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

To be direct, I love this camera. I am just getting back into photography as a serious hobbiest (the last time was 35mm so much has changed). Others can review with fine detail, I will state my experience as a DSLR newbie.

First I chose Nikon as my product line. this is important for anyone to think about before jumping into a camera like this. Choose which brand of lenses and which camera layout, menus, etc make sense to you. You will own this camera for a very long time. Even if the body eventually is replaced the lenses if cared for will last a lifetime and fit on other Nikon cameras. Like Nikon glass, good

Next, are you professional? see other reviews, if not, are you upgrading or jumping in? Upgraders should consider their starting point and choose accordingly. Jumpers, this is the camera for you. If you can afford more, ok, but if you are not a pro do you need more? I've taken wonderful photos and blown them up to 30x20. Awesome quality, but you have to know what you are doing to really get that awesome shot. Study the craft not just purchase the toy.

All the features a hobbist is going to need. Intuative menus. Serious power in the software. I do make 2 suggestions for companion purchases. Buy a large fast storage card~ continuous shots are so fun, and a good book. I found From Snapshots to Great Shots series on the D5100 to be excellent. The manual isn't horrible, but if you want to see what this baby can really do spend few extra $.

Very good camera, easy to use. In addition has many features you can explore. I recommend for all Amazon's customers.

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A very good camera for a family to capture special events, with a very good sized LCD display you can rotate to any angle.

The down side is that it requires learning and geting use to the many functions in the camera

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does this camera require regular batteries or does it come with a rechargeable? i just want to know before i buy this camera. if any one can respond asap please && ty

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Sony Alpha 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Zoom Lens with Case + Tripod + Accessory Kit for A57, A58, A65, A77,

Great Lens, perfect focus & excellent price. Would recommend to anyone. This Sony lens is Excellent quality, best of all it comes with so many extras. Love the tripod and bag.

Wireless Digital Inspection Camera with 2.4-inch Color LCD, On-screen Image Reverse and 180° Rotat

[Short Summary]

I purchased this at very cheap hardware store with the initials HF when it was on sale. I went in with fairly low expectations given that most tools you get from HF are definitely on the budget side.

I was (am) pleasantly surprised with this little hot-rod.

PROS: Cheap, lightweight, cable is stiff enough to help guide camera, image flip feature, video out jack, magnet attachment is likely the best of the 3, being able to peer into inaccessible places.

CONS: Short focal length, near objects can wash out the image, LCD has a narrow view angle, no image capture (though the box misleads you to believe it does), mirror attachment is pretty useless.

Quick Summary: I'm happy with the purchase. I had some water damage that this camera came in very handy during investigation. Yes it's cheap, but so far has been useful and for the price I got it ($70) I have no buyer's remorse.

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[Deeper details]

At 480x234 (advertised LCD resolution), the picture quality on the color LCD is so-so, but for my purposes, it's been fine.

Before I got this device, I had expectations of what the video would look like and was a bit disappointed when I actually fired it up. I thought it would have a much better view and quality when viewing large open areas. Like if you slide it under a door, the image is pretty grainy and that's if the room is already lit. If the room or void is dark, you're not going to see much except the floor or wall right in front of or next to the camera. If all you want to know is if the room is full of zombies it might do that, but if you want to spot water leaking or mouse carcasses/droppings in a dark room, it would have to pretty close to where you can get the camera. If the void you are investigating is well lit, you'll obviously be able to see a lot more.

If you are trying to peer down a long crack (like behind something pushed up against a wall), you'll see nothing past a few inches because the camera exposure will be adjusted to handle the light. Another way to think of it: Take 2 sheets of 4x8 plywood and put them an inch apart. Feed the camera in between. You'll only see a few inches in front and the rest of the gap will be completely black.

About a week after getting it, I discovered some water damage in the bathroom. I tore into it a little and then used this camera to check inside the wall. It took a bit of getting used to, since anything near the camera causes the image to get a bit washed out, so as you slide and move the camera around inside a wall, thick spider webs will wash the image out a bit, but with a bit of wiggle and movement, you'll be able to recover the image. I was really happy with the results. For all its limitations, it's definitely better than having to completely tear up a wall just to see if you actually have to tear up the wall (which I did, but the camera allowed me to know beforehand :o)

The actual camera whip is about 3ft long and is flexible but holds its shape pretty well. As you're fishing the camera around, it's easy to get disoriented and wonder "What am I looking at?" There's a button on the unit that enables 4 changes; flip horizontal and flip vertical. I thought it would just rotate the image by 90 degrees, but that's not quite what it does. I'll try to describe it, but really difficult with just text...

Example: Let's say you are looking at some symbols in normal rotation and you see "o\/-", press the rotate button once, and you get "-\/o" (which is flipped on the horizontal axis), click it again and it goes upside down "-/\o" but still flipped on the horizontal axis, and a third click it will be "o/\-" which is just upside down (undoes the flip on horizontal axis, but still flipped on vertical).

Hard to describe with just text, but instead of the image rotating around like on a dial, it flips horizontal, then vertical, then undoes horizontal flip (leaving vertical flip), then back to original. It's advertised to reverse Image and 180 deg rotation, which is pretty much what it does. From a circuit standpoint, I think that's much easier than trying to rotate a non-square image, and budget is what this camera is about.

I've found that it's easy to disorient the image with a couple flips. A little experimentation can help get comfortable with this functionality.

The LCD has a fairly narrow view angle, meaning that looking straight on gives the best image, but moving your head to the side, it starts to look pretty bad, and at extreme angles, the image actually appears inversed. Just an artifact of a cheap LCD, but where it does come into play, is when you are fishing the cable/camera around, it's easy to move the unit into a position that makes the LCD hard to see. I got used to having to move around head around to get the best view. Again, you can get used to this.

There are 2 white LEDs on the sides of the camera that appear to have 8 levels of adjustment. The camera auto-adjusts its exposure, so as you increase or decrease the LED brightness, you can see the camera adjust to keep a fairly consistent image. This adjustment helps a little if you are struggling with debris that is causing washout.

Another thing to be aware of, is the focal length is really short, so if you needed to read something, it starts to go out of focus at about 4 inches (example: 12pt font on a page gets blurry around 4 inches).

*** NOTE: The box says "Image capture: JPG images (640x480)" ...uh, no. There is no capture functionality in this device. I'd say this isn't just misleading but clearly false advertising.

