Bushnell PowerView Super High-Powered Surveillance Binoculars

Customer Ratings:

I am an avid birder as well as a star-lover. These binoculars are incredible! I have them on my table at all times to watch birds with, and they go with me on any hike or camping trip I take.

The initial setup is super-easy, and once you do that, they are some of the best I've used for tracking down and focusing on a moving object. A quick finger-toggle slides the focus for you without losing track of what you're looking at. I've in fact bought many sets of these binoculars for friends and family as gifts because they were so useful for me, and now I have a wide following addicted to these binoculars.

The image of course is fantastic, well lit and good sized!

If you have any sort of interest in nature, astronomy, sports, or just about anything else which involves viewing objects at a distance, these are definitely the binoculars to try. You won't be disappointed.

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Nikon Coolpix S10 6MP Digital Camera with 10x Vibration

Customer Ratings:

I'm a rabid photographer of scenery, wildlife, friends, families and pets. I take pictures with tripods, while walking, from horseback, from the car, during parties, indoors, outdoors...whenever it strikes me to take a photo. I would estimate that I take at least 300 photos a month. I currently have an olympus 740 so I bought the nikon looking to get a little smaller camera with the same zoom capabilities but with image stabilization. I read the manual to this camera from cover to cover and it has lots of options to tinker with. I took more than 1000 photos in every situation I could think of and eventually ended up returning the camera because of the medium indoor low light issues.

The good:

The camera has a NICE brushed metal feel to it. Looks like it would hold up well and not show scratches easily and feels quite sturdy.

It's really comfortable and easy to hold the camera and either telescope the lens or press the shutter without straining your hand.

The LCD has great resolution and colors. Some people don't like that it doesn't have a viewfinder but I hardly use a viewfinder.

Rechargable battery (although the initial charging time is something like 8 or 10 hours, the later chargings are less).

The lens cap just flips back with an easy touch, no pulling it off and having it dangle and bounce into action shots.

The camera worked great for scenery shots during the day.

I took some great moonlight shots without the use of a tripod with this camera using some of the many, many features. My other camera could never take these shots.

I liked that there wasn't an external telescoping lens and the lens did all its telescoping inside the cylinder.

I was impressed with the shutter speed and zoom capabilities.

Image stabilization was awesome in sunlight.

What I didn't like:

I found that ANY dust on the lens created an orb in the photo and I had to keep cleaning the lens because dust would easily get into the cool snap cover.

Low indoor light made for blurry (or sometimes grainy images), even with image stabilization and I had to tinker with a lot of the settings to get half way decent photos and even then they weren't great.

If I used a flash in low light, it often whited out people's faces. My friends thought that the flash was too blinding but I can't speak for this because I didn't see it. I used tons of settings (much to my friends' frustration) to try to find a good setting and I didn't find one.

Direct sunlight caused lots of sunspots (I think because of the lens angle because the same exact shot with my olympus had no sunspot and it was seconds between shots)but you could use polarizing sunglasses over the lens for a super easy fix.

The light from the flash doesn't always bounce as one would expect. I'm not sure if it's because of the angle of the turned lens cylinder or what but it the light didn't seem to spread naturally and would end up either too focused or weirdly casted shadows would appear. Again I'd take the same photo with my olympus which has a different flash placement and the photos would turn out fine.

I took some shots of my pets indoors and they didn't like the flashing red light the camera uses for measuring/focus in low light.

I had a lot of color issues (mostly a yellowing of the images) under flourescent lights in a lot of low light photos but I could fix them Adobe photoshop.

This could have been a bad camera but just in case you buy this and have the same issues, you'll know it's not just you :)

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Gunnar Optiks R6638-C001Z Edge Rimless Advanced Computer Glasses

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $139.99
Sale Price: $99.99
Today's Bonus: 29% Off

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program First, a disclaimer: I'm an Optical Technician. I dispense glasses for a living, so I know good eyewear when I see it.

