Canon PowerShot S400 4MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

I bought the S-400 to upgrade from the S-200 that I have been using since it was made available. I love the S-200, as it is both durable and handy. It has also become a great value with recent price reductions. On the other hand, I wanted to get the most recent tech advances in the smallest package, so the S-400 was the clear choice.

Here are my initial impressions, and some of the improvements / differences between the 200 and the 400. First of all, Canon has paid close attention to the nits and picks of users of the earlier cameras in the ELPH line. Aside from the addition of cutting edge developments, there have been subtle changes that greatly increase it's ease of use. This is an incredible camera built into a compressed case. Except for being ever so slightly thicker than the S-200, it is the same cigarette pack size.

It has a 4 mega pixel sensor, and it is quick and accurate. Color saturation and contrast are outstanding. The lens is very sharp from edge to edge (I tested at various light levels from macro mode (1.5") to infinity focus, and it consistantly produced remarkably fine images). 8x10 prints are outstanding. Period. At long shutter speeds (up to 15 sec), the sensor is remarkably free from "noise". In fact, it does better than many SLR style digicams in all areas of picture quality.

The 3x optical zoom is a welcome addition. Now you can take a proper head an shoulders portrait without invoking the relatively lossy digital zoom, or suffering from the effects of distorted facial features caused by getting too close with a too short lens. When you need it though, the digital zoom offers up to 11x total zoom power, and returns pretty good results as digital zooms go. The 400 retains the special effects lineup of the 200, and they work very well. The tonal range of the black & white option is a real treat. The final result isn't exactly Panatomic X quality, but it is really good, and your darkroom for artistic dodging and burning is contained entirely on your hard drive.

The case is still steel, but has a ceramic coating that is supposed to be even more scratch resistant. It is also much "whiter", and offers MUCH better contrast when you read the various control labels. While the contols are similar, they are also marked with larger and bolder lettering. All in all, a big improvrment. The michrophone was moved from the front to the top of the case. I think the front makes more sense, but it works very well on top. Canon also included a tiny (but effective) speaker in the 400. You can now select or create sounds for all camera functions (even a "real" shutter sound), as well as make voice notes for each photo taken if desired. Most sound functions are individualy adjustable for volume, and several sound "themes" are included. Techno-tinkerers might enjoy customizing the photo displayed upon startup. Movie preview also has sound now.

On the subject of movies, the 400 makes a little tradeoff. The max resolution is no longer 640x480, it is 320x240 (which is fast becoming standard for movies from still cameras). On the other hand, it is not limited to 10 seconds anymore. You can now make clips up to 3 minutes each. Computer playback looks very good. TV playback isn't bad at all. As a pocket sized way to film Junior taking his first bike ride without training wheels, it can't be beat.

The shutter button and zoom ring are a little larger, and now feel just right. The 400 has also incorporated the mode selector wheel used on other high end Canon cameras. This is long overdue, as it makes using all of the many features and modes a real joy.

Red eye appears to be better than before, but I don't expect much from such a close coupled flash / lens combo, and who really cares, as it is corrected with a click of the mouse before you print a photo. A few MAJOR improvements are the 9 zone Ai AF, and new (yellow) focus assist. If you were not careful, the 200 could return slightly out of focus shots, and in low light, the focus assist sometimes didn't. That has been fixed. The 9 zone intelligent AF really does an amazing job, and the new focus assist achieves lock under a much wider range of difficulty than the old system.

The built in flash has a generous range for a tiny camera, and the coverage is very even. Shooting a blank wall within the range of the flash shows no "hot spots". The metering options are still program, center weighted, or spot, but the program mode seems to have been given a big boost. The 200 does very well, but the 400 is on par with the SLR class for getting it right the first time.

Exposure bracketing is +/2 EV, slow synchro flash is still there to boost background brightness when needed, the panoramic stitch mode is still a treat, and, in general, this is nothing less than a James Bond version of a full featured, top quality 4+ megapixel digital camera. The only tradeoff is that a full sized camera with similar features might offer a larger lens aperture. That can extend your non flash low light level by an F stop or so, but it does no good if the camera is sitting at home, rather than in your pocket. If it is in your budget, get this camera. Not only will you take more quality pictures over time, but you won't be burdened by feeling like a conspicuous tourist while doing it.

One last note. Buy a high speed (24x) 256 meg memory card. The speed alows for quicker second shots (the 400 can do 2.5 FPS in continuous mode), and the 256 meg size gives you a full 128 shots at the highest resolution, many hundreds of pics at the low res setting.

I just bought the S400 from Dell for $xxx a little while back and was considering the Sony DSC-P10 at the time as well. I figured I'd write up a review on amazon to help other people out that are in the decision making process.

