Nikon MSV-01 Coolwalker 30GB Digital Storage Photo Viewer

If you just want to copy your images from your CF cards and later to you computer it is good. Battery life is short, you can't copy 25gb on one charge...

Nikon does not support your copying files from your PC to it.

Does not even what to hear about copying files from your Mac to it.

They do not support files retouched from ANY application, ever Nikon Editor.

Only wants you to:

Copy images from your CF Card to it and off to your computer.

Reformatting your CF Cards.

Reviewing images taken off your cards.

It is not ment to be used as a image storage device or to use for a portable digital portfolio. I use my Photo iPod for that... Try giving the consumer what they want Nikon.

I bought a Nikon D50 after comparing the quality to the D70. The D50 though uses a SD card instead of the Compact Flash card mostly for making the D50 smaller and lighter than the D70. Anyhow, I still wanted a Coolwalker... as I'm going to be using the Nikon Raw Format most of the time... for you newbies that's an uncompressed file (the D70 compresses RAWweird) that's about 4 times larger than a 3008x2000 Jpeg. The Coolwalker has 30 Gig of space... so I treat it like a junk drive with a view screen. THe kicker was that the D50 DOESN'T use the Compact Flash Card and that's the only thing the Coolwalker uses. So I found the "Archos" brand (google it) 4-1 CF adapter. Another writer in this column didn't specify which name brand he bought... but the Archos is what you want. It works GREAT in my coolwalker. I use it EXACTLY as specified in the Coolwalker directions... inserting the card WITH the SD card already in the CFA into the Coolwalker BEFORE powering the Coolwalker up. It works GREAT. I might say that I "DO" follow the Coolwalker instructions and ONLY USE an approved SD Card. That might be the problem the other writer mentions when talking about a CFA. With it's big colorful screen and 30 GIG drive it's ALOT cheaper than buying 30 GIG worth of SD or CF cards! It's a no brainer.

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I got mine today very nice. Reads a 4 GB Microdive quickly. Great display, far better than the FlashTrax. Transferred all my photos to it, have room to spare. Direct printing is a plus!

Glad I bought it./

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First of all, I love this when used with my Nikon Coolpix 880, which uses a CF card. However, God help us, my wife has a Kodak EasyShare camera which uses an SD card.

Reading the description, I see that "It's also compatible with CompactFlash and Microdrive and can be combined with a CF adapter to enable use of SD cards too.".

So, no problemo, eh??

Not so fast!! First of all, I couldn't find a CF Adapter anywhere on Amazon. The way they throw out the above sentence, almost as an afterthought, had me thinking these cards would be easy to find.

After an hour Googling "CF adapter" I found a "4-in-1 adapter" that supposedly lets you plug in an SD card into this thing. Well, physically this does work, but crashes the Coolwalker if it is powered up with the card in place. IF you insert the card into the powered-up CoolWalker (something I'm not all that comfortable with doing on a regular basis!) it will transfer the photos on the SD to the CoolWalker.

These files will NOT PLAY on the Coolwalker, but I've found that they will transfer to my computer, apparently none the worse for wear, and will display there.

I guess this doesn't make me feel all that comfortable with this whole system as my wife and I get ready to take an anniversary cruise this fall, with her EasyShare in tow.

It does work with the Nikon CF card, but I'd be leery of compatiblity with other systems.

Jim

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I purchased this item with a hi-res camera, and it was a lifesaver on long shoots. The ability to back up my images immediately gave me real peace of mind, and the thing really worked as advertised. Although it would freeze every now and then, I never lost any images--the only drawback was that you had to remove the battery to restart it, as it stopped responding to all button inputs.

This morining, as I was preparing for a 5-day shoot, I turned it on to delete any old images and recharge it, and the screen was completely dead. Plugged into my PC via USB, it all still shows up, but I was totally depending on it for this upcoming weekend, and I have been totally let down. I have no choice but to try to navigate it in the dark, unless they want to overnight one to my hotel.

CIB CUC8756 480TVL Outdoor CCD Bullet Infrared Day Night Security Camera w/ S...

