Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens for Canon

Customer Ratings:

Week after buying Canon T1i camera I went to Mt St Helens National Park and realized how much I need extra zoom. So I ordered the new Canon 18-135IS. My first impressions are very positive:

The build quality is pretty decent.

The lens is relatively light and feels pretty balanced on the T1i body.

Front of the lens doesn't turn during auto focus which is a plus if you use a polarized filter.

AF is quick and very accurate it easily finds focus even in dark conditions.

Image Stabilizer supports horizontal and vertical panning.

I think sharpness is comparable with the kit 18-55IS (looks like corners are a bit softer).

Zoom range is perfect for vacation/outdoor photography.

There is no zoom creep (so far).

Very smooth bokeh (background blurring)

Few cons:

No zoom lock.

Doesn't have USM/full-time manual focus this is the feature I'd expect in the $500 lens.

Distortions on the wide end (18-24mm)

More CA than 18-55IS.

P.S. I've spent the last couple of weeks reading endless forum posts and reviews. Here are my notes about the similar/competing products:

1. Canon 55-250IS My friend got this lens it's sharp but some shots have bad color saturation/contrast. He also told me that he needs to change lenses too often.

2. Canon 28-135 IS USM sharp, has full-time manual focus, but the lens is quite big and heavy for T1i and has a zoom creep. 28mm is too much for the wide shots on the x1.6 cameras.

3. Sigma 18-125 OS HSM good zoom range/color/price, relatively sharp. I almost bought this lens but then I noticed that almost every review mentions the constant background noise produced by the image stabilizer. Sometimes I use the camera for short videos so that was a deal breaker for me.

4. Sigma 18-200 good zoom range/color/price, but too heavy. Sharpness is very inconsistent. Also not much extra zoom comparing to the 135mm.

Overall I think this lens is a good choice for nonpro photographers looking for a multipurpose zoom lens.

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SanDisk 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo Flash Memory Card

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $44.99
Sale Price: $15.99
Today's Bonus: 64% Off

I purchased this so that I might not have to buy another memory stick ever for my PSP. It works well and I have lots of memory left over for pictures, saved games, pictures, music, etc.

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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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HP PSC 1350 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier

Customer Ratings:

I bought this little fax/copy/scanner about a month ago for light-to-medium home/office use. I've been pretty happy with it, overall, with some reservations.

Pros:

1. Very good copy and print quality. (Haven't used the scanner)

2. Moderately fast print/copy speed.

3. Variety of print settings to allow you to print fast/draft, fast/normal, normal, best, and maximum dpi. You can also choose greyscale and "black cartridge only." Given the price of color cartridges, I use the latter setting most often.

4. Easy to learn. The manual is good, and use is pretty intuitive (mostly).

5. The size is great -it fits on top of a small bookshelf, with all the features of much bigger units.

Cons:

1. While mostly intuitive, use is not COMPLETELY intuitive. To print some custom-size invitations, for example, I learned by trial and error that you need to change the settings in TWO places: in the document's printer properties settings (through Word, in my case) and through the printer's own settings, through the print manager. Very strange way to do it, I thought.

2. The in/out paper slot on the printer is the same. That is, it takes paper up, prints on it, and spits it out on top of the "in" tray. It doesn't re-use printed pages, but this isn't the most convenient arrangement for monitoring paper level or even grabbing finished documents.

3. The paper ejection is often too powerful, especially in Fast/Draft. This results in the finished document's being scattered all over the floor -very annoying.

4. Cancelling print jobs often requires restarting the computer to clear the memory -although this could be a Windows bug. I mean, an "undocumented feature."

5. Cartridges are pricey. The HP site (only place I looked) listed black cartridges for over $20 and color for more than $30.

Overall, it's a decent machine that could use some retooling to improve functionality. If you're just going for quality and price (and size!), and you have low to moderate volume print/copy requirements, you'll probably be very pleased. I'll probably live with the annoyances of this unit, given my light print/copy needs. If I printed/copied more often, I'd return this machine for something better engineered.

