Canon VIXIA HFS100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom - 2009 MODEL

I have owned a small wedding videography company for 5 years and after using the HFS10 for a week I am incredibly pleased with it. Please note the HFS10 is identical to the HFS100 except the HFS10 also comes with 32GB of internal flash memory.

If you want the smallest camcorder you can get without sacrificing video quality in any way, than this is the camcorder for you. I am amazed at how small this thing is while still having a professional grade lens. This is the same Canon lens as on their GL2 which is probably the most popular entry level professional camcorder ever (which I have owned for a few years).

Pros:

1.) Professional camera lens with superb HD video quality (even in low light situations). I cannot express enough how amazing the pictures look.

2.) Accepts up to 32 GB of SDHC Flash memory

A.) Flash memory is instant. No waiting for tapes to wind or hard drives to spin. The camera goes from off to red light recording in less than 2 seconds.

B.) Flash memory helps keep the camera small.

C.) Flash memory protects data from being lost due to the camera being dropped or hit (a real problem with hard drive cameras).

3.) The still picture quality, even with the built in flash, is unbelievable for a camcorder. I feel like I am shooting with my Rebel XTi.

4.) I love the auto open and close lens cover. It only opens when you are actually shooting. If the camera is off or if you are reviewing it immediately closes.

5.) Menus are very easy to navigate.

Cons:

1.) Doesn't come with an HDMI cable. Since it doesn't take a normal sized HDMI cable I think there is no excuse for that.

2.) Doesn't come with a battery charger. You either have to spend $50 to get one or recharge batteries using the camcorder itself.

3.) No internal memory, however it's $200 more for the HFS10 for only 32GB of internal storage and that is way too much. It should have only cost an extra $100. Unless you need to be able to record more than 2.5 hours of shooting without changing SDHC cards, then get this camera because a 32GB class 6 SDHC card only costs $100.

4.) Only comes with the BP-809 battery which doesn't even last an hour. So you will need to buy the BP-827 which costs another $150. The BP-827 does stick out from the back just a slight bit, but not even an inch and is totally not noticeable nor does it add any real weight.

5.) 10X optical zoom is a little slim for my liking. I am used to 20X.

This camcorder is basically a professional lens barrel with an LCD on the side which gives you the best picture quality possible while keeping the size incredibly small. I cannot encourage you enough to get this camcorder.

I'll try to cover what others haven't. Yes, the images are sharp and the colors are faithful. That goes for both video and stills. I'll try to post an image of a flower as an example of a still shot. Posting video's problematic. One of the key reasons I chose this camcorder is its still image capabilities. I followed other reviewer's recommendations and purchase the separate battery charger and BP-827 battery. And I purchase the optional video light, VFL-2 which is light and small.

If you're new to video, it's a commitment. Taking good videos requires concentration, and at least a little bit of practice. Though the camcorder is truly compact, the supporting equipment is an order of magnitude more bulky than with today's point and shoot digital camera. You can slip an excellent point and shoot in your pocket; video demands a case for the charger, cables, optional video light and power supply at a minimum. Then there's the mandatory downloading and editing.

This camcorder has so many features and choices that you'll need to refer to the manual and once you understand the way the menu system works, it's fairly intuitive. There are five resolution choices for video. Similar for stills. On the other hand, you can start creating videos and stills out of the box; they may not quite match your preferences though. The complexity of the options shouldn't stop anyone; you don't have to take advantage of all the features. To get what you want, you'll need to spend maybe an hour with the camera and manual. The you can pretty much ignore the details if you wish.

The screen image is readable, even in bright sunlight. And even better with a little tilt to put it in shadow. The controls are OK though the zoom is just a tad awkward for my stubby fingers. Record/Stop is convenient and the camera sits well in your hand. No big deal. Tougher I suppose if you're left handed.

I have a couple of 16G, class 6 SDHC cards because they're at the right price point. They're good for 1 hour 18 minutes at the highest resolution and that pretty well matches the included battery capability. That's a LOT of video, though an hour of video may end up as only a few minutes of edited material worth keeping.

So far I haven't figured out how to get the video directly off the flash card so it can be edited with the software. I have to download it from the camera using the included software. It may be a problem with the Corel editing software I'm trying to use. The included software seems to have limited editing capabilities, but that may reflect my inexperience as a user. The manual for the software is lengthy, but so far, not particularly useful. (added 17 May 09, With more time the Corel Video Studio 12 is perfect, cheap, and has all the features I need and I've been able to pull the video directly off the SDHC card without using the camera, very convenient).

The zoom's what you'd expect. The optical zoom is magnificent. The digital has two setting, one to 40X and one to 200X. The 40X setting's good, the 200X looses a lot and I really can't imagine a useful application, perhaps very great distances with infinite focus. Only the optical zoom works with stills.

What I like best: great images, the 3 second "pre-record" feature, beautiful stills, OK sound with the built-in microphone, pop-up flash and video light, and yeah, again crisp images.

What I don't like: not crazy about the software, no separate charger, no case or good case recommendation (see below). Trivial compared to what I like.

Finding a suitable case wasn't obvious. Tough search. I'm happy with a USA Gear Pro Series "Gear S-6" for $14.95 from Amazon through Accessory Genie. See my reviews of that case and the Case Logic TBC-5 Medium Case I didn't like for this application.

Buy Canon VIXIA HFS100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom - 2009 MODEL Now

MY BACKGROUND: techno-geek engineer, camera and camcorder enthusiast, not a pro videographer or pro photographer. I purchased this product from Amazon (great price!) and have explored its capabilities VERY thoroughly for nine months. I use this camcorder to capture magic moments in the life of our 15 month-old daughter.

REVIEW IN A PARAGRAPH:

Highly recommended for being one of the best full HD (60i/30p @ 1920x1080) "prosumer" camcorders at this price level. Yes, the convenient SD flash memory is so much better than messy digital tape. The Auto Focus often works even after you attach the recommended accessory lenses or filters. We love this video camera! However you only see the exceptionally vibrant and very-close-to-broadcast-quality video IF you shoot under very bright indoor light lighting conditions (or outdoor on sunny day, or a cloudy day that still manages to be bright) ; otherwise, in less intense indoor lighting the video looks good but nothing that your eyes will perceive as close-to-broadcast-HD quality. (NOTE: this drawback of lower performance in less light is typical to ALL camcorders at this price point, and this one is the least affected by it.) Qualifier: no "video professional" with trained eyes would ever mistake the best video from this camcorder for being close to true broadcast-quality HD, but I do claim that the typical non-professional WILL perceive it as being stunningly close.