480TVL Outdoor CCD Bullet Infrared Day and Night Cam Very Clear View in the day and at night, we purchased these before and decided to buy the same ones simply because we were very happy with the clearity of the view in day and night. We used outdoors for years and still very clear and very strong and durable. Great little cams.

I have had these in operation for almost 2 years. I have the hooked to a motion sensing 4 channel DVR. Tow of the cams are working great and sending me feeds when motion is detected. One of the cameras has black lines the scroll up which trigger the motion and I get false positives.

This also has the Sony HAD sensor and I am ok with the picture, but expected better. no biggie for the price I paid.

So one of 3 failed in 2 years I would still buy more, but the 720 line cameras have hit the market...

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Fujifilm Finepix A345 4.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

This was my first digital camera. My daughter has a Kodak Easy Share camera and I had played around with it some, but I wanted an easy camera of my own. After doing some research and comparing I decided to go with the Finepix A345.

This camera has a lot of features, yet it was easy to learn how to use it. I had to get used to mastering the Auto Focus feature. Some of my shots came out blurry if the camera couldn't auto focus. If you are too close to your subject or not holding the camera still it will flash an AF! warning which means it can't auto focus. Most of my prints have come out great, very clear and with great coloring.

I have taken this camera to a concert and was very pleased with the Optical Zoom feature. I got closer shots that I could have gotten with my film camera. I used the Action mode and got some pretty good shots considering how far back our seats were. I've also taken this camera to an aquarium while on vacation and was very pleased at how my prints turned out.

I also like the size of this camera. It's small without being too small. I like the large LCD screen as well. The price was also right. The Amazon price was about $20 cheaper than Target or Best Buy. I also bought a 128 MB XD card. The 16 MB card that's included only holds about 20 pictures.

My only complaint about this camera is that I couldn't get the software to load correctly on my home computer. I have Windows XP and from what I've read from other Fuji camera reviews, sometimes the software can't be loaded without calling technical support. I just haven't took the time to do that yet so I go through "My Computer" to up load the pictures. That works perfectly so I may not even fool with the software.

I gave this camera 4 stars because I am basically pleased with this camera. However, this is my first digital camera so I don't have anything to compare it to. But for a beginner camera I think it's great.

I've owned probably 15 digital cameras over the past several years, this is my sixth fuji finepix. My other digital camera (that I currently own) is a DSLR and I am a photographer by trade so I'm quite possibly a little spoiled by the BETTER cameras that I've owned.

With that said, I wanted a cheap (around $100) camera that I could stick in my purse and take everywhere, a camera that even (GASP!) my husband was allowed to touch. This camera fit the price guidelines so I bought it.

First of all, it's small. VERY small. It is perfect for that in the purse/glovebox camera. It takes AA batteries which can be found at any backwoods bait store if needed.

For indoor shots, it lacks. Yes, it can take a picture that is in focus (sometimes) but it's often over or under exposed. The macro mode is worthless because you have to be around four feet away from an object before the camera will focus on the subject. For me, this is really a non-issue because when I'm at home, indoors, I'll use my GOOD camera.

For outdoor shots, this camera shines. Crisp, sharp pictures with little effort. The processor in this camera produces rich, vibrant colors. This is especially noticeable in the bright blue skies.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a cheap, SMALL digital camera to take along on vacation this fits the bill perfectly. If you are counting on this camera to preserve your precious memories of your family, taken mostly indoors, I'd look elsewhere.

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I bought this camera back in July and I love it. some people complain about clarity and i get great shots. You truly have to know how to set any camera to get the picture you want. you can't take a picture in the dark with no flash right? so in other ward you need to change settings to get clear pictures. that's with any camera. about the battery life. i was using regular batteries at first that lasted oh about a week. then I found some digital camera kind for $10 at target and haven't had to change the battery since then. i even got concerned thinking maybe i changed the battery and forgot, but no sill have the whole pack left and its been 3 months and i use my camera almost ever weekend. This camera really is great for taking pictures on your every day journey through life.

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This is my first digital camera experience and with nothing to compare my praise with, I give it...praise. For $199, this camera performs and then some. I love the fact that it has a large LCD screen and that it's nice and bright. The pictures look nice and clear and thats all that matters. I still havent mastered the different settings and whyfore and wherefore but all in all I am pleased with this camera. The sound on the movies is lacking but again $199 later and I am not complaining.

