Elmo MO-1 Visual Presenter

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $399.99
Sale Price: $369.99
Today's Bonus: 8% Off

We were looking for a replacement for the old overhead transparency projector. We wanted a device that was portable and easy to use. This product could not get any better. We teach management skills to adults, and have participants do written exercises in class. We need to project their handwritten forms through the lcd projector. This product attaches to the PC and captures a full 8.5 by 11 inch sheet, with high resolution display. It also allows you to capture anything it sees as a .jpg file, or to even video your audience or other subjects. We are not very technical, and were really pleasantly surprised when the projector driver installed and worked first time. The zoom in and zoom out feature and adjustable camera position would allow you to project larger items as well. It folds up to about 3 inches by 8 inches, 1 inch thick and weighs almost nothing. If you're using it through the USB connection to the computer, you don't need the separate power cord.

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Pentax WG-3 Shock & Waterproof GPS Digital Camera (Green)

Customer Ratings:

Camera itself is a brute tough, durable and taskes great pics. The package was not great camera bag is for big cameras and film and other junk. Camera strap with D-Ring (what is that for). Needs a strap you can put on your wrist and not drop it or loose it when underwater scuba or snorkling. FYI battery drains fast when GPS is active.

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Cinemizer OLED multimedia video glasses by Carl Zeiss

Customer Ratings:

I was excited to give the new Cinemizer OLED a try, having been watching reviews of it, along with some of the emerging competition in the HMD market. Once received, I made all the connections to my PC and checked for any updates in firmware. The un-boxing and connecting were not difficult. These slip on and off like glasses. I put them on and adjusted the optic wheels to focus each eye. Unfortunately,there was a dead pixel in the corner that shined a bright blue light from just outside of the picture. Other than that, the picture was perfect. Crisp, clear, with a size equivalent to sitting and watching my 42" TV from 6 or 7 ft away. I did notice I was having difficulty in focusing, and thought I may just need to "get used to them." After trying to watch a movie and moving the glasses around, from side to side and up and down on my nose, came to the conclusion that one eye was always going to be out of focus due to a lack of ability to adjust for pupil distance. I contacted the seller and requested a return and was offered the option to exchange or for a refund. If it were just the pixel, I would have exchanged, but since there was not an adjustment for pupil distance, I requested and was granted a refund.

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Nikon D5200 24.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera (Red) with 18-55mm

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,419.95
Sale Price: $1,019.95
Today's Bonus: 28% Off

The package was extensive for the price (I have seen the camera for the same price, at other venues without all the add-ons). I have another Nikon camera and the red body easily distinguishes between the two.

I am quite pleased with the camera and it's functionality. The inclusion of filters, tripod and other items make this a very good deal. The 55-300 lens is awesome.

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Mack 3 Year Diamond Service Contract for Digital Cameras, Video

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $254.99
Sale Price: Price Unavailable
Today's Bonus: 2% Off

This warranty is an essential part of the tool kit for anyone who values their investment in photographic equipment. I shoot mostly landscapes now, and recently, while wading across a stream to get a better composition for my shot, I slipped on slick rocks and fell into the stream. I was lucky to keep the camera in hand and out of the water, but it was comforting to know that with this accidental damage warranty I would have been covered if things had gone differently. When you add free annual sensor/camera cleanings to the three year warranty, it is something I think everyone should buy. I price all my camera purchases with the idea that I will be purchasing the Mack Diamond warranty as well.

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Nokia Lumia 1020, Black (AT&T)

Customer Ratings:

First off, let me say. This phone is amazing. It's lightning quick, never hangs on any tasks and consistently gets the best benchmark when I test it on any of the benchmarking apps available on the marketplace. Oh yea, and the camera is otherworldly, I will never need to bring my point and shoot camera with me again...

Now, let's get to the review.

I picked this phone up for $299 at an AT&T store after Amazon had problems processing my order. Almost as soon as I walked out the door I had regrets (let me explain). Windows Phone 8 is amazing, it's so smooth, capable and polished; it really is the best mobile OS, that being said. If you've had a Windows Phone 7.8+ device before then WP8 on the Lumia 1020 just feels stale, not unlike any other OS at this point, the difference between the 1020 and the other devices is the price tag. $299 is just too expensive for me to recommend this phone to people who already have a high-end WP 7.8 or WP 8 device, aside from the camera there really is nothing different...

Windows Phone 8 Performance

All that being said, if you don't currently have a WP 7.8 or WP 8 device, by all means go for the 1020, it's a wonderful device and Windows Phone 8 will make you smile at every turn, the Lumia 1020 has a whopping 2GB of ram, easily 4 times more than the ultra-efficient Windows Phone 8 needs to operate, this means that there really isn't any task the 1020 can't handle, and background tasks won't weigh you down. Like the 920, 928, and 925, the Lumia 1020 has a 1500mhz Dual Core processor which is more than enough to run Windows Phone 8, you won't get the satisfaction of saying "I've got a quad-core" like some of the android phone owners, but when they go head to head I have no doubt in my mind the 1020 will be faster than any android device you pit it against. The beauty lies in the software; Windows Phone is slim and professional, while most Android offerings are bloated and laggy...

Build Quality

The build construction of my Lumia 1020 is exactly what you'd expect from a high-end Nokia device, top of the line, solid construction. Although my 1020 will wear a protective case for its entire life I have little doubt that this phone could withstand a few unprotected drops and suffer only a few scratches on the case, Gorilla Glass 3 gives you that added piece of mind that your screen isn't going to crack after one drop.

