Fujifilm FinePix A600 6.3 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

I have many cameras, including a Nikon D50, an Olympus SP-500UZ, a Canon Powershot A540, a Fuji Finepix A360, a Nikon Coolpix 5700, and of course this one, the Fuji Finepix A600. My favorite compact is the Canon A540, BUT its just a bit too big to carry on your belt 24/7, which is what I do with this Fuji. What I like about the Fuji cameras is the color. Fuji colors just seem to pop off the screen to me. I can usually tell when browsing Flickr, or other photo sites, which pictures were taken with a Fuji before I look at the specs.

I would give this Fuji 5 stars if they increased battery life a bit, improved the rather crappy preview screen, and added a few more manual controls. But the pictures I've taken with it I love and I love its portability, and the fact that it uses AA batteries. (I hate proprietary batteries...) I'd recommend it, particularly for a carry everywhere camera.

I bought this camera because I wanted a smaller, lighter, digital camera with a larger LCD screen. I am very pleased with the quality of this camera for this price range. I find it simple to use and just right for someone who enjoys a point and shoot camera without too many confusing buttons on the outside. The movie mode is great for capturing those special moments when you do not have your cam corder handy. It takes great pictures and is easy to carry around with you.

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A NICE HANDY CAMERA FOR GENERAL USE, INDOOR SNAPSHOTS AND CLOSE OUTDOOR SHOTS.

PROBLEMS:

EATS BATTERIES LIKE A GANG OF TEENAGERS RAIDING THE ICE BOX.

FOCUS IS "IFY", INDOORS WITH FLASH IT MAY LOOK GOOD ON THE REPLAY, BUT WHEN YOU DOWN LOAD THE PHOTOS THEY ARE FUZZY.

IN DOORS WITH FLASH YOU BETTER BE CLOSE TO THE SUBJECT OR THE PHOTO WILL BE DARK.

ALL IN ALL AFTER YOU GET USETO IT, ITS A NICE LITTLE CAMERA. SIMPLE TO USE AND HANDY. YOU JUST HAVE TO STAY WITH IN ITS LIMITATIONS. WELL MADE AND SOLID. JUST CARRY A LOT OF EXTRA BATTERIES

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My kids bought me a Fuji 4.0 megapixel camera for my birthday a while back. I loved that camera but wanted a little more MPs so bought this and am delighted. Even easier to use than my older camera.

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I have a 35 mm Nikon and love the quality of the pics. So, I was skeptical to purchase a digital camera and be dissapointed by the quality of the pictures compared to the 35mm.

I was not dissappointed. This camera is easy to throw in the glove compartment/jacket pocket, etc. The quality of the pictures is great. Dowload to the software, is fast and easy (I use various softwares) and print at home.

I have enlarged pictures to a 8x10 and had no pixelated pics.

The colors are sharp and the Super ccd has a lot to do with it, the mega pixels does not determine the quality of the picture.

I use rechargeable batteries and always carry a charged spare. It does eat up the batteries quickly, but with rechargeables around, it is not a problem.

I shoot a lot of pictures and this has been extremely easy to use and download. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because of the battery issue, but I could give it 5 because even and 8 yr old could use it.

The learning curve is intuitive is you don't want to use the manual.

Firmware upgrade found easily on Fuji's website.

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Swann Alpha D02C5 SWA43-D2C5 4 Channel H.264 DVR and 4 CCD Weather Resistant Cameras

My husband and I got this security system to protect our home, workshop and barn. Packaging was good, instruction manual and quick start guide were easy to use. Everything we needed to install was in the box including mounting brackets, screws, mouse, remote control, etc.which I appreciate. We had no problem getting the cameras up and running and viewing them on my computer. Picture is really clear-color by day and black and white on the night vision mode. It works by motion detection so hard drive space lasts a long time and it automatically records over when full-30 days and counting of space so far. I had some questions about viewing it on my iPhone so I called Swann Customer service (1-800-627-2799) and I gave her permission to use logmein and take over my desktop and she set up the whole thing remotely while I sat back and watched-cool! Really nice people at Swann California office. I called once after hours to ask about viewing my security system with a Blackberry (yes you can)-and I got to speak with someone at their home office in Australia-they were very cool. Overall very good product and great customer service. I'm ordering another one to put up at my mother's house to help her feel more secure in her home. We saved more than enough installing our own system myself to pay for hers.

These have given us new piece of mind with our security at our business. It was easy to set these units up, and they were operational right out of the box. Quality construction and visibility even at night is very good. We are able to easily view over the internet, and keep recordings on the DVR.

