Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens - Black

My journey with DSLRs began back in 2003 with the original Digital Rebel. DSLRs changed my photography for the better like nothing else. Five years and some 25,000 shots later, it's still going strong. Along the way I upgraded to the Canon 30D, which is a fantastic camera as well. When the 40D was announced, I decided to wait until the 50D sometime in 2009, but wanted a newer backup/second body for my photography needs. So when the XSi/450D was announced, it sounded like a perfect fit for my needs.

I got it from Amazon.com three days ago, and have given it a pretty good workout since then, having shot about 650 shots under a variety of shooting conditions and with a number of different Canon and third-party lenses. The following are my impressions.

The build feels very good. The camera feels wonderfully light yet well built. I'm 6ft tall with average size hands, and the camera feels good in my hand. The battery grip, to me, defeats the purpose of having a small, light DSLR, so I opted for a Hakuba/Opteka grip (it's a plate that screws into the tripod socket that enables you to use the excellent Canon E1 hand strap with it) and I couldn't be happier. I'm not a fan of neck straps, so this works well for me (see the uploaded photo for the configuration).

Most of the menu buttons on the back feel different from the ones on the original Digital Rebel and the 30D; the XSi buttons feel more tactile and have a definite "click" to them when you press them. The exception are the Exposure Lock (*) and AF selector buttons, which have retained the deeper, softer feel of the older cameras. Just different, not better or worse, for me.

The LCD is now 3" with 230K pixels. The playback images look great, and probably because of the higher resolution of the sensor, there's a very slight delay when you zoom in to 10x while the image loads and displays properly. People coming from other cameras or brands might not even notice it--I only did so because of the difference between it and my two other Canon DSLRs (which have lower resolution sensors). The viewing angle of the LCD screen (how clearly you can see the screen from side and up and down) is excellent; you can still see the screen holding the camera almost straight up for an overhead shot (more on this later). I'd estimate the viewing angle is about 160-170 degrees both horizontally and vertically.

The Digital Rebel has a separate status screen above the main LCD screen, and the 30D had one on top of the camera, so I wasn't sure if I was going to like the big LCD acting as the status screen and no top screen. I'm happy to say that this arrangement works well, at least for me. The back screen makes it really easy to take all the settings at a glance. The viewfinder is much larger and brighter than that in the Digital Rebel. A humongously welcome feature for me is the always displayed ISO value in the viewfinder.

The camera is only 1/2 of the image quality equation, the other being the lenses being used. Coupled with my favorite lens, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L telephoto lens, the XSi turns out fantastic images. The supplied kit lens is very light and compact for being an image stabilized lens, and turns out good performance. The IS is certainly very useful.

Two features that used to be missing from the Digital Rebels and found in the more expensive DSLRs are now featured in the XSi: spot-metering and flash exposure compensation (these may have been available in the previous Digital Rebel model, the XTi, as well). The inclusion of those two features make the camera a much more complete and compelling photographic tool. The timer function now has a custom mode, where it'll count down from 10 seconds then take a number of shots (specified by you) in succession. No more running back and forth to reset the timer after each shot! There's also the traditional 2-second timer.

Let's talk for a minute about sensor and the ISO values. XSi/450D has five ISO values you can choose: 100 (best image quality), 200, 400, 800, and 1600. Higher ISO increases the camera sensor's sensitivity to light, thus you can achieve faster shutter speeeds for a given lighting condition. However, the trade-off is that the sensor "noise" (think grain for film photography) increases with higher ISO, so you get a degraded image quality in return for less blurred photos from hand shakes (thanks to faster shutter speed). This may come in handy in situations where flash photography is not permitted, such as a museum or a concert or theater. HOWEVER, compared to point-and-shoot digital cameras, the larger sensors of DSLRs, including the XSi, means that even at ISO 800 and 1600 you get very usable images right out of the camera. Running the images shot at those ISO settings through any number of third-party noise reduction software will improve them even further.

This ties in to another very useful feature of the XSi/450D that makes life easier for the photographer: The Auto ISO function. By default, Auto ISO sets the ISO (the sensor sensitivity to light) between 100 and 800 (by using custom functions, this can be changed to 200-1600). If you are, for example, shooting your kid's indoor basketball game and you know that you need a shutter speed of at least 1/200 sec to "freeze" the action, then you can set the camera to Tv (shutter priority mode) and set the value to 1/200, and set the camera to Auto ISO. Then the camera will match the aperture and the ISO to achieve proper exposure at that shutter speed. With my other DSLRs, setting the camera to shutter priority only allowed the camera to adjust the aperture value; ISO setting had to be adjusted manually. With the XSi/450D, the ability for the camera to adjust the ISO value automatically makes it one less thing for you the photographer to worry about.

I've only tested the Live View function to see how it works, but I can already see how useful it's going to be in studio and macro shootings. Just a note, you can't half-press the shutter to autofocus while in Live View mode. You can either manual focus, or use one of the two autofocus methods, quick (the mirror flips up, the LCD goes dark for a short while, and flips down with focus locked) or live (the camera uses the LCD's contrast detection to achieve the focus--this method is slower than the quick method), both by pressing the exposure lock button (*) while in the Live View mode. Using either the RS-60E3 wired remote or RC-1 wireless remote in Live View mode will ONLY trigger the shutter, and has no bearing on focusing.

Some people seem to be under the impression that the inclusion of the Live View feature will enable them to use the XSi/450D as they do point-and-shoot digital cameras, to compose their shots. That is not the case. You can't really make a functioning use of the Live View feature unless the camera's securely mounted on a tripod or on a flat surface. Both Live View focusing modes, while precise, are too slow to be used for hand-held shooting.

Having said that, there is one use of Live View in hand-held shooting that I've come to value. When shooting overhead or over an obstacle, I can, with the same hand holding the camera, trigger the Live View, compose the scene through the LCD monitor (even if it's out of focus, it's easy to get the general framing right), disable Live View, and take the photo normally. With a little practice, this can be accomplished very quickly. Very handy when you're just holding the camera overhead and hoping for the best.

The Direct Print button that's been much ridiculed and maligned in most Canon cameras now double as the white balance menu button. The Set button in the middle of the four-direction arrow keys can be programmed for a number of different functions: Change image quality, flash exposure compensation, LCD monitor on/off (same as Display button, but can be triggered by the same hand holding the camera), and Menu display (again, can be triggered by the same hand holding the camera).

There is a dedicated ISO button, which is also very welcome. It can easily be accessed during shooting with the right thumb, thereby minimizing the interruption to shooting.

The battery life seems very good. I've shot about 500+ shots on a single charge and the status monitor is still showing charge at full.

I'm using Transcend 8GB Class 6 SDHC card with it. At ISO 100, the camera reports it can fit 396 RAW+JPG (highest quality) on it, but in reality it can probably fit about 420-450 (the camera's always conservative when estimating). With RAW only, it can fit 507. With highest quality JPG, it can fit 1,822. Note that as ISO increases, so do the file sizes and thus you can store less images per card. For example, on ISO 1600, the same card can only hold 323 images, compared to 396 at ISO 100.

My only gripe, and this is more about me than the camera, is the RAW+JPG buffer. I always shoot RAW+JPG, and the buffer will only hold four images at that speed (this is a limitation that's built into the camera's memory buffer system, and thus using a fast memory card doesn't help--see p.64 of the manual). When the buffer's full, you can take two additional images at about a frame a second, then have to wait until the buffer empties (finishes writing to the memory card). When shooting RAW only, it's 6 images. When shooting JPG only, then it's no problem at more than 50 frames. I've found myself switching the mode dial to Sports mode when I'm shooting a fast-moving subject and the buffer simply can't keep up with it. Well, that's why Canon produces different grades and ranges of DSLRs.

