AAXA P4 P4X Pico Projector, 95 Lumens, Pocket Size, Li-Ion

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $349.00
Sale Price: $288.23
Today's Bonus: 17% Off

I purchased this projector in Oct 2011 directly from Aaxa. I am a teacher working in two schools and I use this projector nearly every day. I connect my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 to it and also play video files from the internal drive or a flash drive, mostly successfully. The specs are the best in this category at the moment, and the design is good. There are a few details that other reviewers have not mentioned, however:

* The fan noise is more than noticeable. It's actually a little annoying.

* The power button is situated such that the P4 can be switched on in a crowded bag pretty easily.

* The buttons are not very responsive. My feeling is that this is more of a system software issue than a purely hardware issue. Button clicks frequently get no response or a delayed response. I feel like the system software is not quite ready for prime-time.

* While it's impressive that they included any sort of internal speaker, it's only usable in a very quiet environment and then really only for speech. There's really no point at all to listening to any sort of music track with it. If you plan on using headphones, then you're fine, but if you need to run a cable to a pair of external speakers then you're losing the cable-free benefit of a battery-powered device. If you don't mind plugging it in for power then you might as well get a brighter pico projector.

* The P4 does NOT mount properly on any external computer, and I've tried several Mac and Windows machines. The manual says very clearly that it should be able to do this. When connected via USB, it might mount for just a moment, but then it will immediately unmount or produce some kind of error message. I've had absolutely no success transferring files directly from a computer to the P4. When I contacted their support staff about this, I was told that I should put my files on a flash drive, and then move them from the flash drive to the P4. This is very disappointing and inconvenient. (Are other users having this problem? I'd like to know.)

* Transferring files from a flash drive involves going into Windows CE, which requires the additional purchase of the little USB keyboard. The keyboard is pretty cool, but it's somewhat expensive, and because it's so small, it's awkward to use.

* When copying files, I've frequently had weird anomalies where the P4 seems to think there are two copies of the file, with slightly different directory paths, and it gives me error messages that it is unable to find the second file. Irritating!

* Video playback always starts with the first video in your directory, requiring you to stop playback, go back to your directory listing, and select the file you want.

* Although the internal flash drive is 2 gigs, the operating system takes up a great deal of that, so there isn't more than a couple hundred megs onboard, and that's not much room for decent-quality video. I have not tried using an SD card.

* The color reproduction, even on a flawless white wall in a dark room, is mediocre at best. There are a few settings to adjust the color, most of which are totally unusable. My expectations were not that high, but I wouldn't want yours to be, either.

* The P4 doesn't sync as readily via VGA as you'd expect. If your cable gets jerked out, you can't just plug it back in. You'll probably have to manually re-sync it or possibly restart the P4.

* The battery does not last more than 70 minutes.

None of these issues are substantial enough for me to return the unit or recommend against buying it, but they might matter to you, depending on your planned use. The basic utility of the P4 is massive, although the shortcomings are constantly annoying. I look forward to future units from Aaxa, where we'll hopefully get 120+ lumens (laser driven?) from a longer-lasting battery, better and more adjustable color, and perhaps some kind of wireless a/v streaming. But for now, this is a very handy and useful device.

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Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Wide Angle Zoom Lens

Customer Ratings:

For those of you who are satisfied with your 18-200 VR. You don't need this lens. I stuck with my f3.5-5.6 zoom for a long time because, heh, I took "good pictures". I adapted to low light, didn't miss f2.8. I was not convinced that a "pro" lens could make any difference visually...only if examining test shots of test patterns with a microscope.

I've been wrong before but this was a doozy. There is SUCH a HUGE visually noticable difference between shots made with this lens (and the 70-200 f2.8 VR) and my old stanby lenses that I about fell out of my office chair. My "good pictures" have become "great photographs". I now own both this and the 70-200. I sold my favorite lens of all time, a 24 mm prime, on a website. I'll never go back. You will get these two lenses from me when you pry them out of my cold dead fingers.

