Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX10 16.2 MP Waterproof Digital Still Camera

Customer Ratings:

First, some background on what I was looking for: I'm a casual photographer. I wanted a waterproof camera which would produce high-quality photos in all settings (indoor, outdoor, and underwater. My intention was to completely replace my 7.2MP Sony DSC-W7, which I LOVE. I wanted to add the underwater feature without compromising on other features. I did not want to spend more than about $400 for everything (camera, two 8GB memory cards (Class 10), two extra batteries with charger, and float strap. This left me with about $340 max to spend on the camera itself. I do NOT know a lot about photography. Terms like "ISO" and "white balance" are foreign to me. I like to use pre-programmed scene modes and auto features. I enjoy digital scrapbooking and I frequently zoom and crop. It takes a very high quality photo to crop out/enlarge a small figure without too much distortion.

I began my search online and spent about 6 hours researching the cameras in my price range. The cameras I focused on most were the Canon D10, Sony TX10, Panasonic TS3 (sometimes referred to as FT3), Olympus TG-810, Olympus Tough 8010, Fujifilm XP30, and Pentax WG-1.

I eliminated most of these options rather quickly based on their reviews, overall ratings, and the quality of photos that I reviewed. I narrowed my focus to the Canon D10, the Sony TX10, and the Panasonic TS3.

I wanted to love the Canon D10, since it seems to be the overwhelming fan favorite, but I ultimately decided that it wasn't going to be a good fit for me. The price of the D10 is similar to the Sony and the Panasonic, but it's a 2.5 year old model which doesn't have HD video. The photo quality seemed about equivalent to the other two, so I decided to only focus on the two models with HD video.

I would have been completely sold on the Sony, since I've used only Sony cameras most of my adult life and I've never been disappointed in one; however, there were some notable deficiencies which most reviewers found with this model (detailed below), so I was a bit hesitant to take the plunge. The Sony was also priced near the top of my budget ($329), whereas the Panasonic was only $275 at Amazon.com. The Panasonic reviews seemed to all be very positive, with the only significantly commonly-noted problem being lower quality indoor photos. However, all of the indoor, outdoor, and underwater photos that I reviewed online looked very good.

I decided to take a chance on the Panasonic TS3 and I really, really, wanted to fall in love with it. I ordered it from Amazon and they delivered it the next day. I wasn't blown away by this camera. The outdoor photos were good. The video was very good. The underwater photos (taken in my large fish tank) were very good. The indoor photos were POOR. I decided to order the Sony TX10, hoping that I'd see better results. I ordered it from Amazon at 9pm that night and it was delivered at 1:00pm the next day (gotta love Amazon!). The photo quality of the Sony camera is outstanding. I'll be keeping the Sony TX10!!! For some people, however, the Panasonic might be the better choice.

First, I'll provide my overall recommendations, then I'll add in all of the detail:

BUY THE SONY TX10 IF:

You value the quality of the photos/video above all else.

You like touch screen devices.

You don't plan to dive lower than 16 feet.

You don't care if you can't adjust your settings (other than zoom) underwater.

You want a VERY small camera.

You always use a wrist strap.

BUY THE PANASONIC TS3 IF:

You can live with grainy indoor photos.

You don't typically enlarge your photos to 100% (because they will be distorted).

You want a camera with GPS.

You plan to dive deeper than 16 feet.

You want a larger (but not too big) camera.

You're looking for a less expensive option.

NOW FOR MY DETAILED COMMENTS ON BOTH MODELS:

PRICE The Sony is +/$50 more expensive than the Panasonic.

SIZE The Sony is significantly smaller and lighter than the Panasonic. I don't think one is better than the other, per se. It's a matter of personal preference. The Sony will fit in most pockets. The Panasonic probably wouldn't.

RUGGEDNESS Both cameras are rated very well in this area. I haven't "tested" them, but it seems like the Panasonic is built a bit tougher and would be less likely to get destroyed in a fall. Rather than test this feature, I'm going to just trust the experts that either one will hold up well if dropped.

