Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Shuttle SSD Field Recorder, HD-SDI Input and Output

This product is amazing, but not for my purposes. Let me explain:

Pros: Super easy setup, plug and play, battery powered, super solid design. This device does exactly what it should: hook into your HDMI/SDI stream and records. You could even yank out the SSD, and put in another it would just start recording again! Buttons easy to understand and use. To top if all off, it has a battery in case you are in the field or need a recording fail safe. Records in the highest quality. The design is built rugged and besides the SDI ports sticking out a bit too much, was built strong and I would be very surprised if I could break this, even while traveling.

Needless to say I was very happy with it, till I tried to record for my particular needs.

Cons: This is a broadcast ready, professional device, and did not translate into the world I wanted to use it for, let me explain. I was using this device mainly to record the video out of my Macbook Pro, since I am a video artist and would like an easy external recorder that can take an HDMI signal. It did so, but I found the recordings only came out in the color GREEN. I asked Black Magic support, and received this back:

"-------,

Actually most HDMI outputs are YUV, graphics cards unfortunately tend not to. Normally our devices will handle this conversion automatically for you, but this is not yet working on the Hyperdecks."

....damn. So in summary, if you want this product for a video camera or professional setup, this is for you. But for any recordings of computers/game systems/or anything that only outputs RGB, this is not for you.

Oh well, next time. Had to sadly return. 3 stars for being a great device, but no more since I feel it was not for me and took up too much time to figure out. The limitation I encountered should have been mentioned.

Panasonic HDC-TM20K High-Def Flash Memory Camcorder with 16GB Internal Memory and 8GB Memory Card (

I bought this camcorder to use it during travel. This is my first SD-Card/Flash memory based camcorder. Physically it is very handy, perfectly fits inside my palm, its really light weight with decently sturdy construction. Battery life is ok with the supplied one, for day long tours an extended battery is definitely recommended.

The only reason I am giving it a 4 star is the video quality while shooting in low light. I get a very good quality, saturated and sharp video while shooting in daylight or indoors at daytime. In very low light the video is full of grains, although useable.

Overall, I am satisfied with the camcorder for the price I paid.

Bought this camcorder to record family functions and vacations. Camcorder was easy to use right out of the box. It has a yellow box in the screen that moves with the person you filming to help you keep things centered. It also tells you, on screen, if you are moving the camera to fast.Control buttons are easy to use. If you have real meaty fingers, might be an issue. On screen controls are sweet !!! Zoom is awesome!! Instructions were easy to follow to hook up to tv and computer monitor to show video and stills. Got it for $388.99 on a five minute sale!!!!! What a steal !!!! This is a perfect camcorder for families, you will not be disappointed!

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It's just so, so. The biggest shortcoming is the absence of a microphone out connection. The electronic mic only works under certain conditions and offeres too little control. You are subject to getting unusable video with this camera.

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic HDC-TM20K High-Def Flash Memory Camcorder with 16GB Internal Memory and 8GB Memory Card ( Here

I had a specific use for a High Definition video camera, but didn't want to pay an exhorbitant price. I also found great reviews on the Panasonic cameras, and this one was no exception. I must admit that I haven't had a chance to really try it out as I had intended, as my project that I bought it for, primarily, sort of got "put on hold" for the moment. What pictures I have taken though, look really good, and the ZOOM is really nice and easy to use. I really like the Touch Screen, and the fact that it has a 16 meg card included, as opposed to many that have only an 8 Meg. For the price, though, I suggest you GO FOR IT! I haven't had a chance to try out the software yet, but some reviews say it is marginal at best, but sufficient for the average user. I want to do some Video Editing, which is quite demanding I understand. I have yet to experience that!

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This is a great camera and very small. It takes good movies and a nice touch screen.

NX488 - GE Wireless ShatterPro Glassbreak Sensor

I added 2 of these to my garage. Each one is covering 3 Windows on each side. 20 foot range so be sure were there going before you order. 360 coverage is cool too can put overhead in center if you want. Cover all windows in room. I moved a motion detector and put these up. Keep a cat inside. Instructions are good. Thay came with mine. Just have a installer or dealer code. Can not get into system program without. Thats were the main learns the sincor.

I was skeptical about this unit, but it was included in the security package I purchased so I tried it out. I'm glad I did. This unit works as advertised. Recommended.

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Canon PowerShot SD980IS 12MP Digital Camera with 5x Ultra Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

The SD980 camera is pretty small, and will fit in almost any pocket. Because it doesn't have any significant protrusions, it is easy to take it out of the pocket without accidentally pulling out other things as well. It feels good in the hand, and I personally don't have a problem with the lack of a hand grip or viewfinder. The body is almost all metal, and has a nice feel.

Without boring you any further, let's see the cons and pros of this camera:

The pros:

1. 24 mm wide angle. This is very impressive, and very few compact cameras have it. What 24mm means is that you can take pictures in tighter spaces, take pictures of large groups without moving back too much, and nice landscape shots.

2. The corner sharpness is great. Almost all of the other cameras that I viewed picture samples of have very soft corners at wide angles. Soft corners means that the details in the 4 corners of the picture are poor, and if you view the image at 100%, or if you need large prints, this will show.

3. At ISO 80, the picture is pretty clean. Now you have to understand that most if not all the cameras that use a 12MP 1/2.3" sensor use the same sensor, probably made by Sony. So everything else being equal, the noise is the same for all of them. What is different is how the camera tries to remove the noise (noise reduction). Even at the base ISO (80), there is some noise reduction, which gets rid of most of the noise, but with it some of the detail is lost as well. Canon generally does a pretty good job keeping most of the detail and remove most of the noise (again, at ISO 80). Each camera manufacturer does it differently, and I like the Canon way best. At higher ISOs, even at 200, the detail start disappearing, and more noise is visible. I would not use an ISO over 80, unless if I really, really have to. I'd rather have a low shutter speed and rely on the IS feature, which works pretty well, and take multiple shots hoping that at least one is good.

4. Even though there are no manual controls, you still have AE (auto exposure) and AF (auto focus) locks, both in the still picture and movie mode. You will need to read the manual for how to use them, they are hard to find. AE is enabled in a different way in the still and movie mode. So with AE lock you can sort of simulate a manual shutter speed, by pointing the camera to an area that fits your needs (such as the sky or ground) and engage the AE lock.

5. HD movie, which looks pretty good. It is not using MJPEG, which means that you can get a smaller file size, so more movie can be recorded on an SD card. However, the movie might not play on older (slower) computers. I didn't try to play it on a netbook, but I would not expect it to work well on netbooks.

The cons:

1. There is no hardcover manual. You can get it online, or from the CD that comes with the camera, but it is nice to be able to take a quick reference guide with you in the field, at least until you get used to the camera controls. They wasted a paper with stupid warnings about copyright violations and a useless "getting started" manual, but the hard to find things are in the PDF file. The really useful things, such as AE LOCK, AE Lock during the movie, and AF lock are very hard, if not impossible to find without the PDF file. First I thought those options are not even available in the movie mode, until I read the manual.

2. The macro mode is not very useful, because the minimum focus distance is 5 CM (2"), at 24mm. At such a wide angle, the captured area is pretty big, so you can't get very close.

3. No manual controls, no RAW support. Sure, most people don't need those features, but they don't cost anything, and Canon already has them, they just decided to leave them out. The maximum shutter speed is only 15 seconds, even though it could be as high as 30 minutes. Sure, the image would be noisy, and the amp-glow would get in the way, but why not let people make their own decision whether they accept those trade-offs or not?