Pictures/Videos

"Second to none" is the phrase I would use to describe the Lumia 1020's camera. Nothing else even comes close (including my Sony Cyber shot), night time pictures without a flash, though still worse than what your eyes can see (obviously) are the best I've seen on any phone, or point-and-shoot camera. If you somehow have a tripod for this phone you can have it leave the shutter open for up to 4 seconds, giving you extremely bright night time pictures (and blurry if your subject is moving). The delayed shutter function does allow you to set the phone down after telling it to take a picture so you can minimize movement while taking a night time picture.

Video on the Lumia 1020 is spectacular as well, smooth HD capture and clear audio recording are high points of any phone, and like the 928, the Lumia 1020 dons multiple microphones to make audio recording in hectic environments possible.

On top of the physical pleasantries of the 1020's camera, there are a plethora of apps that make use of the camera. My favorites so far are Photosynth (lets you capture a spherical image around you) and Fresh Paint (think "Take on Me"). Instagram or not, there is certainly no shortage of cool apps you can use with the 1020's awesome camera.

Storage Space

Like the other unibody Lumias before it, the 1020 has no way of accessing its battery compartment, and no way of adding a micro SD card. What you see is what you get (actually it's about 5GB less than what you see); with no apps installed the Lumia 1020 will have a maximum of 27 GB of free space. 3 GB lost to formatting, 2 GB lost to the OS. In a battle of fortune, the 1020s full res pictures are almost 10MB a piece, that's great because you really are getting full quality pictures but not so great because you will eat into that chunk of free space alarmingly quickly if you take a moderate amount of pictures. When you add apps, music, and videos into the mix, that free space gets even smaller. To combat this, AT&T is offering a free upgrade to their 50gb of cloud storage through AT&T locker (limited time offer they say), and as always SkyDrive offers 7gb of free cloud storage (I'm still on the 25gb free they gave me for being an early WP user). Even with those two free cloud storage options I long for expandable memory. If I could, I would throw in a 64 GB MicroSD and carry around tons of music and videos. Cloud storage, is not the answer to phone storage in my opinion...

Battery Life

A key question people seem to ask me all the time is what kind of battery life they should expect. The Lumia 1020 is on par with any other modern smart phone out there. It has a large 2000mAh battery and lasts me an entire day using it for email, web browsing, the occasional game and of course picture taking. If you do data heavy tasks or talk on the phone a lot you can expect your phone (any phone) to run out of juice much faster. Comparing the battery life of my 1020 to my 900, I'll say that my 1.5 year old 900 still gets better battery life than the 1020, but I hear that Xenon flashes use a lot of juice.

Price

Like I said, the Lumia 1020 is expensive, currently ranging from $266 on Amazon to $299 at the AT&T store. The Microsoft Store also sells the Lumia 1020 for $299 but includes the camera grip free of charge. I mean, sure it's a free grip, but I can't see anyone using it on a daily basis or ever taking it with them, it's huge...

The only way I have been able to justify spending $299 on the Lumia 1020 coming off the Lumia 900 is by realizing that this will replace my point-and-shoot camera, so if you think of it as paying $150 for a good camera and $150 for a great phone it feels a little better.

Issues

I have to disclose the fact that I am on my second Lumia 1020. The first handset I got was plagued with a few issues. The phone had reception issues and would drop calls when I was standing still in places my Lumia 900 had full LTE coverage and call quality was genuinely poor, on top of the signal problems that first 1020 had issues where Bluetooth would disconnect every 5 minutes or so. My phone says it has the Amber update which is supposed to mean BT 4.0, so I originally chalked the BT problems up to that, but my new handset has none of these problems (and does have the Amber update). AT&T swapped out both the handset and my SIM card to cover all the bases on the reception issues. My new handset has yet to drop a call and seems to get a much more solid connection; call quality is still nothing ground-breaking however.

There are a couple minor issues that both my handsets share.

The first issue is that when looking at the phone in a completely dark room with brightness on auto, I noticed what appear to be streaks or irregularities in the black back ground of the screen. Both 1020 handsets had this problem and although you can't see them with any external light on, or the brightness turned up, it makes me wonder what those irregularities are, and if they will be a problem further down the road.

The other issue that both handsets I've had share, is that the loud speaker on the phone is quiet, disappointingly quiet. There is really no comparison between the 1020 and the Lumia 900 when it comes to loudness of the speaker, the 900 takes the cake...

Conclusion

The Nokia Lumia 1020 is a great phone, easily worth 5 stars. If you don't currently have a Windows Phone 8 or 7.8 device and you want to take amazing pictures, by all means go out and get this phone. It will be 100% worth its expensive price tag. However; if you do have a Windows Phone 8 or 7.8 Lumia I would seriously think about how much you value picture/video taking. Aside from the camera the only measurable difference between this device and even my Lumia 900 are the few WP8 exclusive apps and .2 inches of diagonal screen width. I haven't noticed any real improvement in performance over my 900. If you currently have the Lumia 920, the ONLY differences between it and the 1020 are the camera, and the fact that the 1020 doesn't have built in wireless charging, it really wouldn't be worth upgrading from the 920 to the 1020 unless you are a true camera nut in my opinion.

Perhaps what the Lumia 1020 has shown me most so far, is just how amazing my Lumia 900 was/is; dated camera aside, that 900 can still go toe to toe with the 920 or 1020 on most tasks with ease. In addition to the best cellphone camera ever, the 1020 does offer something the Lumia 900 never will, future proofing.