UPDATE: I also posted this review on another site and I recently added photos to it. Seeing is believing!

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Canon EOS Rebel T3I 18MP Digital SLR Camera Body (kit box)

Customer Ratings:

The Canon T3I with 18 MP is everything I needed in a digital SLR for an advanced amateur photographer. The camera takes great photos and uses my existing Canon lenses.

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Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 3CCD AVCHD 24fps Camcorder

Customer Ratings:

I received my 150 a little over a week ago. Bought it because I wanted to move up to HD and get out of the tape business. It did not come with an SDHC card. Bought an 8 GB to carry me over until my 16 GB cards arrive via Amazon. I am still on the learning curve on it. Especially liked the large comfortable color view eye piece. I was also amazed by the clarity of the video play back on my 48" LCD screen. Used the three cable output first, that came with the camera( Video, Lt. Rt. Audio )

Very clear video, much clearer than my trusty old Canon GL-2 It does not come with an HDMI cable. Bought one locally and tried it. Plugged one end into the HDMI out port on the camera and the other end into the HDMI port of my TV. I was blown away by how clear it was !! The video was clearer than some of the stations I view in HD.

On playback, you are given a thumbnail of the first frame of each scene you shot when you turned the camera on. On playback, you can skip around the scenes you want to view , or delete if needed. The focus assist is another nice feature. When you use it, it momentarily zooms in on the middle of your next shot so that you can fine focus if needed.

It has many other features that I have not tried yet. On editing, bought the Pinnacle 12 Ultimate because it is set up to handle the AVHCD format and a PC with the AMD quad Phenom processor with 3 GB of RAM. Waiting for a more powerful graphics card to arrive before trying to edit in this new format. The battery that came with it is small. Would recommend buying the larger battery as soon as you can to balance it out. Right now, it feels a little out of balance because of the smaller battery. Also liked the solid magnesium body. No plastic anywhere ! Overall, I am impressed with this camera.

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T-Mobile Prism Prepaid Android Phone (T-Mobile)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $149.99
Sale Price: $129.99
Today's Bonus: 13% Off

I'm an experienced Android user, and so far the phone is working pretty well. We'll see how long it lasts after the first full month of use. The features on this phone are nice, the screen is simple and the phone is thin and light. Plenty of space for music, photos, and videos. Added with an SD card, it holds a lot. I don't normally care for touch screen keyboards but I'll make an exception for this one. Tipping the phone sideways lengthens the keyboard and makes texting easier. The web browsing is excellent, very clear and allows full page exploration. Comes with the Android Gingerbread system, which is nice. Its fast and has a lot of nifty features. Overall, excellent phone.

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TRUE NIGHTVISION MIDLAND AM/FM CLOCK RADIO COVERT CAMERA/DVR

Customer Ratings:

The Reception could be a little better , but My Product may have been Damaged in Shipping .

Radio worked fine .

I would have like to also have Sound being recorded also ..

Make Sure You get the 4AA battery version .

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Archos 5 160 GB Internet Tablet with Android

Customer Ratings:

I have to say that I went against my gut when purchasing this device, as it looked really nice, and really, I wanted it for watching movies, listening to music and checking the internet quickly when I am on the run in airports.

The movie portion worked really well. For that, I give this device 5 STARS...I actually downloaded movies to my Amazon Unbox, then hooked up the Archos and bam, instantly on my new Archos 5 (well, after the movie downloaded to my unbox in 1.5 hours).

The music portion also works flawlessly. Not really any hiccups there, and the sound was good, but could be better. For that, I would give it 4 stars...

SO FAR SO GOOD RIGHT?

WRONG

First, I had the reset this device 5 times in 2 days because it just plain froze up. I would get multiple error messages when I was connected to internet, dropping the connection frequently (and yeah, I'm pretty skilled at making that work). TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE.

And I don't want to hear how a simple patch or download will fix this issue. If it doesn't work out of the box, than DON'T SHIP IT!! I've been reading that apparently, Archos is getting slammed with this stuff after only a week.

