Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP2 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Red)

First, it's important to know that although described as 'red', this FP2 is more of a metallic magenta (i.e. somewhat of a lipstick color!@$#). It's a pleasant and cheerful color, but more for girls than guys. The lens cover slides down to turn the camera on and back up to turn it off again. You can also turn the camera on/off in playback mode to view your photos and videos without opening the lens cover. The FP2 is made in China and seems to have come out in 2010.

pros:

+ lightweight

+ mostly metal body with solid build quality & feel

+ in natural light it takes bright and contrasty photos with good color rendition

+ folded light path design(internal zoom mechanism) no lenses protrude when turned on

+ very smooth motion of the lens cover smoother than a $300 Sony I was looking at

+ fast startup & focus (about 1 second to turn on + 1 second to focus and snap)

+ exceptionally long 60-second maximum exposure time (most/all Panasonic Lumix cameras have this)

+ 720p video recording

cons:

width and height dimensions are not as tiny as I was expecting, and although it is very thin, this makes it tippy when sitting up

I find the flat body shape uncomfortable to hold...not much 'shape' to grip onto (but not as bad as overly-rounded 'used soap bar' shaped compact cameras)

side location of lens often a finger will accidentally get in your shot

images taken in dim light without the flash are grainy

batteries are very thin and light but only provide at most 1 hour usage before needing recharging

mediocre macro ability closest focus is 10cm (most other compacts can focus to 5cm or less)

tiny buttons

2 buttons are flush to the surface and difficult to press (on/off and capture/playback select)

no zooming while recording video, but you can set the zoom before recording

somewhat slow to zoom in/out

panning left/right up/down through photos is extremely slow

plastic tripod socket (I've read conflicting accounts regarding the durability of modern plastic sockets)

The FP1 is almost identical to the FP2, except 12.1 megapixels rather than 14.1 (doubtful it would make any noticeable reduction in image quality). The FP3 is the touch screen version and I wouldn't recommend paying more to get it...just my dislike of touch screens. If you can get either the PF1 or FP2 for around $100, it's a good buy.

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Canon DC310 DVD Camcorder with 37x Optical Zoom

The overview states that this includes 'USB 2.0 hi-speed terminal for quick video transfer'. Read the detail section and there is no mention of a USB port, because there is none! You need to buy the DC330 to get that feature. That would not be so bad if the RRW would work in any of our PC's or DVD players. Granted the DVD players are older modules but the PC's are less than 1 year old. Maybe if your PC writes to Ror you stick with none rewritable DVD's you would be happy with this camcorder (didn't waste any more money trying this). This module is being returned and replaced with the DC330.

I bought this camera for our family summer vacation. My old digital camera did not zoom close enough to anything. I was looking for a camcorder that was small in size that could get close up & that is exactly what I got. I have found it to be easy to use in every way and it is small enough to fit in just about any normal size bag.

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Canon DC310 DVD Camcorder with 41x Optical Zoom

We purchased this camcorder after looking at reviews in various places, in particular, one well known consumer product magazine. Since we wanted something basic, but a camcorder that would give us very good quality images, we counted on the Canon. It is easy to learn to use if you are a novice like we are, and is adequate for home videos. Taking into account the savings extras from Amazon, we purchased it at the lowest price that we researched on the internet, and at local electronics retailers. We highly suggest purchasing an extra battery, and the battery charger (stick with the Canon brand or you can be burned with the cheaper "replacement" claiming to be as good). Amazon shipped it in two days at no extra charge....a "special" at the time. We purchase from Amazon often because of their excellent customer service.

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Pros:-

1) Price is cheap for a DVD camcorder

2) Outdoor video quality

3) optical zoom

Cons:-

1) The menu is very confusing.

2) You cannot finalize unless you connect the camera to power adapter. You will not know it unless you read the manual carefully

3) You cannot charge the camera if the power button is turned on. So assume that you are using the camera and it goes off because of no charge. You connect it to the power adapter, it will not charge...it is because the power button is still turned on. I had this issue and had a hard time finding the cause. I even sent my camera to canon repair and it got returned back saying I need to keep the power button off while charging and otherwise it will not charge.

4) Finally, there is a lot of problem with finalizing the disc. The finalize menu item will not show up while in record mode. That is fine. But I recorded my disc in VR mode and now I see Finalize menu item but it is not selectable..not sure why. I am not able to finalize my disc and can't play it in dvd player. When I see the content of the DVD, it has files in VRO format. To convert it to DVD format, I need a software now which will cost me. And that's when I decided to write this review.

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I reviewed the Consumer's Report 2009 regarding dvd camcorders and this model rated one of the highest. I am thrilled to concur with the Report. I wanted something simple to use which provided a good image at a good value. This seems to meet all three. The vendor I used shipped it within 4-5 days (Sixth Avenue Electronics -6ave). Overall great experience. NOTE: Read the manual if you don't finalize the discs properly you may loose all of the recordings.

Swift Hitch SH02 Portable Wireless Camera System

I've only used this twice so far and both times it has proven to be a real treat to have, as I didn't need the wife's help to get our trailer hooked up to the truck. I was able to back up and stop in the perfect spot the very first time. No more in and out, in and out, move an inch to the left, no the other left and so on. Anybody that has a trailer knows exactly what I'm saying. It was easy to charge both units, easy to set up and very easy to use. The magnet works great and I know I'll use the suction cups on the back of our trailer sooner or later. My only bit of disapointment was trying to see the screen when it is really sunny outside, as the brightness seems to make the actual picture very, very light gray and tough to see the screen clearly. I've not yet used it in the dark, but I'm sure it will be great there. I'm really glad I went with the SH02 model rather than the SH01, as the carry case with the foam protection around each piece is great, with all the charging cords and everything needed to use this set-up was in there, also I wanted the suction cup set-up as well. In my opinion, it was a good deal for the price!

PLEASE READ THE ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ATTACHED TO THIS REVIEW, BEYOND MY ORIGINAL POSTING.

We bought the kit that included the suction cups which are needed for vehicles with fiberglass hatches, tail gates, etc. The suction cups are connected to a triangle metal plate which substitutes a metal plate for the camera unit to stick to. The suction cup adapter fell off the glass window of a Tahoe. We then wet the suction cups with basically the same result. The magnetic base camera unit has a tendency to slide on all metal surfaces that I tried. This is not good.... The actual magnet in the base of the unit is recessed ever so slightly so that actual metal to magnet contact is not achieved. The magnetic "force" causes some magnetic field to hold it in place but the vibrations from backing up the car cause it to slide. In other words, the magnet is not strong enough to hold it in place. I called the manufacturing company and they had no helpful suggestions. I am going to try and remove the magnet and install a thin spacer to raise the actual magnet above the camera's metal base. That way, the actual magnet should make contact with a metal surface. The recession in the base is very minimal, but just enough to weaken the sticking power of the magnet. I am not exactly sure how I am going to fix the suction cup issue.

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This item is a nice piece of kit but has 2 important drawbacks: its very difficult to see the screen in the typical bright sunlight that many times I have to hitch; and the screen is too small to see dark detail. Part of the problem is that if the hitch itself is in shadow, the camera light sensor darkens the image to compensate for the area its receiving thus making the ball or the bar (Hensley hitch)impossible to discern. You can adjust the camera view but there are just so many places on which you can mount the camera that will also accommodate a sight angle that eliminates bright areas so that the hitch is viewable.

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The camera works well and my husband hitched the boat by himself on the first try.