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Samyang SY14M-P 14mm F2.8 Ultra Wide Angle Lens for Pentax

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $449.99
Sale Price: $359.00
Today's Bonus: 20% Off

Before providing my opinion on this Samyang Lens, I would like to describe myself as a middle aged advanced amateur photographer. I am not a pro but photography has been a hobby of mine for 20 years and in the last 10 years, I have been lucky to be able to purchase some professional L lenses and primes. Therefore, I feel I have some experience that I can draw upon to compare this ultra wide angle Samyang with other lenses in my camera bag.

First off, I want to mention at the time I am writing this review (10/12/2013), the product photographs in the Amazon listing is incorrect. They have a 35mm focal length Samyang sitting in as the Canon version of the 14mm lens. I took a chance with Amazon and the lens that arrived at my door is the correct 14mm lens. Therefore, no worries you will get the right lens sent to you. Second, and unfortunately for me but perhaps fortunately for you ... The Samyang SY14M-C 14mm f/2.8 ED AS-IF UMC is optically identical to the Rokinon FE14M-C 14mm f/2.8. Unfortunate for me because the same lens branded with the Samyang name is or was at the time of my purchase about $60 more expensive. Had I known both lenses were identical, I would have gone for the Rokinon branded lens and saved some money. So if you could avoid the mistake I did, go for the Rokinon. Same manufacture, same factories, same workers make both lenses. But it's just not worth my time to send the Samyang back and get the Rokinon to get the extra $60 back. Perhaps the prices and photos will be corrected by the time you read this review.

Now for the lens. This lens is incredibility sharp and I am quite impressed at how sharp it is on my Canon 5D Mark 3. The closest lens I have to compare it to is the newer Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L Mark 2 and the Canon 50mm f/1.4. This lens, in terms of sharpness really can hold its own along these other lenses. I bought the Samyang lens to get something wider than the 24-70 and I am very happy I did. The lens is sharp from edge to edge on the 5D Mark 3 full frame body. The focus ring turns very smooth with long travel to obtain precise focus. The aperture ring feels solid and has no lose play in it. When you set the aperture, it stays put with confidence. The mechanics of the entire lens really gives the impression of quality just as much as the more expensive L lenses but in a plastic body of course. But the plastic doesn't feel cheap.

Lens distortion can be easily corrected in Light room and Photoshop by installing the appropriate lens profile for the Samyang. Download the "Adobe Lens Profile Downloader" from Adobe's website and then filter the profiles by your camera body (eg. Canon 5D Mark 2) and download the appropriate RAW profile. Google "Markus Keinath Samyang 14 mm / 2.8 IF ED MC Aspherical" for detailed instructions. Even if your particular camera body isn't listed, if you know your camera body is a full frame, pick another full frame model, if your body is a crop sensor body, then pick another body with a APS sensor body and it should work just fine.

My one gripe about the lens and it has more to do with me than the lens. If your eyesight is less than perfect, it is almost impossible to manually focus this lens looking through the viewfinder. Everything in the viewfinder seems like it is in sharp focus no matter how the lens is already focus. Using a magnified LiveView becomes essential in getting this lens in sharp focus. But you might also encounter additional problems both in bright sun and low lighting. Sometimes the bright Sun just washes out the LED on the back making the job of focusing the lens much more difficult. In low lighting condition, you will probably either have to temporary open up the aperture to let more light into the camera to be able to focus or decrease the shutter speed. Then remember to correct the exposure again before taking the picture, otherwise you will end up disappointed with over exposed photos. Because it is completely manual, you will not receive any focus confirmation beeps, chirps or indicators from the camera body or it's viewfinder as you would using a Canon AF lens in manual mode. Focusing with this lens is exactly like trying to focus it when the camera body is off; there is zero assistance to guide you to getting a sharp image. It will be 100% on you to get the lens as focus as necessary.

The plus side of this, because the lack of AF will slow you down, it will force you to think about composition within the frame. I think that is a great thing. In addition, this is definitely not the right lens to shoot fast moving subjects unless you have plenty of light that you can choose a small aperture setting for a deeper DOF. This is a great lens if you have patience, but if you do not, it will aggravate you quickly.

I also recommend checking out some of the other views here on Amazon listed under the Rokinon brand name. Moreover, visit some of the popular photography forums on the net including Dxomark review. Best of luck.

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Sony HDR-PJ790V High Definition Handycam Camcorder with 3.0-Inch

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,599.99
Sale Price: $1,598.00
Today's Bonus: $1.99 Off

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I am a long term Canon user and my current stable of camcorders includes a HV20 and HV40 both of which I prize for their extensive manual controls, their HDV recording, and the use of tape which acts as an natural archival mechanism.

The PJ790V was an exciting departure from my normal routine, and I used it exclusively on a recent trip to St Louis, MO to watch my son's high school robotics team compete at the Robotics World Championships. Over 3 exciting and exhausting days, I put this camcorder through its paces.

Here are my thoughts.

###############

This is easily one of the most comprehensive camcorders I have ever come across in over 25 years of videography.

In an embarrassing abundance of riches it combines:

1] an astounding amount of internal memory (96 GB. Really.)

While the jaw-dropping 36 hours recording time is only achievable on the lowest quality setting; even at full 60p HD you get a still-awesome 7 hours. See below for notes on Recording Modes.

