence.

no manual controls.

RAW format not supported.

no AF illuminator this would really help shutter lag when using this camera in low light.

so-so battery life.

16MB SD card provided is inadequate so add $$ to your budget to buy more memory.

uses proprietary batteries so again, more $$ for a spare.

the Xt is a great looking ultracompact camera but the quality of the images you take could be better. as already mentioned, there's more competition for the dimage X-series these days. i would recommend the optio s or casio ex-z3 over the dimage Xt. for even better image quality (in a slightly bigger package), also consider canon's sd100.

i hope this helps you with your buying decision. peace.

Buy Remanufactured Minolta Dimage Xt 3.2 MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom Now

If your looking for a tiny digital for the average "point and shoot" person (and let's face it....if your a pro...stick to film and a 35mm) then the XT is your camera. Here's the breakdown:

Pros:

Size.....believe what you hear....this camera fits in your shirt pocket, pants, small purse (for you ladies) without weighing or pulling on your pockets. I carried it in my dress shirt and slacks at New Years and it didn't seem bulky or noticeable to me or my girlfriend !! The buttons are all useable by both men and women....its tiny without feeling ridiculous or too delicate....its got a durable feel to it....very solid without being heavy !!

Battery....I was worried about the battery lasting throughout the night but it never let me down.....all night we snapped pix and of course had to look and show them to everyone on the viewer and it never conked out !!!

Tons of features with easy to navigate menus....the ability to take movies and patch them into the tv is a really cool feature !!

Cons:

The 16MB memory is a joke....do yourself a favor and buy a 256 sd card right away !!! This will allow you to approximately 6 rolls of pix (comparably speaking)...instead of 5 or 6 pix !!

You will have to practice with it to become proficient....but assuming you took my advice on the memory upgrade...this won't be a problem....its your new toy so play with it !! Practice, practice, practice and you will get good pix. Snap pictures in all types of lighting.....it doesn't take long. I practiced at home before going out on New Years and even after several drinks (or maybe because of them...haha) I was able to take tons of great nighttime pix !!

Lastly...you'll have to train your subjects to hold their poses a little longer at night...due to the redeye reduction "spraying" effect. Tell them to hold until the second flash !!

Tips:

1.Practice (can't stress this enough)

2.Use the redeye nighttime setting for all night pix....inside or out !! IT REALLY MAKES A DIFFERENCE !!

3.The auto flash mode is great for all other pix

4.Set the camera to the FINE setting (just below TIFF)

5.Use the highest resolution for all pix

6.Save the pix you want to cd or take the memory card to a professional film developer...you could develop your shots at home but the beauty of digital is that you see all the shots you have as you take them. BE SELECTIVE !!! I've found that with old film type cameras...not every shot was a keeper....even with digital....not every shot you take is worth putting on paper...so be selective then for mere pennys on the dollar you can have a pro develop your more memorable shots !! Don't waste your money on software...put it into the memory uprade!!

7. Hold the shutter button down until you hear the "click" !! Many folks used to 35mm cameras (namely my girlfriend) seem to want to press the button down half way or press it and let up before the "click"....this seems to cause the pix to blur more often !!

ENJOY !!!

Read Best Reviews of Remanufactured Minolta Dimage Xt 3.2 MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom Here

First, the bad news:

1) The plastic tab on the handstrap of the XT can stratch the LCD DON'T use the strap if you are going to keep the camera in a confined space, such as a pocket the strap will drift over the LCD and the damage will be done. This is clearly a design defect. If you must use a strap, make your own, one without the power to abrade the LCD.

2) The optical viewfinder shows far less than what the camera sees I understand about 35% of the image is not visible in the optical viewfinder. This problem, however, is much easier to deal with than a scratched LCD.

3) Shutter lag all digicams shutters seem to suffer slow response time. This makes it tough to photograph people or pets on the move the continuous shooting option on the Xt helps, so does pre-focusing.