One special note: I purchased this printer through Amazon's partner program from Circuit City. When I went to pick it up, the store had lost the order, even though I had an order number. The staff was incredibly rude and unhelpful. I finally bought it off the floor and had to call to cancel the original order (for which I'd already been charged!). Given Amazon's own excellent customer service, free shipping, and fair return policy, I wish I'd just waited the week it would have taken for Amazon to ship it to me directly. I won't make that mistake again.

Update October 2008: This machine is still working fine, and I remain pleased with it (with the above caveats). I still haven't figured out how to stop it from spitting paper all over the floor, and I'd prefer a double-sided option -but I'm happy it's still going five years later!

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Panasonic HDC-TM900K 3D Camcorder with 32GB Internal Flash

Customer Ratings:

As a TV Broadcast Engineer, I know when things are "right". In any design, there have to be compromises.

All of these small cameras are compromises. I bought the TM-900 for one reason -it's 1000 line resolution

in 1080P. You can't touch that for at least another $2K. What I was surprised about is that Panasonic went

all-out trying to top the competition. Say, compared with a Canon M41 (comparable price range) the Panasonic

has a FAR better viewfinder and LCD screen. The Canon doesn't have any focus ring and the TM's is superb and

versatile. The controls for manual adjustment are light-years better on the Panasonic. The TM has Person

identification, not just face ID. This one is amazingthe TM allows you to use the camera's inside processing

chips while you edit with their editorto hyper-speed the video conversion when making DVD's and Blu-Rays.

That's progressive engineering. The TM also is just beautiful-looking while the Canon is totally low-end (the

camera body itself).

I bought both -why? Because the low-light performance of the TM is only average. It's fine and in most shooting

you'd do well. The Canon M41 has their new HD pro sensor (same at their two best pro-consumer cams)and sees

exactly as well as humans do. It's amazingly good at low-light. the TM also has a top quality of 17MBS in it's

AVHCD regular HD recording. the Canon does 24MBS. The Canon is superior when shooting in 1080i (it's top level).

The TM's best 1080i AVHCD level of 17MBS is very good...excellent.. just not superb. Kick it up a notch to 1080P

and you're speechless. Wow! It's a high-res still photograph-that's moving. But remember, 1080P on the TM is

actually above the HD spec. Uh huh. So, your editor might not handle it. You TV might not handle it. When you

render 1080P from the TM onto a AVHCD DVD to play HD on your BLue-Ray player, it is amazing looking.

Also, you can play the native video files out of a TM-900 and M41 directly out of a good Hard-drive media player.

The editing and storage software with the TM is great. It really is. Smooth operator and burns out DVD's and

AVHCD disks with ease. So, the TM is my go-to camera and the Canon is used only if I'm shooting in natural low-light.

2.5 thumbs up on the Panasonic.. a real Pro-sumer camera at a great price. Bravo Panasonic.

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Sony 50mm f/1.4 Lens for Sony Alpha Digital SLR Camera

Customer Ratings:

I bought this lens because I needed a "portrait" lens for my K/M 7D when my Sigma 28-70 f/2.8 EX "Pro" lens took a dump on me. The lens hasn't been dropped or anything like that (that I'm aware of) but it suddenly is always out of focus and won't focus at infinity at all ... but that's a problem for the Sigma people, so I digress.

In need of a good "portrait" length lens for my 7D I opted for this Sony 50 f/1.4. I'd had a Maxxum 50 f/1.4 years ago but had gotten rid of it shortly after getting a zoom lens. Big mistake. In any case, because my Sigma lens mentioned above was in need of repair and I had a portrait shoot coming up, I got this lens and I must say it's been a worthwhile investment.

Wide open the lens is tack sharp at point-of-focus. Stopped down between f/2.8 and f/4, doing head and shoulder shots of an average-sized adult the lens provides fantastic portraits ... nice contrast, beautiful color and of course very sharp with beautifully de-focused backgrounds.

