Pentax MX-1 Silver 12MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $399.95
Sale Price: $249.00
Today's Bonus: 38% Off

The more time I spend with my MX-1, the more I love it.

I like the image quality, its ISO range (100-12,800), the fast 1.8-2.5 lens, and the DUAL sensor Shake Reduction that allows me to take shots in low light or slow speeds, without blurring. Also remember it has the best ISO performance "for under $500" according to Dxomark (

I've found the tiltable screen to be a great feature for street photography, as I can tilt it and make like I'm reviewing or fiddling with the buttons, and make the shot surreptitiously without disturbing people ;)

The filters included (B&W, Sepia, Toy Camera, Retro, Extract Color, Fish Eye, Miniature, etc.) are fun to use (up to 20 filters can be combined and applied to the same image according to the user manual).

It also has a RAW development feature but I prefer to do it in my laptop.

HDR has worked very good at night and in landscapes and three modes are available: Standard, Strong 1, and Strong 2.

The 1cm macro is wonderful and I've enjoyed it shooting flowers and insects with very good results.

I take one star off for a few reasons:

1) the MX-1 can't take filters and I would like to use a polarizing, and permanently put an UV to protect the lens.

2) I find it annoying when I turn on the camera when the cap is on and I get a "Please confirm the lens cap is removed" message, and the camera then turns off. Maybe it can be corrected with a new firmware release. UPDATE: I NOTICED THAT THIS FEATURE CAN PREVENT THE LENS FROM ACCIDENTALLY EXTENDING WHEN INSIDE A CASE OR BAG! so it can be a good thing after all...

3) A hot shoe for a flash or external mic would've been a good addition.

I really hope Pentax releases a filter adapter (if possible), a good protector case, and more optional accessories for this camera.

P.S. By the way, I don't know why up to date (March 14th 2013), the MX-1 is not mentioned in Pentax's japanese website! maybe Japan is not the target of this camera??? (Update: On April 9th, MX-1 appeared on the mentioned website)

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Update March 24th: Saving files when shooting in RAW is slow and a "Data being recorded" message appears in the screen and the camera freezes until the process finishes. I've made some tests with class 6 and class 10 cards and I've found that the fastest the card the better the writing speed -as one can expectbut even with a very fast card (Sandisk Pro 95mb/s), the message still appears. So that makes me think that the camera's algorithm is the culprit.

Also there is a "Deleting" message that appears every time I delete a photo and it takes like a second to disappear from the screen.

I'm sure a firmware update can change this and make the camera faster.

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Update April 20th: 1) The MX-1 is really good for street photography! (I've done some more shots in public parks and the camera reacted fast focusing and taking the shot)

2) In bright sunny days photos have a blue cast that I think is because of the UV rays.

3) Some third-party lens adapters have appeared for the MX-1. Also, a few leather half camera cases are available now.

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Update May 6th: I video recorded a full rock concert (stopping after each song) and the battery (previously full charged) drained in a approximately 1 1/2 hours. It wasn't an issue as I took a couple of spare batteries with me. The recording was made in full HD, and the image & sound quality turned out very good.

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Lilliput 7" 664/o/p LED Camera-top Monitor with Hdmi/in&out+av

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $499.00
Sale Price: $377.10
Today's Bonus: 24% Off

I have not spent a lot of time with this monitor yet, but it seems to deliver on the features I need, which includes audio meters, a decent hood, a nice image, and a histogram. I don't use the peaking in my setups.

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Hisense 65K560DW 65-Inch 1080p 240Hz 3D Internet LED HDTV

Customer Ratings:

Hisense is giving big name brands a run for their money! We now own 3 Hisense TV's. I've always been a big fan of Samsung and trying a brand that was new to the TV market was a little scary; however, for all the bells and whistles that this TV offers stacked up against another brand with same features this TV was half the cost! We've had the 46" Hisense TV for about 6 months. The 65" and a 42" Hisense, we've had for a little over a month. So far so good. Plug and play out of the box, but those who like to tweek I think just about everything in this TV can be! Also, we love all the inputs and we are using most of them!