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RESEARCHED MANY SYSTEMS BEFORE BUYING. THIS UNIT OFFERS FULL FLEXIBILITY. AND I WOULD BUY IT AGAIN, SET IT AND FORGET IT. EXTREMELY EASY TO SET UP AND USE. VERY GOOD DEAL. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

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before purchasing this product, I did a LOT of research. the resolution on these cameras is not as good as I was expecting, but then again, it was $500 (or thereabouts) and you get 4 cameras, the DVR and the cables, so it's a pretty good deal. this system is pretty easy to hook up and get running. getting the system hooked up to my home network and available to watch cameras over the network was a little more of a task. I probably couldve called tech support and got it really quick, but I like to figure it out myself, and I did.

the app. in the itunes store that they recommend did not work however, but not a big deal, I eventually found an app from another company that works great with the system. I can't watch the cameras from my phone unless i'm connected to my home network, but I think I just need to spend some more time figuring it out.

also, it's a nice feature to be able to set the motion detection so that a moving tree branch won't set off the record feature, but it's really touchy, even on the lowest setting, and the system ends up recording even the most minor of movements, but again, probably some tweaking needed on my part.

overall, pretty good system.

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The purpose to having one of these is having the ability to play a recording back. Good luck with that. If that's not enough, maby all the freezups will change your mind. What a piece of crap.

JVC Everio GZHD3 3CCD 60GB Hard Disk Drive High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabili

EASY TO USE:

If you spend 10-minutes fooling around with the menu and all the buttons, you get the hang of it really quick. I will probably never use the advanced manual functions, but from the look of it manual function menus they seem easy to operate. I would, for this price, expect that there'd be a manual focus ring rather than a screen-based tool for manual focus. The buttons that you use the most like the zoom control, record button, and snapshot button, are in the right places. The camera overall is heavier than a SD camera but not bad at all. It feels sturdy and the battery doesn't add noticable heft to the device. Connecting to the TV with an HDMI cable is easy because it uses a real, full-size HDMI port and automatically activates it when you plug it in. This might be common to all camcorders, but you can use an HDMI hi-def TV as a huge viewfinder if you want... which potentially could be useful.

IMAGE CLARITY:

This is an HD camera, so naturally I expect the image quality to be very, very good. It is crisp but I feel as if it is a little bit grainy, especially in low light. I was not impressed by it at all and I'm highly considering returning it. The 3CCD system is supposed to reproduce the best colors but I felt as if reds and blues were muted of course I'm no color theory-trained person. The first few times I used this were during a snow storm to record the beating we were getting here in Minneapolis and at an ice-skating rink. Not the two biggest color-rich environments but still I saw colors and details that the camera screen didn't see and to me, for an HD 3CCD camera, I feel it should have.

ZOOM & FOCUS:

The optical zoom operates at the right speed I'd say. The camera focuses fairly quickly, though I question why it doesn't go any faster. The big problem is, when you get passed approx. 6x it starts to lose its ability to focus up-close. So say you are sitting at your desk that is against a wall and you want to zoon in on the face of the person in the artwork on that wall. You zoom, zoom, zoom all the way to 10x which gets you close enough to fill the entire screen with the person's little face in the artwork. But it's blurry. The camera actually automatically backs-out the zoom until it is able to focus. I find that ridiculous. I zoomed in that far because I wanted to see the face of the person in the artwork fill the entire screen from the distance at which I was holding the camera. If you move the camera closer manually, it does a better job but is still obviously limited. I was dissapointed here.

LOW LIGHT:

I'm not expecting greatness in low light. I realize that top movie cameras even need lighting to capture people properly at light. But while at the ice skating rink, they turned the lights down low for that romantic feel (I suppose) and all of a sudden everyone's face disappeared and colors significantly reduced. It wasn't dark, it was amber-like; there was actually quite a bit of light remaining. I tried the night-mode which immediately increased the camera's ability to see light to where I think it should have been able to do w/out a setting but it became choppy and lost all use the shutter speed slowed. Why in the world would I want the shutter speed to slow so much that the filming looks like I'm making a slasher movie all choppy and traily. The only use of it is to plant the camera on a tripod and make people walk very slowly. It doesn't have that green-looking night-vision mode like Sonys do, which, even though its not in prestine color, allows you to see things happening at night, which is the point. The only time it does "well" at night is when there is a light bulb in the area and it picks up the light well from that for a certain distance away from the light source. Then it just sort of reverts back to its dismal low-light capability around the edges. I was dissapointed here.

Picture quality, focus, and low-light ability are like the kitchen and bathroom of a house. You can have just okay features otherwise, but if these features aren't great, you just don't have a good camera. I don't consider these features to be great, especially for a camera with an MSRP of over $1,000. I got it for $830 for Marcus Audio through Amazon.com. I think I'd be willing to pay $700 for it as it is.