He also uses the camera when he works on the car. In the past, he would use a flashlight and a mirror to look for items he couln't see under the hood. Now he uses the camera and can also do this at night since the camera operates well in the dark. The camera is used to look up into the fireplace, under the house, in the attic and for lost toys under the bed and couches.I recomend this to everyone.

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About half the price of factory option for a backup camera. Plus with the 10h li battery life of this second generation (SH02) camera, I can use it for wireless nighttime security camera of my campsite when camping in the popup. Hey raccoon, get away from that ice chest!. Can move the camera to the back of trailer to assist in backing into campsite as well. Oh, the included custom foam cut case is top quality, too.

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Quick Pod, Arm Extending Self Portrait Device with Clips and Carry Bag.

I love the concept, since I go to places by myself and I take a lot of pictures. Usually I just use a tripod, and this works in places where a tripod does not work well. However, the plastic on the top broke the VERY FIRST TIME I tightened the screw. After a quick MacGyver move, I was able to keep it working until I got home and was able to super glue it together. So, it is good, just be careful with the screw.

I'm really happy with this little tripod. I saw it listed under a "cool travel gadgets" list and ordered one. It works great as a hand held, the little add on tripod legs are handy, I was tickled that a bag was included. I prefer taking pictures with a tripod, but when flying my good one is just to big to mess with. This baby fits in my briefcase. If you're a shutter bug I highly recommend getting one! I plan on getting some more to give as Christmas gifts.

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I took it to a party & the concept is great but after a few pictures the plastic broke where the top extender attaches to the clear plastic holder. It should be made of steel, not plastic. My camera is a Power Shot & very light. Disappointed!!!!!

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The clear plastic part that attaches to the camera broke on mine (as it did on other reviewers) the first time I used it. If your camera costs more than this toy, don't attach it and expect it to survive being dropped. If the manufacturer wanted to make a quality product they would have fixed this design long ago. They just want to get rich on impulse buys.

Amazon now has a similar device made of *real metal* at the same price. If you want one, I'd suggest buying that device; it can be no worse than this.

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It broke the first three minuted I had it, and I had two of them. A little glue here and there and it seems to work fine. Two stars because it's kind of cheap and now I am scared my $400 camera might hit the ground. The extra star because now I can play survivor man in the back yard.

VideoSecu Mini CCTV Hidden Security Camera Pinhole Lens Covert Color CCD Wide Angle Home Outdoor Su

For the price, these little cameras are very good. They are all metal, have a pre-attached nice metal bracket and stay pretty cool compared to other hot running cameras I have owned.

For a tiny pinhole lens camera, the video quality is pretty good. They are certainly not high def cameras, but they do good for what they are. They even work pretty well in semi-low light (but since they are not night vision cameras, there HAS to be some ambient light to see an image. In very low light or no light conditions you will see nothing).

The housing is very small, and the camera PCB can be removed from the housing and rotated 90 degrees either way if needed (I had to do this with one of them, to mount it on the side of a window frame). I also spray painted a couple of them white to blend in with the window frames they were mounted to (just make sure you cover the pinhole lens before spraying. I cut a toothpick in half and stuck the thick end into the hole to protect it from overspray, worked like a charm).

Overall I'm very hapy with the little cameras. 5-stars

For the price you can't get a better Pin Hole camera. If you want better resolution you would probably pay more than double the price. Also, though I had problems with the cable that came with the camera. I called the shipper and they send me a replacement cable without any problems. Great service.

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disappointed.....nothing in the box besides camera and casine..i dont understand why it cost as much as it did.The LYD CM203CA is under half as much money yet comes with instructions power supply and a wireless 9V battery adapter..would NOT recommend

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Small size, so so quality image, Very easy to install. Insulation where it meets the case was pulled away a half inch, but it works and wont be moved. Might be issue on a robot.

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I purchased this camera and was impressed(impressed)with the good quality. Camera is small and discrete, and you can place it anywhere you want. Not many of mini cameras works so great in low or bright light environments. Great deal for the price. For the overall performance that is ok with me. Good purchase!

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HDE ® 1/4"- 20 Tripod Screw to Hot Shoe Adapter

This is an all aluminum product that's nicely machined. I know it's inexpensive and simple but it's way nicer than I expected.

I bought this a few days ago. I bought it to go with my hotshoe on my camera and also on the small rig that attaches to my hot shoe. This rig adds several hot shoes to your camera in an oval shape. I bought this adapter so that I could attach my Recorder to my camera through this rig.

The erason why I had to mod is was that the flag hot shoe adapter on this is slightly wide. It fits in the hot shoe on the camera very snug, but when I tried to attach it to the rig it wouldn't fit. It was very slightly too large. This may be a problem with the rig rather than this adapter, but I wanted to warn people and give them an easy quick solution. I took a dremel tool (battery powered grinder) and grinded down 1 side about a mm or a cm and checked if it fit in the rig. It did, so what I did was used the polisher/finer grinding bit to smooth out the grinded down area and this works great! The adapter fits perfectly, and for the money I can't complain the extra 3 min of work I had to do to make it fit. I mean if your looking to buy something this cheap then you have to be willing to do some DIY work.

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Is a great and userfull littler piece.

i'm using with a mic on camera like zoom and is very good idea.

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I am trying to attach extra things to my flash bracket like a recorder (zoom h4n) so that I can shoot video with my 5D mk2. I needed this as the 'missing component' to fit my flash into a 'sound and light' cold shoe y bracket. It is strong, inexpensive, and it does the trick!Opteka VLB-3 Video Light/Microphone Dual Cold Shoe Y-shaped Splitter Bracket (Includes Sony AIS Adapter)

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Bought this to attach my Zoom H4N recorder to my 7D. Effective, great price, and I even got a coupon for my next purchase. So far so good!

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Nikon D3100 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm VR, 55-200mm VR DX Zoom Lenses and 3-Inch LCD Sc

For the cost of this camera, I don't think you can get anything better. The low light performance is off the charts. As a wedding photographer I regularly shoot with Nikon's high end professional equipment and I was amazed how close this camera is to a pro camera. Now let me get specific. In order to compare I took a look at 100% files out of each camera I own.

Which camera excels Nikon D3100($Cheap) VS. D300($1600) VS. D700 ($2,700):

* Lens = The D3100 is the only camera that comes with a lens at it's normal price

* ISO Performance = Tie between D3100 and D700! (It could be Nikon's new processing but the JPEG looks fantastic I was shooting D3100 on 6400iso with very little noise at all)

* Low Light Focusing = D700

* Focus Speed = D700

* External Buttons & Controls for Pros = D700

* Menu Navigation = D3100

* Ease of Use = D3100

* Megapixel = D3100 (14.2)

* Sensor size = D700 (Much more important than megapixels but I won't get into this)

* Can use older lenses with functionality = D700 & D300

* Video = D3100 of course! 1080P video looks amazing.

* Frame Rate = D300 at 6 photos a second

* Weight = D3100 (light as a feather)

* Ergonomics = D700 (big enough for all my finger)

Lens:

The lens is a kit lens, it will work outside but not so great in low light. The Vibration Reduction will help indoors but Vibration Reduction can't stop a child or pet in motion indoors. Consider buying a 35mm 1.8dx AFS for around $200 and you will be super happy with this camera.

Video:

I purchased the 3100 specifically to shoot video, so I put on Nikon's brand new 85mm 1.4g Nano lens and shot video with it. The lens costs more than double the camera but I wanted to see how the 1080P video looked. It has the look of a cinematic movie. After the 85mm, I put on Nikon's 50 1.2 manual focus lens and was able to take very cinematic video in manual mode. In order to make it brighter or darker you either need to use a really old lens like the 50mm 1.2 and hit the AE-L (auto exposure lock) and twist the aperture to change exposure. Or you can hit the AE-L button when you get the exposure you like. Its not a perfect system but it works well for me. Inside the menu options you can change the AE-L button to hold the setting until you reset which is helpful.

