Showing posts with label wireless camera system. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wireless camera system. Show all posts

Saturday, October 18, 2014

GTMax BP-808 Replacement Decoded Battery for Canon FS10 FS11 FS100 FS21 FS22 FS200 FS31 FS300 VIXIA

GTMax BP-808 Replacement Decoded Battery for Canon FS10 FS11 FS100 FS21 FS22 FS200 FS31 FS300 VIXIA HF10 HF11 HF100 HF20 HF200 HF S10 S100 S20 S21 S200 HG20 HG21 M30 M31 M300 CamcordersOk First off, the remaining life will not display in your camera. You have to just guess how much battery power you have left and hopefully you guessed right cause you have no way of knowing until your camera powers off suddenly.

Second, you CAN NOT charge this through your camera, it will damage your camera and this battery. You have to use the included charger and the included charger only to charge it. This would be ok except you can ONLY charge this battery with it, you cannot charge your original battery from your camera with this. So basically you have to have 2 chargers, one for each battery.

Thirdly, there's an LED that is red when it's charging, and turns green when finished, but strangely you have to charge it for an additional 2-3 hours after the light turns green. So what is the point of the LED then?

so you have no way of knowing if it's fully charged or not, no way of knowing how much life you have left, and you need a separate charger just to use it. It'll do as an 'in case of emergency' battery but don't put the fate of your entire shoot on it. The only reason this gets 3 stars is because it is a battery that'll do in a pinch, simple as that.

I bought this as a backup to the battery installed in my Canon FS200. It does what it is supposed to, and it also does what it isn't supposed to (display the battery data on the smart screen). If you are looking for a backup battery in case your Canon supplied battery runs out of juice where you can't recharge it), this is a good investment at a very low price. If you are looking for a true replacement for your factory installed battery (that will display battery life on your camcorder screen), this isn't the one for you.

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Battery worked great but unfortunately my camera was malfunctioning. the digital age is upon us so I guess I should toss the camera and keep the battery!

Read Best Reviews of GTMax BP-808 Replacement Decoded Battery for Canon FS10 FS11 FS100 FS21 FS22 FS200 FS31 FS300 VIXIA Here

trow camcorder memory out but I kept and ordor another from some one else and I gave the battery to some one else.

Want GTMax BP-808 Replacement Decoded Battery for Canon FS10 FS11 FS100 FS21 FS22 FS200 FS31 FS300 VIXIA Discount?

This item took a long time too get here, too the point where I almost cancelled the creidit card charge but it fiunnally came and its easy too use and compact too carry however the battery that cam with it will not register with the camera so I never know when the battery is about too die.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Essentials Bundle for Nikon D3200, D5100 & D5200 Digital SLR Camera and 18-55mm VR Lens with 3

Essentials Bundle for Nikon D3200, D5100 & D5200 Digital SLR Camera and 18-55mm VR Lens with 3 Filters + Hood + Tripod + Tele/Wide Lenses + ML-L3 Remote Kitthere are a lot of things in the kit, the most valuable thing will be the wide angle and tele. if u put the wide angle on your lens, it will cut the four corners of the image. other stuff in the kit is fine

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Sony VPLDX11 Multimedia Projector - 1024 x 768 XGA - 3000lm - 4:3 - 4.11lb

Sony VPLDX11 Multimedia Projector - 1024 x 768 XGA - 3000lm - 4:3 - 4.11lbThis is one of the more powerful yet smaller projectors I have ever used. It is ideal for mid-sized conference rooms and classrooms or even watching a movie on the wall, better on an actual projection screen. It has an incredible 3000 lumens and accepts a wide range of input signals, including both PC and video sources. It can be floor ceiling or rear-mounted. I have used it to connect to a BluRay player and the picture was awesome. I have a regular briefcase I carry it in and it's even lighter than my laptop.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Sony Handycam CCD-TRV128 AV Cable - TV Video Cord for Sony Handycam CCD-TRV128

Sony Handycam CCD-TRV128 AV Cable - TV Video Cord for Sony Handycam CCD-TRV128I received what I needed quickly and at a good price. I put the cable right to work and it is working fine. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007I7BZNO/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title

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Thursday, April 24, 2014

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX200V 18.2 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom and 3.3-inch OLED

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX200V 18.2 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom and 3.3-inch OLEDIf money is not everything and you do not mind spending a few hundred dollars extra then you will find this Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX200V ultra-slim, ultra-light a "perfect" choice which offers very unique features that makes this the best `point & shoot' camera product of the year 2012! ...

Here is why...

Image resolution & Movie recording:

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

This tiny shiny camera boasts 18.2 MP resolution image captures which is the highest resolution till date of any point and shoot camera of this size. It also captures very smooth `optically stabilized' video up-to 1080p/60 true HD AVCHD movies in stereo AC3 sound at the same time allowing user to capture stills [16:9] seamlessly while taking movies which is very impressive and useful feature indeed.

Perfect looking stills every time. Thanks to various built-in camera post processing. Almost if not every photo I have taken so far has come out perfect. No blurry images No shake. Excellent results every single time.

Practical use of a point & Shoot:

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

How many times you wished that you take a video of that special Birthday moment of your child while at the same time wished to have a high resolution still image of the moment to cherish later? Well, Sony got that it right this time. You no longer have to juggle a camcorder and bulky DSLR with plethora of lens attachments, this `simple looking' lightweight stylish point and shoot camera does it all effortlessly.