I've uploaded some photos that I shot of the local wildlife. Most if not all of those were taken with the EF 70-200mm f/4 L lens.

All in all, it's a fantastic camera. Pretty amazing to see how far the entry-level DSLRs have come in just a few years in terms of features, interface, ergonomics, and quality. I'm very pleased with my purchase and intend to have lots of fun shooting pictures with it.

I have had the XSi for about 3 months now and I am thouroughly impressed with it. This is my first DSLR and I was a little wary about going with a brand-new and untested camera, but I have always like Canon (I used an ELAN II in High School and I bought a SD600 about 2 years ago to take snapshots of my son). Overall, I have not been disappointed with the quality of the photos that the XSi produces. The IS lens works great and I have taken some pretty amazing photos (for me at least). I do have just a couple of issues, both good and bad, that I think those who are looking at buying this may want to know.

Battery life -Great battery life. I should say, AMAZING battery life. I have taken over 5000 photos and I have only had to charge the battery twice.

Live View -LiveView is not for beginners. It is not a replacement for your Point-and-Shoot. You can't use it in the AUTO mode (Green Square). This isn't that big of a deal for me, I prefer full manual myself, but the whole point of this feature, I thought, was to make it more user friendly for the Point-and-Shoot photographer. My wife can't use Live View in it's current form (I specifically bought a DSLR with a live view function so she could still use the camera). So, if Live View is a big selling point for you, You may want to look at some others (If it isn't that big of a deal to you, then this is still an amazing camera -added 4-23-2008). If you do studio work, though, you can hook the camera up to your PC and use it as a remote viewer. But it is not a point-and-shoot camera in Live View. In my earlier review, I said that it would be nice if Canon fixed some of the Live View issues with a firmware update, I was mistaken. Live View is a nice feature once you figure out it is not meant for beginners. Studio and landscape photographers will find Live View a great tool.

Image Quality -I have had some great success shooting in a studio setting as well as some great outdoor shots. In the studio, I used tungsten "hot" lights with the subjuect against a white background. The photos turned out great. Skin tones are perfect and there is very little, if any, chromatic abberation at the edges. It shoots great outdoor shots as well. We just got into beekeeping and I was able to get some AMAZING shots of our bees up-close outdoors. The bees looked dirty and not very interesting from a distance, but the macro photos I got up close are beautiful and full of wonderfully crisp details. The lens is a little short, the image quality you get from it is pretty good considering it only costs $100. I do plan on buying a longer lens in the near future.

Overall, the camera is solid and feels nice in the hand. It isn't too heavy, yet still feels sturdy. If you can afford the higher price, I don't think you will be disappointed. If you can't, the XTi is still a great camera. And if you can afford to wait a few months for the price to drop a little (LIKE IT ALREADY HAS!!) I would. I was able to work a few extra weekends so I could afford to get this, and I can tell you, I don't mind it a bit, because the quality of photos I am getting has been totally worth it.

--Update ---

I was incorrect when I said you couldn't use the 9-Point autofocus in Live View. You can use the 9-point autofocus while in Live View, but the mirror flips down and focuses so you can't see what you are trying to focus on until after the camera has actually gone through the autofocus process.

--Update #2 ---

I have now had this camera for almost two months and I am happy to report that the more I use it, the more I love it. Once you learn the layout of the camera and you load the MyMenu with the tools you use most often, the camera becomes an absolute delight to use. I have taken over 5000 photos with it so far and now I need an extra hard drive to put them all on.

I was able to rent a Canon EF 24-105 IS L lens and a 580 EX II Speedlite for my sister's wedding. WOW! What great photos. The camera interfaced with the flash flawlessly and I am more convinced than ever that much of the quality of your photos comes from the glass you use and not as much from the camera itself (I think it is about 65% lens to 35% camera body give or take a few points-I know there will be those who disagree, but that is my take on it, and I am sure if I had a 1Ds MkIII I would think that there wasn't a peice of glass good enough for my camera).

This is a great beginner dSLR and a great camera all around. I am very happy with my purchase and I have had no regrets whatsoever about spending the $900 to buy such a great tool. Amazon now sells it for $799, you can't go wrong at that price!

Buy Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens - Black Now

This camera is impossible to beat at this price. I won't write a lengthy review, but, you can set this camera in fully automatic mode and hand it to a "point and shoot" person, and they will obtain fantastic results. For the amateur photographer, this has all of the bells and whistles, what I love is I can reset the camera rapidly for multiple shots of the same scene on very different settings. Married with a decent photo program on your computer, it is possible to achieve professional results.

Many reviews say, get this with the stabilization lens.... I wholeheartedly agree... the extra $100 is a bargain price for this lens... It is almost (and I do say almost) like having a tripod. I set the camera for 1/10th second exposures with no support, and obtained steady pictures with it, slower than this, and the stabilization did not fully correct for any unsteadiness.

We'd buy it again in a heartbeat, and I wish I could get one for everyone I know!! Best photos that I have ever taken and a joy to use! Connecting it to the computer and downloading photos takes a matter of seconds.

Get the largest SD card you can afford with it... We have a 2GB card with it, and it fills fairly rapidly. 1GB is far too small for this camera (primarily because you will take numerous shots with it, not because the pics take up a great deal of memory), I'm guessing 4GB would be near perfect (or a couple of 2GB cards, but one 4GB is safer, the cards are too easy to misplace).

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I picked up this camera two weeks ago at a local store. Overall, it's a solid camera. Color reproduction is wonderful, it's quick, low noise with high iso, and terrific macros. The camera is blazing fast. Please refer to the other posters for the good points of this camera.

Now i'll discuss the shortcomings. The major one, which has been referenced to in various forums such as dpreview and a few online review sites is poor AutoFocus. Not all cameras are affected, but mine was. If you shoot at an object from w/in 10 ft, it has trouble over 50% of the time picking up the autofocus point and often selects the wrong point. If you use center focus, it gets pretty close but final image is still a bit blurry. It becomes a bit sharper w/ the live view autofocus system. When I took some outdoor pics of some animals, i couldn't quite lock on what i was interested in. Even when taking shots of people outside w/ a prominent background, it seems to have trouble deciding if it wants to focus on the person or the background. I'd say that 20% of my shots were actually in focus and those look wonderful. The remaining ones had the focus off. So i'm gonna send my camera to canon for repair. I went to best buy and tried out a 40D and the focus was rock solid. If you get a good camera, kodus to u.

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The XSi is a significant step forward for Canon, and brings features to the upper end of the consumer market that were previously only seen in much more expensive professional equipment.

The most important reasons I like this camera are:

1. The kit lens (EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS) is very good for the price. It is as sharp as lenses costing $700 to $1,000 and has only minimally greater barrel distortion and no vignetting to speak of. There is a little bit more chromatic aberration than with more expensive lenses, but again it completely acceptable, especially for the price. The autofocus and image stabilization work reliably and quickly. For aficionados of professional grade lenses, the build will seem light, but a light and small lens is also easier to carry around. Overall, a big improvement over earlier Canon kit lenses.