FOR THAT, it gets 1 STAR and should get ZERO stars!!

Second, the Appslib was never installed on this device. I called customer service, was talking to someone in 5 minutes, who then put me on hold for 45 MINUTES!! After 45 minutes (I only stayed on hold that long cause I was watching NFL game so I had nothing else to really attend to at the time), the phone rang for 10 more minutes, and then, line went dead. PATHETIC!!!!

I am reading that some software update added actually might have been the reason for the Appslib to never appear, and if you look at Amazon site, they pulled the 160GB version.

For that, I give it NEGATIVE STARS...TERRIBLE service and TERRIBLE that this device did not come preloaded as advertised.

I am sending it back and will use my Toshiba Netbook to watch movies on the plane rides for now. I'm really disappointed. The device itself was really nice and sleek looking. The interface was nice.

The resistive keyboard was kind of annoying as it took a pretty good finger press to make it respond, but worked well enough. I learned to type pretty well on it in 2 days.

I'm ANNOYED!!!

I would have bought the ZuneHD but the screen is too small for movies, as well as the Ipod touch..

I'm now considering the Viliv ex70 as I've heard great things and it's gotten favorable reviews.

I've read Archos history but wanted this device to work...The Android platform has a lot of potential and anything google touches pretty much works as advertised.

Now, I'll have to shop around a little.

I can tell you one thing...unless people start giving this device 4-5 stars when the bugs are worked out, I'll never buy another thing from this company.

EDIT TO REVIEW:

I have downloaded a new firmware update and the device is no longer needing to be reset constantly. It also does not lag any longer and seems a little more snappy and responsive. I'm going to hold on to it for now and see how this plays out over the next 3 weeks. I'm actually flying to CA for a sales meeting next week and so it'll be tested well. If I find it is just needing more debugging it's going back and I'll also update again.

I have 2 movies that I just loaded to it from Unbox. Wolverine and The Dark Knight...Both look very good, although I'd love to get my hands on a HD version of these movies to push to the device.

I'm nervous, however, to buy the HD plugin because I've read somewhere that it does not work or does not read that you have purchased it.

One last thing:

I also just read now that on the Viliv you can actually run Windows 7. It has a camera, and if that is the case, you can snap photos and then ink on them which I do when I'm on job sites taking photos and marking up buildings and plans. That seems practical to me. However, it's expensive (around $800-$900) and this device would be GREAT if these bugs go away.

Let me also so, GET THE 32GB NOT THE 160GB model. The 32GB runs SSD and it very snappy. It's also half the weight and thin.

I'd say it's as thin as my wife's iphone and as heavy as holding a large starbucks coffee. It's light and thin.

I have yet to try the GPS software but plan on downloading it from the disk provided to get the 7 day trial out of it. I'd LOVE that to work. Has a lot of potential when the 3D maps are available for the US in 2nd quarter of 2010.

BEWARE, not matter how much you want something...BEWARE

UPDATE #2: Done with it. It is going back NOW. I did the firmware update and it did NOTHING to help this machine. At first it appeared to make the system work faster, but then, it has frozen up 2 more times. Furthermore, I tried to install the GPS 7 day trial using the disk and the device again froze up. Sorry, but I cannot believe that these people would let these go out the door KNOWING it has issues. How the hell can they NOT know? If everyone here but one person has given this thing pretty poor marks, are they only using fully functional and perfectly tested devices?

Literally, look at the reviews and you will see what I am talking about. It's amazing to me that a company would do this. Yes, large companies have devices that periodically are returned defective. But at the rate that these people are getting complaints, you have to wonder how this could go on for the period of time that it has.

So, Archos will never get another dime from me, unless of course they come out with a fully functional non brick like device that people are raving about. I believe my next device will be a Viliv. I have read review after review on those devices and they are almost all positive. The machines perform the way they were intended to, unlike this one.