4. You can't zoom in the movie mode. That's because the zoom motor is too loud, and it would get recorded in the movie. However, there are situations where you are not interested in the sound, so it would be nice for Canon to give more freedom to the customers.

Some other things to consider:

1. Even though many people think that a 5X zoom camera goes pretty far in magnifying distant objects, what the 5X means is the ration between the focal range in mm. In this case, it is 120mm/24mm. 120mm is a magnification level of just 2.4 times, compared to the human eye (which has a focal distance equivalent of ~50mm). This means that if you are interested in taking pictures of birds or wildlife, this camera might not be good for you.

2. As with any other 12MP camera on a 1/2.3" sensor, anything above the base ISO will be noisy. ISO 1600 is almost unusable, ISO 3200 is even more unusable and the image size is 1600x1200 pixels.

3. The lens is pretty slow at the tele end.

4. There is some low to moderate purple fringing, but better than some other cameras. I am pretty picky about purple fringing and I still like this camera.

To sum it up, this is a very good camera for almost everyone, unless if you need good macro, wildlife, or low light capabilities. I really wish Amazon allowed a 10 stars system, because this camera deserves 9 out of 10. However, I am going to give it 5 stars, partially because I think that despite some of it's flaws, it is a very good camera, and partially because some previous reviewers gave it unfair ratings.

[edited on October 11]

Now that I ported CHDK to some extent so that I can get RAW files, it seems that the camera does some cheating.

At the wide angle, the picture is cropped and some distortion correction is done, then the image is UPSAMPLED (interpolation) to 12MP. That's not very good. However, there is a good side to this, if you use the RAW image (which is pretty distorted, but can be fixed on the PC) then you get an even wider angle, about 22mm or so.

Ok so after reading so many negative reviews about this product, I decided to get my hand on one to find out. Lucky for me a close friend of mine bought it and I got a chance to run through it for a while. After playing with it for hours, I figured out that most of the negative reviews on this product are simply ridiculous and make no sense at all. So here is what I manage to work out with this spectacular camera.

Starting with the EXTERIOR:

The body of the SD980 is sleek, stylish, narrow and thin just like that of the SD960. It feels quite firm and durable for its size. Nothing less than SD800 or SD880 since some people mistaken this body as plastic but it is NOT plastic. The front cover and back is metallic and only the rims around camera has a rubbery feel to it. The buttons got cut short to only 2 buttons for playback and menu along with a dial like all recent SD series. So pretty much after a few minutes I got use to this camera like I was on any of the SD800 or SD880 and SD960. For those with larger hand, holding this camera with 1 hand is definitely will be somewhat of a challenge. There is a slight wavy grid near the playback button that suppose to serve as a grip but it only works for those with smaller hands. My hands are not too big or too small so I could actually use this camera with one hand without any problem.

The MENU & FEATURES:

Canon has replaced their menu with something new. Quite simple, pretty clear where everything suppose to be. All the shooting mode are together, ISO is easy set. Also has custom white balance nearby for those who know how to use it. Everything is push to the left side of the screen and all you have to do is scroll up and down and enter the sub menu to adjust the setting. I really like this layout since it somewhat give the camera a more stylish look on the menu instead of filling up your whole screen with menu and words. Also, Ive seen some of the previous reviews complaining about taking 2-4 steps to delete a picture. FOR GOODNESS SAKE PEOPLE READ THE ON SCREEN TIPS!!! It only take 1 easy step to delete the photo! On your playback screen, if you want to delete a photo all you have to do is press on the screen, drag your finger downward and to the left (backward L shape) and it will delete the image!!! Why would you go into the menu and go down to delete and then enter the sub-menu to delete? Ok so they DO have that option too but using the screen its not that hard! Canon made this camera so versatile that a monkey can work it. So you can scroll through the images in 3 different ways, how can ANYONE complain about that? In playback mode you can simply use the DIAL to press back and forth and navigate through the pictures the traditional way. Then you have the touch screen to slide the photo left right, tap to zoom in and double tap to zoom out. Also you got the motion sensing function, shake the camera up or down to change the image. 1 hand user can do this easily! Same for the Delete functions, there are 2 to 3 ways to can delete an image. So take your time and play with it a bit more to find out all of the functions.

The TOUCHSCREEN:

Canon decided to throw in a bonus touchscreen for this particular model and I must say its something new for the SD series. At first, you might have some awkward feeling since its not as sensitive as iPhone, however this is one of the more recent style of touchscreen where it require a bit more pressure so that you wont ACCIDENTALLY change any setting. Most of the phones now are this type of touchscreen not the iphone touchscreen. The recent Nokia N97 and other new phones like samsung touchscreen ones also used this kind of LCD that require a bit more pressure. After using it for a while I was already use to the touchscreen and flipping photos back and forth quite comfortably. The only problem Ive seen with the touch screen so far is the touch focus, sometime when your focus point is so small the camera dont know what you are trying to focus on but after 2 or 3 tries it does focus. Im getting the hang of it though. Again, as I was mentioning before, the touchscreen is a bonus to the dial pad, it allows you to do what a dial pad can also do but FASTER. So you can delete image, scroll through images, set flash, focus point, anything else with ease by using the touchscreen. I love this camera for this particular feature too.

IMAGE QUALITY:

The main portion of this review, image quality. So some of previous reviews mentioned about fuzzy photos. I dont know what you did wrong but I have my SD880, my sister's SD800 and this D980 side by side shooting the same thing. When I open them up the images is about the same!!! Sharpness is pretty much the same I would say in some cases the SD980 is sharper! and the color is more vibrant than the other 2. Noise isnt so bad at 400 as few has mentioned. You must understand this is a 12mp, so more flaws will be seen at larger size, but to downsize to the same resolution, the images from the SD980 is probably better than the SD800 at most of the time. I have some amazing shots came out during my test play with this thing. The only "Fuzziness" I can see is from the hand shake at slow shutter or no flash mode. But even then i rarely get those, I do have very steady hand from shooting DSLR so I can hand hold this camera at 1 sec. I just love how I can use touch focus on anything anytime and it works well for me. This thing has so much manual functions that Im starting to like it more than SD880 or SD800. So there were a few comments about not having MANUAL. So I checked the SD880 and SD800 manual functions, and this camera can do pretty much everything the same in P mode! It can set Flash, ISO, Long Shutter, EXP Compensation, Slow Sync, Shooting mode, metering, WB, Macro with touch focus is NICE, you can even set how long the long shutter can be, how many shots to take when its on timer mode! Try doing that with the SD800! With such flexible settings I can get some really good images from playing around with these features. If you've only shot AUTO and wrote a review on this camera, I think you should give the camera another look, seriously. The Video is out of the question, crisp and wicked nice! Someone said you cant zoom during video and you hear the motor of the zoom. That is WRONG! YOU CAN ZOOM, for 5x optical, you only hear the motor zooming when you kick in the Digital zoom! I always avoid digital zoom anyways. So The HD video is a plus on this thing. 24mm wide allow me to get some really nice shot, I love the wide angle shot and very useful for me in some cases. Playing with ISO 400-800 I noticed the SD800 and SD880 also have really bad noise as well. To be fair, I also tried resize all of them to the same size of 8mp and sd980 is showing some very impressing image quality at that size. They are point and shoot, obviously they aren't going to deliver amazing photos like 5DmarkII at 3200 ISO. So I think we should cut it some slack and move on with it. It's doing fine and I think this one deliver what canon promised.

