Q-See QC804-1 Digital 4-Channel Network Video Recorder with POE

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $599.99
Sale Price: $533.97
Today's Bonus: 11% Off

I have purchased tons of stuff from amazon over the years, and this is the first time I have felt inclined to write a review, so bear with me. So, right up front, I tried hard to really like this thing. I have been wanting to get it for some time now, as I have two 1080 HD Dahua security cameras (for those that don't know, Q-See cameras and NVRs are just re-branded Dahua), which are great cameras for the most part, but that's a review for another product.

Let me first explain where I was before I got this NVR:

I have been using the FTP functionality on the cameras for about a year now, saving off the video footage to my PC. The problem was that it was REALLY bogging down my system with the constant writing to the secondary hard drive in my machine (the cameras don't have the best motion-sensing capabilities, so I had motion detection set so high that it was almost full-time record) at about 6000Kbps constant bit rate.

This is when I decided to save up for this thing and I was really excited when I got it. My friend (we are both engineers, by the way) had just ordered the 16-channel NVR and seemed to have mixed emotions after about a week's worth of using it. He has 5 Dahua cameras and we both did the FTP thing for the last year or so. I got the 8-channel, because I didn't think I would ever have more than 6 cameras or so.

Now that you know where I am coming from, let me summarize a few points on this thing:

The good:

1. Like any NVR, this thing is completely stand-alone and does a great job recording the video to the disk. It has TONS of options and you can tweak you camera settings from the NVR itself. As far as the recording goes, I couldn't be happier.

2. You can use the "Q-See QC View" iPhone and iPad apps to view the cameras, playback recorded video from the NVR, etc. (more on this later).

3. The model I purchased comes with a built-in 4-port PoE (Power over ethernet) switch, which is VERY handy if you don't already have a PoE switch for your cameras. This necessitates two power supplies (12V for the NVR itself, and 48V for the built-in PoE switch), which are both included, of course.

4. HDMI and RGB output. I have it hooked up to both my TV through HDMI (I am actually using a BriteView wireless HDMI transmitter in there, too and it still works great) and to a secondary computer monitor next to the NVR at the same time and that seems to work great as well, though I have not tried having them both on at the same time, but I don't think that it would make much of a difference.

5. The NVR finds the cameras really easily. If you have the cameras plugged directly into the NVR (using one of the four the PoE ports), it only takes as much time to find them as it takes the camera to boot up. Really easy.

The neutral:

1. A little fan noise. Not something to be TOO concerned with, but the NVR does have a built-in fan that can be a little annoying if you are sitting in the same room as the thing. It's not really loud, but just a little annoying unless you have the NVR tucked away in a server room of sorts, which is what I did.

2. The user interface was obviously designed by engineers (and, like I said, I AM one). It's not SUPER ugly (though they probably could have prettied it up some), it's just hard to navigate through. Like I mentioned above, there are TONS of options for this thing, and they decided to make all of these options available to you, which is good, but can be a little overwhelming.

3. This NVR may change settings on your cameras without warning you. Make sure you have your network settings set up EXACTLY how you want it before you plug your cameras into the PoE switch on the back of the NVR. I was using an external PoE switch at first and found the cameras easily with the NVR on the network. I had them configured with static IPs (192.168.x.x) for easy access. All of that changed when I moved them from my external PoE switch to the built-in switch on the NVR (which has a default gateway of 10.1.1.1). The switch on the NVR is completely separate from the rest of your network. In other words, I had my NVR's IP set to 192.168.0.200, for example. The switch is still in the 10.1.x.x space. So, when I moved my cameras, they were re-assigned a 10.1.x.x IP....and it was static. I couldn't access the cameras directly from my network anymore because they were now on a different network. Sure, I could probably change my subnet masks to be able to access them again, but it was just really annoying. Even after moving them back to my external PoE switch, they were still inaccessible. Just be aware of this.