2. The 12.2 megapixel sensor provides more than enough resolution. Even 8"x12" enlargements are highly satisfactory. We can look forward to the day when consumer-priced 35mm SLRs will have 30 megapixel full size sensors. At that point, the 35mm format will be maxed out in terms of resolution, as the lenses will not be able to keep up. In the meantime, this is as good as it gets. To give you an idea how good, on a shot of a 25 story building, every brick was clearly visible.

3. The camera is fast enough for essentially all non-professional use. With natural lighting (no flash) it shoots 3.5 frames per second, perfect for capturing kids or sports action.

4. Another great feature of the XSi is that it has all the manual controllability that advanced photographers want, but also has automatic modes that even a complete beginner can easily use. The performance of the preset automatic modes is surprisingly good under a wide range of conditions.

Having only had the XSi for a few weeks, I cannot yet say anything about the reliability of this new model. What I can report is that in more than 30 years of photography, I have found Canon products, both SLR and point and shoot, to be by far the most reliable. The Nikon, Olympus, and Pentax cameras I once owned have long since fallen by the wayside, but every Canon I have ever had, all the way back to a 1978 35 mm AT-1 SLR, is still going strong.

Uniden UDWC25 Wireless Video Surveillance Accessory Outdoor Camera, black, one camera

This is first time with this camera. It is very cold and very windy ( here in Jacksonville Florida) at the time of this recording. The TV receiver is connected to a VCR Recording what you see and hear. The camera comes with a good recording software for the PC, BUT!!! the computer does NOT record the sound, that comes from the camera. Connect the receiver to a DVD recorder, will try that next, it will work. Picture quality is good, BUT! ( I know you wount like my but) The video is step motion, which is ok considering the total cost of this system. I will carry the TV receiver and Camera in my pocket,They both have their own rechargeable batteries, Hide camera, show receiver to friends, they will flip out when they see them selves.

Mrpete

I purchased this in the beginning of January, 2010, as the second camera in my outside video surveillance system so I could see who was at the door before opening it. Uniden characterizes the camera as "Wireless/Weatherproof", yet in the second page of their User Manual, they state: "This equipment is NOT waterproof. DO NOT expose it to rain or moisture."

Since Florida has its share of wet weather, I inquired from Uniden if I could use their camera outside under my soffet, and their answering E-Mail stated that it would be fine. After installing it and experiencing several storms in the three months it has been in action, I can report that the camera continues to function perfectly.

I am also satisfied with the camera's performance, but I never expected to get anywhere near the claimed range of 500 feet. My monitor is set up only about 25 feet from the front door camera and about 15 feet from the driveway camera. The pictures are very clear, and I can even move the monitor down another 30 feet or so to my bedroom to keep within range of the front door camera, although the driveway camera gives out at about 35 feet.

I highly recommend the system, and bought two of them for my daughters to use as nanny cams to watch over their infants. When visiting, each brings her own indoor camera, and I link it to the highly portable monitor (it can take up to 4 cameras), so she can keep watch on her baby in another room. Without having to go through exterior walls, the range in the house is easily 100 feet, through 3 plasterboard internal walls. Since the camera picks up sound, it easily alerts a parent to take a look at the monitor to see if their physical presence is necessary.

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This is my fourth purchase of these cameras. I started with another Uniden smaller set that has full portability (a major plus once you have that ability, take it to the bath, or basement, etc, and you can see the delivery person arrive.

Anyway, bought a second set with two more cameras, still no issues, and now this is my fourth as I continue to grow with my system.

Cameras are good. The receiver choices have small issues, but they do work fine. The bundle with the two outside cameras and a remote control does not have much range, maybe 40 feet from outside, through walls to the bedroom, not a good thing. However the smaller set, that has the flat indoor (baby cam style) has very good range, just small picture area. Trade offs.

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This camera is a fairly good product, excellent in daylight, fair in infared. The only complaint I have is the range. It said it's signal could be picked up 500 feet away but at 250 feet it's sometimes off, sometimes on. This is from a direct line of sight position. The sound is awesome. It picks up the slightest noise. I wish it had a wireless microphone to speaker in the camera, but overall I'm pleased with the product.

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Software for recording crashes daily. Cannot be used as a security system since it is not stable

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BabyPing Secure Wi-Fi Baby Monitor for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch BABYV002

This is really an excellent camera for Baby monitoring! I give it a 4 and not a 5 since I was having significant problems with the App that's provided by BabyPing.

From my perspective, BabyPing goes to great lengths in order to make the setup process as simple as possible. They do an auto detection of the camera, and once that's done, you should just expect to launch the app and immediately see what's going on with your child.

Yet, the simplicity of the app seems to be its weakness: It failed to connect most of the time for me, and when I was debugging the situation, I found out several things that I did not like, like the app requesting your WPA key over the network and also no way to do a port forward so that the grand parents can view the child and no support of more than one camera.

But there's no point complaining, as the camera itself is an excellent product.

Taking that into account, I have written my own app for the camera. It is on the app store. Just search for BabyPing, you'll find it next to the app from BabyPing: It is called BabyPhoneViewerFree. Once you've set up your camera with the BabyPing app, you can use my viewer to connect to (up to four) BabyPing cams, and while the original app was failing to connect most of the time, my app seems to work more reliably and instantly connects. What's more, it supports VPN and Port Forwarding use scenarios, and also some level of zoom.

In addition, the app allows to connect to many other types of webcams, e.g. traditional Y-Cams.

The fact that I wrote the app is not a criticism about the product BabyPing itself. It is an excellent product, and that's why I invested some time in extending it, since I think this is really worth while for many parents around this world.

And since fiddling with your app to connect to the camera is really the last thing you want to do if you hear your baby crying, I went on to improve an already excellent product.

I've been using the BabyPing monitor for over a month and have been pleased with the performance. I purchased the BabyPing for 2 reasons: 1) the BabyPing iOS app seemed to be most feature rich of other iOS Baby monitors and 2) Y-Cam, the makers of the camera have a good reputation for web cams.

So far the app/camera has worked well. I have always had a good connection, there is a slight delay of 2-3 seconds, but nothing that would ever cause an issue. BabyPing has also been updating the app and camera firmware regularly which I appreciate. They have added a few new features and I hope they continue to do so.

The only drawbacks I have found is that there isn't an easy way to travel with this camera...it requires bringing a network cable to setup the wifi connection, would be nice if the camera could save a list of WiFi connections and the camera would connect to which ever one was available. That way you could set it up before hand and not need the network cable. It would also be nice to see native apps available outside of iOS, or open up the web interface.

Overall I'm happy with my purchase.

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I got a Baby Ping camera about 3 months ago to keep an eye on my new son.

I don't normally do reviews but this one is worth it because everyone with a child needs one of these!

You get the ability to keep an ear and eye on your child while they're asleep, don't have to run upstairs every time you hear a strange noise, and don't have to open the door to see if they're ok (ie waking them up), and all of that through you're iPhone (or iPad if I had one).

The video image is very clear, even in night vision mode. It's easy to set up for pretty much anyone I think, and the instructions are not just a bad translation from another language which is rare these days. My only tiny gripe is that the video is about a second behind real time, but that's prefectly understandable and really not a problem.

Possibly the best bit is that it can run in the background on your phone rather than having to have the app constantly on screen.

Two thumbs firmly up.