I'll update you if I decide to return it (and let you know if Marcus Audio is a pain in the butt to return a product to). I need to see if the Sony or other brands are any better. I need something that is good in low light. I don't need the best colors at low-light, but I need to see faces. Problem is, trying to test these things without a salesperson looming over you at Best Buy or Circuit City is a pain because they never have power, they are usually screwed up because some kid took a billion pictures or videos with it and hit a bunch of buttons, or they are attached to an alarm system that keeps going off. Annoying. Hence my love of Amazon.com.

I love this camera!! It's very simple to use and has many features to support most video/photo adjustments the average person would want to make to take a great shot. My wife likes it and she's not particularly tech-savvy. I'm a software developer so I tend to do well with technology.

I was drawn to the camera because of the HDD digital storage and it seemed to be high quality when compared with others that I experimented with in it's class without being bulky, or having an awkward or complicated user interface. Once I discovered this unit at my favorite technology retail store, I did a lot of research on the device its features and usability, and tried to find it's weaknesses from any professional review I could locate. I did all my searching on the Internet. What I found was that nearly all the reviews were raving when compared with others (it was a leader in major publishers). The weakness that was pointed out by only a few reviews was that it seems to have an ever so slight difficulty managing orange toned colors. Particularly in bad lighting. This was an acceptable downside to me considering how well it outperformed many other areas in autofocus, zoom, anti-wobble (stabilization for shaky hands), shutter speed, backlighting, flash (with anti-red-eye), color accuracy (despite the orange issue), viewfinder, user interface, digital storage speed, and quality of resulting video. The photography aspect doesn't come lacking either. However, the orange issue applies also to stills. BTW, (reviewer note) this is more apparent to me since the interior of my house is painted with earth tones. The camera doesn't have any trouble at all in natural (outdoor) lighting.

The camera's hard drive also has a shock-proof feature to protect the hard drive in a fall, an input jack for an optional external microphone, 10x/40x/300x zoom, and several other features. Another professional review was displeased with the built in microphone (I haven't noticed this problem). But that's certainly eliminated with the optional external microphone and mount-point. Another great usability feature is that the most common scene capture adjustments you would want to make can be set from a mini on-screen popup menu, the more uncommonly used adjustments are made via the main menu. The popup menu can be accessed and adjusted during video recording (which would also be noticed on the resulting video).

One downside I have encountered is that the file output is not a common output format (perhaps it is to support higher quality video recordings). MOD is this file format. I don't know what that is so I end up converting all my movies to MPG. If I didn't have a way to record a script on my computer this batch conversion process would have been very frustrating and time consuming.

The user manual was straight-forward and thorough. I read the whole thing in a few sittings when I bought it and have been very glad I did. I couldn't have gotten up to speed with it nearly so fast. Firstly, the user interface has very few controls, very few buttons. That's what I wanted, but it meant that I would have to learn to navigate the menus in order to know where to find what I wanted to execute it quickly in live action. The manual certainly met my needs in that area. So there is a learning curve. It's been 15 months (birth of our first-born) since I bought it and I'll be returning to the manual for a refresher on those infrequently used features which could be helping me and I've simply forgotten.

Overall, the camera is easy to adjust and get into the action quickly. I personnally dislike having to make a party wait for the camera man to adjust his (complicated) camera. I didn't want to be that camera man. This camera has been an excellent fit.

I know the 3CCD is a major innovation but I don't remember much about it but it takes great videos and pictures. I certainly recommend it, but I

can't give it 5 stars for the orange tone management. Probably a 4.5!!

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Bought the camera 1 month ago from Amazon. Easy to use and download software (I'm not a techi). I needed to spend some time to get used to the editing software with the camera, but now I can use most basic functions. Microphone can pick up any adjustments you make to the camera while filming, so just try to use adjustments sparingly. Excellent HD camera for the price. Happy with the purchase and will probably upgrade camera with microphone to help pick up speeches etc...

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I bought this Video Camera a month before just for a Trip to Peru Last Year..While I was on the plane arriving to the city of Cuzco from Lima I was filming the magnificent view that I had from my window when suddenly it just cut off. then I turned back on...then it gave a message Error Message..

I panicked first! I didn't really paid any attention to the message...I just turn it off completely.. When I arrived to the Hotel I turned it back on...and then I found out the message said..

Hard Drive Error...and I had already like an hour of filming around City of Lima and La Punta...I did everything I could to try to get it back to normal operation..nothing seems to work..

I told my wife..the only choice that I had it's to format the Hard Drive...maybe it will work....I was dead wrong...it didn't work..the Hard Drive Error..not Hard Drive no memory to record..

then I went to ruins (Machu Picchu) I just took pictures I was so disappointed, upset with JVC Camera Performance...Cuzco it's about 11,800 ft high..at the third day of my trip to Machu Picchu, I went back to Lima, Peru. I turned it back on. And It just worked Perfectly, ever since...I Can't Recommend this camera if you're a planning a trip If Altitude is involve...picture quality in daylight is great, AT NIGHT it's very disappointing..