The bad:

1. Try accessing this NVR from anything but IE and you're out of luck. IE? Really? C'mon, guys! I am even able to access most of the functionality on my Dahua cameras directly with the iPad, but not the NVR? C'mon. Also, you have to have the RIGHT VERSION of IE to be able to have it work smoothly, according to the different forums my buddy read. I am still running IE9, and am worried that if I upgrade to 10 that I might lose all functionality, just like with other browsers.

2. Invisible files? What the...? So, when I was saving off my video to my PC directly via FTP, it saves off the data into files that you can play back with some Dahua software, which was really nice, but has it's own drawbacks, of course. Anyway, Q-See claims that the NVR can save off these data files to your computer, and, when looking through the user interface (with IE, of course), sure enough, you can.....sort of. I, apparently, was not using the correct VERSION of IE to download these files from the NVR to my computer, because as soon as they were downloaded, for the life of me, I could not find them with Windows Explorer. I went back and tried to download the file again, but the Save As dialog showed that it was already there!! What the...? Back to Windows Explorer. Nothing. Do a windows search for the file. Nothing. Back to the Save As dialog? Still there?! That makes no sense! Hidden files? Nope. Permission issues? Nope. I could ONLY access the files locally by right-clicking on them in the stupid Save-As dialog. Perhaps someone can shed some light on this one?

3. Ok, at least I am able to watch the playback from my bed on the iPad....wait, did the app just freeze? Huh. Must have been a glitch. Close the playback window, open it again. Looks like it's playing fine aga---what?! Again?! Over and over and over again, the iPad app freezes during playback (this is not even mentioning the frequent 'out of memory' messages you get from the app on a regular basis, but that also happens in Dahua's IDMSS iPad app -which makes sense -they are essentially the same). And I am not saying it freezes after 5 minutes -try every 10 seconds of playback. Extremely frustrating if you are trying to look for footage from earlier.

The wrap-up:

Overall, this NVR is just not quite ready for prime time. It shows a LOT of potential, and I love that it will record 1080 video from multiple cameras, but accessing the video after it is recorded is just too much. I had hoped there would be firmware updates or something to address these issues, but I am seeing these issues mentioned in posts from a year ago and I still see no new firmware to fix it -after nearly a year of them knowing about the bugs. I am regretfully returning mine to Amazon due to these major flaws. I may just end up buying a NAS and enabling an FTP server on it to store my data. Sad day, indeed. I really wanted to like this NVR.

Oh, and in case you think it might be just my NVR? My friend had the exact same issues with his. It's just not quite ready for prime time. If you have solutions for any of these above issues (and please don't tell me to format the hard drive in the NVR -I've already read about all of that), I would love to hear them! Perhaps I would then keep it after all.

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JVC GYHM100U Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom and 2.8-Inch LCD

Customer Ratings:

This is the camera I've been waiting for for 7 years. It has everything I've wanted: Incredible HD quality, direct MOV/Final Cut Pro-ready file creation, SDHC card usage, a decent built-in mic... It has taken the quality of the video work I'm doing to a whole new level. I could not be happier with this camera except if I had a 2nd one to do simultaneous 2nd camera angles in the studio...

I am trying to make my filming worthy of the quality this camera produces!

This is pricey but worth it.. so if you have the $$, don't hesitate to buy this thing, you won't be sorry.

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Tokina 35mm f/2.8 AT-X PRO DX Macro Lens for Canon Digital SLR

Customer Ratings:

I was all set to buy Canon's 60mm f/2.8 macro...but I was hesitant because I really wanted something in the 30-50mm range that I could double up with as a portrait lens. I didn't even know this lens existed until I randomly stumbled upon it at POTN....and the rest, as they say, is history.

For the price, the quality of photos is excellent on my 40D. Like most macro primes, it is excellent wide-open (f/2.8).

It's a true 1:1 macro....but the short focal length means you'll have a really tough time using 1:1 in the field (without a macro flash attachment). If you are really serious about macro shots, you may want to look at a 100mm or 150mm focal length macro (giving you more space between lens and subject). But I plan to use this lens a lot as a portrait lens as well as close ups, this is not a big problem. Just understand that a 35mm macro does bring some limitations....but it's perfect for what I wanted.