Price:

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The Sony DSC-P10 is 5 MP vs. 4 MP for the S400. The difference in resolution may immediately sway your decision to teh DSC-P10, but I would think very carefully. While the extra 1 MP sounds like a lot, my old 2.0 MP Canon S00 was fine for priting pictures all the way up to 8x10 (w/o any cropping). 4 MP resolution should allow you to price 11x14 with no cropping, and 8x10 with a lot of cropping. 5 MP is just excessive IMO. These days, it's just a race among manufacturers to see who can advertise the highest MP number.

Shooting modes and menus

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P10 also has some convenient shooting modes which make it more user friendly. It also has great features like cropping, resizing and rotating right on the camera which helps when you are not by a computer and want to free up room on your media storage.

The Canon S400 has a far superior menu system and is much easier to use.

Size:

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Canon S400 is smaller, making it a more pocketable camera IMO. Trust me on this one. The specs shown them being only very slightly different in dimensions, but the total volume of the cameras makes the S400 ideal. Those with bigger hands may prefer the layout and slightly larger size of the P10 though.

Memory storage:

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The P10 uses Memory cards, which are limited to 128 MB, unless you use the double sided ones (Sony Memory Duo), where you can flip them over to get another 128 MB. Far too much hassle for me.. sounds easy in theory, but in real life, you will hate it. My friend who bought the P10 surely does. You can get larger memory sticks, which comes in the form of the "Sony Memory Pro", which are 256 MB and 512 MB. Keep in mind though, that these cards have problems acting as regular storage for files, and things like Mp3s for sony mp3 players. They have some type of digital rights management (DRM) on them that have causes lots of problems for people (so i've read on many reviews). Also, these PRO cards only work in 2003 (or newer) sony devices. Lastly, the memory pro cards have some type of management files on the cards themselves, taking up about 20MB of space. So a 256 MB card, really only has about 230 MB. Maybe not a big deal, but com'on, at advertise the size correctly!

Battery Life:

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Battery life on P10 is better than the S400. It will last about 20% longer. However, the batteries are cheaper for the S400 AFAIK and they also charge in about 1/2 the time vs. the sony batteries.

Conclusion:

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All in all, i think the S400 is a better choice. Sure, CF maybe outdated in a few years in favor of smaller, superior storage media like SD, MMC or xD cards (which are going up to 1 GB btw), but until then you can get a great digicam with dirt cheap media. I picked up a 512 MB Kingston card for very cheap from eBay.

Tips for those buying the S400:

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1. Ensure you buy good quality CF cards for the S400. CF cards have on-board processor on the cards themselves which actually regulate how fast the read+write is, unlike smartmedia which reliees on the camera. This means that CF cards will differ greatly in speed for read+write performance. Recommendations are Viking, RiData and Kingston. I have used about 7 or 8 different types of cards, and these are definitely the best in speed and reliability. Viking can be found cheap on Amazon deals quite often (with rebates), and kingston and ridata can be found on eBay for cheap.

2. Buy the legitimate Canon branded NB-1LH batteries. They can be had for about $30-$40 if you look hard enough. Stay away from NB-1L (notice the H is suffix is missing). The NB-1L is the lower capacity battery for these cameras. Stay away from aftermarket batteries. Sure they sell for MUCH cheaper (often 1/3 the price), but reliability and longevity of these are just brutal. There are always exceptions to the rules -some ppl have have great experiences, which others have dead batteries almost right away. Why risk having a dead battery while you are on vacation and miss those Crucial shots of your wife/gf? Spend the extra $15 and get the real-deal batteries.

Recommended purchase:

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-Canon S400

-256 or 512 MB Viking, RiData or Kingston CF card

-1 extra battery NB-1LH

-Camera Case PSC-100 -padded case with front storage for extra battery and storage. Very compact and nice looking.

Buy Canon PowerShot S400 4MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom Now

Pros:

1) Compact Size

2) 4.0 Megapixel Camera!

3) 3x Optical Zoom, 3.6x Digital Zoom

4) CompactFlash media with High Speed CompactFlash support.

5) Improved Movie Record Mode (up to 3 minutes with High Speed CompactFlash card)

6) 9 point AiAF system (Artificial Intelligence AutoFocus) (S200 has 3 point AiAF system)

7) DIGIC processor (specialized processor made by Canon specifically for digital cameras... supposedly improves camera photo quality)

8) iSAPS (Intelligent Scene Analysis based on Photographic Space) for improved camera focus and white balancing.

9) Direct printing to DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) compatible printers.

10) Accepts the original Lithium-Ion batteries of the S110 and S300 cameras.

11) Adjustable ISO settings from 50 to 400

12) Self-Timer from 2 or 10 secs

13) Continuous Shooting mode

14) Stainless Steel Casing.