Waterproof Peace of mind!

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

The Camera is waterproof! Yay! The specs say up-to 5 meters and can operate underwater for full hour of underwater photography! Very impressive indeed. But for most users may not really use the camera underwater. What it gives to a general user is peace of mind that if you accidently drop this in pool or get wet in the rain it will not damage the camera.

Creative and Macro Photography:

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

Very Impressive Macro photos, I must say it is truly amazing how close you can get to the subject to take those beautiful looking Macro photos. I have used Canon EOS 60D before; I must say it is very close to the DSLR quality when it comes to macro photography without any need of special lenses or contraptions. You can use the "Defocus Effect" feature to get those professional looking close-ups that otherwise takes a lot of photography experience and expensive lenses and contraptions. This simple point and shoot camera does it beautifully and effortlessly. Impressive!

Memory card:

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

I used SanDisk microSDHC 32GB Flash Memory Card (Retail Packaging) SDSDQM-032G-B35,Black with this camera and found the memory card fully compatible. I did not try any other microSD/SDHC memory card. It accepted the 32GB capacity just fine. I however wished that it accepted standard SD cards which are faster and cheaper these days. I am not sure why SONY decided to go with microSD/SDHC cards with this camera.

Battery life:

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The battery life is good, In real life test I wished that it could have given me more but I got about 195 photos under 3 hours before it gave up on me. The OLED screen display has various options to conserve battery, I have found that if I use a "Darker" menu theme the OLED screen consumes less power and you get more juice out of the battery and also turn off the GPS feature if you do not want location data for your photos.

PROS:

[+] The sleekest waterproof point & shoot camera on the market.

[+] Takes beautiful stills & amazing looking Macro still photos.

[+] Takes very good high quality movie captures in HD 1080p/60 and still simultaneously.

[+] GPS enabled location markers for your photos!

[+] Ultra compact and extremely lightweight makes it easy to carry anywhere.

CONS:

[-] Battery compartment is fragile and does not look well built; it will eventually break sooner or later.

[-] Accepts MicroSD/SDHC cards only instead of standard SD/SDHC cards which are a big bummer! As most MicroSD cards are expensive and run at slower speed than standard SD/SDHC cards.

[-] USB and HDMI interfaces are tucked inside the battery compartment which will take toll on the battery compartment each time you need to charge the camera and or transfer photos.

[-] Front Face and rear OLED Screen are prone to dust and scratches.

[-] The W/T (Zoom) lever is placed at odd location which is difficult to use and feels fragile.

Having said, the major issue with this camera is the price. Most of the CONs mentioned above can be lived with by carefully handling the camera, but the price is something that most users will have to think twice before shelling out hard cash for this tiny shiny ultra slim point & shoot camera.

If money is not an issue for you and want portability without sacrificing picture quality this will be the best point and shoot camera you can buy today.

Hope this review was useful to you. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to let me know and I will try to answer them for you.

Happy Shopping!



I shot this video to show the waterproof pouch that I use when I take the camera to the beach. I'm trying to show it in the mirror at the beginning of the video, though not so successfully. I also wanted to show what a stunning video this tiny camera can take, but it won't happen here. You can search for "tx200v Parke Ronen" on YouTube, and you'll find the original in HD. BTW, Parke & Ronen is the brand of trunks I was wearing that day. It works ;-)

If you want to see what kind of silly video one ends up taking with this camera, search for "tx200v River Rafting Valencia".

MY TAKE ON THE CAMERA

This is the only one in its class that can go from kayaking to clubbing in style. Cool!

Compact, easy to use, and fun to play with. The pictures and the videos are impressive. Reviewing and sharing the images on that tiny screen is incredibly fun. They just look amazing.

SHOOTING

Most of the time, I just turn the camera on, compose, and press the shutter button. The camera starts up pretty fast, except when it reminds you to keep the water seal clean (annoying). The camera does an excellent job of adjusting for day, night, portrait, landscape, etc, which you would expect from this caliber of camera. It hangs a little after taking a picture, though you can still continue taking pictures, just without previews. I have not noticed any motion blur from pressing the shutter.

In advanced modes the camera does get sluggish and will refuse to do anything until it finishes processing the image. But considering what it does under difficult lighting condition and the resulting image, I think it's worth it.

VIDEO

To take a video, I just tap the red dot labeled "Movie" on the touch screen. It's really that simple. Zoom speed is fixed (bummer). Audio is great for casual events but not for recitals (background noise will ruin it).

PREVIEW

Preview pictures look vivid, maybe too much, and sometimes appear tinted or mosaic as a result. They are fine when you transfer them to the computer. Selecting and zooming into a picture on the camera is awkward. Finger gesture on the touch screen is limited. This is not an Apple.

INTERFACE

I noticed myself experimenting with this camera a lot more than with my old one. Exposure, panorama, high contrast (HDR), twilight, rich-tone monochrome (I never thought I would use that one) and other features are easy to access and use, thanks to the touch screen. It's intuitive, the options are clearly labeled, and mini-help is only a few taps away. I would refuse to go back to clunky menu and cursor buttons again.

BTW, this camera does not have aperture control or shutter speed. Only ISO. You control the camera primarily by task.