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Before I begain, let me first say that my commets are backed by 7 years of professional photography. So I hope that I know what I'm talking about.

I bought this camera at best buy during chrismas season of 2005. Before buying it, I compared it to an olympus 900 and a Sony S60. In the end, I went for this one (obviously). After fumbling with it for 2 days, I have to sayIt's pretty good.

After further research, I am still semi happy about my choicethe olympus downright sucks (according to cnet) and the Sony...well, let's just say it is more complicated than I expected it would be.

One thing that I do wish this camera had was the ability to capture movies at "TV MODE", which is at 600 by 500 or something pixels, and to do it at 30 frames per second. This camera could do it at a max of 300 something by 200 (see the specs at the top). Really, the movies do look good but if you view them fullscreen on a PC they look bloated and choppy. The Sony can capture better at the same price.

But a digital camera is supposed to take pictures, right?

This is where the camera excells in. I don't know howthe other reviewers could say that the image quality is bad, but all I can say is that from where I live here in Washington, the pictures come out nice and beautiful.

How does it look from your state?

Generally, this is a good camera for the average casual person. I'm planning to get a better one for my family (likely something from Sony) this spring though. But what can I say? This one do offer satisfactery shots in a small package.

Be warned however, this is not the most durable camera on the market. Its left side sports 3 uncovered and open areas: USB, Video out and Power ports which are totally out in the open. So don't accendentally spill water on that side. Proberly not good when taking pictures in the rain either.

And do get recharable batteries. My first set lasted me 20 shots, although it says that the camera can do around 100 on one set.

256 mb memory card is also recommended. Everyone says that they're cheap. I don't know how $30 sounds cheap. But you'll need them.

That's it! Overall, great camera.

P.s.

I love the seemingly huge 1.7 inch LCD.

Manfrotto 311 Video Monitor Platform with Straps - Replaces 3152

My 10 inch Thrive fits fine. I have it on a double connection bar with the camera on the right and this, with the tablet, on the left. It is a little unsure, in the "wild", but, when connected, it works just fine on a manfrotto tripod. The straps can be problematic when they slip and block the screen. I downloaded a SLR program so I can manipulate the camera directly from the tablet. It works well, though set up takes a few minutes.

Solid construction. Good, simple design. Compact size. Decent value. Makes just about any stand a monitor stand. What more can I say.

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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.

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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.

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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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Casio Exilim EX-Z90 12.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.7 inch TFT LCD (Black)

For the money you cannot buy a better digital with hd video. The only

drawback with this camera is in hd mode you have a maximum recording time

of 10 minutes. In lower quality mode you do not have that limit. The

digital stills are much better then my last Casio EZ-80, much richer

and not as much noise. But I bought this camera for the HD Video capability,

it is amazing for the price. Also this new movie format is AVI which is

a lot more user friendly then the quick time mode of the EZ-80.

This camera was a hand-me-down from someone who used it only twice but purchased it brand new. It is one of the worst digital cameras I have ever used especially for the price. It takes very poor photos. We were having some trouble with it and contacted Casio to fix it. We spent almost $100 to have the lens replaced and when we received it back from Casio, the lens was still broken. I contacted the company 5 times to request that the camera be inspected again and finally received a UPS shipping label via e-mail in order to send the camera back. I am not only extremely disappointed in this camera, but I am extremely disappointed in Casio and their customer service and plan to not purchase any Casio products ever again.

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This is a great camera for the kids. It takes OK pictures but they love to make their own videos. I put in an 8GB card and they have a blast. They don't worry about download issues because we have a MAC so there are no issues with iPhoto. Plug it in and away it goes.

I would not replace my Cannon with a Casio but for my kids, this is great. Picked up a few extra battery packs and we are all set.

BOTTOM LINE: If you want a better camera, there are many out there but if you want a cheap camera with the ability to do video and allows for your own memory card, this cannot be beat.

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One of the simplest and compact camera I have used, it also has a a menu that is very easy to accessible, with much choices for most the situations and it produces excellent HIGH quality photos, comparable to some DSLR.