An example will help explain what is meant by "very bright indoor lighting": if we shoot video at our kitchen table (under direct overhead lighting of five unshaded 75-watt incandescent bulbs) even that much light is NOT enough light to get the best video this camcorder can produce. However, if I put two separate inexpensive flood lights (each using two standard 150-watt incandescent bulbs, so in total 600 Watts!) directly on the subject from about five feet away, then the resulting HD video is so close to broadcast-quality on brightness, crispness, and color intensity that friends and family are stunned when seeing it on a big-screen LCD. For great indoor video, you'll need something like two easily movable floor lamps / floods that you can position to put at least 600 watts of incandescent light (or equiv.) onto your subject. If your home decor doesn't suffer to much for it, you can check out the inexpensive 72" Tochiere brushed metal Floor Lamps available from low-cost department store starting with "T" named after something you aim at. Get about three or four of those to move quickly around the house; you'll have plenty of light for shooting video.

YOU MAY NOT KNOW THIS ABOUT THE S10/S100:

1) Shoots astoundingly great photos and can even do continuous-mode 8-megapixel snapshots at 5 frames/second. You will not miss your baby's momentary smile when you can shoot continuous stills at 5 f/sec, but if you do that for several minutes you will have A LOT of still images to parse!

2) The AF sensor is located INSIDE the lens ring, meaning the AF usually keeps working even with a variety (but not all) lens attachments.

3) It has the weird proprietary Canon Mini Advanced Accessory Shoe, so your previously existing Universal Hot Shoe accessories (such as camera external flash) will not fit this camcorder. You can buy a small adapter, but that can only convert to a universal COLD shoe.

4) It may have a 8.6Mp CMOS sensor, but it only utilizes 6Mp of that sensor when shooting movies. However, the video still looks great.

5) This camcorder records to its memory in 60i; when you set its recording mode to say "24PF" or "30PF" it merely changes its post shooting CONVERSION method. If your goal is something like 24p, you will get better results to simply shoot in its native format, and do your own conversion in post using a higher-end 3rd party utility such as Cineform Neo Scene. NOTE: many report better video end result by using Cineform Neo Scene (or similar) to convert ALL of the S10/S100 AVCHD files for editing as visually lossless (but much larger) CineForm AVI or MOV files.

6) Get a Blu-ray burner (~$200) for your PC, and you can directly burn this camcorder's video onto Blu-ray disks, yielding permanent media containing stunning video when seen on a big screen HD LCD.

KNOW THIS BEFORE YOU BUY:

This is NOT a sub $1000 investment; it is more like $1600+ (because you'll need to buy multiple must-have accessories). Plus, you'll likely discover your PC isn't fast enough to edit the very CPU-intensive AVCHD video, so you'll need to buy a very fast PC (which will cost you another $1500, or more). My total outlay is now over four grand, when I also include the cost of the faster PC we had to buy.

This will better explain how the "total package" must include the critically-needed accessories: imagine you shoot video of your child's soccer game in the park, only to discover your video is garbage because of wind noise. You see, to get acceptable sound when shooting under even slight wind conditions, ANY camcorder must use an external video mic equipped with a "dead cat" wind screen. Next, imagine you are sitting w/friends at dinner and you point the camera to capture mom holding baby on the opposite side of the table, but can't get them into the frame because you need to buy a wide-angle lens. And there are a half-dozen other critically-needed video accessories you'll find you must buy to cover different shooting conditions; otherwise, you are gonna get embarrassingly mediocre video. This holds true for any camcorder, not just this one.

CONCLUSION: if this camcorder AND the minimally-required accessories (and new PC!) is outside your budget, then you're better offer buying a less-expensive camcorder so you can then also buy its critically needed accessories because that lower cost (but more complete system) will yield better final video product, even if the video happens to be slightly lower resolution and not as crisp as you get from this Canon camcorder.

OK, let's say you're not worried about your budget. You've got money to burn. That's why I posted this review, to offer tips on the best "minimal set of accessories" for this Canon camcorder. I spent many hours reading online reviews specific to the S100, then I bought a variety of recommended accessories and tested them, figured out which are critically-needed for good video, parsing them down to this list of MUST-HAVE accessories to get great video from the S100:

-> PC w/Intel Core i7-920 2.66GHz (or similar), at least 4GB (or more) SDRAM, ATI Radeon HD 4850 (or better) video card, Blu-ray Disc Burner, plus a good 1080x1920 LCD monitor OR matching dual-LCD-monitors (1080x1920) highly recommended for video editing. OR: (expensive choice) Mac Pro Quad-Core (or 8 Core), with 3GB SDRAM (or more). Plus in either case you need at least a 1TB (2TB is better) in a RAID0 (or RAID10) array for needed read/write speeds; alternatively, you could go without the RAID and instead temporarily edit your video off a super-fast SSD (Intel X25-M, or similar), but you'll still need a large conventional hard drive (min 2TB) for archiving your video.

-> Video editing software. Limit your choices to software built to handle AVCHD format, such as: Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9 (PC Windows, lowest cost but powerful), OR: Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 (expensive but considered very good, well-reviewed). NOTES: the Canon Pixela video editing software included w/this camcorder is horrible. WARNING: before you buy ANY version 9 of Sony Vegas Movie Studio, be sure you read the reviews explaining the "crashes during render" which the only known fix can be a bit too "complex" for non-geek types and involves downloading CFF explorer from ntcore, installing it, then running CFFExplorer as Administrator and MANUALLY re-setting the 2GB limit flag in about FIVE different Sony Vegas run files so they can handle > than 2gig address space. This complex solution is found in the site sonycreativesoftware, go to Support > Forums.

-> Canon DM-100 Directional Stereo Microphone (I strongly recommend this Canon mic, as it does both mono shotgun mode, and also 90-degree and 120-degree stereo modes, and the S100 interacts w/this mic through the Mini Advanced Accessory Shoe), However, some pro's seem to prefer the Rode mics, such as Rode Stereo VideoMic + Dead Kitten wind screen, OR the Rode (shotgun) VideoMic. NOTES: for Rode camcorder mics to mount on S10/S100, you should google something like "Mini Advanced Accessory Shoe to Universal Shoe Adapter" to find the adapter you'll need.