And it's too bad...this is such a nice looking and feeling device. The screen is nice, it feels really easy to use in the hand...It's a shame it just does not perform.

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OEM Replacement DVD 7" Touchscreen GPS Navigation Unit

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,999.00
Sale Price: Price Unavailable
Today's Bonus: 70% Off

I installed this into a 2013 Tahoe and all stock features worked as advertised, using provided cabling. Looks seamlessly stock, but has better features than Stock GM Navigation system. I had to splice into my factory rear camera at the rear-view mirror connector (Pins 6-white and 7-Blue) to use the Head Unit's RCA REAR-VIEW camera connection. You can also purchase a USB adapter to connect the New Navigation USB to the Truck USB cable for $3 on Amazon which will allow the USB connection in the console to communicate to your new Navigation unit for playing video/audio media. Maps were updated through May-2012 and can be updated through a micro-SD slot in the front. The menus are very simple to use and response between all Input/Outputs Navigation/XM-radio/DVD/Aux is extremely fast. I would highly recommend this system to anyone not wanted to shell out what the dealer is wanting you to pay for the GM Navigation System.

Update to others: The Unit comes very with little instructions, but there is a Forum at Simplesoft that will answer most installation related questions, as well as the owners manual for download. This Unit is known as the 80xx-II Model. xx in the model# determines what car it is fit for, but the software is the same for all. Simplesoft's forum link [Google search will find it by searching "Simplesoft Navigation"

Tips:

This $2 adaptor will allow you to connect the Nav's USB cable to the factory GM cable, so that the console USB port will connect to the Nav unit for playing your music in the DVD/USB mode. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002FCDRR4/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00

The cabling harness comes with 2 pairs of RCA connections which need to be connected together for the XM radio to have sound. There are several RCA cables, but look for the ones with XM on them.

If you have factory Bluetooth, I wouldn't bother with the Bluetooth offered with this Nav Unit. If you don't have Bluetooth, the Nav unit comes with the Mic that you can install to take advantage of the Bluetooth function.

Maps can be updated through Naviextras.com for about $70(This Nav Unit is listed on Naviextras as (Flyaudio USA 80-II). You would need to download the Naviextras Toolbox software, then it should recognize the Nav's MicroSD card on your PC....same as any other mobil navigation device. The MicroSD for the Navigation is location on the front panel of the Nav Unit.

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Nikon D3200 Digital SLR Camera & 18-55mm G VR DX AF-S Zoom Lens

Customer Ratings:

I had spent a lot of time studying my next Nikon purchase. I was desperately in need of an upgrade from my D100 but unsure of my next step. The camera world is changing so rapidly and one has to really be an informed shopper. The D3200 meets most of my current needs. The lens package is great. I had thought to rely on my old lens but I would have sacrificed some workability. Unless, you are a professional or shooting in a lot of low light or need an uber fast camera, the D3200 will more than satisfy.

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Olympus Zuiko EC-20 2x Teleconverter for Olympus Digital SLR

Customer Ratings:

A 2X teleconverter requires a lot. Not only does it have to have good optics itself; it has to link well to the primary lens, supporting quick focus and aperture settings. It requires high end optics on the far end of the teleconverter, as well. The Zuiko 2X teleconverter easily meets these requirements.

Used with the Olympus E-3 and the Zuiko 300mm f2.8 lens over the course of two weeks in the field, it performed flawlessly. Autofocus, even on birds in flight, was quick and reliable. I've cropped photos taken with the teleconverter and my 300mm by as much as 50% and not been able to find any defects or flaws. The focus is crisp across the image. Because the Olympus System uses Four Thirds technology, with a much smaller sensor than most digital SLRs, the potential for problems is probably higher. I encountered none.

This is a fine piece of optics that does exactly what you ask of it. Highly recommended.