Jello Cam (What's not so great):

This camera still suffers from the "Jello Cam" look in video if it is not on a tripod and you are shaky. The video can look like jello if moved too quickly. Use a monopod or tripod when shooting to avoid this. I'm not sure if a faster video frame rate 60fps would help but at 24 and 30 it can suffer badly.

Conclusion:

This is an amazing deal! Unless you make most of your income from photography or have a stockpile of old lenses (this camera can only autofocus with AFS lenses) then this camera is the must have camera of the year. If you have good composition skills and an eye for light you can take photos worthy of a magazine with this. Seriously, you won't regret buying this camera. When you do, do yourself a favor and buy an additional Nikon AFS lens that has a maximum aperture of 2.8, 1.8 or 1.4. These lenses will take better portraits and deal better in low light than the kit lens.

I recently updated my DSLR collection to the Nikon D3100 from the Nikon D70. There are good reviews out there that you should check out. However, I would like to share some of my first impressions.

Pro:

-Better image quality and lower noise at high ISO with the D3100

-MUCH MUCH lighter, which will be nice when traveling

-Larger LCD screen

-11 focus points, including 3D focus which tracks the motion of the subject or camera.

-1080p Video

-14 megapixels

-2nd Generation DSLR

-Quiet, quiet, quiet

Cons:

-No bracketing option. Not a huge deal since I only bracket once a year

-Cannot use my old 50mm 1.8 lens. I knew this before purchasing the camera.

-As of 10/1/2010, Camera RAW for the D3100 is not supported in Photoshop or Lightroom. Need to shoot .jpg + RAW or use Nikon Capture NX2 for RAW files. That should be updated soon, so not a big deal.

-Can hear the lens focusing when recording video.

-No depth of field preview.

-Can't use wireless remote

I'm an amateur photographer and this camera meets my needs. I love the fact that it's small and light, with great quality images. If I were a serious photographer and had more money to spare, I would wait and check out the D7000, which appears to have phenomenal specs. I'm happy with my purchase and I highly recommend this camera.

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This Nikon D3100 is a phenomenal deal for non professionals, the rest of us people that want to take family and travel shots. I've owned DSLRs since 2004, starting with a Nikon D70 and then moving to D40, D200 and Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black) and Canon EOS 40D 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only). Those are all excellent cameras, but this Nikon D3100 is better than all of those in one crucial area, the area that matters: it takes excellent pictures without having to fiddle with the settings between shots. Yes, the other cameras are better in other respects: They have more buttons to change settings without delving into menus, they are bigger (is that a plus?), heavier (another plus?), and have better specs (1/500 flash sync speed for D70 and D40), but in the end I would have to fiddle with the settings to get the best results: change the white balance, fiddle with the ISO (my Canons would default to ISO 400 for flash shots, why? Who knows. That meant disabling auto ISO and choosing ISO settings manually), the exposure (+0.7 indoor, 0 outdoor), and so on. D200 was noisy at higher ISO, D70's pictures tended to be cool (i.e. not warm), 40D had cool custom buttons (C1, C2, C3, very cool), but I found its ergonomics worse than XSi or any Nikon; why place the on/off switch at the bottom of the body? Who knows. Fortunately, new Canons have fixed this).

This D3100 also makes the D3000 and D5000 obsolete. The D3000 is slow and noisy at high ISO. The D5000 only shoots 720p (not 1080p), no autofocus in movie mode, less resolution. Old technology.

What sets the D3100 apart from all the other cameras above is this: set the camera in P (program) mode, auto white balance, -0.3 exposure compensation, slow flash sync mode (for people shots), auto distortion correction on (great!), auto chromatic aberrations correction on (great!), and you are set; now you can concentrate on the only aspect of photography that matters: composition, i.e. framing your shot in the best possible way. There must be a photography mantra that says, "thou shalt buy the D3100, and the D3100 will set you free." Now this is if you shot jpeg. If you shoot raw, you can then use a program like DXO, Aperture 3, or Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 to further play with the pictures. My workflow with the XSi was to shoot raw, then use DXO to batch process all the pics according to two settings: people (low contrast, no saturation added) and landscape (contrast, saturation, etc.). DXO would then batch-remove lens distortion, chromatic aberrations, vignetting, apply custom curves, change white balance when necessary, and apply its (almost magical) auto lighting settings to make the shots pop. For now DXO does not have a custom module for the D3100 (still too new of a camera), so I'm shooting jpeg for now. Once DXO adds the module for the D3100, I'll takes shots in both raw and jpeg fine and compare the jpegs straight out of the camera with the raw images processed with DXO. I'm curious to see the comparison.

This is great, not only for you, but also for your non-photographer spouse; my XSi took phenomenal shots, but I had to know how to set it. Can you imagine me going to my non-photographer wife and say, "okay, when you take indoor shots of our kids, set the camera on A mode (Canons expose for ambient light in A mode and adjust flash for fill, that's great), +0.7 exposure compensation, ISO 400 or 800, white balance on cloudy, and shoot." My wife was lost at "okay." Sure the custom modes on the 40D would have helped, but the 40D is old technology; can it take 1080p video? I didn't think so. Plus, what lens are you going to use with the 40D? The 17-55 IS? Great lens, but who wants to spend $1,000 for a non-weather sealed 17-55 dust collector (google Canon 17-55 and dust)? Will 17-55 be enough for your telephoto shots? Your kids' baseball games? Didn't think so. What about the Canon 18-200? Sub-par quality, noisy, overpriced.

Back to the D3100. Auto white balance (the second most important thing after composition) works great, even indoor (no cloudy setting necessary), the only changes are extreme situations (outdoor shade, or indoor fluorescent or tungsten lights at night, but that is true with every camera. Why that is is beyond me; can't they make smarter cameras that account for these situations as well?); movie mode is excellent; yes, the mic is mono, but that's okay for family use (and that's why you buy this camera; if you are pro, you landed on the wrong page); if you really want to push it, you can use this camera for video, your iphone/ipod touch for audio with an app like FourTrack, and then sync video and audio in post with the excellent Singular Software Dual Eyes program. Your choice. Matter is: DSLR video can look awesome if used the right way, but keep in mind its limitations: jerky camera horizontal panning will give you the infamous jello effect (courtesy of the CMOS sensor), so pan slowly. You'll also have to play with autofocus vs manual focus settings sometimes; I've used the camera in autofocus; it has worked great so far.