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It took less than 15 minutes to install and set up on three devices (one ipad, and two iphones). It works great for our son, who is having night terrors and we can make sure he's ok without waking him up. The only downside is that there is a 5 second delay on iPhone and a 3 second delay on iPad. It is great that we can finally go out and be able to check on him from anywhere. When using baby ping+ software from outside home, you typically have to refresh about every 15 minutes. The picture quality is excellent on day and night vision camera. We did not experience any "lines" or poor video quality at all, as some other users noted. Depending on where you position the camera in the room will determine the audio quality (it can sound high pitched), although you just need to adjust the placement of the monitor to get the best audio and video. I highly recommend this monitor to any Apple user.

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This item is great with local wi-fi use, but the app that you have to use when traveling out of the local wi-fi spot is a bit challenging. Other than that this is a solid product.

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Nikon 1 J2 10.1 MP HD Digital Camera with 10-30mm and 30-110mm VR Lenses (Silver)

This camera is just what I was looking for. I have a larger camera but wanted one easy to take along for those surprise photo ops. This one is light enough to take anywhere, takes great pictures and I love the ease of use, just turn the lens and it's ready. The pop up flash is another feature I like. I've been using it for two months and the battery is still going!

This fabulous little camera replaced my larger slr and does not disappoint. The special features are fantastic. It takes amazing clear shots definitely happy with my decision to buy this!

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portable compared to DSLR cameras;

take really good pictures ( the capture is amazing) and also the 10-30 mm lenses

easy to use

can adapt lenses from others manufactures (just in manual mode)

can switch lenses from nikon 1 type or use adapter for f-mount and keep all the automatic modes

make videos in 400 fps and 1200 fps that are amazing!

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i absolutely cannot rave enough about my camera! it's perfect for me & my family. I have 5 kids & 3 of them in sports year round. great action shots!

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First off, let me say that I am in no way a "pro" in DSLR cameras and consider myself an amateur. This product does not fit MY needs but I'm sure it's an amazing camera with what it was intended to do.

My primary reason for buying this camera was to take pictures of MOVING kids INDOORS which seems to be the major flaw of this camera. I came from a Nikon D3100 (which is the same price as the Nikon 1 J2 fyi) to this camera which was the biggest mistake in my life. My wife wanted it as a fashion accessory since she has a white iPhone and a white iPad and a white computer. She wanted to get a white Nikon 1 since she was so impressed with the D3100 and wanted to stick with Nikon in a slimmer fashion.

EVERY picture we took of this camera came out BLURRY and GRAINY. Even though I am a DSLR amateur, I am not internet illiterate and I spent days finding every trick in the book to get this camera to work better. Everything from manually changing ISO settings to shutter speeds to vibration reduction technology, to specific guides tailored to the J1/J2 about reducing blurriness and graininess, etc. I've pretty much done everything and I had little to no improvement. I want to use this camera as a point and shoot, not have to go in and manually change settings for every type of picture I want to take. All I had to do on the D3100 was change a dial settings for like "baby mode" or "fast moving scene mode" unlike this camera which just have gimmicky dial settings I would never use.

From reading previous reviews of the J1 model, I kind of knew what I was getting myself into. I knew the quality would not be as good as the D3100, but my wife and I felt like the smaller profile and custom color options would be worth the sacrifice. As I am typing this, my wife is packing up the J2 right now and we are re-buying a D3100 again. We have done side-by-side comparison shots taken from my older D3100 and the J2 and the difference is night and day. This is while I never even had to touch a single setting in the D3100 ever. I can actually see the pores on my kids' faces while crisp and clear while all I see in the J2 pictures are blurry and grainy photos which don't even look much better than ones taken from my iPhone5. I even bought the $250 30-110 zoom lens so I know I don't have a faulty lens or something.

Again, I'm sure this camera is amazing for outdoor, stationary, natural light shots but not for my uses. Maybe if I was a professional, I could spend 3 minutes tweaking the camera every time I wanted to take a different type of picture but that's not what I bought it for. Do yourself a favor, just buy a D3100 camera that's the same price, slightly bulkier/heavier, if you want crisp, clear, high quality, high resolution photos in an easy point-and-shoot format and call it a day.

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Nikon COOLPIX P7700 Digital Camera (Black) with 32GB Card + Case + Battery + Filter + Flex Tripod +

I have a P7000 and love it. My Granddaughter loves her P7700. I am very happy with the Nikon quality of build and quality of pictures.

I got this camera for my wife and I had to give it to her befor christmas. ITS THE BEST FOR THE MONEY PERIOD! Its taking pictures better than our cannon full frame and has features up the wazoo! Also it makes my wife VERY HAPPY. Just another note Im very picky and look for the best and THIS camers and the package is WAY above my expectations. Hands down the WOW!

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HDMI (Type A) to HDMI Micro (Type D) , High Speed Cable with Ethernet for HTC ,Motorola 6 feet

This cable works great with my Kindle Fire HD 7" output to all my TVs. The cable was well made and exactly matched the item displayed for sale.

I can access my Dish Network Hopper at home by their App (App not on Amazon) and watch all channels via the receiver's tuner or shows and movies that I have on my DVR. The Dish Remote Access App for the KFHD and the HD output to TV, really makes the KFHD a great deal for me for that alone. I also enjoy the Crackle App for KFHD on Amazon as well for same reason.

Of course without this cable to connect the KFHD micro port to a TV by a table makes it all possible to share and enjoy on the big TV screen.

Good cables, made well. Bought 5 and all 5 were in excellent shape and work great. Hooked right up to my Droid X and to my plasma T.V. A great product for the price that gets the job done.

Buy HDMI (Type A) to HDMI Micro (Type D) , High Speed Cable with Ethernet for HTC ,Motorola 6 feet Now

I purchased several of the cords so that I could leave them plugged into my TVs and just walk up and plug in my phone and tablet. One of the cords works great but the other one doesn't work so good. Sadly it only works if its held in a specific way. Only one of my three cords was bad though so I don't mind too much. It would have been nice if all of them worked.

Read Best Reviews of HDMI (Type A) to HDMI Micro (Type D) , High Speed Cable with Ethernet for HTC ,Motorola 6 feet Here

Super cheap and it works. What more could you ask for? Using with my ASUS TF300 Transformer with no issues.

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This works to connect the fire hd to your TV. It took a long time to arrive, but the cable is perfect. (it arrived within the stated time, 3 weeks) I would buy another if i needed one.

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Pentax K-x 12.4 MP Digital SLR with 2.7-inch LCD and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL Lens (White)

I am an advanced amateur and have been shooting with an SLR since the early 70's.

I bought my first digital in 1999, a Nikon 900s, and fell in love with the technology.

I've owned many many DSLR's since Canon introduced the first affordable (it was $3k)EOS D30 many years back.

I've since owned or shot with Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Fuji, Panasonic and others I can't remember.

I have always wanted a small DSLR that could replace my Canon mid range models. Most recently the 40D.

The Rebel series was never comfortable for my large hands.

I bought this Pentax K-x on a whim as it was really inexpensive, offered a lot of features and promised very good high ISO results.

It has met or exceeded all my expectations!

I haven't been this impressed with a new camera since my 1st DSLR, that $3000 Canon D30!

It is small but comfortable to use, even in my big hands, and the pictures at ISO 1600 look like ISO 400 on other brands,

Even ISO 3200 is very usable!

The kit lens is very sharp!

As an added bonus you can use most any Pentax lens ever made which opens up a huge opportunity to try some Legacy lenses.

I have sold my Canon gear and this little Pentax does everything better and in a much more compact form.

It even shoots decent HD video.

I even was able to get a smaller camera bag.