WATERPROOF

I don't have much faith in it. The majority of complaints, especially the bitter ones, for these types of camera are related to water damage. I have a waterproof pouch for my iPhone (up to 100 ft). When I go to the beach, I just put the camera in that pouch. Controls are a little unwieldy (use "Movie Mode" to take videos using the shutter button) and flash bounces off the shield, but the camera is protected from water and sand (scratches) and doesn't need to be cleaned afterwards. I posted a picture of it in the "View and share related images" section.

SMUDGE

The camera does collect smudge (cosmetics and sun blocks are the worst), and it shows. It's actually not as much of a problem as it may seem. I learned to handle the camera by its edge. Since the lens area is essentially a piece of glass, it's easy to keep clean. As far as the touch screen is concerned, I learned to live with some smudge. It's just unavoidable. Since the camera is "waterproof", cleaning it is easy and carefree. I also applied the protector for Nitendo DSi XL's lower screen on the touch screen. Width is perfect, though I had to trim the height.

BATTERY

I call it a day battery. As long as I don't take any video, I can comfortably go though an entire day taking a bunch of pictures (sometimes >100) and reviewing and sharing them. The battery is tiny, so it's easy to carry a spare.

I would recommend an external battery charger. A much more elegant way to charge a battery than tying up the camera with a USB cable for hours with the battery compartment open and the water seal exposed.

AC MODE

Start recording a video, then plug the camera into a USB charger (not a computer), and stop recording. Voila. You have a fully operational camera running on AC. Handy for recording extended video.

CLOSING

This is the first time I bought a Sony camera. Very happy with it. I finally feel like I entered the world of HD video, in a very nice way, and the pictures are amazing.

Hope this review is helpful :-) Please let me know.

Buy Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX200V 18.2 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom and 3.3-inch OLED Now

This is an awesome little point and shoot; I am tempted to call it the best, but for a few design details which I will get to.

The upsides (for me) are:

~18 megapixels! Shoot first, zoom and crop later! Works wonderfully. There is lots of room for high res photos after major zoomage. With the right photo editing software, it's the equiviant of a huge, strong zoom lens but without the weight or bulk!

~In-camera color saturation and exposure controls!

~Waterproof, dustproof & freezeproof!

~Fast boot-up, and quick focusing.

~Quick boot up of your shots for review

~User friendly in camera help menus even with keyword search

~Larger (3.3 inch), bright, high resolution screen

The downsides (for me)

~Not shockproof a serious design omission. I hike, scramble on rocks a bit, take pictures of rock formations, insects, mountain summit views, creek ice crystals--nature stuff (as well as portraiture, and family and friends). I do not treat my beloved equipment roughly, but don't want to have to treat them like little soap bubbles either! I own (and love) the TX-200's predecessor, the TX-10, (16 megapixels) which is shock-proof (waterproof etc) and sturdy.

~Expensive. At $500, it's above & beyond all the other point and shoots, ruggedized and otherwise.

~Has okay but not great macro capability. Again, I am comparing it to my trusty TX-10 which focuses down to an awesome 1 centimeter (about 5/8 inch), and the TX-200 only goes down to 3 centimeters. But if you are not into serious macro close ups, of course this will not be an issue for you! :-)

~You can NOT tuck in into a back pocket of your favorite jeans (Cargo pockets, or belt cases only!) It does flex and bend, and does not like this.

I am not interested in a "sleek and stylish" poolside / party camera. Is this a creative tool, a viewer into magical worlds, a documenter of cherished events, or a stylish pendant? For me, it is the first three.

I very carefully wrapped and glued my TX-200 in neoprene (spongy wetsuit materal), on all the non-functional surfaces. Now it is not pretty at all, and way more sturdy and shockproof. (So much for the stylish fragile glass front!) For $500, I wish Sony had done this for me.

So to summarize this bit--I wouild love for Sony to have made it heavier, bigger, more durable and sturdy, more an adventure camera like the Nikon AW-100, or the Canon. --What good is a full featured, creative, user friendly tool (especially one as pricey as this) if it's going to die in six months from a two foot drop?

Okay, enough preaching from the pulpit. I do appreciate this little camera immensely. It has wonderful instructions and explanations built in, even a keyword search function, it has background defocus, and it has HD movies at 60 frames per second, and it has a bigger (3.3 inch diagonal) screen with top-end resolution, which you can brighten as is your wont. It has a terrific picture review zoom function (onscreen) where you can get a tantalizing fortaste of fun on the computer, with photo editing (which I love!) And it (like all little point and shoots) is a camera you DO take with you. If you don't take the camera, you don't get the shot!

I have Sony's flagship smaller camera, the NX-7 (24 MP, interchangeable lenses, DSLR functions, etc) ....and my little TX's still get used plenty --they are not mothballed or eclipsed by any stretch!

It (the TX-200) has almost all functions as touch screen buttons, which has its upsides and downsides for me. Some people go crazy about touch screen functionality (try it in the winter with gloves on, at 8500 feet and a 15 mph wind chill! :-) ) so I will note it as a positive and negative with a sum total of a slight plus.

So to summarize --if you can afford the hefty price tag, and if you don't mind a (comparitively) fragile, nonrugged camera, this is an awesome little friend -spectacular photos, ease of use, waterproof, full functions. I will give this little buddy 4.8 stars!

Read Best Reviews of Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX200V 18.2 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom and 3.3-inch OLED Here

Ok, so I really wanted to love this little camera but it's fighting me very step of the way. My main problems are:

Cons:

This camera uses a microSD card instead of a regular SD card. Why?! Who thinks an SD card is so big you need a microSD card? For both my acer laptop & my macbook pro (which both have sd card slots) I have to use an SD card adapter to read an microSD card. It's just silly. Plus they are more $$ an slower.