I shoot a lot of film with Medium format Mamiyas (RZ67 and 7II) and have very high expectations for image quality. With the purchase of this 50 f/1.4 I realized I've been compromising image quality on my 35mm cameras (film and digital) by using "off brand" lenses like Tokina and Sigma. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that Tokina and Sigma make flat-out junk. Just that I didn't realize that the image quality could be better in my 35mm cameras.

Up to now I'd thought that the sensor in the K/M 7D was just mediocre. And, I'm sure that some would say it still is. But, I'm here to tell you that this 50 f/1.4 proved to me that the problems I've thought were all in the body were in actuality all in the lenses.

I'm in the process of replacing all my off-brand "Pro" lenses with Sony/Minolta and Sony/Zeiss lenses. Today (14Nov07) I purchased a Sony 16mm f/2.8 lens (SAL-16F28) to replace my 17mm Tokina lens. The Tokina lens just doesn't cut it when it comes to image sharpness and resolution. I'm hoping this 16mm will perform on-par with my 50 f/1.4. If it does then the next step is a Sony/Zeiss 85 f/1.4 and eventually a Sony/Minolta 80-200 f/2.8 (to replace my Tokina 80-200 f/2.8 ATX PRO).

I know some people aren't as critical as I may be about image sharpness, resolution and contrast. And for those people I say ... to each his own. But, my experience and expectations are very high and I feel there is no reason to compromise. Spend the extra money and buy the best glass you can ... because it does make a difference.

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Canon EOS Rebel T3 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with EF-S

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $849.99
Sale Price: $489.98
Today's Bonus: 42% Off

So Im a professional photographer, at my studio we use a nikon, But I recently wanted to start branching out on my own, so I wanted to buy my first dslr. :)

After much thought and deliberation I decided on the T3! Its a wonderful camera, and is more then enough for me, and the family, senior, weddings etc Ive been doing!

This kit was the perfect price, I couldnt have found a better deal! I love everything in this kit. except 1 thing, its a minor thing cause it doesnt really affect me, but the Tri-Pod is Very Flimsy and when I went to put my camera on it, the tri-pod was broken, even if it wasnt broken I wouldnt trust putting my camera on there. Luckily I have a better durable tri-pod! :) Like I said nothing that affects me :) Definitely a purchase I will not forget!!! :) if you would like to see some examples on how the camera photographs for portraits.. you can visit my website.

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Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f1.8 (Silver) for Olympus and Panasonic

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $499.99
Sale Price: $498.95
Today's Bonus: $1.04 Off

There's a lot of comparisons between this and the cheaper 20mm f1.7 Lumix, and I while I have both, I'll list a few reason you why you want this lens instead of the Lumix (especially on the OM-D, or Olympus bodies).

1.) Much faster auto-focus. It's got to be more than several times faster, and rarely hunts. This makes it useable for quick, on-the-moment snapshots that you would never get with the Lumix. This is extraordinarily frustrating, as the camera gets in the way of your picture taking, instead of being a quick and easy instrument that just works. By far the primary reason for my purchase of the Olympus 17mm f1.8.

2.) Greatly reduced purple fringing (on Olympus bodies). Panasonic bodies will auto-correct for this, but if you're using an OM-D like me, this is a huge difference. Even with chromatic aberration correction in Adobe Lightroom 4, there's noticeable band of grey as the software removes the purple, particularly in the corners with the Lumix, where the fringing can be severe in certain situations. The Olympus 17mm f1.8 naturally works without creating excessive fringing.

3.) No more banding on the OM-D. The 20mm Lumix has a particularly nasty habit of creating horizontal or vertical bands that show up in the shadows, which becomes more and more visible the higher the ISO rises. I don't know who's fault it is that the issue exists, but changing to any other lens removes the problem. You would usually love using a large aperture lens in dim lighting, but not the Lumix/OM-D combo.

Those are the top reasons, but there's some (somewhat negligible) nitpicks notes that go either way.

1.) The 20mm Lumix has a cool color shift, towards a very slight blue-green tint, while the Olympus 17mm tends to be a little warmer, which I prefer.