15) Built-in speaker

16) FUNC button like S45/S50 PowerShots for easier navigation through camera options especially in manual mode.

17) More rounded body gives a slightly sleeker look to the S400.

Cons:

1) Short Battery Life but seemed better than S230

2) Flash is weak especially in nighttime settings with no additional lighting and at 3x zoom.

3) Additional Batteries from Canon are Expensive. J&R sells non-Canon brands for as low as $...

4) Tripod mounting now on far left side of camera (you are looking at the back of the camera

5) Minimal Accessories available for the camera

My Opinion:...I brought 3 different camera with me. The S230, S45, and the S400 up to Boston while I do a bit of sightseeing between interviews. The reasons why I brought 3 of my camera was to see which camera will have the higest quality of picture.

I took photos of the Cambridge area, the Northern docks, and of Fenway with all three cameras... and of close up and group photos with my friends in the area. The fastest camera to start up was the S400. In fairly close up photos and group photos in daylight or good lighting situations, there wasn't a discernable amount of difference between the three cameras especially after printing out the photos on a photo-quality inkjet printer. I noted differences in distance shooting (landscaping photos) and low light situations. Landscape shots of the Boston Harbor captured better details especially with objects in the far background with the S400 and S45. Distant shots of Fenway captured sharper details on the S400 and S45 as well. Nighttime shots were best captured on the S45... although not by a great deal over the S230 and S400. The range of manual controls were without a doubt better on the S45 and that allowed me to take better twilight landscape photos than the other two digital cameras. The surprise was that the S400 seemed the fastest to display the picture in the LCD after the shutter button is pressed and the continuous shot modes were also considerable faster to me than the S230 and S45.

Read Best Reviews of Canon PowerShot S400 4MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom Here

After extensive research on the web ...I chose to upgrade my Canon S20 to a Canon S400. In someways, this was a step down. Unfortunately, the S400 does not support verticle alignment of it's panoramic "stitch assist" mode as they do on the S40, S45, S50 and other higher priced models. I found this feature on the S20 to be very useful in capturing more image (greater resolution and consistant panning) when stitching photos together to make a panoramic photo. Also, the S400 does not support the higher resolution movie mode of 640 x 320, as some digital cameras support. Hopefully, Canon will address these feature shortfalls with a firmware upgrade in the near future. As mentioned in a number of reviews, the S400's flash is miniscule and thus is somewhat inadequate to light wide distant shots.

Canon has improved the intelligence of the powershot digital line. Specifically in the S400 the Digic processing makes for fast picture taking and viewing. The size of the S400 is grand. It does fit in a pocket and powers up so quickly, you may never miss another shot with this camera (keeping in mind to charge your battery and have enough flash memory for the moment!!!).

The bottom line... the Canon S400 is compact, sturdy, and fast. If you are looking for a very small 4 megapixel camera with nice even colors, low levels of distortion, a basic movie capture mode, fast memory writing and reading, the S400 is a current top pick. However, if you are looking for lots of manual control, vertical "photo stitching," and more pixels try the S50.

One note if considering the S45 or S50 cameras, play with the navigation buttons before purchasing the unit; I have found the navigation to be somewhat clumsy in-which it is easy to hit "enter" when trying to navigate "up" or "down," or hit "up" when trying to "enter."

Want Canon PowerShot S400 4MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom Discount?

I am a casual photo enthusiast who enjoys taking pictures of my friends and family wherever I go. Both photographic quality and portability are of paramount concerns and I think I found my holy grail with Canon S400.

Pros:

Extremely portable, yet very rugged

Beautiful design with excellent overall ergonomics

Typically excellent photo quality in all-auto mode with no redeye

Very fast -startup time, image processing and acquisition, menu response

Long battery life

Uses widely popular (and inexpensive) CompactFlash Type 1 memory cards

4 megapixel resolution (2272x1704)

3X optical zoom/11X max with digital

Useful movie mode with audio (3 minutes at 320x240 or 160x120)

Cons:

Minimal manual controls (e.g., no manual focus)

Cheap A/V/digital output cover

Movie mode limited to 3 minutes (and no 640x480 mode may irk some)

Proprietary battery

Some barrel distortion when taking wide angle shots

While S400 has some shortcomings, mainly lack of manual focus, exposure, and shutter speed. And some may be bothered by its use of proprietary lithium ion battery, although given its compact size, I think Canon engineers had to implement proprietary battery. On the plus side, the battery lasts a long time, capable of taking several hundred shots before running out of juice (and takes only a couple of hours to recharge).

I've managed to fill entire 512MB memory card (32MB is included) on a single battery charge.