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This is my 3rd 'family' camcorder and the best one thus far. When my son started playing high school football it only took me one season to realize that the current camcorder wasn't getting the job done. Not only that but the conversion from tapes to DVD was SO painful. I did a lot of research on what I was going to need to shoot action movement at night. For the money that I was willing to spend this was the camera that came out on top. I have not been disappointed to date. By his junior year I was back to researching exactly what college coachs wanted in the way of a 'high light' DVD and realized that I already had the tool to give them exactly what they wanted. I have no doughts that the HD quality DVD and the ability I had to zoom into the line and single him out from the stands made a diffence in his choice college offering him a try out. The only draw back was the software that comes with it. I dumped that and use the full version of Power Producer and Power Director. I have just recently started using it to shoot indoors activities (ceremonies and functions) and have added a Rode shotgun microphone to get better sound. This camcorder has been well worth the money spent and I would absolutely buy it again. Be sure you buy an extra battery or two though. The standard battery last about (just) until half time of a high school football game. The larger batter last longer but NOT as long as it advertises.

Dayton Audio HR13C23 9.9 ft. High-Speed HDMI Cable CL3

This is a high quality cable and at a great price. I purchased one before after reading a recommendation from someone much more knowledgable than me. I have been very happy with the quality of my picture and sound so when I needed another cable, I came back to the Dayton cables. I even ordered an extra one!

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS20 Waterproof Digital Camera (Orange) Kit. Includes: 8GB SDHC Memory Card, Me

This is a great camera to have as an extra for vacations, parties etc when you don't want to bring a big one (we have a Canon Rebel as well). Picture quality is good, movies too. Its really waterproof, I took it snorkeling and got some good underwater shots.

The case it comes with is too small, hence the 4 stars, the other accessories are ok. There are probably cheaper models which are good, but I have had a good experience with my other Lumix.

HDE Pinhole Mini Wireless Camera CCTV Security Video Surveillance

doesnt work,, the camera heats up so fast and has no picture. its not worth the money, dont buy this item,, waste of time

Very poor sound recording. too much background noises. Video is hard to tunning and picture is not clear even in close range.

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For $23 this little camera works very well. Becareful not to lose the litlte spring that goes inside of the antenna.

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works pretty good til you get like 30 feet then its blank but then i pic up the reciever and it comes in not bad for price think im gonna get another 1

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I love it. Hooked it up to my computer, adjusted the receiver and started recording. I would recommend it to anyone needing covert home security

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Manfrotto MVT502AM Video Tripod with Telescopic Twin Legs (Black)

I am using these legs with a Manfrotto MVH502A Video Head with 75mm Half Ball as pictured. The best feature is how light this tripod is. It folds down short enough to fit in my rolling camera case after I take the the video head off. Very easy to move around with my full rig on top, and the bowl allows me to make easy and quick leveling adjustments. Breaks down and sets up fast because of the levers they use. This is a great setup for a run and gun shooter, or traveler.

This is pictured as legs, head and bag, but it is only the legs. I was in a hurry and just saw the 502 with legs and the picture. The price was good, but not way out of line for a whole kit so I bought it and had it rushed delivered to make it in time for a shoot. Amazon gave me an instant refund so I could get what I needed. I can't say anything good or bad about the product as I didn't even pull it out of the box before returning it.

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JVC Everio GZ-MG20 20 GB Hard Disk Drive Camcorder w/25x Optical Zoom

I bought this camera before going on a recent cruise with the intention of documenting my trip through video. This is a great camcorder for making home videos. I took video during some of the shows that I went to on the cruise and the audio quality was fantastic. Playing it back at home on my home theatre system, it sounded like I was there at the show. The fact that it records directly onto a hard drive is a big plus and it makes viewing and editing very easy. You can easily review clips on the camcorder LCD itself, as a menu pops up that you can scroll through and play whatever clip you want. It also means you can easily just delete clips that you don't care to keep. For editing, you basically hook up the included USB cord to your computer, and your computer automatically recognizes the camera as an external hard drive. No additional software required for this! You then just copy or move the files onto your hard drive. Note that the files are stored as .MOD files. The only software I have found that recognizes .MOD extensions is the included Cyberlink software, however, all you have to do is change the file extension to .MPG and every other video editing and playback software will recognize it. The included Cyberlink software is very limited. I ended up downloading a free trial of their PowerDirector software to edit my video. I found this software suite to be an easy and powerful interface for editing my footage and I managed to make a great souvenir video of my trip, with background music, DVD titles, scene transitions etc. I plan to buy the software suite when my free trial is up.