What lens(es) should you use with the D3100. You should sell the (excellent) 18-55 that ships with the camera. Quality is good, but not enough reach. You can sell it for $140 or so. Take the money and use it toward a more useful lens. What lens? The target market for this camera is moms and dads that want to take shots of their kids; even advanced amateurs like me don't want to travel with a camera bag full of primes and heavy zoom lenses that you have to swap every 10 minutes; this is 2010 (almost 2011), for crying out loud; choose a single zoom and enjoy life and photography; I would use the excellent but underrated Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR ED Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras, the excellent (but expensive) Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX ED VR Nikkor Wide-Angle Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras, or my choice, the jack-of-all trades, the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S ED VR II Nikkor Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon DX-Format Digital SLR Cameras. Yes, yes, if you check sites like Photozone, they will tell you that the optical quality of the 18-200 is not as good (or consistent) as the 18-105 or the 16-85, but it's good enough for moms and dads bitten by the photography bug. A great shot of your kid at 200mm is better than no shot with either of the other two lenses. The optical superiority of the 16-85 disappears at 135mm or 200mm, simply because it can't do it. The 16-85 and the 18-200 are about the same price. The 18-200 will set you free. It won't help you if your kids play baseball at night (too slow), but you'll have to live with it, unless you are willing to drop $2,000 on a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens For Nikon Digital SLR Cameras. Sure, we'd all like a 16-300 VR VIII lens with a 20-stop VR reduction, constant 1.4 aperture, with optical perfection, weighing only 500 gr. and below $1,000, but alas our engineers are not as good as the random mutation and natural selection that gave us our eyes ;-0

My settings:

Display mode: detailed photo info > check RGB histogram and data > Done (why? You want to check if you are clipping the red, green, or blue channels)

Transition effects: OFF

Set picture control: portrait (for people shots)

Landscape: for, well, landscape shots: increase sharpness to 4 (D3100 shots are unsharpened by default)

Image quality: raw + jpeg fine (or jpeg fine, if you don't want to mess with raw)

White balance: auto (I played with the settings to A1, A2, A3, but images were to yellowish for my taste, as if my kids had jaundice). Auto works fine

Auto ISO: on

Min shutter speed: 1/30 (1/15 if you have steady hands)

Max ISO: I set 800, you can push to 1600 or even 3200 (your choice)

Standard ISO: 100

Active D-Lighting: on (it works well)

Auto distortion control: on (Great)

Movie settings: 1080 24p. You can also do 720 at 30p for less jerky movements

Info display format: i prefer classic black (your choice)

Auto info display: off

Image comment: your choice. I have my name, copyright (haha), and phone number

Beep: off (please)

AEL-AFL button: I only lock exposure, not focus.

My accessories:

67-to-77 ring adapter (if you have the 18-105 lens)

72-to-77 ring adapter (if you have the 18-200 lens)

77mm haze filter. I use the best, The B+W 77mm UVA (Ultra Violet) Haze MRC Filter #010 one. You don't want to use a cheap fIlter on top of a $350 or $650 lens.

77mm circular polarizer fliter; again I use the best, the B + W 77mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer Coated Glass Filter. This filter is for your travel shots. It will make blue skies bluer and will remove reflections from that gorgeous Maui ocean. This is an expensive filter at $180 or so; you don't have to get it right away, unless you are going to Maui soon.

Why 77mm filters? Because you don't want to go nuts buying filters of different sizes for your lenses. If buy the 67mm filter for your 18-105 lens and later decide to upgrade your lens to the 72mm 18-200, you are screwed. It's cheaper to buy a $5 lens ring adapter to 77mm and use 77mm filters. It'll keep you sane too.

Remember why you purchase this camera: you want to enjoy photography; enjoy it then.

Read Best Reviews of Nikon D3100 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm VR, 55-200mm VR DX Zoom Lenses and 3-Inch LCD Sc Here

Hurray! The long wait is over! Nikon had us wait for such a long time for its newer models (D3100 and D7000) and it was just when we started thinking if Nikon will ever have an answer, anytime soon, to Canon's T2i, 7D and 60D) they released these two wonderful cameras D3100 and D7000. Let's focus on D3100, shall we?

So I finally had a chance to get hold of this D-SLR at Best Buy today. I am not a pro by any means but I have used many different D-SLRs including Canon (40D, T2i, XSi) and Nikon (D90, D5000). When I picked-up the camera for the first time, my initial reaction was, "whoa this is so small and light weight"! It wasn't that I wasn't aware of the specs I knew them beforehand but I was still blown away by how small and light it felt when I held it in my hands. Then, I thought, the grip would not be very comfortable but I was wrong as holding and operating the camera is just fine thanks to Nikon's well-thought-out design and grip. For the size and feel, it's very similar to D3000 but has more goodies from the higher versions. So from an initial wow factor, I quickly moved on to focusing on features and capabilities.

I have just started using this camera so more update will follow but in the meantime my initial assessment of this camera is I am impressed! It is one heck of a camera which can certainly compete against the best in its class (Canon T1i, T2i, Nikon D5000). Check out detailed reviews at dpreview (.com) and cameralabs (.com) they should be added soon if not already there.

I love this camera because it:

+ has enough mega pixels for my needs (14.2).

+ captures crystal clear images (thanks to EXPEED2 processor & the CMOS sensor, the sensor is slightly smaller than the one used in D7000).

+ offers 1080p (HD) recording, AF subject tracking is awesome (10 min max is fine with me; it records outstanding videos even in low light and to me that's big).

+ offers ISO from 100-3200 (D90 starts at 200), it can go higher but I really don't think why I would need anything above that.

+ is small & light weight yet has good grip, easy to carry around in hands or neck.

+ supports SDXC cards on top of SD and SDHC now that's nice.

+ (25-Sep-2010): has buttons that are well organized especially the video recording mode with a lever so you cannot mistakenly activate recording. That video recording lever once unlocked, gets locked in 30 seconds if you do not record and the countdown begins as soon as you unlock the lever. Also you can record video while you're in any dial (imaging) mode (Auto, P, A, S, M, and so on) where as in Canon T2i, etc. you have to move the camera dial to movie mode. So this is a great convenience you can jump between taking pictures and recording videos with a simple unlocking of the lever. Additionally, you can be in a preferred dial (imaging) mode (Auto, P, A, S, M, and so on) and change the release mode to Single, Continuous, Self-timer or Quiet mode (this is located right underneath the main dial) another great convenient feature.

+ (04-Oct-2010): In-body photo and movie retouch menu. This is great as we don't need any special software to apply certain touches. I love it.

Could have been even better if:

it had the bracketing option (not too much to expect at this price point level but oh well I don't use that much but for some people this could be a big plus).

grid lines were available (I miss them in both in live view and in the view finder).

Active D Lighting was not limited to just ON or OFF (either you have it or not at all, instead of low, medium, high, etc.). Don't get me wrong the ON just worked fine (better than Canon T2i) but I can't compare with all other modes.

Recommendations (optional accessories):

* In my personal order of importance your preference may differ. *

1. Nikon UC-E4 USB Cable not included. (~$6)

2. UV filter a must for protecting your lens against accidental damage. (~10$)

3. Carrying case is a must to protect your investment. There are many cases to choose from and it's up to you to decide but I suggest getting something like Lowepro SlingShot 102 AW (all weather proof carrying case) so if it rains, you can pull out the weather guard and cover it up. ($90)

4. Additional rechargeable Lithium Ion EN-EL14 battery so you never run out the juice when you're traveling and do not want to miss capturing a moment for good. (~$35)

5. SB-600 Speedlight. Those who have used speed lights would know what difference it can make to an image with adjustments you can make to light for an image. (~$225)

6. 18-55 VR lens has its limitations so if you have extra $$$s, buy body only (if that even is an option) and get yourself a 18-105 VR lens. But at that point, you may want to consider D90 which still is a good camera and offers many more controls. (~$325 to $350)

Overall:

I give this camera 5 Stars because it takes excellent pictures in almost all conditions (bright or low-light) and that is exactly what I wanted this camera to do for me. Period.

I must commend Nikon for not getting into the mega pixel race (read marketing). They instead kept the photographer in mind and focused on delivering greater picture quality. Kudos to Nikon for having that courage.

Want Nikon D3100 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm VR, 55-200mm VR DX Zoom Lenses and 3-Inch LCD Sc Discount?

