Canon FS200 Flash Memory Camcorder w/41x Advanced Zoom (Sunrise Red) - 2009 MODEL

This review is for people who have common sense about this technology and have done even a TAD bit of research before buying. I have been in the video/film/animation industry for 15 years and have used tons of equipment for everything from multimillion dollar productions, to rogue gorilla documentaries. This camera is for people who want to flip open something small and compact, shoot some video for memories and thas that. Pretty much ALL camcorders under 800 dollars are going to shoot interlaced video, and this one does as well. it has complete manual overide for focus and exposure. I read a review where a lady was complaining about filming a recital and the camera was going in and out of focus. No problem, set it to manual and problem fixed. There is no more .MOD file problems.. all files are read as .mpeg files now (you can download the newest software from the website) **EDIT** its come to my attention that some people are still getting the .MOD files extension. I am running windows XP service pack 3 on a PC and the program it installed is pixela imagemixer 3 version 4 and it automatically shows up as .mpeg 4 files.. so i dont know whats up and why that works for me, as i did nothing special or extra for that to happen..

now onto quality.

It is acceptable. Low light gives you grainy pictures and some ghosting. You will get this on pretty much ALL camcorders in this class. do NOT expect that if you spend another 100 dollars you will get a difference. If you want to see a noticable difference you will need to step up to the 800-1200 dollar range. Im sorry but thats just the facts. Another thing to be on the lookout for is called a frame buffer. Which EVERY camcorder over 100 dollars Should have.. you know, that telltale sign in video where when the camera moves back and forth the picture starts "waving like a flag in the wind".. we're good with that. The zoom on this camera is CRAZY good.. in general, optical zoom is good, digital zoom is bad.. this cameras optical zoom rivals most everything out there.. things i dont like. When you play your recorded videos on the camcorder, it will just play the next file without stopping, in one long stream.. this is cool, but i dont like not having the option to view one at a time. you HAVE to plug it in to the wall power when you transfer files to the computer. i dont like the record button on the end of the barrel.. the way i ALWAYS end up holding this camera is like how you hold a glass of water if you were pouring it out.. with my thumb on the top of the barrell.. i NEVER hold it "properly" (like a glass of water that im drinking).. its so tiny that holding it like that is almost cumbersome and unecessary.. In short i LOVE this thing for the convenience.. on standby it will boot up in 2 seconds.. AWESOME.. no tape, the small size, good battery life, relatively big LCD screen,external mic input and headphone all good.. needing a plug for computer connection, bad low light performance, bad management of video playback not so good.. all in all i REALLY like it...

if you want the convenience of a TINY camcorder available at a moments notice, recording to a card instead of tape, a regular def video (most everything i shoot is for web or regular DVD which is regular def anyway) and a price thats not bad. this is for you

Now, if you want a video camera for capturing high def home videos for permanent memories to keep forever and possibly burn to blu-ray, seriously, buy a high def, 3ccd progressive scan camcorder. Expect to pay around 1000+ dollars, but thats what you get. i dont understand the complaints that this is whats expected from this camcorder. You cant drive a civic around complaining it cant go from 0 to 60 in 2 seconds..

I bought this camera a couple of weeks ago and it is small. Smaller than I expected, but that is not a bad thing, it is easy to carry around in a vest pocket or coat pocket. I didn't download or use any of the software provided with the camera, I have Sony Vegas on my computer. One thing that I do recommend is downloading the free SDCOPY software you can find on the net. Check the widescreen box and it will convert your .MOD files to mpg files lightning quick. Now you should be able to work with them in just about any editing software. Use a card reader for the SD card instead of connecting the camera to the computer, makes life easier. I use a cheap one that came with my SD cards.

Zoom is good, and a steady hand or tripod is highly recommended for longer shots. Quick to start up, the auto lens cover is great, battery life also great.

I really see no problems with this great little camera, other than low light filming could be better, but not many of these cameras are great in low light.

Buy Canon FS200 Flash Memory Camcorder w/41x Advanced Zoom (Sunrise Red) - 2009 MODEL Now

I have several Canon digital cameras, so when I decided to purchase a camcorder I immediately went to Canon. I waited a month for this new version. I wanted a small camcorder--and this is definitely small.

I am a bit disappointed in the quality of the videos. For movies taken in full light I can hardly tell the difference between these movies and the ones I take with my Canon PowerShot A570 IS digital camera! Although, the sound is definitely better with the camcorder. For movies in dim light (I filmed my son's Jazz concert), there was a huge difference so I decided to keep the camera.