On top of that, the slot in the camera that takes the microSD card allows you to put the card in backwards and the camera doesn't tell you until you try to shoot some video as there is internal storage for stills. A regular SD card is notched so that you can't put it in wrong. This is just a huge error.

I took the camera to a museum opening. The stills came out great, really nice. But nearly every video I shot was blurry. It was like the Sony Camera was trying to "track the focus" too aggressively and thus whenever I would move the camera while shooting video, the focus would go our of whack until I stopped moving for a few seconds. In the end, nearly every video I shot was useless.

I also used it in the pool. The stills & video came out very nice but I had a real problem using the touch screen in the water. Several times it was almost impossible to "touch" the video record icon and as there is no longer a hard button for video recording, this is sort of a big problem.

Instead of the usual single device battery charger Sony used to ship, now you get a USB charger and a USB cable. So charging your battery on the road means having to carry a cable and an adapter instead of just the cable. Ick.

Pros:

The camera is sturdy and solid, seems well built. When you turn it on, a little internal lens cover opens to reveal the lens. Nicely touch.

The still I shot all came out great. I used a variety of modes and this was in a fairly dark museum setting. Very impresses here.

The touch screen is much more responsive than previous versions of this camera and the interface has been refined / improved. Also, you can lock the touch icons to keep from changing settings accidentally.

Summation: I am going to have to try more video. Maybe I did something but I doubt it, I shoot a lot of video and stills and I use a lot of Sony cameras. Maybe the museum was too dark for the focus to set properly. I was very disappointed in the blurry video.

Want Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX200V 18.2 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom and 3.3-inch OLED Discount?

When i buy cameras or any other imaging equipment to preserve memories i usually try not to look at the price because sometimes it hurts to see it but there's no way you can retake another picture of your child, mother, father, loved one, a pet... 10 years later when you will look at history and when it will start matter to you more and more you probably would think why you didn't buy a better camera so you don't have so many blurry or dark or simply bad shots... This camera is totally awesome image quality is amazing, panorama shots are awesome, especially in 3D and HD, total WOW! Love GPS feature i used to carry around little sony GPS module with me while shooting pictures so i can geotag them later and now camera does it for me, sweet! Video is actually better than i thought it would be, it's pretty impressive and smooth, clear, vivid and image stabilizer is also amazing actually better than most of the camcorders i owned before and it shoots in 1080p. i used to have few casios, kodaks and cannons but i found sony does an amazing job reproducing color and features are also great! Well, still cannot compare to DSLR but some modes let you shoot with background blur. Shots in the dark are also come out fairly crisp.

Some might complain about not having a remote remotes are obsolete, your smile is your remote and it makes pictures even better with smile! i just put camera somewhere (a tree, a tripod, a trash bin, a fence you can find something to put camera on pretty much anywhere) my smile shutter is always on so all i meed to do is to smile to my camera and it takes pictures, this is actually much funner way of taking pictures. i have never had a burning need for a remote and actually prefer to live without it since i don't want another thing to carry in my pocket. I have a DSLR with remotes but those rarely leave the house because of the bulkiness. i am looking forward to test it out under water when we'll go snorkeling, feels little weird taking camera under water without a case ;)

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Wednesday, April 23, 2014

GoPro LCD Bacpac

GoPro LCD BacpacIf you use a helmet cam, you know you are paying for a specialty item.

When you buy accessories for a specialty item, you tend to pay more as well.

So, no strikes on the price. I knew what I was getting and the cost is fair.

The Key benefits

1. You CAN see what you are aiming it. Get the right shot, the first time.

2. It allows full text viewing of all your menu items instead of the cryptic lettering on the front

3. You can set the auto-off. It will go off after XX seconds and not use battery after.

4. You get a a bunch of housings, that if bought separately would be nearly the cost of the LCD.

Used it on a snowmobile ride recently where branches and other assorted issues cause the top helmet mount to be out of wack. Super easy to turn on the LCD, repoint the camera, and turn it off again. Worth its weight in gold for on-the-fly adjustments without having to pull the card or rig up some external viewer. Worth every cent if you do sports that leave the camera exposed or with the potential to not get the right framing.

Drawbacks:

1. Can be hard to see in overly bright days.

No strikes due to this for me. I can still see it well enough, it does it's job.

I found the LCD screen to be quite clear even though it is small. This BacPak does add about 1/2" of additional bulk to the camera, so if weight or size is an issue, then it can be easily removed and used with out.

What I really like about it is that the menu system displays now on the BacPac LCD in real words instead of only those cryptic letters on the front LCD screen That is a big plus in my opinion!

As far as battery life, the screen can easily be shut off in order to conserve battery life.

I really do like the flexibility of now being able to view pictures and videos immediately instead of having to wait to access a computer. This can make a BIG difference between getting the shot you are looking for instead of a shot of the sky or ground!

As a final comment, make sure you install the new firmware BEFORE trying to use the BacPak. Instructions are easy to follow and are available on

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Most of the time I'm using my GoPro, I only use the LCD for setting up shots or shot angles, but I always use it when I'm handheld shooting. You know what you're framing and can quickly adjust to get some really cool perspectives. Unless I'm handheld shooting, I usually set it to turn off a minute after the last button press in case i forget to turn it off myself. You can also adjust the brightness if you need to. I wind up using it a bunch to review pictures and videos too. It has a speaker, so you can hear the audio track. For whatever reason, most of my friends dig the instant gratification of checking out something that just happened, and now we can do just that.

