Samsung Series 3 NP350V5C-T01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titan Silver)

Customer Ratings:

My wife wanted a laptop that could play World of Warcraft. We normally play on desktop computers with high performance video cards, so laptops have historically been a disappointment. This year, she requested (for Christmas) a laptop that was capable of playing WoW so that when she is upstairs with the kids she has something more fun to play than solitare and more entertaining than watching Barney or Sesame Street on television.

I shopped around, but honestly knew very little about laptops. I have always custom built my own gaming PCs, but laptops were never on my radar. And gaming laptops can get very expensive.

I saw this Samsung on Amazon and was impressed by the price. The KEY feature is the included Radeon HD 7730M video card. If you want to play video games, you must have a 3d graphics card. The built-in Intel HD graphics card is great for anything else, but for playing video games good luck.

I was skeptical about Windows 8. I still am, I suppose, but I've heard such horrible reviews that I almost didn't buy this laptop. I took a chance, and honestly within about an hour or two I find myself using it just fine. I've already connected to our printer, network drive, installed World of Warcraft, etc. It was pretty painless. I'm not sure I like it better than Windows 7, but it seems to work just fine.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This laptop has two graphics cards. It took me an hour of playing around with graphics settings to figure out how to "switch on/enable" the Radeon card. This made a massive difference in performance. The Intel HD card struggled to play World of Warcraft at "Good" settings, and the laptop became very hot to the touch. When I finally figured out how to enable the Radeon card, I was able to bump the graphics to "High" and I even turned on 4x anti-aliasing. I'm getting 25 frames per second, and the laptop doesn't feel nearly as "hot." It is very important to configure this setting or you will be disappointed and you won't know why. One annoying thing about computers is that it is sometimes difficult to tell how the hardware is being used. This is the primary reason that I wanted to post this review right away (I wish I could have read this before I bought it.)

They key detail that isn't obvious: Right-Click on the desktop, select "Configure Switchable Graphics." Everything else is relatively obvious.

Here is a tip: Turning on anti-aliasing in a video game is a good way to "test" if your graphics card is working. You should get similar frame rates either way. With the Intel HD graphics adapter, anti-aliasing destroys your performance.

Bottom line: This laptop is great for the price. Windows 8 was a pleasant surprise. I don't hate it, and it seems to work just fine. It really isn't that different from Windows 7 once you get used to it. This laptop DOES have a Radeon graphics card. It seems to work just fine. It can play World of Warcraft with High settings and 4x anti-aliasing. Not bad. Plenty for what my wife wants/needs. Note: I couldn't update the driver from the web. The generic Catalyst drivers say the hardware is incompatible, "check with your hardware manufacturer." Hopefully this doesn't become a problem in the future. For now, the drivers seem to work just fine, but it is slightly troubling that I can't update them manually.

In case you are wondering how I posted this review before Christmas: I didn't want to wait until Christmas to give this to her. I didn't want to take any chances (I wanted plenty of time to find something that works -what if I needed to send it back?) Plus, with the long Thanksgiving weekend, now she can use it and have fun right away. My wife is pretty awesome, I'm glad she now has a laptop that works well.

Update June 17th, 2013:

-----------------------

My wife is still using this laptop daily. Windows 8 hasn't grown on her (she would still prefer Win 7), but she does still play WoW frequently and still likes the laptop. So far so good. The quality level seems high. It hasn't broken yet (knock on wood).

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Epson Artisan 1430 Wireless Wide-Format Color Inkjet Printer

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $299.99
Sale Price: $299.00
Today's Bonus: $0.99 Off

Update #2 Almost nine months after my original review and Epson STILL hasn't released the ICC profile for their Ultra Premium Luster paper. If you are using anything other than their Ultra Premium line you really aren't getting your money's worth on this printer. And as a photographer I can't give my clients work printed on glossy! Unfortunately, Epson doesn't seem to even have a timeline for giving their consumers proper ICC profiles. I just cannot understand why they have profiles for every other paper besides their most popular?