I would agree with the previous reviewer in that the control buttons on the LCD screen are practically useless in dark settings. I couldn't see them during the concert I filmed.

I also have a bit of trouble holding the camera because it is so small. I removed the "grip belt" strap it came with because I could not get it to fit securely and still allow me to adjust the buttons at the same time. It felt like the camera was going to slide off my hand. I now use the extra wrist strap that comes with the camera and while it doesn't look as "cool", I'm not worried about dropping the camera.

My biggest hassel has been that the camera saves the movie files as MOD files which are a pain to work with! They will not import into most video editing programs (including Adobe Premiere Elements!), and the widescreen videos will not play correctly in Windows Media Player unless you convert the file.

The camera comes with a software program to transfer, edit, and view the movies--but it is awkward to use and even with the conversion I still could not get the movies to import into Camtasia Studio 6, which is the program I use the most. So, after two days of internet searching this is what I found that works for me.

1. I use a card reader to transfer the movie files onto my computer. This is much easier for me than using the program that comes with the camera.

2. I downloaded a free copy of SDCopy, and I use it to convert the MOD files to mpeg files. If I check the "widescreen" box on the converting window the converted movies will play widescreen in Windows Media Player.

3. The converted movies will import into Adobe Premiere, but they will not import into Camtasia Studio 6 (which is my goal). I can use Adobe Premiere to convert the files to avi files, but the process takes too long for me so I found a better and easier way.

4. I purchased a MOD converter. The one I decided on was Daniusoft Mod Converter for $29. It works well. With a MOD converter, I can convert the MOD files to a bunch of other types that will import into other programs as well as play on other devices such as an ipod. I use it to convert the files I converted with SDCopy into .avi files that will import into Camtasia.

Bottom line: Do your research and decide if this is for you. The FS100 received so many good reviews that I can't help but wonder if the video quality of that camera is better than this one. Perhaps someone will post information that answers that question.

Read Best Reviews of Canon FS200 Flash Memory Camcorder w/41x Advanced Zoom (Sunrise Red) - 2009 MODEL Here

I ordered this so I can record our vacation to the beach on my husband's leave from Iraq. I'm not terribly familiar with various camcorders but after much research I decided on the Canon FS200 and I'm quite pleased. I LOVE that it has flash memory as I can easily carry extra cards and swap them out as needed. It didn't take too long to charge and has a great battery life. The picture quality is great, mic picks up sounds well and the zoom is fantastic. I love how small and lightweight it is. The price is good too. I'm very happy with this camcorder.

Want Canon FS200 Flash Memory Camcorder w/41x Advanced Zoom (Sunrise Red) - 2009 MODEL Discount?

I bought this camcorder on May 15, 2009 to replace my Canon ZR200 camcorder that stopped playing tapes about 5 months ago. I loved my ZR200 and the plethora of tapes that I filmed using it. I still believe that tapes are the best form of archive known today!

This review will focus on the features outlined at the product's web-site. I congratulate Canon's marketing staff at providing this outline.

1. Ultra-Sleek, Compact and Lightweight Design

The product is very sleek, compact and lightweight! The UPS scale at my office weighed the camcorder, battery and SDHC card at a mere 9.8 oz.

I love the Red color and waited an extra month until this color was available. Due to it's light weight, I recommend that you always use this w/ a tripod or monopod to provide the best video quality.

2. Canon Exclusive: Genuine 41x Advanced Zoom

This zoom feature is only available in the wide screen mode. It provides a wide-screen effect, giving you an extra 20% viewing area w/out an additional lens. In std (4:3) mode, you the best optical setting is 37x, which is almost as good.

3. Canon Exclusive: DIGIC DV II Image Processor

This processor has been around for several years now and delivers a superb shot and video using the optical zoom settings. Using the digital (2000x) zoom settings it does not seem to help as much. However, I was able to capture some good video at approx. 500-1000x zoom using the digital setting. Thank you canon!

4. Superb Shooting Control Video Snapshot, Quick Start, Quick Charge, Dual Shot and More

The shooting control is superberb. However, you have to turn the dial to change between video and photo mode. I believe my last canon allowed simultaneous filming and picture taking.

5. Stunning Digital Photography

The photo's I took were as best as I could have hoped for at 1024x780 resolutions. As you would expect from Kodak, the colors were fabulous and the light recognition was very good. I still haven't figured out how to get the 5 pics / second (burst mode) working.

6. 2.7" Widescreen LCD

This helps a lot in video play back. I have 20/20 vision and can clearly see the clips I just took. I also LOVE the replay mode, which moves from clip to clip until you press the pause button or reach the end.