Did I mention how beautiful this camera is? The photos do not do this camera a justice. At 3.4" by 2.2" by 1.1", the S400 is no larger than most compact cell phones. Inch by inch, it's only a tad larger than my tiny Sony Ericsson T68i cell phone and smaller than (although a bit thicker) my Apple iPod MP3 player.

The ergonomics are consistently excellent. Although there are some learning curves (particularly given rich feature set), once mastered (comprehensive manuals make it easy), most will appreciate elegant menu layout and ideal number of buttons and layout.

But beautiful design means nothing if it does not accomplish its main functions -taking beautiful pictures. In full auto setting, which is what majority people might use, the pictures were consistently satisfying, although overriding the white balance to match the lighting condition improved the quality significantly in many shots.

This is a great camera.

Q-See QSNDVR9M 9 Channel MPEG-4 Pentaplex Network Digital Video Recorder (No Hard Drive)

This is a very good unit for the money. I installed a 500 gb hard drive and the unit works like a charm. The only issue I had is that the quality of the enclosure was not the best but that did not effect the performance of the unit. On another note, this unit is kind of loud. You can hear the fan very easily. Place this unit in a room or cabinet where the noise is not an issue. Other than that it's fine.

Don't get me wrong this IS a full featured DVR system however after you go beyond 4 cameras (4x30 frames/second = 120 frams/sec) it is unable to keep up with the 9 video inputs, so you must loose a camera or slow down the framerate. In contrast, their 16 camera / 480 frame record & playback systems can handle 30 frames per second, i.e. full motion video on all channels.

The manual on the unit does not cover this limitation you are left to discover it on your own after hooking up 9 cameras and finding that 12 frames per second is about all you can record. It's jittery compared with full motion video, which is why it's not an ideal solution except if you you only want to run 4 cameras, then it's perfect 30 frames per second.

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I have a 3 camera, home security setup, and have been up and running for a few days now. menus are extensive, yet easy to understand, and configure. I bought this to replace an old multi time-lapse VCR setup I had, and am very happy with the unit. remote access to it was a simple setup that worked the first time. One unexpected thing I relly like about it is that the remote access software (netclient.exe) is a single executable file... no "install" needed. That means I keep the .exe file on a USB flash drive, that I can plug into anyones PC and do a quick check on things at home. I have even done it from an electronics store, that had machines with internet access. pretty cool. And, the software will allow me to download/review any of my recorded history. The unit was built better than I expected for a device made in China. The manual showed menus that were only slightly different than what the unit showed. happy with it so far.

April 27 2008 update....

unit still runs fine. Have installed 2 500gig drives. Have the same 3 cameras at the highest quality/framerate possible in order to use the full resources of the unit. This allows 11 days recorded time

June 1st 2008 update...

still loving this unit! One strange "quirk" that I can't figure out is that when I try to connect to the DVR through the LAN via the "netclient" software, I have no problem if I use the DVR's Lan address.. (192.168...etc) however when I try to connect (while on the LAN)using my IP's (external) address, I can connect for up to ten seconds then the feed freezes. And, YES, my port fowarding is working correctly. If I try to connect from a PC outside the lan, it works just great! Multiple PC can be "attached" at the same time. I wish I was able to allow more than 4 name/password users. Then I could keep a better log of who is watching.

NOTE: passed the ten week point now.. no rebate check yet, email to dpsi still unanswered...

Jan 24th, 2009 belated update...

I did eventually get my rebate check. I am still very happy with the unit. I can watch my son get on his schoolbus from work, and check on my UPS deliveries. Unit has run w/o any problems since day one.

Nov 4, 2009 update...

Damn it. The unit finally wet the bed as they say... I can reboot it, and can see my cameras (5 now) and can even log in remotely still w/o a hitch. The only (major) problem is that all of the keys on the control panel don't work.. and am not ale to playback any recorded video. Heck at this point I'm can't even be sure anything is actually recording.. not a happy camper....

Jan 23, 2010...

as an update to my Novenber review... I shut it off on Nov 4th for a day or two, and when it powered it up again, everything worked fine, and is still working. Am now up to 5 cameras, and am happy with the unit once again.....

Read Best Reviews of Q-See QSNDVR9M 9 Channel MPEG-4 Pentaplex Network Digital Video Recorder (No Hard Drive) Here

Hitachi CP-X505 XGA 3500 Lumens1000:1 Contrast Ratio 15.6Lbs Networkable 16-Watts of Audio 3LCD Pro

Great product. The 15 watt speakers are sufficient for everyone to hear in the sanctuary in our church! The colors are good with many options and settings. The picture is good even during morning service in full daylight. Easy setup. Easy operation.

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Nikon Coolpix L4 4MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

I was not enjoying the hunt for a consistently well-reviewed digital camera. It seemed like every camera had an upside, and every camera had a downside.