One more note. If you are like me and constantly read pro blogs and photo how-to books you will see most of the pros say something along the lines of "I don't use mid range zooms, I use wide angle for landscaps and long telephoto for close ups". I bought that for a while until I started looking closely at the metadata for photos they exhibit on their websites and books. Check it out, 6 times of 10, the lens is shown to be a 24-70 zoom. I use this lens almost exclusively for landscapes and lifestyle photos. I rarely go to a wider angle unless trying to make a visual "statement". So, here's one pro who says "I USE MID RANGE ZOOMS", and the Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 is usually the one on my D3 when I pick it up.

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Dino-Lite AM412N Portable Digital Microscope / Camera with AV

Customer Ratings:

I have purchased several different models of Dino-lite video microscopes. Some interface to the USB port on a computer and others, such as this one, connect to the video input of a TV monitor. I purchased this model with the optional boom inspection stand (MS36B) and connected it to a Phillips 22 inch LCD HDTV's making a fantastic real time inspection station. Additionally, compared to "industrial" video inspection stations the cost of the video microscope, boom stand, and HDTV was only about $600.00 which was several thousand dollars less than an industrial equivalent. My associates and I are all very pleased with these microscopes.

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Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens + Hoya

Customer Ratings:

Another great Canon lens. The sliding zoom is nice for a 400m telescopic lens, and the quality is excellent. My photography teacher liked a photo that I took at a distance, with good depth of field, with this lens. I bought here partly because of the extras that were included the price was the same everywhere I looked. Extras: although the cleaning papers are too flimsy, the blower and cleaner fluid continue to be useful.

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Panasonic Pro AG-DVC30 3-CCD MiniDV Camcorder w/16x Optical Zoom

Customer Ratings:

This is a great camera for the wedding videographer or other serious amateur or semi-professional. It's well built, has great manual control, and takes super video including good low-light performance. You will probably want the external mic attachment, which lets you use professional microphones without additional adapters and signal processors. Now that the price is well below $2000, it's a great deal. One caveat: If you plan to shoot 16:9 format, this is not the best choice. The Panasonic GS400 handles that much better, and at a lower price. (But the GS400 doesn't have the low-light chops that the DVC-30 has so you have to set your priorities.)

Plusses:

* Very good low light capability

* Sturdy, metal body construction

* Will take professional external microphones (with optional attachment)

* Unbelievable B&W no-light capability with infrared (short range built into camera; medium range add-on IR light increases range to hundreds of feet.)

* Excellent manual control available via menu AND you can put your favorite four settings on programmable buttons on the camera body for extra convenience.

* Without attachments, the body with built-in mic is small and consumer-like (won't draw attention to itself), not to mention light-weight.

* Lovely video with three 1/4-inch CCD's.

Minuses:

* The Sony 2100 has even better low-light ability

* The 16:9 mode isn't as good as the PDX10 or GS400.

* The still picture capability is only adequate.

* The built-in mic is only average.

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Fujifilm FinePix SL1000 16.2MP Digital Camera with 3-Inch LCD

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $379.95
Sale Price: $269.00
Today's Bonus: 29% Off

I got the camers 3/15/13 and so far I am impressed. I am not a pro photographer but I do make software for a living. We make a product called iWatermark for Mac, Win, iPhone/iPad and Android so we quite a bit of experience with cameras. If you are interested our site is available with a search of Google (reviews don't allow links).

This is my initial review. To get it out of the way the highlights are 50x zoom, Raw as option, video up to 440 fps (at very small rez). I've tried them all. They work as advertised and they are awesome features for a camera this inexpensive.

Features

* 16 megapixel BSI CMOS sensor. Photos look great.

50x optical zoom lens (35mm equiv: 24-1200mm). Simply awesome.

Great Optical image stabilisation

3 inch 920k dot tilting LCD screen. Love the tilting LCD very handy when shooting over peoples heads. Also for shooting at kid or pet level.

Hotshoe

920k dot electronic viewfinder (EVF)

Full 1080p HD video recording with stereo sound and at 60 fps.

ISO 100-12800

1cm minimum focusing distance

HDR & panorama modes

Full manual controls and RAW shooting

10 fps continuous shooting full rez or down to 480fps (240 x 180 pixels) or 240fps (320 x 240 pixels) or 120fps (640 x 480 pixels).

Many special effects.

Switch on Time to Taking a Photo 2.55 secs

Shot to Shot without Flash 1.4 secs

Shot to Shot with Flash 2.8 secs

I am still experimenting with the huge number of features in hardware and software of the camera and will report back when I get some time.