FINAL THOUGHT:

So Ive only used this camera from my friend in approximately 2-3 hours and I manage to work out everything he was complaining about (multiple steps to delete, lack of manual, reviewing images, so forth..). Now that he learned more about his new camera he no longer complain about it. He started to use the touchscreen more often as well. I like it so much I just ordered one for myself prior to writing this review. I just think people need to give their gadgets a bit more time as they explore the thing. Just because its a point and shoot doesnt mean you can think you've figure it all out in that first 10 minutes of using it. This camera pack a lot of punch. A lot of features are there but Ive not mentioned them like how you can sort out images, favorite them, tag them, sort it out into categories and folders, and locking images so on. It's an amazing camera. As a person who shoot with a DSLR I must admit this thing is doing great. After I read so many negative reviews here I went on other professional photographers websites who own this particular camera to research more about it and there even was someone who said the image quality is so good he ignore everything else bad about the camera. So again, give it another look before you write the review. The camera was made so that you can have lots of options to work one function. I really dig the touchcreen + buttons combination, excellent thinking from Canon. Overall I give this camera a 5 because it's excellent in image quality and ease of use, battery life isnt too bad either. I also gave it a 5 since I think people who gave it a 1 is not being fair to the camera. This camera can easily take the top standing in its class.

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First of all let me just say that I really wanted to love this camera. The design looks great, it feels solid in your hands, the wide-screen touch screen is fun to use, and the ultra wide angle lens opens up tons of creative possibilities. Sadly I fell out of love very quickly after taking some test shots with this camera.

I compared my test shots to my previous pocket cam, a 6MP Casio which produces satisfactory photos in good light and poor photos in low light conditions.

I love the twilight photos I was able to take with this camera while walking around Union Square in San Francisco. The colors were great, photos had good detail, the street lights sparkled and most of the photos came out relatively sharp thanks to the stabilized lens. I was thrilled that the photos were much better than what I was able to produce with the Casio.

Indoors in the evening the camera work just as well for such a small camera, I took very few flash photos, but all the available light photos I took in a dimly lit living room turned out very well for such a small camera. Sure there was plenty of noise if you looked at the low light photos up close, but over all the immages were ery pleasing to the eye when viewed on a 1080P, 52" HDTV.

Then I took the camera outside on a sunny day. Colors were decent, but the photos were very soft as if the lens were dirty. This was especially noticeable when taking photos of trees, flowers, grass.... anything detailed looked blurred, buildings and people looked fine. Daytime photos also lacked contrast, giving them a very flat quality. I tired different settings, I activated the enhanced contrast setting, it helped a little. I activated the foliage setting and it improved the detail as well, but my old Casio still produced better photos in auto mode when compared side by side on my HDTV. I left the camera on auto ISO mode and most of the daytime photos were taken at 80 to 120 ISO.

Canon made a good camera when they designed the SD980, I just think they stuffed too many pixels into such a little camera and as a result the photos are very noisy, lack detail, and exhibit poor dynamic range.

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Do NOT make conclusions on this camera based on your first impressions! After initially using this camera, I prepared a review that was going to blast it into the ground, and I was ready to return it. I decided to hold off and play with it some more, and I'm glad I did.

Background:

I'm no avid photographer, nor am I a digital camera expert. I owned a Canon SD800 for a 2+ years and loved it. All of my friends have Canons and they were all impressive (SD550, SD790, SD1100, etc), but the SD800 was the perfect camera to me. Perfect size, weight, comfort, speed, functionality, and durability. It was extremely practical yet very efficient, all the while managing to look stylish and produce great results. I've come to expect these characteristics from all Canons, so I had pretty high expectations when I bought the latest and supposed-to-be greatest in the Elph series.

Picture quality: Out of the box, you might be disappointed. The Auto mode is underwhelming at best, and at worst, just bad in indoor/low light situations. You might as well not even use Auto mode. Thanks to some very helpful tips from another reviewer ("Radu Privantu"), with the right settings, this Digital Elph can take spectacular photos. Turn down the Sharpness and Contrast, and play around with the exposure. Also, like Radu P pointed out in his review, your best bet is to remain in the lower ISO settings (I have great results with ISO 80). These settings have consistently produced the best results.

Long Shutter mode makes shooting good low-light photos a reality, provided you have a steady hand and a steady subject.

Design: From most angles, this camera is as sleek and stylish as any other Canon. From the back, the overall design and specifically the button area looks very plain and almost toy-ish. It has a nice size and weight to it (though it is slightly longer and more narrow than other cameras). A few things though make me feel like I have to handle the camera with extreme caution. For one, there are no distinct grooves or anything to rest against your fingers. Also, the texture of the camera itself has very little friction or grip, so it feels like it can slip out of your hands. At least on the SD800 I could use the mode dial as a grip point for my right thumb, but this camera has no such luxury. There is the D-pad, but it'd be hard to use that as the grip point because I'd accidentally press a button. I don't see myself taking too many one-handed snapshots with this one because of this.

Menu system: They swapped their old tried and true menu system (cross-style, red and black) for something that is little more aesthetically pleasing but slightly less practical. Some things you're used to finding in one area will be found in another. Not a problem for the most part but it may require a few extra menu sequences. For instance, the delete function (using the D-Pad) requires a 4 button sequence (SET-->SET-->RIGHT-->SET) versus the previous 2 button sequence (DOWN-->SET, or was it DOWN-->RIGHT-->SET?). Not a huge deal, but after using Canons for so long it might be difficult to adjust.

Also worth noting, navigating through the menus or scrolling through photos is not as snappy as previous Elphs.

Touchscreen: I'm not crazy about touchscreen gadgets myself because of how impractical they are versus a set of keys or buttons. That said, I found it functional and efficient for the most part. I opted for the SD980 because it offered both the D-Pad and the touchscreen controls (kudos to Canon for that), but I do prefer using the D-Pad. I didn't have any problem bouncing back and forth between the two like some online reviews said they did.

I originally wanted to call the touchscreen what it is, a blatant gimmick... But it's much more than that. The touch focus feature is a godsend! Great for shots that you can't count on the autofocus to render. The touchscreen also allows for some on-the-fly adjustments, such as exposure, though I wish they would've utilized more of the screen real estate (along the black side bars) to add more on-the-fly adjustments. Would've liked more flexibility with the four Street Fighter-esque playback gestures. They're customizable, but they don't offer a large array of options you can set it to.

The LCD quality is average. At 3" you expect to be blown away with a bright, crisp picture, but output can be fuzzy. This is to be expected though, and it is how most touchscreen gadgets are.

The screen itself is a smudge magnet. And it doesn't sink in very far from the surface of the camera, leaving it more vulnerable to scratches. Not sure how scratch-resistant it is but I'm not going to use mine to test it ;). I bought a 3" screen protector but it ended up being way too small, so be wary of purchasing one.

There is also some light bleeding out of the edges of the screen. Not really noticeable unless the onscreen picture is dark.

Active Display: Useless piece of technology. I'd rather Canon not waste their time and effort to give us the ability to flick our camera around like a Wii remote just to scroll to the next image. It takes impractical to a whole new level. Yeah, it will ooh and ahh your friends, but I could never imagine using it when I just want to scroll through pictures. Especially taking into account that the camera has little grip (and it's not like you're always going to have the wriststrap on at all times). Someone just might end up tossing this thing into a wall. This feature doesn't directly take anything away from the product, and you can even turn it off, but I'd rather Canon put their efforts towards something a bit more useful.

Battery life: Decent, but haven't taken it through a real world test of all-day use. So far, I'd say it's what you'd expect in battery life when dealing with a large touchscreen and HD video. Something else to note is that the battery and in turn the camera get HOT. Not burning hot, but I don't remember older Canons getting this hot.