Now, the review: This is good eyewear. It's a quality pair of glasses with all the right enhancements to do exactly what they claim they can do. Specifically, this is a pair of glasses with a +.50 add correction on the lenses, so they do magnify just a tiny bit, but are still comfortable for someone with no prescription for corrective lenses. They have a high-quality gold tint that naturally blocks some of the harsh blues from the light spectrum. They seem to be a high-quality material (I'd guess they're a hi-index, but not a premium brand) and have an anti-reflective coating to cut down on glare from the computer screen (or they'd work equally well when driving).

The frame itself is of excellent quality. I wouldn't say it's a high-end frame, but it's certainly good material and a pleasing design. Nothing cheap here. It's a drill-dot frame, and as such could be prone to loosening or breaking if the end user doesn't know how to properly care for them, though. The included instructions don't tell the user HOW to clean them; Only WHAT to clean them with (the included microfiber cloth).

In case you're wondering what I mean, here's my free advice for owners of these glasses (or any rimless drill-dot frames) When cleaning your lenses, hold the lens between your cloth-covered thumb and index finger ONLY, and then gently rub the lens you're holding between those fingers. Do NOT hold onto the frame in another spot with your other hand (not the bridge, Not the temples, etc.) with these sorts of frames, because the drill dots are not made to take continual stress.

So anyway, all told, this is a quality pair of glasses. My only complaint, being that they are not prescription glasses, nor are they polarized (and no, I'm not saying polarized would be desirable. I only mention it for price comparison purposes), is that the price is slightly higher than I'd expect to see from an affordable optometrist or prescription eyewear store. It's not outrageously high, but it is marked up just a bit considering that these are marketed as plano lenses (essentially, competing in the sunglasses market).

You can wear these while driving and you'll see an improvement in clarity. They do help a great deal when sitting in front of a computer all day. The slight magnification will even make it easier on your eyes to focus on small fonts all day, so they function more as a pair of high-quality tinted reading glasses, in that respect.

Tinted, off-the-shelf reading glasses range in price, depending on quality. I'd put these in the "best quality" mark, and then you'd add a double-digit fee for their basic AR coating. So the highest I'd expect to pay for these would still be about thirty dollars less than the list price, at best.

I will add, however, that these do come packaged in an excellent box, with a nice case/cloth. They're very stylish and seem quite high-end. I'd be surprised to find anything this nice in a retail store. My opinion is that you're paying extra for the style, the packaging, and the excellent marketing terms (those fancy names for their lens technologies? They're just cool-named brands of AR coating, tinting, add power, and lens material that you can find elsewhere).

So are they worth it? Well, if you want a nice pair of +.50 reading glasses, they're very worth it. If you want a good pair of glasses for driving (and your RX calls for +.50), these are just about perfect due to the materials and tinting involved. If you want something to make computer use less stressful for your eyes, they're also up to the task and will do it with more style than you probably deserve.

They're worth it, but you ARE paying a little extra for style. You'd probably be hard-pressed to find as nice a pair of glasses with such good marketing at your local optical store for under one hundred. And after all, when it comes to glasses we are paying for style as well as function, aren't we?

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Apple iPod touch 16GB Black (4th Generation) (Discontinued

Customer Ratings:

I got this just for me and I love it. All of the functions works properly and it is easy to use. I love the fact that I can download apps as much as I want plus listen to music. I wish I could use the Internet anywhere without wifi but its a great item to have. I got my money worth and recommend to this to anyone.

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Sony DCRTRV27 MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/ 3.5" LCD

Customer Ratings:

I did my homework on digital camcorders, and in the end came down to the conclusion that I only had two brand choices: Sony or Canon. Now my only dilema left was the style of camera that I was to purchase. By that I mean the "ultra compact" upright style, like the Canon Elura40MC and Sony DCRPC101, or the traditional style of the Sony DCRTRV27. It should be obvious by the fact that I am writing this review that I chose the Sony DCRTRV27.