It is the most powerful, versatile and inexpensive camera I've ever owned and I would recommend it highly. I have tried all the other super zoom cameras and this is the winner for me.

PS To solve the squabble by two other reviewers the manual zoom is in the usual place by the shutter button on the right top and on the left side middle of the lens. It works well and smoothly with a bit of noise.

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Canon EOS Rebel T3 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm IS II

Customer Ratings:

package that came with it was a good deal. We're still learning how to use the features but are lovin the quick speeds, quality feel, great photos, video and pictures at the same time

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Nikon COOLPIX P300 12.2 CMOS Digital Camera with 4.2x f/1.8

Customer Ratings:

Over the last couple of weeks I've bought all three, returned the Canon

and Panasonic. Here's my opinion (again this is mostly opinion, not

fact):

P300 and S95 are almost the exact same size, LX5 was too big (i.e., too

thick for a pocket)

P300 and LX5 both have direct video record buttons

LX5 and S95 both shoot RAW (wasn't a factor for me, but may be for

you)

All three have great picture quality (1. P300, 2. S95, 3. LX5)

Two have great video quality, S95 is just OK (1. LX5, 2. P300, 3. S95)

Because I have an SLR for high-quality pictures, I just want a portable

p&s for when I don't feel like carrying an SLR. That factor hurt the

LX5, which I thought was the best camera, just not pocketable.

The LX5 had great video, really fast focusing (for pics and vid), and

strong build quality. It's JPEGs were the worst of the three, but third

best in this class is generally better than 1st place in a lesser class

of cameras. It felt solid. I liked the direct video record button. I

disliked the lens cap.

The S95 never did much for me, it's pics were good but not better than

the P300. It's video was definetly the worst of the three, but again,

solid for a point and shoot. The ring around the lens was cute, but felt

loose to me. The lack of a direct video record button was limiting and I

found the auto pop-up flash annoying (it pushes your finger out of the

way, both other cameras have mechanical flash pop-ups).

The P300 is great. Love the picture quality and video quality. Warning,

the video is jumpy on pans, this camera won't take the place of an HD

video camera, but it's great for a point and shoot. The direct video

button is great too. The lcd screen is beautiful. The camera turns on

and snaps very quickly. Shot to shot is excellent too. Picture quality

is great (again, I'm a JPEG user, if you're all about

RAW-post-processing-for-point-and-shoot-quality-pics you may have a

different experience).

You can slice this opinion a million different ways, all three are

awesome cameras. Pick what the most important factor or two is for you

and decide based on that. For me, the discriminators were size and video

quality (as they all took great pictures).

Update 1:

After using this camera extensively for a week or two I've come to appreciate it more. Some of my recent findings which may or may not be helpful to you the reader:

Indoor video can take on a soft appearance and the colors can be off under certain lighting conditions in auto mode, however, it appears that manual tweaks in the program/manual modes carry over from photo to video. So you can set the AWB to a better lighting mode in one of the manual modes and simply switch modes as the lighting situation dictates. Outdoor video continues to be outstanding in auto mode.

The creative modes (black and white, soft, etc.) can also be used for video, again you will need to be in a program/manual mode (P, A, S, M). Of these I do find the black and white to make interesting video depending on what you're shooting.

The fast motion and slow motion modes for video are quite fun to use (they may not be all that useful, but they're fun).

The panning motion panorama (easy mode?) combined with the Nikon software if pretty impressive. The stitched assist mode panorama works well too. It's particulary impressive in multiple monitor set ups, I can spread the picture across 3 screens and see an impressive panorama.

Having no "welcome screen" is the way to go if you want a quick start up.

The camera does not weigh much, it's a little off-putting at first, but light is good.

I love being able to decide if the flash should be used by flipping the switch because I usually do not want a flash (fill flash is all I use pretty much) and it's apparent by looking at the camera if the flash is on or off, there's no digging into menus to find out.

If you're reviewing your work (via HDMI for instance) on the camera or a tv you can press (and hold) the play button instead of power to avoid opening up the lens.