Update I am adding a few stars onto my original review for a couple of reasons. One, because Epson customer service is actually one of the better customer service experiences I've had to deal with. They are very quick and courteous with their responses. And two, because after a month the banding problem I was having has randomly fixed itself. I'm hoping it was only a problem with the printer being so new, and will not happen again. But I will certainly update my review if this is not the case.

Original Review

Let me start off by saying that if you can get this printer working correctly, it will produce some incredible prints. Epson's Ultra Premium photo paper, combined with the amazing Claria Hi-Def ink is sure to exceed your expectations on print quality. That is IF your printer decides to work properly.

Out of the box the initial installation (Mac OSX 10.6) was quite easy, and everything worked smoothly. I then tried to connect my printer to wi-fi which is when my problems began. Although I followed the instructions to a T, wi-fi just would not install on my printer, despite the fact that this printer advertises a wi-fi connection in "seconds". A few days, countless hours, and a couple phone calls to Epson did not solve the problem, I was basically told they didn't know what the issue was. Having to connect my computer and printer with a cable every time I needed to print something was a bit of a pain, but certainly not something that was worth the hassle of returning the product. I then started printing some images to complete client orders I had lined up, and I noticed banding on every single image. I followed all of the steps listed on Epson's website, as well as took the advice of a printing instructor at my school, taking every step to rectify this problem. Nothing worked. And weeks later my printer is still banding. I have changed the ink and lost a full pack of Epson Ultra Premium Photo Paper, wasting a ridiculous amount of money in the process. Now my printer will no longer even respond to the "clean the print heads" command.

Another big problem with this printer is that Epson has not completed the ICC profiles for some of their own paper, most notably the Ultra Premium Luster. This paper of course being the favorite of photographers. And if you can't print on Ultra Premium paper there's not much purpose in purchasing the overpriced Claria inks, as their full potential will not be reached using mediocre paper. I contacted Epson and they said they don't know when the ICC profile will be available.

Epson's paper is, in my opinion, the best on the market and as a photographer I hate giving my clients work printed on anything less. But nothing is worth this much hassle. Epson should invest some more time into producing quality printers that are worthy of the paper and ink they use.

*Just a note, this printer does not come with a USB cord, so if you are thinking of purchasing this product and don't have an extra one laying around, I suggest buying a USB cord along with it since your wi-fi may end up not working. Otherwise, you'll still need access to one for initial set-up.

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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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Canon PowerShot S110 12MP Digital Camera with 3-Inch LCD (White)

Customer Ratings:

As we all know, Canon's S90 S100 models have pretty much set the bar in The Advanced Point And Shoot market for the last 4 1/2 yrs... Until recently ( With the advent of The Sony RX100). Canon sales more cameras than almost all other brands combined, this does not indicate, however; that they are the best in all categories, but that they are either the best over all, or at least in the top 5 for most classes of cameras.

I have owned many Canon Cameras and printers over the years, and I have been very happy with most of them, but I also place a lot of stock in fellow Amazon customer's reviews. For many months, I noticed that every other review, or updated one, for The Powershot S100 indicated a nasty lens error. That said, this time around researching advanced P&S's, I decided to see what other Brands such as: Nikon, Fuji, Panny and Sony were offering... What I found was this, Other brands have really took notice of The Canon S and SX line's success and or offering very stiff competition!

Sony has, IMHO, set the New Standard with the almost perfect Advanced P&S, The RX100. My coworker owns one, and it stomps all others in this now crowded class! Only problem is that it cost over $650.00, but the image quality, and low light rendering are truely amazing! Needless to say, Sony discounts its products about as often as Apple discounts its products... NEVER! The Panny Lumix LX5 and LX7, Nikon P300 and P310 and Fuji X10, are all now offering very good to excellent image quality in this class. You saw correct! I did include The Nikon Coolpix P310! Nikon has really stepped their game up with The Coolpix Line, in fact; this was the only model that came close to The Canon S100 and S110's Bang-For-Your-Buck. Price, it is $200 less than Canon S110, $450 less than The Sony RX100, while offering excellent I.Q., pocketabillity, low light performance and manual controls... Sans Raw mode. Came so close to getting The Nikon P310, before you judge me, just take a gander at the online sample shots of this camera!