Very Highly recommended!!

levels of details, image quality, noise, features I love everything about this little gem. Video is good too and my only complaint is that it needed a lithium-ion rechargeable battery to support more battery life when using movie\live mode. Its enough when using 4 AA lithium batteries it lasts for at least a 1000s shots plus some occasional live mode and movie usage. Ive read about Sanyo eneloop rechargeables (these should last longer) but havent tried them yet. But with regular rechargeables it doesnt last that long enough.

I love the low noise and amount of details I can get shooting up to 1600 ISO night shots (no flash), aquarium or theater images now look beautiful and I dont have to use a flash. All shot with 1600 ISO gives me enough shutter speed to get great sharp and detailed images.

UPDATE: 12/15/2009

Pentax released a firmware update for k-x dSLR that fixes battery problem.I have installed the firmware and it looks like it does fixes the problem. Now it doesnt give me half-battery orange indicator when I use my lithiums (its still green).

I havent tried it with rechargeables because I dont have any yet (still using my lithiums).

UPDATE: 04/01/2010

I bought Sanyo Eneloop Rechargeable Batteries those working out pretty well in holding the charge.

Since December I think I only recharged them two or three times and the indicator got into red just yesterday.

For more images taken with k-x visit my flickr stream

Buy Pentax K-x 12.4 MP Digital SLR with 2.7-inch LCD and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL Lens (White) Now

I have experience using film SLRs as well as a Nikon DSLR, and I've owned a few Canon compact cameras. After quite a bit of online research, I chose this camera to be my first DSLR, and I am very, very pleased with my decision.

The K-x is small for a DSLR, and I've gotten a few surprised comments from people seeing me pull such a fancy camera out of a small messenger bag. Even so, it has a sturdy feel to it and doesn't feel too tiny in my relatively large hands. I also like the black and white body and have gotten compliments about that as well.

The camera has an AUTO PICT mode for newcomers that takes control of the focus, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO; all you need to do is aim at your subject and press the shutter button. There are also a wide variety of scene modes (macro, portrait, landscape, candlelight, kids, etc.) that are tailored for specific situations. But for people who like to take creative control, there are the typical priority modes (aperture, shutter, and ISO) as well as manual mode. The buttons are few enough that you can easily memorize how to manipulate the camera without having to dig through menus for the important functions. There's even a green button that can act as a shortcut to certain features; I like to use it for enabling cross-processing.

Speaking of which, the K-x features some digital filters (toy camera, high contrast, retro, etc.) that seem superficial but can be very interesting to use. However, my favorite mode by far is cross-processing, which causes the colors, contrast, and saturation of pictures to be randomly distorted, creating some pretty spectacular results from seemingly unspectacular subjects. Enabling this mode adds some unpredictability and fun to digital photography normally exclusive to film cameras (lomography, anyone?) or Photoshop.

Of course, the K-x also packs a lot of serious features comparable with more expensive DSLRs on the market, such as a 12 meagpixel resolution, built-in image stabilization, 4.7 photos per second shooting speed, and a broad ISO range up to 12800. It boasts compatibility with any Pentax lens, which will be useful later on when I get tired of the kit lens. I also deeply appreciate the use of AA batteries, which are cheap to buy, easy to find, and can also be rechargeable. The built-in microphone and ability to record in sharp, 720p 24fps video is also great for spontaneous moments when you need to shoot video and don't have a camcorder handy.

After using the camera for about a month, I've encountered a few setbacks. The camera has difficulty automatically focusing in certain low-light situations, requiring manual focus. Then there is the lack of manual focus assistance in the viewfinder. If you are focusing manually, you have to rely on focusing by sight, which can be difficult. This is compounded by the fact that the resolution of the screen is not extremely sharp, enough so that when you review a picture the subject may not seem blurry unless you zoom in to check. The viewfinder also does not indicate which autofocus point is chosen, making its use a bit of a gamble. Also, there's the faint clicking noise that the image stabilization makes during movie mode, and there is no jack for an external microphone. Recording movies also eats batteries, eats memory card space, and causes the camera to heat up quickly, but these problems are present in all current DSLRs anyway, so don't buy a DSLR solely for its video capabilities. These are all the small problems I've encountered, but they hardly pose major setbacks and can be easily worked around.

Overall, this camera is highly configurable and packs an enormous amount of features for such an inexpensive camera. If you have never owned a DSLR before or are searching for a powerful budget camera, I highly recommend the Pentax K-x.

Read Best Reviews of Pentax K-x 12.4 MP Digital SLR with 2.7-inch LCD and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL Lens (White) Here

I recently upgraded from my beloved Olympus e-510 DSLR with the 14-42mm and 40-150mm kits lenses in order to get a DSLR with better low-light performance and HD video capabilities. I loved my Olympus, but image quality took a nose-dive at ISO 800, and I liked the idea of having an HD camcorder built into my camera to capture high quality family photos and home videos in one device. I eventually settled on the Pentax K-x after first buying, and then returning, a Canon T2i.

I know that the T2i costs almost twice as much as the K-x, and they're not direct competitors, but I think my experience illustrates what a great camera and bargain the K-x is and how, for me at least, it was a giant killer.

I initially pre-ordered a T2i for the $900 MSRP after reading the glowing reviews in the press about the 18MP sensor, the high-ISO performance and the killer 1080p video. When I received the T2i, I was surprised by how cheap and plasticky it felt. It's not that the T2i was likely to fall apart, but my Olympus felt and looked like a higher quality camera, even though it was about $200 less than the T2i when I bought it. I realize that the T2i is a Rebel, but for almost $1000, I expected something more solid.

Even worse was the Canon 18-55mm kit lens, which felt like a toy compared to my Olympus kit lenses. It looked cheap, and the zoom action felt very cheap, and you could hear plastic-on-plastic as you zoomed in and out. There was no lens hood included, and the optional lens hood was only about an inch deep and looked ridiculous. The front element rotated when auto-focusing, which makes using some filters problematic, and you had to switch off AF to manually make focus adjustments. My Olympus lenses did not rotate the front element, and allowed full time focus override without turning off AF. And build-wise, they looked and felt like a higher end lens. But worst of all, Canon kits lens's optical performance was lacking, rendering the 18MP sensor moot.

I could live with the cheap feel of the T2i body and the ugly jelly-bean design, but I came to realize that in order to get a lens that would match the performance of the body, I would need to shell out another $500 or more, and as a hobbyist I just didn't have the budget.

The real deal-breaker with the T2i though, was the use of Quicktime format for the HD video. Quicktime is a proprietary Apple video format, and while I must assume it works well on a new Mac, the QT videos often gave PCs problems. I'd read about this from other users, but I figured that with my high-end PCs and my computer knowledge, I would be okay. But both my new Sony Vaio laptop with Windows 7, ATI 4650 graphics and 4GB of RAM and my desktop computer with Windows XP, dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, Raptor 10K HDD and nVidia 8800GT graphics would stutter on playback of the 1080p files. And finding affordable programs to edit Quicktime HD video files is another headache. I wasn't about to buy a new Mac just to be able to work with the video from my new camera.

So back went the T2i, and my quest for a new camera continued. I was just about to pull the trigger on a Nikon D5000, when I came across the Pentax K-x.

The first thing that grabbed my attention was the styling. I thought the camera looked dead-sexy in navy blue, but when I saw the white version, I was in love. One thing I liked about my Olympus was that it was something DIFFERENT than all the Nikons and Canon Rebels you see every other parent carrying to school or sports functions. I would often get questions about it from people who didn't realize that Olympus even MADE DSLRs. With this Pentax, I would again have something out of the ordinary.