What it does have is a video out jack that looks like it outputs 640x480 and when hooked up to a monitor it provides a darn good picture and more detail than when looking at the onboard LCD. What this also means is that any capture device that has a video in (like a digital or video camera if yours supports it), you CAN capture 640x480 images with that other device. So, maybe not completely false advertising but close enough. The video out cable that comes with it has a 4 segment (Tip-Ring-Ring-Sleeve) 1/8th inch male end, and the other end is a standard male RCA plug, which should allow for plugging into various TVs and monitors. Plugging into a digital camera will likely need some kind of simple male-to-mail adapter -RCA from the inspection camera to whatever is on the end of your cameras plug...maybe another RCA? That would be convenient and easy to bridge.

[Attachments]

It comes with 3 attachments that clip on to the end of the camera. A magnet and simple hook attachments for retrieval, both stick about 2 inches in front of the camera which is right in the focal length zone. The third attachment is a 45 deg angled "mirror". That's "mirror" in quotes because the reflective surface is just flat, polished metal.

I haven't had to use any of these yet other than experimentation, but it's easy to imagine all sorts of treasure hunts with the magnet and hook attachments. The magnet is really strong. I was able to pick up a 1 and 1/8th deepwell 1/2inch drive socket with no problem. So likely, it'll latch onto whatever you are looking to retrieve. But if you are snaking around anything metal, it may hamper your maneuvering by causing the camera to get stuck (like against a steel case).

The quick test I did with the "mirror" attachment shows that it's pretty much useless. The camera picks up even the smallest bits of dust and debris. I tried to get it as clean as I could, but it quickly gets messed up when fishing around inside a wall. It might not be completely useless, just the situation where it's needed is going to be very specific, like if you are just soooo close to what you want to view, but it's just out of view.

The attachments are actually a bit difficult to snap onto the end and when they are on there, they are very secure, which is a marginal plus because you don't want to lose these inside whatever you are spelunking.

[Other]

It came with 4 batteries so I was up and running in about a minute. It takes 4 AA and they fit into a square battery cartridge that slides into the base of the handle. It has a screw to hold the battery compartment on, but it seems to stay just fine without the screw actually in.

The blow-molded case is adequate for storage but provides no shock cushion.

All in all, as I mentioned earlier, I'm happy with the purchase, but I think I had the right expectations.

I bought because of cheap price from HF tools. Very happy I did. I have used bore scopes for years and they cost much more than this one. This cheap tool does a great job. I have read other reviews on this camera and I can tell from reading that this must be their first experience with inspection cameras, this camera does an excellent job at what it is designed for, it is not a snoop tool that will let you see in rooms from under doors it was not intended for this type work. It is and does what any other bore scope does and that is seeing inside small confined tight places. It has excellent image quality and focuses at about 1" to 15"s just what it should do. I recommend this to anyone that works on cars HVAC plumber and the like, anyone that does not want to pay an arm and leg to get the job done. Looking at A coils Nd inside walls is fantastic. You can video capture if tethered to a computer but this is they only way you can save the image. Saving an image is not that important what is important is seeing in the areas you could not otherwise see and this camera does as good as any at that. Get this tool if you don't want to spend hundreds more.

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Purchased from HF in March 2012. Used two times and turned on maybe 6 times to show friends how it worked. Now 120 days after purchase there is no picture on the screen when turned on. Returned to HF and salesman agreed it looked like new but because it was over the 90 day warranty period they would not make allowance for the condition and refused to do any thing about it. DO NOT PURCHASE!!!! I had to rate one star because they will not accept a NO star review.

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HDMI Splitter 1x4 Ports 4 Port 1080P v1.3 HDTV 3D HD Audio

Upon recommendation from a friend that works for the local cable company, I bought a HDMI hub to expand my Dish Network receiver to allow it to run multiple HD tvs from one receiver. No matter if you have Directv,Dish or HD from the cable company, the. Receivers only have 1 HDMI output and you are locked in to using only 1 flat screen HD tv. I happen to have 3. HDMI cables are available in various lengths and my friend ran the cables from this hub to each of my flat screens. Now i have a great picture on all 3. Of course, the output channel for all is the same but thats no biggie with a UHF remote control. He said to get a good one and I have always relied and depended on Amazon.com for quality products.

This is a nice HDMI hub and I would recommend this to anyone who wants to do what I did.

NO, an I mean NO signal loss! STUNNING!!! Easy to use, just plug and play!

Just one down-side, the power LED indicator is like a lighthouse, but hey, you can always use it as a nightlight too. :-)

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READ THE INSTRUCTIONS 1ST PEOPLE!!!

IT TAKES 3 MINUTES

IF YOU START JACKING DISPLAYS IN WITH THE POWER ON. YOU WILL KILL THE SPLITTER AND POSSIBLY A DISPLAY OR YOUR AV RECEIVER!!!

Looks like it was packed in the same box as a high-end wine opener. Very Nice! The 1st unit ordered had to be returned because 1 output port was dead. (China Product) The 2nd unit works flawlessly. Overseas quality control is not as consistent as the good ole' US of A... Still, if ordered through Amazon's fulfillment, it's a no hassle return/refund.

Another thing, if you have (3) 1080p displays tied-in and (1) 720p tied-in the splitter defaults to 720p output as the maximum resolution. Not an issue for me because all the displays I have tied-in to this unit are 720p. It's a simple and uncomplicated way to shoot 1 cable AV to your patio, kitchen, office, etc... I am using a single DTV Sat receiver and 1 older SONY STR-DA3200 AV receiver (Bi-Amp and A+B speaker setting) gets me 3-speaker pair, stereo, "back of the house" distribution. Plus it has Pre-Amp outs that do output any digital audio sigs for more speaker distribution.

Makes the cable work EZPZ.

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The title pretty much says it all. I have tried two different brands of these splitters and neither of them is capable of transferring 5.1 input sound sources to any of the outputs--there is only stereo sound at the outputs. My receiver/amp displays the input sound data format and I when I plugged it directly to a 5.1 input source it shows up as a 5.1 sound input. Then when I insert the splitter/amp and use any of the outputs as inputs to my rec/amp the sound signal into the rec/amp is a 2.0 stereo signal. This means the center channel and rear channel sound information is lost and all you hear is stereo. The sound level is also attenuated to about 65% of a direct input from a 5.1 source. If you do not care about being able to hear anything but the front right and front left sound, then this product will provide a good picture with stereo sound. But if you have a home theater system nothing you have hooked up to it will play any sounds other than stereo.