Fortunately, this camera was well-reviewed and within my price range. I wasn't expecting much at first, but when I took it out of the box and started tinkering with it, I was pleasantly surprised.

The camera is very user friendly, and I had few "What did I just do and how do I undo it?" moments. The menus are self-explanatory, and easily maneuvered.

One of the best aspects to this camera is that I have never really had a problem getting pictures to turn out. There are multiple white balance settings along with multiple flash settings so that if a picture happens to come out too bright or too dim, a few button pushes and it is easily resolved.

The face-finder feature is a great one, although I have done few portrait photos. Why? The macro setting (for extreme close-ups) proves to be an irresistable one. Ever wanted to take one of those art-gallery-type photos of flowers or bugs? This camera makes it so freaking easy!

There are a few downsides: Ocassionally, the photos come out rather blurry, even when I am doing my best to hold perfectly still. This is especially true when using the macro setting and a pretty good wind is jostling your bush/flower/tree/etc...

Additionally, the flash can take longer to recharge than one would probably desire, and this delay has cost me a few good pictures, but not many...Another flash issue is with the sports mode settings. These settings are great and are for use in well-lit sporting situations. Having said that, in those moments when you need fast, multiple shots that are NOT well-lit, I'm afraid you're just S.O.L.

I don't really have any other gripes. The batteries usually last a fairly long time. I use crappy rechargables and have had no need to frequently change them, especially after changing the battery-type setting (yes, there's a battery-type setting!!!). I was also impressed at the number of bonuses I found in the box with the camera: a pair of batteries, a USB cable to connect the camera to my computer (easily), photo editing software with a really cool panorama maker (you can make 360-degree panoramas, too!), and loads of useful information re: digital camera use (if you want to take the time to educate yourself).

All in all, I am very pleased with this camera and would readily recommend it to anyone looking for a decent yet inexpensive digicam.

I purchased this digital camera to replace an older Kodak model and I am very impressed with the ease of use and the picture quality of this Nikon. To show how technology has so rapidly improved, my Kodak, which was purchased several years ago for $500, had 1 megapixel and took great pics. This camera is 4 megapixels, takes video as well as still shots, and has a host of other features that my Kodak did not have, and I paid $150 for it. Plus, the smaller size of the Nikon, as compared with the Kodak, makes it easier to carry along. I purchased a 1GB memory card to store a lot of pictures. The internal memory of the camera, without the card, can hold about 10 pics. The viewing screen also improves the ability to take pictures more easily than looking through a small viewfinder. I was very pleased with the movie mode, which takes crystal clear videos. There is no audio with the movie feature, but I save important videos for my video camera. This is a great feature to have, nonetheless, for those moments where you might want to capture some video footage. Then only drawback to this camera, which is very minor, is that it does not come with an AC adaptor, which I would want to use when transferring pictures from the camera to the computer, so as to save the batteries. I ordered the adaptor from a camera shop separately, which runs about $30. All in all, this a great camera, easy to use, takes impressive pictures and is a lot of fun.

Buy Nikon Coolpix L4 4MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom Now

I, too, bought this camera as a replacement for a previous digital camera. My Olympus D-450 was flawless at only 1.3 megapixels, the quality of the photos (even 8x10 enlargements) was superb and it was extremely easy to use. However, there was the issue of those mini-megapixels, the camera's age (7 years) and size (it was getting too big to schelp around handily). So I talked myself into stepping up into the 21st century of digital cameras.

I've had this little Nikon for 15 hours and there's nothing I don't know how to do on it at this point, it's that easy to set up and use. Photo quality is wonderful. I have a couple of 256mb memory cards on order and will likely run out and get yet another, bigger, card today. I take lots of pictures, and with a major vacation coming up in 6 weeks, I'll be taking lots and lots more pictures. A big selling point for me was the slightly larger viewing screen (2"). 1.5 inches in some of the compact digital cameras is just TOO small.

FYI, for those of you who quibble about downloading pictures from the camera (any camera) to your computer, get yourselves a memory card reader. Not only does it save your batteries, the download speed will astonish you. I have a SanDisk ImageMate 12; that means it reads 12 different types of cards/memory sticks. It runs off the USB port in your computer, so there are no batteries involved. It's inexpensive and well worth it.

To sum up, this little Nikon is easy to use, produces great photos and I look forward to many years of faithful service I hope! from it. And the price! 1/3 of what I paid for the old Olympus for many more features. This one is a winner in my book.

Read Best Reviews of Nikon Coolpix L4 4MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom Here

I bought the L4 as a gift for my young photobug nephew nephews to replace an older camera I'd bought for him a few years ago. He's delighted with it, and why not? It has excellent resolution (4MP), good color, Nikon quality, good battery life and easy to navigate menus. It uses AA cells, which means batteries are always available. As for me, I was happy with the excellent value for the price.