If you're use to Canon ring-motor auto-focus (and every other lens I own with AF have the Canon ring motors!), then the slower focus speed will take some getting use to. The range limiter helps, and the AF/MF switch is pretty easy to engage/disengage. MF using the live view works very well.

Build is excellent. Not quite L-quality....but then what is for the price?

All and all....well done, Tokina.

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Nikon D5200 Digital SLR Camera Body (Black) with 55-300mm VR

Customer Ratings:

I have had this camera for about a month, and it has exceeded my expectations as a still-photography camera. I do a lot of photography at kids sporting events swim meets, baseball & soccer games and this camera has helped me capture some really special images in the short time I have owned it. I am pleased with the ability to aggressively crop and frame action shots for maximum effect the 24 megapixel CMOS sensor is a star performer. One of my favorite tricks is to put the camera in sports mode and turn on continuous shooting; depending on the lighting conditions, it can capture up to about 5-6 frames per second. The 55-300mm lens lets the photographer get right up on the action even all the way across and Olympic-sized pool or full-size soccer pitch. I also have a 18-55MM lens that works great for indoor settings or situations where the subjects are closer (a similar lens is included in other bundles)

I have not used the camera's video capabilities enough to develop an opinion, but that is not why I purchased this camera. It seems to me that of one is looking for a video camera, that are better cheaper options among dedicated video cameras (my opinion).

The bundle was thoughtfully assembled, with a 32 MB SD card (holds 4,000 photos at normal resolution), an extra battery, a remote and a backpack to carry it all (including the two other compatible lenses I already owned).

I highly recommend the Nikon 5200 as an advanced consumer all-around camera which is particularly well suited to action photography.

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX10P 6.0MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical

Customer Ratings:

I bought this camera on a whim and don't regret it. The price was great, the camera is light and easy to travel with, battery life impressive, cameras functions are easy to use and picture couldn't be better. I love the size of the screen shot and the many options this camera offers. I'd buy it again.

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Samsung Series 5 NP535U3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Laptop (Silver)

Customer Ratings:

I was looking for a very thin and light computer with a second generation AMD A-series APU chip (7000 series graphics). As far as I can tell, the 13.3 and 14 inch Samsung Series 5 computers were my only options. I chose the 13.3 and I'm very happy with it.

The laptop comes with 4 GB of RAM and an open slot into which I installed a second CT51264BC1339 Crucial 4GB 204-PIN Sodimm DDR3 4GB stick of RAM. The computer is noticeably zippier with 8 GB of RAM, so I recommend upgrading (it was pretty easy, but note that the RAM cover is held down with clips as well as a single screw -it doesn't swing open nicely like the manual seems to indicate. You have to pry it open with a screwdriver, which isn't too bad).

The computer boots fast, runs fast, and generally performs as you would expect given its stats, with no extra frustrations. I've played Civilization 5 on it with no lags or other problems (I'm not a hard core gamer). It's a perfectly respectable competitor for Intel ultrabooks.

And it's hard to overstate how nice it is to use a 3.5 pound laptop. The weight difference versus my previous machine makes my commute (by ferry) and travel much more pleasant, not to mention just browsing on the couch. Overall, for the cost, this is a good solid choice.

If you're looking for something small, light, and reasonably powerful, this is a good laptop at a good price.

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Leica D-LUX 3 10MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical

Customer Ratings:

The brand new Leica D-Lux 3 is a stylish update of the popular Leica D-Lux 2 which was available in limited release late last year. It carries on the now grand tradition of Leica digital point and shoot cameras with improved optical image stabilizing and enhanced Leica-designed firmware for ultimate image quality. I had the chance to use this camera briefly twice recently, and was extremely impressed with both its easy handling and superior image quality. Like its predecessor it offers three different types of image formats. But, best of all, you don't need to rely on the camera manual to pick it up and use it immediately (EDITORIAL NOTE: I had the opportunity to use the camera from 11/20/06-11/30/06 primarily to photograph some of the most impressive Christmas store displays here in New York, NY, and to photograph fellow Brunonian and former classmate author Rick Moody at a private reception held in his honor prior to a public event featuring him at the venerable 92nd Street Y. I'm greatly impressed with both the image quality and the realistic color saturation of the images I took using the least amount of .jpeg compression at a maximum pixel size of 8.5 Mb. I am grateful to Leica Camera USA for allowing me to borrow a current production version of this camera.). Although the Leica D-Lux 3 is available in a superb black finish, I am more than a bit partial to chrome, since the chrome version reminds me more of such classic Leica M-mount 35mm rangefinder cameras like the M3 and M4.