7. Pick the Color to Suit Your Style

Sunrise red is HOT. I'm glad I waited a few extra weeks for it.

8. Additional Features...

The lithium Iron battery lasts 3-5 hrs, depending on camera use. I still bought 2 extra batteries for $35 total and don't have any plans to start using them soon. 3-5 hours is amazing in comparison to the HD camcorders, which give you an hour of footage at best.

The USB high speed terminal is nice, but it took me a few hours to figure out that you need to put the camcorder in PC transfer mode. The default mode is DVD burner mode, which I find to be an oversight by the focus group. They should know that 90% of US customers want to import the clips into their PC, not Canon's DVD burner. This oversight dropped my review from a perfect 5 stars to 4 stars.

I discovered that the headphone terminal outputs a mono signal, causing the right earphone to emit an irritating buzzing sound. Thank goodness I was not wearing a head set.

I have not tested the audio input jack. However, I anticipate better results than their output jack.

I only tested the Pixel's software video capture feature, which failed to capture my wide screen video correctly. Thanks to the SDCopy shareware utility, I was able to capture my Wide Screen footage correctly. I hope they provide this feature in their sofware soon!

After doing some testing I discovered that you can film almost 5 hrs. in low quality (3 mps/sec) mode, lmost 3 hrs in st. quality (6 mps/sec), and approx 2 hrs. of footage at high qualify (9 mps/sec) at the setting on an 8GB SDHC card.

I did not purchase the extended warrantee because there aren't many moving parts.

I congratulate canon's product design staff for providing a product that I will enjoy using for years to come.

When you capture the video into your PC, you need to have it plugged into the power jack. Otherwise, it will not work. Hence, I suggest that you purchase a USB/HD Card reader with this device.

With the cost of a 16 GB class 6 SDHC card at $40, I don't know how canon expects to sell their FS22 (32 GB internal memory) or FS21 (16 GB intenal memory) at the price they are asking.

This is truly a fabulous product!

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR's

Then you might consider getting a copy of the Canon EF 17-85 IS. If you have a Digital Rebel, XT, or 20D and have been shooting with a kit lens, this is one of the lenses that a lot of people buy as their first upgrade. Some people just buy it in place of the kit lens when they purchase the camera body. It's an extremely popular lens because the range and size are just right for taking anywhere. I personally debated getting this lens because I wasn't sure about the quality of the glass and my main concern was that it wasn't fast enough for all occasions. One of the more frustrating things for me about the kit lens, as great as it was for such minimal cost, was that the aperture wasn't fixed. I found myself having to bump up the ISO to make up for the lack of an f-stop or two. For those who are new to photography, that basically means you have to compensate for the fact that the lens can't let enough light into the sensor so you have to make the sensor more sensitive (but also at the cost of lower quality and more grainy results) with the higher ISO setting.

I decided I didn't want to take that risk and went all out since it was supposed to be my walk-around lens that I'd carry all the time. I picked up the expensive EF 24-70 f/2.8L lens that so many pros use because I thought it had a decent enough focal length range and at 2.8 it was fast enough for all my lightning needs. It cost $1100 and after actually hanging it around my neck, I decided it wasn't going to work for my current needs. The lens itself is relatively huge and weighs a ton on a 20D. I returned the lens after talking to a friend who is a professional photographer who basically recommended picking up the 17-85 IS. He owned both (among others) and said that it was perfect for walking around because it had both the wide end and a decent telephoto length. That and it cost half as much! He allayed all my fears that the picture quality wouldn't be very good. I was also going to be taking a trip for a few weeks to Europe and really wanted a lens that could do it all. So I bought it and have been pretty happy with my results.

Is it a pro lens? Not by any means. I know that if I kept the 24-70 the results would probably be better. But that being said, I am getting good results for half the price. When I was in Europe having the 17-85 range was about as perfect as I could have wanted. It was light and small enough that I could fit it into my compact Tamron Velocity 6 bag and the additional weight was negligible. The IS is a nice feature but don't think that it makes up for the lack of aperture width. I tried to fool myself into thinking that when I bought the lens, but I see now that having a fixed 2.8 is something you just can't make up with IS. But other than that, I'm very satisfied with this purchase. Another lens you might want to look into if you're checking this one out is the Canon EF 17-40 f/4. It's comparable in price, has a fixed f/4 but just doesn't have the additional zoom length to it. Pictures are great though and it's also relatively compact. To learn more about this and other lenses, check out a site I made for Canon Digital SLR users at Hopefully you'll find it helpful in deciding which walkaround lens is right for you.