The battery has provided a long life per charge, I haven't tested it but it may be better than advertised. Two drawbacks: it goes from fully charged to empty without much warning (icon is full, and then it's down a bar for a few minutes, then empty) and you plug the camera in to charge vs putting the battery into a charger (that's a draw back because you can't swap a fresh battery in and charge at the same time, if you buy the separate charger you can do this. I bought both an extra battery and charger to avoid any power outages).

Applying after effects in the camera works well and the camera automatically copies the original.

This is a piece of advice that will be obvious to some (ok, it's really for my mom): set the date and time accurately and don't have the date imprinted on your pictures. This info is part of the "meta data" that you can see on any computer. You want an accurate date so you can sort photos later if required and you don't want the date imprinted on the photo because it ruins the picture and is already in the meta data.

Update 2:

I have been using this for over 6 months now. It's seen a couple of vacations, kid's events, hiking expeditions, holidays/birthday parties, etc. My satisfaction with this camera has grown over the months not diminished.

The price is a lot better now than when I bought it, it's particularly attractive at under $250.

It's light and compact, I have no problem putting it in pockets or holding on to it with the attached lanyard.

It starts up and fires a good picture wicked fast. This is key for a point and shoot as most of the scenarios you want a camera for don't necessarily involve composition, it's more about capturing moments as they happen, often without warning.

I still am not completely satisfied with the video, this is where Nikon can definitely improve the camera for the next iteration. It's good video, just not as good as the LX5 and nowhere near as good as a stand-alone HD camcorder (a future dinosaur?). The video is about on par with the iphone 4s, perhaps a tad better.

Speaking of the iphone 4s, I was worried/hopeful it would make the Nikon P300 obsolete in my house. It didn't. The P300 just takes way better pictures. Full sunlight with no tricky shadows and no popping colors--they're probably equal. All other shooting scenarios especially low-light--P300 is a lot better.

I still hardly ever need the flash, it excels in low-light.

I was intrigued by the new Canon S100, I haven't used it yet so I can't give you a comparison, however, preliminary reviews make it look like an incremental update to the S95. With the switch from CCD to CMOS it actually seems closer to the P300 than the S95 was. It still has the silly ring and auto pop up flash that I didn't care for from the S95. I'm not a Canon hater by the way, I love their products and own several.

One regret: I never actually needed a second battery. I probably shouldn't have bought it. It has sufficient battery life for most people.

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Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR ED Nikkor Lens for Nikon

Customer Ratings:

It is a good travel lens, covers just the minimum useful range to serve as an all-in-one and is easy to carry. For travel, can't beat it for convenience even if the picture quality is not the outmost possible professional quality (for which you would have to pay much more and would need the most advanced camera to tell the difference).

Did well on my Nikon D5100. Wished it had a little bit more zoom range ie if it went up to 150mm would have been absolutely perfect, but that is just wishful thinking, In the end the 18-115mm is just a bit more of an uptick that works well for travel so I had upgraded to that.

Anyway, good kit lens for what it does and easy to travel with. If you are a picture quality fanatic and don't mind carrying much more bulk you probably should choose something else.

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Coby TFDVD7052 7-Inch Portable Tablet DVD/CD/MP3 Player - Black

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $124.99
Sale Price: $64.95
Today's Bonus: 48% Off

We have owned quite a few portable DVD players. Normally, we use them on trips for the children. On this last trip, we decided to splurge on these Coby tablet DVD players.

The DVD players fit into sleeves, which have cutouts for the screen and controls. Buckle straps attach the sleeves to the headrests. This is an easier process than attaching standard DVD cases to headrests. The sleeve design makes it more difficult for the children to access the DVD's in the player -a positive, if your children are very young but a negative, if you have slightly older children who would normally be able to change the DVD on their own. It's not impossible to do, just inconvenient.

The player can be controlled from buttons on the front, but it's easier to do with the included remote (which comes with batteries). Volume must be controlled via a wheel on on the side of the player.

Picture quality is very good, rich and vibrant, even when viewing from different angles.

Sound is fine at home. In the car, the sound can sometimes be drowned out by the white noise of the road and other background noise. Headphone jacks and earphones are included. Sound quality through headphones is excellent.

The back of the DVD player has a pull-out stand, in case you want to set it on the table for viewing. We tried that and it worked very well.