-> Canon BP-819 Lithium Ion Battery Pack for HF10, HF100 HF S & HF M Camcorders (expensive!). It doubles the std battery capacity (1780mAh vs. 890 mAh), giving you about two hours or typical recording time, compared w/one hr for the standard battery. The Canon BP-827 Lithium Ion Battery Pack for Vixia HG, HF S & HF M Camcorders(very expensive!) triples the capacity to 2670mAh, OR consider a great MONEY SAVER: for only $40 to $60 for 2700mAh non-OEM (non-Canon) battery, including the non-OEM battery charger (Note: the S100 will NOT charge these non-intelligent batteries or show battery time remaining, so that extra non-OEM charger is req'd, and consider the non-OEM battery available with LED power level indicator). Try a Google search string such as "BP-827 Canon Compatible Battery LED+Charger Kit"

-> Canon 2590B002 CG-800 Lithium Ion Battery Charger for 800 Series Batteries. OR: find the $20 non-OEM charger, see search string above.

-> SanDisk 32GB Ultra 15MB/s SDHC SD Card (SDSDH-032G-P36, Retail Packaging). Since the price is now so close, you might as well get the 15MB/sec instead of the Class 4 version. Canon explicitly states the Canon S10 / S100 is compatible with the SanDisk DHC SD Cards of at least Class 4.

-> Canon SC2000 Soft Carrying Case. Alternative: (less expensive) Lowepro Edit 120 Bag (or similar)

-> Tiffen P/N 58UVP 58mm UV Glass Filter, OR: Tiffen 58CLR 58mm Glass (protection) Filter, OR: Tiffen W58DIGULTCLR 58mm Ultra Clear Glass (protection) Filter

-> Moderate Wide-angle lenses: S10/S100 user community prefers the HD6600PRO58 or SRW-6600-58LE over the Raynox HD-7000PRO 0.7x Wideangle Lens. While Raynox claims slightly better optical performance of HD-7000PRO on S10/S100 vs HD6600PRO58 or SRW-6600-58LE (yet the pro users disagree claiming the HD6600PRO58 or SRW-6600-58LE have great optics). Be aware big drawbacks of the HD-7000PRO are high price, and it is a VERY heavy lens. The HD6600PRO58 or SRW-6600-58LE are said to avoid vignetting ONLY up to 5X zoom, (HD-7000PRO to 10X) but who uses a wide-angle lens beyond 5X zoom level anyway? (As for the Canon WD-H58 Wide Converter, plenty of pro's are saying that is a POS lens which is also far more expensive than the superior Raynox lenses mentioned above.) Many also note that the "expensive looking" profile and Industrial Design of those Raynox lenses somehow gives the Canon S10 / S100 a much "sexier" looking profile in a high-end camcorder kind of way, and yet the Canon WD-H58 just doesn't give your camcorder the same *bling*

-> HoodMan HD-300 LCD hood to shade the display from the sun. Tip: do a google search for Canon HV forum to find some good threads on accessories.

-> Tiffen 58CP, 58mm Circular Polarizer Filter, OR: Hoya B58CRPL, OR Tiffen 58WIDCP. Helps "pop" the clouds out against blue sky, and greatly reduces reflections on sunny days.

Nice-to-have Accessories:

-> Tiffen 58mm 812 Warming Filter

-> Tiffen 82mm Digital Ultra Clear Protective Filter (use if you buy the Raynox HD-7000, buy different size for the HD6600PRO58 or SRW-6600-58LE)

-> 0.45x or 0.50x Wideangle Lens.

-> Steadicam or similar. This is a VERY light camera, so easly shakes in hand when used without Steadicam.

WARNINGS: Do not buy the cheap Tripp Lite Mini-HDMI to HDMI Cable. They are worthless. I recommend the Sony Mini-HDMI to HDMI cables.

Read Best Reviews of Canon VIXIA HFS100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom - 2009 MODEL Here

First off, the HD quality is amazing. I'm not a professional, but it looks like broadcast quality to me. I really like the camcorder, it fits comfortably in my hands. The controls are easy to use, and the lcd is bright and easy to see. It is not nearly as small as the Canon VIXIA HF100 Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom, but its quality makes up for the bigger size. Its size is really almost all lens, the lcd and electronics don't add much space to it.

I spent a lot of time trying to decide between the Canon VIXIA HFS100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom and the Canon VIXIA HFS10 HD Dual Flash Memory w/32GB Internal Memory & 10x Optical Zoom. The only difference between the two devices is the 32GB built-in memory. While that might sound like a nice feature, 32GB for $200 extra is ridiculously expensive. Also, 32GB is not that much if you are recording @ full quality.

I found a solution which gave me A LOT more memory at a fraction of the cost. I got a MoFoto 500GB Portable Photo & Video Storage to backup the SDHC cards when they fill up. This gave me over 460GB more storage space than I would have gotten with the Canon VIXIA HFS10 HD Dual Flash Memory w/32GB Internal Memory & 10x Optical Zoom. I'm really happy with my solution.

This also saved me a lot of money over buying anotherSanDisk 16gb Extreme® III 30MB/s Edition SDHC High Performance Card.

I agree with other reviewers that the battery it comes with doesn't last very long. Get the Canon BP-827 Lithium Ion Battery Pack for Vixia HG 20/21, HF11/10 & 100 Camcorders, even though it's way over priced. I've ordered mine.

If you want to see the quality, just google for HFS100 sample footage, there is a lot starting to show up on the web/youtube.

Bottom line, buy this. I couldn't find anything better, and I'm really happy with it. You get some amazing quality at a reasonable price.

Want Canon VIXIA HFS100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom - 2009 MODEL Discount?

This camera is getting great reviews here and on the net, but having owned one for a while, I have some positive comments and usability tips I haven't seen elsewhere. (By the way, I've owned SLR's and camcorders since the 70's; including the old VHS on-the-shouldder camcorders. My previous camcorder, while I'll keep handy, is a Canon Optura 300 DV camcorder. I also still use a Canon Powershot G3.).

1) Many net reviews knock the lack a view finder. Not a problem for me. I've shot lots of vacation video, on and off busses, and and out of taxis, lots of soccer games and band concerts. The tiltable LCD allows you to point or position a camera in many ways in which it would be impossible to use a view finder. So I got out of the habit of using a viewfinder years ago, except when trying to carefully compose a still shot. I now use the available gray 3x3 overlay grid to help with composition.

2) Compactness. I didn't have to buy a new bag. The HF S100 fits well into the same bags I used for my PowerShot G3 and Optura 300; even better than the Optura 300 because I'd have to remove the Optura's extended battery. The BP-819 I purchased for my HF S100 can stay in the camera all the time; much better for those vacation situations where I'd have to grab the camera out of the bag and be shooting within seconds.

3) Remote control can be used from behind the camera (receiver is on the visible side of the LCD). This is more of a usability comparison with my Optura 300 and PowerShot, but consider the following comments when considering other cameras, or using a camera with this capability:

When shooting, you don't have to touch the camera, great for not jiggling the camera for stills (I've previously used the timer), but also shooting video without having to jar the camera on the tripod.