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Lenovo S400 14.0-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

Originally, I had wanted the ultrabook from Lenovo but it was way out of my price range. This laptop was my alternative choice. I love that it's super lightweight and easy to carry around school. It reboots quickly, has a decent battery life of 3~hrs, never overheats, and is pretty quiet. Sound is ok (more details down below). I use this laptop to do normal, everyday student activites: write papers, browse the web, listen to music, watch movies and the i3 processor is good enough and fast enough for me.

Some things took me a while to get used to (i.e. very sensitive trackpad as mentioned in another review, typing on a new keyboard, Win8). I had to mess with the sensitivity settings for the trackpad for a while until it was to my liking. I don't really like the size of the BACKSPACE key. For some reason, they made it smaller than a normal size and placed PG UP/PG DOWN keys next to it and I hit it by accident all the time. It's a pain and I'm still getting used to it after a few weeks. Windows 8 was a bit overwhelming at first but I found a really helpful guide to explain what had changed and new features:An issue I had was that the speakers are located on the underside of the laptop...never really knew of any laptop that did that but it's a problem if you're in bed and listening to music. Blankets obviously muffle the sound so I usually hook it up to an external speaker. Just wish the speakers weren't impeded by anything but when it's on top of a desk, sound is clear and good. Final thing is that the webcam and microphone are pretty awful. I had issues when using it to Skype. Webcam quality just sucks and for some reason, the microphone never picks up my voice so I just end up using my old laptop that I was supposed to replace with this one (Sony Vaio 4 yrs old).

Overall, I like this laptop for it's ease of travel and battery life. It performs well while being extremely affordable. Just a few things you should be warned about beforehand and where some things could be improved.

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Gossen Mavolux 5032C Digital Footcandle and Lux Meter

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $945.00
Sale Price: $878.32
Today's Bonus: 7% Off

This product was used to test lighting systems in a university's chemistry/teaching labs. The meter's capabilities are amazing, which is very deceiving to its simple appearance. The testing software is what makes this so essential to the work we are doing. The graphs it created were indispensible.

Comes in a hard case complete with everything you need. Have found no cons in the past few months of using.

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Nikon 85mm f/3.5G AF-S DX ED VR Micro Nikkor Lens for Nikon

Customer Ratings:

I use this lens at my Nikon D-5000. Bought it to take pictures of the praying mantis that lives in the plants in our backyard.

Auto-focus is amazingly fast and silent, and the vibration reduction gives me 3 to 4 f-stops leverage. Photographing the mantis, I don't apply the auto-focus most of the time; instead, I focus manually to the closest distance, and then leaning forward (using a mono-pod to eliminate vertical and lateral movement) until the subject becomes sharp. Works like a charm, but requires some practice.

This lens has a very shallow depth of field at f3.5 it measures in fractions of centimeters. The pictures this camera-lens combination generates are brilliant, with true colors and (provided the focus is correct) very sharp.

The lens is somewhat lightweight, using predominantly plastic materials. No cheap feeling on it, though, everything is well built and works flawlessly.

I like also the M/A functionality, where you can adjust/override the focus provided by the AF module manually without having to switch to the manual focus mode first; the lens has an AF/M switch, so you can operate it completely in manual mode.

The minimal focusing distance is very useful and much shorter than the most critters would allow you to use anyway. One nice feature is a scale that tells you the reproduction rate for the distance you focus at.

One small concern I had was the 3.5 f-stop instead of the more common 2.8. But in practical use, that difference is negligible, and would come into play only at some very limited occasions, like with portraits of people. Which, by the way, this lens also does an exceptional job at.

All in all, with over 35 years of photographic experience under my belt, I have to say that this is one of the best lenses I ever had. It beats some of my $1000+ lenses, that I had with the old film SLRs. If you are in the market for a macro lens for your Nikon DX-format DSLR, look no further.

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Canon EOS Rebel T2i SLR Digital Camera Kit with Canon 18-55mm IS

Customer Ratings:

Love the camera. Couldn't find it without buying the kit. the tripod is junk (leg fell off) the flash doesn't work period. SD card doesn't format for this camera, card reader doesn't work unless you press the card in at the same time you are trying to load. camera bag is cheap and small. Zipper broke 2nd day I had it.