The DVD player has a battery so it can be played without the need for an outlet. It also comes with plugs for the wall and car outlets.

So far, so good. We are very happy with our choice and would buy these players all over again.

PROS:

+ case straps easily to headrest

+ includes remote with batteries

+ includes earphones

+ picture quality is very good

+ includes stand

+ comes with AC and DC power cords

CONS:

inconvenient to change DVD's when mounted on headrest

sound can be drowned out by the noise in the car

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Panasonic DMC-FX01 6MP Compact Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical

Customer Ratings:

I normally don't write product reviews, but this camera is outstanding. I have wanted to get into more serious photography but don't want to have to lug around an SLR everywhere I go. I'd rather have something I can take anywhere. May get an SLR at some point, but right now I really don't care.

My first digital cam was a Nikon Coolpix 880, which had great manual features and excellent imaging/color. Only problem was the 3.2mp resolution and the fact that I might as well carry around a brick. I bought a Canon SD450 and took it to Panama. I was really disappointed. Generally, Canon photos are sharp with great color. The camera had washed out colors and was susceptible to some serious blur. My friend and I agreed that our girlfriends' Canon A400's (possibly the best 3.2mp camera for novices) took much better photos than this one. Some of the photos actually looked as if they were taken on a video camera. The battery life was tolerable (about 140 pics) but I decided to take it back and get the Panasonic.

The DMC-FK01K takes the best digital photos I've seen outside SLRs. The colors captured by this camera will make your jaw drop. It's that good. I'm surprised at the number of photos I've taken which make me feel like a good photographer. The stabilization feature helps out a lot with blur, but it won't fix everything. The video taken with this thing is incredible and will give you almost 20 minutes of 840 pixel-wide resolution (albeit mono audio) video with great detail on a 2GB high-speed SD card. My friend bought one on the same day as me and told me his is taking some incredible photos in Las Vegas right now. Knowing how this camera does its job, I would have been willing to pay $450 for it.

Rather than do a long, drawn-out diatribe, I'll just list all the fantasic things about this camera, plus a couple of MINOR drawbacks. I have always liked Panasonic products and this is the best one I've seen so far. Prepare to buy lots of fast memory (up to 2GB) it will be worth it.

ADVANTAGES:

1. Incredible picture quality, particularly colors, with great definition. 3.6X optical zoom makes a big difference, compared with 3.0X.

2. Wide-angle Leica lens is great. 3:2 and 16:9 picture modes take great photos and make you see your prospective photos much differently.

3. Stabilization prevents most blurred photos (read up on how sophisticated this feature is at leica.com via panasonic.com link).

4. Very small less than 1/2" wider than the Canon SD450. The screen sticks out a bit, so you will a screen protector.

5. Beautiful design the flat black body with silver/chrome trim looks very cool, like an old camera.

6. Outstanding battery life. I've taken almost 100 photos and some video, and the battery still shows full. People are reporting almost 300 photos before recharging.

7. Great widescreen (mono sound) video 2GB SD card gives up to 20 minutes at highest resolution, 30fps.

8. Enough near-manual modes to do what is needed (if you buy a small tripod for nightshots the only way to take night photos, the pictures will turn out amazing).

9. Gorgeous LCD screen with a daylight feature and a great mode which allows you to see the screen when you hold it above your head.

DISADVANTAGES:

1. Image stabilization is not perfect all the time, but is certainly much better than not having it. Helps a lot with video.

2. You can't zoom while you're taking video, so you need to know your shots and anticipate edits.

3. Make sure you're careful of the power switch when putting it in your pocket.

Move over, Canon.

rob

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Tamron AF 17-35mm f/2.8-4.0 Di LD SP Aspherical (IF) Ultra Wide

Customer Ratings:

For film cameras, 17-35mm has become the most versatile "very wide angle" zoom range. With digital bodies this focal range translates to ca. 25-52mm, what makes this lens a "wide to standard" zoom. Because the lens is calculated for full 35mm size frame, vignetting is not a problem. Most of full frame lenses are in their best sugar spot, when used on DX sized digital sensors, and this Tamron is not an exception.