Video: Pretty HD. It does what it needs to do. Contrary to popular belief, (1) you CAN zoom, and (2) you can record longer than 10 minutes, depending on the size of your memory card of course. Also something to note, the sound that is recorded while operating the zoom dial isn't a dealbreaker, but know that it is there and it is noticeable.

Final thoughts:

The Canon SD980 does have some shortcomings, but it also does a ton of things right. Any product should perform at its best right out of the box, but don't let that take away too much from what this product's best could be with the right tweaks, because it stands up admirably against other upper tier point-n-shoots. The touchscreen turned out to be more than just a gimmick, with 'touch focus' being the best feature any of the Digital Elphs have to offer, IMO.

I recommend this camera to anyone WILLING to give it a chance and not write it off after the first 10 minutes of use. You won't regret it.

Other thoughts:

I think many of the bad reviews out there are a bit unfair. Does it really deserve 1 out of 5 stars just because it doesn't meet YOUR expectations? Only an off-brand Walmart-exclusive camera that takes no better pictures than my cell phone should warrant a 1 star rating. Taking into consideration what this camera offers compared to other PnS cameras with similar specs, no legitimate review should be under 3 stars. I know everyone has their own opinion, but look at it realistically. If you feel this camera deserves 1 star or even 2, what would you rate the aforementioned off-brand Walmart camera? Please use perspective when reviewing. I officially rate this camera a 4/5, but I'm going to give it a 5 to balance out the ridiculous 1-star ratings.

***EDIT 9/17/09 Uploaded some sample pictures to Amazon's gallery. I was just messing around with some of the different modes.

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I am a commercial photographer for 10+ years and I buy these pocket cameras because I want a camera with me at all times. They are Wonderful up until this one. I've had the 500, 600, 630, 800, 870 and now the 980. LOVE them ALL except the 980.

I bought this to replace my 870 which has been the best (IMHO) of the Canon line so far.

I liked the HD video idea, loved the wider lens however.... I got one and sent it back realizing the IS really doesn't work. the 870 was amazing hand held at 1". The 980 is not working, so I returned it Amazon's return is wonderful. The new one same thing, so it is either me or they are both broke or Canon went backwards on their Image Stabilization.

Picture quality I assumed would be better with the Digic 4 chip not near as vivid as the 870 chip. The images I find are "gray" in color not contrast.

Overall I can't wait for another Canon wide angle to come out so I can replace this. I would wait to buy or buy another model. The 980 is a disappointment and Canon should kill it and update it. My experience and 2 cents.

Nikon D5100 16.2 MP Digital SLR Camera & 18-55mm G VR DX AF-S Zoom Lens with 55-200mm VR Lens +

This is a great package for the price. I am a new photographer and after spending countless hours researching all the different kits available this kit came with everything and more that I needed to start taking great pictures. Highly recommend for anyone just starting and looking for a kit that has it all.

This package is incredible and came in a timely fashion. The only issue I have had is with the remote. I could not get it to work with the D5100. In frustration I decided to read the fine print on the remote's box and saw though many other Nikon DSLR cameras were listed the D5100 was not on the list. Just a heads up. The remote is practically free with this package though and is still worth every penny. I am not too sure if they just put the wrong remote in my package or not, but again for 2 bucks I can purchase the correct remote. No biggie.

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Everything arrived nicely as stated description from the order. Everything was well packed. The camera worked amazingly well. I didn't even have to use the flashlight at night. As the new beginner for DSLR, I probably wouldn't be able to describe all the technical detail about the camera. All I can say is, I wish I switch to it sooner if it weren't so pricy! The color was so crisp. The action mode was smooth with 4 frames/sec. The effects mode was fun to work with. The combination package was great for the beginner like me and it's a good deal as well. The only thing is it gets bothersome sometimes to haul this camera on a hike especially when you have to climb, but I have to say, it worth every moment because my picture from Zion National Park and Grand Canyon was amazingly beautiful. Now I have to finish the book "Nikon D5100 for Dummies" so I know how to use other modes instead of the preset one. I would say even though you don't know how to use manual mode, the preset one still great!!

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This is the second camera that I have purchased from Cameta Camera. Both were the Nikon 5100 and they did an outstanding job on packaging and follow up with my purchase(s). My first camera package that I ordered was in great shape. The camera bag itself had a manufacturer defect in the stitching where the fabric had not been stitched to the bag itself. I notified Cameta via email and in just a few minutes they replied back and sent me a new bag. This camera is used for personal use and the second camera package that I bought (different from the first package) is used for work. I did a ton of research online and on Amazon.com about the 5100 and the 3100. If you can afford the extra 150 or so dollars I would highly recommend the 5100 for what it has to offer. I did not think that I would use the swivel screen on the back of the camera and I find my self using it more and more. Both cameras were delivered before the promise date. The tripod is okay but I probably will not use it as I have a few heavy duty tripods. I probably will not use the card reader as my computers have a card reader already installed. I think for the money this is a good starter package.

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This is my first DSLR so I have nothing to compare it to except my parade of PHD (Press Here Dummy) point-and-shoot cameras with barely adequate optics, etc.

First of all, look for a bundle when you can because there is no retailer that will come close to matching the prices.

I am very technical but still had to face the User's Manual because this camera is so sophisticated. I strongly recommend that new owners RTFM (Read The Fine Manual) before venturing out for a photo-shoot. I did and am glad to admit it.

I won't even try to comment of the technical specifications of this beauty, except to say it is far more camera than I will ever use, so I am happy to learn and grow into it slowly.

The loudest recommendation comes from my technophobe wife (the main user of the PHD point-and-shoot camera) because once I showed her a few of the D5100 features, she was out snapping away and composing some really beautiful shots (mostly while we vacationed in Napa Valley).

So if you can afford the step up from the D3100 and don't mind the slightly larger picture file size, this is an excellent choice in DSLR cameras.

C2G / Cables to Go 40321 Velocity HDMI to DVI-D Digital Video Cable (3 Meter/9.8 Feet)

I bought this cable to connect my Playstation 3 to an HDTV set that has only DVI (I think it's DVI-I) but no HDMI. This cable works beautifully. Image quality is really good. The price just can't be beat.

You should be aware that while HDMI carries both audio and video, DVI is video only, so you still need to route the audio to your TV somehow. For example, I use an optical digital audio cable to do that (together with an expensive converter box as my old HDTV set doesn't have an optical input).

The cable connects my MacBook Pro DVI output to a HDMI input on my new digital TV and gives great quality photo display. Cable length does not seem to be an issue at all.

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I purchased this cable to connect a PC to Samsung S4095D HDTV. And the cable worked great; but.. be warned that connecting PCs to HDTVs (via DVI/HDMI) is fraught with lots of pain. The main problem is that the PC desktop is cut off so the borders are not visible; not a problem in movies, but totally breaks games.

While you will find lots of people on internet forums who have "made it work", I spent days twiddling drivers and settings and never managed to make it work. The difficulty in making this work seems to be some (undocumented) property of the HDTV. In my case, I assumed that "has HDMI port" meant that I could use this cable to make DVI work.

In the end I switched back to using a VGA cable which looks fine and worked the first time.

So, the cable worked and was cheap; but it may not be the right solution to the problem (connecting a PC to your HDTV) which one would think is its primary purpose of existence.

Read Best Reviews of C2G / Cables to Go 40321 Velocity HDMI to DVI-D Digital Video Cable (3 Meter/9.8 Feet) Here

This cable was dirt-cheap and did exactly what I wanted it to do: connect my MacBook Pro to my TV. Couldn't be happier with the price or the quality.