This is one more excellent product from Casio, I have been using their products over 30yrs and this just affirms my confidence with Casio products today.

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DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA YOU WILL REGRET IT!

I fortunately I didn't spend money on this, I received this camera as a gift, from my sister when I my older Sony stopped working. I have to say out of 6 digital cameras I have own, This was the worst!!!

The quality of photos are poor, especially at night, zoom is HORRIBLE!!

You try zooming into something and the camera doesn't want to take a picture,is just so annoying, Especially if you want to catch a quick moment, you have to click it like a 1000 times until it takes it. I've notice that it has trouble doing that, and if by miracle takes it, most of the time is blurry or super grainy.

I've this for about 3 years, but after less than a year of owning this and hating the quality, I bought the Canon XS260, the best digital camera I have own (look at the reviews if you don't believe me). It takes wonderful pictures and the zoom is amazing. The closest to a pro-camera without being one.

But Oh well I forgot this is another review. I got that camera and unfortunately lost it few months later. and had to go back to this camera while I bought back that same one I had.And that just happen a few weeks ago and that gave me a big reminder of the awful quality this camera has, after having & comparing it to the Canon.

Please! BELIEVE ME! They are other ones out there that are cheaper and WAYYYY better.

I can don't really find any pros in this camera..

Is awful.

I'll definitely recommend any Canon or Nikon cameras...

ONCE AGAIN.. Stay away from this one

Toshiba Gigashot GSC-R60 60GB 2MP Hard Disc Drive Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom

I bought the Camcorder with some hesitation knowing that this is Toshiba's first Hard Drive Camcorder and that they are not noted for making camcorders. My investigation indicated that it basically has Canon lens and optics with the Hard Drive from Toshiba. First some of the bad things that i have encountered:

1. The camera has a focus problem. There is significant difficulty in getting the camera auto focusing especially in dim/low light. In daylight it is much better. Placing the focus to infinity helped a great deal.

2.Does not perform well in Low light, problem common to most Canon Camcorders. I recorded a Graduation Ceremony in a dimly lit hotel hall. With the bright light focused on the people the camera tends to produce too much white for the face. Adjusting the exposure helped somewhat but not very satisfactory.

3. The Hard Drive does get hot working it for some length of time and this places some discomfort on the hands. Not unbearable though.

4. There is indeed some Zoom lens noise picked up by the speaker when no other sound is present. This is however not a major discomfort.

5. Not too good quality stills in Low light dispite the flash. Everything looks too white.

6. Does not have a viewfinder. One has to rely on the screen. Thought that this would affect the battery life significantly but it did not.

7. Does not have an audio or Mic input port. This is a disadvantage for those wanting to record audio from a Mixer or other device.

8. The ACDSee software is really quite basic but gets the job done and a welcome for the novice.

Good things

1. Very well built. Fits the hand nicely. Good feel and weight.

2. Good Quality video in Outdoor lighting. I was indeed surprised at the accuracy of the colors.

3. Very easy to operate. Accessing the menu functions and features were really simple.

4. The output to DVD was very easy and fast. The included software is reasonable but has no editing features. DVD authoring is very limited. Tested importing a clip with Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 but it had difficulty in conforming the audio. Maybe i need an upgrade to Pro 2.0 to dealt with Dolby Digital.

5. The audio quality is surprisingly quite clean and very sensitive. Has three options to selecting the volume sensitivity.

6. The Battery life is excellent for such a small battery.

7. Very slim and Good Capacity hard drive.

8. No Tapes and limit to recording long events.

9. The included Cradle is very useful for charging and connecting to a the computer and network.

With the price and features compared to the competition Sony's i believe that this is a good value for money buy. This is certainly version 1 stuff from Toshiba/Canon but i am sure that improvements are on the way. Since HHD camcorder are relatively new except for JVC, i believe that all the makers will be tweeking and improving on this new technology and as such no brand will have the ultimate at this time.

For those willing to take the plunge into the HHD video world this is a good start.

Initially, I was very pleased, until using it for a while. I noticed a white spec on the viewing screen. After carefully looking at it, it was a problem inside the lens, not a dead pixel, so the white spec showed up on all dark video and photos.