The lens is not f2.8 in its entire range, but seemingly Tamron chose to design it this way as a compromise toward making it small and light. Compare this lens to the Nikkor 17-35 f2.8 AFS, both in terms of weight, and also in terms of its very attractive price. Of course, for some users all this plastic is just "too cheap" and is not an acceptable option. Personally I vote rather for less grams/pounds, if optical valors are comparable.

The lens seems to be quite sharp, and tests confirm its excellent resolution. Mine has only very little distortions, however I saw exemplars of this lens exhibiting visibly more barrel distortions! Probably the manufacturing tolerances are not tight enough...

Front element does not rotate with focusing, but the focusing ring rotates and thus the lens does not support the automatic AF/MF overwrite, like in a AFS Nikkor or in a usual Canon EF lens.

The hood is a total loss. It simply reflects too much light on its internal side. Tamron should really coat their hoods for better light absorption, like others do! Fortunately, this lens seem to control flare quite well. I tend to shade the lens with a hand anyway.

Considering the very attractive price, resolution and weight, this is a good product, great value for the money. If you do not like plastic like that, consider than the need to spend $1200 for the genuine Nikkor alternative, and maybe than the plastic will not appear that bad after all.

My generic problem with all Di XP Tamron lenses is however their lack of good grip to perform quick lens exchange. When changing this lens, you will end up turning both focusing and zooming rings to some degree, sometimes to a lot of degree... I wish that Tamron would have made the both rings a bit shorter, and provided good grip in the middle to turn the lens reliably into and out of the mount.

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Canon EOS Rebel SL1 18.0 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm EF-S

Customer Ratings:

I received my kit and charged the battery right away to use my camera, it is the lightest camera I have ever used! It take awesome pictures and the touch screen is very user friendly. It may take some time to figure it all out, but you will get the hang of it. This is my first DSLR and I am very happy with my purchase!

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Ricoh GR DIGITAL IV US 10 MP Digital Camera with 1x Optical Zoom

Customer Ratings:

Hello everyone, I'm going to review this little camera since there is no one does it on Amazon. Well, first of all, I am a photo bug that love street and landscape photography, I have number of full frame DSLRs, and some heavy lenses; however since once I brought all of my gears to go on a trip to Thailand, I understood that making "good" photos are not an easy job, physically. Then I decided not to bring too many heavy gears when I go travelling.

Alright, lets talk about this camera, which is our main topic. You might heard about Ricoh's GR series cameras since the film photographers' era; GR series are famous of its compact size, good handling and professional control functions. For this specific camera, GR Digital IV, it has the 28mm wide angle prime lens on it, with f/1.9 maximum aperture and image stabilization, very convenient for not only low-light condition, but also creating shallow Bokeh. However, GRD IV only gets a small 1/1.7 CCD sensor in it, bigger sensor literally means better image quality. About this point, different people may have different idea. So personally, I would not recommend to beginner to get it in this price range, for whom many Mirrorless cameras and entry-level DSLRs could be more suitable. But I would highly recommend to the ones who are looking for a compact alternative of heavy cameras for specific purposes, like me myself.

GRD IV has many interesting features such as many custom functions allow you to create a comfortable control system; two multi-function dials, number of custom buttons, a M-A-S-P dial with three custom-mode, also variety of pictures effects. The external button layout is nice and neat, no superfluous design. Superior build quality, you will know where your money goes when you hold it in your hands. Also, Ricoh offers us different accessories like lens hood, wide angle attached lens, viewfinders and cases, you might wanna get some for your GRD IV.

Overall I am happy to give a five-star rating to this camera, for the features that I introduced to you, also I will update my review and some pictures taken by it. Thanks for reading.

Apr 10 2012

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

I've been using this camera for two days, everything is going well, and I found out this little camera is extremely good at taking macro shots, your lens can actually touch the subject and still able to focus! I have taken several macros in Raw files, they turned out very nice, sharp and beautiful Bokeh...