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My ATI card has VGA and DVI output. I wanted to view PC video on my new plasma. I first tried through DVI to S-video. While it work, the picture wasn't nearly what I had hoped for. I then ordered the DVI to HDMI cable. WOW! Picture is rock solid and everything I had hoped for.

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MOBI MobiCam Ultra 900 MHz Monitoring System with SW Power

This product really needs to back to the design board. I am a new father and thought this would be an amazing addition to the collection of baby products that we invested in. however no, it is not. the IDEA of it is great, but in practical applications it is of little use.

The audio it sub par. for a produt that cost nearly 200 dollars and it labeled with the ULTRA classification one would expect amazing performance. however it is quite lackluster. The audio is something that has been mastered by other baby monitor manufacturers so one would expect that this one would be too. Not so. The audio is unusable. I had to go and purchase a 30 dollar baby monitor to hear my child.

The Video. well, that is what this product is for right? well, good luck. I happen to live in New York city so the is interference all around. as well as a WiFi network in my apartment. In this day and age of everything wireless one would expect a product costing 200 dollars to have some sort of RF rejection circuity to make sure that the signal to get through to the unit. Not so. I understand that it is on the 900Mhz spectrum which should not interfere with the 2.4 Ghz spectrum of Wifi and cordless phones. but no, the video constantly rolls and is barely usable. The Night vision is a nice idea, however the IR lights that help the night vision work are too strong, so the image is blown out when trying to place the camera at a distance where one can see the eyes of the little one to know if they are awake. So then placing the unit at a distance so that the night vision actually works puts the camera too far away to see their eyes in the day time. it is a toss up.

Overall i am very dissatisfied with this product. It functions only now to be used in addition to a 30 dollar baby monitor to see if the little one is moving around. not as the primary monitor, which i thought it would be.

The video sounds cool and is a neat idea, but a webcam might be a better option if you have a computer.

plus the receiver unit/video mointor EATS batteries. It should have an option to just use the microphone, that way it would be more economical.

My husband and I purchased the Mobicam 70007 to use as a baby monitor (although, it can be used for other things). I really wanted the video portion so I could see my son at night and not have to panic running into his room to make sure he was ok. It helps me sleep well since I can just open my eyes and see him (even when he was in our room in the pack and play, I had to get up and walk over there to see him...so this is way easier). The picture is fairly good as long as you don't have any "interference" (like a cordless phone, microwave, running fan, or anything else like that around). I find it gives a lot of static at times, which is frustrating.

There are two things everyone should be aware of:

1) Mobi's customer service is non-existent. I wrote in with a simple question over a month ago and never heard back. That is UNACCEPTABLE to me. Not even an auto-generated response. This alone will keep me from buying any more of their products since they obviously don't care about you once you buy from them.

2) You will need to keep the camera AND receiver/monitor both plugged in almost all the time. The camera is easy to plug in, but the monitor eats through batteries. So while it seems convenient to have it be wireless and portable, you'll have to change batteries literally every day! But, keeping it plugged in most of the time is ok.

Overall, this product does what it needs to do and helps me sleep at night. I'm just disappointed in the "service" from Mobi, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth after spending a good deal of money with them for a product I had to wait a month to get.

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The system would get 5 stars if not for interference it gets almost non-stop.

I don't own anything else in the 900Mhz range, yet the system receives so much static sound that it's almost unusable. I have used 900Mhz/2.4Ghz/5.8Ghz phones and none of them ever had this kind of static.

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I echo the previous comment. We bought this unit so we would be able to see our daughter in her crib while she slept. In reality all we were able to see was "snow" on the camera and we had to keep the volume all the way down so we wouldn't hear the static from the unit. The only time we were able to get a clear picture was when the camera and the receiver were in the same room together. I wrote to their tech support and all they could tell me is that there was interference with something else in our house.

We have since spent a little extra money and purchased an AVTech Solutions monitor with much better results. The screen is bigger and the images are much clearer. It is well worth the extra money.

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I returned this monitor after 2 days. I could not get it to stop crackling (popping static sound) intermittently. Also, if you don't have the camera wall mounted, in order to use the night vision option, you have to lift the camera and move a button under the unit. This is not practical since you run the risk each time of not repositioning the camera correctly. Then you have to set the switch again in the AM. This just wasn't the product I expected for this price.

Genius Colorpage-SF600 Sheet fed Scanner

This is a great little scanner. It scans anything from a business card up to at least a letter size page. I haven't tried a legal size page. I did have a hard time getting it to run on my computer which has the Windows 7 operating system. I was basically trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. After about 2 hours I finally got smart and went to the company site, , and downloaded the correct drivers. From there it was a cinch, only took about 2 minutes to have it up and running. I recommend if you are running Windows 7 that you download the proper drivers first. It will save you a lot of frustration.

I recently purchased this scanner mainly because it was portable and I do alot of traveling that requires my receipts to be scanned and sent in. So far, so good. The installation was not as easy as they claim, however, I have been known to be computer-illiterate at times. But once I got it up and running it worked great. Be sure to change the settings of where you want your files to be saved in(which folder). I scanned the receipts right in and they did well. It was suggested to tape them to a piece of paper but I did not find that necessary. In addition, the holding dock has an empty bottom so you can store the USB cord inside. NOTEThis scanner also comes with a soft case so there is no need to buy the "recommended" case with it for $16.00. I hope this helps everyone. This was the cheapest scanner with the best reviews and I think it does it's job.

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the Genius Color page sf600 scans in good speed and takes very little desktop space. The image on the page is wrong and this is why the previous customer thought he received the wrong product and had to return it. I can scan jpeg and convert it to pdf format. Pretty handy. Scans letter size document too.

Read Best Reviews of Genius Colorpage-SF600 Sheet fed Scanner Here

Physically seemed like a nice piece of hardware but it simply didn't work. Installed the drivers from the web rather than the disk so I would be sure to have the latest version. Seemed to install properly and asked me to do a calibration after install. Since the calibration ran fine I assumed install was correct. When I tried to scan I got images that looked like digital noise. Tried multiple times with the Digiscan software, omni page, and with the Business card reader. Never got anything but noise. Tried to call tech support but they were closed. Software seemed cumbersome anyway. Decided to just return it. Am going to try the Fujitsu ScanSnap 1300. More money and larger but hopefully will work better. Scanners aren't rocket science and they aren't new so I don't know why they shouldn't just work right out of the box.

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I looked a while for a sub $100 compact scanner for my desk. (I already have a big expensive bulky flatbed I drag out of storage and use for slide and serious image scanning.) I wanted to use this to get all those everyday loose papers and receipts in electronic format and trash the paper and eliminate paper piles.

As described the unit is compact and powered by the USB cable so it has a minimal footprint on your desk and doesn't consume an outlet. Along with the provided software it has two hardware buttons you can preset for one touch scanning. I have one set to scan as OCRed PDFs and the other to scan jpg. You simply press the button and it scans according to the buttons presets. You can also manually scan and use software button presets. It pulls the items right on through at a good pace and they display in the supplied scan/document management tool. From there you can sort your scans as you desire.

I did have to cajole the driver a bit to install on Windows 7 but I finally got it installed (So don't give up)

For under $100 I could not be more pleased with the performance and options.

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Belkin NetCam HD Wireless IP Camera for Tablet and Smartphone with Night Vision and Digital Audio (

This was incredibly easy to set up, and the only thing I am using it for is to see who is at the front door (I live in an upstairs apartment). The camera is fairly well-suited to that task, and it seems to stay connected just fine with my iPhone 4, but I'm not actually using it that often or asking that much of it. The video quality suffices to show me whether it's the UPS driver or a person here to give me a copy of Watchtower.