2] a wide and fast Zeiss 10x zoom lens (26-260 mm/F1.8-3.4)

3] mind blowing optical image stabilization technology. At the Robotics World Championships, I shot hand-held, indoors, at full zoom from the nosebleed section of the Edward Jones dome and the images were still spectacular, with hardly any camera shake (except for wild pans in my excitement.) Check out footage in the first comment below this review. This is unbelievable OIS quality.

4] built in 100" projector(imagine that!) with a 1.6' throw distance and WVGA resolution (854x480)

5] a microphone separated from its body to avoid the camera noise that plagued my HV20

6] Navteq-supplied GPS for most places you are likely to visit including North America, Europe, Japan, and Oceania. Unfortunately, it does not do navigation, traffic, or weather :)

7] PlayMemories Home software lets you trim, split, and combine videos; grab frames for stills; and to share your creation. I found it to be a very intuitive video organizer/editor and great for when you can't be bothered to load up a full editor.

Some minor quibbles:

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1] The touch screen takes some pressure to register. I initially thought I had a bad touch screen!

2] The zoom rocker has a perceptible delay when the camera is first turned on, which is distracting when you need to get going quickly at a sporting event.

Conclusion:

########

This is one of those cameras that you can simply start using, right out of the box. It is that intuitive. I was blown away by its SteadyShot system the image stabilization is truly best in class. When you view the clip in the comment below, remember that this was shot by a tired and excited parent, whooping like a kid, in indoor stadium lighting, often at full zoom. The focus is sharp, the images are clean, and the microphone clearly captures the videographer's very vocal enthusiasm. At its highest PS video quality (see Recording Modes section below), you get stunning video that needs to be seen to be believed.

Add in its clear and bright LCD that I could easily use even in bright daylight; elegant design touches such as the USB cable integrated into its hand grip; the attention getting lens hood; and reasonable power consumption (even the tiny NP-FV50 lasted me an entire day), and you have a winning performer.

I'm more conflicted by the presence of the GPS and projector features that are great attention grabbers, but ones that I'll probably never ever use.

Happy Memories!

Must have accessories:

###############

1] The NP-FV50 needs help especially if you are on vacation. Check out the NP-FV70 or NP-FV100 instead.

2] BC-TRV charger I hate to leave camcorder charging overnight so this travel charger is very handy.

3] VMCUAM2 USB adapter cable lets you back up your videos to an external hard drive without needing a computer

Recording modes:

############

Sony uses video quality abbreviations PS, FX, FH, HQ, and LP that I'm clarifying for others who may be as confused as I was:

There are 4 aspects to recording video bit rate (the number of bits captured per second, in Mbps), the number of pixels in each video frame (full HD 1920x1080, or 1440x1080), frame rate (the number of frames recorded per second), and whether these frames are interlaced or progressive (whether each frame is captured in full, or whether the odd rows and even rows are captured separately.)

For highest quality capture: pick the highest bit rate, the highest number of pixels in each frame, the highest frame rate, and use progressive mode.

For the HDR-PJ790V this is [PS] quality up to 28 Mbps, 1920x1080 resolution, 60 frames per second, progressive.

The downside? All those bits take up a lot of disk space, reducing available recording time. Switching to FX or below, causes more aggressive compression that can cause compression artifacts in fast moving scenes.

My advice: stay at PS. Why compromise on quality? Just pack a external drive, and clean up space as you go.

Now, I'm done :)

Postscript: And, the East Ridge Robotics Ominous RaptorS? They ranked 20 out of 100 teams in their division (Newton). The kids had a great learning experience and the parents cheered themselves hoarse. What could be more fun! Next stop for the team the MN state championships in May!

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RL-2 Shoulder Mount Follow Focus Matte Box for DSLR Video

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,495.00
Sale Price: $494.99
Today's Bonus: 67% Off

Needed a support without paying the thousands of dollars required for the "Hollywood" equipment. This support system does everything I need it to do so far.

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Vivitar 650-1300mm f/8-16 Telephoto Lens (Black) with 2x

Customer Ratings:

Love what we can do with it! Amazing product for that price!!! Would recommend this product/seller to everyone who wants to shoot anything from VERY VERY far away!!!

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Canon PIXMA MG8120 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-in-One Printer

Customer Ratings:

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I waited to try all four features of this printer before reviewing it document printing, scanning, photo printing, and photocopying. Generally, this printer is a beauty, both looks-wise and operationally. There is a pop up screen with a very bright menu that also displays photos. You are supposed to be able to edit them right there, but I didn't actually try that feature of this printer. The sleek, shiny, black rounded body has very cool back-lit buttons for all the functions right on the top. You can also control them from the computer. I found myself going back and forth between both, for both everyday functionality and the set up.

I have to say a REALLY great feature about this printer, which I didn't expect to love as much as I do, is the wireless printing capability. You don't have to keep this printer anywhere near your computer, just an outlet. If you have a laptop and like to use it in front of the TV, you will absolutely love the freedom it provides.

I would rate all of the individual features rate highly except the document printing. Here's my review of the features from best to relatively worst:

1. Photo printing prints either directly from your card (no computer needed technically). You can print up to 600 dpi with this. The photos are crisp and clear, and color is accurate. The only thing I didn't like was the extremely rudimentary photo editing software. It is easy to use, yes, but it doesn't do much. If you want to retouch your photos, use either Photoshop or one of the free pieces of software. I like Picasa even. That may be simple, but it's better than this. Smaller printer paper loads from the back of the machine. Regular paper goes in a drawer in the front, which I really liked.