The Leica D-Lux 3 has approximately the same dimensions and features as its illustrious predecessor (Dimensions (WxHxD) 4.2 x 2.3 x 1 inches (105.7 x 58.3 x 25.6mm) Weight 6.5oz / 7.8oz (185g/220g) (without/with battery, memory card and lens cap)). But it is replete with an extensive list of features that weren't available in the D-Lux 2. For example, I believe there is more opportunity for creative manual control via its manual control features. There is also ample flexibility in available apertures for different kinds of photography from wide angle to telephoto (Aperture F2.8-F8.0 (wide angle) F4.9-F8.0 (telephoto)). There is also a flexible array of flash options ranging from red eye reduction to second curtain synchronization modes. And then there is a flexible in image format modes. There is a video recording mode in which you can choose between 16:9 and 4:3 formats: In 16 9 format a choice between 1280 x 720 pixels 15 fps or 848 x 480 pixels 30 fps/ 10 fps; in 4 3 format a choice between 640 x 480 pixels 30 fps/10 fps or 320 x 240 pixels 30 fps/10 fps. Your only limitation is the storage capacity of the SD card you use. Images can be stored in the following file formats: Still RAW, JPEG (Fine/Standard), Movie QuickTime Motion JPEG. Last, but not least, you can dictate the type of digital photography being done and let the camera handle the rest via these scene programs: Portraits, sport, night scenes, night portraits, fireworks, parties, snow, self-portraits, food, high-sensitivity mode, Baby 1, Baby 2, soft skin, candlelight, starry skies, landscapes, print . Quite simply this camera offers so much at a relatively reasonable price for a digital Leica or indeed any other digital camera in this class.

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Motorola Additional Camera for Motorola MBP36 Baby Monitor

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $99.99
Sale Price: $94.95
Today's Bonus: 5% Off

First thing I want to say is that this camera also works with the MBP33 baby monitor as well. We bought the MBP33 baby monitor for our 3 month old and we bought an additional camera to keep in our toddler's room. We are pretty happy with it so far. I love the two way communication function and the room temperature feature. My only complaint is that we keep the camera across the room on his dresser, and the night vision light is not very strong so we can not see clearly all the way to his bed. It is about 7 ft from the dresser to the bed. If we adjust the light contrast on the parent unit we can see, but it is pretty dark and grainy. We previously has a Summer Infant video monitor and did not have this problem at all, but then again, the night vision feature broke after 2 years on that monitor. We keep the other camera above the crib in our baby's room and haven't had any problems at all. Overall, we are happy with the monitor and the additional camera.

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VideoSecu 16 Day Night Vision Outdoor Audio Bullet CCTV Security

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,999.99
Sale Price: $749.99
Today's Bonus: 63% Off

I have three CCTV day/night cameras all hooked up to my DVR. This unit plugged in and worked immediately. I set it side by side with one of my other cameras so they were shooting the exact same thing and this one is at least 2x closer maybe even more. I had them pointed towards the side of the TV in my room about 8 feet away from the cameras. The first camera had a wide field of view and showed a good portion of the room. This camera showed mostly just the TV. It filled almost the entire screen up. It has a very narrow field of view and the video looks very zoomed in.

This camera may work better shooting objects at a distance. It does not have anything even close to a 1:1 ratio as far as perspective. It looks more like if you were using a camcorder and zoomed in on the subject.

Depending on what you plan on taping this may or may not be the camera for you. I plan on using it for paranormal investigations and this camera will have to be used to film areas quite some distance from the camera (like a long hallway) or it will look like the camera was right on top of the area you are trying to record.