One of the reviews I read said that the upright camera wasn't comfortable to hold in comparison to the horizontal style of the TRV27. I could not agree more. I held the Canon for about two minutes and had a hand cramp. The TRV27 is certainly small enough too. I also noticed immediately, that it was near impossible to hold the Canon Elura 40MC without covering the light sensor with my finger. I would say that this is a serious design flaw on Canon's part.

That aside, the features of this camera far exceed my expectations for the price point. There are almost too many features! In all seriousness, the video I have captured so far has all been excellent, and I could not be more satisfied. The most common complaint I read about this camera (and all others BTW) is that it is not that great in low light situations. All I can say is that 1) Even cameras costing 3x this have the same issue and 2) this is easily remedied with a $... video light. For those reasons, I will not take any points away from this product. For me (first time camcorder owner with demanding tastes) this camcorder is fantastic.

The only additional feature I would like to comment on is the digital photo quality. This is NOT a digital camera. The photo quality is fine for what it is, and to expect more would not make sense. I am more impressed by the 1 trick pony type of electronics, as I think that multi-purpose products tend to do a lot of things fair, and don't do anything great.

...

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Hammermill Color Copy Paper, 100 Brightness, 11 x 17 Inches, 28

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $37.99
Sale Price: $21.20
Today's Bonus: 44% Off

This is a great paper for the price, use it a lot for presentations and colors are sharp and pop off the page, Highly recommend! I find it to be a shame when someone gives a poor review to a product based on the shipping and packaging by another company, this has nothing to do with the product, leave a comment on the vendor profile so we know not to use them for anything they are selling not just this product.

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Casio Exilim EX-FH20 9.1MP Digital Camera 20x Optical Zoom 1000

Customer Ratings:

These other reviews seem to be missing the point. This is the only dsl on the market (that I can find) that will shoot video in 1000 fps mode. This is not a super-high resolution camera, although it takes fine pictures, but it's high-speed capture mode works like a charm. The need for higher levels of light is inherent to hi-speed filming so even videographers working with the most state of the art models will necessarily experience this drawback. If you are looking for an affordable alternative to the multi-thousand dollar hi-speed cameras this is a great choice. If you want a super-high resolution camera, obviously this product isn't what you're looking for.

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Samsung Galaxy Camera with Android Jelly Bean v4.2 OS, 16.3MP

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $449.99
Sale Price: $385.00
Today's Bonus: 14% Off

I have reviewed a significant number of products , plus my current cameras that I have enjoyed. This camera really presents unbelievable options for "point-and shoot". It also gives individuals the opportunity who like to manually adjust the functions of the camera. It's telescopic lens is very powerful and makes distance shooting a real pleasure. Picture quality is excellent.

I have no negatives but all positives. Here are some of the features that I really like:

1. Great Telescopic lens

2. The camera offers 3 modes. "Automatic", which is a simple point and shoot with the camera adjusting accordingly. "Expert", The feature allows you to do all the manual adjustments that you prefer. In using your adjustments, the camera even prompts you on the results expected to achieve with your adjustments. The graphics for adjusting your lens , a truly sensational. Any person can feel really comfortable using the "Expert" mode. This mode is really great for professional or advanced type of photographers.

"Smart " Mode. This is my favorite. There are 38 different scenarios. Some of these are , Sunset Pictures, Low Light Room, Snow Pictures, Portrait Pictures, which really enhance faces. I am not a photographer but enjoy cameras. I decided to take a sunset picture and set the camera in that mode. Unbelievable results. It was as simple as point and shoot. The camera will self adjust to the scenario and come up with a fantastic result. The "Panoramic Scenario" is super. If you take a picture of the horizon. You pan the camera across , taking 3 individual shots. Because the camera is GPS noted. It makes sure that each separate shot lines up with the previous pan shot. Again on my first try. I took some great panoramic pictures. On this type of shot, a tripod is easier to use. As mentioned above. 38 different preprogramed settings for your picture desire. I am now proud to show some of my pictures to my friends.