Read Best Reviews of GoPro LCD Bacpac Here

Just got mine in last week. Has been working great and will allow you some great shots, as you can see exactly what you're filming.

As a note to a lot of the LCD's not working, or having a black/blank screen with only sound, etc., you must follow these steps exactly for the HERO2 version:

1. Update your you Hero2 to v70

2. Oonce updated, power off and on the Hero2

3. while pressing down on the LCD Bacpac power button, connect it to the Hero2 until you see the menu screen on the LCD display turn on(approx 3-5 seconds), then release the power button. DO NOT LET GO OF THE LCD BACKPAC POWER BUTTON UNTIL IT IS FULLY CONNECTED TO THE HERO2 AND WHEN YOU SEE THE START MENU APPEAR.

4. You should only have to do these steps once, but if the screen starts to have problems again, repeat these steps.

-dave

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It's really small, hard to see in daylight,uses a lot of battery power and has limited uses. expensive.

Good points , GoPro does give you new back cases for the increase is size, I find that the best use is to see where you are filming than turn off the LCD to save power.

I use the GoPro HD on my Motorcycle & inside my car, so the LCD may be be more useful depending on how you use it.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Cam Caddie Starter Kit

Cam Caddie Starter KitIf you plan on using your Battery grip its going to be a supertight fit or may not fit at all. It you plan on using a follow focus, attached via a L-bracket the battery grip has to be removed. DSLR fit the Cam Caddie better if you don't use the Battery Grip. The mounting screw for your camera could easily get lost because it is not attached to the bottom of the Caddie. Other than these limitations for DSLR it will work for low angle shots.

I use this for getting low shots of little kid running around. I also use it to shoot my friend's son skateboarding. It creates smooth shots without a lot of painful set up time. It sets up in seconds and does the job quickly and easily. I use it with my Nikon D7000 DSLR camera for smooth HD Video.

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Product is made from plastic as other have mentioned. It is not designed to do much else other than what is illustrated in the promotional videos located at the manufacturers website, so watch those first before you buy. Best for low angle hand held shots and that's about it.

Read Best Reviews of Cam Caddie Starter Kit Here

This is a well made caddie. Works well for stability and low angle shots. Putting this on a scale system should prove very useful.

My only complaint is the shipping packaging. The caddie is shipped on flat cardboard with a small built in box for the accessories. This box is very poorly made, and allows the wing accessory to tear through the box and fall out. My first shipment had no wing, so I called Amazon, who sent a replacement. That package also lacked the wing, which had torn through the box. In both cases, it was clear that the wing had fallen out before it packaged for shipment to me. Amazon suspended shipment to investigate the problem, and refunded me the cost of the wing. I bought the wing separately.

I recommend this system, especially if you need to mount a recorder, lights or a monitor on your rig, and you don't want to spend a fortune.

Finally, the rig is a bit flexible, which bugged me at first. But it actually seems to help smooth out the shake, which in turn makes shake correction work better in post.

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This product is great, the only thing is that when I try to attach my LED light the wholes are big enough to insert the LED light. Its durable and I use this almost every week. Its a bit pricey but it is a good product

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Monday, December 23, 2013

Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD Camcorder (Red)

Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD CamcorderGot the Samsung HMX-U20 to document spaces in my line of work. I thought the item itself was compact and just what I needed. I was right in that it was compact and it works great to documents spaces and more, but the con I had with this item was that when a space was dark, it did not adjust to compensate. I know typical camcorders have that LUX ability and, not sure if it is just this compact item or all hand held flip items like this, but when a space is not bright, you might as well turn this thing off. That would have to be my only con on this item.

Since then, I have used it for several more documentations and it has been fine. the HD is great and visually it is crisp. Images (photos) also come out nicely.

I'm really torn on this one. On the one hand, this camera shoots really nice video outside. At noon. With clear skies. The time lapse feature is also really cool (if a bit gimmicky) and I wish more brands would implement this feature into theirs, and the optical zoom is a great feature.

On the other hand, when you try to use it inside, or outside in less than absolutely perfect conditions, the video produced is completely unacceptable. There is so much noise that anything you shoot is just unwatchable. It's a shame because like I said, when you have PLENTY of light the video is so clear and sharp it's nearly stunning. Now, there IS a twilight mode on the camera you can turn on, but it doesn't seem to have any noticeable effect.

Luckily, I don't have any of the audio noise that other reviewers have complained about, but I should've listened to them anyway. This one, whether brought down by audio noise or by video noise, needs a lot more work before it's ready for primetime.

Certainly plenty of potential with this one, but I didn't pay $130 to beta test Samsung's camera. It's going back today.

Buy Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD Camcorder (Red) Now

I read the Amazon reviews of this camera before buying & so knew the problems people have had. I bought the SDHC memory card for the camera & have experienced NO PROBLEMS AT ALL WITH THE CAMERA. I took the camera on a trip to Italy & used a non-HD setting for my videos with great results. The still pictures aren't as good as those from my Canon EOS, but that's to be expected.

I didn't use the time-lapse function so can't comment on that function of the camera.

I uploaded both stills & videos to my Mac & had no trouble editing them using iPhoto & iMovie.