Can't really comment on Wi-fi features as we have ethernet wired in the house and the 65" has our media center computer hooked to it. TV sound is OK but let's face it if you are considering a 65" TV you would likely have some sort of home theater system. Love the slim design and frame.

3D features are awesome! Even the 2D to 3D conversion looks great! It adds more depth to a 2D movie. But WOW watch a movie that was actually filmed in 3D and things jump out at you! You can tell the difference between a movie that was "remade" in 3D versus a movie that was filmed in 3D. Not the TV's fault by any means just sharing there is a difference. Unfortunately there are not a lot of movies to choose from at this point that were filmed in 3D. Avatar and Step UP Revolution (the 4th movie in Step Up series) were filmed in 3D. There are some others but these two are my favorites for 3D effects.

One thing to mention the 65" is so new that Hisense employees don't know much about it yet. The TV shipped with 2 pairs of active 3D glasses model # FPS3D06. They have active shutters and run on batteries that are not rechargeable. If you want additional pairs of the same model, you will have to order from China. I found them on E-Bay. If you want rechargeable glasses (which we prefer) call Hisense USA and order model FPS3D02. These are interchangeable with the FPS3D06 that come with the TV. If you see on the internet somewhere that model FPS3D05 is compatible with the 65" TV beware they are not! The 05's are RF glasses and do work with our 42" Hisense. The 65" TV transmits an IR signal for 3D glasses.

We are not usually "trail blazers" on new technology but when we saw the price of this TV compared to other brands with same features we thought we'd give them a try. To this point we have not been disappointed. Exceptional TV for an exceptional price!

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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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Wacom Cintiq 12WX 12-Inch Pen Display

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,199.00
Sale Price: $1,049.00
Today's Bonus: 13% Off

At first glance, it's an amazing product. It's a great size, it's thin, bright, with nice buttons and a nice pen.

I just got mine and am using it to work with as a normal tablet (to control the cursor on my main screen), and also to work directly on and draw/paint.

I use a 21" Cintiq at work and also have a 6x8 Intuos 3 tablet that I used before getting this new 12" Cintiq.

The 12" Cintiq has a lot of flaws so much so that I think I may have to return it, which is really disappointing.

First. Though it's a "12-inch" screen, I'd say it's more like a 10". Why? Because when you move the cursor to the edges of the screen a little over an inch away from each border, the cursor starts to shake tremendously. This simply doesn't fly when you're trying to keep a steady hand and get a good line while drawing or painting. It's also very annoying when you're just trying to click on something in the menu bar at the top of the screen. The cursor looks like it's spazzing out and it's really hard to live with.

I think part of the reason for this may be because of the limited 2-point calibration, as someone else who reviewed on here talked about. The calibration is just nowhere near refined enough.

Like I said, I also have a 21" Cintiq and I don't have this problem with that. They just didn't do a good job with the 12".

Second. The excessive cables. They really need to figure out how to slim this down and simply it and I think they could. Before you buy look at the manual online and see all that you have to do to get this thing working. If you're thinking about taking it with you on the go with your laptop, forget it. There's so much to have to deal with. I don't see why they can't just make a simple cable like Apple's Cinema displays it plugs into the DVI port, a usb port for the pen to work, and then a power brick, which then plugs into the wall. That'd be so much simpler. The cintiq itself is very thin so it lends itself to portability, but when you have to consider all the extra cables and connections you have to make, it doesn't work out so well.

Third. The quality of the screen. It is cheap. When I first plugged it in I wasn't disappointed I saw my desktop background on this small 12" screen and it looked nice and bright. But then I started working with it. When you're actually drawing in Photoshop the line doesn't look nearly as crisp as on my Apple Cinema display. Text also suffers. Just reading through web pages it's quite noticeable. I think another review said that they just used a cheap laptop screen, and after working with it for a couple days, I think that person was right.

There are nice things about it. The design is nice and like I said before, it's nice and thin so it sits nicely on my desk (a problem I have with the bigger ones is that they are SO bulky).

It's easy to pick up and put in your lap. And the stand is nice too.

I really wish that it didn't have the problems that it does because I'd love it to work well.