3. WiFi Feature. This is truly a benefit. As I will explain later you can use your camera as a Tab, Galexy, I-Pad. To continue. The Wifi Features allows you to send your picture to your computer. Or send, the picture by email or messaging to your friends, directly from the camera. I enjoy editing and do the like doing the work on my I Mac. When I come come, I just turn on the camera and and through Wifi send the picture to my Mac. This transfer is accomplished by a program called "Kies" , and is part of the cameras software package. The set up with your computer should be very easy.

4. Communications feature. This is a great feature. When you go shooting scenes , you will not need additional devices to communicate. E-mails, Messaging, Chatting, maps and location, GPS driving instructions, Web surfing, can all be done by the camera. That is what I call a real convenience. About the only down side is: this is not a phone. But, it has all the features for a camera including Tab, Galaxy, iPad , type of activities.

5. I had considered, getting a camera with attachable lenses. For my purposes, I am glad I got this. The variables a great and I don't have to fiddle with lens attachments .

6. The camera is a little bigger than your standard Point-and-Shoot camera but can fit into your pocket. The screen display is very easy to read. The software of the camera is really friendly and easy to work with. I chose the White color and get a lot of compliments on the aesthetic (design ) of the camera. It easily fits into your hand .

7. In addition, If you wish to edit your picture on the camera. The camera has a great software to really enhance the picture. Because of the great screen display, the editing is easy to do.

This camera, I also believe is a good choice for a professional type of photographer. I really believe that , Samsung has perfected a "top of the Line" point and shoot type of camera. I am very, very , pleased; and feel that this is a-"Must Have",-for everyone.

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Pocket projector 3M MPro 120

Customer Ratings:

I bought the 3M MPRO 120 Pocket Projector to use in my graduate seminars and I must say I am delighted with the results. I was warned that the image might lack strength and clarity, especially in larger rooms. But since I teach most of my seminars in windowless rooms to groups of only 6-12 students, too much ambient light hasn't been an issue nor has lack of clarity at longer distances. It's absolutely perfect for small classes like mine. The projector connects flawlessly to both my MacBook Pro and my tiny Eee PC Netbook without extra software or undo hassles. It's essentially "plug & play." I use it primarily for PowerPoint and videos, and haven't encountered any difficulties whatsoever. Sure, the image isn't as powerful as a full-sized LCD projector. But for quick and easy set ups in a small, dark room, it's perfectly fine. About the only thing I miss is a tilt or image keystone correction function. It's not always practical to place the projector at exactly the same height as the screen, so the image is inevitably distorted into a trapezoidal shape. It's not a terribly important issue ultimately--my students don't seem to mind. But it would be a nice feature to add on future models. The fan isn't overly noisy, especially when compared to full-sized LCD portables I've used. It's very fast to set up and take down. And because of the LED lamp, it doesn't get unbearably hot. All in all, I'm perfectly pleased with it. Sure beats hauling around the old 10 lbs. LCD projector I used to use. And in most instances, it's more trustworthy than the built-in computers and projectors in many of my school's classrooms. (Most have been mishandled, mis-wired, and improperly maintained. They invariably take longer to fix than it takes to set-up and run the MPRO 120.)

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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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Samsung NX200 20 Megapixel Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $899.00
Sale Price: $579.98
Today's Bonus: 35% Off

EVIL for electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens. Anyway, I pre-ordered this from B&H last September. Have had it for a couple of weeks.

First off, the Samsung NX 200 takes great photos. Low ISO shots are good, not quite as noise free as my Pentax K-5, but at least equal to Canon's current APS sensor images. I process photos from several theater photographers and get to see the files from many current cameras. The NX 200 has nothing to apologize for when it comes to low light performance.

The kit lens is sharp, though no faster than other kit lenses. With Samsung's 30 mm pancake lens it becomes a great street photography camera. The 30 is actually a great addition. It's super sharp, very fast, (F2) has no distortion or fringing in most conditions. The bonus is that the camera becomes very compact with this lens and will fit in a jacket pocket.