2.) Much is made about the the Lumix being a sharper lens, but the Olympus is still acceptable. Noticeably better than the usual kit lenses for any similarly priced manufacturer, much less a regular point and shoot. Honestly I haven't been able to tell much difference unless I zoom in on small text in the far corners.

3.) Vignetting is noticeable on either lens, especially used wide open. The Olympus is slightly, but noticeably darker.

4.) The metal housing is very nice, as is the general look to the Olympus in my opinion. The painted gunmetal colored plastic on the Lumix is a little off-putting (wish it was just black).

5.) Both are pretty expensive relative to cheap things (you can buy whole cameras for the price of either lens), both are relatively cheap compared to expensive things (other lenses of similar performance from other manufacturers can cost much more). Price is a really difficult to thing to agree on.

6.) Neither lens is very big or heavy, but the Lumix takes the cake for being more stow-able as the flatter dimensions are naturally even more compact, and a bit lighter.

7.) The Olympus is super quiet to focus (I can't hear it), great for video recording. The Lumix has that typical grinding sound from cheaper lenses.

8. Bokeh is a toss up to me. Neither one is has any terrible misgivings from what I've seen.

9.) If you normally shoot 35mm equivalent, the 20mm Lumix (40mm equivalent) can feel awkward, especially in close quarters.

10.) If you have a Panasonic body the choice is a lot harder. If you have an Olympus body, the Olympus lens makes more sense, assuming the price doesn't bother you.

Overall, I think the Olympus 17mm f1.8 has its own spot nicely settled. Unfortunately it's not particularly outstanding in performance to it's other prime siblings at 12mm f2.0 and the 75mm f1.8. But then again, it's about 60% of the price. I feel a lot of the cost went to the metal housing, and it probably would have cut US$100-150 if they just used the plastic housing of the 45mm f1.8, which would have made it a no-brainer against the 20mm Lumix of Olympus body owners. But since that's not reality, the best I can give is 4 stars, probably 3.5 if you own a Panasonic body.

Other people may feel differently, but this is my opinion.

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MyStudio MS32DEL Deluxe Tabletop Photo Studio Kit with 5000K

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $799.95
Sale Price: $654.10
Today's Bonus: 18% Off

I just got this kit and am VERY impressed by the quality of the product itself and the quality of the images I am able to produce with it! The kit comes packed very nicely and setup is a breeze. They have included everything but the camera in this kit to produce professional quality images. The two cardboard light reflectors seemed cheesy at first, but are actually quite effective. You'll realize the importance of them when you shoot a reflective object that you don't want to see yourself in! :)

The first shoot I did was with my Fuji point-and-shoot camera. I wanted to see how well a true novice would do with this kit. The images looked good, but the background wasn't pure white. I played around with the white balance and shutter speed settings, but wasn't able to produce an image with a pure white background. However, anyone with basic Photoshop skills can easily achieve their desired results (as I did)in a matter of minutes. Even given this "extra" step, I would strongly recommend this kit to anyone who is wanting to shoot their own images for web and other purposes. This kit will pay for itself over and over again!

I will update this review after I get a chance to shoot with my DSLR. I'm sure my experience will be even better...

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

Customer Ratings:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Pentax AF540FGZ Flash for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras

Customer Ratings:

I have been recently forced by Pentax to buy this flash to complement my new K10D.

I already had AF500FTZ and a few other Pentax TTL flashes which worked perfectly well with my *istDs, but for some reason Pentax decided not to support plain TTL any more in the new K10D body.

My AF540FGZ broke almost immediately when I turned it on the zoom was stuck in manual mode @ 16 mm. A brand new flash! If you look in the Internet, you will find out that it is not just a single isolated case, but a well-known bug. I would consider this to be a design/manufacturing issue.

The door of the battery compartment is not easy to open. Moreover, its locks are somewhere in the middle part of the door, the door is rather long and the material it is made of is not strong enough. When you put batteries in, the edges of the battery compartment door are pushed out. Not a critical issue, but product engineering should have considered this.

I own plenty of Pentax stuff which I am really happy with. Pentax quality used to be outstanding. So, this is my first bad experience. VERY dissapointed.