For shooting a soccer game or band concert from in the stands, I raise the tripod head as high as possible, and use the remote in my left hand to start/stop the recording, zoom, change settings, etc. My right hand just controls the tripod's pan/tilt handle.

4) AVCHD is very handy. One reason this became important to me is I have a 1st generation HDTV without an HDMI input. I also don't have a BlueRay burner. Before I bought the camera, I agonized over how I would look at the video except on my computer.

Sony Playstation 3 to the rescue. After shooting my initial test videos, I had what I initially thought was a silly idea; plug the camera into one of the PS3's USB ports. What's the worst that could happen, except that the two devices don't communicate?

To my surprise; the PS3s menu showed it communicating with the camera, and the camera indicated I needed to choose between a DVD burner mode and computer mode. I set it to computer mode.

Then after selected the camera's icon on the PS3, after waiting a few seconds, it started playing the video clips on the camera!

One unhandy thing about using the PS3 exactly that way, is it didn't allow me to choose which clips to view, it plays from the beginning of the 1st clip.

To get around that, I import the video from the camera to my computer as one would normaly would (except it's much faster than tape; ~20 min for 13 Gig). But my PIXELA library is on an external 500 Gig drive.

After safely ejecting the external drive from the computer, I carry it a few steps to the PS3, and plug it into a USB port.

From the PS3, I choose Options -> Display All, which allows me to navigate into the drive's PIXELA library, and choose which clips to play individually. (I also have PS3 Media Server installed on my computer, but my home network can't keep up; the resultant video stutters, with dropped frames, etc.)

So lacking HDMI in my home entertainment system hasn't been a handicap; thanks to my PS3.

Another BIG surprise as a first time AVCHD user: HD DVDs.

I initially thought the manual was mentioning creating a regular DVD, which is also possible.

But in fact, when creating an AVCHD DVD from the PIXELA software, you're actually burning/storing BlueRay compatible files and directories on the DVD, such as with data.

Pop the resultant DVD into the BlueRay player (in my case my PS3), and you're looking at your editted video (with menus, etc.) in full HD!

5) Low light capability. One of the big reasons I finally chose this camera over cheaper alternatives, is the comparatively big image sensor, and published specs (how many lux required).

My first real use of the camera was a night baseball game. With default settings (NOT "Night" setting for example), the recorded video not only looks natural with the baseball stadium lights, but the dark areas are free of noise, with nicely saturated color. So in that situation, you get the nice HD perception of looking through a window at the game, without the noise I've seen with my older video cameras.

I've also shot video indoors, including a banquet, intentionally testing by shooting from the back of the banquet hall, zoomed in (optical only) toward the front where the speaking and awards are happening under the room's lights, not extra lighting. Again, the final video looks pleasing and natural on my HDTV.

6) PIXELA ImageMixer software. I'm sure this package can't hold a candle to iMovie or FinalCutPro, but it can do basic editting, and the gui allows you to browse through and view video clips directly in the library. I've also created MPEG4, and .mov versions of a particular movie. The .mov seems to have better quality than the mpeg4, with the same file size.

What I'm missing from my latest Canon cameras (I also own a PowerShot 590) is Stitch Assist. I fell in love with Stitch Assist (for panoramic stills), which I first used with my PowerShot G3, and also with my Optura 300. It surprises me that Canon is leaving out this feature. I'll have to learn how to do without it, because I really enjoy panoramic photos I have hanging. The old PowerShot G3 still has a job.

In conclusion, my new Canon HF S100 does everything (well just about) that I need it to do, compactly and with pleasing results. So it gets my 5 stars.

Canon DC22 2.2MP DVD Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

While I have some reservations about this camcorder, I believe that it is the best mini-DVD recorder for most people.

Briefly: this camcorder is easy to use, can take decent pictures and excellent video at a reasonable price.

Number one on my list was that it needed to be easy enough for my technophobic wife. Operation is as simple as 1,2,3,4: Turn it on, put in a blank DVD, press record/stop, finalize the disc.

There are a plethora of manual controls if you want to go beyond auto mode. You can choose from two manual modes: scn & P. Scn is for an intermediate user who knows what the outside conditions are but isn't ready to control every aspect of shutter speed, white balance & so forth. There are 8 scn settings, including sports, snow, fireworks and night. The expert user can select P mode and can control even the most obscure settings. I prefer to use auto mode most of the time and when appropriate switch to scn.

Now, inspite of my 5-star rating, the DC22 isn't perfect. I'm very concerned that one of my kids will get ahold of it and it will be sionara. It is delicate. There is a lot of technology crammed into this small camera. Another gripe is that the joystick is difficult to use. You use the joystick frequently because it is the primary way to navigate the menu screens and change your settings in the function screens. I frequently have to repeatedly press down on the joystick before it will take. While these are major issues, I made my rating based on the competition.

Sony gets the ratings in most magazines. I disagree. Sony camcorder use propietary technology such as the Sony memory stick which you don't find at every Walmart & Target. Also, the reviews will tell you that the Sony's that offer still photography aren't much better than a cell phone. When it comes to the lense & the chip technology, Canon holds its own. And, personally the Canon feels better in my hand. But, you can be the judge of that.

Briefly, about the still quality: It is as good as you can find on a camcorder. However, the colors often appear more vibrant than they really are and the still detail is not as good as even a 3.2 megapixal Canon camera. I prefer the prints over a disposable, but I would rather have a Canon Powershot model for this duty.

Here are some other nice features. It uses mini-SD cards. You should have no trouble finding 1-2 gig cards that will handle 1,000-2,000 stills at one time. It includes a standard usb cable for transferring stills. It includes a cable that does have a proprietary camera end but the other end has standard AV attachments for plugging into a tv or other video device. With this cable you can transfer video data either way. It also has a rechargeable battery that lasts 1 1/2 hours and a power cable that can be used for recharging and for general operation of the camcorder.

As far as the media type, DVD-R, it is the standard. Why would anyone get a mini DVD camera that uses other formats? DVD-R is what will play on your home DVD player. If you recorded on DVD+R or even DVD+/-R DL (this recorder can use DVD-R DL) you would be limited to playing your DVD's on this DVD player or loading them onto your pc and editing them. If that's your gig, the editing software is easy to use and can create professional looking event DVD's.

I recommend this camcorder for most people. If you prefer to edit your videos and create a final product with the highest quality video possible, it is still no match for mini DV players. But lets face it, my wife wants to point and shoot and play it for friends without having to do a lot of work. And the last thing I want to do is sit at a pc for hours going over raw video footage in order to create semi-professional movies. Also, don't waste an extra $200 getting the DC40. The stills suffer from the same coloration issues so even though it offers 4.3 megapixals, it won't replace your still camera.