Other Negatives:

-Terrible in low-light conditions. Camera Light it comes with is nearly useless as it can only pick up objects close up.

-Settings were very bad. If anyone complains all video comes out very white/bland looking, its because the default settings suck. You need to set it to Flourescent 1 or Flourescent 2. This adds a LOT more color. Also change the color setting to Vivid. You will see an amazing difference.

-Photos suck, but thats because its only 2megapixel, which is understandable.

-What I find to be extremely dumb design is that although it allows you to capture photos while recording video, it actually records the flicker of the photo being taken. In otherwords, you can be recording something nice, and want to take a photo. However, during playback, you will see the video flicker or 'black-out' for a second. I find this very annoying. And I would have to stop recording, take the photo, then start a new recording just to avoid this annoying flicker. Same thing with the pause recording feature. It allows u to pause recording if theresnothing interesting, but when it resumes, it does not make a smooth segway, instead u see the same black-out flicker that brings the two video together.

-The batter power is displayed in three portions, White/Yellow/Red. White lasts about an hour, which I was pleased, I figured the other two portions must last somewhat the same. I was very wrong. Yellow lasted about 15-20 minutes and the red lated about 5-10 minutes. I was shocked. I couldn't believe how misleading that was.

Pros:

-Battery life was maybe 90 minutes. I don't believe I hit 2.5 hrs like some other online reviews claimed. Keep in mind, the White/Yellow/Red Battery LifeGauge is not proportional. White means fully charged. When it hits Yellow, it means about 15 minutes left, and Red means about 10 minutes left. So if u have a lot to record and your on Yellow, ur screwed.

-Good Design, easy to use. I learned how to use most of it wihtout the instructional guide. I only used it to understand what the color settings meant, but that wasn't very helpful either More of trial and error.

-Video Quality, I guess is very good for the price.

-You can record w/o the LCD screen flipped up. However, if u change ur mind and want to use the LCD screen to view, but then decide to close the LCD, it powers off. Therefore making it possible, but difficult and confusing to work with the LCD screen off.

Overall:

If it wasn't for the damn white spec inside the lens that show up in the video/photo, I would be very pleased and would keep it, but I am going to return it for that reason. Otherwise, I believe, for the low price, this is outstanding. Battery life of roughly 1.5 hours is good. Takes so-so quality photos might as well bring along ur other digicam.

But I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that I dont have to mess around with miniDV's or miniDVD's (which I can imagine the amount of headache, buying, recording, transferring, editing, re-saving onto DVD would cause)

I would reccommend this if you are on a budget. I also reccommend this because its SO EASY TO USE, imagine no miniDV or miniDVD's that have limited recording time. I damn near recorded 15 hours before i transferred to my laptop, which then recorded another 6 or so hours. It was sweet. However, after seeing the photo quality, I want to hold off until these come down in price and quality moves up!

Cheers!

Buy Toshiba Gigashot GSC-R60 60GB 2MP Hard Disc Drive Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom Now

It's just fine.

Pro: A zillion hours of storage, good-enough battery.

Pro: It comes with a cradle.

Con: No other way to interface the harddrive to your computer, no quickie-cable.

Pro: It uses a hard drive

Con: Using the MPEG 2 files in a video editor is hard. The included video editor is SUPER AWFUL, clicking on things results in MINUTES OF FROZEN COMPUTER. Terrible. Am converting videos myself to dv then editing in another app. Am looking at SpeedEDIT too.

Pro: No hardware glitches.

Pro: Comes with a remote. Can take flash photographs with it. Easy and quick on/off.

Con: Its auto focusing is a bit indecisive. v1.0 firmware, japan has newer...Toshiba!!! You think you're focused, then it decides it wants to retry focusing. Much worse in the dark.

Con: UI, while fancy, is tricky to get used to. The rotating wheel thing is fine, but the joystick in the middle of the wheel is a bit too easy to accidentally choose things. Clicking in any direction might bring up, via some swirly special effects, the flash-photograph mode, and the only way to get out of that mode is to press the same direction again, but if you didn't realize you pressed that direction in the first place because it's too-easy to accidentally choose the thing, then you have to futz with it or look at the screen to read the on-screen instruction of how to close that screen.