I am a photography teacher in NYC and online. (See my Amazon profile for my website.) I teach beginner and intermediate photography students every week. I've also been a professional photographer for the last five years with images published in The New York Times, GQ, New York Magazine, Women's Wear Daily, The New York Observer, The Village Voice and Time Out New York.

(This review is for beginner photographers.)

If you're a beginner, you're most likely asking yourself: Nikon or Canon? Really, I feel confident in saying that you can't go wrong with either. I've used both brand's cameras extensively and find that they both offer amazing image quality with well-built, solid cameras that, if taken care of, will last decades. There are two differences between the cameras, though, that can be taken into consideration.

The user-interface: If cameras were computers, Nikons would be PCs and Canons would be MACs. PCs are built for people not afraid of technology whereas Macs are built for people who want things super-easy. Nikons excel at customization options which means you'll see so many more options with the Advanced features of a Nikon than you will with a Canon. Canons, on the other hand, excel at ease-of-use for beginners. Canons offer less advanced options and can be easier to learn on. This can be frustrating down the line, though, once you've learned a lot about photography. At that point you may want all of the options that Nikon offers and be frustrated with your Canon. If you're someone who really likes to delve deep into your hobbies or if you're intent on becoming a professional photographer, I'd say a Nikon would be your best bet. If you're someone who wants to learn the basics of photography and only imagine yourself being a hobbyist, Canon would be a better option for you.

Where Nikon excels: Flash photography. I often find myself in situations where I'm shooting event photography (weddings, movie premiers, benefits and galas) where I need to use a lot of flash. For this kind of photography, I'll always prefer to be shooting with a Nikon. Nikon's flash metering (how the camera magically decides how much light to fire out of the flash) is much more consistent than Canon's. You can take a Canon and shoot the same scene three times in a row with flash and all three images will be at different brightness levels. You can do the same thing with a Nikon and all three images will be wonderfully the same. If you're somebody who plans on shooting a lot with flash (indoor photography, event photography, etc.) you'll want to consider going with Nikon.

Where Canon excels: Richness of colors. I've been in numerous situations where I've been on the red carpet taking the exact same picture as the photographer next to me. I'll have a Canon and the person next to me will have a Nikon. This has provided quite a few opportunities to compare the images side-by-side. What I've found is that the colors on the Canon's images look richer and make the image pop more. If I'm doing fine art photography (anything I'd like to someday hang in a gallery), I'll always want to be shooting with a Canon for this reason.

If you're set on Nikon, there are three cameras you should be considering and it all comes down to what your budget is:

D7000 $1,400 without lens

D5100 $750 without lens

D3100 $600 only available with lens

(current prices as of 2/19/11)

Here's what you get for spending extra money (each camera compared to the one below it):

D3100 vs. D5100:

The D3100 is an EXCELLENT camera so if you only have $550 to spend total on camera and lens then go out and buy this camera. You won't regret it. If you're considering spending more money, here's what you'll get from the D5100 in comparison:

-Better performance in low light situations.

-A higher resolution screen on the back of the camera so you can see your images more clearly and make out if they actually turned out well.

-An external mic jack. (If you're planning on shooting video with an external mic, you'll want the D5100 over the D3100.)

-A flip out screen (handy if you want to put your camera anywhere but at your eye level and be able to see what your camera is about to capture before you shoot it)

-Faster continuous shooting. If you're often shooting sports or any fast moving subject, continuous shooting allows you to capture multiple images in a single second. The D3100 shoots at three frames per second whereas the D5100 shoots at four frames per second.

-Higher ISO options. The D5100 offers one more stop of ISO than the D3100 does. If you don't know what ISO means (or what a stop is) just know that this allows you to more easily shoot images in low-light situations.

-Longer battery life. The D5100's battery will last 20% longer than the D3100

The two advantages of the D3100 over the D5100 are: less expensive and less weight. Whenever a camera is less expensive, it means you'll have more in your budget for the lens. The D3100 weighs 10% lighter and is 10% smaller than the D5100.

D5100 vs. D7000:

The D5100 is Nikon's latest and greatest and is even newer than the D7000. Phenomenal camera! If you're stuck, though, between the D5100 and the D7000, here's what you'll get by spending more money on the D7000:

-More focus points. When using auto-focus, the D7000 will have an easier time focusing on what you want it to focus on.

-60% longer lasting batteries.

-Faster continuous shooting. If you're often shooting sports or any fast moving subject, continuous shooting allows you to capture multiple images in a single second. The D5100 shoots at four frames per second whereas the D7000 shoots at six frames per second.

-Weather sealed. This means you can shoot with the D7000 in the rain.

-Two memory card slots. This is really a cool feature. The D7000 has two memory card slots which means you'll be less likely to find yourself standing in front of a gorgeous scene with no more memory left.

-Faster shutter speed. The fastest shutter speed on the D5100 is 1/4000th of a second; on the D7000: 1/8000th of a second. To be honest, I can't think of any practical reason why this would benefit you unless you're planning on shooting some really bright scenes like directly into the sun.

Advantages of the D5100 over the D7000:

-A flip out screen (handy if you want to put your camera anywhere but at your eye level and be able to see what your camera is about to capture before you shoot it)

-Smaller and lighter: The D5100 is 10% smaller and 30% lighter than the D7000. This is something to consider if you plan on carrying your camera around with you a lot.

-Less expensive so you can spend more on your lens!

If I can clarify any of this, please email me!

-JP Pullos, photography teacher, NYC and online (see my Amazon profile for my website)

Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD Camcorder (Silver)

We purchased this camcorder to record of the birth of our twins (they are still in the oven:), and were excited to test it once it arrived. We love the size of it, so compact and easy to carry around, unlike my previous camcorders. The quality is pretty good, the only thing is when you zoom in and out, the audio makes the clicking noise. We purchased a 32G SDHC for it so we didn't have that many problems mentioned in other reviews. We've made some test shots and videos and edited it, a real cool feature is while you are filming a video you can take pictures. Here is a test movie you can view on YouTube:Overall, we are happy with this little camcorder with its price!

I should have paid attention to all the reviews. Yes, there is something WRONG with this camcorder. It has this annoying clicking sound on playback. Unfortunately, authorized Samsung service centers here in Australia don't even know what HMX-U20 is, so they can't do anything about it. What I total waste... I bought another mini camcorder from another brand, which I am quite happy about. Don't buy this product unless you've read better reviews.

Buy Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD Camcorder (Silver) Now

This little video camera works like a dream. It even does well when riding in a car and filming. The only thing that would be better is if the controls were a bit easier to operate. I have to keep looking back at the manual to work it. For the dollar, I definitely give this a thumbs up.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD Camcorder (Silver) Here

Nice design, very compact, and light weight... and that would be the end of what I like about it. The camera is sub-par. The motion stabilization is ineffective. Low light is atrocious. Software was clearly an afterthought. Battery life is bad. Video is classified as HD but one of the worst actual pictures I've seen to date. Not impressed Samsung; back to the drawing board.

Want Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD Camcorder (Silver) Discount?

I received this for Christmas. The specs on this this camera are great. Unfortunately the video recording quality is terrible. The images have the detail, but it looks like there is a film or noise over the entire image. The recording looks no better than our HI-8 SD recorder. Very disappointed. All the features function correctly, such as output via HDMI to a TV set. Also the video screen on the back has a very limited viewing angle. Will be returning for a refund.