From the positive side, I liked the wireless functionality and the fact that 540 can be operated by the built-in flash of my K10D (no additional master flash is required).

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

UPDATE: Pentax USA have sent me the International Warranty Card for this flash very good customer support.

UPDATE 2: I have received my flash unit back, repaired. It took almost two months: it was sent out to Pentax on July 31 (received by Pentax on August 7), and I got it back from repair on September 28. Even if the return shipping from repair took a few days, this is still much longer than stated on Pentax web site (15 20 working days). Just FYI.

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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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Panasonic TC-P65ZT60 65-Inch 1080p 600Hz 3D Smart Plasma TV

Customer Ratings:

As a consumer who actually bought the ZT60, I think I can put a few things into perspective. Back in '09 I saw a demo of a 50" Pioneer Kuro plasma (the industry reference for black level quality until now) at a store with the lights switched off. Yes, I was impressed. Blacks looked visibly black. A couple of months ago I went to a Magnolia (Best Buy) store to see if the ZT60 could live up to its hype. The ZT60 was not in a controlled demo room but was placed on a wall directly under a VT60 with a lot of ambient store lighting. Under such lighting conditions, I honestly couldn't see the difference in black level between the VT60 and the ZT60. The main advantage of the ZT60 under bright lighting was somewhat less reflectivity/screen glare. I asked for a demo in the dark demo room but only a VT60 was in the room. I checked out the blacks using night scenes off my own "Taxi Driver" and "American Werewolf in London" BluRay discs. Blacks were inky black. Since I couldn't do an A-B comparison between a VT60, ZT60, or the Pioneer Kuro TV for black level using the same material the best I can do was base my comparisons of black level on memory. Given the Kuro's already impressive performance, can anything else "blow it out of the water", as some posters on CNET put it? I'll just say that the Kuro has finally been laid to rest. But let me say that when a black screen appears on the VT60 it looks extremely dark already.

When looking at a black screen on my ZT60 at home at night with the lights off, it appears that the unit is practically turned off (really). At that level, it's just an exercise in futility to compare it to a Kuro and split hairs. It's plenty good enough for me.

In overall performance it handily beats the very best LED backlit LCDs I've seen, including the current Ultra HD 4K sets (except in resolution) I've seen (since all of them use LED backlighting). At this point, you may be wondering why I would compare a 1080P HDTV to a 2160P (4K) set. Based on the demos of 4K sets that I've seen on 60 to 65-inch screens, the difference (really just resolution) between 1080P and 2160P is only visible when you are standing several inches in front of the screen. Most people would rather view from several feet away in a living room setting. Also, the 4K demo material is video-based. I can't imagine seeing any more detail even from a transfer of a 70mm film print when seated at a normal viewing distance in a living room. In terms of 4K sources, the Blu-Ray format does not support that resolution, leaving Sony to offer a $600 4K media box that only works with their own brand of 4K TVs. There's another alternative in the form of an even more expensive source component. But all this points to a shaky start for yet another format that provides little benefit to consumers. In fact, 4K is just a transitional format for the 2nd tier of the Ultra HD standard, 8K. So why buy 4K at all? Anyway, I digress.

Back to the subject of overall picture quality. With all the statements about black level, you'd think that that was the only important picture parameter. I'll say that one of the first things I noticed about both the VT60 and ZT60 were the great reproduction of different shades of gray (maybe better than the Kuro set which had a tendency to crush dark shades of gray to black). On the ZT60 there seems to be, if anything, also a noticeable advantage in the reproduction of red. Reds are reproduced with a natural purity I've never seen before. I can't comment on the 3D performance of the ZT60 because I don't have a 3D BluRay player but I briefly converted a 2D Blu-Ray to 3D. The motion seemed to appear with the "soap opera" (video) effect. That said, 3D performance is not important to me so I consider the feature to be a "throw in" anyway.