From a pure image quality standpoint, this lens will not please the pixel peepers. On the wide end of the zoom, which I personally use more often than the telephoto end, this lens is not very sharp, and it suffers from fairly bad distortion. Worse than that, for me, are the chromatic abberations; this lens is quite prone to significant CA when shot at the wide end, which can look a lot worse than a little bit of distortion or softness. Given the price of this lens, one should expect a higher level of optical performance.

The maximum aperture of this lens is not very large, being f/4 on the wide end, and f/5.6 on the telephoto end. The image stabilization makes up for this some, as you can comfortably shoot at much slower shutter speeds than otherwise, but, let's be honest here; this lens is a poor performer if you want to shoot in low light with no tripod. The small aperture makes for a dark viewfinder, which can be a very big problem if you are trying to compose a picture in the dark (using a tripod).

Yet, I still gave this very imperfect lens four stars, and this is not without reason.

First of all, the focal length range is quite handy. It isn't a mega-zoom that does everything, however, it covers the most often used focal length ranges, and is an appropriate lens to use for the vast majority of situations. The little bit of extra zoom on the telephoto end is handy on occasion, and it's also worth noting that the lens sharpens up quite a bit when you zoom in some it might be soft on the wide end, but zoomed in, it's quite good.

I have printed as large as 20x30" using this lens on a Digital Rebel, and have no qualms with the results. Yes, there are sharper lenses out there, but you are a lot more likely to see the difference in sharpness on your computer monitor than in a print.

This lens has ring USM, which enables it to focus very quietly, and very quickly, whereas the slightly cheaper (and F2.8) options from the 3rd parties have normal focusing motors that are slow and noisy by comparison.

If you want to use this lens indoors, you are best off getting a flash to go with it, such as a 430EX. The lens is usable in fantastic indoor lighting, or during the day, but won't give you good results in low light with no flash.

If you will be shooting in lower light situations (people in particular), Tamron and Sigma have some good options in the 17-50mm range with F2.8 apertures, and I would recommend those lenses over this one. If you'd prefer the extra telephoto range, the image stabilization so you can shoot with smaller aperture in poorer lighting situations for greater depth of field (instead of needing to shoot a landscape at f/4, for instance, without image stabilization, you could use f/11 on this lens, and get a sharp picture with better depth of field. This is even more useful in the close focus range while this isn't a true macro lens, if you take closeup photos without a tripod, you will want to stop the lens down for greater depth of field, and the IS helps with that quite a bit.

Overall, I've been fairly pleased with the performance of this lens. If you like to worry about splitting hairs, and zooming all the way in on pictures on your computer, this lens is likely to dissapoint you. If, however, you are willing to sacrifice optical perfection to get a very well rounded, useful lens, then I'd recommend it, however, would also recommend that you consider the 3rd party options, as they are also great lenses, and do offer a somewhat better value.

Buy Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR's Now

I have been using this lens for a week and getting absolutely flawless pictures no flares, fringing etc. I also did some semi-controlled tests with Image Stablizer and it works as advertised, resulting in much sharper pics indoors. USM focusing works great too, and the lens is/feels well built.

One gripe at $600, I would have liked it to come with a hood ("sold" separately but not available yet) and a case (also "sold" separately).

The real question IMO is not whether it's a great lens or not, but whether it's worth $600 as opposed to the kit lens (EF-S 18-55) + EF 28-135 IS. This combo is $100 cheaper and gives greater coverage on the telephoto end. On the other hand, EF-S 17-85 lens claims to have better optics, circular aperture, convenience of a single workhorse lens and IS on the wide end too.

Ultimately it's your call. My take is that if you spend $800 to $1500 on a digital SLR, you owe it to yourself to spend $600 on good lenses (and another $200 on 420ex flash ;-).

Read Best Reviews of Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR's Here

After my initial disappointment with the kit lens that came on my Rebel Xt I first bought and fell in love with the 70-300 DO lens, which I have also reviewed. That gave me a taste of what a decent Canon Lens can do. It was not long before I bought the 17-85 IS lens and gave away the kit lens to make sure I would never see it again.

Not only is this a quality lens -much sharper than the 18-55mm -but the IS feature will improve your low light pictures regardless of your ability (unless of course you always use a tripod). You will find yourself taking shots (indoors especially) that were simply not possible with the kit lens.

Because this lens will zoom to 85mm (equivalent to 136 mm on standard 35mm cameras) it makes a great carry anytime lens for many situations. Of course, it is significantly heavier than the kit lens but the quality is well worth it.