My main problem has to be the cursor jumping around and shaking it's really awful and I don't think I can stand it. It's worst at the edges of the screen, but you can't even click and drag to scroll down a web page without the cursor shaking. It's not only annoying, it's almost unusable. I'm used to using my Intous 3 and my goodness what a difference. That one is SO much better at tracking your pin movement.

Worth $1000? Not at all. Hopefully they'll come out with a better updated one sometime soon then it may be worth the price.

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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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Panasonic Lumix DMC-G10 12-MP Live MOS Interchangeable Lens SLR

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $824.84
Sale Price: $599.90
Today's Bonus: 27% Off

This is my third Lumix camera the others were more point and shoot, this had what I was looking for in a digital camera automatic exposure and focus as well as manual control of both focus and exposure. The fast mos sensor is a great plus and can now capture subjects in motion without blur. It's easy to use and even though it has many features they are quite easy to learn too.

My previous camera kit was Canon with the FD lenses, I will never buy new Canon kit again after they dropped support for FD lenses. I'm glad I found Micro Four Thirds which appears to becoming the standard across several makes. I can even use my FD lenses with an adaptor. It would have been nice to have had a full frame (35mm) digital camera but they are far too expensive and most haven't adaptors for FD lenses. The surprising feature of using my Canon FD lenses on this camera is that they have an equivalent focal lenth doubled and my telephoto's are really useful my 500mm reflector becomes a 35mm equivalent of 1000mm great for wildlife. The same with my other lenses my Canon 50mm f1.4 becomes 100mm f1.4 who could afford that for a 35mm camera. Canon FD lenses are among the best and I'm glad I can still use them. For those of you who haven't any Canon lenses they are cheap used.

The manual focus is good and easy although the eye level finder could be better it gets the job done. I think this camera with a suitable adaptor would be good for anyone migrating from film to digital it's not too expensive and it has lots of useful features.

The bottom line, I like it it suits the way I take pictures it's also nice to play with trying out different things.

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Zoom H6 6 Track Portable Digital Recorder

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $499.99
Sale Price: $399.99
Today's Bonus: 20% Off

Zoom H4n is now obsolete with the release of this device.

I have been a long term user of the H4n and I swore by it in the field to record solid audio for my DSLR video work as well as quick mix downs when doing live audio recordings for my business. This device was a godsend when it released and I have been using it for years. I always thought, how could you make it better than it is today, and the H6 addressed all of my issues that I had.

Pros:

* The mic pre-amps in this device are far superior to the H4n. The noise floor is lower and my post work after shooting video with my DSLR is much better, the audio sounds warmer and clearer and it appears that the signal is a lot cleaner at low dBs

* 4 channels of XLR right out of the box! I love it! Now I can do a backup recording or record 4 XLR's at the same time! I can't tell you how many times I would have loved to push up the pre-amp just a bit to drive out the noise but I couldn't becuase of clipping. Now this is not a concern as you have individual compression on each channel and the ability to do a dual recording with a backup with less gain.

* Yes this does fit in the H4n SKB waterproof case. As soon as I got the device, I pulled the H4n out of the case and put this right into it, with all of the accessories with no problems. The H6 without the mics attached is exactly the same size as the H4n

* The gain dials are smooth and a perfect addition. Much better than the push button gain control on the H4n

* Pad switches right on top. Perfect

* Full Color Display is way better on the eyes and great in low light, and now the display dims to save battery versus turning off the backlight completely. Try turning the H4n light back on in a dark room. Not happening!

* Very solidly built. It is a solid piece of hardware. There are no squeaks and the buttons are solid. The record button is recessed and absolutely silent, so when making track markers you don't get that click sound in your recordings when using the device on top of a camera.

* Two headphone outputs is awesome addition. Now you can direct monitor and send a line out at the same time

* Now theres a track mixer onboard. After recording or even monitoring the sound you can mix the tracks on the fly and run those thru the line out into you camera rig.

* Interchangeable mics are AWESOME!

Cons:

* Menus are now buried. The H4n had quick access to changing bit rates, Folders, File Format, and Speed. I miss that and some thought should have been given to keeping a least the file format and folder buttons as quick access keys. It would have been awesome

* Takes more batteries, but what do you expect with a device with 2 more inputs available

* Select/Enter button is not consistent. Sometimes you have to push the side switch in and other times you have to press the record button to select items in the menus. Don't know why this is not constant. This could be improved in a firmware upgrade.