My only pet peeve about all the professional reviews I've read about the ZT60 is the statement that SD sources look great. While it's true that DVDs appear extremely good on the ZT60 when using an HDMI connection, the aforementioned statement is obviously based on the reproduction of DVDs (which occasionally look like HD sources) and broadcasts. I say this because there is no support for legacy sources that use the S-Video connection. I've seen so many professional reviewers trash this connection by saying that making an S-Video connection was awkward (well, you don't do it often, do you?). Yet, there is no criticism of the old composite video connection's quality. I don't think a professional reviewer would mind putting up with the minor inconvenience, given the composite connection's dot crawl from inherent crosstalk between the luminance (black & white) and chrominance (color) signals. As expensive as the ZT60 is, you'd think that an S-Video input would be included. How much can such an input cost? I make a big deal about this because I have a lot of S-VHS recordings of material I simply can't buy or don't care to buy again in another format and I also have some laserdiscs. The composite input of the ZT60 rolls off the high end of the video signal. Looking at an S-VHS recording of a standard definition Snell & Wilcox resolution test pattern through the composite connection shows a horizontal resolution of well under 300 lines. Yet looking at the same recording through the S-Video input of my old old SDTV shows roughly 410 lines. So what to do? The receiver connected to my ZT60 doesn't have S-Video inputs either so I can't use it for any handshaking between the S-VHS VCR and the ZT60. Fortunately, I have a D-VHS machine that has S-Video inputs and HDMI outputs so I can either play my S-Video recordings through this machine or use its S-Video inputs for my S-VHS VCR (which does a better job playing S-VHS videos) along with the HDMI outputs to the receiver. Result? The 410 lines of resolution appears on the ZT60 and the recordings closely approach DVD quality.

Despite the S-Video omission, I still believe the ZT60 is a 5-star product. Its reduced screen glare/reflectivity, its practically perfect black level, the great reproduction of shadow detail, and extremely accurate colors have seduced me already. In fact, these performance parameters are unrivaled. As I've already mentioned, the first parameter cannot be matched by the current generation of higher resolution Ultra HD TV sets, given their use of LED-backlit technology.

To make the most out of the ZT60, I switch to the THX Cinema mode, load a Spears & Munsil Blu-Ray calibration disc then adjust the black-level, contrast, sharpness according to the disc's test patterns and set the color temperature to the normal setting. I didn't find the recommended picture adjustments of CNET reviewer, David Katzmaier, helpful. In fact, the settings seem to appear way off when looking at the results when using my OPPO BDP-83 Blu-Ray player as a source.

In a nutshell, I'd list the Pros vs. Cons as follows:

Pros:

Unrivaled picture quality

Extremely accurate colors/color temperature in the THX mode/EBU modes right out of the box

Beats The Pioneer Kuros black level and gray scale reproduction

Low screen glare/reflectivity compared to all other plasmas to date

Cons:

Expensive

No S-video input to make the most of S-VHS sources; composite video input rolls off high-end and makes SD sources appear duller than they are

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Olympus E-600 Digital SLR Camera, with 14mm - 42mm f3.5-5.6 & ED

Customer Ratings:

I bought this because I have been an Olympus camera fan for over 20 years. I began with a 35mm film SLR It was the best camera I have ever used, until now. This camera (E600) has a lot of features, which are pretty standard for a DSLR in this price range; being used to a totally manual film camera, I was a bit intimidated at first, but after a half day of shooting, I figured out a lot without any trouble at all

The E600 is excellent I have not a single negative comment to add. The only possible issue I could see is the LCD screen it's on a swivel connection. This has both pro and con to it. The pro is that the screen can be turned LCD side inward and this will protect the screen; the con is the fact that the swivel connection could, possibly, develop a loose electrical connection only time and a lot of use will tell. The solution to the con side is to leave the screen with the LCD side out and use a screen protection film they can be had almost anywhere.

While in the decision making mode, I have gone to various stores and held other similar priced cameras in my hands, both the Cannons and Nikons felt a little cheap "plasticy" if you will.

Hands down, this is a VERY nice camera outfit.

Also, the seller had this at my door within 2 days of purchase that is outstanding.