Second, the camera is well made. The magnesium body feels solid. Finish is excellent, and it looks classy. The camera is light but solid. There are enough external controls for an enthusiast like me. One extra is the i-Function lens, which allows for quick setting changes by turning a ring on the lens. It's sort of similar to the adjustment ring on the front of the Canon S95/100. That's on the body instead of the lens, but the lens ring makes changing settings surprisingly easy and fast. I'm becoming a fan.

The AMOLED screen is brilliant: bright, crisp and has good color. It will work in bright sunlight, though it does wash out.

Third, taking photos is quick. I don't know exactly how the burst rate compares to the competition. It's more than quick enough for my needs. The camera starts up quickly and shot-to-shot times are fast enough that I don't have to wait. It handles well. controls are in logical locations. Focusing isn't spectacular but well in the ballpark with the competition. I've shot the Olympus EP2 and EPL3, as well as the Sony NEX 5 and 5N for comparison.

Speaking of the competition. I don't think the ideal compact interchangeable lens exists yet. There are compromises with all current camera systems. The system is the important part.

Sony has released some excellent camera bodies with great sensors. The NEX 5N has the same sensor as my Pentax K-5. I don't think Sony gotten quite as much from the sensor as Pentax or Nikon (D7000), but it's close. The NEX7 is the most feature rich body and has an almost insane 24 MP sensor. Sony's shortcoming is that the company has focused much more on camera bodies than on lenses. Honestly, there isn't a single lens in Sony's lineup that would be near the top of my wish list. They make mostly slow aperture zooms, of decent but not outstanding quality. The only pancake lens in the lineup is a 16 mm, which is bit wide for everyday work. With a compact and light body, not having good and small lenses is a shame.

The micro four thirds (M43) cameras from Panasonic and Olympus have a much more mature lens offering. Since both maker's lenses will work on the other brand that helps. The Panasonic 20 mm lens is excellent and the Olympus 16 mm is pretty good. Since the M43 cameras have a small sensor the effective focal length is 2 as opposed to the APS sensor of the Sony and Samsung cameras. That means the a M43 20 = a 40 mm full frame equivalent. A 16 = a 34 mm. Those are great street focal lengths. The Sony 16 only equals a wide 24 mm equivalent. That's a big difference.

Both, Panasonic (GX 1) an Olympus (EP 3) have full featured offerings in about the same price range as the Samsung. They are both fine cameras. Unfortunately, the M43 cameras don't do as well at high ISO sensitivities as do the APS sensor cameras. I shoot indoors a lot and really appreciate the low light abilities of my K-5 and wanted something with near the same ability. The NX200 has that. the M43 cameras don't. If you don't do as much available light photography, the M43 cameras are great. That doesn't fit me.

Back to systems. Samsung has put out more lenses in less time than any other interchangeable lens maker. They have 3 good pancake primes that compliment the compact body beautifully. I got the 30 mm with the new camera and will pick up the 20 next. The lenses were the main factor in my choosing the NX200. Samsung's last sensor was a bit out of date. the old 14 MP sensor is similar to the one on my old Pentax K20D. It was good for its day, but not that great at low light, either. Now that Samsung has a modern sensor that is good at high ISO, the company's offerings look a lot more appealing. The NX200 is a good camera.

It's not perfect. I like the i-Function lens feature but would also appreciate a touch screen on the camera. It's not like Samsung doesn't make excellent ones for their phones. Also the screen doesn't swivel or tilt. My third beef is that the camera doesn't offer the ability to add a electronic viewfinder (EVF).

Holding a camera out in front like a compact isn't as stable as holding it close to the eye. As good as the screen on the back of the camera is, in bright sunlight, it would be nice to have the option of a EVF. Sony's new one is excellent. I'm assuming that it will be similar the the one on the A77, which I've tried. Olympus' one is quite good enough and reports say that Panasonic's is as good as the Oly. It's a shame the the NX200 lacks the option.

The third problem is that the NX raw files aren't compressed, which makes them around 40 MB each. That's nearly twice what they should be. When Adobe releases compatibility for the new camera I'll be able to import them into Lightroom as DNG files with reasonable file sizes, so that's more a temporary annoyance than a major problem. Until then, the JPEGs are fine.