The battery life is advertised to be only an hour. This may seem short, but for making home videos, shooting an hour of footage in one go is quite a lot. I never ran out of battery on the cruise, but then whenever I wasn't shooting, I had my camera plugged in and the battery re-charging in my cabin.

My only complaint with this camera is the image stabilization. Its fine up to about 12X zoom, but once you get past this, the images become very shaky and virtually unusable. You would need a tripod to get zoom past 12X. This is annoying considering that this camcorder is advertised as a 25X optical zoom. Its basically useless past 12X.

All is all I definitely would recommend this camcorder for its ease of use and the fact that you no longer have to worry about tape.

Just got this camera recently. I'd read a number of reviews suggesting the image quality wasn't too hot, but thought I'd give it a try as I'm really tired of trying to keep track of all the little tapes I've accumulated over the years. Out of the box, I shot some video of the family in the house using only overhead lighting. Then I converted it to DVD (included software is very easy to use, but I wanted to use Nero. The file extensions are .mod, but Nero recognized it just fine). Yep. It was grainy and the color was lackluster. THEN I read the manual. As it turns out, the camera comes from the factory with the GAIN setting turned on. This really boosts the signal in low light conditions, but can result in a slightly grainy image. So I turned it off. That helped alot. Then, realizing that none of the walls in my house are white, I manually set the white balance (very easy to do with this camera) and WOW. Big difference. Colors are just right. I even filmed my daughter in her pink room and it came out right. I'm liking this camera more and more everyday. Just be sure to read the manual and don't be afraid to tweak the settings to your situation.

So far, only two downsides: the VF707U battery it comes with is a wimp (about 50min record time) and the camera doesn't have a standard view-finder. However, this last point is mitigated somewhat by the fact that the camera is so small, it is a pleasure to carry it just about everywhere.

I recommend this camera if you don't mind a little learning curve, plan on buying another battery, and are tired of trying to keep track of little pieces of recording media. For me, It's making taking video fun again.

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Ok, I bought this for a Christmas present for my wife and she loves it. The first thing you notice is how small it is... I mean it's tiny!

When I first heard about these I checked for reviews on them and the two sites I found reviews on both had mediocre scores. Much of the fuss on thse sites had to do with the video quality of the still images.

I think many felt mislead b/c in the description it says you can select from image sizes of 1152x864. 1024x768, and 640x480. What we've found out is that even though you can select the 1152x864, 1024x768, and 640x480 the digital stills are only 640x480 because the two higher sizes make the images look bad but the 640x480 size looks super.

Honestly, I didn't buy it for it's digital camera capabilities (we love our Fugi e510) although it's super convenient to have this available albeit only at 640x480 b/c you can switch back and forth between stills and video very easily.

I can't comment on the Mac capabilities other than it seems a little harsh to give the unit 2 stars b/c "you" didn't read the packaging correctly.

I really don't know what all the fuss is about where the video quality is concerned. We haven't owned a camcorder since our last vsh-c which we were happy with as well. The videos at the highest setting looks great with very rich and true colors. The camera is eXtremely easy to setup and use from the time you take it out of the box until your first transfer over the very fast USB 2.0 connection.

Another great feature of this very small camera is the internal SD Card slot and the camera's ability to record both stills and video to this excellent removable media. It's very fast, super cheap (compared to others like memory stick and xD cards), and they already come in capacities up to 4gb.

I thought the SD Card would be soley for stills but was hoping the HDD would be removable, so this was a very nice surprise b/c like most PCs now-a-days our computers have the internal memory card readers so you can just pull the SD Card and pop it in your PC for editing, emails, burn to dvd, etc.

As far as dislikes go the only issue I had, which is really nitpicking, is that the buttons on the LCD are a bit small for my liking. I'm a pretty big guy though so this may not even be an issue for many of you.

I'm totally happy with this purchase!

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A good camcorder but quality of video image not quite as good as DV tape, even in good light. Low light capabilities also not as good,, even with gain up the lenses in the better Everio units with the 15x zoom may be better in this regard. Yes, the files are ".MOD" extensions but just need to be changed to "MPG" and should then play in any media player with the MPEG-2 codec installed (if you computer can play DVD movies now, you should already have this codec installed). I play my videos on Windows Media Player. I didn't even install the supplied JVC software WIN XP recognized the camera and it functions just like a flash drive from there. Very easy. Once you files are changed to ".MPG" extension they should be editable in most, if not all, video programs. I have no problems with Adobe Premiere STD, which is generally considered the industry standard. Battery life is only 1 hour strongly recommend getting the 2 hours battery as an accessory. A very handy little camera that make it so much easier to work with your videos no more capturing from DV tape required. And the 4 hour storage beats hauling around extra tapes and wondering what may be on them, can I record over, etc.... Ignore comments about lack of Firewire/IEEE1394, this is irrelevant. I transfer all my video on a Sony laptop using USB2, even though Sony favors Firewire. Bottom line, a very handy little camcorder if you're willing to sacrifice a bit of video quality for much better convenience.