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First off the item I received does not look like the item pictured, but it is a hdmi 1 in 4 out splitter (maybe an older or newer version?) , and that job it does perfectly. All tv's hooked up to it have perfect pictures, 1 uses a 75 foot hdmi cable, 1 uses a 7 foot hdmi and 2 use a HDMI Extender over Cat5e cable adapter with 25 and 50 foot runs of cat5e cable.

Meade 0610-03-10 ETX -LS Telescope with ACF Lightswitch Technology

With scopes a buyer has to approach with patience and the right expectations. There are plenty of articles out there describing what you can expect and what types of scope you can use for different types of viewing and it's well worth reading up on this before buying any scope.

I bought this scope because of the LightSwitch feature. This means the onboard computer uses a combination of GPS, digital compass and pattern recognition to figure out where the scope is and to align it so it can find objects stored in it's Go-To database and so it can track objects as they move across the sky. Go-To scopes without LightSwitch require some knowledge of the location of different stars and manual alignment steps before you can use them to locate and track objects.

The advantage of LightSwitch is that instead of slewing the scope to the vicinity of the object you choose to view, leaving you to do final adjustments, it will put the object in the eyepiece every time.

The other attractive features of this scope are it's portability, the always excellent Meade optics, ACF which reduces distortion in the image and the price which is a grand lower than the less portable 8" LX200 without LightSwitch.

Being an early adopter of this scope I have battled through a few bugs and shortfalls in the design, but bottom line when this scope does what Meade intended it to and provided you have the right expectations it's very rewarding and very easy to use.

If you're thinking of buying this scope or you have one and it's giving you problems you might find some points from my own experience useful:

*The scope's primary interface is fairly rudimentary a single-line LCD on the hand controller and can be extremely frustrating, especially when the scope does not seem to be functioning properly. However this scope has an RCA video output which can be used to display additional information: multi-line menus; status info (such as GPS signal stength); error messages; on-board Astronomer Inside media collection. I found the video display makes this scope *much* easier to use. You'll need to provide your own monitor. You can buy dedicated field monitors, I use a cheap portable NTSC DVD player with an AV-in.

*The scope can be powered by 8 C-type batteries in the internal battery compartment. IMHO Meade should have omitted this entirely. Battery life is short and if it goes in the middle of observing you'll have to replace them (in the dark) and go through the alignment process all over. Apparently though two batts in the compartment nearest the eye-piece will ensure that internal state, like time and location, will remain after the scope has been switched off. I use a portable 12v DC power supply purchased for less than $100. When updating the firmware you should use a constant power supply since this takes a while.

*The scope has an SD card slot but the manual is not entirely clear about what type of card you need. It's actually a mini-SD card, I use a Toshiba 2Gb MiniSD card that comes with an adaptor. It must be formatted as FAT32. The slot for the card is a little awkward and you should use care when inserting/removing. When upgrading the firmware of the scope put the card in *before* switching on, When using the SD card to store pictures insert it *after* switching the scope on otherwise you'll just get a blank display.

*Take the lens cap off the CCD finder carefully. Meade did tell me that the CCD can be twisted when removing the cap which could cause it to fail later. The computer uses the CCD finder to snap pictures of the sky so it can locate stars for alignment, if the CCD doesn't work LightSwitch won't work.

*Before taking the scope out it's worth testing the CCD camera to make sure it's functioning properly. Just use the Snap and Store function from the menu with the lenses cap off and the formatted SD card in I simply took snaps of the inside of my apartment then load the SD on your computer to view the pics.

*Heavy light pollution and clouds or other objects blocking the view of the sky can also cause the CCD finder to fail to do it's job, make sure you're going to use this scope in a darkish open area.

*The mount for the red-dot finder on the early models was somewhat flimsy and the finder was prone to movement during shipping. Make sure the red-dot finder is secured tightly with screws as in the newer iterations. Before taking the scope out you'll want to align the finder by centering an object a few tens of feet away, then adjust the finder so it points at the same object. Don't forget to switch the finder off, if the finder battery dies it's replaceable by sliding it sideways out of the center of the finder where it says in tiny letters "Battery".

*Some of these scopes have a problem obtaining the correct location using GPS. These scopes shipped with firmware version 1.07 and this problem was fixed in version 1.2g. You can download this from Meade and save it on the SD card, insert the card and switch the scope on to upgrade.

*The accompanying AutoStar software suite can be used to control your scope from a laptop, *but* the driver is *not compatible* with Windows Vista or Mac OSX. I use Windows XP 64bit installed on a virtual machine (VMWare Fusion) on my Mac laptop. After the driver has been installed, go to the hardware manager and look at the Meade USB device properties to find the COM port it is simulating. Then in AutoStar make sure the set the same COM port under the "Telescope" menu and away you go.

*This scope does not have an option to use an equatorial mount at this time, so it's not practical for astrophotography with exposures longer than maybe a minute or two. Most astrophotography requires very long exposures *or* many shorter exposures in the same orientation which requires an equatorial mount. Since it is a single-fork design it's possible there never will be an equatorial mount option or if there is it might not be very stable.

*If your scope has the correct GPS coordinates and the CCD finder is able to take pictures but the scope consistently fails to align this could be due to drive inaccuracies or misalignment of the CCD finder. There are menu options under the "Setup" menu to align the CCD finder (Center Finder) and to train the drive.

*If you've read all the above and your scope still doesn't function properly send it back and get a replacement. Make sure the supplier gives you free shipment because this scope weighs 30lbs without the tripod.

In summary employing a video monitor and 12v DC power supply and going over as much verification of the scope before heading out can mean the difference between an extremely disappointing/frustrating night out in the cold and a fantastic rewarding journey through the Universe.

I had three LS6s fail on me and it was a terrible experience.

My first LS (when it was still known as the ETX-LS) had a faulty GPS that was replaced by Meade. The second

one is not the best either, and suffers from at least 5 problems, which

I list below.

1. GPS sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, all from about the same

location (by this I mean front yard compared to say, pavement in front

of front yard). GPS on my phone works great and picks up something like

7 satellites. ETX LS, half the time, picks up zero and asks for my

manual input. That is unacceptable. Why would I buy a GPS scope

otherwise?!

2. Scope has slewing problems in manual alignment mode. This happens

especially when it slews to a target star in manual alignment mode and

asks me to centre the star. I cannot do so because the slewing has

mysteriously been disabled.

3. Scope has slewing problems in normal GOTO mode. Sometimes I ask the

scope to goto an object and it does that, albeit unsuccessfully. So I

have to do a manual adjustment using the slew keys. Nothing happens. I

adjust the speed of the slewing to the maximum speed and still the scope

sits still on its base.