2. Photocopying I find it's a relief to have a photocopier for the occasional document that needs photocopying. Here you'll have a color copier too. The colors also rendered accurately here.

3. Scanning I tried a document and photos (you can scan your signature and then cut and paste it into letters, btw, which is a nice touch if you're sending out cover letters online). It did a great job on all kinds of documents, as well as my signature. Remember though that you can only print at 600 dpi with this machine, which may be a deal killer for a handful of people. The photo scanning wasn't quite up to the quality of the photo printing however. I scanned in a photo of my mom, and boosted the contrast slightly. The picture came out warmer and less detailed than the original photo. You can correct this on Photoshop, but in my opinion you shouldn't have to. Again, I was a little stymied by the fact that the photo editing software was so rudimentary but if you have different software you should be able to work this out.

4. Document printing this printer comes with two black cartridges one is much larger than the other one and is just for printing. I have a small laser printer and am spoiled by it, so that is the caveat. First, the documents print out very slowly. It takes a while to prepare itself to print, and then when it does start to print, it's pretty slow. That was actually the only thing that disappointed me about this printer. The document quality is very good, but in my opinion doesn't reach the near-laser quality that some of the HP printers do. Considering this is an all-in-one, you can't kill it for that issue. However, because of that and the slowness I wouldn't recommend this printer to anyone who regularly does things like college term papers, or other things where you print out large documents on a regular basis -the lack of speed would drive you crazy. I also liked my resume better on the laser printer, naturally. But the slowness and lack of laser-like crispness are what killed one of the stars on this rating. There was a cool thing about printing though the front door automatically pops open when the printer starts. I liked that.

I would say that this is an excellent printer for people who want really good photo printing, need scanning and photocopying capability, which are also good, but don't have large print jobs on a regular basis. The user interface and the beauty of the thing itself make it a complete pleasure to operate. Never thought I'd be saying that about a piece of electronic equipment. The ink cartridges are kind of small, so that's another consideration unless you can find a good, cheap dealer on E-bay.

Installation this is one where you have to be ready. Plug and play this is not. You have to load the printer head, the printer cartridges, and keep going back and forth between the computer and printer screen (which gives you directions) to set it up, no matter what the directions say. Give yourself an hour, because it may not go that smoothly. I actually had no problems already had a wireless router and didn't have to go through what some others have, but it was tedious and I did notice that you have to pay as much attention to what the computer is saying as what the printer is telling you to do, and found installing the printer head less straight forward that it should have been.

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Epson Artisan 50 Color Inkjet Printer (C11CA45201)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $229.99
Sale Price: $213.99
Today's Bonus: 7% Off

We have purchase over 200 of these printers (even here at Amazon)

and they are pretty good until you run out of ink.

The Ink can print you about 2-3 months worth if used every

other day or so. But our customers, including ourselves,

have had nothing but head aches when it comes to changing

Ink Cartridges. 47 Customers have complained it will NOT

ACCEPT 'GENUINE' Epson Cartridges. We owned 4 of them and

all 4 are currently wrapped up in their boxes ready to throw

out or send to a recycling center. All 4 printers

printed through 1 ink cycle then they started rejecting all

ink replacements. We bought ink here at Amazon rejected.

We tried the tech trick of pulling out the electrical cord,

and the USB cord, and it did accept 2 or 3 cartridges,

but eventually it started to reject all of them in time.

Keep in mind this printer has gotten fairy good reviews

the past year some individuals are being successful

with the printer but we suspect many reviews were

written before their 1st ink cycle went dry.

We noticed that (after installing the printers) The Epson

software started accessing the internet (or at least trying

to). This was to block any 3rd party Ink cartridges because

on one of the printers that WAS NOT on the internet it actually

acceptable 1 black ink 3rd party cartridge. The rest were

rejected even the "Genuine" Epson Cartridges.

Its difficult enough to have to purchase expensive

"Genuine" ink for these printers but to have them

rejected by your fairly new printer is appalling. We

have over 46 "genuine" ink cartridges that have been

returned to us (we no longer sell the ink). We used

some of the "rejected" ink on our Epson R260 models

and R280 model (those printers accepted the ink)

simply because the R260, R280 and this model -

"artisan" 50 use the same ink cartridge.

Customers have explained to us this printer model

has difficulty on accepting new cartridges no matter

where you purchased them. We have contacted

Epson by email, phone even writing them a letter,

but they yet to even try to return our messages.

Customers who have purchase this model, and have

not been subjected by the cartridge problem are very

fortunate and we are happy for them.

Overall, Epson has made this printer so INK

CARTRIDGE RESTRICTIVE that it has made us

impossible to recommend to anyone or even

give out for free.

While printing through its first ink cycle, it did

produce fine photos and fairly good text docs,

but after the ink was done it seems so was

the printer.

Update: We installed a CISS system on one

of the printers on Feb 1 2011: rejected.

On January 20th, the same model rejected

"Genuine ink" from a major store front. We

were fortunate to receive a refund on both

occasions. We aren't trying anymore. Epson

keeps ignoring our calls.

Daniel J. Tyler (WJGroup)

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Nikon COOLPIX P7800 12.2 MP Digital Camera with 7.1x Optical

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $549.95
Sale Price: $546.95
Today's Bonus: 1% Off

An early review after using this camera for a couple of hours. This jacket-pocketable camera makes good images, gives you control over crafting your photos, and is ergonomically comfortable to use. Despite the fact that I generally stay away from gimicky scene modes, I was surprised to find a couple of them appealing, including the different options for for panoramas and the color-selective filters. So far, so good.