In the end, I came back to The Canon S110. Chose The newer S110 over The S100 in the hopes of avoiding The Lens Error (Fingers Crossed). So happy with this camera! The S110 looks identical to The S100, but let me tell you, Canon has made some huge improvements with The 110. Canon has improved upon the sensor and auto focus speed of this model, added usable ISO, WiFi and touchscreen functionallity. Low light performance is a lot like that of The S95 and S100 combined. Allow me to explain. Sometimes The S100's colors would be a little off in low light, casting an orangish hue... as if shot in sepia. The Powershot S95 rendered sharp, detailed and very accurate colors in lowlight, but the lens was a bit slow under these conditions. I don't know what Canon did, but there is almost zero lag in AF, despite others claim that this is a slower lens or sensor than its predecessors. Color, contrast and sharpness are spot on! I predict that the next S model will have a larger sensor to be competitive with The Sony RX100's lowlight performance, but until then, I have to say that the S110 is very close in low light image quallity and will surpass the Sony, although at the cost of a higher price point and perhaps a larger form factor because of the larger sensor.

Battery life has never been an issue with me, because I rarely took over 100 pictures in a day and never used GPS tagging or logging. I also rarely shoot video clips longer than 10 min. in a day,also buy cheap aftermarket Batt.s as back-up. Canon's addition of WiFi to The S-Line is really cool and useful; I use it way more than I thought I would! It is implemented very well with this camera, much smoother and faster than using Eye-Fi's top of the line card... That's an $80 dollar value right there! Lol Also, I already own a Canon SX-230HS and many extra batteries. The S110 uses the same battery ( NBL-5) as The SX-230. Yes! Winning! WiFi connection with your smartphone or iPhone is almost instantaneous, once the App. is opened on the device, or printer turned on. GPS functions are combined with these WiFi transmissions between your phone and camera, and they are thus also instantanious.

The WiFi operates very efficently, and a cool, bright, blue LED lights up on the top of the camera when it is connected. It flashes when busy. The Camera asks if you would like to geotag or log your location while connected to your phone or computer. It is a 2 second affair, so GPS no longer drains your battery. Built-in GPS and Eye-Fi cards do not work nearly as seemless as this! I had issues when first setting this connection up, because I thought I could bypass the step where you connect the Camera to a computer via USB cable and run software CD... You have to do this step! I think you may have to also Register your S110 for it to properly set up initial WiFi.

Touchscreen: Very Responsive, and can be adjusted.... Nuff said on that.

CONS: The things I don't like about The Canon Powershot S110 are pretty much all ergonomically based. These things are true of the entire S series, and perhaps the indicative of the entire Class of these type cameras. They are not easily handled or operated... even on Auto! EXAMPLE: A friend, family memb., or pedestrian says, "Hey, YOUR NAME HERE, I noticed you are taking everyone else's picture, would you like me to take yours with the group?" You have to explain that this really tiny, hard to press button turns the camera ON. When it turns on be careful, because the flash is going to come up over here. If you want to zoom in it's the tiny switch here next to the shutter button. Now, you only want to press the shutter button halfway to compose the shot... it'll beep when ready, then you push it all the way down to take the shot. See? Some ergonomic issues have gotten better with this version of The "S".... others the same or worse. 1. Front grip is gone. 2. As on all The S Models, power button is way too small and recessed. 3.Mode wheel blocks index finger from shutter button. 4.Flash makes camera hard to handle with left hand. 5. if touchscreen shutter is on, camera will take picture if finger contacts screen before you are ready. I guess some things have to be sacrificed for a small form factor, but I feel comfortable giving anyone my Canon Elph 300HS and it is the smallest P&S ever produced!