Also, the mode "My sense" actually got more interesting in-camera processing, such as long exposure for taking star tracks, high dynamic rage shots, all done in camera. However I haven't tried them out yet, I'm gonna find a good day to take some shots at night using those interesting features. They are many different combinations in My modes (you have three my modes on the M-A-S-P dial). For examples, I like to shoot in RAW, however when you are wondering to use the in camera pre-set like Hi-contrast, B&W, Hi-pass etc, you can only shoot in JPEG, RAW files would not have anything else other than original image information. In this case I set the MY1, MY3, MY3 modes into different JPEG modes, with different pre-set combinations, different metering and focusing mode, very convenience! If I want to shoot RAW, I can just turn the dial to M-A-S-P, other than that I use "My modes" to shot interesting JPEG pictures. Since the in-camera processes are so decent, it saves my time to do the post process for the snap shots.

Simply saying I found this camera is such a fun toy to play, easy and amazing, and nice handling like DSLRs, professional point&shoot!

-Apr 18 2012 by Ben

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Pentax DA 55-300mm f/4-5.8 ED Lens for Pentax and Samsung

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $429.95
Sale Price: $349.00
Today's Bonus: 19% Off

I got this in the hopes of replacing both a Pentax 50-200 and a Sigma 70-300. Luckily, the image quality seems to be an improvement over both, though they were acceptable on their own. This lens is just a bit smaller than the Sigma, though not close to the small size of the 50-200.

The Pentax 55-300 does not have a quasi "macro" mode as do some other xx-300's including the Sigma, and the closest focusing distance is 4.67ft (1.4m) which is not particularly close, either.

As seems standard with Pentax, the lens hood has a hatch to allow turning a polarizer filter, and the "Quick Focus" ring allows manual focus to fine-tune the auto-focus when the shutter is still half-pressed.

Not particularly a fast focuser, it can hunt in low-contrast situations and when going from very close to very far, or occasionally lock up. The variable f4-5.8 speed is not great for low light but is is OK in most daylight circumstances and helps to keep the cost and size down.

Comes with front and rear caps, a black nylon pouch with no strap or loop, and a manual.

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Sony KDL-32R400A 32-Inch 60Hz 720p LED HDTV (Black)

Customer Ratings:

I purchased this tv straight from Sony's website which just cost the extra amount of TN sales tax. They shipped it quickly with free shipping and received within 2 days.

The tv is very lightweight for 32" tv; remarkable how far the tech has come. Setup was very simple. Menu system is extensive for picture controls, PIP, connecting a computer and so on.

Currently I use this connected to a Roku 2 for watching HD content from Amazon Prime. I use the custom picture mode. Picture quality is on par with my Panasonic 42" plasma THX setting. Motion in movies is excellent even as a 60Hz HDTV.

Sound is good by itself, but I use it connected to a Bose system via the audio out mini jack which is great for internet music.

The bezel is thin and blends away while watching movies which is even nicer. Something I didn't expect or even notice from my other tvs until now.

Nicely sized screen for viewing movies from 10 ft away or less.

Very happy and would certainly recommend the tv and would buy again. Now considering my next tv to be a larger Sony LED. I've been extremely happy with Panasonic but Sony makes superb tvs with equal picture quality and equal or lower price.

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Canon PowerShot SD890IS 10MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical

Customer Ratings:

Pros: image quality, shutter speed, amazing zoom, fast power on, lots of advanced features, etc. etc. The technical specs, and performance of this camera far exceeded any expectations that I could have expected from a pocket-sized camera.

Cons (All minor):

1) Charging requires the removal of the battery from the camera, and it being inserted into a separate battery charger. I'm accustomed to my old sony camera, where it charges in it's own cradle.

2) The power button itself requires some precision to activate. It's not difficult, or annoying to use, but again, I'm comparing it to my older sony camera, where it was a quick, simple flip.

3) The menuing system can be somewhat daunting to a new or novice user. Depending what mode your camera is in will change what menu options you're presented with. Using the camera && reading the manual will help with the familiarity process.

4) The spin dial (or whatever it's called). I have yet to see what benefit this dial has over the conventional directional pad. It's almost like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's quite helpful when you want to quickly flip through photos you've taken on the camera. On the other hand, it becomes challenging when trying to change scenes in scene mode, or when changing functions in the manual mode.

Overall, I love this camera. I bought it just before going on vacation, and was continually amazed by the quality of the photos and shutter speed performance throughout the trip. While traveling on a tour bus, I was able to take crystal clear photos of the countryside landscape, while the bus was traveling at about 60mph.

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