With 4MP resolution, this camera can easily produce images that can be blown up to 8x10 or 11x14more than enough to satisfy 99% of the camera buyers out there. If you never blow up pictures beyond 4x6 or 5x7, you could pay two or three times as much and still not get better images. For web use, it's more than sufficient; you could crop away 80% of an image and still have more than enough resolution for a page-sized web image. Builders and others needing to document work will find it a useful accesory that can be kept at hand in a small belt pack.

About the only thing this camera doesn't have is instant shutter response, something that you still need to pay about $400 or so to get. But for general purpose family use, for kids learning photography, and even for the artist on a budget it's an excellent choice.

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I am a rank amateur in photography. I was looking for a good camera to take a few photographs of my child, and my cousin who is a South Asian dealer for various kinds of cameras and equipment recommended the Nikon L series to me. The L3 and the L2 seemed to be somewhat above budget for a student, so I tried the L4 and was pleasantly surprised.

The icons and buttons are very user friendly. The camera takes plain AA batteries which proved to be very useful on a visit to Sixflags when the existing batteries died mid-trip.

The photographs come out slightly blurry in inadequate lighting which I first thought was a fault of the camera. I compared this with a friend who owns a Sony cybershot 7.2 MP camera, and his does the same in uneven light. The photographs are superb in daytime and in the evening/night there are a few settings to choose from.

The size is unobtrusive, and fits inside a pants pocket easily. The LCD is very well lit and user-friendly.

Some people may consider it a downside that the camera does not have a viewfinding lens; I did not consider it to be a problem.

I higly recommmend this camera to someone starting out as a photographer.

15 Inch Hi-Res Digital Photo Frame with 4GB Flash Memory - Perfect for Your Home or as Advertising

I like this frame a lot, image is large, sharp, clear and bright, very HD looking. Easy to operate. I have about 1900 photos at full resolution loaded onto a 32GB SD card so far. The 1900 photos use about 5GB of memory so it looks like I will be able to get around 14,000 photos on this card. Random playback and continuos looping is good as long as you don't put your photos in a folder in your storage media. Viewing angle is great. This frame is a home run.

Very stylish looking too.

You won't be disappointed.

Screen is bright and crisp, but suffers from limited viewing angle. But the hardware is not the issue. As others have noted, "random" slideshows are not really random and exclusively display only the older pictures in your set. Transitions are also irregular and can become quite long. My theory is that the unit assumes all pictures it will encounter will have the same JPEG properties (compression etc) as the first one it happens to open. When it finds pictures that do not conform, it can't open them, and thus hangs on the current picture for more time until it finds another picture it can open. Finally, since even in random mode it ALWAYS starts with the exact same picture, it always initiates with the same JPEG settings. This may be right or wrong as to the reason for the unit's behavior, but accurately describes the net results: some pictures are on for 3 seconds (or however long you set the delay), while others are on for long enough to become quite annoying (10 30 seconds). In a large group of pictures, the sequence is obviously non-random and the unit completely fails to display the more recent shots (even after leaving it running all night, dividing up pictures among different sub-directories, writing them to the internal storage in different orders etc you get the picture, I put in some time and effort and tried everything I could think of to work around the issues and make this thing behave like it should).

Another issue is the auto on/off functions. You can set it to turn on at a set time, and off again later. I try to conserve energy so this is important to me and I do not want it running when no one is around to see it. It can only run on the same schedule every day though, no weekdays vs. weekends etc, and only one on and off event per day. Other digital picture frames I have seen support more detailed scheduling with the ability to run mornings and evenings but turn off in the middle of the day or use a different schedule on weekends, and this thing has calendar and clock functions so it has the hardware capability they just chose not to make very good use of it.

Returned it. With a firmware update to address these problems, it could be a pretty good product, but I am not keeping it "at risk" as to whether Nix gets off its duff and issues one. Failing to display any recent pictures is kind of an important defect for a product whose entire raison d'etre is displaying pictures.

Wish I could point you to a better frame in this size range, but thus far I have not found one. Ironically, the smaller, less expensive frames (e.g. Pandigital) seem to be much more polished products than the larger ones.

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I'm actually unimpressed with this unit. And disappointed as well. The picture is quite grainy and I have the correct settings chosen and am using 5mp images that are the same size format as the screen. The remote control takes some effort to use. Have to push buttons multiple times to get the unit to respond. Pictures are ok but appear washed out, and there doesn't seem to be any contrast or brightness controls anywhere. I figured I'd go with the more expensive unit to get a better quality. Ehhhh. I'm unimpressed. I think it's going back. Can buy a whole small tv with a DVD player for what this costs, and just out the pictures on a DVD... Idk. Just unimpressed... Not the quality I expected.