That said, this camera has just about perfect, at least for my purposes: on-the-go nature and travel photography. There are just enough controls for unusual conditions exposure compensation, choice of ISO, white balance, etc but not so many that they get in the way of simply making a quick or well thought out photograph.

True, manual control of f/stops and shutter speeds and focus is lacking but there are other cameras out there with this option. Again, exposure compensation, continuous shooting mode, and pre-focusing help.

In particular, I like the east of operation what controls there are can easily be accessed via the few menus, and the dial and/or various buttons that adorn the camera. Recourse to the manual printed or on-line was, for me, not necessary.

My primary purpose for the camera is to use it on bike rides but it's also a great camera for hiking, as well as for travel where you don't want to be burdened with a lot of photo gear (and I have way too much photo gear). For use at social gatherings in large, dark rooms, this might not be the camera of choice, because the on-camera flash is not very powerful but it does work, particularly if people are fairly close to the camera, rather than across the room.

This camera cries out for one accessory an extra battery. And perhaps two extra batteries. Maybe I like to take A LOT of pictures because I'm a part time professional, but if film is no longer an issue and I can shoot all the pictures I want (subject to the amount of memory I have), why should I be limited by a lack of battery power? And trust me, if you make a lot of photographs, you will run out of battery power! (My extra battery fits in my bike's little patch kit.)

I've found that there are generic batteries that will work in the camera ...

By the same token, I spent a little more money on storage I have 256 and a 128 memory cards and, with a 3 megapixel camera, this is more than enough for a at least a few day's of normal photography. (I usually bring a laptop with me, whether or not I have a camera, so I can always download pics from my memory cards to make room for more pictures).

To sum up: except for the plastic tab on the strap that can scratch the screen, and a viewfinder that shows less than what the camera sees, and the shutter lag (which occurs with all digicams) I'm completely satisfied with the camera.

Oh, one more thing cameras this small are still a novelty it makes for a great conversation piece/ice breaker when I pull it out of my pocket.

...

Want Remanufactured Minolta Dimage Xt 3.2 MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom Discount?

So small! (its smaller than most cellphones).

3.2 megapixels is just great clear picture; moreover, minolta has some cool technology that helps to correct the picture if needed.

Strong enough flash but in the dark, sometimes, pictures are grainy needed to change the ISO setting by hand a couple of times. 128 mb sd card definitely recommended. (can take fine quality pictures at a low compression rate = better picture quality!).

Love the cool feature of being able to record your own sounds. The LCD is super clear, so when viewing pictures (esp. when showing it to others just after having taken a picture) its really good. The compactness, I cannot emphasize enough. Its smaller than a nokia 3595, and lighter too (with battery). I'm scared that I'll forget it sometimes, & not realize if I have it or not!

The internal zoom rocks!!!! and that causes the startup time to be so fast! I barely turn it on, & its on unlike most other digital cameras.

Good, clear pictures. Easy to use for both video, & pictures. What else do you want?

Might not be as good as cannon s400, but almosst as good definitely in the same league. You cannot make out the difference 99 times of 100.

Oh yes, I've used this as webcam to videoconference too, & it works flawlessly. muchh clearer than most webcams out there! (of course, this should not be your sole critereon when buying this camera ;))

A con --

A couple of times, it gives a picture a blue'ish tinge with some pictures, but never anything that I cant fix in ACD Foto Canvas (good software free download go get it, if you have ANY digital camera).

I love this camera, and I still have to read through most of the manual!

X-Rite EODIS3CCPP i1 Display Pro and ColorChecker Passport Bundle (Black)

There are two parts to this system: there is the software you install and use on your computer, and there is the "hardware" the color checker you use when you're photographing and to which you reference the software.It is a system that speeds up your workflow, increases your accuracy and efficiency, and leaves you with prints you can be proud of.