What the camera supposedly *does* but doesn't do well:

It's not good for video chatting. The video quality, while supposedly HD, is considerably worse than the front camera on my iPhone 4, and audio is lousy.

Motion sensitive security: way too sensitive and annoying.

Recording video: Nope. It's like a strobe sequence in a horror movie. Just, nope.

Bottom line -> this is not a good value in an IP camera. As of this writing, it is every bit as expensive as the higher quality cameras that are available. If it were selling for about 1/3 of its current price, I would add a star for value. At its current price, it gets three stars for mostly serving its purpose.

*Update 6/15* thanks to a commenter, I did get it to work with ISpy, by updating the camera list in the wizard (off to the right, for some reason even with the latest software, all the cameras weren't listed), and then I could use the wizard to set it up. This also showed me the extra info that was necessary to also get it to work with IPCamView basically http://admin:admin@[camera ip adddress]:80/goform/video. Basically the admin:admin is the username and password, then @ipaddress of the camera then :80 for the port that it streams thru. Using this I think you might be able to set it up with any other camera monitoring software or app you choose, altho I haven't been successful configuring it with anything besides ISpy yet. I gave it an extra star for that to bump it up to a 3 star rating. The hardware aspect of this camera is great, the optics are good and build quality is about what you'd expect, but it doesn't perform well in low light, and there is no way to adjust the brightness/contrast (I would really like to see belkin add image settings and even an option for auto image setting that could automatically adjust the brightness/contrast based on current lighting conditions). Also the software for this camera is severely lacking in advanced features such as saving to an ftp server, setting up motion detection zones, etc..

Wow i saw the other reviews, but thought, surely it can't be that bad. It is. The app has virtually no functions and no options. I thought, well, that's okay, I can use it with IPCamView or even Blue Iris on my computer BUT NO it is NOT COMPATIBLE with any other software and apps that almost every other IP camera is compatible with. WHY? Why did they choose to limit it like this and render it virtually unusable. You can't even adjust the image, or set motion detection zones.

The app is so basic that you can only log in, and view the camera. If you go into settings you can turn the audio on or off, turn the IR on or off, turn image auto adjust on or off, and set emails on or off and that's pretty much it! This camera and it's pitiful app mean that it is only good for real time viewing forget about it if you want to record anything automatically or use it for any kind of home security. Maybe Belkin will wise up and add some better features in the future, but as it is, this camera is really not good for much other than viewing real time activity. And because it's not compatible with other software besides Belkin's own, you can't use it to mix and match with other cameras in your home security system. Trendnet and Foscam both have similar cameras that have all the features this is missing. IE the ability to record to SD card or computer when motion is detected, the ability to use it with any software and app that you prefer and I believe both of them are similar, if not cheaper in price than this Belkin. I may be trying one of those two for my next WIFI camera. The logitech alert cameras are more expensive, but also have a much higher feature set than this, as well as really nice desktop software for recording activity and scheduling alerts, etc.

Motion detection alerts seem to work okay and it will email you two frames at the time it is triggered, but again, since this is meant for phone/tablet use only, why only email alerts? There should be an option to have it send push notifications so you can look right away and not have to wait for an email to come thru. And without it having the capability to automatically record when motion is detected, it is useless unless you happen to be able to drop everything and go into the app and press the record button. If someone breaks into your house forget it, you cannot have it record them ripping off your stuff so you can give the video to the police. This makes it basically a glorified nanny cam or pet cam. And if that's all you want it for, I would get something a lot cheaper than this.

Also, at this price point, I feel like it should have an sd card slot to record motion events to, but unfortunately it does not.

These Belkin cameras seem to be released prematurely they advertise easy setup, and sure that is true, it is easy to setup because they are so limited in functionality. I think they are planning on these cameras as part of a whole home automation system, but right now I would say they are in pre-beta stage and have a lot of work to do they are starting out with less than other makers have had available for years. I'll be interested to see if they improve functionality of these over time.

It does deserve at least one star, because it is so simple to setup that any novice user can do it, and for those that don't want to have to mess with port forwarding, dynamic dns, etc but still want to view their camera from anywhere, then maybe this is the best option and they won't mind all the missing features.

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I have a half dozen different wifi cameras in my house. This is the easiest to set up. It has you create an adhoc wifi network with you iphone, then it simply attaches itself to your wifi network. It all runs through an iphone app. The antenna is internal, so not very good.

The camera gives a decent picture looks pretty HD to me. Colors are accurately reproduced.

The app is not optimized for the iphone 5, so it clips the top and bottom. There is no dedicated ipad app, so only a tiny window iphone emulation.

I cannot figure out how to access the camera using other software I can only get it to work through the Belkin app.

The app itself is pretty bare bones. There are no brightness controls. There is no portrait orientation (only landscape). You cant even pinch to zoom. Audio streaming is patchy at best maybe due to a weak signal. When recording video, the frame rate drops to an unusable level.

The app allows you to do motion detection, but that is completely useless. Even at the least sensative setting it detects every minor movement of a cloud changing the lighting in the room a tiny bit. And the emails it sends you are all have the incorrect time in the subject unless you happen to be in CA, which the camera knows I am not.

I give this three stars. It has potential to be four or even five if the software were improved.

The setup was very easy, so that is a major plus.

Read Best Reviews of Belkin NetCam HD Wireless IP Camera for Tablet and Smartphone with Night Vision and Digital Audio ( Here

UPDATE 6/12/13:

I have successfully connected this camera to ISPY as an IP Camera. There are numerous posts on the Belkin forums that describe how this works basically you'll connect to the IP address of your camera like this: http://[ip address]/goform/video. Username/password is: admin/admin. Not very secure, right? ISPY will connect to this style of camera with no issue just use the Wizard and select Belkin / HD NetCam and you should have no issue. I can't speak to connecting this to things like webcamXP, but it should be a similar process.

PRO:

Night vision is excellent with this camera. Visibility can be set to day/night or auto and the camera will automatically switch when the light level is too low for normal vision.

Responsiveness is quick...movement on the camera is reflected in the mobile app within about 2 seconds, and does not have any significant lag time.

Application works on both apple and android products, and is quick and easy to install and use app is fast and has all the relevant configuration options for the camera plus live view and share.

CON:

Like other network cameras this one can't be connected to a home surveillance system like a webcamxp or ispy camera device. It creates its own wireless network (which you can't completely customize), and so you must use the Belkin app in order to view the video. This is a huge downside if you already have a home camera solution and just want to add a night-vision camera to it. So if you have a solution, this is a second solution vs. an add-on.

Installation is very quick and easy the camera creates a wireless network that you connect to and configure using the interface, plus the app that you download from either iTunes or Google Play allows for configuration. You can turn audio on/off and quality settings as well.

We accidentally left the phone connected to the camera's wi-fi network after config and wondered why we had no internet access just remember to connect it to your home wi-fi and then move back to your normal setup. You might have to look at the channels of your wi-fi network and move things around so you don't have overlaps, because the camera default isn't configurable as far as I have found. That's another CON for me. I like to fully customize anything on my network, right down to the nitty-gritty.

I took two points away for the network inflexibility...otherwise the quality of the camera is very good and in both day and night mode it provides a clear picture with very smooth quality over a mobile connection (4G and wi-fi tested).

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Love how all the Belkin people have rushed in to thumbs-down my review. Typical.