Update 7/30.

Ok after figuring out the kind of cumbersome interface I do have to say the frame now working well. Seems easiest to just load the pictures on an sd card and just leave the card in the frame. And with the "optimum" setting chosen the pictures look really good. This frame definately has a better LCD panel than the cheaper models. It can be seen well from all angles and is nice and bright. And the 4x3 format is much better for photos than the widescreen sizes. I use a mac and found that if you click enhance in the iPhoto software the pictures look much better on the frame. The auto on/off was not working. But it started working once I discovered that in the menus you have to push enter after you make each selection, even though enter does not appear to do anything. And then you have to push exit on the remote for changes to set. So now the auto on/off seems to work. I do like the frame. Still think it was a little pricey. But the picture quality is really very good. If you are worried about your power bill. I measured the amp draw. Running the frame is the same as running a 25 watt light bulb... Would cost a couple dollars a month to run 24 x 7. I did finally find the picture controls. They are on the second screen of the setup screens. Hard to find as there is absolutely no indication in the software that hese is a page 2.

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Bought this photo frame as a compact way of displaying the 1,000s of images we've collected over the years. The screen display is bright with lovely colors as advertised, though back-lit faces are displayed much darker on the Nix than on my PC monitor. The unit has brightness and contrast controls but I've found it to be more effective to adjust the images on my PC to make sure faces are not in deep shadow.

The frame is constructed well and I very much appreciate that it does not have NIX in big letters on the front like one of the competing models. The instructions for the frame support say to keep pulling it out until it clicks. I never did obtain a click and it does not lock in place and I feel that if I pull on it any harder it will break. Seems cheap to me to have flimsy plastic support without a locking mechanism on one of the more expensive frames on the market. Whenever I move the frame to slide a memory card in or out, I must make sure that the support is extended. I would have gladly paid a couple of extra dollars for a sturdier support to avoid a catastrophic crash. Especially since I live in earthquake country.

The 4GB USB memory card that came with the frame is not recognized by my Dell PC although every other USB flash drive card I've ever inserted into it before and after has been accessible. So the drive that it comes with the frame has been useless for me. Luckily I have a spare SD card that I've loaded up with images for a trial run. I was able to insert the SD card in the Nix unit upside-down which I've never been able to do in any other device. It did not harm the unit but it makes me wonder about build quality.

For my purposes, the primary opportunity for improvement is in the random image selection algorithm. Every time I turn the unit on and put it into the slideshow mode the algorithm seems to start all over again and re-selects the same set of images it started with every other time I've entered the slideshow mode. I would much prefer that it start up where it was when turned off last and display images that have been selected fewer times than other images. I have now seen about 50 of the 900 images on the SD card dozens of times and the rest of them not at all. We do not want to waste energy by leaving the unit running when no one is watching it. This is quite frustrating and something for potential buyers to consider seriously as this is one of those things you just can't know about until you've tried it.

For the transitions between the images in slideshow mode, you can choose None, Random, or any one of a set of transitions to be used constantly. The one we would like to use constantly is the Fade transition. Unfortunately, it is not an elegant fade like every other slideshow software product has. It is better described as pulsating where parts of the new image overlay the existing one in steps. It gives my spouse the heebie-jeebies to look at it. The None option does exactly that and it works fine though it is abrupt. All of the other transitions are gimmicky in an elegant setting.

Sorry I cannot comment on the musicor video-playing functions since I did not purchase the unit for those features.

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I bought this Nix 15" digital frame as a gift for my mother's 90'th birthday. I've been loading pictures directly into the frame's memory all week. The pics are a variety of landscapes and portraits, some from my own camera card, along with a couple of dozen that were emailed to me from different relatives. Before loading them onto the frame, some had been cropped, but none had been photo shopped. All were JPEG. Also, all of them were taken in a horizontal/landscape camera position except one. I was relieved to find that I didn't have to resize any of them, but the frame did crop off the bottom of the legs of the people in the only verticle picture that I installed. The slide show is the only feature that I've used, but that is why I bought the frame. The sharpness of each picture is great, however, in a few, the colors are brighter than the natural colors. I did try to tone down the brightness (red faces and brighter clothing) using the brightness and contrast features, but it tended to make some of the other pictures look faded. I might be able to refine it more, but I haven't had the time. I'm thrilled with the overall crispness and detail of the pictures and that there are so many choices for timing the slide show (secs, minutes, or hrs between photos).