Before I go on, let me clarify that I use this system with Photoshop ACR, not with Lightroom. Since the software does not install as a Plug-In to Photoshop (as it does with Lightroom), I have to use it as a "stand-alone" program. This isn't a hardship, but it is a distinction, and my review is based on this scenario only.

Another important fact is that for the purposes of creating profiles, this program requires that at least the profile-generating image be in .DNG so, whatever program you use to process your RAW captures has to be able to save as .DNG.

The process is simple: you shoot a series of photographs under a particular set of circumstances; you select one that is typical of the conditions present in the whole series; you save it as a .DNG; you open the "stand alone" Passport program; you open that representative image and tell it to create a profile based on it; you give the profile a descriptive name. The profile it creates will automatically appear in the camera profile drop-down menu in the Camera Calibration tab within ACR. You open the rest of the images in ACR and apply the profile to all of them as the first step in your RAW processing.

So far, I have successfully created two profiles for one of the cameras. It will be necessary, over time, to create a separate profile for each shooting situation for each camera. For example, on my Nikon D-80, I shot the color checker under "indoor, bounced flash" conditions. I created that profile. I then opened the 22 images that I shot under those conditions and applied the profile to them as the first step as soon as I entered ACR. Sure enough, on my calibrated monitor, the colors were right on target. I had the right shade of deep red, the right shade of aquaish-blue, and a perfect capture of skintone for each different person (and this was a diverse group). Additional adjustments in the basic tab were needed later but, starting from an appropriate profile, I could apply batch settings and only tweak individual shots lightly. I waited to write the review until I was able to make prints of the images that looked so great on the monitor and, sure enough, they look great when printed as well. I'm absolutely delighted.

I would say that the time saved is considerable. For an advanced amateur, like me, it's definitely worth it. For a large-volume professional, it is probably essential. Not only do you save time in the processing part of the equation, you also save money by not having to reprint.

Of course, the matter of creating camera-specific varieties of profiles can be time-consuming, but you don't have to do it all at once. You create them as the need arises and then you have them there for all subsequent matching situations.

The unit also comes with non-profile related swatches. Among them it has several intensities of neutral grays to help you quickly establish white point or check for clipping, and several artistic interpretation swatches designed for changing the color temperature of your photograph to make it progressively warmer (more golden) or cooler (more blue) than it really was. The latter are further broken up into cooling or warming for people or for landscape pictures. (Really, very well thought out.) There is also a white balance swatch/card that will come in handy in mixed-lighting situations. Though I haven't had to use it yet, it's very handy to have it in the same unit that I'm carrying along anyway.

The only factor on the minus side is that you have to really struggle to find information, instructions, and explanations of the procedure, features and swatches. The process is absolutely straightforward once you understand it, but getting there is a struggle. The X-Rite company website is badly organized and of very little help (I already knew that since I own their eye-one calibration software which still hasn't been updated for Windows 7).

The "for more information click here" link in the interface takes you to a dead end. The CD has totally-irrelevant "training modules" that deal with general calibration issues with no reference to this product. The zipped "online tutorial" that has to be downloaded from within the interface takes five minutes to download using DSL and requires Flash Player. When you register the product, they send you another link to download the same online tutorial again as a "thank you" gift. I believe your best bet is the written documentation PDF (on the standalone proram it is in the help menu>documentation). It is 59 pages long, well-illustrated and rambles a bit (but, so far, everything I wanted to find was there). Make sure you check it out before starting and be amazed at the difference in your images.

Shows how the product can perform white balance, color calibration and dual-illuminant color calibration using the included software and Adobe Lightroom on a Windows 7 PC. 4 stars as the out-of-the-box experience is poor -not until you have gone to the website, read the instructions and downloaded & watched the video examples will you know what to do.

Buy X-Rite EODIS3CCPP i1 Display Pro and ColorChecker Passport Bundle (Black) Now

Im a professional photographer and use the digital-camera color checker, which is a rather large and bulky device to say the least, it is also complex to create and apply profiles.