Still, the camera works well and any lenses I get will work on the next generation model. With any interchangeable lens camera you're buying into a system. Samsung is getting their game up to par and has the best lens lineup for my needs, which mostly consist of street and travel photography. This is more than a good enough camera to overlook its few shortcomings. Bottom line. It handles well, looks great, has excellent lens options, and takes great photos.

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Sony Alpha A330L 10.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with Super

Customer Ratings:

I've been using this camera for several weeks now and I am very impressed. Here are the pros, in my opinion:

(1) The camera is very light and balanced when using the 18-55 lens. My wife was very surprised at the weight, or lack of it.

(2) Minolta Maxxum autofocus lenses work flawlessly with this camera! I have two old telephotos (20 years old) that produce incredible pictures with the new Sony. My old zoom flash works too, although I have to adjust exposure manually. Although the newer Sony lenses are much lighter, quality older lenses can be purchased on auction sites for a fraction of the cost of new lenses. Just remember: they will be much heavier than today's modern opticals.

(3) The A330 functions well as an automatic point and shoot camera, but also allows the flexibility to set everything manually if desired. I especially appreciate the ease of setting white balance for those flashless shots in changing lighting conditions. Depth of field was easy to adjust using Aperture priority.

(4) Picture quality is outstanding. Viewing the high definition output on my Sony Bravia through the HDMI output is an incredible way to preview photos. My TV remote even advances the photos in my camera as I watch!

(5) It will take both an SD memory card and a Memory Stick Pro Duo card AT THE SAME TIME. When one is full, the flip of a switch changes to the other card. Memory is mostly limited by the size of your wallet.

(6) The 3200 iso setting does well in low light situations, although there is some grain.

Here are a few cons:

(1) Some functions are buried in menus. This seems to be par for the course these days for all camera manufacturers.

(2) In moving up from an 8 mega-pixel camera, this 10.2 creates substantially larger files. It is important to take into consideration what the photos will be used for, and then set the resolution accordingly.

(3) The pop up flash knocks my hat off!

I did a lot of research before purchasing this camera. The primary selling point was the ability to use my old Minolta lenses, and the tilting rear screen. This camera reminds me of my old 35mm. It feels like I am really taking pictures again, instead of merely capturing digital images. Those wanting or needed more features should look at the higher end Sonys. However, for beginner or intermediate photographers, this should fit the bill just fine!

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Fujifilm FinePix XP200 Blue 16MP Waterproof Digital Camera

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $249.95
Sale Price: $222.99
Today's Bonus: 11% Off

This camera is brand-spankin'-new. I bought mine at Wal-Mart for $270, $30 cheaper than most retailers. Many stores are selling out...the price is actually going up.

Let's begin:

This camera is COMPLETELY waterproof and fairly shockproof as well. Great for travel and vacations! Mine is bright yellow and comes with a nifty wrist strap, so it's hard to lose.

The resolution is great for the price, the lens glass is sharp and the sensor works well indoors (but not at night, for the most part).

My favorite feature is the HDR setting. For the uninitiated, HDR (High Dynamic Range) photographs are typically merged together from a sequence of light-medium-dark photos of the same subject. HDR allows for a very even exposure of highlights and shadows, when a normal photo would leave the sky bleached or the trees blackened. Some HDR photos look a bit surreal, but this is not a "professional" camera. The word which best describes this camera is "fun". It's just plain fun and easy to use.

Some other nice features are:

**The automatic wifi transfer to your PC (OR to your smartphone/tablet, just download the APP and hold the camera *ON* your device to ensure a connection)

**The panoramic mode (works well with a steady hand and a well-lit area)

Overall, a great little travel camera. I highly recommend this to families, since it's practically unbreakable and simply enough that a child can use it.