You should note that the picture that shows up on Amazon is a bit misleading. The item pictured is certainly the correct lens but the picture is a bit squashed making it look much shorter than it really is. The lens measures 4 inches when not extended.

Finally, if buying this lens, do yourself a favor and, at the very least also buy a UV-filter. Note that the filter size if 67mm which is bigger than the one on the kit lens.

Want Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR's Discount?

I've had a Rebel (original) for more than a year, got my 20D about 6 months ago. Been using the kit lens 17-55 mostly to shoot karate with flash, this works fine unless the subject is on the other side of the gym where there isn't enough high end magnification with the kit lens. This lens has been getting mixed reviews since it came out, some hate it, others love it. I suppose that I have yet to see anything I "hate" about it but I do agree that the price is really high. The thing about these lenses is that Canon (as they've done in other areas with their digital camera line) doesn't sell communication protocals so others can make lenses that work correctly with their bodies, they do their best to maintain a monopoly which means if you need this lens range it's about the only game in town. Third party lenses are all reverse engineered and may not work on future bodies and generally focus more slowly (with the exception of sigma XT which are just about as expensive as real Canon glass).

I've only had a little chance to shoot with this guy but so far I've got no complaints, unlike my kit lens I find this guy focuses better in one of the AI focus modes than in single shot mode (only the 20D has multiple focus modes). I don't agree with the folks that say color saturation and contrast are bad...I just don't see that.

If you're wealthy enough to be able to replace this lens with several bodies and fixed lenses then of course those will be sharper. I've also got the 28-135IS which is a fantastic lens but doesn't have enough low end when I'm shooting action occuring right in front of me. So far I like this lens, as I shoot more with it I might find things I don't like but if you need this range it's really the only game in town. Most reviews recommend a hood, which should come with it at this price, because of the wide angle you need a "flower petal" hood and you can get them on ebay for around 8 bucks generic instead of $30.00 for canon brand (what a rip for a hunk of plastic). You also want to get yourself a UV filter for it first thing, that guy protects your lens and also improves color in my experience.

I do find this is a slightly "darker" lens than the kit lens so you either have to adjust in software or kick your exposure up a little if you're like me and like heavy saturation. I like the range this lens offers, it's perfect for your typical basketball sized gymnasium so you don't have to use the "sneaker-zoom" any more than necessary.

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Levana ClearVu Digital Video Baby Monitor with Color Changing Night Light (LV-TW301)

The Levana Clear-Vu digital baby monitor does exactly what it says it does, and it does it well. It sets up easily and transmits a clear picture in both light and dark. It's a cute little unit that is attractive and easy to use. The nightlight feature is pretty and soothing.

However... i feel it is lacking in a few features, and could use a few basic design adjustments.

First, the quietest sound level that it will adjust to is still VERY loud. I don't need to hear EVERY SINGLE breath that my baby takes, i just want to know when she's crying.

Second, the switch for turning the video on and off is very tricky to do at 2am in the dark. It would be far easier if it had a push button on the front of the unit than the slide click on the side. It's such a pain that i've taken to just sleeping with the unit tucked into my hand so that i don't have to fumble around in the dark to turn on the video.

Third, the switches on the camera are all on the bottom of the unit so that once you have it mounted in it's holder on the wall it's extreme;y difficult to change the settings.

Fourth, and probably THE most annoying is that the monitor unit has no stand other than the charging unit. It needs a belt clip and/or pop-out stand like the other Levana models have.

Additionally, I would like to purchase another charging base, but cannot find one anywhere, not on Amazon and not on the Levana website. You'd think they'd be more than willing to give you more things to spend your money on.

But maybe I'm nit-picking, because honestly, it's a very nice product that i will keep and continue to use. But if I had to pick a "perfect" monitor, this would not be it.

We bought this monitor and it worked well for about 6 weeks. It has a shorter battery life than the Summer Infant (which we had prior to this one) but we made it work by moving the base around the house with the monitor. Few things I noticed early on:

There is no "kickstand" to stand the monitor upright. You either have to have it on the base, or lay it down flat.

There are no "sound LED lights" like the Summer Infant monitor, so if your baby is crying, there is not way to tell with the volume lowered. You have to have it very loud to hear the crying. There are no lights at all on the monitor to detect sound like on other video monitors.

LASTLY AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:

During the night, about twice a week, the unit completely malfunctions and stops working. I've called about this and they have had me run tests such as trying different outlets, checking the battery life when it stops working, etc., and they still cannot tell me why this happens.