The new X-rite passport ROCKS..! plain and simple.. it is easy to use, naively with lightroom, and easy with PhaseOne Capture. The quality of the profiles is not quite matching the digital camera checker, but nobody in their right mind would expect that. The passport create a very use-able profile in a matter of seconds.

Here is how it works.

1. snap a shot with the passport in the same light as you are working.

2. select image in Lightroom, then select EXPORT and export to X-rite.. this will create a profile, I suggest naming the profile by the date and album it applies to.

3. restart lightroom, go to develop, select the profile in camera profile, then sync to the rest of the album.

NOTE if you have several lighting environments in the same folder, shoot a passport shot for each light change, then apply to the images which matches that passport.

The card also have a set of off-white patches for warming or cooling portraits and another set for landscape, use them to set the whitepoint in a image to warm or cool as desired.

X-rite have made available a very well designed instruction video for download from their site.

Overall, this is a very successful product, it does what I expected and it does it well. If you shoot digital and am concerned about color management, this is a MUST HAVE product.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Read Best Reviews of X-Rite EODIS3CCPP i1 Display Pro and ColorChecker Passport Bundle (Black) Here

My background, serious amateur photographer since the jungles of Southeast Asia, 35mm until this year.

No two digital sensors are the same and vary in capture and color from manufacturer to manufacturer and camera to camera within every manufacturer.

That said, the X-Rite Colorchecker Passport is excellent for dead on color processing after each shoot.

I would have given it 3 5 stars but I find there is a problem and not with the actual product but somewhere within the software. I use Adobe products, current versions of Light Room, Photoshop CS5, Bridge, Elements 8 all for Mac. While I was following directions to enter or create a color profile from the Colorchecker Passport what I failed to know or realize is the color profile would be set as default across the entire set of programs in Adobe with no way to correct or remove this 'default' setting. What IS supposed to happen is the created color profile is to be entered as an option selectable profile to be used by the owner. Thus, when downloading from camera card to computer into Bridge or Lightroom each RAW format photo enters Bridge or Lightroom with an incorrect color profile assigned to it automatically.

I approached two different technical support people (Colorchecker Passport & the tutorial site I use to learn more about the programs I own) and got answers but they failed to correct the problem, nor are they answered in a timely way.

Now when I download I must wait for the entire download to finish and then take an additional step in setting the RAW photos back to their original camera settings before I can begin to manipulate the photos further. This takes more time but in the grand scheme of things this should not set up a default setting in any other program but the Colorchecker Passport and not bleed over into Adobe products or any other photo software processing programs until directed to do so or chosen by you the photo manipulator.

Now when I shoot anything I use the Passport but in development steps I do not enter a profile, rather I do it all manually which is also time consuming but the photos come out spot on for color.

My disappointment is the inability to correct this problem from any of the venders of this program or the other programs I use. Were I able to undo the root problem I'd be much happier but technical support has no idea what has happened, lame to nonfunctional in my opinion and it's the blame game due to various reasons best left unwritten.

Overall I feel this is a good product as long as you do not enter a color profile for your Passport and inadvertently create a blanket default across your entire software spectrum. I am not happy with technical support on this issue at all.

Could this be my error? Sure but it doesn't support the lack of editing or removing the newly created setting from the computer in any way.

I would say, buyer be ware AND X-Rite should add the ability to remove the offending profile easily and effectively to it's software with clear, concise

illustrated instructions.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Update 2012

Though I use this product I use it differently from it's intended use by the manufacturer. I ignore the included Passport's software completely.

Example; When I use this product I shoot two frames at the beginning or the end of the shoot, frame one is the color checker side, frame two is the gray card side. When back in post I will correct for color balance in Adobe Photoshop or Bridge's Camera Raw by loading all shots into CR (including the Checker shots) and then adjusting color in the rest of the photos using the eye dropper tool on the color checker photo in CR, then selection synchronize all and select white balance, then okay.