Also of note, of the 3 of these I have this is the only one that is plastic. It looks metallic until you touch it but it's plastic. Base does not lock very tight and it feels like if you force it you're going to regret it.

Giving it 3 stars for the extreme zoom issue and the fact that it's made of plastic. Haven't tested the audio aspect of the camera and don't really need it.

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Lenovo Yoga 10-Inch 16 GB Tablet

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $299.99
Sale Price: $259.99
Today's Bonus: 13% Off

I got my lenovo yoga 10 a few days ago, and I must say so far it has been excellent. Before buying this tablet I had significant concerns about the screen, as it got blasted in several reviews for having a horrible quality screen that isn't even suitable for watching standard definition shows on, has horrible colors that are washed out and text that is barely readable. The reality is none of this is the case. There are obviously better displays on the market that look incredible, but that is to take nothing away from the Yoga 10. I have found the screen to be crisp and clear with good color reproduction. Furthermore, the resolution of the screen is better than that of an iPad 2, which continues to be on sale by Apple. I have never seen one comment complaining about how poor and unwatchable that screen is. Another major complaint was gaming and how the Yoga is underpowered to the point where it can't handle games. Shadowgun,both dead triggers, spiderman, minecraft, iron man, and gta3 are the games I've played on it so far. None have had a problem with dropped frames and are completely fine. The load times might be 10 seconds longer than on my droid DNA, but also my phone drops frames on nearly all these games when this thing runs them all fine. My only complaint so far is the overlay on Android Lenovo decided to go with. Its awful. Not slow, but just ugly. I replaced it with Nova launcher and now we are good to go. Battery is incredible, construction is great, and I have zero regrets on this purchase. Dont listen to the reviews and I promise you won't be disappointed. Most reviewers only like the best spec thing out at the moment and don't take into consideration price or what the average user might want in a tablet. This tablet does everything I could possibly ask of it with no issues. This review was written on my Yoga tablet with the onscreen keyboard. I ordered the matching keyboard from lenovo but it didn't come in yet. Thanks for reading and I hope this review helps.

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Phottix Mitros+ Plus TTL With Built-in Odin Transmitter And Odin

Customer Ratings:

This is a really good product. I bought it to be able to control my Canon flashes via Odin receivers, or to have it off camera being controlled by my Odin transmitter and not bother with receivers, etc.

This flash works wonderfully. I haven't had any glitches so far. However, it is a bit under-powered compared to my Canon 580EX II speedlites. It's close to one stop less powerful. Two thirds of a stop to be exact.

But the biggest drawback is that it heats up real fast -just after about 5 consecutive flashes*, and the heat protection kicks in to extend the recycle time (BTW, with fresh batteries). In the same situation my Canon flashes will go as many as 15 times before the slow recycle kicks in.

The funny thing is that sometimes with the red light off (meaning the flash is not ready to fire), I can still fire it and it produces a normal ETTL illumination as if the light was on and the flash was ready to fire.

All that said,I'm still not 100% sure about my conclusions. More tests are needed. I will get back with more info at some point.

* I never use straight flash. always bouncing off ceilings, walls, etc

The cam I'm using with this flash is Canon 5D Mark II

Edit: A little correction. The flash does not really heat up more than Canon flashes. It's just that the heat protection kicks in too soon. This could probably be addressed in a future firmware update.

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Fellowes 3229901 PowerShred 99Ci 17 Sheet Cross-Cut Shredder

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $588.48
Sale Price: $219.99
Today's Bonus: 63% Off

We have owned two previous small business class shredders. This is our third. Without any doubt, it is the best shredder I have ever used/owned.

I bought this to replace our reliable Fellowes DM15C Shredder. That unit still works great, but my toddler son now has the dexterity and strength that would theoretically allow him to open up the sliding plastic CD/Credit Card sheild that served as the main barrier between his little hands and the powerful shredding mechanism. Also, after watching one of our cats activate the shredder twice in the past week while using it as an intermediate step to the office window, it seemed like a problem waiting to happen.