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I bought this camera and I just love it. Forget about the issues some people mention here about low quality video, the trick is to change the camera settings for the environment you are recoding in. Just leaving it to the default settings do create grainy video in some situations, but change the settings and you will get gorgeous video quality. There is nothing wrong with the camera, it is all about the operator.

I love the internal harddrive. I did not want any disc or tape based systems, and this is perfect. Particularly convenient is it that this camera support SD cards, as my Casio digital camera uses that too --so I have a stack of them already that I now can use in both cameras.

The only thin missing is a nice case/bag for the camera. That and an extra battery or two is on top of my shopping list now.

I'll shoot my bride in my upcoming wedding, with this camera that is.... :-)

Canon PowerShot G3 4MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom

When shopping for digital cameras I looked at the Nikon CP5700, Olympus C5050, Nikon CP5000, and the Canon G3. Yes, all cameras except G3 were 5mp but I was looking for a lot more than just Megapixel power.

Not only was I was shopping for a camera that would suit MY casual and artistic photographic needs, I had to keep in mind that my fiance wanted to use this camera as well. Her main focus was having a camera that is easy to understand and use.

The Nikon's are great cameras. + They have great optics (CP5700 has great optical zoom)and features, not to mention take great pictures. The drawbacks were that they were not user friendly for the casual photographer, the LCD screen is a little too small, CP5000 does not take photos in RAW format.

Olympus C5050 is a very solid camera with a metal body. + Takes sharp 5mp photo's, has great features and relatively easy to use. I didn't care much for the tilting LCD screen, it seemed very limited and not very usefull. Photos had some artifacts and noise. My fiance just didn't like the way it felt in her hands.

We also looked at the Fuji FPs602. Nice Camera but doesn't take as sharp as pictures I thought they would, and again... fiance didn't like the feel.

The Canon G3... 4mp, 4X optical zoom, takes absolutely beautiful photos with detail that challenges all of the above 5mp cameras, easy to understand and use (has a great swivel LCD screen), a LOT of features and add-on options, comes with great software (not to be overlooked), and last but by far not least, received my fiance's stamp of approval (two thumbs up!)

A LOT of research went into digital camera's before I made this purchase, and hands down, the G3 had everything I needed plus more. The other cameras were great and I'm sure many people will beg to differ from my observations, but to each his/her own. I have no buyers remorse with this baby, and I never will.

Always remember, cameras don't take great pictures, people do!

The Canon G3 improves in almost all ways on the G1 and G2 before it, and in fact beats the Nikon Coolpix 5000 in performance (picture quality and battery life) -which is amazing because the 5000 is a 5 megapixel camera and the Canon is a 4 megapixel camera. Canon's optics are better and I believe their processing algorithms are also better. Simply, the Canon G3 is the best digital camera out there today at this price point.

The Canon allows you to change lenses, and it accepts the IBM Microdrive (Type II Compact Flash), so you can have up to 1 Gigabyte of storage. For me on the Fine resolution setting (not maximum but very close) this adds up to over 1000 images with the 1 Gig card. The battery life of this camera is twice that of the Nikon 5000 and is better than anything else I've seen.

The only minor nits I have with the camera are it is fairly boxy looking, it needs a wrist strap instead of a neck strap, and it is a bit slow between shots. Even with these shortcomings, I still think it is the best digital camera available under $1200.

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I am a long-time user of highly responsive film SLRs and professional quality external flash equipment, just so you know my bias. I have been watching the development of digicams for years, waiting to make my first move. What I really want is a $1,500 digital SLR with a full frame sensor that will take my Nikon lenses. I figure that is at least three years off, and I am getting impatient. Hence I decided to spring for a "point-and-shoot" digicam that that would have features that would let me get around their inherent limitations. I chose the G3 because of its reputation for very high quality, clean images.

The two limitations I knew I would have to deal with are the very long lag time before it focus-locks (even in bright light), and the unsatisfactory light quality of the built-in flash. As of this writing, technology has not solved the focus-lock lag time problem for point-and-shoot digicams and anyone who is satisfied with it simply has never used a modern film SLR. At least once you've got focus lock, the shutter release lag time for the G3 is about 1/10 of a second, which from what I've read, is better than just about anything else available. What makes the focus-lock lag time something I can live with is the extreme depth of field obtainable with these point and shoot digicams at f8. Once I get focus lock, I can then wait until my restless subject (a pet or a child) strikes an amusing pose and then fire the shutter with some reasonable probability of getting my subject still in focus.