* Select button has to be pressed very far in. Button could have used a shorter throw.

Overall:

This is a killer device. Where else can you get a six track ultra mobile recorder with 24 bit 96k recording capability. The preamps are better, and footprint is about the same as the old version. This device is a must buy for any DSLR filmmaker or if you have pro setup and need more than 2 audio inputs. If you already have an H4n then and never find yourself needing more than 2 inputs then you might want to pass. But for all others this is an awesome device!

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Canon EOS 7D 9 Lens Deluxe Kit with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II

Customer Ratings:

Great camera, great price. It's a good package to start with, and has good basic

starter lenses. It also came with a nice bag. Everything arrived promptly. I'm very satisfied with my Canon 7D camera and package.

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Dell All-in-One Wireless Printer (V515w)

Customer Ratings:

This printer is horrific. I purchased it from the Dell website when buying a new tower for my desktop. The worst feature is that the ink cartidges last for about twenty pages. Print a couple of articles and a couple of map quest directions and you're done. The next worst is that the wireless feature doesn't work much of the time. One has to reboot both computer and printer to allow them to find one another. You won't receive an error message every time often simply nothing will happen. Or you will receive an error message even though the indicator light shows the printer is connected to the network. To top it off, good luck finding cartridges unless you go to Staples or some other specialty store. Places like CVS only carry HP catridges. Literally, I wouldn't even give this printer to a impoverished friend in need of one.

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HTC Flyer 7 inch 32GB 3G WiFi Android Tablet Network:

Customer Ratings:

I bought the wi-fi version, but I noticed a couple of "cons" in the reviews below and thought that if I responded to them, it might help those users enjoy their Flyers more. Here's a couple of things I learned while using my Flyer...

-THE STYLUS-It's true that you can't use the pen-tip of the stylus to select most icons outside of the special "scribe-compatible" apps...however, the opposite end (the "eraser" side) of the stylus works as a capacitive stylus. That's the same as what you might buy for an ipad or any number of different capacitive screen devices. I wouldn't suggest using it unless you already have a screen protector on the Flyer as it's a metal stylus and could scratch the screen. Now, I don't know whether it's easier just to use your finger than to flip the pen around, but the option is there.

-THE SCREEN-The Flyer has an autodimmer on it which, when placed on the default setting of auto, tends to make the Flyer look washed out. Setting it to the highest level makes it nice and bright, and an easy competitor to other devices out there. I downloaded an power control app (free) that allows you to toggle between three different settings easily from your homescreen.

-THE POWER PLUG-While the Flyer *does* ship with a special plug, the port itself will accept any of the standard microusb cables that work on most new phones these days. At first glance, with that vaguely horseshoe shaped hole, it doesn't look like a standard plug will fit, but it does, and snugly. Just make sure you line it up correctly. I don't know if the full plug that ships with the Flyer charges faster, but I use a regular microusb cable to charge my Flyer every day, and it works wonderfully.

-VIDEO OUT-Ok, I know this wasn't a con that someone listed, but this was almost a dealbreaker for me until I saw a video review on youtube. The Flyer doesn't appear to have video out like most devices do (HDMI, etc), but the power port serves double duty as a video out port. You have to buy an adaptor, but it does work. Not the easiest way to get video out, but it may be worth it for those who could use the feature.

I hope that helps...

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Pentax K-30 lens kit white w DA 18-55WR Weather-Sealed 16 MP

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $799.95
Sale Price: $750.09
Today's Bonus: 6% Off

This camera is mostly for those photographers who wish to make high quality stills (as opposed th video) and have an awesome arsenal of operating modes and the availability of a vast selection of fine optics.

Weak spots: Video imaging does not measure up to comparable Nikon and Canon models. It is very sensitive to the brand of SDHC memory cards chosen; class 10 Sony cards are not recognized. I have had good luck with Kingston cards and Pentax forum members suggest staying with Sandisk.

All Pentax 35mm film camera lenses from screwmount Takumar with bayonet adapters to the present will work in at least one or more modes. Love the idea of non-obsolesence.