SAFE-SENSE (Every Shredder Should Have This)

The main thing I liked about the SB-99Ci is the Safe-Sense technology that shuts off the shredding blades when a hand (or any other body part) gets too close to the blades. In addtion to the no-brainer step of powering the thing off when I am not around, this technology looked like a very good backup protection to ensure that my young son retains all of his fingers until adulthood.

The Safe-Sense technology is extremely effective. I did not realize that it works by detecting fingers etc. when they come into contact with the metal trim that surrounds the shredder mouth (I thought the trim was just decorative...but it is functional). This is an extremely reliable detection method (i.e. vs/ tryng to detect motion or heat) and IMMEDIATELY shuts down the shredder if it is operating, or prevents it from operating at all if it has not started up yet. There is even a nice little LED indicator that lights up when the Safe-Sense shutoff is triggered, so it is very easy to test it out from time to time. Of course, there is a well hidden switch (that requires positive effort to adjust) that allows you to disable Safe-Sense if you don;t want/need it, but I can't think of any good reason that anyone would want to do that.

OTHER NICE STUFF

While Safe-Sense was the primary motiviation for this purchase, I also really liked the clean and simple styling of the unit, and was very pleased to see that it has a good build-quality when I received it in-person.

Another pleasant surprise is how QUIET this thing is when it is operating. The motor is so quiet that the main thing you hear while it is doing its job, is the actual sound of the blades pulverizing whatever you are feeding into it. The motor is a low-level (and low frequency) drone in the background. I thought our previous Fellowes shredder was quiet, but the SB-99Ci puts it to shame.

The designers of this unit also added some enhancements that, although not totally neccessary, are very nice to have. For example, the strip of unique LED indicators on top of the shredder is great to have. Our previous unit had a single indicator for "bin-open" and "bin-full" which forced you to do limited investigation to figure out why it was lighting up. The SB-99Ci lets you know EXACTLY what is going on with an intuitive sybmol that lights up. Finally, the little progressive "efficiency graph" is neat to watch, although I doubt I would ever use it to optimize my shredding throughput, which is purportedly what it is designed for.

If you are looking for an attractively designed, well built, easy-to-use, and most importanly SAFE shredder for your home or small business, the Fellowes SB-99Ci is an excellent choice.

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Canon EOS 40D DSLR with 17-85mm lens

Customer Ratings:

I have had this camera and lens for 9 months. Beautiful photos. Love the "live view" for setting up to take photos with a tripod. Large sensor means excellent low-light capability. Fast start-up time. Extremely fast focusing. Love the ability to take 6 photos per second! Manual controls are wonderful and easy to use. Beautiful display. The EFS 17-85 lens is great (remember to multiply by 1.6 for comparable 35mm focal lengths). Am also using a SanDisk Extreme III CF card. This is a fast card.

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Wansview Outdoor Waterproof Wifi Wireless/wired Ip Camera

Customer Ratings:

Update 7/26/12:

All of these cameras seem to have the same "flashing" problem. It isn't clear if it is the "IR Cut" filter or some other problem. They also might as well be black-and-white given how terrible the color is. If something happened and video from this camera needed to be submitted to authoritiesit would be next to impossible to actually identify anyone in it.

The "flashing" problem seems to occur at a particular light level (much too bright for the "IR Cut" filter if it is working normally), so at least twice a day (or more often in changing weather conditions) the cameras brightness rapidly changes between light and dark for 30 minutes or more. This triggers both the camera's internal "motion detector", as well as the motion detection algorithms in security DVR software like Blue Iris or iSpy. In other wordsyour mailbox, FTP server, or DVR will fill up with completely useless images, very quickly.

Technical support via email says a "Factory Reset" will fix the problem. Not only doesn't it fix the problembut you then have to set everything up again from scratch, which is a problem if you are using them via WiFi in a not-easily-accessible location.