This is a great mini-HD camera for the money!!

Read Best Reviews of Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD Camcorder (Red) Here

I've had my unit for several weeks and its a lot of fun. It's not my primary camera nor is it my primary camcorder but I wanted something to play with that gives HD and could take pictures and this fits the bill. I live in Hawaii and love to film different locations. The HD does justice to the beauty of the islands. The pictures are fine and the unit is very lightweight, easy to carry. I use a Gorilla tripod with it and do most of my filming using the tripod. Handheld is not good, the picture is too shaky. I don't use it indoors much so low light is not a big requirement for me. The other feature I really like is the time lapse photography. Never having had a camera that did this (too expensive), this feature is an added bonus and lots of fun. I use 1 sec intervals most of the time. I use a Class 4 16GB SDHC and that gives me over 2 hours of video recording time (154 mins at 720/60p).

Pros: Lightweight, beautiful HD videos, Time Lapse, uncomplicated controls, several resolutions (720/30p, 720/60p, 1080/30p), expandable memory, 3x zoom for still photography (digital zoom for video)

Cons: No flash, no image stabilization

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It only works with windows not mac that makes it useless for me. Why didn't you say that in your advertisement.

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Friday, October 25, 2013

Fujifilm Finepix Z5fd 6.3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Chocolate Brown)

Fujifilm Finepix Z5fd 6.3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical ZoomIt has a very cool feature: the face recognition, it works very nicely. I have been toying with it just for fun and the camera recognizes most of the faces as long as they are fully facing the camera or not looking away more than 50% to the sides. It's a very cool feature and it does it's best job in focusing and color compensating to make the faces look better.

The camera is very slim and fits nicely in any of my pockets. To turn it on you just slide the cover to the side and are ready to shoot. Plenty of manual settings and some buttons to get to specific functions.

With a 2Gb memory card I get almost 30min of video at VGA resolution, more than enought to get the funny little videos and show panoramic views of a place.

Another cool feature is the "normal & flash" option, which takes one picture with ambient light and immediately another with flash, so you can be sure to get a good picture at least.

I'm very happy with this camera.

Only low grade I can give is the lack of an optical viewfinder, I find that the large LCD display is not very useful on harsh daylight (as I'm used to reflex cameras) and I don't like to hold the camera so far away from my body because of the instability that causes. It would be nicer to hold the camera against my face to provide support.

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Additions after reading the above reviews:

All true complaints of the reviewers, but there are some solutions.

Set the auto switch off to 2 minutes, even if the camera is turned on in your pocket (it does when you slide it into the pocket due to the direction of the opening motion).

Battery, at my pace, the battery won't last a full day, so I bought a backup battery, very cheap and convenient.

Finger blocking the lens, is just a case of learning how to hold the camera. At first is annoying but is no big deal after a few days.

Quality of lens, hey if you want professional quality, this is not the camera, this is an point and shoot camera, convenient to carry at all times, just to grab the photo opportunity and avoid blaming yourself the rest of your life for not getting "that shot" on time.

This is a decent camera. Like most compact cameras is suffers a bit in low light but it's still better than any I tested in the Sony line. Every time I pick the camera up, I'm blown away by how light it is. It almost doesn't feel like I'm holding anything. The photographic power of the cam is pretty good... to the point that I gave up the 8mp Sony T20 for this 6mp. This cam doesn't take pics as fast as the Sony but it is still unlikely that you will miss a shot. This camera isn't slow, the Sony is fast. I always say go to a store and try before you buy as I did and I can say I'm pretty satisfied with this buy.

Buy Fujifilm Finepix Z5fd 6.3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Chocolate Brown) Now

Bought this (in the nice brown color) after great experience with two other F30 cameras. It has the same sensor but not a great lens, so I was a little skeptical of image quality.

As expected, the sensor is good (but not as great as the F30) and the lens is a letdown. Colors are very accurate, but images come out fuzzy due to noise. Camera loves 400 ISO when on auto.

I set it manually to 100 ISO and took an indoor shot. The center of the image was very sharp but the edges came out pretty soft and *noise is visible* at this lowest ISO setting; an important issue to note. I bought the Z5fd mainly for indoor shots. Outdoors, on a bright day, I have no doubt that the results will be excellent.

I agree with most other reviews about the excellent metering. Pictures come out very nice.

It is a good pocket-able camera at the ~$150 price-range. My only other experience with a similar camera is with a Sony T9 which takes horrible indoor shots. The T9 has an image stabilizer while the Z5fd compensates with face detection.

People looking at the Z5fd camera may instead want to pick up the F20 while it is still available. I would return the Z5 but wife loves it (sleek and brown in color) so it stays.

I have mixed feeling about this camera. It has a good form factor, great build quality and ease of use, but image quality is a letdown.

In short:

Image Quality: above average for folded zoom optics; below average when compared to an F20/F30.

Build Quality: Excellent

Lens: barely Average

LCD: Nice and fluid

Metering: Excellent

Image stabilization: NO

Face Detection: Yes

Read Best Reviews of Fujifilm Finepix Z5fd 6.3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Chocolate Brown) Here

I own a Fuji S3000 big view finder, 6x zoom, takes the best pictures in the world BUT it was too big to carry at an outing all day long. Loving my Fuji, I decided to stick with what I know, so I purchased the Fuji Z5fd 6.3MP.