Basically, the monitor, in the middle of the night, just completely shuts off, even though it is on the base. The LED light on the monitor and the base are glowing green. If I remove the monitor from the base, the battery is fully charged, so it is not dying on the base (and why would it, if it is on the base and running from the outlet's power?!) If I take it off the base, move the switch to "off" and then back to "on" it goes back to working. My baby cries and I cannot hear him because the stupid monitor shuts off while I sleep.

This is happening more and more frequently, and I've called Levana. All they can do is have me ship the monitor to them for testing for 2-4 weeks, but what do I DO IN THE MEANTIME without a monitor?! DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND STAY AWAY FROM THIS PRODUCT!!

Buy Levana ClearVu Digital Video Baby Monitor with Color Changing Night Light (LV-TW301) Now

As several others have stated, this monitor flat out does not work!! I thought I would try another brand since we had a Summer model for our first baby...wish I hadn't. It only worked for a few weeks. Now we've tried every trick in the book to get it to function properly but to no avail. The monitor will not turn on even when plugged in &, one time when we actually did get it to come on briefly, the screen froze up & there was no sound. Completely unreliable & very cheaply made. Unfortunately we purchased it before our baby was born so by the time we started using it & realized how horrible it is, we are beyond the return period with Amazon so will also be trying to deal with Levana directly now. After reading what other people have posted, I'm not looking forward to this experience. Don't throw your money down the drain on this product like I did!

Read Best Reviews of Levana ClearVu Digital Video Baby Monitor with Color Changing Night Light (LV-TW301) Here

This monitor was on our registry and we're happy to get it until we used it. The video is great, nice features, night vision, clear picture, etc... but the AUDIO IS HORRIBLE.

The monitor (video and audio) uses a 2.4Ghz transmission. What does this mean? Any device using 2.4Ghz transmission could and most likely will interfere with each other causing static or bad reception. Here's the important part...most WiFi routers use a 2.4Ghz transmission. If you don't have WiFi chances are your neighbors do and their WiFi will interfere and give you static.

I did an online chat with Levana and they suggested I remove any devices that could operate on 2.4Ghz transmission. I don't think my neighbors would appreciate me asking them to disable their WiFi so I can use my baby monitor.

So what are we going to do? The video/audio monitor will now become a video only monitor and we'll need to buy a separate audio monitor, preferably at 900Mhz.

Hope this helped!

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It looked like a good monitor and I liked the feature list, but as soon as we turned it on we were greeted with a constant hiss of static that was unbearable. I don't know if it was interference from something or just a faulty unit. We don't have a house phone and I turned off the wireless router but the problem remained. There didn't appear to be any way to adjust which channels it used, and the product documentation didn't say that it automatically tried using different channels. Even though everything else worked great, we couldn't get the static to go away so we returned it.

Fujifilm FinePix AX300 14 MP Digital Camera with Fujinon 5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom Lens (Black)

This camera was exactly what I was looking for. I have a bigger Fuji camera that I have been very happy with, but wanted a "pocket" camera that I could have with me all the time. This is perfect. I can take it to the restaurant when I have dinner with friends, or to little league practice, and it doesn't take up too much space, or too much of my time worrying about it. It takes great photos, and I am completely satisfied, and will purchase Fuji products again.

This is a great point & shoot, take it and go camera

I bought this to replace my circa 2003 Fuji A310. I got this to use for documenting project sites for my job. I used it for one project so far and it did a decent job. I've been taking pictures in 3 megapixel mode, as this is really all the resolution I need. The photos look good for the most part. Only a few blurry shots out of about 100 total.

Pros:

I prefer the AA batteries over a rechargeable battery. I'm often out in the middle of nowhere taking photos for work. So, if I run out of batteries, I can always stop in any convenience store and get more AAs.

The battery life is excellent compared to my old A310. The A310 would shut down when the batteries were only half used up. I put the 'spent' batteries from the A310 in the AX300 and got over 100 flash photos out of them.

I like the automatic switching from automatic mode to macro mode. I do a lot of alternating between wide shots and macro shots, and the automatic switching is easier than switching manually.

Cons:

I may just need to shut one of the settings off, but on a few shots the face recognition software kicked in when there were no faces in the shot. This messed the photo up.

The camera has locked up on me once. Opening and closing the battery compartment re-set it, but this will be annoying if it happens frequently. The range finder also seemed to stop working once, but worked again after re-setting.

Update: I haven't had any issues with the camera locking up since the initial use. I have also bought a second camera of the same model (one for home, one for work) and have had no issues with it.