Alsomounting these cameras outdoors means you pretty much have to cut and splice the 5v power cord, and use a lot of tape or an outdoor box to keep the connectors in. They come with a short cable and a set of connectors that you would have to drill a 1.5" hole in the wall to route inside. The power supply is only indoor rated, and is too big to put in an "In-Use" covered GFCI box. Of courseyou can't return them without the factory-provided power supply...

Update 6/12/12:

I dropped my rating to two stars.

While probably still a good value for the money, these cameras have at least one serious issue. I returned one, but the replacement has the same problem. A friend of mine bought two cameras at the same time I did, and has the same issue with hers as-well. The cameras flip randomly between their "IR CUT" filter and normal in certain lighting conditions. This causes random light/dark flashing at various times throughout the day. This flashing, besides being extremely annoying, also trips the "motion alarm", sending hundreds (or in the case of one of my camerasthousands) of bogus motion alarm pictures out. If you use their software to record videoyou will get many-many hours of nothing but flashing video filling up your HDD.

One solution I found online is to either color-over or tape-over the light sensor on the camera. Tried thatdoesn't work. I requested support on Wansview's Web site a week ago, and have heard nothing. There also aren't any firmware updates available for these cameras. I guess we can keep returning them for new ones, but since this is happening on 4 out of 4 (actually 5 if I count the one I've already returned) it's pretty clear it is a manufacturing defect. All four came from different vendors (via Amazon) Wansview should just give one the option to turn the stupid filter OFF! They do seem to work quite well at night, but during the daythey are almost useless for hours at a time.

Leaving my old review here for reference...

I recently bought two of this most-recent version of Wansview outdoor security camera: NC543W. The camera has a solid aluminum housing and appears to be well-sealed from the elements. I bought three similar cameras last year. They are cheap and the picture quality definitely isn't HD, but they are very usable.

The camera's I bought last year came with terrible "Chinelish" manuals that were almost impossible to read. They also didn't come with any kind of viewing/recording software, forcing me to use marginally-implemented browser-based viewers or 3rd-party software. I'm very happy to say that this has changed for these two most-recent purchases. More effort was clearly put into the user's manual, and the included "multi-view" software works very well. The really big bonus with the viewer software is the ability to record video, as opposed to just still images.

As another bonusthe cameras will work with uPnP routers (or you can manually set up tunneling) and Wansview provides a DDNS server, making it very easy to set the cameras up for remote viewing. The manual does a decent job of describing the setup for this, but non-geeks may need to get a bit of help configuring their router if necessary.

The camera has an "automatic" software color filter that is supposed to just kick in when in IR nigh-vision mode. I suspect this may be causing problems for some. I've found the color during the day to be very acceptable. In low-light there is a definite color shift, mostly noticeable at dusk and dawn.

I really only have two issues with these cameras, preventing a 5-star rating:

I can't get the Internet Explorer version of their Web viewer to work. I've tried it on three computers. The plugin install seems to "blow up" and I get nothing but a blank view. It's possible this is due to over-zealous security settings on my part, but I'm not going to lower my standards to install a plugin. I don't get any kind of an error message or pop-up. The other browser version works just fine on Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. It also works great on iPhone and iPad, although there are some great 3rd party camera viewers for them, as well as Android, that work fine with these cameras.

It is difficult to accomplish a good outdoor mount of them due to the length of the connector cable and the size of the network jack. If you want an inexpensive "clean" installyou pretty much have to drill a 1" hole to route the cables through to the inside. The power adapter and its cable are not outdoor rated, and it doesn't appear any of the other connectors will last long outdoors without some kind of protection. It's probably possible to cram everything into a water-tight exterior box, which is something I'm going to experiment with. I'd much rather drill a small hole for the power adapter cable (and network cable, if necessary) than a 1" one. Tacking things up under an eave seems to be the cheapest option, and I don't believe that will make it through winter. Power-over-Ethernet would make things easier, but would likely raise the price of the camera.

Like I saidit's a great camera for the price. If you want good color balance and a higher resolution with more featureslook at spending 3-10x as much. If you want a reliable (at least in my experience) security camera and don't have a lot of money to spendthis is a great deal.