4. The scope has displayed albeit only once levelling problems.

Once, the scope thought that "level" was 30 degrees below the horizon

and promptly stayed there. I promptly aborted the operation and directed

the scope to shut down. Well, it carried the mistake in levelling over

and came to a rest 30 degrees past its normal vertical resting position.

5. The audio sometimes shuts down mysteriously. Not that I care much

about a talking telescope, but sometimes after I ask it to go to an

object (again the alignment doesn't work, as mentioned above), it does

so and starts talking about the object. Or, should I say, attempts to do

so. The screen shows "Press A/V to cancel MEDIA", but there is no sound.

I had done nothing with the volume and the scope was speaking on

start-up.

6. Auto-alignment and manual alignment are both hopeless. One caveat is

that I am in quite a light-polluted area (Cambridge, MA) but can still

see some stars in the sky on a good clear day. When the scope slews to

its first alignment star, say Vega, it is way off when I can the star in

the sky. And because I cannot correct the slew sometimes, the bad

attempt fixes. Once, after "alignment", the scope happily informed me

that Jupiter was below the horizon when it was high up in the sky!!

Basically I've spent hours

outside trying to get the scope aligned and seen objects rise and set

behind trees. I think 80% of the time I am with this scope is spent

figuring out what is wrong with it.

This second scope was sent back to Meade. The third scope surprise, surprise had a faulty GPS too. Now, Meade said that the latest firmware would solve the problem. I waited for that, and that didn't work. So I sent the third one back for a full refund.

Since then I have reverted to scopes which do not claim to auto-align for you. I find that one great thing about these older scopes is that you can manually slew the scope if necessary. With the LS6, you cannot. You are reliant on the controller and if that fails, the scope is not movable. Sure, you can try to force the scope to move, but it feels quite tight and I am not sure it's meant to do that.

Bottom line is this: the LS6 promises much, delivers little.

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I bought a Meade LS-6 and it was delivered before Christmas 2009. Right out of the box the unit had a firmware read error and would not start up. Meade had me return the unit and promised to ship a new one immediately. I just received my new scope today, Jan 11, 2010. This new scope will not find GPS satellites. I am out in the middle of my back yard under clear skies. My Meade LX200-GPS is sitting 10 feet away and it finds GPS immediately. My hand held GPS finds 6 satellites with strong signals in under 30 seconds. But my brand new LS-6 with the latest ver 1.3 software will not find GPS. How sad.

This leads me to the following conclusions:

1. Meade is manufacturing a lot of junk. What are the odds that I would get 2 defective scopes unless the factory is simply manufacturing a lot of garbage?

2. Meade has no testing or quality control. It is one thing to make junk but how can you possibly ship these units to a customer? They did not even bother to turn the units on. This is inexcusable.

3. Meade customer service is terrible. They do not accept Email so I wrote them 2 paper letters regarding the first scope. I did not even get the courtesy of a response. Of course you have to wait 5-6 days before you realize that you've been ignored.

I have been a Meade customer for 20 years and I will never buy another one of their products. This is a company that has a manufacturing facility that is simply out of control and they simply don't care.

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Great product idea but very poor implementation. Customer support is a nightmare. The telescope came with a defective firmware. I spent many hours and even days researching online for a solution with no success. The customer support refused to send a replacement before "troubleshooting" is done. They promised to send a replacement firmware maybe a dosen times, and never did. I bought the scope in December 2009 and there still no solution and no help from Meade, more than half a year later. Over $1500 spent on a non-working product. Shame on them and buyers beware!

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I have been stargazing since 1996, and I own 2 other telescopes from 2 different manufactures, so I've been around and I know what good telescope is capable of. The 6" optics on this ETS-LS will provide you with plenty of objects to view, its a perfect size for easy transport too. I had the fortune of owning the ETX-LS 6 ACF and I enjoyed the scope so much, I eventually upgraded to its bigger brother; the LS 8 ACF. I have no doubt that the newer LS 6 ACF has matured into a wonderful unit capable of a lifetime of stargazing. The ETX-LS 6 ACF had wonderful optics, and as a primary visual stargazer, that was extremely important. Go for the ACF optics, I have visually compared side by side with standard scopes, and I really like the ACF, it has tighter star images to me. The GOTO worked wonderfully for me, I even interfaced it with a number of freeware programs such as Stellarium, to permit me to select objects on my computer and have the scope slew to them, a super feature. I routinely placed objects within the field of view of a 14mm eyepiece once I did a sync to a deepsky object, and type of accuracy is very good. The intermittant GPS issues have been resolved by Meade with the latest firmware. And even though I did experience some of the GPS issues with early firmware, to me it wasn't even a big deal when it had no GPS fix. Once you entered in your date, time, city, it would slew to the first star, you center it, press Enter, and go to the next. Thats all that is involved even in the manual alignment. The bottom line is that there will be times that you will want to do a manual alignment, such as when your views are blocked or in my case, when your doing some sidewalk astronomy and there are just too many lights or buildings around. That was one bit of misinformation out there at the initial release of these scopes, that if you didn't get a auto-alignment, your done. Well, that is simply not true. I have done almost all my alignments with auto, but a few with manual just to test and like I previously said, sometimes it will be the preferred method.

The Astronomer Inside was a very fun, and downright educational tool. I must admit, I wasn't expecting that to be of much use for me, with some years of stargazing underneath my belt. But it proved downright fun and informative, and a great "wow" from first time stargazers during the times I took the scope out to public events. There is one recommendation that I will make to you considering this scope, get a external power supply like a PowerTank. Running off of batteries just doesn't cut it much, you will drain them very quickly. Also, if your going to use your scope at home, get a AC adapter too.

I have always recommended a 6" scope to those looking to get into astronomy, or those looking for a 2nd scope. The ETX-LS, and now the LS 6 ACF, has matured to a wonderful scope capable of a lifetime of happy stargazing.

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Nikon D5200 24.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera (Red) with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR and 55-300mm f

The package was extensive for the price (I have seen the camera for the same price, at other venues without all the add-ons). I have another Nikon camera and the red body easily distinguishes between the two.

I am quite pleased with the camera and it's functionality. The inclusion of filters, tripod and other items make this a very good deal. The 55-300 lens is awesome.