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DEFENDER 21026 SENTINEL 4-Channel Smart Security DVR with 4 Hi-Resolution Outdoor Security Cameras

Update: 6/24/13 poor customer service. Only communication is with online chat which takes them literally minutes to respond. RMA requires a copy of receipt which I don't have and you pay shipping. Emails are unanswered. 2 to 4 weeks expected return. And, from my experience, who knows how they will test it and if they don't find anything wrong they just send it back. A security system with no support isn't worth the risk.

Update: I've spent a day trying to solve issues. Unfortunately they require you to use an online chat window which would be fine but it can take several minuts for them to even check it. While it's obvious there is a board issue with the DVR they keep having me try things like Internet providers and refusing to accept that it's broken. I have a feeling once they get their act together I will have to send it in which means no security setup for probably weeks.

Update: 6/18/13 while I could still view the cams from anywhere there was no indication that the unit wasn't recording. However, wanting to do some checking I found it hadn't recorded for several days and when I needed it! Contacting support (online chat only) they had me reformat the hard drive. I don't know what is going on and they couldn't guarantee it wouldn't happen again and now my warranty is just about over. 8 cameras and no DVR will suck. They did tell me if it failed again in the next week I could send it in. Great, so no unit at all for several weeks if that happens. I should note my Q-See and Panasonic have never had a problem.

Update: I needed support recently after trying their online form, which bombed (error message came up) and phone, which the message said to use online form, I finally got someone on their online chat, after about a half hour. But I did get my answer!

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I actually installed and used this system: cables, cameras, DVR, and software.

This is my fourth system. The first is a wireless Panasonic Network Cam which has been running 24/7 for about 4 years with absolutely no problems but it's an indoor cam pointing out a window and the DVR is a Windows server it is my favorite. My second system included 2 cameras, great length of cable for each but it did not include a DVR and could only be used by using an online service I dumped that one. My third system has been a QSee four camera system which included a 320gb DVR. The system has worked for a few years as well capturing video based on motion detection. I had a couple of blind spots and needed an extra camera or two; the Defender 21029 comes with 8 outdoor cameras and a 500gb DVR.

Defender Hardware

Out of the box there is no documentation except a little piece of paper showing all of the parts. It comes with one of those little CDs but without auto run. You will find a PDF manual but nothing that talks about installing software or using the software or web version (they are similar yet different) only about the software that is in the DVR itself which is similar to the other two yet different and does not use a keyboard mouse only which can be a pain in the butt to use prefer not. No online knowledge base as of this writing.

Installation is a real pain in the butt. You have to string cables all over the house to get the right setup. That's what makes these systems less desirable. Even though their example shows a cable running through the wall I prefer to hide my cables so I ran all of them through the attic and most hang under the eve. The included cables weren't long enough for 3 of my locations.

The cameras that came with my unit are the worse out of all of my systems. While you can tell what is going on they are washed out and the colors don't come close green leaves come out purple. Adjustment does not help a great deal.

The DVR does provide motion detection for any camera which is the best way to go; it makes it easier to find things because that is all that is recorded.

Take note: if someone does break in they could steal the DVR so it too needs to be hidden or locked up.

Software

Hardware manufactures rarely make great software and they don't realize that is what really makes hardware great or what's the use? The Defender software comes in 3 flavors: internal, an app, and web browser web browser being the best but not great.

While better then the QSee, Defender software does malfunction and would sometimes just crash for no reason.

It only allows playback up to 8x fast forward where QSee was up to 16x which was nice to have.

Playback only allows you to search/view 4 at a time and the only view is a timeline with a slider which is not easy to control and select a specific time or starting point.

One other annoyance, which was also with the QSee, PTZ controls are always displayed and take up room on the screen even though you don't get cameras that can be controlled and you probably won't add them to an inexpensive system like this.

The software doesn't use the name you gave each camera instead uses CH1 for channel 1, etc so when you need to select the cameras for playback you have to remember which channel has the camera you want to view since you can only view 4 at a time out of the 8. But you can playback all 4 cameras at once.

Sometimes I would make changes to the settings and it would save while other times a message pops up and says Failed.

Try to set the password for a user and it maxes out at 6 characters but then you try to save it it says you must have MORE than 6 characters. Then sometimes it does work but you must have 6 characters exactly.

While it says you can assign different types of users I haven't found that. I prefer to be able to differentiate between a local user and a remote user but you can't.

Interesting note

I have to wonder if the Defender and the QSee (and probably other brands) aren't made by the same manufacture and companies buy them up and add software because the hardware is nearly identical (model differences) including mice, remote controls, ports, cabling etc.

Conclusion

I could probably write a book on these things but that should give you an idea. It would cost a considerable amount to set up 8 wireless cameras and a DVR or server; cable type systems like this are much more affordable. On the Defender website this system lists for $800 but on sale for $550 way over priced. Amazon sells it for $400 which is about right for an 8 camera system like this. It does work and will record activity going on giving you some peace of mind.

This Defender Sentinel Surveillance System works well for my needs and is also a very good value. To be perfectly clear, this is not a high-end system with high definition cameras, but it isn't priced like a high-end system either. This is somewhat of a budget system that exceeded my expectations for what you get and how well it works. Here are my observations:

Note: We already own a Zmodo Surveillance System (PKD-DK0865-500GB) used to monitor our small business, so it was easy for me to switch out the main DVR unit and cameras to do a side-by-side comparison. The Defender and Zmodo systems have roughly the same specs and features, but the Defender is a little more expensive (at the time of this review), so is it worth it? The answer for us would be "yes" since the cameras on this system are clearer and have much better night vision clarity and range. I will be making comparisons as appropriate.

Our Use We recently bought an old but very large building for my wife's business and needed a way to monitor the six exits and the retail shop space.

Included:

* Main Control Unit this is a fairly small unit (smaller than most DVD players)

* 8-Cameras these are also fairly small, good physical quality and include mounting hardware

* USB Mouse connects to Control Unit

* Remote Control gives access to all menu functions (batteries included)

* Required Cables 65' Video/Power cables

* Power Supplies one for the Control Unit and two for the cameras (uses splitters to distribute the power between the cameras)

* Window Warning Stickers

* Software CD

Features:

+ Camera; IR Illumination for night vision

+ User configurable Options; Privacy Zones (blackout areas in the display), Motion Zones (areas where motion triggers an alarm)

+ Network Access; Can be viewed by a PC on the local network

+ Alarm Notification; Audible alert and E-Mail capability (which works very well)

+ Display Options; Includes a VGA monitor connection and BNC/video out for TV viewing

+ Remote Control; Really makes it easy to quickly access features

+ Remote User Access; Can be viewed remotely on PC/MAC, iPhone, and Android

Pros:

+ Setup; Basic configuration is very easy

+ Image Quality; Good for basic security needs in both bright and dark settings, better than the Zmodo cameras

+ Night Vision; Surprisingly good clarity and range, also much better than the Zmodo system

+ Value; Lots of cameras and features at a reasonable cost

+ Options; Can be made to do everything we need it to do

+ No Exposed Camera Wires; Wires can pass though the mounting hardware so are hidden and protected, an advantage over the Zmodo mounts, or you can choose to have the wires run outside the mounts if you don't want to put holes through the wall

Cons:

Slightly Washed Out Colors; Colors are somewhat muted, but can be individually adjusted in the controls to get the best possible picture for the lighting condition

Hints/Notes:

* Alarmed Events can be recorded and searched on later

* A 500GB Hard Drive can record up to two years of video on this system

* Placing a camera too close to a window will cause the IR to reflect and blind the camera when it shifts into night vision mode

* Supports PTZ Cameras (not included); we use Zmodo Home Indoor Pan Tilt Surveillance Camera with IR Night Vision for 80 feet

This system covers my needs very well and provides a lot of advanced features that are nice to find on a budget system.