Let's get my biases out. I have Nikon gear (a couple of SLRs) and I would prefer to have my camera work well with existing remotes, flashes, and my old P7000 batteries. I also like that the camera menus are familiar for a Nikon user and I have a good sense how the Active-D lighting, TTL flash exposure, and general focusing modes work. For me, quick comprehension and intuitive use of these controls greatly increases the cameras performance. I also prefer diopter-adjustable viewfinders due to superior performance in bright light and the fact that with bifocals, focusing on the camera screen can literally be a pain in the neck.

I am very pleased with the electronic viewfinder as it shows in the viewfinder the setting changes as you go, just like on the back screen. I found myself rapidly adjusting settings without looking, being confident that I was getting it right. The colors in the viewfinder aren't perfect, but it provides more than enough resolution to thoughtfully compose images. I found the manual focus very easy to use compared to other compact-ish cameras I've tried, especially since it can all be done through the viewfinder.

I like that the P7800 has a real lens cap, real camera heft, and real controls. Image quality is good in typical indoor lighting scenes without a flash and great outside in good light. My guess is that there those pixel peepers who will take issue with some of the performance in marginal light conditions, and if that is what you care about, you can study the reference photos of toy soldiers, books, coins, feathers, and color charts at other sites.

I'm still learning the benefits of the articulating screen, but one that I see immediately is that it can be stowed away when not in use, protecting it from sometimes rough treatment and the smudges from my nose when using the viewfinder.

It's not the snappiest camera recording images, but once on, its responsive to the shutter release (the area of performance I value). It just takes a while to write. It is faster than my P7000 (though heftier), but nowhere near as fast as my D90. It allows me to get the shots I need when I need them, except for the most demanding conditions (really low light where you need high ISO's, rapidfire sports shooting, serious macro shooting--although the macro focus functions work pretty well).

I got this camera to have at all times in my work bag as a daily-use camera so that I won't miss images when traveling for work, commuting, or running errands without the bulk of my SLR. With its viewfinder, good image quality, jacket-pocketable size, ease and familiarity in its use, it is the camera I need.

Would I like to have the larger sensor and better ISO performance in it? yes. Would I like it to be smaller? yes. Would I like it to be cheaper? Sure (I could have gotten the P7700 if I didn't prefer viewfinders). But in the overall compromise of wants for a relatively compact camera, the P7800 is what I need.

Update:

After having the camera a few weeks, I'm very happy with it. I was getting frustrated if you have it on one of the "continuous" modes or "Best Shot Selection" and raw photos, as it will take ~10 seconds to digest the photos, but single shots with raw are recorded pretty quickly. The viewfinder and the camera heft and overall design and handling makes for working well in marginal conditions, macro shooting, or generally for just carrying around. I find I'm using the button that replaced the dial on top of the P7000 for adjustments more than I used the dial, especially doing it through the viewfinder. Battery life is good when I primarily shoot with the viewfinder, not having to change the battery over the course of a long weekend and 200 shots even with the flash. Like other Nikons, the TTL flash exposure works great, and I used it to drive a SB-600 and -700 flash for a few photos of a family dinner, which came out super. Low light performance is better than I hoped, with ISO 800 working pretty well. Some examples are at my Google+ site, pretty much straight from the camera. https://plus.google.com/photos/111101223391433520330/albums/5944372096627226369?authkey=CIu-iZmb1-nuswE . I found the viewfinder nice at the concert, as it is less obtrusive to snap a shot without having to have a screen lit up.

I'm very happy to get the performance I get from a jacket pocketable camera.

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Nikon COOLPIX P520 18.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 42x Zoom

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $499.99
Sale Price: $479.95
Today's Bonus: 4% Off

I don't know much about cameras and started a photography class after i bought the camera. But I liked the camera package ,that is, the memory card, tripod, cleaning kit, etc that came with the camera. So far this camera has meet all my expectations and have lived up to what they it could do. The zoom is great and it's easy to handle. I am having fun going through the features to see what it can do.

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Canon EOS Rebel T3i 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera and DIGIC 4

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,049.99
Sale Price: $649.00
Today's Bonus: 38% Off

Buy this camera has been my best investment, it comes with everything that has, by the way .... I have taken the photos are beautiful, amazing, just .... I love amazon

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Samsung UN60ES7500 60-Inch 1080p 240Hz 3D Slim LED HDTV (Black)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $3,679.99
Sale Price: $1,949.79
Today's Bonus: 47% Off

As with any major purchase I did so much research before selecting the Samsung UN60ES7500 60-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D Slim LED HDTV. I looked at all the major brands including LG, Sharp, Toshiba, Panasonic, and Sony. I spent several weeks in my free time doing this, reading and comparing specifications, and checking customer reviews on sites like Amazon and Google Shopping. Where available for each model I looked at I read CNET and Home Theater site reviews as well.

Based on the available technologies I had to decide between Plasma and LED for starters, and then Active or Passive 3D. From my research online I discovered there were proponents in each camp, and finally I reached critical mass and realized without some hands on comparison I would never be able to decide.

My older son and I went down to the local Best Buy and basically tried all the brands mentioned above and both active and passive 3D technologies. The Samsung UN60ES7500 immediately blew away the biggest myth I had read of with Active 3D and that's not having enough of a viewing angle when move away from the center of the screen. In 2D and 3D TV we could see the picture fine when being on so much of angle where you wouldn't be able to see the front of the TV!