****Revised 1/30/07****

Per request, here is my take on DVD type. I prefer to use DVD-R at the 20 or 30 minute quality. There's very little difference in quality. However, if you attempt to record at the 60 minute/per disk quality, you will notice a difference. It's easy enough to change DVD's during filming. Just open it and stick a new one in. It takes 10-15 seconds before you can begin recording again, so you probably won't miss much. The reasons for choosing DVD-R over DVD-RW and DVD-R/RW DL are cost, durability and universality. DVD-R disks will play in any DVD player... not so with the DL disks. You will need a Dual Layer compatible player. DVD-RW degrades more particularly if you erase and re-record. The surface is softer because it is made to be burned to, erased and re-burned. Therefore there is a greater risk of data loss. Now you might wonder about erasing useless video and/or editing. If I want an edited video (which I usually don't), I would copy the raw footage to a pc and then edit and burn a new (preferably full-size) DVD-R.

Received this item as a gift, was so thrilled to have it for the kids first day of school. Luckily I was playing around with it the day before and found out what a piece of crap this camera is. I recorded and then tried to finalize and found that the amera could not read the disc amazing since it s the canon one that they even provided with the camera!! Then I lost everything I recorded. So, I tried 3 other dvd-r discs -which are not cheap and the frikin camera could not read those either. What a piece of crap -lost everything. I read the manual and even called the Canon people -all they were able to tell me is geesh, that is not supposed to happen. I can only hope 6th ave. will accept the return tomorrow. Please stear clear of this item, unless you like to record things and only see them once and them loose them.

Buy Canon DC22 2.2MP DVD Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom Now

This is my second DC 22. I bought my first one 5 or 6 years ago, and only had to by another one because my first one quit reading discs recently. I like the dvd format and the ease of use. Great Camcorder!

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I am just learning to use this camera. I loaded the supplied Roxio MyDVD for Canon software on my computer and plugged in the USB cable. When you go to the video capture screen it says that this version of the software, MyDVD LE, does not support image capture. After a few phone calls back and forth with the Canon service center (in Virgina, not India which is nice), we found that you should NOT go to video capture. Duh, you have to click on DVD_Video and then on top, "Open Disc". This will read the disc in the camera via the USB cable. Oh, and you should finalize the disc before doing this as it might not work otherwise. It is probably faster to put the mini-disc in your computer's DVD drive if it has one. But don't forget to Finalize the disc in the camera before doing this.

The camera itself has been working well. Tonight I'm going to try out the Fireworks mode to see how that works.

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We received this camera as a gift. We loved the features and the nice crisp image... until we tried to watch it on anything other than the camera's own tiny screen. My husband is pretty computer-savvy, but we couldn't get the camera to connect via USB without crashing the computer. Every time. The roxio "my DVD" software, in a word, sucks. You must register to use it, and it makes us re-register every time we boot up. Plus, it won't access the DVD. Finally, you can supposedly "finalize" the DVD to watch it directly on a DVD player or computer, but "finalizing" only ruins the DVD, so your memories are kaput.

My in-laws got us a Canon because optics were supposed to be the most important thing about a camera. But we found out the hard way that being able to watch the videos may be even more important than image quality. Who knew that for close to $400, that was even in question? Canon should offer a product recall to everyone who bought this piece of junk.

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Fujifilm Finepix S5100 4MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom

This is my 2nd digital camera, and it replaced my Olympus 4000, which was excellent, but I wanted more zoom, an electronic viewfinder, and longer shutter times. The 5100 has certainly delivered, with a couply of relatively small compromises. The Olympus 4000 menus and controls are a tough act to follow. However, it seems that Olympus and Fuji share some technology, icons, and ideas.

The physical handling of the 5100 is excellent, with a very secure-feeling, molded grip for your right hand. I found all the control buttons well-placed and easy to manipulate.

When you sort through all the cameras out there, looking for 10x optical zoom, extended grip, and the ability to use AA batteries, the list quickly narrows! I use sets of 2500 mAh nickel-metal AA batteries, and an inexpensive charger.

Another great feature is the included lens tube adapter, lens cap, and cap-keeper. Just screw on a 55mm UV or skylight filter, and you can completely enclose and protect the lens assembly. At the fully wide position, you will see a small amount of vignetting (shadowing) at the corners if you have more than one filter screwed on.

I found the electronic viewfinder to be more helpful than an optical viewfinder, and still visible outdoors in sunlight. You can also read and manipulate the settings without taking your eye from the viewfinder.

I purchased a couple of 512 MB XD cards with the camera. You will really need the extra memory when you take movies. Movie mode, at a full 30 frames/sec, was surprisingly good, even if you can't change the zoom or focus once you start a movie. Startup, and writing pics and movies to the XD card is nice and fast.

The self-timer includes an extra 2-second setting, which is useful for activating the shutter without shaking the camera, such as for long exposures or telephoto shots on a tripod.

The adjustable white balance works quite well. The slickest way to make the most of this feature and to set exposures in manual, is to use a photographic gray card. The one I bought was 8x10 inches. I cut out a smaller rectangle, about 4x6 inches, that fits in my photo bag. One side is pure white, and the other is a special shade of gray. To set the white balance, place the card with the white side toward you, in the same light as the subject, zoom in on it, and activate the manual white balance function in the menu. This assures you of near perfect color no matter what the lighting is.

The manual exposure mode of the camera allows you to set the shutter and aperture quickly, and there is an exposure meter in the display that shows you how your settings compare with the automatic metering. The slick way to set exposure is to use the gray side of the gray card, place it in the same light as the subject, zoom in on it, and set your shutter and aperture until the exposure meter is centered. Once, done, you can just concentrate on zooming and framing to compose your shots, as long as the lighting is the same.

I tested the S5100 with a remote flash unit and a slave trigger adapter, which allow you to create professional, portrait-type lighting quite easily. Unlike my previous digital, the S5100's flash synch and metering seems to be compatible with this technique. You set your external flash to automatic, which is calibrated for a specific ISO film speed and aperture. It's easy to use the aperture priority mode in the S5100 to match these settings. Then using an inexpensive slave trigger device that clips onto the hot shoe of the external flash unit, you can place the external flash/trigger assembly on a mini tripod off to the side and up high, perhaps on a bookshelf, aimed at your subject. The S5100's pop-up flash illuminates the subject from the front, and the slave trigger fires the external flash at the same time, providing the main light from above and to the side.

The power saving function of the S5100 worked just fine as set from the factory. It blanks the LCD/viewfinder after 2 minutes, to save power, and will shut the camera off if you don't press any buttons after that.