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Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D 6MP Digital SLR with Anti-Shake Technology (Body Only)

I am a professional photographer and have shot Minolta since the advent of the first auto focus, the Model 7000. As the years went by, Cannon and Nikon seemed to kill them with lens selection and features. I still hung in there. I had about $11,000 in lenses alone and was more than a little pleased with the new Maxxum 9 when it came out. What a great camera! However, digital was rapidly becoming king.

About the time I decided to chuck it all for a new Cannon digital system, I heard rumors of a Minolta digital. This was previously stated to NEVER happen. Minolta would not build a digital body. Thank God for Konica! Shortly after the purchase of Minolta by Konica, the probability of a digital was rumored. I decided to hold out and am glad I did.

The camera is packed with an enormous array of features that can pretty much be found on most upper end Digital's. However, three main things have made me absolutely ecstatic with this camera:

1. The image viewing screen is absolutely huge compared to others. I can actually do legitimate critical proofing with this thing. I don't think you could even fit a bigger screen on it without making the camera larger.

2. The anti shake body is impressive...very impressive This is not new technology for Minolta. They have had this incorporated into their fixed lens digital for a while now. Bottom line is that it works! I sat it on the hood of a running car with the stabilizer on and then off (300mm 2.8 lens). The two photos were unbelievably different. One was blurred, one wasn't. That simple.

3. It shoots the same way my Maxxum 9 does. When I turn it on, it is ready to shoot. No waiting. The buffer size allows me to shoot continuously without missing important photos while waiting for the camera to catch up to me. This is extremely nice and not what I am used to.

When I heard of the possibility of this camera being introduced (more than a year before it actually finally hit the market) I purchased an Olympus E20 to get me by for the time. I have been very happy with the Olympus in the studio. However, the screen was too small to proof with and I was always waiting on the camera. It is now my back up. I LOVE this new Minolta and can't wait until they put their 8 meg chip in another model. Perhaps a 9D?

Hmm I hope so.

At any rate, I am impresed. I will now be purchasing another as my back up.

Thank you very much, Konica/Minolta...Finally

It's really a no-brainer if you already have some Minolta AF lenses, but even if you don't have an SLR kit this camera should give you something to consider. The Canon 20D is a fine choice, too, but although it has a higher resolution sensor I'd rather have the 7D if I were just beginning to put a system together.

Why? The Minolta is a shooter's camera. The ergonomics are absolutely brilliant. Near perfect, even. Plus, the viewfinder is a whole lot better than Canon's or any other body in its range that I know of. That may not sound like a big deal, but it's very, very nice to have, especially if you do any macro work or need to focus manually for whatever reason. Everybody needs to see what they're shooting! I don't know why the other manufacturers don't realize this. Another great feature of the 7D is the large LCD that automatically orientates itself when you shoot vertically.

Then there's Minolta's anti-shake thing. It really does work as well as advertised, so if you know how to hold the camera you can really bend the rules with low-light shooting. The flexibility is awesome. Now, it won't work miracles. Don't expect it to give you a sharp photo if your subject's moving and you're shooting at 1/4". And you'll still want to use a tripod with that 300mm unless it's really bright out. But, say you have Minolta's great 50mm f1.4 mounted on the camera. You really can get away with handholding at 1/4" in a lot of situations (provided, of course, that you have good technique). That's what AS is for.

The 7D isn't quite perfect, though. Hopefully they've addressed this issue, but a lot of the early 7Ds (mine included) had to be sent back to KM to repair a backfocus problem. In some cases they had to be sent back more than once (mine included again). To their credit, KM has great customer service. They're fast, attentive, and will pay for your shipping if you're unhappy. They've also been known to give away batteries and such to people who've had trouble with their new 7D. And it should be said that Minolta isn't the only company who has had problems like this. Canon had it on their 10D (and may have had it with the 20D for all I know).

Other than that, it's hard to find complaints. When I got mine, it cost a little more than its competition and that kind of hurt when I bought it. Now that I've had the camera for eight months, though, I can say it was definitely worth it. I'm very happy with my choice and I wasn't even compelled to go with Minolta because I had a bunch of their glass. If I had Canon or Nikon glass I probably would've stuck with them...I'm not sure that it's worth several thousand dollars to switch over (unless you have money to throw around).

But do keep in mind that this is a long term decision. I've alluded to the fact that lenses are the real investments in photography, not bodies. In the long run you'll want to go with a brand that makes the glass you'll want to use. If you're going to be a pro photographer, it may be best to stick with Canon or Nikon because they offer up a little broader selection of lenses than Minolta.

But there's still another way of looking at it. How often are you going to need something strange like a tilt-shift lens? They're so expensive and so rarely used it doesn't even make sense for most people to buy one. You can rent them if you need to, though, and you can also rent the body to go with it. So I don't know if I'd be too afraid to go with a 7D if that's what I wanted.

Anyway, if that review kind of rambled you have my apologies.

Buy Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D 6MP Digital SLR with Anti-Shake Technology (Body Only) Now

The Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D is a digital SLR (DSLR) which is built on Minolta's Maxxum 7 body in terms of buttons, knobs, and layout. In terms of build quality, it is more like the Maxxum 9 professional 35mm film body. It has an APS-size CCD as its image sensor which crops an image by 1.5X in comparison with its 35mm film counterpart. The 7D has a large, high-resolution LCD, matched by only two other DSLRs, as of this writing: the Nikon D2H and D2X, both of which are twice the price of this camera. It has a maximum ISO of 3200, matched by few other cameras. Even the Canon 1Ds has a maximum ISO of only 1250 and the Canon 1D Mark II of only 1600. The 7D has a resolution of 6 mega pixels, which some might find disappointing, given the plethora of new digital cameras which have come out over the past year having a resolution of 8 mega pixels. The big news, of course, is the built-in image stabilization, introduced in the Minolta A-1 prosumer camera. While Canon users, and, more recently and to a lesser degree, Nikon users, have had to choose a lens here and a lens there on which to spend their hard earned cash if they wanted image stabilization, owners of the 7D will pay a fair price for it once and will then gain the benefits of it with every lens in their arsenal; wide, long, macro, or special effect (e.g., soft focus). This is something that was impossible with film. It really is a brilliant idea.

Although there are some caveats, this is an excellent digital SLR with great features, handling, and performance. Please read my full review on my website.

Read Best Reviews of Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D 6MP Digital SLR with Anti-Shake Technology (Body Only) Here

I have been shooting a Minolta 35mm (Maxxum 7000) for over 15 years, the last three years as a professional portrait photographer. About 18 months ago I decided to experiment with the world of digital and purchased a Canon Rebel, along with much additional equipment required in the digital darkroom. After close to $2500 in equipment and supplies and $3000 in wasted lab bills that brought me nothing but "plastic" looking prints, I packed it all in a box and sold it to the first person who would take it...vowing never to touch digital again.