Now what about the flash problem? Relative to what I can easily achieve with external flash on my Nikon SLR, the internal flash on the G3 produces harsh, flat images with ugly hot spots. Fortunately, the G3 has a hot shoe that can take an external flash, and fortunately for me, I already owned a one of the highest quality external flashes that money can buy: the Metz 60 CT-4. I can't use my Nikon external flash on a Canon camera, but I CAN use my Metz, with the proper Metz module and extension cord connected between the G3 and the 60 CT-4. For those who have this Metz flash (or the 45CL-3) and would like to get the absolute ultimate quality out of this G3, the Metz module you need is the SCA 3102 and the connector cord is the SCA 3000C.

In order for this to work, you have to set the camera to manual mode and set the shutter speed and f-stop yourself. Contrary to what I've read elsewhere, the G3 DOES sync at 1/250 of a second with third-party flashes, just as it does with the dedicated flashes from Canon. You also have to set the G3 to second shutter sync, which is what you'd want to do most of the time anyhow. Then just forget about all the controls you have on the Metz flash head itself and the SCA 3102 control panel, because they are all IGNORED. The G3 completely takes over controlling the duration of the Metz flash, and most of the time, the exposure is spot on and when it isn't, it's because you've exceeded the range of the Metz flash itself. This might happen if you get too close to the subject and you are not bounce-flashing, or if you ARE bounce flashing and the walls are simply too far away. Unfortunately, the neutral density filters for the Metz flash are no longer available, so the first problem can't easily be solved. The second problem is solved by more direct lighting from the Metz (with the attendant shadows unfortunately). But once you've got your exposure within an acceptable range, the G3 is shown to produce utterly stunning images that I can hardly get with my Nikon F100 film camera. The 60 CT-4 flash head can actually be reversed 180 degrees and then tilted, enabling you to bounce the flash off the walls behind you. The results are shadow-free images that look as if they've been exposed with the gentlest natural light you could imagine.

Now there is one more complaint I have about the G3 and that is the software that comes with it for processing raw images (I only shoot in raw image mode and the first thing I did was replace the 32 MByte CF with a 512 MByte CF, which gives me 130 raw images, as opposed to 7!). The Canon software for raw images does not present you with a raw image AT ALL, but the raw image after it has been processed by all the image-affecting settings in the camera. I believe this is enabled by a second file that comes out of the camera that stores all this information. Maybe if you delete those files before you looked at them with the software, you'd see the true, raw image that the camera actually produces. I didn't wait to experiment. Instead, I bought the Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in. What this plug-in reveals is the truly stunning quality of the raw G3 hardware. Without any tweaking at all, if the exposure is accurate, the colors are as realistic as I've ever seen produced by film, and this is a raw image! The Adobe Camera Raw plug-in shows once again that hardware is miles ahead of software. What the G3 raw image software gives you is a fantasy world designed to please the uncritical. What the Photoshop plug-in gives you is REALITY, and then if you want fantasy, you can use Photoshop to create it. But at least you're starting with the most photorealistic images I've ever seen from a camera. I am stunned and amazed at the quality of the raw images I am getting from this G3 (in conjunction with my professional flash system), and can easily put up with the camera's limitations, because I've never seen anything better within its resolution limits.

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I've been using a PowerShot S330 for nearly a year, and wanted to upgrade to a 4 or 5 megapixel camera with a longer zoom, more adjustability, a hot shoe for an external flash, and a remote control. I looked at both the Nikon Coolpix 5700 and the Canon G3, and decided on the G3 due both to ergonomics (much more comfortable to hold and use) and the price ...

I've had the camera for about two weeks and shot hundreds of pictures so far. And so far, I've been very pleased. There's a noticeable difference in the quality of a 4 megapixel image versus the 2 megapixels of the S330, especially if you want to crop and enlarge the pictures. The larger lens of the G3 gives better picture quality in low light, and the 4-times optical zooms gets you just that much closer.

The moveable LCD screen is great. You can take pictures with the camera held above your head, way down, or beside you with no problem, allowing you to position the camera for the best shot without contorting yourself. The tiny (postage-stamp sized) remote unit is wonderful: not only does it trigger the shutter, it can also be used to zoom and review pictures. I also purchased a good sturdy tripod: the combination of the new camera, tripod and remote control enabled me to take some remarkable indoor, natural-light portraits I never would have attempted before.

The hot shoe flash attachment allowed me to buy and use a sophisticated flash unit: I chose the Canon Speedlite 420. This has made the greatest difference in the quality of my photographs: the built-in flash on any of these cameras gives you flat photos, red-eye, and annoying shadows; a good add-on flash unit can be bounced off the ceiling or wall for pleasing, almost-natural lighting.