Definitely worth $450. For $350 you get the 30GB one without the nifty cradle, a steal.

Pro: Sound quality even from the builtin mic is fabulous, spacious.

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I have been very satisfied with the results I have gotten from this camera. I wanted something that would allow me to record business and training presentations indoors in moderately lit rooms. This does a great job and lets me record a full week of training (55 hours) without changing tapes or discs. I have also gotten what I think are excellent family shots.

The 2 megapixel still photos are the best I have ever seen out of a camcorder. They are printable up to 8x10 or so.

I do not disagree with the previous reviewer who said the focus searches sometimes, and that you can hear the focus when sounds are low, but nearly all small cameras have this same issue. I am very pleased. A great buy at Amazon's price.

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Terrific value, Intuitive features, simple file transfer and excellent software bundle make this a great average consumer video camera. Transferring movies right to DVD via PC is as simple as I've ever seen. Stability control is on the low end of effective and lighting conditions need to be reasonably bright for the picture to have full depth. That's not to say it doesn't video record OK in normal room lighting only that it is not as sensitive as say a Sony video camera (that costs 1/3rd more)

Casio Exilim EXP505 5MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom

I'm very happy with this purchase. I've had it for a month now and it has worked flawlessly. It takes great stills, on par with other 5mp cameras, but that's not why I got it. I wanted something that could do decent stills & videos so I wouldn't need my camcorder anymore. The vids are not quite as good as a DV camcorder, but I'll settle for 90% of dv camcorder quality for the joy of leaving the camcorder at home. Another thing tape sucks! It takes forever to get a movie on tape into my computer for editing/burning. Saving movies on a SD card rocks!

My only gripes are the included software and camera computer interface.

Each time you take a movie clip, it is saved on teh SD card as a seperate mpeg4 file. That's OK, except Casio doesn't include an easy way to link the clips together again. The included Movie Wizard software will let you link together clips, but you must save them as dv or mpeg1/2 files which are much bigger and the conversion process is very slow. I searched the net and found a program called avi joiner to quickly splice together mpeg4 clips.

As for the camera computer interface, I have had trouble moving large video files from the camera to my HDD. The process errors out and I get a message that the connection to the camera is lost. I have to cycle power on the camera and try again. I always get them off eventually, but it is a pain. I haven't tried it with a different computer, so it might not have anything to do with the camera.

But overall I am very happy with the EX-P505

Had this camera for about 2 months for a good trial, still images captured on the 5 MegaPixel sensor is acceptable not great, manual controls like aperture and shutter priority will appeal to the budding amateur looking for more options to practise true photography. The swivel LCD is a real bonus for taking photos above a hoarding crowd, but visibility is less than adequate in bright sunlight.

Some of the neat features include a built-in -2EV ND (Neutral Density) filter, a macro setting that automatically kicks in when focusing upclose, a 5 step incremental adjustment of flash intensity, which generally perform better than a normal compact, giving a decent 'throw' up to 6 meters. And not forgeting a very useful fast start-up time of less than a second, plus a good battery life for >200 shots on a single charge.

The 5X optical zoom lense perform well on photo. A point to note, the zoom isn't smooth but graduated in 5 steps, a real letdown. The lense will also accept 43mm add-on lense mount or filter, e.g. wide angle lense or a polarizer.

The best feature however has to be the 30 fps VGA MPEG-4 capture, with the HQ setting, a 1GB SD card gives you 30 minutes of excellent live action. An added feature lets you record video 5 seconds the shutter is press, nice! With a firmware update, this camera now accepts the newly introduced 2GB SD card.

In general, this camera packs a lot of features for its size, definitely worth a look if you want something that is light and compact yet has the tweaks only available on digital SLRs.

Buy Casio Exilim EXP505 5MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom Now

I ordered the SanDisk Ultra II 2.0 GB and I use Windows XP and at first, I followed the directions to a "T" and it just wasn't working. I searched the internet to see if anyone else was having the same problem. I went to the CASIO website and there wasn't any information about it. Finally . . . I got this weird idea in my head, that "What if I change the "USB" in the Set-up menu to "PTP" (PictBridge), maybe it might work." I seriously tried everything and I was crossing my fingers on this one. And honestly, from what I was reading, it seemed that SD card readers weren't working either, and I didn't want to have to fork out another $30-40 for one if I wasn't sure it was going to work.