But recently I kept reading reviews about Minolta's first digital SLR. With the benefit of being able to use all my existing lens and equipment, I slowing got the bug to try it.

I'm thrilled to say that after a brief review of "where are the buttons", I shot a few test frames around the house. And then added it to my next few portrait sessions (shooting both film and digital). With some minor light adjustments in studio,

my next two shoots went digital...

I may never buy film again.

My biggest problem now is ... quit shooting so many frames just because I can!

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If you are looking for a semi-pro digital SLR that can take pictures of the family at Disney or in your professional studio, this is it. It won't break your budget, and you will be the "Apple" user of the DSLR prosumer market. (i.e., secretly envied by Canon and Nikon users, but most won't admit it!).

This camera has some real positives over other manufacturer's cameras in the same class. First and foremost, it has 'anti-shake' built into the camera body. For those that don't know, this is similar to the "steadycam" technology used on consumer camcorders to help stabilize your shots. There is one big difference between Konica-Minolta's implementation and everyone else's on the market: you get anti-shake built into the body of the Maxxum 7D! What does this mean? It means virtually EVERY lense you buy is now anti-shake! Every other manufacturer makes you buy special lenses that have a similar feature built into the LENSE, not the BODY.

YES, it really works to. A convenient little indicator inside the viewfinder tells you just how much anti-shake each shot is needing.

Wouldn't it be great to quickly change almost any option on your DSLR camera and get back to shooting pictures without delay? Ever tried to change some feature, only to have to wade through two or three levels of menus on some small LCD? This is not only frustrating, but embarrasing! Imagine your wedding party not having to wait for you to make adjustments or you are at some sports event and the opportunity to take the picture is a one shot deal. No more! The Maxxum 7D has no top LCD. That's right...this is a positiveNO top LCD. Instead, almost every major function can be changed with a knob or button on the top or side of the camera. Yes, this presents a little bit of a learning curve. Yes, I was a little nervous about Konica-Minolta's choice to go this way in the design. I can tell you now, after less than a week of ownership, I love it!

In addition, there are hundreds of lenses and accessories available for this camera, the body itself feels solid and comfortable, the 2" LCD screen on the back is enormous compared to the competition, the camera can save in RAW and JPEG format AT THE SAME TIME, and for a DSLR, it is just plain fun to shoot with.

The ONLY drawback I have found is that Konica-Minolta chose 6 megapixels for this model, while some of the competing models are at 8 megapixels. Honestly, if you know photography, the difference between 6 and 8 megapixels is really non-existent to 99% of those who would view your photos. If you are trying to decide between the Canon D20 and the Maxxum 7D for example, the anti-shake feature FAR outweighs any small benefit you could get from the additional megapixels on other models. (This camera's features really should be compared with camera's like the Canon D20, and not the entry level Canon Rebel XT line).

One other feature no one seems to have mentioned is the built in Depth of Field Preview button. This is a really convenient feature that allows you to check and see your depth of field before taking the shot. (Depth of field is simply how much of the background is your picture is in focus. For example, a close up portrait might have the background out of focus while a shot of the mountains will have everything in focus).

Overall, this camera will meet almost any level photographer's needs. Although the controls have a small learning curve, within less than an hour of shooting you will love them. Whether you have a lot of photography experience, or almost none at all, this is one digital SLR you should really consider.

JVC Everio GZ-HD6 3CCD 120GB Hard Disk Drive High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabi

Excellent image quality, good color and contrast, amazing resolution. Very easy to use and setup. I have owned Sony cameras almost exclusively and wondered how the joystick control would work over the touch screen it worked very well if fact I liked it better. My largest concern and the reason I returned this unit was because of the wind noise. No matter what the setting, the slightest breeze would create an awful muffling sound drowning out important sounds even kids screaming and having fun at the pool. However, to be fair, the indoor audio quality is right up there with best in my opinion.

If you want to edit videos created by this camera consider this -the iLink (IEEE 1394) firewire connection does work however you must record in the lower quality 1440 CBR (Constant Bitrate Mode) in order to get the video over the link and into popular capture software such as Adobe Premier, Sony Vegas and Apple's Final Cut Pro. I found this to be a little confusing and not well documented. Moreover, the camera will NOT stream video over this link only playback previous recording footage.

Batter life is remarkable and the included software works great. You can create DVDs and Video CDs right over the USB cable using the supplied software.

Also, I read a ton of reviews about the awful image quality when taking video in low light conditions. I have to disagree with these prior reviews. I found it to perform about even with the Sony HDV-A1U a professional HD camera.

Times have changed since I first hoisted fifty pounds of camera onto my shoulder and trudged around shooting. Technology has made it possible for anyone to compete with the professional in terms of quality.

As a professional who has worked in the industry for a while, I've invested a lot of money into equipment over the years. Recently, I took a look at my stock of standard definition prosumer cameras and compared them to the prosumer HD rigs out there. I found that I just couldn't stomach dropping another $3K to $10K on a rig that would likely be obsolete in a month. So when I needed an HD solution for a small project, I decided to buy a consumer-grade camera and "make do."

I had no idea at the time that I'd be able to find a camera that can not only shoot full frame HD but do so in a sleek, compact package that has almost all of the features I would look for in a professional rig.

Don't get me wrong ... there are features missing here, or buried in menus when they should be a button on the camera's body. But overall, I have to say that I am very impressed with this inexpensive HD solution. The 120GB hard drive means I can shoot 10 hours of full-frame HD, and the three CCDs mean I get the full range of detail, color, and data that I would expect. Two options for transfer--USB 2.0 and Firewire--are handy. And the simple fact that it has both a mic input and headphone outputs already puts it in a league above other consumer cameras.

This camera is an indie's dream. Cheap, outstanding quality, and plenty of room to shoot without worrying about tapes or other expendable media. And with 120GB onboard, you don't even have to worry about transferring! I could shoot an epic trilogy on this thing.

I highly recommend this camera to anyone who wants HD at an affordable price.