The TV picture for both 2D and 3D is FABULOUS! Totally blows away, as I would expect, my 5 year old 50" Panasonic plasma, and my 2 year old LG 22" LED TV. I could not be more pleased!

On the rare occasions I use the pass-through mode of my AV receiver, the sound quality if the TV speakers is decent; certainly far better than the two aforementioned TVs.

Of course while doing my research I came across complaints for this line of TVs from Samsung, such as you could not use a mouse or keyboard with it, but under mine int he setup mode are setting for a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. I'll have to try that on a later date and update this report. I also read complaints of different color lines down the display, light bleeding around the edges, and other issues, but as I said previously the picture on this unit is amazing!

More than a few of the reviews I had read mentioned the Samsung line my TV was a part of were turning themselves off for no reason. I'm theorizing this might have been because they had automatic power setting set to do this, or perhaps the voice command feature misinterpreted some TV dialog as a command to turn off the set. One reviewer mentioned when they removed theirs from the network this issue stopped, mine has been on my home network since the day it arrived, with no issues. The wireless network setup was quick and easy in fact and I've had no network related issues on either of my home wireless networks, both of which use different security settings.

Speaking of Voice Commands, this is one of Samsung's 'Smart TVs', meaning you can use a set of predefined commands and hand gestures to control it.

It should be noted I did NOT buy the set for these features, which is good because they are, in my humble opinion, not ready for prime time. Trying to get the TV to recognize, even with the TV muted, voice commands is a hit or miss proposition. It either does not recognize the initial command phrase, or it can easily misinterpret commands. How it thinks "TV Power Off"is the command for "Current Time" is beyond me. The hand gesturing also needs work. Trying to get the on screen menu to come up when holding using the waving gesture it expects, even after going through the setup calibration, rarely works, but get a bit tired and raise your hands while stretching, and Bam! it appears!

Hopefully subsequent firmware upgrades will improve this, but if you main reason for getting a Smart TV is for these features, you will be sorely disappointed.

The TV comes with a number of pre-loaded applications, such as a Netflix library and there is an application store you can choose more from. There are both free and paid apps. As the TV has a built in camera, there is also a Skype application. This is also a decent web browser; with a wireless keyboard and mouse this would be a very easy way to surf the web, check your email, etc.

So, in closing, if you're looking for a TV based on being able to dump your remote and use hand gesturing and voice commands to control it, this is NOT the TV for you. You'll be very disappointed in the poor implementation of these features based on today's firmware.

If on the other hand you're looking for a large screen, network connected 3D HD TV with a fantastic picture, a boatload of applications, and a plethora of other features this is an ideal purchase.

Because of the poor implementation of the Voice Command and Gesturing features, I'd give this TV four out of five stars.

Updated 6/8/2012

Now that I've had this TV for just over a month I thought a brief update was in order. I've seen no issues that other people had reported such as the power going off, lines down the screen, dead pixels, etc.

From a display standpoint for regular and 3D material this unit is fantastic and I am still blown away by the picture. It responds well to action scenes for TV and Movies, and for video games as well from my Xbox 360 and Home Theater PC.

As to the Smart TV functions such as voice control and gestures, they still really stink but can be downright amusing at times! Try to get the gesture control to 'see' you and no luck.. Yawn or stretch a bit and there it is! What I really find funny is dialog on the TV will often pop up the dialog for voice control and it will think I want to turn off the TV.

But again, I must stress did not buy the TV for that functionality.

If these features worked well it would certainly be a plus, but since they do not my original rating of 4 out of 5 stars stands.

Updated 11/12/2012

It's been just over six months now and I figured I'd add a quick update. With the Smart Features (Voice and hand gesturing) turned off the TV is perfect! I've not had any trouble at all with this unit in six months and the picture remains fantastic.

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Sony BDV-N7100W 5.1 Channel 3D Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $599.99
Sale Price: $528.00
Today's Bonus: 12% Off

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program For years, Bose has been making an all-in-one amplifier/receiver/media player package with an array of the iconic cube speakers. Now Sony has a similar model. Everything you need (minus the TV and an HDMI cable) is in the box, all the way down to the speaker cables. I can see the appeal of such a system to those who are not technologically proficient. Since that is the intended consumer, I will attempt to make this review as free from jargon as possible.

1) Setup

The installation was quite simple. All the cables are labeled and color-coded so that virtually anyone can install this without hassle. The front channels, center speaker, and subwoofer plug into the back while the "wireless" rear channels plug into an external amplifier that you position in the back of your room.

Once the proper connections are made, you just follow the on-screen directions to configure everything else. This amounts to making a network connection through either the built-in wifi or through an ethernet connection and calibrating the speaker levels. Interestingly, Sony includes a microphone with a long cable that plugs into the back of the unit and stretches to wherever your optimum listening position happens to be. In my case, my room layout doesn't allow me to sit in a position equidistant from the two surround channels, so the Sony unit automatically detected this and attenuated the volume on one of the rear channels to compensate for me sitting closer to it. It's actually pretty cool.

Once I went through the basic setup, there were a few software and firmware updates to install. These took about ten minutes to run, all in all. After that, I tested out the system with a Blu-ray disc and discovered that the dialogue emerging from the center channel was a bit low. Happily, this was an easy thing to adjust. Sony includes a nice menu system with good graphics to help you pick the speaker that is too quiet and change its output level. Overall, I am very pleased with the menu system. It's about as good as you'll find for a company that isn't necessarily in the business of designing stunning graphical user interfaces.