Doesn't include any memory, so make sure you purchase a SD card for it. They used to at least give you a minimum sized memory card when you bought a new camera, but not anymore I guess.

It doesn't have a viewfinder, which is handy on days with very bright sunlight.

When you connect this to a computer via the USB cable it doesn't show up as a disk drive. You have to use the camera wizard to get the photos off of it. This may be a software issue and I'll see if I can find a work around.

Buy Fujifilm FinePix AX300 14 MP Digital Camera with Fujinon 5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom Lens (Black) Now

This is a decently priced point-and-shoot camera that takes good pictures with decent lighting (where you can get above 1/60th shutter speed on auto). The 14MP is a bit of an overkill for most users, but it is certainly nice to have that resolution. As others have stated, it does feel a bit "cheap" because of the plastic casing, but functionality-wise, it works well. The only con about the about the camera so far is it doesn't perform too well in low lighting situations compared to other cameras for both photos and video. Images come out a bit more muddy than other cameras in low light which is a bit noticeable when you compare it side by side with a picture from another camera. The image stabilizer doesn't really add much to those photos either so don't expect anything amazing with that functionality. The 720p video is decent and good for use if you want to take a last minute video of something. If you're going to be recording video for an extended amount of time, be sure to grab a larger SD card as with a 4 GB card you can get around 10 minutes of video. The interface is about 95% digital menus so expect to refer to the manual for specific functions, but it's not difficult to navigate for simple shoot modes.

Overall, I found this camera OK. It won't knock your socks off or anything (that's why I only gave it 4 stars), but it certainly works well and will get the job done.

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I recently bought a Fuji AX300 digital camera here. The camera has a 5X optical zoom which is decent for a small camera. This is my 2nd one of these small Fuji cameras and overall, it's a pretty decent digital camera when it comes to a basic point & shoot type.

It's easy to use once you figure it out, has a decent 5X optical zoom, macro zoom that works pretty good and fairly good picture quality. Videos on this camera is not as good as the voices gets "choppy" and garbled, even at lower volume levels. So, I would not use this for a video uses, unless you're outside at a sporting event where sound is not too critical, then it's fine for that. Video quality is good however.

Picture quality is fine in sunny weather, tho the pictures can get all sun-washed and in darker low-light weather, the pictures are poor quality. If you take indoor pics with the flash, the pictures will turn out okay. Outdoor pics under partly cloudy conditions produces good photos with this camera. There are some manual settings on this camera also.

Not too much I hate about this camera, except for the garbled voices I periodically get on the video mode, but that's no biggie for me. It uses 2 AA batteries and battery life with this camera is not as good as other cameras I have had, but luckily it uses easy to find AA batteries.

So to sum it up in a few words....yes, I would recommend the Fuji Finepix AX-300 digital camera for general photography, scenic photography and family indoor or outdoor photos.

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at first i was worried at how light camera felt out of the box almost like toy as another reviewer mentioned. However the pictures that this camera takes is great, straight forward, I am particularly happy with the fact that it has an option to take black and white pictures which I personally like for those vintage type shots i like to take. My only disappointment is that the camera does not contain a rechargeable battery other than that I am contented with my purchase.

Canon EOS Rebel T3i 18MP - Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS II - Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III - Wide Angle an

All of the items are brand new and in the box. The only complain have is the camera bag and the tripod. The tripod is junk and dangerous to use with any DSLR camera. The bag is small and not enough space for what is needed. All of the extras except the telephoto lens and the camera are all off brand items, but work just fine. I recommend this setup as you get all you need. Just buy a good tripod and a good camera bag for your nice new shiny camera. Good luck

PhotoAmerica Alcohol & Ammonia Free Screen Cleaning Kit (Apple iPad, Apple iPad 2, iPod, iPod Touch

Bought this kit for cleaning LCD TV, but have used it also for laptops, tablet, and car's touch display. Haven't used the brush, which looks cheap, but the cleaning liquid and the microfiber cloth alone are worth the price. It gets greasy fingerprints out easily, yet gently.

I got a new LCD television and my nephew touched with his greasy paws! I tried to clean the screen with eyeglass cleaner, but it made a bigger mess of streaky film over half my screen (this eyeglass cleaner technique worked fine on other LCD's for years). I bought this because It was fairly inexpensive, came with the duster and a microfiber cloth.

I don't know if the screen is just never going to be a nice as it came out of the box, but this is close enough for me. I did notice some slight, and I can't stress enough about slight film barely noticeable (I'd say 98% original), but I'm not sure if it's user error, or just the nature of the screen or product. I don't care to clean my lcd everyday to figure it out.