A neat feature that is not apparent in the specifications is the ability to record a 30 second (or less) voice memo with each picture. You can record these any time after the pic is taken and stored on the card. When you play back a pic, you can hit a button to play back the corresponding voice memo, which is stored as a separate audio file. You can also hit another button to display all the technical exposure information for each pic, which is automatically stored in each pic file.

So far, I have just a couple of complaints. When playing back pics or movies to a TV using the included video cable, I have yet to find a way to rotate images taken in portrait orientation. Turning your head sideways to watch is not very comfortable! If you know a way to do this, please post it here! As mentioned in other reviews, the manual focus mode doesn't have a distance meter to help you: you have to carefully study the display while adjusting to judge the best focus. This is particularly hard to do in low light.

I just got the S5100 for christmas. I work as a sports reporter and had been using an olympus stylus 3.2 megapixel camera to take photos to accompany my articles. The stylus, while an excellent point and shoot camera for vacations and snapshots, just wasnt cutting it for professional looking pics. The S5100 on the other hand, has been everything I was looking for in a surprisingly affordable price.

The controls are fairly intuitive, I'm the kind of person who jumps right in with a gadget instead of pouring over the instruction manual first, and there were very few things that I couldn't figure out how to do just by working with the camera itself.

The video and sound quality is absolutely amazing. If you get a 512mb xd card, you can record movies with sound well over seven minutes long at a 640x480 display, and much longer if you cut the display size.

What I really love about this product is the ability to continuously shoot. Basically, you set the camera to continuous shoot and press the button, the camera will keep taking shots (just under 2 per second) for up to 40 exposures, perfect for my line of work.

Also, it's extremely lightweight. At just under 12 oz, the batteries are the heaviest part of the camera (4 AA).

The flash works perfectly, providing ample illumination even at full 10x zoom.

You can take video while zoomed in, something else my stylus cant do. I love being able to zoom in on something far away (again, sporting events) and capture the movement. My old camera would only record videos with the zoom pulled all the way back.

Now for the Cons:

-It's a hog for memory on your computer. A full length video of over 7 minutes comes near half a gig of memory on my laptop (i know, obvious, a 512 mb card = half a gig no matter what media you put on it, so this is something every camera will do). Just making sure that people are aware that if they're planning on making a series of longer movies or taking a giant amount of pictures, as with any camera, it would be a good idea to invest in a burner.

-You're going to need add ons. The price of this camera alone is amazingly fair for what it can do. I would highly recommend buying a larger xd memory card to accompany it though. Depending on your needs, anywhere between 128 and 512 megs should be fine. You just cant utilize everything this camera is capable of doing with only 16 megs of space. Also, I'd consider picking up the case and possibly a battery recharger so you don't end up spending a chunk of money every so often on one time use batteries, but that's up to you.

In Conclusion:

I would highly recommend one of the finepix cameras, and though I didn't pick it out as it was a gift, and I had no previous loyalty to fuji, I'm a believer now. The s5100 appears to be middle of the road for their non pro series of finepix, you can go higher or lower based on your needs, but this camera really can do it all.

It's excellent for a wide field of consumers. Those who are brand new to digital photography will find it easy to learn, the centering and automatic tools will make taking snapshots a breeze. The more experienced users will enjoy the bevy of advanced features it offers. The video makers will enjoy the quality of the images they record.

Great camera, moreso when compared with others in its price range. A wonderful gift.

Buy Fujifilm Finepix S5100 4MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom Now

I have had this camera for a couple of months now and overall am very pleased with it. It is easy to use and a pleasure to use. It has excellent battery life when used with good NiCad's AA rechargeable batteries (no proprietary battery). It is not a full sized SLR though it looks like one and it is not a pocket sized digital camera but the size fits nicely in between the two. It has a good grip and feel to it.

Pluses include: Fairly compact. 10X Zoom is great and moves fast. Good range flash. Auto focus works well except when in macro mode. Outside images look very good most of the time. Low light shooting is excellent as is the red eye reduction. Movie mode is also excellent 30fps 640 X 480and works well in low light. --though you cannot move zoom. Microphone pics up audio well. Movie mode rivals that of standard DV movie camcorder though you need large memory card of at least 256mb. Menu system is also excellent and easy to navigate. Sharp but small 1.5 inch LCD screen.

Minuses include: Macro mode does not work well no matter what the setting, cannot use zoom during movie mode, comes with only 16mb XD memory card, software not great but if you have imaging software on your computer and Windows XP you do not need to install the Fuji software. There is no manual focus ring control you have to use buttons on back of camera. You can an only select between 1, 2 or 4 megapixels modes but can switch between them easily. Small but sharp and clear 1.5 inch LCD screen.

Overall I would recommend the Fuji s5100 for beginners to intermediate photographers. It has good auto (no need to touch) mode and good manual controls for intermediate and advanced users. It is not too big nor too small and fits in the hand nicely. The Fuji s5100 is easy to use, takes good pictures and movies and has a great and easy to use menu system. No proprietary battery system just plain old AA's. If you use rechargeables they last a long time.

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I've read many reviews of the S5100 and have found that many of the pros have addressed the pros/cons of this camera ad nauseam. So I will simply add info that you won't find in most websites:

* Use a low ISO setting for reduced noise in the picture. I found the lowest setting, 64 ISO, gives me the least noise in my photos (indoors and outdoors).

* You don't need a 256MB or 512MB xD card unless you're going to be outside away from a PC for extended durations. I bought a 128MB card becauase it was inexpensive and holds 66 high quality pics (4MP in FINE mode, 6:1 compression) which is about 3 rolls of film. If I was going to take lots of photos for a week out in some excursion, I'd probably buy a few of the 512MB cards. If you want to just mess around and take snaps for your blog, website, or a school newspaper or project, the 128MB comes at a great price and offers decent storage size.

* Definitely get NiMH rechargeable batteries with the highest capacity. For a recharger, I recommend the Maha Powerex. I'm using Energizer AA 2.5 AH NiMH batteries and they've lasted at least a week.

* Remember to use the MACRO (Flower) feature for taking very close pics. If I can get the detail off of the center electrode from a Motorcraft spark plug, so can you.

* Definitely get a filter!!

The lens adapter that comes with the S5100 takes a standard 55mm filter. I recommend Hoya Multi-Coated filters as they appear almost invisible to the naked eye. I thought the store sold me a metal ring until I saw a reflection of the glass. Remember those Lenscrafters Invisibles commercials? The coatings on each side of the glass allows for 97%-99% light transmission with minimal reflectivity. That is why they appear almost invisible!