Then I started reading reviews of the K-x. One of the great things about the T2i is the high ISO image quality, and according to the reviews and the sample images I was looking at, the K-x was right there with it.

And the K-x also did HD video. There were some limitations, such as 720p and lack of full control over exposure while shooting video, but I didn't really mind since the samples I downloaded looked great, even on my 110" 1080P home theater projector. And 720p files take less space than 1080p and require less processing power to playback and edit. And best of all, the K-x uses Motion JPEG video format, which plays back great on PCs and is compatible with almost any Windows video editing program. The MJPEG format does use more disk space than the equivalent QT file, but hard drives and SD cards are cheap these days, so it's not a big deal.

Another great thing about the K-x is that it has sensor-based image stabilization in the body, so any lens you stick on the camera is stabilized. My Olympus used a similar system, and I was very happy with it. The big advantage is that you can be non-stabilized lenses so they'll be smaller, lighter, and less expensive.

I ended up buying the K-x in white with the 18-55mm lens. The K-x looks and feels like a higher quality camera than the T2i, and matches my Olympus in this department. The kit lens is also a very worthy piece of hardware.

With the money I saved on the Pentax, I was able to buy the legendary Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 lens, a Pentax 55-300mm zoom lens, and a Sigma speedlight. The flash was new, but I got great deals on the slighty-used lenses on eBay and Craigslist.

I've been using the Pentax for a couple months now, and have taken hundreds of pictures. I am absolutely thrilled with the camera and couldn't be happier with the photos and videos I'm getting. The T2i did have just slightly more detail, but other than that I would say the K-x has equal image quality. And the 12MP RAW image files of the K-x are faster to work with than the 18MP files of the T2i and take up much less space on SD cards, so you don't have to worry about filling up nearly as fast.

That's not too much negative I can say about the camera. I would like it to have a mini-HDMI port and a standard mini-USB port, and continuous auto-focus would be nice in video mode, but no other DSLR has that yet. Stereo mics would also be nice.

I suspect that the image stabilization system may not be as good as the one in my Olympus, but I can't say for sure since my 300mm is longer than the telephoto I had with the Olympus and will therefore be more prone to shake.

I get compliments on the Pentax everywhere I go, and it's been a joy to use and own. I could not be happier with my purchase.

In the future I'll probably add a Sigma 30mm F1.4 prime and a Sigma 10-20mm ultra-wide zoom to my lens kit.

Just for the record, I'm not trying to bash on the T2i. It is an amazing camera that is currently without peer in its price range. But if you're like me and you only have about $1000 to spend, I think you will get much more value by going with a less-expensive but almost-as-capable camera like the K-x, and using the extra money on high quality lenses. My F2.8 constant-aperture lens has been a revolution for me, and I recommend every budding photographer make room in their budget for something similar.

Want Pentax K-x 12.4 MP Digital SLR with 2.7-inch LCD and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL Lens (White) Discount?

After looking through a lot of options this camera seems to offer the best combination of price performance.

Some first impressions are:

1. Good Hi Iso Performance with little noise. (Much better then Canon Xt then I used to own that only had 1600 max iso.)

2. Able to do HD Video (720p).

Video quality is ok, I compared it to my sony SR-12 HD camcoder its definitely not the same quality but it does have a unique movie type look to it, in low light its very grainy but in good light it does fine. Its a good back up to a camcoder, although you do have to get used to manual focusing to get good results. If you shoot a lot of movies get a bigger memory card, I have a 4 gig card and it only holds around 15 minutes of video in highest quality due to recording format.

3. First thing to do when you get the camera make sure you update the firmware to 1.01 that will solve the battery issue that many people been having. You can check which firmware you have by pressing the menu button and then turning the camera on.

So far a I took about 900 pictures and about 45 minutes of video on lithium batteries that came with the camera and only now the battery indicator shows orange.

4. As with any DSLR auto mode will not give you the best results, and every camera has its own "favorite" settings where it gets most consistent results. So far Im still figuring out what works best with this particular camera.

5. No camera is perfect but to me Good Hi Iso performance, Hd video option and price. Make it 5 stars.

BlueRigger High Speed HDMI to DVI Adapter Cable (25 Feet)

This cable is very well made and it's price can't be beat. The local Radio Shack wanted $30 for just a DVI to HDMI adapter and the local Apple dealer wanted $50 for the same size cable vs the $11 dollars I paid here.

BUT. . .

I wish that someone had mentioned that DVI does NOT carry audio to the HDMI port on a TV. Since that's what I wanted to do, use my Mac Mini for video and Netflix on a TV. There are several workarounds and I'm using one of them, but it's not very elegant. No fault of the seller, but I wish there had been a mention of it.

The cable arrived promptly and was packaged in a convenient and protective box.

I immediately connected the DVI connection to the second port on my GPU and then connected the HDMI to a Samsung LCD HDTV. Windows 7 immediately recognized the TV as a second monitor.

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This cable is fantastic and a great price! I ordered a 15 ft cable from another supplier and got a 5 ft cable. Wasn't happy at all. Then I found this one and it's perfect! Imagine that, a product that arrives just as described :) Great picture on my 55 in tv from the standard video card on my computer.

Read Best Reviews of BlueRigger High Speed HDMI to DVI Adapter Cable (25 Feet) Here

I received my BlueRigger High Speed HDMI to DVI Adapter Cable (25 Feet) (New) very quickly. Unfortunately, this cable is causing "noise" and is not working correctly for me. This may be an isolated issue since I have purchased other BlueRigger products with satisfactory results. Item returned for full refund (5 stars) slighting two stars for inferior product. I am happy with seller experience.

To be more specific, when connecting this cable from my computer (graphics card) to my HDMI monitor, I would get a slight display flicker along with an actual noise produced during signal processing. Strange, I never encountered such an occurrence.

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Perfect transmission of video and audio quality from my computer to my second LCD across the room. Very highly recommended.

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Nikon Coolpix P7000 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 7.1x Wide Zoom-Nikkor ED Lens and 3-Inch LCD

Let's get the facts out first. I've been a Nikon shooter for several decades, currently with a D300 (haven't made the leap yet to full frame, but that's next). I'm an amateur, but shoot at a pro level. My focus is on music and sports photography, and I like to have a good camera with me when I travel (my last ride-along P&S has been a Lumix DMC-TZ5). I shoot in a variety of conditions, but what I need must a) provides high quality images, b) be really portable (fits in my purse, can get into concerts that ban DSLRs unless you're shooting on assignment) c) have a longer lens option (200mm is 'table stakes') and d) provide the flexibility to twiddle the dials to find the best combo of ISO-aperture-shutter speed for a particular situation. Having HD capability is a nice-to-have.

I've been shopping for a new P&S easily for a year. Got interested and then uninterested in the Canon G11/G12/S95 because the lens is too short (even the extenders don't push it out far enough). Similar higher-end P&S cameras don't have the length I was looking for, or didn't fit the size criteria (ruled out the 'super zooms' largely because of this).

Nikon got my attention first with the P100 but I read about image quality issues. When I learned about the P7000, I was intrigued. Could Nikon overcome its perceived issues and produce a P&S that makes picky photo people happy?

I made the plunge and bought the P7000. After reading a few more reviews and having a burst of post-purchase cognitive dissonance, the best plan was to just take the new acquisition out and A:B it against my D300 and the Lumix in a variety of conditions.