Works better than perfect on glossy lcds on my laptop and netbook.

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This is some really Great Stuff!!

Not very expensive and it works fine on all kinds of LCD/LED screens.

If U get the chance, buy it.

No smell or mess...

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Worked well on my : Monitor , Tablet, Phone, TV , clean nice without strips, make sure you not spray to much , from my bad experiences I never spray on the screen , I do that on the Cloth then clean the screen , but before that I wipe the screen from dust . wash the cloth by hand with 1 drop of dishwasher when get dirty , if you wash in wash machine it will lose it micro function

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used it to clean the notebook. did the work nicely. no smell of alcohol or any remnants. nice thing to have it in ur closet for intermittent use.

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Sony DCR-SR87 Hard Disk Drive Handycam® Camcorder

I've had several Sony products over the years and have always been impressed by their quality and features. I must confess to being a little disappointed with my SR 87 Camcorder, though. Here's why:

-The picture resolution is not as good as I expected.

-The LCD screen is not very bright. It's hard to see

in bright lighting. Wish it came with a viewfinder

for these situations.

-I also wish the fader feature was a little more

user-friendly. It requires going through the menu

with every fade in or out.

The One-Touch disk burn and the Steady-shot feature are great. Overall, I'd give the camcorder about a C-plus.

I'm not trying to be harsh on ony. They still make the worlds best TV's. They still make great camcorders. Just not this one.

Essential items in any camcorder are basic. A remote for self-video. A viewfinder to shoot movies when sunlight is too bright for its viewfinder. Finally, the ability to shoot at night (NIGHTSHOT).

The Sony designers chose to leave all three items out. You won't find any of these common features on the SR87.

That being said, it's just not a suggested model and I suspect will be discounted quickly or discontinued.

The Canon is by far a better camcorder.

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It is a cute little machine, not HD but OK. Easy to use but lens and picture qulaity is just OK.

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I haven't written many Amazon reviews in the past. But I'll write one for this product simply because I feel that I am very much impartial after using it for almost 7yrs.

When I spent a lot of hard earned cash and was finally moving up from VHS to HDD camera, I was thrilled. And yes, when I got it, I loved it. Mostly due to the fact that I can record hours and hours worth without any problem. Remember, this is not an HD recording. Since, I didn't see much difference in the quality, I used it to record in the SP format. This format outputs:

Resolution: 720x480

Data Rate: 9100kbps

Frame Rate: 29fps

Audio Rate: 256kbps

Audio Channels: 2 Stereo

Audio Sample: 48kHz

File Size: 20.6MBps (approx)

The battery charge goes a long way. And the 80GB HDD itself is the highlight of this camera. That, and also the fact that I can hook up the cam to the PC via USB and simply drag/drop recordings in my PC.

However, the video is very average. Keep in mind, I'm coming from a VHS background and was not impressed at the video quality one bit. In the day time, outdoors, the recording would probably get a B+ in my view. But indoor, night time recording with moderate indoor lighting, I would not hesitate to give it a D+ at best.

The indoor recordings that I made were always grainy. And the higher format recording didn't help. All it did was take up more file space.

If you're in the market for a better video cam, pass on this one. I've had this for 7yrs due lack of funds. I have logged over 900 recording hours on it. And due to this, my work looks like a piece of crap. I have finally purchased a Canon VIXIA HF M500 about 5mins. ago right here on Amazon. I hope that cam will out perform this one by a huge margin.

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excellent video camera, good resolution, good pictures and a very good article guadar fond memories of the family, and always keep them in mind, recommended

Wansview NCB-541W Wireless IP Camera Network Night vision Free DDNS Pan/Tilt Montion Detect

Great camera. Was somewhat easy to setup (I work in the computer field). May be a little harder for a novice to setup, but if they get detailed instructions from website it should be easier. The video is very impressive (with an AMD Radeon with 256MB), just make sure you have a good video card (my laptop has an Intel video with 64MB and the video isn't that great).

Before installing, go to the manufacturers website and download the updated software (setup/searcher, viewer and manual). Beware, there are 2 websites (a .net and a .com). Make sure you go to the .com. The .net is either fake or some other company. You will not find this camera on the .net site.

One more thing. If you buy another model make sure it is a model from the .com manufacturer (the .net site has similar cameras with similar model numbers).

For outdoor use search YouTube for making your own acrylic dome, not hard.

I will be buying another 3 cameras soon.