Great handling and intuitive controls. An adapter is available for using four AA batteries in place of the rechargable lithium.

The dirt and moisture sealing makes shooting in those tough situations really free of stress.

A replacement model with a higher price has already been introduced with the capacity to wirelessly send images to another device ( I don't need that feature).

I am very pleased with the performance. Working with RAW images mad eon this camers gives the serious shooter an qualitative advantage over images made with competing Brands.

I can live with the fact that the body is polycaronate and not pro-level magnesium alloy.

Get one of these while you still can!

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Sony Alpha NEX-6 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 16-50mm Zoom

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $898.00
Sale Price: $748.00
Today's Bonus: 17% Off

The Sony NEX-6 camera and the new kit lens have exceeded my expectations. It is the sharpest, fastest digital camera I have ever owned and I have owned many including Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Fuji. It took some reading and playing with it to fully appreciate it and get it functioning the way I want to use it. There are enough options to assign functions to quick buttons so you don't have to go digging into the menu system to get the setup you want. It's amazing the capability they have packed into such a small camera and lens combo. The few negative comments I may have had are far outweighed by the results I am getting. The electronic viewfinder is amazing and has me shooting like I did in my days with an SLR. For a right handed person it is perfect. For a left handed person--learn to shoot right handed. The accessories packaged with this kit are great, especially considering this kit is priced only slightly more than the camera and lens alone. I especially like the wide angle and tele lens adapters. They are very useful and make me less compelled to go out and buy more lenses right away. Spare battery, charger, filters, cleaners are very useful. A lens hood and flash would be nice additions. The included camera case was quickly relegated to an old camera and a new one acquired for my needs. I tried my Canon Speedlight on the hotshoe. It does not function as an automatic flash synched with camera settings, but it does work fine in bounced mode. Perhaps a dedicated Sony flash is needed to be fully automated. I don't know if the accessory shoe would solve this problem or not. I could not get a direct answer to my question on the Sony Support Site. I know they can't guarantee their answers. I was just asking for help with their best guess. The wifi setup is extremely tedious and frustrating. A touch screen is definitely needed but not available. Keying in your wifi settings and passwords by scrolling thru a tiny table on the LCD screen is awful. Especially when you have to keep entering the information again when it fails. It took me 3 days to get the wifi working. When I finally got to the Sony site to download the apps I got the message the site was down for maintenance. It took me another 24 hours to get the apps. I think Sony at least should allow you to perform these functions while connected to a PC by a cable so you can use the keyboard. I would call myself an advanced amateur (50 years in photography) and did a lot of research of available cameras before deciding on the NEX-6. It is expensive but with this camera you can start off with no experience using the iAuto modes and get outstanding results. For the pro, it has everything you can ask for without stepping up to the size and expense of a DSLR. No one will be disappointed with this camera choice. Amazon and it's vendor are great--I had the camera in two days.

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Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD SP Zoom Lens with Case + 3

Customer Ratings:

LensWow. Very nice glass. I bought this lens for my 5d mkii and couldn't be happier with the sharpness and the bokeh that comes from 2.8. The VC is effective and the manual focus override is nice for dialing in the exact focal point you want. The focus is quick and spot on. Build quality is superb, I just cant complain about this lens.

Package dealFilters are ok for starters and bag quality is marginal but works great for a 2nd equipment bag.

I did lots of research before choosing this lens and I'm very happy with it.

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Nintendo DS Lite Onyx Black

Customer Ratings:

I've read some reviews on Amazona and CNET lists as a drawback of the game its tendency to draw swirls and surface scratches. Just let me say that's not really a terrible problem. I just thought I'd share how to remove scratches from the glossy surface of the Nintendo DS Lite games. I refinish guitars, so I know quite a few tricks with plastic (for pickguards). I recently bought a used DS Lite (glossy black) for my son from Ebay. It had a bunch of surface scratches, swirls and one nasty scuff (must have been dropped/slid on the floor!). My son was quite distraught, but I wasn't. The nice shining finish might look fragile and daunting to touch but it's not. You just need to use auto rubbing compound on the DS Lite (light or dark) to remove scratches and swirls. I use Turtle Wax Premium Grade Rubbing Compound ($6-7), but you could use Meguires, or any other one easily found at auto stores. Just make sure its a good quality, liquid fine grit compound. You simply get a soft cloth and rub the swirls/scuff/minor scratches with the rubbing compound. I apply it and rub it without letting the compound dry, it works faster that way. It took me about 8 seconds to remove what looked like a bad permanent scuff and have the unit shine again like new. I also removed all the swirls in about a minutes time. Very simple and safe! I do this all the time with guitar pickguard to restore them. Cheers!