Buy JVC Everio GZ-HD6 3CCD 120GB Hard Disk Drive High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabi Now

I own this camera for 12 months now. I agree to the positive reviews about the video quality and light handling. However when it comes to PC connectivity this camera simply don't! The only way to get your videos on your PC is through the supported software. You can't stream live video and you can't use common software such as Movie Maker or Windows Media Encoder to capture live video or to immediately edit the recorded video (on the HD). The computer seems to recognize the camera as an AVC compliant device but nothing more than that. And when it comes to using the supported software is sucks! The software is very cumbersome to use, it uses a quite rare video format (some MAC type of TOD files) and the video editor software has very limited options for even the basic edits. If you need to edit your videos on your PC be prepare to for a tedious job.

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I bought this for my wife and it worked amazing! I liked it very much. Takes good photos too. Battery life is decent. The only thing I do not like is the movie file type it creates.

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This was a very good investment. The price was very good and the quality of the video is excellent. The HD video is supurb. I have had it for a few years now and finally getting around to write the review.

My only complaint is the video extension I wish were more of a standard format. I believe it writes to a .TOD which needs to be converted.

Sharp VLNZ50U MiniDV Compact Digital Viewcam with 3" Color LCD Screen

After several months of research, I decided on this camera, for basically two reasons: Size it's slightly larger than a film camera, weighing no more than one; Design the motor is away from the microphone, allowing less motor-noise in recordings.

The biggest swaying factor was the two-hands operation. As any expert consumer-camcorder user can tell you, no optical/digital image stabilization can compensate for the "fumbling" you get at high zoom factors when shooting one-handedly. The so-called "one-hand" cameras aren't really one-handed if you want a clean shoot when you have to make do without a tripod, since you'll be applying your second hand to the left/under side of the camera for added support. Having used various other MiniDV cameras (Sony HandyCams, JVC's, and Canon's), I discovered that it was easier to use a product that is originally designed for 2-handed operation. I've used the camera for a while now, and I am very satisfied with the stability of the video I get, even while zooming and walking simultaneously.

This product does have a "Still" function, however, no way to save it to any removable or internal memory, so if you want to copy them over to a computer, you would have to import it via Firewire after it is recorded to tape. Even at that, the DV-25 format restricts the picture to a low-enough quality that they're not work keeping.

A hint to people considering getting a camera with still functions: get an[inexpensive] 640x480 camera ... from [a local store] this will do the job better than the still functions on most consumer-grade DV camcorders; if budget allows, a decent 2MP+ camera would allow you to take printable photos.

As a sidenote, looking on Sharp-USA's site, I couldn't find the CCD pixel count, but I have found some indication on the Internet that this camera has a 420K CCD. This is fine for a DV-25 camera, but this also means that digital zoom obviously gets blocky and distorted easily.

Note to the person with the I.Link issue: I.Link is Sony's trademark for a 4-pin IEEE 1394 (Firewire) port. If you want to use your VAIO with this camera, what you would need is just any 4-pin to 4-pin Firewire cable, and use the DVGate software to import the video. Otherwise, if you have a Macintosh or a 6-pin Firewire port, you should get a 4-pin to 6-pin cable. I have tried it with both Mac OS X and Windows XP so far and both results have been very pleasing.

The only down-side I can bring up is the lack of remote, need for an extra cylindrical tripod-attachment as provided (can't use the lock-in pin on the detachable attachment if you have the batteries installed on certain tripods), somewhat [inexpensive] construction (plastic looks flimsy in part), and non-intuitive manual focus (have to open up menu 4 keypresses, and use buttons to focus instead of any kind of sliders). Of course, this is a very inexpensive camera and consumer-grade at that; finding manual rotary focal lens controls would almost be rare.

All-in-all, the price makes up for what it doesn't have, and I find that this camera does everything I need to do for both semi-professional and home-consumer usage.

Cheap does not mean bad. After an extensive review, I chose this camera because it provides the best value for the money, and it has the key elements what you should look in a new camera:

Format: MiniDV

Very compact and stylish, in order to be able to carry it to Disneyland or Six Flags and go to all attractions without problem (it fits in a regular camera case), Standard 10X Optical Zoom.

Backlight and record buttons are very handy, which make the camera easy to operate.

I gave it 4 stars because a major drawback: You can not convert your Old VHS videos to MiniDV, instead you have to borrow a camera from a friend or buy a firewire card for your PC with analog inputs.

USB Streaming included on the model NZ100 simply does not worth the price difference, because for less than that money you can buy the firewire card for the PC. The only input available is from another camcorder via firewire cable, in order to make digital copies of your MiniDV Videos.

The NZ50 although has a very nice standard features, like the 270º rotating lens, Effects like sepia, BW, widescreen mode and audio dubbing, that other cameras that cost a few bucks more do not have.

For me it is not important to capture low resolution still images in a camcorder (although this camera can, but it is in tape), color viewfinder (it is supposed that you buy a camera with LCD in order to use it) and other built-in features, because for the money saved buying this cheap camera, you can buy an extra battery (Energizer 730: money), a Firewire card with cable (Adaptec 4300: money), a tripod (money) and a good 2 Mega pixel Camera (not even the money dollar digital camcorders have that resolution, and you can have one good 2 mega pixel camera for less than money), and have a complete good solution for the actual digital era without expending too much.

Buy Sharp VLNZ50U MiniDV Compact Digital Viewcam with 3" Color LCD Screen Now

After waiting a year for the price of digital camcorders to come down, I finally decided to jump in and purchased this Sharp. I was originally drawn to this camcorder by the price. And even though it doesn't offer any "bells and whistles", it's still priced at least ($$$) less than a comparably equiped competitor. So far, it's performed well for me. It makes good-looking home movies with great sound, and that is all I was basically looking for. I'm more into ease-of-use and convienience rather than knobs, buttons, and gadgets. One of the camcorder's greatest features is the compact size. It's only slightly larger than my digital camera and I can carry it with me anywhere in my jacket pocket. One of the reasons I always dreaded taking my old 8mm camcorder with me is becuase it was like dragging a suitcase around. Oh, and one other thing. Before owning this camcorder, I never understood the rationale for a "two-handed" model...Now, I'll never go back. I'm anxious to see how it performs when transferring movies to a DVD burner, but now I'm waiting for the price of those to come down!

Read Best Reviews of Sharp VLNZ50U MiniDV Compact Digital Viewcam with 3" Color LCD Screen Here

This is my first camcorder and I am able to make outstanding movies in the first ten minutes. A simplified menu and ease of use make this viewcam the greatest entry level camcorder. I have purchased a separate digital still camera, because it affords a better picture resolution than any camcorder still shot. Good luck and enjoy.