Besides the camera and the two good lenses, all else is JUNK>

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Fujifilm FinePix S4500 Digital Camera - White (14MP, 30x Optical

Customer Ratings:

I chose this camera because of the price point. $150 for a bridge camera with 30x optical zoom is fabulous and I like white. It should be noted that purchasing the white one forfeits any warranty on the camera as this color is an import model with no U.S. warranty. No matter. The camera has a nice balance in your hand, is easy to operate and has a built-in pop up flash. The zoom is very responsive and quick. The auto-focus however is average. While shooting an object in bright daylght the system had a hard time with near and far focus. It couldn't decide weather I was shooting the subject or the tree way in the background on a few occasions. The pictures are crisp and clear so you won't be dissapointed there. Purchase a good sized SDHD card and 4 rechargable AA batteries as this unit is power hungry. It comes with a lens cap that I recommend NOT attaching to the wrist strap as it gets to be a tangled mess since the lens cap teather is a bit short. I was surprised to find a sharp eyepiece much like a 35mm camera to aim with. You can use this or the bright sharp and colorful rear display. For the $150 price point it does what it should and then some. 7.9 out of 10 stars. Scotty Gumballs

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Dell XPS 15z XPS15z-72ELS Laptop (Elemental Silver)

Customer Ratings:

Bought this system based on a friend's recommendation who works for Dell. Also was a strong Dell loyalist for over 10 years because my previous laptops were all Dell. Unfortunately my experience with this system has been fraught with troubles.

My new laptop arrived and setup was a breeze. However within a week the batter stopped charging and was disabled. After hrs on the phone with Dell and everyone assuring me this was a unique problem, they sent me a new system. guess what same problem 10 days later. Another 2 days on the phone with their customer service folks in Hyderabad who kept trying to fix the problem. Ultimately they sent in a technician who replaced the battery and the system has been working fine since then. They extended my warrant by 4 months to compensate me for my troublesi guess i should have just bought a refurbished one which is what I essentially got for buying their top of the line laptop.

Now a month later, the wireless card has started acting up. If I step into a room away from where the router sits, it randomly disconnects and tries to connect. Its disconnected 90% of the time. Funny thing is I have a 6 year old Dell Inspiron which works fine and streams video movies without once dropping the signal sitting right next to this machine. I've tried new wireless routers but the problem persists. Called their customer service and they claim it is a software issue without even looking at it and want to charge me to troubleshoot the problem. Dell's service was one thing going for thembut i'm afraid that has started to suck too now.

I would strongly discourage anyone from buying this unless you enjoy being on the phone with a service technician being bumped from hardware to wireless to software to XPS support teams.Other than that it seems like a pretty decent machine that looks sleek, works well when no issues.

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Pentax K-r 12.4 MP Digital SLR Camera with 3-Inch LCD (Black

Customer Ratings:

Over the past four years, I've owned an *ist DL, a K100D and a K2000. The new Pentax K-r feels like a huge improvement over its already excellent predecessors.

NEW FEATURES:

The most obvious improvements are the great new features. The K-r now has a dedicated focus assist lamp. In short, it's unintrusive compared to a strobing popup flash and it works great. I can't believe it took Pentax this long to give us this feature.

The K-r also supports both a proprietary lithium ion battery and AA batteries. You'll have to find a special adapter to use AA batteries though. Unfortunately, Pentax didn't bundle the adapter with the body.

K-x users will also be familiar with the in-camera HDR feature. The K-r includes several HDR settings including auto, standard, strong 1, strong 2, and strong 3. HDR mode is easily accessed by pressing the Info button.

Movie mode is available once again, but it's still not particularly robust. You can shoot in 720p at 25fps, which is an odd frame rate. AF isn't available while you're shooting, but I've found that manual focusing is easy enough with the right lens. I didn't have any problems with my FA 35mm.