No regrets, I love it. It is user friendly, most can figure it out without reading the owners manual. Its small, I like the slide over the lens to protect it when not in use. The pictures and videos are outstanding!! The function to shoot the same scene with and without flash is my favorite.I have found a lot of my pics inside look better w/out a flash since using this. The button for this setting is right on the back of the camera (no having to look through menus to get to it) I'm not going to retire my big Fuji, but now my little fuji can go every where with me without carrying a camera case. My one dislike, no view finder But it seems all other brands are omitting them on the compact cameras also.

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I'm very pleased with this camera. I love that:

1) It's smaller than an iPod. I can carry it in my purse or slide it in my pocket.

2) All of the pictures look great--even shots of animals. I take a lot of photos for an animal shelter, and my old camera took horrible pictures of pets. The animals were always blurry with neon green eyes! This camera has taken great pictures of the animals, with and without flash.

3) It is PINK. It's really not wine red--it's actually an adorable, iridescent pink. Love it.

Oh-I also love the video camera option, and the battery, which lasts a really long time, even when I watch and re-watch the videos.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

X-Rite EODIS3 i1Display Pro

X-Rite EODIS3 i1Display ProList of relevant hardware:

Apple 15.4-inch MacBook Pro MC723LL/A (hi-res antiglare)

Dell 24-inch UltraSharp U2410

Apple LED Cinema Display 27-Inch MC007LL/A

2007 Apple MacBook

I am a software engineer by trade, a photography enthusiast (Canon DSLR with Aperture) and a home video editor (Canon AVCHD with Final Cut Pro) at nights and weekends. I have been using a borrowed Spyder3Pro (S3P for short), which is a reference for this review.

X-Rite is perhaps the largest name in color matching products. It owns PANTONE and makes some of the most respected products. i1 Display Pro (i1D Pro for short) is its latest offering. The hardware is about the size of a memory card reader and smaller than S3P. Unlike S3P, i1D Pro has only the counterweight, lacking suction cups. The counterweight can be moved along the entire cable run. Counterweight is fine for most computer displays, but unusable when calibrating very large HDTV that some people use as a monitor or for HTPC (you will need to hold i1D Pro with your hand over 2 minute calibration run).

All in all, i1D Pro feels substantial and more high-end than S3P. It has a built-in diffuser to measure ambient light and it is capable of calibrating CRT, LCD (CCFL, variations of LED), and even projectors. It has a flare correction feature to compensate for glossy flat screen displays, such as 27" LED Cinema Display.

iD Pro includes i1Profiler software that runs on both Windows (untested) and Mac (tested on 10.7 Lion). Installation was mostly uneventful (and no reboot required), although it did prompt to me update to 1.1.1 (from 1.1.0) and register and activate the product (it otherwise becomes a 30-day trial demo app). The app resembles Apple's Aperture. Coming from S3P and television calibration experiences, I am pretty familiar with the art of display calibration and profiling. So I found the app to be fairly straightforward. Unlike S3P software, i1Profiler can calibrate luminance level as well.

I used advanced mode to calibrate all 4 displays. First, using the app's white patch measurement feature, I set luminance on my displays to as close to 100 cd/m2 as possible (by tinkering with brightness and/or contrast). 100 cd/m2 is below industry's recommended 120-140 range, but I find 120 to be just too darn bright.

The manual and online help are on the inadequate side, so if you are not familiar with profiling, you may want to visit the support section on X-Rite's website to get additional clarification. On the positive side, aside from selecting backlighting type (CCFL and white LED in my case) and luminance level, default recommended values are all good and should be ideal for all but advanced users with discriminating needs.

2 minutes later, I got ICC profiles with better color saturation, more accurate color, more natural whites, and/or deeper black level than S3P (when looking at before and after for various RAW files). The differences are sometimes subtle, but never worse and generally better. Comparing results to Mac OS X's default ICC profiles is much more dramatic, which tends to be very blue with limited color saturation and contrast level. Mac OS X's calibration mode can yield better results than the default, but still dramatically worse than i1D Pro's profiles.

On multi-monitor setup, dragging i1Profiler app from one display to another will let you calibrate other displays. The app can also measure your monitor for uniformity and color accuracy.

That said, the application did crash few times and UI is a bit unrefined here and there. For instance, all important measure button is often hidden, requiring a scroll down. Help icon next to some controls do not reveal any hints of any kind.

A companion piece is i1Profiler Tray, which can run continuously to remind you to recalibrate and uses i1D Pro to adjust for change in ambient light as needed. I am not a fan of ambience compensation, but it does work much better than Apple's built-in feature.

Also included is PANTONE Color Manager software.

I have owned this product for about 2 weeks now and here are my experiences with it. This monitor calibrator is truly fantastic when it comes to its manin purpose calibrating colors on your monitor it is extremely accurate and the process is much faster than any other calibrator I've seen out there. I really enjoy the automatic profile adjustment feature based on the current ambient light conditions, kudos to that.

However, my review is 3 star only because the software is really, really buggy on OS X Lion. In order for the ambient light adjustment to work, there is a small utility called iProfiler that runs in the background. This utility (I've downloaded the latest version from X-Rite web site which is v1.2.0) has a memory leak problem the memory consumption grows from 20 Mb to 800 Mb in less than 24 hrs (monitoring utilizing iStats). I have contacted X-Rite technical support and they are aware of this issue and have recommended turning off this feature. As such I cannot utilize this unit to its full capacity, and I am somewhat disappointed for the premium price I've paid for this product, I would expect a premium quality software.