There is no loud knocking noise when zooming in video, but there is a slight wherling sound when I zoom in video. Hard to notice and can only be heard when passage is very quiet during playback, but it's there... none the less. Wish Canon would get that worked out. All and all EXCELLENT IMAGE QUALITY and cool added features, deffinately recommended! The White is very cool looking and although glossy does not show prints as much as I had anticipated. The Black/Mat is sleek and modern looking like a stealth plane.... was a hard decision to make! UPDATE: Have now taken close to 400 shots. Still going strong! There are a few points that I should add to my review. Some I forgot, and some are new discoveries.

1. Wifi connection.: I own a Huawi Glory/Mercury Android smartphone which is still running Gingerbread. The S110 connects flawlessly with this phone, but what I found out is, you must be near an open WiFi network or hot spot for it to work. The Camera's Wifi will not work over 3G or tethered to your phones mobile hotspot. Also, The S110's WiFi will not connect wirelessly to Windows7 Basic,Starter or any OS older, such as XP or Vista. It won't work on Macs older than OSX 10 or whatever Apple's answer for Windows 7 was. I was told by a Canon Rep. that it works well with full versions of Windows 7, and extremely well with Windows 8. We will see. Waiting for Black Fri. to snag a Windows8 computer.

2. Touchscreen Shutter: Amazingly, the touchscreen functionallity of The S110

has really impressed my friends and family. It really comes in handy when I

give The S-110 to someone, in order to get in the picture myself or for

some one to swipe through the pictures, using their finger to preview.

3. Price Point: I purchased The Powershot S110 for $390 used, and it came

new, in box with all contents still sealed in plastic. Nice! The main reason

I purchased the S110 over the S100 was it was only $38 dollars more at that

time, and I felt that was a small Diff. to pay to hopefully avoid The Lens

Error. I really am happy with this little camera. The functions and menues

are very easy and quick to access with the lens ring and touchscreen. Before

I was using Auto way too much... Now, I am truely learning, in a fun easy way

about F-stops, apperature, ISO, white balance, shutter speed, etc. Things

that I already kinda knew about with my Eos T3 and even my S95, but seemed

to much trouble or laborious, are now fun and easily implemented to play

around with. I am having, "A Ha moments," where I think aaah, that's why

that turned

out good or bad with my DSLR... The S-110 is the perfect learning tool to

whip out of your pocket, purse, or Camera Case and start learning and capt-

uring. I also played around with The Canon G15 and G1X. Salesman at camera

store told me that G15 used pretty much the same sensor,lens and processor

as The Canon S100 and S110. The Powershot G1X really impressed me with its

image quality though; seemingly better than even the more expensive, Sony RX

100! I understood why when he told me it had an SLR sized sensor. The G1X is

a beast, though! Holding it, it felt the size and weight of my T3 without the

lens! Way too large, but may be Canon's answer to The New Sony, Panny, Fuji

and Olympias in this class. He offered it to me at the same price as the G15

$550 plus Uncle Sam's cut (Tax), but it still was more than I could afford.

So here I am. A happy S110 owner. Lol

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

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

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

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Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR FX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $219.95
Sale Price: $216.95
Today's Bonus: 1% Off

Review of the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G AF-S versus other Nikkor 50mm AF lenses

This quick review is based on my use of this lens for almost 3-weeks. It is intended for those already familiar with Nikkor's line of 50mm prime lenses but are wondering how this lens compare with the other Nikkor 50mm autofocusing lenses that I also own. I did however provide a section for beginners or novice at the last section of this review.

AGAINST THE NIKKOR f/1.8D

The Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G is slightly bigger than the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D and a bit heavier but by a mere 31 grams, hardly noticeable at all. Unlike the 50mm f/1.8D, it comes with a reversible hood which does a good job in protecting and shading the lens. Unlike the 50mm f/1.8D which uses a 52mm filter, this lens uses a 58mm filter. Unlike the 50mm f/1.8D which has a maximum aperture of f/22, the maximum aperture of this lens is f/16 (as do the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D and 1/4G). As the "G" suffix indicates, the 50mm f/1.8G does not have an aperture ring while the 50mm f/1.8D has an aperture ring (see notes below for the significance of this).