The Fuji lens cap will NOT work with a 55mm filter, so you will need a 55mm snap-in lens cap along with a Sima Cap Keeper II.

The filter protects your camera lens from damage. If you crack the filter it is only a few bux to replace compared to a new camera lens.

* Get a camera bag. The Fuji holster is a piece of garbage worth only about 1/4 the asking price. Get a decent mini zoom SLR camera bag.

Overall, the S5100 is NOT a Canon Rebel Digital SLR, but it worked just like my Minolta 35mm film SLR.

You get 10x optical zoom, and up to 36x digital+optical zoom in the 0.03MP mode. At 36x you can actually pick out the details from your subject.

The 640x480 VGA video looks spectacular. VGA mode is about 80MB/min while the 320x240 mode is 40MB/min.

What remains to be the seen is the durability of the S5100 in a mid to long term fielding.

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I'm an avid SLR fan and this is my first digital camera. I love it's SLR like shape without being all that big. I've been playing with the camera taking video, black and white pix and of course lots of color shots. My daughter plays soccer so I've been taking action shots and they come out great. The video is crisp and clear. I love that I can play the video and pics through my VCR to my TV and also play with them on my computer.

The only negative is that the flash doesn't automatically pop-up when it's needed, you get an icon displayed on the LCD or optical viewer telling you the light is too low. I love the optical viewer's adjustments so I can see without my glasses. The LCD is small but good enough to give you a rough idea of how the pictures turned out. Viewing them on a computer or TV is the best way to see the true picture quality. The software that comes with the camera is marginal, I have other photo software that works better in editing and viewing the pictures. Also, since this camera uses AA batteries you will never be stuck with a dead battery and no way to recharge it. I did purchace the 256mb XD card and rechargeable batteries for this camera, shop around, prices really vary!!

Vivitek D825MX 2600 Lumen XGA DLP Projector

I've used a few other projectors, but this is first one I've owned. I selected it for use in many different venues for large and small groups. I made my best guess based on the reviews, zoom, brightness, clarity, ease of use, weight, size, and noise. I also liked the long life and lower replacement cost of the lamp. I've been quite satisfied with the D825MX performance regarding all my criteria except zoom, which is minimal. The zoom is so minimal in fact that it functions more like a minor adjustment similar to keystone (which works well). If I had it to do all over again I would study the zoom numbers carefully and look for something that provides more meaningful options for locating the projector. As it is, for a 5' high image, there is only a 2 foot difference in distance from the screen (from 12 feet to 14). I don't blame the product which performs as advertised, just the understanding the implications of every aspect of the specifications before purchase. I may yet return it for one with better distance options.

Coming back to this about a year later, I am still very happy with the D825MX and have not found the lack of zoom to be a problem. My peers have other projectors that I don't prefer but they're envious of the long lamp life and low lamp replacement cost. I've loaned this out a lot and had no troubles despite some rough handling. This is a good solid machine.

I was curious about the Vivitek brand since it's a fairly new name, at least to me. Last time I researched for projectors was probably back in 2002~2003 when the popular Infocus X1 first came out. This time, it turns out that the transformer manufacturing giant, Delta Electronic is actually behind the Vivitek brand. Delta (based in Taiwan) supplies excellent power transforms for major computer OEMs such as Apple, Dell, HP and Xbox and so on. So there's a good chance that the computer you are using now has a Delta power brick right at this moment. Delta is highly respected in the transformer business. So there, a little background about the brand. And now you can be rest assured knowing that 3 years down the road when you need to replace that projector lamp, the company will still be around.

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Purchased projector in October of 2009 and used for 10 months with no problem at all. Projector was sufficiently bright for use during daytime, wasn't too noisy, and the focusing knobs were easy to use. I began using the device more frequently a month ago, and a few pixels started sticking in the full open (white) mode. At first it was just a few, but then then number started to grow every time the device was turned on. Power cycling did not fix the problem, and soon there were ~20 stuck pixels scattered all over the image! I wrote to ViviTek, filled out an RMA form, and waited for a response. One of their customer service representatives, Jason Kang, refused to answer my e-mails, and there was no response from . Their phone number always sends you to an answering machine and your call will not be returned. In summary, their customer service could not be worse. Amazon's on the other hand is wonderful. I called them this morning, explained my problem, and they shipped me a replacement immediately.

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After reading reviews on similar Vivitek products, I took the plunge and purchased this projector in April 2010. I am very impressed with the projector's bright and clear image. I projected a 75" x 75" image in a sunlit room and the image was clear and not faded by the ambient light in the room. In the dark, this projector is amazing.

I operate my projector with the lamp in economy mode and fan on high as this will probably prolong the life of the lamp. With the fan on high, the projector barely warms up.

I use a hi-def tv tuner by KForce with VGA out (1280 x 760) and standard laptop VGA output as the source for this projector. Both work very well with this projector. At the time I purchased, HDMI inputs added another 1 or 2 hundred dollars to the price. Due to my budget I chose to stay at this projector's price point. Since HDMI appears to be a decent standard for the future, you may want to buy a projector with an HDMI input.

The project carry case is not padded so use care when moving the projector.

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I was excited to finally buy a 2600 lumens projector for an affordable price. Unfortunately, on my first try to use it, I experienced a "flickering" image. Very embarrassing and I suggest others try it before the presentation. I went on Vivitek's web site and put in my question in the form. I've been searching for an answer too. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it. Otherwise, I'm going to return the item. While it is okay to carry at about 5 lbs., I'd spend the extra money and buy the 3.2 lbs. It also seemed really hot even though it was only going for about 5 minutes. I'm disappointed.

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Wansview NCH-536MW Wireless/Wired Pan & Tilt H.264 Megapixel IP/Network Camera with Night Vision, I

I was attracted to this camera since it's one of the very few IP cams with greater than VGA resolution.

Setup was straightforward, typical of this sort of product. Understanding networking basics helps a lot. Couldn't get video using Firefox, it tried to use a Quicktime plugin, and couldn't handle the stream. Works OK with IE though. Web server is an enhanced version of what is supplied in the Smarteye H-series camera, very straight-forward to use.

The main problem is just a profound lack of sensitivity. It is far less sensitive than a cheap Foscam I use. In dim room lighting, I get nothing in daylight mode. Totally black. Turning on IR mode, I get enough light for maybe 3-4 feet of range, with brightness cranked full up. I do have the camera mounted upside down, it's possible the IR cut filter is always active, which would explain the lack of IR performance. I'll experiment next time I have the chance.

Performance with daytime lighting is adequate, noticeably better than VGA quality. Motion detect seems inconsistent, but that seems to be common in cheap IP cameras from what I've seen.