Highly Recommended!

CFH

Buy DEFENDER 21026 SENTINEL 4-Channel Smart Security DVR with 4 Hi-Resolution Outdoor Security Cameras Now

I purchased this item because of the claim of "DVD quality resolution". Once installed did I realize that car license plates still could not be read.

I already owned the Defender SN502-4CH-001 model and the image quality is almost exactly the same! I also had an issue with one of the cameras and called customer support about getting the defective camera replaced .They required that you send the defective camera back before getting a replacement even though I provided a receipt and was under the warranty.

Defender USA also claims that you can record 6 months of footage with the 500 GB hard drive. This claim is a lie. The most you can store is about 4 weeks!

I have always been a loyal Amazon customer and feel disappointed that Defender USA was able to sell its items on this website. From past experience, Amazon customer service has been great but it sometimes falls short when third party companies are involved.

Buyers beware when looking to buy one of these systems. Don't make them same mistake I made.

Read Best Reviews of DEFENDER 21026 SENTINEL 4-Channel Smart Security DVR with 4 Hi-Resolution Outdoor Security Cameras Here

Operating a home recording studio these days makes owning a home surveillance system a must. Along with an alarm this is a necessity now. One major theft and I am out of business. While this system can not prevent a theft, it can record it and has all the capabilities to ALERT me that it is happening.

f you are at all familiar with surveillance/recording system you will soon be right at home with the Defender. The Defender system has everything you need to keep an eye on things, whether you are on premises or off. Very easy communication with your system via the web makes this ideal for checking your home or business while away. Once you set things up on software, you can easily review your recordings or watch in real time from remote locations. The email alert feature is really a smart idea and although I have had no breach in security YET, I am sure to appreciate an electronic "heads up" if the need arises.

The system comes well packaged in two small boxes, one holding cameras and cabling and the other holding the DVR and software. Everything arrived in perfect condition, ready for installation and use. (you obviously need a PC and Monitor to operate this system)

Build quality of the cameras, mounts, and DVR is very good. Cabling is not the thickest but more than serviceable and shielded . Almost all your cabling will be hidden and not exposed to the elements. A basic rule of thumb for the DVR portion of this system is to keep the DVR in a COOL place with PLENTY OF ventilation. Since this is the key component of the system, we keep the DVR in our studio computer room which is climate controlled 24/7.

Installation is not for the timid. If you have any doubts or are just not mechanically inclined, get someone to help you or HIRE a professional at least for the install of the cameras and running of cables. There WILL be holes drilled in your exterior/interior walls as this is not a wireless system.

The documentation is spotty and almost appears to be written in pidgin English. Basically all the info you need is there on disc and on Defenders website AND Defender offers real time chat for any problems you encounter or instruction you may need. (both web and phone support) In my case this system replaces a very antiquated VHS based unit so going all digital was a welcome change and something worth the small learning curve to implement.

Besides remote accessing of the software and 4 channel video output, the other favorite feature of mine is the ability to record viewable video during the night.

Maxwell Smart of CONROL never had anything this sophisticated.

Video quality is more than adequate with 480i at 704 x 480 and by using H.264 compression the picture is pretty crisp and artifact free. A MAJOR improvement from my old VHS based system! Of course accessing your video feeds is very similar to home DVR use as far as random access goes and searching by timer/day.

Currently sold for under $400, this system gives you all the tools you need to keep watch on your home or business, an easy way to access the system from a remote location and provides decent usable video quality both during the day and at night. Coupled with the free tech support offered, the Defender Sentinel 4 Channel system will run rings around any older system and should provide years of service as long as you take care of the DVR.

If you need to know what's going on at all times, this system will do the job for you. (since this is a hard disc based system you always need to remember ALL hard discs eventually fail so a redundant backup system is recommended for critical applications) Very cool and I can easily recommend it.

Want DEFENDER 21026 SENTINEL 4-Channel Smart Security DVR with 4 Hi-Resolution Outdoor Security Cameras Discount?

My use of this system so far has admittedly been just a little silly. I'm not ready just yet to fully install it (partly because I wanted to have a sense of how well it works before I start drilling holes in walls that can't be un-drilled as part of installing it), but I decided to hook up a couple of cameras so that I could get on with testing it. I've been having fun using it to monitor a robin's nest on the back of the house.

It's been a really good way for me to get a sense of how well I could follow what was happening in front of the camera, how well the night vision works, and to test other features like alarms. I was actually able to go into the system's software and designate the area around the nest itself as being of interest, and had the system beeping to alert me whenever the parents came back to the nest to feed their young without giving me false alarms when things moved elsewhere within the camera's view. (It was way more fun as a way of testing than sending someone else out to walk in front of the cameras for me!)

The clarity of the images has really surprised me with how good it is. The colors can be a little off at times, but the clarity is nicer than I expected. You have the option to set the system to different resolutions. It also has the ability to be hooked to a computer monitor, along with 2 connection points designed to use a television as a display.

Overall, I'm very impressed with it so far and I think that it's definitely worth the amount they're charging here. There are a few things that I took off a star for that are mainly interface issues. For example, in the menus in the system there are options available to be checked and unchecked that are not supported by this particular model. There's also plenty of room on many pages that they could have offered slightly more explanation in place of what options meant, rather than requiring you to switch back and forth between the system's interface and a PDF of the manual to figure out what you're doing (or whether you're even doing anything, in the case of the options that are meaningless for this particular version).

These issues are pretty minor because they don't stop you from actually successfully doing anything with the system that you might want to do. They're just an avoidable annoyance that holds me back a from being entirely comfortable with giving it 5 stars for now.

Some Edits for more detail:

The network cable that comes with the system is Cat5e. If you're in doubt about whether this is good enough for the speed of your local network, you're almost definitely fine. Only networks where all of the components are very high speed will benefit from a Cat6 cable. Plan to order one if you happen to need that, though.

I'm still disappointed in the quality of the documentation. The URL they point you to for networking information sends you to a 'we have reorganized our site, start from our main page' page. It wouldn't have taken much effort for them to move you to at least the support page (where you can easily get to networking information) instead of the main page of the site. There are a lot of little spots like that where things could be more polished.

There's good news and bad news on the using-birds-for-testing front. The bad news is that, after I had been watching the babies frequently for more than a week (I got to like glancing over to see what they were up to on the nearby TV while I worked at the computer), they disappeared from their nest a couple of days before they were due to start learning to fly. The good news is that I was able to find out what happened, because the camera captured the entire thing. They were attacked by what appears to have been a rat snake. While it was distressing to lose them and to see the attack transpire on video (it was in the middle of the night, so it was caught on the night-vision mode), I guess that at least proves that you can use this system to find out who's responsible when something bad happens on your property.

Samsung Digimax A6 6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

Updated 2/5/06: My camera fell down and the zoom got stuck and the pictures are having horizontal lines. I think the reliabilty is very poor. Had no complaints until it fell down. I am thinking of buying a canon S80 now.

Original review below:

I bought this camera from radioshack (...). I upgraded from a canon S30. I was holding out for a nice price for a small but versatile camera like the S30. This one seems to perform better in extremes of low light and bright light than my old camera, but the auto white balance was better with canon.

Just took it out of the box and shot some pics. Nice upgrade from my Canon powershot S30. Similar ease of use, much lighter, more image formats (tiff), uses any type of battery (BIG PLUS) even rechargables or the CRs, comes with a rechargable CR battery and charger, which is a nice value. The CR (Li ion) battery, enables users to take up to 380 images in succession according to the website, has to see if this is true.