I needed three batteries to keep myself going with the S330, but the battery in the G3 is a real powerhouse: I shot over 300 photos at my goddaughter's birthday party without switching out to my backup battery. The G3 has a different type of battery charging system from the smaller Canon cameras: the battery needs to be charged while in the camera, but the charging system also enables you to use the camera while plugged in without running down the battery.

I have yet to try using all of the adjustment options: shutter priority, aperature priority, light metering adjustments, etc., but all controls are well thought out and and the manual is relatively clear. You can use this camera right out of the box on the automatic setting, or slowly get comfortable with the manual settings and what they can do.

Negatives? I've been bothered by blown-out highlights on the S330, and the G3 seems to do only slightly better. (I'm starting to think that this may just be one of the weaknesses of all digital photography at this level.) The on-off button feels somewhat flimsy, and has an awkward, tiny little lock-out button that needs to be depressed to turn on the camera. And the body/construction in general has quite a bit of plastic, a disappointment after the stainless steel heft of the S330.

I bought a 512 MB card, which seems to hold about 400 photos at the highest resolution. I was worried that 4 megapixel photos would download more slowly, but there's no difference in working with the files. I have a 120 GB remote drive I use to store my digital images: I can imagine that they'd fill up my iBook's internal memory pretty quickly.

At the same time I purchased this camera I also bought Adobe's Photoshop Elments 2.0 software, and can't praise it highly enough. If you're investing in a camera at this level, buy this software! And as I said in my review of the S330, all of these digital cameras are easier to use with Apple computers.

The bottom line: if you're serious about your digital photography, or been bitten with the bug after using a digital point-and-shoot, this may be just the camera for you. But make sure to buy a tripod and separate flash unit at the same time: you'll see the difference in your photos immediately.

Added 2-24. I've now had the camera for two months and I'm even more pleased with it. I wound up buying a gray card and use it all the time with the custom white-balance setting. It helps avoid the problem of a color cast on the pictures, especially in mixed-light settings. If you don't have a gray card, you can use a plain white piece of paper. I also discovered the exposure-bracket setting, which enables you to take three exposures with one press of the shutter: the first at the camera-determined exposure, then one lighter and one darker. Especially useful with portraits and difficult-to-meter situations. I did buy the telephoto lens (and the required extension). Very easy to use. I'll probably also get the wide-angle now, too. Very comfortable camera, easy to use, and the best digital photos you're going to get at this price.

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Being a great fan of the G2 I set out with G3 with a somewhat negative expectation, difficult as it is to improve drastically on something already as 'perfect' as the Powershot G2. But Canon never fails to amaze. Some of the great gains over G2 -

1. The ability to selectively switch to RAW format during record review gives you incredible more post-processing flexibility.

2. Battery life is over 4.5 hours, compared to about 2.5 hours for the G2 or the 2 hours for most Nikons.

3. The Remote Capture and FileViewer software bundled for photo capture is mind-blowing. Looks sort of like Picasa Software (google it if you dont know) in the interface and is as easy to install and operate as G2's, but more intuitive.

4. The shape of this device is a little squarer, without losing the weight which means better balance and less shaking while clicking. A big plus in my book.

5. The 1/200 sec, F5.6 + ND filter for highly exposed (or very brightly lit) environments. The light auto-correction is awesome. You could take a picture of a stone glinting in the sun and still avoid the shining glaze and get the contours right.

6. The G2's "Color Effect" exposure mode has now been removed, the replacement is a selectable "Effect FUNC" menu option available in all exposure modes. There are six default settings (Off, Vivid, Sepia, Neutral, Low Sharpening, B&W) as well as a 'Custom Effect' that allows you to control sharpening, contrast and saturation.

7. A new PhotoStich software for stiching your pics into a panoramic view. I can of course buy such a tool off the shelves separately but helps if it comes with my camera. (Looks quite neat too suggesting that Canon may have, er, Canonized it a bit).

8. Perhaps inspired by the Canon's factory white-correction settings (which were found lacking and had to be altered by a user before the white edges from buildings etc could be cleaned out), the G3 has much sharper white offsets. In English, this means that even straight out of the box, you'll be amazed at the pics you end up taking.

9. In dim lit environs the G2 could easily outperform any other camera, and thankfully G3 maintains this rep. Personally I believe it even outperforms the G2 in terms of less haze and astonishingly real colors.

Overall, the G3 delivers what must be considered the best image quality of any current >4 megapixel digicams, from a detail, tonal balance and color response point of view. There's really very little about G3 images to criticize. Short of the EOS range from Canon or the D100s from Nikon (both SLRs) this is quite simply the best you can ask for.