A word about the "wireless" speakers. I have no idea why companies describe speakers as "wireless." Unless you have a battery-powered speaker, it WILL need power and that means speaker cable. The only benefit here is that you don't have to run long strands of speaker cable from the front of your room to the back. Otherwise, both rear channels are 100% wired, plus you have the external amplifier that needs to be near a wall outlet. If I seem to be harping on this point, it's because people like my mother (a confirmed cable hater) always see systems advertised as having "wireless" speakers and she always thinks that, somehow, there are no cables at all.

2) The Receiver/Blu-ray Player

I must give Sony recognition for designing a nice looking unit. The touch screen is cool and the solid top slides across the top to reveal a top-loading Blu-ray spindle. It looks cool, but how does it function?

In a word, flawlessly. I read that the Blu-ray player allows you to "begin watching your movies in seconds," and I was skeptical. Any Blu-ray player I've ever encountered takes anywhere from five to ten minutes to go from disc startup to main menu. It's so annoying. There are FBI warnings, anti-piracy warnings, trailers that you can't chapter-skip, advertisements, and all sorts of other crap. It's infuriating and makes me hate the Blu-ray format. HOWEVER, this unit allows you to skip all that! It's amazing; utterly amazing. I tried six different Blu-ray discs and all but one allowed me to skip everything--even the FBI warning. "Inception" wouldn't let me skip right to the main menu, but I could chapter-skip through the previews and warnings. This is reason enough to justify a five-star review.

The various network functions worked flawlessly as well. Bluetooth allowed me to stream music through the system via my smartphone, Amazon's video service worked well, YouTube was fine, and I even tried the Internet browser. It's idiotic to try to navigate the web through your TV using a conventional remote, but hey you can do it. Netflix was great. The Sony interface for Netflix is very nice and provides a good mix of information with a clean layout. It's essentially the same as the second generation Roku box, but a bit sleeker. I still prefer the way my AppleTV handles Netflix, but this is a close second.

The YouTube interface isn't quite as good as the Netflix interface. It's a bit clunky and it uses a keyboard layout that is nonsensical. If you have to use a standard remote to enter in words, it makes a lot more sense to have the letters in a grid rather than a long horizontal line. It's not horrible, but it could be better. On that same note, every interface has a different keyboard layout. It's not a huge deal, but it would be nice if the onscreen keyboard always looked the same.

Finally, my one complaint. Yes, this system is designed to be simple and fool-proof, but the only available inputs are HDMI inputs. That means if you have some sort of archaic device like a Wii, you have no way to use it with this system. Sony does provide a couple of HDMI inputs, but some devices still need to make an RCA connection.

3) The Speakers

The speakers are decent. They have plastic bodies, so they feel a bit like over-sized computer speakers. Build quality aside, they do sound bigger than one would imagine. The system can play quite loud, and when you're watching certain kinds of movies, loudness is actually a pretty important factor.

The sound is more suited for movies than music, as one would expect. There is a lot of treble and a lot of bass so that everything sounds very bright and loud. This makes movie soundtracks pop, but when listening to music (especially acoustic music like jazz and Classical/Romantic/Baroque/whatever), the midrange is underwhelming and makes the music sound cheap. There are some built-in EQ functions so that you can get use a flatter frequency response curve, which sounds much better for music.

You can get a much more balanced sound using the Energy 5.1 Take Classic. That speaker system is superior in every category (e.g., build quality, neutrality of sound, size, usability for music) and it typically costs about half what the Sony system costs (although you'll need your own receiver and Blu-ray player, which will ultimately make it slightly more expensive). The downside is that if you're uncomfortable around technology, the Sony system is slightly easier to manage when you consider set up and the purchase of a separate receiver and Blu-ray player. Basically, if you're okay making a few simple speaker connections, I highly recommend the Energy Take Classic. Otherwise, the Sony is a reasonable substitute, provided you're using the system mainly for movies instead of music.

4) Ease of Use

As I mentioned above, the system is very easy to set up, and the onscreen menus are well organized and easy to navigate. Because you only need to make a few cable connections (most of which are color coded), installation ought to be approachable to virtually anyone who can handle a minimal amount of reading and follow the largely pictorial setup instructions.

The real test though was having my mother navigate the menu system and try out the various functions. My parents stream Netflix through their Blu-ray player and the menu system is confusing enough that she can't really get from the startup screen to the Netflix menu on her own. Yeah, it's not that hard, but she's utterly befuddled by technology. Interestingly, Sony includes a special "Netflix" button on the remote that allows you to jump straight there. With that helpful feature, I watched my own mother power up the Sony unit, open up Netflix, select a title, and start watching. I'm sure some of you will identify with this either as technophobes or as children of technophobes. It really is a well-designed system. In fact, my parents ended up liking it so much, they bought one for themselves, which allowed them to remove a big stack of audio equipment and a tangled mess of cables.

5) Overall

I highly recommend the Sony BDV-N7100W system. It's simple, but not simplistic. It works well, it has a nice array of useful features, the speakers are decent, and it's easy to set up and use. And most of all, the fact that the Blu-ray player allows you to skip to the main menu (or at least chapter skip) really lessens the usual aggravation that accompanies Blu-ray discs. This is an excellent product all around.

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