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Olympus PEN E-PL2 12 MP CMOS Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $749.99
Sale Price: $510.21
Today's Bonus: 32% Off

I asked Olympus if I could review this camera. I had written reviews for them before. To preface the review I will mention that I own several of the Olympus EP2 cameras and the EPL1 camera. While the EPL series cameras don't come with the accessory finder, VF-2, I consider it the reason to buy this camera and this family of cameras. More on that in a second. I gave this camera five stars but you should be clear that all ratings are contextual. It's not a better camera than a Nikon D3 or a Canon 1dsmk3 but it is a wonderful and very capable camera for $600 (with a lens). I consider it an $800 camera because I want to be able to use the 1.4 megapixel finder.

Reasons not to buy one: 1. You shoot sports and need super fast autofocus and a very fast frame rate. 2. You rarely see daylight and want a camera that shoots noise free from 3200 ISO up. Nope, this one is not your camera.

Reasons to buy one: 1. The files right out of the camera (as jpegs) are very nice. Rich and accurate color and nice balance of sharpness and contrast. 2. It's a very stealthy package that flies under the radar, masquerading as a point and shoot but fully capable of great results. No one will guess that you're a serious photographer. 3. With adapters there is a very wide range of lenses from other manufacturers that work well with the camera. If you want to try a Nikon or Leica lens for some street shooting this would be the camera to try it with.

The big question I got over and over again in response to my review on my blog was whether this camera has better image quality that the EPL1. No. I find them identical. But the newer screen and newer controls are better.

The HD video is limited to 7 minutes per take but the quality (720) is very good and the camera has full manual controls for every facet. You'll need to buy an Olympus adapter if you want to use external microphones.

Why do I like these cameras? Because they are quick to operate and very, very lightweight. I like to spend hours and hours walking thru city streets shooting and the cameras are light enough to make this an enjoyable thing. Not a job-like task.

Now, on to the finder. I'm old fashioned. I just don't like composing a scene at arm's length. it's a very compromised technique. Olympus makes a great electronic viewfinder that works with all the Pen cameras and also the new xz-1 compact camera. It's a 1.4 megapixel finder. It's very detailed and makes the camera a wonderful tool. I wouldn't consider buying any of the Pens unless I budgeted for the finder as well.

Bottom line? Great camera for the money. Just make sure you are buying it for the right reasons.

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LaCie d2 USB 3.0 Thunderbolt Series 4TB External Hard Drive

Customer Ratings:

LaCie's 3TB Thunderbolt/USB3 drive has very easy and clear setup utilities. I plugged it into a new iMac, using the included Thunderbolt cable, and the setup utility came up right away. They offer options to partition with shared Windows and Mac formatting, or all Windows, or all Mac. I decided to have 250 GB with Windows format and 2750 GB with Mac format -since I sometimes run Windows 8 using VMWare and it will be handy to access the Windows partition to share more files between Mac and Windows. The big Mac partition is used as an alternate drive for Time Machine backups, saving multiple virtual hard drives for running different OSs in VMWare, manual backups for Lightroom, and a scratch drive for Photoshop.

The setup utility also offers an option to install (1) LaCie's backup utility, (2) a utility that enables you to access encrypted drive content from anywhere on the Internet, and (3) an encryption utility. The utilities are also available if you use a Windows machine. All of the utilities and the drive itself have good documentation in multiple languages, with the option to access up-to-date documentation from LaCie's site on the web. I decided to skip the backup utility, since Time Machine does a good job for what I need, and OS X 10.8 allows Time Machine to use two drives and alternate backups.

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