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REFURBISHED Nikon D90 Digital Camera + Nikon 18-55mm VR Lens

Customer Ratings:

We bought this camera plus for a return trip to South Africa. It was fantastic! Also I contacted the seller as I couldn't figure out how to attach the fish eye lens. I got a quick detailed response. I would buy from this seller again in a flash and this equipment is the best! We took approximately 3,500 pictures over 29 days. Wouldn't have done that with film!

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Canon C100 Cinema EOS Camera (Body Only)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $7,999.00
Sale Price: $5,449.00
Today's Bonus: 32% Off

There's a lot of talk around the net about how it's missing/has crippled features from its bigger brother the c300. But it can't be denied that you're getting the same sensor as the cameras costing many times this little guy, and the low light ability of it is arguably unrivaled.

When looking at the competitors, there's really nothing that's similar. You have the FS700 which is a nonstarter for me due to its ungainly form factor. DSLRs work great, but lack basic things that professional video cameras such as this have, namely XLRs, proper monitoring, and built in ND filters.

I do have my nitpicks, so i'll rattle them off:

-The LCD is in the wrong place, should be farther forward, and cannot turn to face forward.

-The EVF is not very good at all, but i'll take a mediocre EVF over no EVF at all. I use it frequently, and a large eyecup helps a lot.

-No true 1080 slow motion, the 60i isn't terrible by any means, but if you want good slow motion, it's just not quite there.

-The darn thing is just a half an inch too large in all directions to work with nearly any of the great photography cases out there.

-LCD screen reflective, not great in sunlight. Sony's lcds for the longest time have had amazingly visible lcds in sunlight, what's wrong canon?

I could go on, but it's really nitpicking. The plusses far outweigh the minuses:

-Unrivaled low light up to 20,000 ISO. And yes it's USABLE up to 20K, not that you should, but you can if really needed.

-Small formfactor, with all the expected video necessities. Can handhold it all day long no problem

-Practically zero artifacting. No Moire, no alaising, true 1080 sharpness.

-Battery life that makes RED shooters weep. Nothing against red, it's just Canon gave us a small, 4 hour battery.

-The AVCHD codec is NOT weak. It holds up great, the only exception being high motion scenes such as water or leaves in the wind.

-Uses any Canon or Nikon lens(with adapter)

again, i could go on, but it's just a lot to list out. If your in the market for a camera in this price range and this form factor, you'll be thrilled with using this little chap, i have zero regrets from nearly a year of use.

if i were to have one wish, it would be for canon to take a damn hint from sony and make a powered, constant aperture zoom lens.

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Canon VIXIA HF R200 Full HD Camcorder with Dual SDXC Card Slots

Customer Ratings:

Bottom line: A good value-oriented camera that works well with my Mac. It is easy to use with intuitive controls although some of the advanced settings required me to read the instruction manual. For good quality home movies, it seems to be perfect; and the minor improvement in video quality available on higher-end models probably isn't worth the additional cost.

Opening the Box:

All items were packed securely in the box except the battery, which was just rattling around in the box; and the box was not taped shut. I don't know if this had to do with the seller or the manufacturer; but I wish that all manufacturers would get in the habit of sealing the boxes at the factory with security tape, so that there would be no question that the box remained sealed from factory to consumer. Maybe I am nit picking, but the lack of security tape on the box and the battery issue could signal larger quality control problems at Canon.

First Use:

My 16GB SDHC card did not arrive on time, so I popped in a Kingston 4GB (class 4) card that I had. I wanted to take a short test video first thing, so I ignored the instructions about charging the battery first. I just plugged the camera in and began to use it.

After I took my test video, I charged the battery as indicated in the instructions: the first time you use it you are supposed to charge it to full capacity, and then use it until completely drained.

Operation:

The camera's operations and controls seem very easy to me. I know that review sites like CNET give Canon low marks for hard to use LCD touchscreen menus, but I found them rather easy to navigate, even without reading the instructions. The exterior buttons and controls were intuitive.