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The camera was ok, considering when I would take still pictures the pictures would come out blurry. But then one day out of the blue It stopped working. It's like it had a short circuit. Then I was reading other reviews, I come to find, that I am not the only one that this has happend too with this camera. Of course this happens right after the 3 month warrenty is over. Oh they will fix it for you, but for a heavy labor charge. I would not recommend purchasing this camera at all. To top It all off the costumer service reps were very rude.

Lorex LNE3003i Wireless Network Easy Connect Security Camera (White)

I came to review the 3003 model which I purchased 2 of. I'm not sure if this is really different (3003i) or not, but wanted to outline my experience.

I'd been interested in getting some home surveillance cameras. Initially I tried an inexpensive wired Hawking camera. An old model with poor image quality, but it did what it was supposed to do. I read a lot of reviews, and decided I needed to spend more money to get a decent camera. I went with the Lorex 3003 model.

I tend to be pretty forgiving with products. I guess most consumers are, which is why quality is often very low. I'm not sure if a firmware upgrade would have helped me, but I never went that route with these cameras too many issues. The web interface was slow and intermittent. I tried using it on IE, Chrome, and Firefox ...and could never even get the default password changed. I'd hit the update button, and nothing would happen. On both cameras most of the LEDs burned out within 18 months (very bright and I'm sure were run with > 30mA ...I plan to dissect and find out). That certainly didn't help the 'night' vision. Like many cams, they would frequently freeze and need to be unplugged. To view them online, you need to use a 3rd party yoics service, which isn't very user friendly (awful iPhone interface), and of course if the cams freeze it's useless.

Since then I tried a couple DLink cameras (DCS-920) and was very pleasantly surprised. I got them on sale and wish they'd go on sale again. Better picture, no freezing, and smoother interface. I can use the mjpg stream with iCam software/app to view them from anywhere. I also purchased some very cheap wired Rosewill cameras ...also better than the Lorex (not picture quality, but at least they keep running). More recently I tried one of the budget pan/tilt Foscams ...and was again impressed. I also tried out the Loftek outdoor IP cam. It seemed very good ...but was incorrectly advertised as having 2-way audio so I returned it.

IP camera reviews are a difficult thing to sift through. Many cameras get bad marks because they often require a good deal of understanding to use ...and the average consumer will struggle with camera and router setup. Bottom line, I've tried a decent number of cams and nothing has been so poorly engineered and underwhelming as the Lorex. I wasted a lot of money on this product and regret it.

Lorex, if you read this, please feel free to respond. I'd love to get some feedback. Admittedly I didn't try to contact you ...but given my past luck with customer 'service' I don't generally waste my time contacting a company after the (1yr) warranty expires.

I bought one of these cameras to remotely monitor my business and I liked the results so much I just ordered two more! I didn't think it was too hard to install (on my PC not sure about the Mac tho), I just followed the directions. Word of caution though: if the name of your wireless network has spaces or special characters ("&" e.g.) in it, you will need to change it to something else that's all one word for the camera to be recognized. Luckily, I found this out through the support on their website. Once that was taken care of, I couldn't believe the images I was seeing! Then I got it hooked up through my iPhone and I was just floored. To the naysayers, no, it's not thirty frames per second over the internet and no, you can't hear the sound over the internet, BUT I still get crystal clear images at about once a second on my iPhone (or any other computer) from anywhere I am. And that's just fine by me peace of mind I tell you! I feel SO connected to my business when I'm not there now. And the yoics website is perfect for me they take care of all of the other stuff and I just get to view the video. For $117 bucks this is a steal of a deal, plus the shipping was free and it arrived on my doorstep in 2 days. One other thing don't use the lorex iPhone app (I couldn't get it to work), use the yoics app.

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This replaced a yoics camera. The night vision mode is not as good as expected, but daylight is good. It was supposed to work with the yoics interface, but has its own viewer when using windows, but works well with our iPad application.

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I purchased 4 Lorex LNE3003i which were installed in areas I can monitor my twin girls (2 nurseries, playroom, and kitchen). They gave both my wife and I the sense of comfort being able to monitor them when we're at work or on vacation. We were monitoring our nanny to ensure their feeding schedules were met as well as watching them play and sleep remotely wherever we are. When on vacation, I enabled the surveillance software installed on my computer to capture videos of all the cameras; engaged through their motion sensors. I would replay the video upon my return ... as required. I also have the apps installed on my laptop as well as iPhone to view live feeds when we vacationed.

The clarity of video images on the cameras are excellent. I showed my relatives the live feed off my iPhone of the kids playing in the playroom and they were amazed by the quality of the video ... we were on a cruise about to disembark Miami port. We would check up on the kids again whenever we arrive at the various ports

The only dislike I have of the cameras are the "ultra bright" light which I have disabled. I ended up buying a separate infrared LED in the nurseries.

I guess it is all dependent on the overall setup of the cameras and leveraging the smartphone apps and surveillance software. I'm very satisfied with the cameras.

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I did not have too much trouble setting this up on a Mac. First off, if you know how to use bonjour, you can set this up on a mac the same as (and easier than) a Windows computer. The box and some online info and an insert in the box all say you can't do the initial set up on a mac, but that was not true in my experience. (I did both ways, starting with the Mac).

HOWEVER, I was unable to set this up to connect to an ad-hoc network with my MacBookAir. In fact, the wireless system ONLY lets you click to connect to SSIDs that it sees. Since for some reason my ad-hoc computer to computer network was not seen, I could not type in the SSID, etc.

I WAS able to do this with the DLINK 923L. That now has a Mac native and very easy to use connection program, which worked well. And I was then able to get in to do advanced changes, type in my MacBookAir ad-hoc network and have the DLINK connect wirelessly to my MacBookAir directly. (Long story why I wanted to do this, but it works well).

When attached to my network, the Lorex did work ok, though I like the picture quality and refresh of the (cheaper) DLINK much better.

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GE 45261 Portable 2.5-Inch LCD Monitor Wireless Analog Camera

This item conveys all movements as they occur, not in segments as other wireless camera-monitors by other companies. There appears to be a problem with overheating inside the monitor in previous GE monitor/camera packages I purchased which will eventually affect video performance,color, or will simply shut down for good. The latest purchase from Amazon has the best color and clarity of all previous cam/monitors purchased and well worth the money if you are securiity conscious in these days no matter where you live. Just make sure the product has plenty ventilation, dont drop it, and keep it away from moisture.

was shipped really fast,set up easy,just plug in and watch.all i have to do is gat a recorder next.might get wireless battery so it can't be unplugged

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