One bit of adviceit is difficult to tweak the motion-sensor sensitivity, especially outdoors where things like trees and shrubs blowing in the wind can set it off. This isn't really the fault of the camerait's just the nature of such systems. These cameras can generate a LOT of email, so if you use that method of "alarm" notificationsget yourself another email account with a lot of space on one of the big providers. That way you won't flood your personal email account. If you use FTPyou will want to frequently audit the server's disk usage, or use an automated process to delete older uploads. If using the multi-view software to record videobe sure to enable the feature that automatically deletes older videos if you are running out of disk space. I recommend using a dedicated partition or external disk.

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Olympus VF-4 ViewFinder (Black)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $279.99
Sale Price: $279.00
Today's Bonus: $0.99 Off

I have had both the VF-2 and VF-3 for my Olympus M43s, and have also been using Panasonic M43 cameras with integrated viewfinders for a while (GH2; GH3; even have used the LVF-2 on a GX1). In past, I have preferred the Panasonic viewfinders, simply because they have a larger magnification/larger view than the Olympus versions, and are easier to see. However, the VF-4 changes all that....

Very simply, this is the best EVF that M43s cameras have ever had. It has a huge field of view, the colors are bright and accurate (Both of which were a huge letdown on the GH3, by the way) and it seems to be very responsive. In addition, it has a handy locking mechanism, so you can leave it on the camera and not worry about it getting accidentally knocked off (which was a problem with my VF-2). The optics are excellent, too, with no blurring of sides or edges as you move your eye or head relative to the viewfinder.

In terms of size...it's a little bigger than the VF-2, but it's not huge, and it is quite light in weight.

I can't tell you how well the automatic eye sensor switch works, since I do not have the E-P5 (which is the only camera that the automatic eye sensor works with right now). However, this works the same way as the two earlier EVFs in that respect on anything other than the EM5; and that is you do have to push a button on the EVF to activate it. The button is in an easy to access spot on the viewfinder, so that's not a big deal, though.

If you have been thinking about getting an external viewfinder for your EPL or EPM series PEN, this is definitely the one to get. It changes the diminutive EPM2 into something that behaves like a much larger camera in terms of how easy image composition is when it is on. It also helps stabilize the camera when you hold it up to your eye, rather than out at arm's length....And the image rendition in this EVF is truly excellent.

One other thing....you MUST download and install the latest firmware update from Olympus for your PEN to recognize this EVF. (The only camera that does not need the update is the EP5). It only took a couple of minutes (although the instructions are a little confusing... just remember that once you have connected the camera to the computer, and the rear screen of the camera says "storage", you MUST click the OK button (in the middle of the thumbwheel on the back of the camera) before the computer will recognize the camera and start the update. If you do not do that, the computer will not find the camera and will keep giving you an error message.)

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Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens for Canon EOS SLR Cameras

Customer Ratings:

Put this lens to the test the day I bought it.

Ended up taking 1500 photos in Colorado. It

worked great. Even shots that had movement in

them came out really clear. I'm very pleased

with it so far.

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Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X 124 Pro DX II Lens - Nikon Mount

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $599.00
Sale Price: $537.75
Today's Bonus: 10% Off

I received my Tokina 12-24mm DXII wide angle lens very quickly. I could not wait to put it through some paces even though I was hesitant at first to try anything but Nikon lenses. I use a Nikon D90 and this lens is flawless with it. The auto focus is very quiet and responsive. I ran it through the gamut of fstops at every setting from 12mm to 24mm. My results indicate that it is a little soft wide open but quickly sharpens as you progress through the settings. At 14-15 mm seems to be very sharp. The colors are true and vibrant. I took over a hundred pictures at church, mostly outside, both in the shade and sunshine. I did not see any distortion or chromatic aberrations. If there were any, my camera must have corrected them automatically. I probably should mention I compared this lens to my Nikon 18-105mm with VR, side by side and picture for picture, at all settings. The Tokina is actually sharper at 18mm than the Nikon 18-105. Up to and including 24mm, they both were very good. This was a pleasant surprise to me and I would not hesitate to recommend this lens to anyone who might being trying to decide whether to purchase it.

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