Let's begin. First off all, this is not made by Belkin. It's an off-label brand that they have rebranded as their own. Yet it actually has less functionality than the off-label product.

Pros:

The video preview quality is decent. That's it.

Cons:

The software crashes all the time.

A 3-second animation plays every time you open the app, even if the app was just idle!

The camera keeps losing the connection to the iPhone app, so you need to quit the app and relaunch it constantly.

The video recording on the software is limited to about 2 frames per second.

The buttons for recording or taking a photo have childish sounds attached to them and they can NOT be turned off. Even if you put your phone on silent.

The recording of video stops at random places, probably caused by notifications on your phone.

You have to sign up for their service, giving them a username, email and password in order to use the camera. There is NO way around this. This means at any time Belkin can watch your camera!! Now wait a minute, you think this won't ever happen? After I sent 3 emails through the app to Belkin, a notice popped up on the screen of my iPhone stating:

Logged out!

There has been a log-in of the same

username and password from

another computer device.

They were looking at my camera!!!!

SEE the photo I added above!!

I sent it back within 3 hours. You will too.

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Olympus FE-3010 12MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.7 Inch LCD (Black)

This camera is a great value, with many shooting options and a compact size. I intend to use it for snapshots and I'm evaluating it as such.

The main reason I'm writing this review is to share some information about its video capabilities:

The camera can record audio but does not have a speaker, so in-camera playback will not have audio.

This camera does not include an XD memory card, and to store anything beyond the pathetic internal memory you will need to purchase one. XD cards can be type M, M+, or H. Type M has an access time too slow to let the highest-quality video write to the card, so you can only record 10 seconds of video in this case. I contacted Olympus and they confirmed that the M+ and H type cards circumvent this problem, allowing you to fill the entire XD card with movie data if you wish to.

This camera is a great buy! Everything you need comes in the package, except you'll have to buy an additional memory card (about $16 for 2GB). It works great and takes good pictures at night, in action, or for everyday use. It's small to fit in your pocket and has a new, sleek look. The settings are advanced and allow for every type of shooting. As a college student, this is a perfect camera. I have had no problems with it thus far.

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Good camera, very easy to use, very large screen. Only one flaw: the battery life is rather short and needs to be recharged quite often.

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I don't want to labor the points made by previous reviewers, but, the battery life is poor. The lack of sound on video is also an irritation. As someone else said, the picture quality isn't really that good; one shouldn't need to have the camera on the highest resolution possible to get just passable picture quality.

Positives: Lightweight; compact; more than reasonable software bundle and easy to use. Good zoom and image stabilization. Easy to navigate menu.

Negatives: Poor picture quality; non-standard memory card (have to mess with an adapter). Preferred shooting mode does not seem to save; every time you power on, you are back to the default. No sound on video. Poor battery life (it should not die from a full charge after shooting just 6 minutes of video).

I persevered with this camera for a couple of months. The bottom line for me was that the picture quality was much poorer than cameras very much older and far less expensive. This is probably the first and last Olympus camera that I will ever own.

I have since bought a Sony DSC-T90 and really, I could not be happier. I just wished that I hadn't wasted money on the Olympus FE-3010.

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Honestly my iPhone takes better pictures. I can't really recommend this to anyone, but it is pretty simple to use. I figured out every option in about 20 minutes, so it seems intuitive. However I would really get something else, I only have this because it was free.

CIB CUC8795-4 Four 600TVL Outdoor CCD Bullet Infrared Day Night Security Came...

nice cameras great shipping would recommend. i ordered 4 and i love them very clear. night vision is good. so far no problems . am going to install these same cameras for my neighbor

I have installed at least 30 of these in different applications. I had only 1 failure which the vendor promptly corrected. The image quality is comparable to cameras costing three times as much.

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Canon DC22 2.2MP DVD Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

While I have some reservations about this camcorder, I believe that it is the best mini-DVD recorder for most people.

Briefly: this camcorder is easy to use, can take decent pictures and excellent video at a reasonable price.

Number one on my list was that it needed to be easy enough for my technophobic wife. Operation is as simple as 1,2,3,4: Turn it on, put in a blank DVD, press record/stop, finalize the disc.

There are a plethora of manual controls if you want to go beyond auto mode. You can choose from two manual modes: scn & P. Scn is for an intermediate user who knows what the outside conditions are but isn't ready to control every aspect of shutter speed, white balance & so forth. There are 8 scn settings, including sports, snow, fireworks and night. The expert user can select P mode and can control even the most obscure settings. I prefer to use auto mode most of the time and when appropriate switch to scn.

Now, inspite of my 5-star rating, the DC22 isn't perfect. I'm very concerned that one of my kids will get ahold of it and it will be sionara. It is delicate. There is a lot of technology crammed into this small camera. Another gripe is that the joystick is difficult to use. You use the joystick frequently because it is the primary way to navigate the menu screens and change your settings in the function screens. I frequently have to repeatedly press down on the joystick before it will take. While these are major issues, I made my rating based on the competition.

Sony gets the ratings in most magazines. I disagree. Sony camcorder use propietary technology such as the Sony memory stick which you don't find at every Walmart & Target. Also, the reviews will tell you that the Sony's that offer still photography aren't much better than a cell phone. When it comes to the lense & the chip technology, Canon holds its own. And, personally the Canon feels better in my hand. But, you can be the judge of that.

Briefly, about the still quality: It is as good as you can find on a camcorder. However, the colors often appear more vibrant than they really are and the still detail is not as good as even a 3.2 megapixal Canon camera. I prefer the prints over a disposable, but I would rather have a Canon Powershot model for this duty.

Here are some other nice features. It uses mini-SD cards. You should have no trouble finding 1-2 gig cards that will handle 1,000-2,000 stills at one time. It includes a standard usb cable for transferring stills. It includes a cable that does have a proprietary camera end but the other end has standard AV attachments for plugging into a tv or other video device. With this cable you can transfer video data either way. It also has a rechargeable battery that lasts 1 1/2 hours and a power cable that can be used for recharging and for general operation of the camcorder.

As far as the media type, DVD-R, it is the standard. Why would anyone get a mini DVD camera that uses other formats? DVD-R is what will play on your home DVD player. If you recorded on DVD+R or even DVD+/-R DL (this recorder can use DVD-R DL) you would be limited to playing your DVD's on this DVD player or loading them onto your pc and editing them. If that's your gig, the editing software is easy to use and can create professional looking event DVD's.

I recommend this camcorder for most people. If you prefer to edit your videos and create a final product with the highest quality video possible, it is still no match for mini DV players. But lets face it, my wife wants to point and shoot and play it for friends without having to do a lot of work. And the last thing I want to do is sit at a pc for hours going over raw video footage in order to create semi-professional movies. Also, don't waste an extra $200 getting the DC40. The stills suffer from the same coloration issues so even though it offers 4.3 megapixals, it won't replace your still camera.

****Revised 1/30/07****

Per request, here is my take on DVD type. I prefer to use DVD-R at the 20 or 30 minute quality. There's very little difference in quality. However, if you attempt to record at the 60 minute/per disk quality, you will notice a difference. It's easy enough to change DVD's during filming. Just open it and stick a new one in. It takes 10-15 seconds before you can begin recording again, so you probably won't miss much. The reasons for choosing DVD-R over DVD-RW and DVD-R/RW DL are cost, durability and universality. DVD-R disks will play in any DVD player... not so with the DL disks. You will need a Dual Layer compatible player. DVD-RW degrades more particularly if you erase and re-record. The surface is softer because it is made to be burned to, erased and re-burned. Therefore there is a greater risk of data loss. Now you might wonder about erasing useless video and/or editing. If I want an edited video (which I usually don't), I would copy the raw footage to a pc and then edit and burn a new (preferably full-size) DVD-R.