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ViewSonic Monitor VX2252MH 22-Inch LED-Lit LCD Monitor

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $217.00
Sale Price: $129.99
Today's Bonus: 40% Off

To put this review into perspective, I purchased this monitor to replace a 6 year old HP LP2065 20" LCD monitor which is not HDCP compliant. On installing this monitor, I noted that the image was bright and lacking in contrast. Brightness and contrast are adjustable in the manual mode in the menu. Adjustments made the image better, but was still lacking in black level performance. Fine text was definitely softer than that on the HP monitor. When scrolling text, a yellow smear was visible trailing the text. This effect was mostly eliminated when switching to the "Game" mode. However, switching to this mode sets the brightness and contrast to fixed values. They are no longer manually adjustable. I had attended a wedding and took pictures with my digital camera. I processed the raw files and adjusted them the best I could based on the monitor's image. I had trouble getting them to look right. The color accuracy of this monitor is definitely sub-par. When I printed some of these pictures, they were dark and dull looking, not at all how they looked on the screen. I put back the old HP monitor and looked at the processed images. They were dark and dull on the screen, exactly how they printed. I reprocessed the raw files and now have good looking prints. At this point, I packed up the monitor for return. It cost me just under $15 to ship it back. Lesson learned. Here is a summary:

Pros

HDCP compliant

Inexpensive

Light weight

Bright image

No hot or dead pixels

Good horizontal viewing angle

Comes with a complete set of cables

Cons

No height adjustment

Mediocre black level

Poor vertical viewing angle

Inaccurate colors

Scroll smear

Very limited image adjustments

Unsuitable for photographic image processing

Soft fine text

This monitor would be suitable for non image critical applications or gaming where its fast response and bright image would be a plus. As for me, I'll be shopping for something better.

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Panasonic AW-HE50HN - network camera

Customer Ratings:

does everything a pro camera should do with remote or computer computer control...it even pans diagonally!...there isnt much more needing added above the top specifications it comes with...60 frames per second is a must...no blurr here...and the zoom will capture the nose hairs on your neighbor from a house away...simply a well designed unit...yes a bit on the expensive side...but considering it has no competition...they got me

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Nikon 85mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $499.95
Sale Price: $496.95
Today's Bonus: 1% Off

DESCRIPTION OF THE LENS FOR THE NOVICE OR BEGINNER

This lens is light, compact affordable, but produces very impressive results. I highly recommend the use of this lens for portrait, events and for landscape. Despite it being a fixed focal length and not being able to zoom, I highly recommend this lens for beginner Nikon dSLR users who own only the kit zoom lens that came with the camera. This lens allows you to shoot at low light and/or to blur the background of the subject of the photo. This prime lens is a safe, affordable and way to see for yourself how good a prime lens can be as against the kit zoom lens. It also shows what the other Nikon professional prime and professional lenses are capable of should you get serious in this hobby.

REVIEW OF THE LENS FOR EXPERIENCED USERS

What follows is a quick review is based on my use of this lens for around 2-weeks. It is intended for those already familiar with Nikkor's line of 85mm prime lenses but are wondering how this lens compare with the other Nikkor 85mm autofocusing lenses that Nikon makes. This review is based on my own copy of the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D, 1.8D, 1.4G and 1.8G.

AGAINST THE NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8D

The Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G is bigger than the Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D but is a bit lighter. Unlike the 85mm f/1.8D, this lens comes with a reversible hood which does a good job in protecting and shading the lens. With the hood reversed, the 85mm f/1.8G becomes much more compact than the 85mm f/1.8D with the hood installed. But with the hood installed, the wider lens barrel and the wider and longer hood makes the 85mm f/1.8G significantly bulkier than the 85mm f/1.8D.

Reflecting the bigger-sized lens, the 85mm f/1.8G uses a 67mm filter while the 85mm f/1.8D uses a 62mm filter. As the "G" suffix indicates, the 85mm f/1.8G does not have an aperture ring while the 85mm f/1.8D has an aperture ring (see notes below in the 85mm f/1.4D for the significance of this).