How I finally got rid of the foul, bluish cast profile the original review was based on was go to a third party tutorial course, pay the fee and follow the instructional tutorial movies. In one of the movies it elaborates on the removal of the offending profile created by the Passport Checker software. Why did I not go through Passport Checker's help? Not at all timely or helpful to my needs when I needed it two years ago. They may have improved their customer service or may not.

The way I understand Amazon'e rules I may not inclose the third party's company name name or site. Suffice it to say it is a favorite site to learn many things you don't already know or as a refresher for something you may have forgotten. There are other sites now being offered on the Inet. Some are pay sites, some are free.

This product still stands on it's manufactures acclaims yet, my personal treatment by the company two years ago does not warrant a higher rating even though I now the 'work arounds' for the problems I had regarding this product. Considering my down time, correction time, scrambling for a comprehensive solution to correct the hassle of three shoots gone bluish (one wedding) from Color Passport's 'customer service' my rating still stands.

On the up side, once you understand the card, the workarounds should something go wrong in profiling it does pretty much what the manufacturer says. Leave the software either in the box or buy a Passport without the software and you should be fine.

By not using the software included I've had little or no problems within reasonable lighting conditions. While on my third party site I discovered a way to make a fake gray card in Photoshop. Far to many steps to go into here. This works if you forget to use a gray card or anything like it for white balance.

For a far less amount of money, buy a good gray card. No software, nothing fancy.

Want X-Rite EODIS3CCPP i1 Display Pro and ColorChecker Passport Bundle (Black) Discount?

In the old days of film (say, fifteen years ago), we had two choices: daylight film and indoor film. Once you put a roll of film in the camera, you were stuck with the white balance, unless you rewound the roll in midstream to change film. Then you went home and used a little gadget to fish out the leader, and hoped you had correctly noted the number of exposures you had taken before rewinding, so that you didn't get a double exposure when you reloaded that roll.

All of that changed when digital RAW came in. Now you could adjust the white balance after the fact so you could shoot under all kinds of light on the same memory card. You could even set it to auto so that the camera would calculate the white balance and the pictures that emerged seemed pretty good.

There were always obsessive photographers who were concerned about white balance and color management. I used to make fun of them to myself. Then I got the ColorChecker Passport made by x-rite. Now I'm really upset and becoming obsessive too.

The Passport is a little passport-sized gadget with three little cards in it with lots of little colored squares, something like a paint sampler. You use this three ways. You can photograph the included grey card to set white balance at the time of shooting that will then be applied to all of your images, or you can photograph the chips while on a shoot and wait until you do raw processing and use your software to select one of the grey squares to set white balance for a series of pictures taken under the same light, or you can build a camera calibration profile for the lighting conditions of your shoot.

Either of the first two methods seems to work fine for white balance. I tested both and for the most part there was a slightly different temperature than my Nikon camera would have assigned and except for the most important color accuracy, this didn't seem important for me.

But when it came to actual colors, I received a shock. I've followed a color-corrected workflow pretty rigorously, calibrating my monitor regularly and using appropriate profiles for printing, and my prints look like my monitor to the extent that the different natures of the media allow. However, when I looked at an image of the Passport color chips on my monitor and compared it to the actual Passport, there were wide discrepancies in the colors. Many colors, particularly blues, looked very different. My camera was not as accurate as I thought.

Luckily, I was able to create and apply a profile with ease from the image of the Passport with the software that comes with it, and the colors looked a lot better, except for the deepest hues.

The lesson is simple. If you really want correct color you need a ColorChecker (although even then, there are colors that your sensor will not be able to capture). Now here's the rub. That means you are going to have to take the gadget with you and photograph it whenever you shot. The small size makes it easy to carry but it is not convenient to use, especially if you are a photographer on the run. But until the manufacturers make better cameras, it's either that or accept that your colors are going to be off.

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...

Want 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 Discount?

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.