Received this item as a gift, was so thrilled to have it for the kids first day of school. Luckily I was playing around with it the day before and found out what a piece of crap this camera is. I recorded and then tried to finalize and found that the amera could not read the disc amazing since it s the canon one that they even provided with the camera!! Then I lost everything I recorded. So, I tried 3 other dvd-r discs -which are not cheap and the frikin camera could not read those either. What a piece of crap -lost everything. I read the manual and even called the Canon people -all they were able to tell me is geesh, that is not supposed to happen. I can only hope 6th ave. will accept the return tomorrow. Please stear clear of this item, unless you like to record things and only see them once and them loose them.

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This is my second DC 22. I bought my first one 5 or 6 years ago, and only had to by another one because my first one quit reading discs recently. I like the dvd format and the ease of use. Great Camcorder!

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I am just learning to use this camera. I loaded the supplied Roxio MyDVD for Canon software on my computer and plugged in the USB cable. When you go to the video capture screen it says that this version of the software, MyDVD LE, does not support image capture. After a few phone calls back and forth with the Canon service center (in Virgina, not India which is nice), we found that you should NOT go to video capture. Duh, you have to click on DVD_Video and then on top, "Open Disc". This will read the disc in the camera via the USB cable. Oh, and you should finalize the disc before doing this as it might not work otherwise. It is probably faster to put the mini-disc in your computer's DVD drive if it has one. But don't forget to Finalize the disc in the camera before doing this.

The camera itself has been working well. Tonight I'm going to try out the Fireworks mode to see how that works.

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We received this camera as a gift. We loved the features and the nice crisp image... until we tried to watch it on anything other than the camera's own tiny screen. My husband is pretty computer-savvy, but we couldn't get the camera to connect via USB without crashing the computer. Every time. The roxio "my DVD" software, in a word, sucks. You must register to use it, and it makes us re-register every time we boot up. Plus, it won't access the DVD. Finally, you can supposedly "finalize" the DVD to watch it directly on a DVD player or computer, but "finalizing" only ruins the DVD, so your memories are kaput.

My in-laws got us a Canon because optics were supposed to be the most important thing about a camera. But we found out the hard way that being able to watch the videos may be even more important than image quality. Who knew that for close to $400, that was even in question? Canon should offer a product recall to everyone who bought this piece of junk.

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Opteka CXS-400 Video Shoulder/Chest Stabilizer Support System for DSLR Cameras and Camcorders

I bought this product last week for a school project. It is the best thing I have yet to buy as an upgrade for my DSLR, it keeps the shots looking great. So stable and it feels awesome, fits perfect and has ways to adjust everything. Just be sure to take your camera off when adjusting, if not unscrewing the adjustment could make the camera fall off. Otherwise awesome product, you should definitely buy it.

this is a great product, i bought for spare parts, it is very modular and you can build many setups with this kit. very high quality as expected from opteka, also great as a stabilizer

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I had been researching various shoulder mounts for 2 weeks when I stumbled across the one for 40 dollars. I had to jump on ship when I saw the price tag. It's sturdy and customizable. Perfect for my freelance video production company. I would recommend this item to any amateur videographer starting out. Thanks Opteka!

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Item as advertised, great lightweight portable product. It is also really durable I took it to Africa to shoot a doc. I've purchased several Opteka products and they've all worked well.

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I just received my Opteka CS-400 stabilizer. The shipping was fast from 47th Street Photo, +1. Well, for $39 shipped it is a great deal. The quality of the components is very high. The functionality is also very good. I hooked up my 7D with my view finder and the shoots were very stable. I actually bought this to use as a stand alone rig, but also to use the parts to complete my larger rig. The parts by them selves are well worth the cost.

Vello Multi-Function Ball Head with Removable Top & Bottom Shoe Mounts

Well made; works and built as described. I'll probably get another to use for mounting other accessories on my camcorder.

I must admit that I wasn't expecting much at all when I got this from the 3 other brands I've tried. This one is very well built and stays tight in place. I think I'll end up getting me a few more of these for all of my camera accessories.

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Nikon Coolpix L22 12.0MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)

This camera is amazing! I bought it based on the reviews I read, but had NO idea of all the different things this camera does! It shoots videos and it shoots in "sports mode" taking many pictures one right after the other so you don't miss anything. We have used this camera at some multiple-day music festivals and are simply amazed at the clarity of the pictures and how easy it is to use! The sound on the videos is good (if your computer speakers are good) and a unipod solves the shake problem if you have one. The batteries last pretty long if you aren't shooting videos that seems to use them up quicker. This is my first digital camera, and I bought it because 1) easy to use, 2) large preview screen and 3) uses AA batteries. I was absolutely thrilled it did all this extra stuff. Friends who took the same pictures with their cameras were surprised at the difference when the pictures were posted. Ours were much better. Highly recommend this camera especially to the camera novice (like me).

I bought this camera after reading all the + reviews on several web sites. This is a very good camera for the price.

Pro's: price, simple to use, slips right into you shirt pocket or purse, very good pictures, bright LCD (sorry Kodak), uses AA batteries, good video.

Con's: none! I highly recommend this camera.

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This is a fantastic camera. The macro feature is the reason I got this camera and it's great for taking pictures of my aquarium. The sports mode works great for capturing fish. It's super easy to use.

The only con is that there are many possible settings and most of them are pretty specific. If you get the wrong setting, then pictures will look odd (strange colors or incorrect focus). However, these were very specific situations (like the aquarium) and once I figured out which setting to use, it works great.

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This is a great camera for everyday use, vacation shots, sports photos, and more. We take low-light, no flash photos with this on the "sports" setting for dance recitals and plays. The photos turn out terrific, and people always ask what camera we use because they are so impressed with the clarity of the shots.

This camera has numerous features and settings. The navigation between settings is pretty intuitive, and the instruction manual has lots more ideas too. It has good video capability for capturing something in a video file when you don't have a camcorder handy. You don't need special software to upload photos from this camera I have a card reader in my computer to do all that.

The camera does a good job conserving battery life. We use rechargeable AA batteries without any problems for hundreds of photos per charge. It's compact and fairly lightweight, and it fits into a shirt pocket with ease.

The large screen makes reviewing photos easy, and deleting ones from the camera is simple with just a touch of a button plus an "are you sure?" question to keep you from potentially erasing something in error.

The 3.6x optical zoom is an improvement over the previous Nikon Coolpix we had, so this is now the favorite camera in my home! If you've had a Coolpix in the past and are thinking about getting a newer version, definitely do it! You'll find the operations and menu choices very similar to what you're used to, but with added improvements that you'll appreciate.

We've not had any problems with the battery cover on this camera or the previous Coolpix cameras we still own. If you break the battery cover, it's time for a new camera, unfortunately. But it's very sturdy and reliable, so we've never worried about it much.

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I originally bought the Coolpix S203 and LOVED it. Good quailty pictures, chargeable battery and very slim. Super easy to carry around. When it got wet and died I wanted to replace it with the same model. Alas, it is no longer made. So, because I enjoyed my first Nikon Coolpix, I bought the L22 and was completly dissapointed. It seemed HUGE compared to my tiny S203 and the pictures were always blurry. It took extra seconds to switch from camera to movie and even to take a simple posed picture required 2.5 seconds of holding the button. Not a chance you would ever catch a good candid shot. I returned it and bought the S3000. Best idea and worth the extra $15. Plus this one does not require AA batteries like the L22.