I'm glad I did. First impression: lots of dials to set and menus to learn, so to make it easy I just left it on the 'green' setting and let the camera make the decisions. Immediately it was clear that the Lumix's photo quality wasn't even in the same class as the P7000 (it looked good until you held it up against the others). The P7000's quality should be compared against the DSLR class.

After carrying a DSLR rig around, the P7000 seemed like a featherweight around the neck. Great build quality solid metal feel. I don't like the AE-L and AF-L button being next to where you thumb is, but my fingers will learn. (Wish there was a wriststrap option that shipped with the camera too.) LOVE the display, and the ability to see the histogram data. Feels like my D300 in many ways.

Now to the images. Shot with the D300 and the P7000 looking up a tree trunk. Depth of field, image clarity and WB were surprisingly similar. Wow. Tried it again in both indoor and outdoor conditions, and saw little to no difference. In fact I preferred the P7000 images several times to the D300 they looked better (Note 1 below). After several hours of shooting both cameras, my post-purchase cognitive dissonance was gone and I am eager to learn more about my new traveling 'friend'.

I do agree with the reviewers who note that the dials and settings aren't particularly intuitive. The instruction manual is about on the scale of a DSLR. It also for now lacks the really long lens capability I'm looking for (I believe that Nikon will be introducing accessories soon, including a telephoto extender). I wish that the lens were faster in the lower end, and I wish that Nikon did a better job of removing high ISO noise (this is a criticism for non-full frame Nikon bodies in general; I'm hoping that RAW and post-processing will clean this up). But the advantages of the camera DSLR-like photo quality, Nikon fit/finish and build, and a longer lens than comparable high-end P&S make me believe that Nikon is going in the right direction and that this is a break from its previous P&S cameras.

If you don't have size constraints (as I do), buy a DSLR you will get more in the long run. If you want DSLR-like performance in a P&S, definitely take a look at the P7000.

(Note 1: A good DSLR rig with good glass will take better photos than a point-and-shoot in virtually all situations that's simple physics. I've not given up my DSLRs, but am recognizing the fact that the P7000 has the ability to shoot photos at the same level of quality in the outdoor/daylight conditions low ISO in which I ran my comparison. Higher ISOs for low light conditions do introduce more noise, and this is an expected function of the sensor in this class of camera. When I'm shooting 'serious', I still take the DSLRs. Use this camera on the path to a DSLR, since it has many of the same control features, or as a supplement for times when you don't want to carry the 'big rig' or can't because of constraints where you will be shooting.)

-------------------------

UPDATE: I've put about 1,000 shots into the camera over the past week, including one day of a music festival where I shot all but maybe 3 shots with the P7000 (see the photos here -data is on). Net: though I still have not figured out the nuances, you can get really good photos out of the camera, but it does require learning how to use its capabilities. It is slower than the DSLR, but not so bad that it gets in the way of getting the shot. The P7000 has developed an issue where the lens cover will not retract completely, which causes the corners of the frame to be shaded. So, this must be sorted out. This is unfortunately not what I expected from Nikon, even in the first release. I'll report back in based upon what I find out, but for now I'm keeping the 5 star rating.

UPDATE (NOV 2010): The camera returned from Nikon in time to take to SFO. Nikon adjusted the shutter (works fine now) and the white balance. Interestingly the shot count was advanced about another thousand, so I trust they took the time to really check it out. I've finally figured out how to do quick aperture/shutter speed adjustments in manual mode, and am finding as I learn its controls and tricks, it's easier and easier to get great shots. I'm amazed at the 'night' setting never fails to render something really interesting and usable. White balance in this mode has been most impressive even in darkened rooms and in street shots at night, the photos come out rendered in the right colors, in focus and with plenty of light. I'm keeping the 5-star rating.

UPDATE (Feb 2011): The shutter has not hung up again but the service guy who looked at it last noted that he thought some of the parts were 'worn'. I still really enjoy the camera, but did purchase a 3 year extended warranty. I would recommend that anyone else do the same if they buy it in the near future, up until the time that the reports of the shutter issue die off. I'm attributing it to the initial release of a very new camera design, and there are often things they will improve upon over time. But in contrast, my new D7000 is working like a champ right out of the box, leading me to surmise that their design and manufacturing standards may be higher for their DSLRs than their P&S cameras. Just an observation does anyone else have a similar experience?

UPDATE (Mar 2011): Spoke with a Nikon person during SXSW who advised me to make sure I had the firmware updates loaded into the camera. Another reviewer commented that it's still in beta I would tend to believe that. Still enjoying the camera. I did tell him that I am wishing for them to take a great low-light sensor and put it into a P&S footprint, and he noted that pretty much everyone wants that too. Nikon where is this on your product roadmap? I'll camp out to buy one of these!

This is a great camera if you're looking for an extremely customizable compact camera.

Size and Handling -This really just depends on what you are looking for. If you want a pocket camera that can fit into shirt pockets, jean pockets, etc then this is not the camera for you and you really should look elsewhere. For me, it's the perfect size, not too big and not too small. The camera is solid but not too heavy.

Picture quality -I shoot mainly in RAW and the quality so far is excellent. Little noise up to ISO400 and usable to ISO800. Can go to 1600 in a pinch.

Autofocus -Focus is fast and accurate. There are options for Autofocus, Macro Focus, Infinity, and Manual Focus. Be sure to read the manual and spend time understanding the focus options. Some people are reporting focus issues and I believe many are related to users not learning enough about the focus system.

Write speed -This is where I would have given a 4 1/2 instead of a 5 if I could. JPG write speeds are good but RAW is fairly slow and doesn't appear to buffer. It doesn't affect me much based on the way I take pictures but there are times that it would be nice if it were faster. Of course if you shoot JPG then this is a non-issue.

Pros

Customization

Battery life

Viewfinder (I don't use it too often but nice when you need it)

Image quality

Zoom range

Menus (intuitive, easy to use. Even better if you're familiar with Nikon DSLR menus.)

Works with Nikon remote and Nikon flash

Preset zoom

Cons

Have to select Playback button to scroll through images (I like the ability to scroll after taking a photo like the D90)

No articulating screen (If I have to choose, I'll take the higher res LCD but every once in a while the articulating screen would come in handy).

RAW write speed (will be a bigger con for some than it is for me)

In summary this is a great camera and I highly recommend it as long as you aren't confusing it for something it's not like a pocket P&S with limited controls or a full sized DSLR!!

Buy Nikon Coolpix P7000 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 7.1x Wide Zoom-Nikkor ED Lens and 3-Inch LCD Now

I purchased this camera for my wife for Christmas. In March while out on a photo shoot of wildflowers the Lens Cover stopped opening fully. Since it was past Amazon's 30 day return window I went to Nikon's Website and set up a return to repair facility. At this point I was somewhat disappointed but understanding of the fact sometimes things don't go completely correctly and had high expectations of Nikon making things right. I sent off to Nikon(on my dime) and after a few weeks they replied the camera would be repaired under warranty. So far so good. After about a month and a half the camera was returned. The first time we took it out it immediate exhibited the same Lens Cover not retracting issue.

Now I will have to look forward to sending it back to Nikon (on my dime) and waiting a couple of months for Nikon to "repair". Not what I expected from Nikon. We have vacation planned for next month and the whole idea of purchasing this camera was to have one which took quality photos but was easier to carry around than our D40x. Now it looks like I will have to purchase an equivalent size camera from Canon or another company if we don't want to carry the D40x.....