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I've been using an olde i1 color calibrator for years, and even though the original maker was swallowed by XRite, they have been supporting the no-longer-sold device until now. No joke, XRite sent me an email about upcoming OSX Lion compatibility of that specific software just last week six years after my purchase! So when I had the opportunity to review the current flagship model of a company that takes care of its customers, I jumped on the opportunity.

The device is thoughtfully made: Its big lens is protected by a diffuser which swivels off for measuring and also acts as a stand, and there is protective felt so not to scratch your monitor. Definitely an upgrade from the plasticky feel and clipon protector on my old device! It's a bit odd that the i1Pro goes on the monitor with its narrower edge rather than flat like the others I know of, so you have to make extra sure that it sits flushly. But it's no big deal.

As for documentation: there isn't any, unless you count the little leaflet which tells you to install the software before plugging in the meter. Speaking of the installer, it puts on Pantone software as well by default, without a word about what it does or whether you need it. It's some sort of color management which retails for $40, but not pertinent to monitor calibration. I suppose this is one aspect of a "Pro" package, but at the risk of appearing amateurish, I think a manual if not a tutorial would have been in order at this price point.

There were some additional hurdles to get the software to work on my system: on an WinXP machine (I know, not the newest) it would crash upon PC boot, and I had to consult the FAQ and download two updates from XRite's web site. Also, the generated profiles didn't "take" initially, which caused various uninstalls of drivers, etc. It took me a few hours to sort out that the Intel custom control panel had to go but "XRGamma" had to remain in the Win Startup folder.

The software has an Easy Mode which requires only two things: your monitor's backlight technology (CFL, LED, Wide-Gamut), and your preferred illuminant... yeah, not much help about the latter either, and the default is D65 ("sun at noon") which seemed too blue to me. I eventually went with D55 ("Viewing booth"). The Advanced Mode lets you do more things like ambient light readings, a monitor uniformity test, and flare compensation (for those glossy displays) those may be a little over the top for a hobbyist, but I can see how this would be beneficial in a small graphic outfit, weeding out lemon monitors and calibrate imaging work stations to a tee. The license is quite open to such a use by the way: all it states is that you have to own the monitors.

The process is FAST. My old colorimeter mucked around for at least 15 minutes, but this one is done after two. And I believe it made a much better profile than the old (cheaper) one: pictures look better from the start now, and the color space is larger when viewed at in Microsoft's color applet.

In short, the i1Display Pro works well. The lack of documentation is shameful and the software isn't perfect yet, BUT I think the i1 pro has a serious edge over cheaper colorimeters in speed and accuracy.

Read Best Reviews of X-Rite EODIS3 i1Display Pro Here

I am a part-time professional photographer who shoots only RAW (of course), with custom white balance, and in the Adobe RGB color space. Color is imperative to me all the way through the process even though the majority of clients seem to only view images on computer monitor's these days, which of course is a normally horrible method (consumer end) for viewing quality images. Either way, I do not mind spending money for quality color management. In this regard, I still cannot believe how expensive this item is compared to other proven solutions.

I used this product on a Dell U2410 monitor in the Adobe RGB color space in a dual monitor setup. I found the software a little clunky on a Windows 7 system w/ 16 GB of RAM. It could have had something to do with my pre-existing installation of Datacolor's Spyder 3 color calibration system. The manual leaves much to be desired, but that is an ongoing trend among all manufacturers. The lens on the device is among the biggest I have seen. The increased lens size is becoming standard among all manufacturers these days. The easy mode calibration only requires minimal information to achieve calibration whereas the advanced mode incorporates ambient light, flare adjustment, and some other features most people will never use. I will say that compared to my Datacolor, calibration is lightning fast with this device and dead on in terms of accuracy. Datacolor only yields slightly different results which could be owed to the subjectivity of viewing (we all see color differently by the way).

Is this device necessary and/or is it worth paying for? Well, clearly once you get beyond the point and shoot level of photography, color balance (and white balance) should be priorities. However, most people who do not study a color balanced workflow, will screw up somewhere. One screw up, and your final images could potentially end up worse than when you started (i.e. forgetting to convert from Adobe RGB to SRGB for monitor display). If you decide to go color managed, you are either all in or out; there is no half way. So, if you take the time, color calibration is critical. But, there are cheaper alternatives I would start with. The end difference between this device and a cheaper version (not too cheap) is minimal and barely, if at all, noticed.

Butit is a great color calibrator beyond doubt.

PSBefore installing or using this device DISABLE ALL COLOR MANAGEMENT applications including any System controls such as Intel color management. Also, visit the X-rite website for latest software release and update your graphics card driver if you don't already do that on a regular basis. I would also do a system reboot.

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I'm a professional HDTV calibrator with over $20,000 invested in equipment and training so I was a bit skeptical that this relatively inexpensive device would do the job. While it can't compare to the absolute accuracy of my professional equipment it's certainly a viable alternative for the DIY home theater enthusiast and a far better solution than using a calibration DVD to adjust your new HDTV to deliver optimum video performance. It's relatively easy to use and the results are a definite and substantial improvement compared to how most displays come adjusted (or not adjusted as is often the case) from the factory. So, if you don't want to spend the $$$ to hire a professional this Xrite unit is the next best thing and you can use it to "tune up" every display in your house. A good investment for anyone who wants better pictures.

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