There are 5 things that I would highly recommend though:

First of all, take all of your pictures using a horizontal (landscape) perspective or try to crop them to that shape. It's possible that you might have better luck getting your vertical pictures to not get cropped by the frame if you use a USB flash drive. Secondly, if you are going to load them directly into the frame's memory, select the order that you want them to be viewed in before loading them onto the frame. If not, you cannot change the order once it's on the frame. You can delete pics or add new ones (which will show up on the end of the slide show), but can't just switch them around for better sequencing. Although, if it's important, you could delete out all of the pictures and reinstall them in the desired order or create a new file with those same pictures in a better sequence. Thirdly, the stand seems a little flimsy considering the wt of the frame. It extends out easily from the back, but when I pick up the frame, even just to move it over a bit on the table, the stand drops back down inside of the frame, leaving the frame unsupported. At first, I barely caught the frame in time because the stand closed up every time I picked it up to move it. This happened several times. I'm planning on stuffing a piece of foam rubber in back to keep the stand fully extended so that my mother won't have this problem. Fourthly, place the frame in a spot that is below eye level from where you'll view it, such as a desk, coffee table, or end table. This is because the frame tilts back, making the photos look dark if you have the it at eye level or higher. Lastly, some of the features on the frame, require you to use the remote control, which at first seemed like it didn't work. It does work however if I try pointing it at different angles to the frame.

This might seem like a lot of issues, but after all of the complaints that I've read about on all sorts of digital frames, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the pictures and how easy it was to download them onto this frame without any difficulty. Also, for my purposes, it was user friendly. And, it's the ideal gift for my mom --and what's more important than that!!!

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Celestron 44340 LCD Digital LDM Biological Microscope

I'm pretty happy with this microscope that I purchased to use with my daughter. The screen is clear and responds to movement (rotifers) without any kind of low fps problems.

There is a distracting dark patch in the center of the LCD. The spot does not show up when you record a video, so it must be a problem with the LCD. The company has not yet replied to my support email on this subject I sent 4 days ago. Paint on the objective lens housings is worn looking and there is a scratch on the upper illuminator's plastic housing. Because of these things, the finish of the microscope has a used look.

The photo and movie recording interface is simple and easy to use. There is at least one misspelled word in a menu which makes the interface seem unprofessional. However it records acceptably. The video it creates is in the Windows .wmv format.

This is the only budget LCD microscope I was able to find through the Internet. The support structure is not metal, but appears durable. There is only one adjustment knob, but it is capable of rather fine adjustments, even at maximum resolution. Specimen adjustment has considerable range and allows for satisfactory fine tuning. Compared to viewing through stereoscopic lenses or the way-back-when single eyepiece, this is a tremendous improvement. Being able to take pictures just makes it that much better. I am very satisfied.

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I had an ordinary optical "200x" microscope and saw a few shaky, interesting things in a drop of water on a glass slide, I but had no good way to take a photo. Holding a digital camera up to the eyepiece was problematic at best. I'd heard of USB microscopes that connected to a PC, such as the QX3. Checking the reviews on Amazon quickly dissuaded me from that. Then I found the Celestron 44340. It had a built-in 2MP digital camera. Images were saved to internal memory and transferred to the PC via USB cable, or to a SD card. I was also concerned about getting good images. In books like Guide to Microlife (ISBN 0-531-11266-7), there were excellent photos in darkfield illumination, as well as the usual brightfield. The Celestron 44340 did both, although darkfield only worked at the 4x and 10x objectives. I got a set of glass slides, glass cover slips, some depression slides, eyedroppers, and containers. After the summer rains, there were many places to collect samples, as well as from shorelines of rivers and lakes. I was able to successfully image in brightfield and darkfield rotifers, amoebas, flatworms, copepods, ostracods, shrimp hatchlings, vorticella, bursaria, diatoms and algae, and a variety of fast-moving ciliates. In addition to digital photos of up to 2 megapixels in size, I also recorded movies of a few seconds to a few minutes, sometimes switching between 4x magnification to 10x or 40x to get more details, and even switching between brightfield and darkfield. If I found something interesting, I could use software to extract a still image. The only CON I can think of is that when the microscope is turned off then back on, the internal date and time resets to 1/9/2031 8:00 PM, so any photos or movies taken all have that date, unless you manually set it every time.

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I ended up returning this item for a replacement because it had a dark spot in the middle of the LCD. Once I received my replacement it did not have a dark spot but now there was debris internally that could not be removed. I ended up sending it back for a refund. However, I did order another style of a Celestron Microscope without the LCD screen. I give this product 3 stars because the concept and viewing options for this unit is incredible. It is also very easy to use and very lightweight. it just so happened I did not receive a "keeper".

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The microscope/camera combination is great in every way except one very important feature, the top light is inadequate. It is too far away and not bright enough to light solid specimens. It does work fantastic for specimens that light can pass through.

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