I should have read others reviews before purchasing as I see this issue is not unique to us.

Update:

I contacted Nikon Customer Support and they sent me a pre-paid shipping label since the problem was back less than six months from their "repair". I can't complain that I had to ship back "on my dime". Still unhappy the camera has been at repair facility for about 1/3 of the time I have owned it.

Update:

After a few weeks my wife called and checked on repair. Nikon stated it was shipping out the next day. After a couple of weeks it hadn't showed up and she checked back. Nikon then stated the repair had not started yet. Since it was less than a week until our big trip my wife was upset and let Nikon know it. They agreed to send a NEW camera to replace our original one. It arrived in time for trip and so far it works OK. Hope the lens cover issue does not reappear. I will update if anything else goes wrong or if everything goes right (fingers crossed)

Update:

Camera performed flawlessly during vacation. Took ~ 1500 photos. However, the week after our return the *NEW* camera started exhibiting the same lens cover problem. So far we have had to send to Nikon twice, once for repair and once for replacement.

We plan on contacting Nikon and asking for a refund.

Read Best Reviews of Nikon Coolpix P7000 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 7.1x Wide Zoom-Nikkor ED Lens and 3-Inch LCD Here

I've been waiting for a camera like this from Nikon for years and was about to go for the Canon G11 when the P7000 (and G12) came out. The specs were exactly what I'd wanted a lower pixel count with higher ISO, larger, higher res screen than the P6000 with faster RAW processing and a greater range in the lens. I looked at the G12 but decided on the Nikon and I'm glad I did.

I shoot a D700, but wanted something I can take everywhere and I've just been blown away with the P7000. The controls take a little getting used to if you are familiar with the Nikon DSLR range, but ISO, QUAL, WB setup are almost the same and you get three custom settings U1, U2 and U3 where you can save common configurations such as low light (as the auto ISO ranges from 100-200, 100-400 and 100-1600 so it is a good idea ifyou use low light and want 3200 or Hi1 to set this up as a U setting rather than changing the ISO I setup mine as U3). You can also reprogram 3 of the standard buttons to shortcuts and there is a MyMenu which is really hand for commonly used settings.

Manual is a bit fiddly as the +/sensor is a bit slow and too small to use dynamically as the light meter setting shows up yellow on white (not much contrast) whereas the Aperture and Shutter priority are as fast as they are on a DSLR and are really clear. One really nice feature is the real time histogram, if you use histograms this will save you a lot of time and missed shots as you can see your shot will be over or under range before you shoot but then the matrix sensor is pretty hard to fool. I'm not a fan of bracketing, why not get the shot right first time around, but if you are a bracketing fan this too works well on the P7000 and can be setup on another U for when you want to make doubly sure you get the shot.

Image quality is amazing for a point and shoot like this, even at full optical zoom it will really make me think twice when travelling as to whether to lug your DSLR.

There is plenty of distortion in the lens, but not complex and easily corrected in Photoshop (not sure if NX2 does this automatically as with the D700).

I've no idea why Nikon bothered with the flash hot shoe, if you stick a flash on it you may as well use your DSLR and with the low light handling and VR of the P7000 as well as a steady hand you can take superb low light shots, and the little inbuilt flash more than suffices when high ISO's are not enough.

One thing I love is the view finder. I'm happy to use the screen to take a shot but in daylight you are often guessing at what you are shooting and the viewfinder provides an pretty good alternative. An accurate DSLR viewfinder it isn't, but it zooms as the lens zooms and it is accurate enough to get the shot. Apparently it is an 80% viewfinder, I think that is an average as it seemed to vary over the range but you do get used to it pretty quickly, especially with the P7000's zoom stops.

All in all the P7000 is just superb. I'm glad I waited and at 85% of the weight of the G12, longer zoom (the lens is rated slower at 5.6 vs 4.5 with the G12, but then the P700 runs to 200mm whereas the G12 is 140mm they are probably similar at around 140mm).

I'm sure Nikon will have a better model in 2 years, but at this stage I can't even imagine what would entice me to buy it as the P7000 has it all.

Thank you Nikon and well done.

Want Nikon Coolpix P7000 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 7.1x Wide Zoom-Nikkor ED Lens and 3-Inch LCD Discount?

I really get tired of people who write reviews and have no idea of what they are talking about. I have been a photographer since 1958 and haave used/experimented with everything from (A) Alpa to (z) Zephyr. A Nikon devotee I will say right up front that the Coolpix P 7000 is not a camera for those who are given to setting cameras in the (P) mode and white light balance to Auto. With the D3x, D700 and D90 in my camera cabinet I can tell you that the P7000 deserves to be in that company. Yes there is a bit of a lag if you are shooting in the Fine mode with both RAW and JPEG files being recorded, but that would be true of any camera in this "Bridge Class" of cameras.

I put this camera through its paces at the Newseum here in Washington DC and in areas where flash was forbidden, historic documents and front pages with White Light balanced to incandescent the aging document colors remained accurate and at ISO 1600 I was able to hand hold without difficulty and without loosing a shot, producing 300 DPI 11 (x) 14 and 16 (x) 20 print files. In fact the only time I used the flash, set a fill-flash was to photograph a brass Lion outside of the Capital Grill. Bare burning sunlight lit up the right side and the fill flash balanced the left side shadow area to absolute perfection. That photo is a flawless 16 (x) 20 file that reveals every bit of weather damage and Pigeon droppings.

Spot metering the interior of a hanging Helicopter interior, conveniently approximately 50% Grey value the sensor recorded every color, hue and tonality faithfully.

Exterior photos from the observation deck produced picture perfect postcard renditions of the Capital and surrounding buildings.

The camera uses all of my external Nikon Flash cords and set up on a Stroboframe Pro "T" bracket makes for a very appropriate compact carry unit Compared with a good number of cameras in this class, all competent, the controls of the P7000 suit me to a, excuse me, a "T". The Stroboframe 300 QRC plate is a wonderful fit for tripod mounting. I have left it mounted to the camera as I habitually carry the small Bogen Manfrotto 3422 Table Top tripod around with me and use when needed bracing it against anything handy.

I used that setup in the nearby St. Mary's Cemetery doing some test scouting in anticipation of Fall Fog and Winter Snow. The rendering of the head stones was simply amazing; no other word, and the detail of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in the back ground was superior to anything my Canon G cameras have produced.

Every camera has its strengths and weakness. If you want a swing out display buy something else and don't Complain. I don't like them and too many of my friends have had to send their equipment out for repair after minor knocks. I'm old school I guess and I carry a 4 ft. square of Black denim in my camera Bag and play Matthew Brady when I need to see the LED display in overwhelming light. It works just fine.

After over 250 photos with this camera I have dumped two. They were my errors.

If you read/study the manual, practice and utilize the white light balance control, change ISO appropriate to the Challenge, change meter pattern as dictated you will love this little gem.

As for any 1,2,3 ratings; I have to assume that those folks are either novices or Canon detractors. I have used them all and don't slant my appraisals. The Canon G series has much to offer but the Nikon P7000 does everything I want it to. Also you might want to looks up some of the reviews from the recent Photokina Trade show in Cologne where the P7000 was the hands down winner over the G12.

Can't wait for the accessory attachment tube to available. Heavens knows what I'll be able to mount on it...maybe Precision Optics +7 diopter close up lens.

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