-----------

Update after a couple more weeks of use. I was afraid I might have been a bit harsh. Not so. Motion detection is terrible, I'm using a sensitivity of 40 which gives some false alarms due to cloud movement. Camera is pointed down towards the ground from the second story, but shadows still trigger. Unfortunately, sometimes a truck can drive right through the middle of the scene, and the camera won't trigger, or won't trigger until it's already through. Also, the thing can crash when you're administering it, requiring a power cycle to recover it. Real inconvenient when it's 40 miles away.

This was originally a one-star review (see below I left the original review below this update), but in the meanwhile this camera grew on me. Finally, after a few days of begging, Service has actually replied, and sent me a firmware update (without which the camera was essentially useless). I installed the new firmware V1.4.0.1.5 and this update solved all problems I had with the camera. It works great with iSpy, and the video quality is sufficient for my purposes. It is just a pity, that the company refused to realize (despite complaints all over the web not only here on Amazon) that their camera is essentially useless with the original firmware or maybe there are other reasons why it is such a struggle for wansview to give out new firmware...?

Anyway, for me, this camera finally was a good deal, and I already bought two more to set up my home surveillance system.

I still dont want to give it more than 3 stars, because it shouldnt be necessary to go through such a struggle in order to obtain a decently working product.

ORIGINAL REVIEW

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

The camera hardware itself is probably ok, but there are too absolute dealbreakers:

1. The camera seems to be shipped with an outdated firmware (V1.4.0.1.3), full of bugs (brightness bug as mentioned in the above review, cannot set rtps streaming port, cannot access h.264 stream via lan, etc). I looked at the Demo NCH-536MW that the company put up on their website, and the firmware version is V1.4.0.1.4. Here, brightness bug is resolved, I dont know if the stream bugs are also resolved. Furthermore, I stumbled across their downloadable user manual, showing a firmware version V2...

2. Now the crazy thing: I understand, that sometimes products are shipped out prematurely, often with (hopefully) minor bugs still lurking to be discovered. And I am also fine with doing the one or other firmware update on these products myself. But after discovering that firmware updates for this camera can not be found anywhere on the web for download, I sent a friendly request to Wansview for a firmware update. Here is the entire conversation:

Hello, I am desperately looking for a new firmware for my NCH-536MW (purchased via Amazon, but problems with brightness adjustment).

Can you email it to me?

Thank you so much!

J.B.

Dear J.,

I am glad to help you.

But the firmware for NCH536MW is not allowed to be sent.

Dear Wansview Team

The software on my camera is buggy (similar to other users that bought this camera on Amazon just have a look on Amazon!).

The software on my camera is an older version than the software on the Demo camera on your website (my camera has software V1.4.0.1.3, the camera on your Demo site has V1.4.0.1.4 and does not have the brightness bug any more).

The software on my camera is an older version than the software shown on the user manual (user manual shows a software version of V2...).

And you cannot give me the newer version??? Are you serious???

No Answer

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The main attraction of this camera is the tradeoff between the cost and the full list of features it possesses. Comparing it to other brands it is unbeatable: for the cost you get the full featured camera: IP, Pan & tilt, WiFi, SD card, Motion detection, 2 way audio, Infrared, etc. Similar brands with the same list will cost 2X and more.

On top it has higher resolution than many other security cameras, namely HD.

It took me a while to activate it, since I am not a PC wizard, but all features of the camera worked just fine. I tried to activate them all: IR, motion detection, save into the SD card, etc.. no malfunctions. Infrared view at night was great up to about 5 meters, sound quality is reasonable. Pan and tilt are great, huge range, quiet operation.

Picture quality is not perfect, I expected somewhat better from HD, but for a security camera it is OK.

2 minor issues:

1) Infrared was turned ON all night, although I set it to AUTO. I was expecting it to be turned ON only when you access the camera or during a motion detection event.

2) When I tried to access the camera from a notebook with Windows 7 Starter operating system I could not obtain the video, although I could access the camera settings and audio. Not sure what the problem was. I guess it has to do with the ActiveX stuff (whatever that is...). Anyways: with Windows XP is works great.I did not bother to investigate it further since XP is my operating system of all my PCs.

Summary: great value for the money. I consider buy few more for my business security.

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I am amazed by its clarity of video. It takes some time to set it up and get it running and I hope later on this product will be easier to configure.

But so far, this a great video monitoring product especially for the price. I highly recommend it.

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The cam is attractive, produces exclusive output. The cam provides bright videos, I gate much clear video at dim light. Total configuration of this cam is sufficient, very easy to configure. Sound quality is very much clear. Infrared at night is really great.

Esky® Clothes Hook Hidden Camera For Home security

The item does no work propely and what can i say, i have to retund the item thats it..stop selling this items

I needed to catch a thief and did not want to spend hundreds on a security system to do it. This camera did the trick the video quality was pretty good for what it is and it even has sound. The downside to the camera is its short battery life which they don't tell you about. I found the battery lasted about 2 hours when in the motion sensing mode. They should also mention that you need to purchase a micro sd card which is not included with the camera. About 20.00. Overall I am very happy with the product.

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I found the instructions were simple and the unit is exactly as described. The pictures were sharp and clear. It was great. I placed on a door viewing my front door to pick up anybody coming into the house. It works very good and catches me coming in and going out.

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The battery goes dead within ~ 30 minutes in motion sense mode.

This is not long enough for most purposes. I returned it.

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My daughter wanted a camera to try to catch a thief at work. She says It takes awesome, clear pictures.

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Pentax Optio 15921 14 MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom (Black)

Great little camera. perfect if you want a cheap point and shoot camera. when you zoom the quality is not lost and takes good quality video. highly recommended

this is a great camera with lots of options. the screen has good color, and is very clear and easy to see

however the battery life seems short.

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Great small camera for the price. Easy to use and carry. Takes quality pictures and good video. All around good as a primary or secondary camera.

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My last digital camera was a Pentax and I loved that as well. After looking at reviews and trying out others, including ones that photographers swore was the only camera for them, I decided to buy a Nikon. I get the $250 Nikon home, and the quality isn't there.

I return it, and go back to Pentax. This camera is amazing. It's so small I forget it's in my pocket. It takes incredible pictures. I took it to France for 10 days and now have friends, coworkers, family members all asking where I got "that painting" (they're always photos that I took).

One bad note the battery contacts broke and I had to send the camera in for repairs. It was within warranty and fixed promptly. The situation was handled well, I just wish it wouldn't have been an issue to begin with.

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Photos come up ugly too dark or to white. For digital cameras go for others brands. Or for a better pentax at higher cost

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