I use a Mac computer, and it was easy to transfer video to iMovie for editing and uploading to YouTube. Instead of connecting the camera to the computer via the included USB cable, I just stuck the SD card into the card reader on the side of my MacBook Pro, opened iMovie and clicked the button that tells it to look for a camera ... and bingo, there was my movie. I did some quick editing and uploaded it to YouTube. I would say that the total time from plugging in the SD card to having the video on YouTube ready to go was no more than 10 minutes.

I have read other websites where people make a fuss about the software not working well with a Mac. The bottom line here is that the Mac recognizes the video shot with the camera and easily transfers it to the computer for editing and storage. Honestly, I can't think of a reason why anyone would need the software that comes with the camera. I'll probably never take it out of the package.

Complaints I have Read in Other Reviews:

1. Noise. I think I hear a very faint sound on playback that might be the noise people have talked about when shooting in very quiet locations. But it certainly is not anything I would ever worry about. The background noise from my computer equipment is louder than the faint noise I was hearing. I probably wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't read about it. It might be an issue with Canon's 2010 models, but not with this one.

2. Battery Life: Using the Advanced Zoom and the Dynamic Image Stabilization features (and other such things, which are "ON" by default) suck down the battery pretty quick. If you don't need these features, just turn them off, and the battery will last much longer. There is a convenient button on the side of the camera labeled "Auto." You can turn off all of that stuff and run the camera in manual mode, and then easily use the "Auto" button to activate the other features, and switch back and forth. With a tripod I would leave the IS turned off all the time. You can also dim the LCD screen if you are doing a lot of indoor shooting to get a few more minutes of battery life. I spent a couple of hours shooting test video, turning different features on and off, and using the included HDMI cable to watch playback on my TV, and I still have 75% battery life remaining. I used various recording settings, including highest quality MXP mode, and that didn't seem to make a difference in the battery life. The reviewers who say that battery lasted only an hour must mean that the battery lasts for 1 hour of actual video shooting time with the IS turned on. An hour of shooting video is a long time. Full-length feature films are only 90 minutes. When I spend all day at the park with the kids, I'll carry an extra battery.

3. Low Light Performance: I suppose that if you are doing a lot of indoor low light video, you might want to spend more money to get a camera that has an advanced sensor, like Canon's CMOS Pro. But the R200 has better low-light specs than some other brands; and it has a manual exposure setting. This comes in handy when you are shooting indoor scenes with bright windows in the background. The automatic exposure tends to "underexpose" in these situations, but it can be manually adjusted to compensate. The video does come out a little grainy in low light ... but our standards for acceptable quality have been raised as technology has improved. You won't be able to produce a video on this camera like you see on TV. Duh!

4. Software issues: Honestly, I don't get it. Camera companies make cameras. If you want video editing software, buy it from someone who makes software for a living. As I said above, iMovie works for me.

Conclusion:

I am glad that I did not spend more money on a more expensive camera! This camera is easy to use and will do everything I want it to do. As a casual user, I am mostly interesting in making home videos of the kids. If I find flaws after several months of use, I'll post an updated review.

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Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens + Deluxe

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $749.99
Sale Price: $529.00
Today's Bonus: 29% Off

Pros: Good zoom, it's the one that u want to have in your camera all time. Very Good Wide Angle. Awesome Image Stabilizer (I can take pictures up to 1/30 and they are very sharp)

Cons: In the borders have little shade sometimes (nothing that u can't correct on photoshop). Don't have a USM motor (standard motor sounds loud), but still pretty fast focusing.

Overall: This is a standard zoom lens, I'm not a professional photographer but I consider myself an Average type of photographer. I use a Rebel XSi and you can make a very good crops of the pictures because with this lenses zoom and the 12mp working together the results are awesome. Don't spec the quality of a Canon L lense but its really good one.

I don't regret for buying this lenses. I recommend this lenses for a normal photographer who like a good zooming, wideangle, lense lock, and the best Image Stabilizer which automatically detects when u're paning.

Some examples of my pictures of airplanes with this lenses are:Note: Both of them are edited on Photoshop CS3 but just to saturate and sharp a little bit. Almost all my pictures are airplanes so always they're moving, and works perfectly. Have a Marry X-Mas

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