Auto white-balancing is greatly improved over the K100D and the K2000 also. You can now shoot in tungsten light without having to manually set the WB. No more horribly yellow photos indoors followed by extremely blue photos outdoors when you forget to white balance again!

Finally, my favorite new feature is the selectable 11-point AF. When it's enabled, you can press the OK button to bring up the point selection interface and use the arrow keys to select your focus point. When you're done, press and hold the OK button to close the menu so you can use the arrow keys for other shortcuts again.

INTERFACE:

With each new release, Pentax's interface has improved and the K-r is no exception. For people coming from the older *ist DL and K100D bodies, you'll immediately notice that the four arrow buttons now have double purposes. Instead of pressing FN + right to get to the ISO menu, you just need to press the right arrow button. Users of the K2000 will find the interface very familiar, but still improved. The Info button now brings up the grid of commonly used settings such as HDR modes, JPG/RAW, metering settings, AF mode, etc. Each setting is represented with an icon or text label and moving the cursor over the setting allows you to quickly cycle through the different modes using the dial. It's similar to pressing the OK button the K2000, but now with more options and fewer button presses.

When you preview your last JPG photo, you also get the option to save it as raw. This only works with the last photo taken, probably because the camera only stores the raw data for one photo at a time. This is a great feature for those who prefer to shoot in JPG and still occasionally use raw.

BUILD QUALITY:

The build quality of the K-r is as solid as every previous Pentax dSLR body that I've owned. The battery compartment latch is slightly improved over the K2000 and the K100D. It's a little hard to describe the new latch, but it's easy to use and much harder to accidentally open.

PERFORMANCE:

I loved the low light performance of my K100D and I enjoyed the newer interface and faster AF of my K2000. The K-r again gets the best of both worlds with very clean photos at ISO 1600 and even faster and more decisive autofocus. It's also now capable of shooting at 6fps in continuous mode.

OVERALL:

The Pentax K-r has really exceeded my expectations. The improved performance combined with the new features makes the K-r a joy to use. It's an excellent entry-level dSLR that it will satisfy even more seasoned photographers who want a compact spare body.

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Rokinon 24mm F/1.4 Aspherical Wide Angle Lens for Nikon

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $849.00
Sale Price: $629.00
Today's Bonus: 26% Off

I own the Rokinon 85mm, 35mm as well as the Tokina 11-16. This is the 4th lens I've purchased for DSLR Videography projects and I bought it because of the wider angle and extra shallow depth of field/bokeh it can give at 1.4 on my crop sensor 550D.

Pros:

1.Lens is fast and equivalent to a full frame on a crop sensor.

2.Wide F1.4 Great Bokeh. Excellent Low Light Capabilities...Did I mention bokeh..yea bokeh. yum

3.Thick Focus Ring like all Rokinons. For easy follow focus additions

4.Cheaper than any 1.4 Canon with comparible optics. This is a steal. Clients won't know the

difference and they would have to be a camera lens enthuisiast to tell.

Cons:

1.This IS a manual lens but for Videography you can't Auto Focus

anyway which is alright with me. When doing photography I use a magnetic viewfinder

for precision at f1.4

2. F1.4 is Extremely soft tho. In comparison to the Rokinon 85mm at 1.4 which is very sharp, this lens

fails. Its seems a tad bit dreamy but when stopped down to f4-5.6 it gets dead sharp

The comparison between the 85mm at 1.4 is a bit frustrating which is

the only reason I took 1 star away. Clients will not notice softness with mixed video footage.

and bokeh just makes everything look extra professional to them..gotta love that bokeh.

Conclusion:

This is an essential lens for cropped sensor camera buyers on a budget. Lens is a well made and will give you wider shots with great Depth of Field. I recommend this lens and the 85mm rokinon. I would have skipped the 35mm rokinon for this lens. Make sure your lighting doesn't suck because slight over exposure enhances the 1.4 softness. (I shoot everything at 1.4,manual iso because I love bokeh.) Be careful..Did I mention bokeh?..yea bokeh.

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