Anyways, I turned off my camera and turned it on after I had changed the settings and IT WORKED!!!!!!! You can either copy them directly using "Windows Explorer" to a different folder, or set it up to automatically copy the pics/video files to somewhere else on your computer. If you're using the "Photo Loader" Program (AWESOME that it automatically puts them in HTML form after you've put the pics in the library), you have to load the images through the program, which is really easy. (At least you can get your pics off the camera, now.)

It's small and compact, which is great during a day of sightseeing and not having to lug around a heavy camera. It sits perfectly in the palm of my hand and I have long fingers. It has grippers to stablize what you're filming/taking pics of. I love all the options for "Best Shot." The 40x zoom is great for a digital camera. The movie modes are great, too!! The microphone works great. I didn't have to buy a new camera case, because it fit perfectly in my old one. I love the way the LCD screen swivels, almost like having a little camcorder in hand.

Overall, the camera is great for someone like me, who'd like to experiment with "Aperture," "Shutter speeds" and manual focusing, as well just being able to take some pictures and be able to share them with friends and family easily.

My only real complaint is that the "Photo Loader" software only sends pics one at a time through the program. (It's just easier to open a message and attach them manually.)

I've also read that you can buy lens that attach, too. I'm not that advanced, yet. LOL! Anyways, check out for a more in-depth descriptions along with examples. (One of the main reasons I decided to get this camera was based on what I read there.)

Edited July 19, 2008: I have now had this camera for nearly 3 years and it still takes great pics and videos. And we've taken over 15,000 pics using it. Recently used it to take video of 4th of July Fireworks, and I love that I can cut scenes before I download them to my computer.

I've only bought SanDisk Ultra II 2.0 GB SD cards and every single one has worked in it. I have read online that cards bigger than 2.0 GB don't work with this camera, though. (Probably because the bigger cards were released after this camera was originally released.)

Before I got this camera, I always had to edit the pics I took, but this camera, I've only had to edit very few, and it's usually because I set the wrong settings prior to taking those pics. So, the hours that I've saved from editing pics has paid for this camera so many times over.

Read Best Reviews of Casio Exilim EXP505 5MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom Here

I love this camera. The swivel view screen works very well when you want to take pictures at an awkward angle. As a photographer, I really need that.

The camera is tiny. It can fit in the palm of my hand, and my hand is rather small. It can easily fit into my purse or perhaps a large pocket, so you can take it wherever you want to go. It is not so small that it seems easily damaged, though.

The videos are the most amazing I've ever seen on a digital camera. Good quality and pretty high resolution. I love the fact that you can also hook the camera up to a TV to review your pictures and videos.

I've never had a digital camera with optical zoom before. It was so much better than digital zoom.

I think the main reason I love this camera is because it has an AMAZING macro focus. You can get the slightest little details in fingerprints, bugs, etc, etc.

I didn't like that if I accidentally plugged my camera in before installing the driver for it, it would never work on that computer. It makes it clear not to do that in the directions, but I had forgotten a few times.

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Mac users...

My opinion is that for a Mac user you can't get a better camera for the cash. Plug and Play with iPhoto.

This camera is the one to get if you want to spend less than $300. The quality of the images and feature set far out weigh the shutter lag. Super easy to capture those impromptu YouTube moments with this unit. I researched many and bought the Casio. Yes, a Casio (keyboards and calculators!). The EXP505 is a slick looking, compact camera that mirrors more exotic full size SLRs (I consider this camera to be a Point-n-Shoot). I agree with the others in this review section except for the dude that slams the Exilim for not going toe to toe with the big boys and the guy that had trouble with SD cards. Maybe he got a bum card or didn't format it with the camera before using. I have had no issue. Menu navigation is well designed.

Things to note: AVI video format. I believe QuickTime Pro will handle the conversion. LCD screen doesn't fair well in low light. Battery will cause camera to "slow down" flash recharge after awhile (I've had my camera for over 1 year much use).