The new Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G is sharper and has better bokeh. The aspherical element in the new Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G has further improved the acuity of this lens specially noticeable at the corners even at its wide-open setting. Yet Nikon also improved the bokeh of this new lens versus the 50mm f/1.8D! I also noticed some slight improvement in the color and contrast, specially when shot from f/2.0 and above. Focus speed is decently fast and is about the same on a Nikon DX D7000 yet the 50mm f/1.8G seems to be more consistently precise and significantly quieter. Priced very reasonably, this 50mm f/1.8G lens also now focuses on Nikon bodies without built-in focusing motors such as the Nikon D3000, D3100, D5000, D5100, D40, and D60. Focus speed is decently fast. This lens is a winner by a clear margin!

As the price of the 50mm f/1.8D has risen in the recent months, the price disparity between this lens (USD$219.00) and the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D has narrowed. Considering that the 50mm f/1.8G has better optical performance (sharper, better bokeh, improvement on color and contrast), has an included hood, lens pouch, plus the flexibility of being able to use this lens with all of Nikon's dSLR, I strongly recommend anyone looking for a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens to choose this Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G over the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D.

AGAINST THE NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4D

The Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G is slightly bigger than the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D but is lighter by 63 grams. Unlike the 50mm f/1.4D, it comes with a reversible hood which does a good job in protecting and shading the lens. Unlike the 50mm f/1.4D which uses a 52mm filter, the 50mm f/1.8G uses a 58mm filter.

At the same aperture setting from f/1.8 and above, the new Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G is again sharper and has better bokeh. This is surprising considering that the 50mm f/1.4D is already stepped down 2/3 of a stop when these two lenses are compared at the same aperture setting. The bokeh of the 50mm f/1.8G is also better! Focus on the 50mm f/1.8G seems about the same or just a bit faster than the 50mm f/1.4D on a Nikon DX D7000 but the difference is so small as to be almost imperceptible. Focus precision between these two lenses are about the same but the 50mm f/1.8G focuses quieter than the 50mm f/1.4D.

The primary advantage of the 50mm f/1.4D over this lens is primarily in it being 2/3 of a stop faster and it having an aperture ring. The former is important for still photography while both are important for video where 2/3 of a stop advantage and being able to manually set the aperture have a substantial impact on the final output. The 50mm f/1.4D remains attractive for these. For still photography shooting at f/1.8 and above, I would choose the 50mm f/1.8G over the 50mm f/1.4D.

AGAINST THE NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G

In terms of size, this lens is about equal with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G and also uses the same 58mm filter. The 50mm f/1.8G is lighter by 94 grams than the 50mm f/1.4G. Like the 50mm f/1.4G, it comes with a very useful hood.

At the same aperture setting, the new Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G is as sharp in the center and has about the same quality of bokeh. The 1.4G of course would have a better bokeh shooting at f/1.4 and f/1.6 still than the 1.8G at f/1.8. More noticeable is that the 50mm f/1.8G is sharper at the corner than the 50mm f/1.4G when shot wide-open. This is surprising considering that the 50mm f/1.4G is significantly better than the 50mm f/1.4D yet the 50mm f/1.8G is still a bit sharper beginning at f/1.8 but even more noticeable at f/2.0 despite the 50mm f/1.4G being already stepped down! Measured in terms of optical performance alone, the 1.8G has a slight advantage over the 1.4G in corner acuity even at f/1.8 but more so at f/2.0 and above. Color and contrast are about equal and I am unable to see any difference between the two. It would seem that the aspherical lens element that Nikon added to the 1.8G but not to the 1.4G has made quite a considerable difference. Yet Nikon also endowed this lens with excellent bokeh despite it being half the price. Kudos to Nikon for doing this!