The older Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D have always been very sharp at the center and at the corners even when used wide-open but the new Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G is stll a bit sharper still. Despite being bigger and wider, the 1.8G has slightly more vignetting wide open than the 1.8D but this quickly reverses in favour of the 1.8G from about f/2.5 onwards. The two areas where the 1.8G has improved significantly over the 1.8D is in having better bokeh and also having less purple fringing when shooting wide-open. The 1.8G focus speed is a bit faster on a D7000 than the 1.8D on the same body. In addition, the 1.8G autofocus is now consistently more precise and significantly quieter.

Priced reasonably, this 85mm f/1.8G lens can auto focus on Nikon bodies that do not have a built-in focusing motors (such as the Nikon D3000, D3100, D3200, D5000, D5100, D40, and D60). For those who use this focal length regularly, upgrading from the 1,8D to the 1.8G is easy to justify. For 1st time buyers of the 85mm lens, I highly recommend choosing the 1.8G over the 1.8D given the minimum price difference between these 2 lenses.

AGAINST THE NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D

The Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G is of the same width as the than the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D but is shorter and also significantly lighter by 200 grams. Unlike the 85mm f/1.4D, the 85mm 1.8G comes with a reversible hood which does a good job in protecting and shading the lens. Unlike the 85mm f/1.4D which uses a 77mm filter, the 85mm f/1.8G uses a 67mm filter.

Wide-open at f/1.8 to f/2.5, the new Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G is sharper at the center, borders and at the corners than the 85mm f/1.4D. At f/2.8 and above, the 85mm f/1.4D improves considerably. The bokeh of the 85mm f/1.4D is still better and creamier but the 85mm f/1.8G is no slouch in this regard. There is also less purple fringing on the 1.8G than on the 1.4D used wide-open. Focus on the 85mm f/1.8G is a bit faster than the 85mm f/1.4D on a Nikon DX D7000 but the difference is small and insignificant. Focus precision between these two lenses are about the same but the 85mm f/1.8G focuses much quieter than the 85mm f/1.4D.

The primary advantage of the 85mm f/1.4D over the 85mm f/1.8G is primarily in it being 2/3 of a stop faster and it having an aperture ring. The 2/3 stop advantage is significant for still and video while the aperture ring is very helpful for use in video. The aperture ring is also particularly helpful in still photography when using this lens with an adapter on m4/3 and NEX bodies as it allows the use of precise, easily set and repeatable aperture settings. This is the reason why I still have the Nikkor 85mm 1.4D and 1.8D lenses even after getting the 2 new Nikkor 85mm 1.4G and 1.8G lenses.

For portrait photography where the subject is framed at or near the center, I would likely still opt for the 85mm f/1.4D but for anything else where the 2/3 stop advantage is not used, I would likely choose the 85mm 1.8G.

AGAINST THE NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4G

In terms of size, the 85mm f/1.4G is significantly bigger and heavier than the 85mm f/1.8G. Both lenses comes with reversible hood. The 85mm f/1.4G uses a 77mm filter while the 85mm f/1.8G uses a 67mm filter.

In terms of performance, the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G is better than the 85mm f/1.8G in all respects. The 1.4G is a bit sharper, has better bokeh, less vignetting at the same aperture setting, even less purple fringing, better flare resistance, better micro-contrast and richer color. It's very tough to compete against the 85mm f/1.4G when it comes to performance. Yet while the 85mm f/1.8G comes up a bit short, it comes in at a close second. At almost 3x the cost, it is not surprising that the 1.4G is better than the 1.8G. Whether one should get 1.4G or the 1.8G will depend on how much one is willing to pay more for the small performance difference. Consideration should also be given to the bigger size and weight of the 1.4G vs the 1.8G.

For someone who already has a Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G, would it still make sense to get a Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G? The answer is yes if one needs a smaller, lighter and more compact 85mm. I use this lens with my smaller Nikon DX bodies as well as with my Sony NEX and Panasonic GH2. The 1.8G smaller size and lighter weight would also be a very good match for the rumored upcoming Nikon full frame in a small body, the D600.

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