White balance is slightly warmer than my old S30 camera, gives more reddish hue, will have to fix it in future. In my opinion good value for money.

Uses USB 1.1 for transfering the larger pics, so slower than my old camera during transfers.

Pic quality looks good. Has 32mb internal, holds 11 pics in full resolution jpeg. Less if you use umcompressed. Each pic is 2-3MB in size in jpeg mode. Did not try tiff mode yet, probably will double in size. Now I have to get an SD card, for this as I had a CF card based camera before.

Low light pictures are slightly overexposed in the program mode. Bright light pics are slightly underexposed. I have not used the speciality modes for these pics. All in all almost as easy as using the S30, feels the same, but lighter and more megapixels. I g=have not tried any of the 9 scene modes yet-(Portrait/Children/Landscape, Close up/Sunset/Dawn/Backlight /Fireworks/Beach/Snow).

I have a comparision of pics from my old canon S30 and new Samsung in similar settings if you want to see them check this album out.

Also there is a nice review on dpreview of its cousin the V6. Functions are pretty much the same. Actually cant tell the difference between A6 and V6, as far as I can tell they are the same internally.

It also has the capability to shoot movies at up to 30 frames per second of VGA quality (640x480). This allows stored movies to be played on general TVs, without any deterioration of the image, this is a nice improvement over my canons S30's 340x340 resolution. I read, we can also capture a still picture from movie clips, havenot figured how.

The PictBridge function of the Digimax V6 allows images taken by the camera to be directly printed without PCs. This means we can immediately get clear 6 Mega-pixel pictures, by directly connecting the camera to a printer supporting the PictBridge printing standard.

We can also set any image they want on the default screen of the camera after adjusting the image size. Additional functions such as voice recording with video, solo voice recording, voice memo to add voices to general pictures, and One-Touch playback are listed, but I have not tried them yet.

The A6 provides multiple language support including English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Dutch and some more. It comes equipped with a a nice complement of accessories, including a ok loooking carrying case, USB cable, Charger, Li Ion battery, software driver CD-ROM and a wrist strap.

Samsung's website sucks, does not even list any digital cameras! So I guess firmware upgrade or driver downloads will be a terror.

All in all I am happy with the camera on day one! Served my need in the right price.

Some Extended technical details for the choosy follows:

Sensor

* 1/1.9" Type CCD

* 6.4 million pixels total

* 6.1 million effective pixels

Image sizes

* 2816x2112

* 2560x1920

* 2272x1704

* 2048x1536

* 1600x1200

* 1024x768

* 640x480

Movie clips

* 640x 480

* 320 x 240

* 30 fps, 15 fps

* Recording time dependant on memory card capacity

File formats

* Still Image: TIFF, JPEG (DCF), EXIF 2.2, DPOF 1.1, PictBridge 1.0

* Movie: AVI (MJPEG)

* Voice : WAV (Voice recording max. 1 hour/voice memo in still image max. 10 sec.

Lens

* 38-114mm equiv. (3x zoom)

* F2.7 4.9

* Schneider Kreuznach

Focus TTL autofocus

Focus distance

* Normal: 80cm infinity

* Macro: 30 80cm

* Super Macro: 6 30cm (Wide only)

Metering

* Multi

* Spot

ISO sensitivity

* Auto

* 50

* 100

* 200

* 400

Exposure compensation

* +/2EV

* 0.5EV steps

Shuttter speed 2 1/2000 sec

Modes

* Program AE

* Shutter Priority AE

* Aperture Priority AE

* Manual Exposure

Colour modes

* Normal

* B&W

* Sepia

* RGB

* Negative

Scene modes 9 scene modes

White balance

* Auto

* Daylight

* Cloudy

* Fluorescent _H

* Fluorescent _L

* Tungsten

* Custom

Self timer 2 or 10 sec

Continuous shooting Yes

Flash

* Built-in

* Modes: Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, On/Off, Slow Sync

* Range: (wide) 3.0 m, (tele) 2.0 m

* Recharge time: Approx. 7 sec.

Viewfinder Optical

LCD monitor

* 1.8" TFT LCD

* 115,200 pixels

Connectivity

* USB 1.1

* AV out

* DC-in

Print compliance PictBridge

Storage * SD/MMC card

Power

* 2 x AA alkaline, Lithium, Ni-Mn, Ni-MH, Ni-Cd, Ni-Zn / 1 x CR-V3

* Rechargeable battery : 3.7V Li-ion(SLB-1437)

I own this camera, it's my first digital camera and I've had it for a few years now. It's an alright camera. The shutter is slow. It's horrible in dim situations. But it's pretty good outside, with still subjects. I'm actually looking for another camera. I'm about to go on a trip to Saint Lucia, and I want something reliable that will bring back some great pictures.

Buy Samsung Digimax A6 6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom Now

The camera works perfect, pictures come out neat. I recommend this product to those who love to have "samsung" moments.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung Digimax A6 6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom Here

I like the product it was more than I expected, it included a charger, two rechargable bateries, a bag. Amazing, i strongly recommend it.

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Olympus VG-110 12 MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Zoom Lens (27mm) and 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver)

Good purchase, great for travel, super lightweight and the controls are very user-friendly. Battery lasts a long time and you can easily download photos to your PC without installing the included software.

It was a very nice camera for the $70 I spent on it. It has pretty good pixels, zoom, and is very small (great for your pocket or for a very small handbag). It did worry me however, how light it was. But I am not so worried now, because I even bought the 3 year (Accidental Drop/Handling) Warranty and am very glad I did...it seems pretty truthful and helpful! As for why I bought this camera... I already have a very nice Kodak M580 (even with 8x zoom and 14 mp) but it is very unreliable because it freezes up when I need a picture most. The Kodak, is also very heavy and large. So I decided to buy this small, compact, good camera on Black Friday (for a like $15 discount). I think its pretty great. The buttons are positioned in good places, except for the flash, which you have to get to on the menu (making it a little more difficult for quick snap-shots).

Buy Olympus VG-110 12 MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Zoom Lens (27mm) and 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver) Now

I bought this for my mom to replace her old and slow camera. It is awesome!! The Magic mode is so much fun! I'm kind of jealous, now I want one... It slim, sleek, fast, and just what I was looking for! The colors great too!

Read Best Reviews of Olympus VG-110 12 MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Zoom Lens (27mm) and 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver) Here

I've got too many cameras Nikon d700, d80, SONY NEX, Olympus XZ1. When I read a magazine review, I was for some reason intrigued by this. Then I saw it was on offer. And got it. I love the size. The VG 20, 130 and 140 have more features but is a lot bigger. I like that it's small but not too small. The Minox is darn hard to use, especially the shutter release. This one, I like a lot. Hold it correctly, vertically between first finger and thumb and you can even sneak shots without composing at 27mm. Some reviewer say it's smaller than a pack of cards, maybe so, but I'm trying to fit it into a ciggie box. The VG110 is Bloody Good.

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My previous camera was an Olympus so I wanted to keep it in the family. With minimal time and money, this was my first option as a replacement. I love this camera! It's so lightweight and small and can easily fit in your pocket. Has a lot of cool effects that are easy to navigate: face detection, fish eye lense, negative effect and the coolest of them all.. the panoramic option! Pictures come out crisp and clear with the awesome 12mp. Charges quickly. Just overall a great camera for a great price. Note: I was bummed to find out that this did NOT come with an SD card, so you'll have to buy that separately!

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