In terms of focus precision, the 1.8G does not differ much from the 1.4G on my Nikon D7000 and D3100. In terms of focus speed, the 50mm f/1.8G focuses a tad faster than the 50mm f/1.4G. Manual focusing on the 50mm f/1.4G however is easier than on the 50mm f/1.8G. This may be an important consideration when choosing a lens for video use.

Like the 50mm f/1.4D, the primary advantage of the 50mm f/1.4G is its being faster by 2/3 of a stop which can be invaluable for still photography and for video as well for those aiming for the thinnest depth of field (DOF) and/or more light to keep the ISO setting as low as possible. For these advantages, the 50mm f/1.4G cost about double the price of this lens.

If only Nikon included nano-coating and added an aspherical element into the 50mm f/1.4G to make it perform like or perhaps better than the 50mm f/1.8G, then the extra cost of the 50mm f/1.4G would be easier to justify and the 1.4G would be a clear choice. But as it stands, one would choose the 1.4G when shooting at f/1.4 to f/1.6. But when shooting at f/1.8 and above, the 1.8G would be a better and also a less expensive choice (at just half the price).

NOTES RE THE 50MM AND VIDEO-ENABLED NIKON DSLRS:

The 1.8G like the 1.4G no longer has an aperture ring that the 1.8D and the 1.4D still retained. The aperture ring remains handy and useful for manual control of aperture in video more so as the current video-enabled Nikon dSLRs do not allow the changing of aperture settings when video recording has started. With an aperture ring, the aperture setting can be changed manually once video recording has started.

ADDITIONAL NOTES OWNERS OF THE NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G

The Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G is slightly bigger and slightly heavier than the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G but the weight difference is not really noticeable. The 50mm f/1.8G exhibit the same qualities as the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G in that it is usable and sharp even when shot wide-open. These two lenses are also priced about the same. While the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G is a DX lens, I have used it with an FX body at night where the vignetting at the corners is not as issue as it is not noticeable under certain light conditions. I would not however use the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G on an FX body on daytime or where the light is even. Sharpness at the corner is also not good. The Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G can be used with a DX body as well as with an FX with no vignetting or corner sharpness issue such as I described. Like the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G, color and contrast improves considerably when this lens is stepped down a bit by 1/3 to 2/3 stop. If you own a Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G and need the field of view of this lens, getting this lens would be a no-brainer.

SUMMARY

In sum, this lens is currently the best Nikkor 50mm lens for general still photography when shooting from f/2.0 and above. The stellar performance of this lens matched with its relatively low price and its ability to autofocus on Nikon's lower model dSLRs makes it a hands-down winner.

For still photography or video where every little bit of light is needed or where getting the thinnest DOF is crucial, the Nikkor f/1.4D and f/1.4G remains the better choice. The Nikkor f/1.4D with its aperture ring is particularly useful for video with its ability to change the aperture setting through the aperture ring even after video recording has started. Changing the aperture setting after video recording has started is currently not possible with the Nikon D7000 and the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G. This situation makes it necessary for me to own multiple type of Nikkor 50mm lenses.

FOR THE NOVICE OR BEGINNER

This lens is light, compact inexpensive, but produces very impressive results. On a DX body such as the Nikon D40, D60, D3000, D3100, D3200, D5000, D5100, D7000 and D300(s), this lens has a field of view of a 75mm. On an FX body such as the Nikon D700, D3(s) or D3x, this lens has a field of view of a 50mm.

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. This prime lens is a safe, inexpensive, and exceptional route to trying out how good a prime lens can be as against zoom lens. In addition, this lens allows you to shoot at low light and/or to blur the background of the subject of the photo. It also hints at what the professional Nikon zoom lens are capable of should you get serious in this hobby. This lens is very compact and easily packed in the bag for those times when a wide open lens is needed for shooting in low light conditions.

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Canon Powershot SD990IS 14.7MP Digital Camera with 3.7x Optical

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $999.95
Sale Price: $949.95
Today's Bonus: 5% Off

I realize there IS no "perfect point and shoot camera". I suppose there can not be a PERFECT small camera due to the small size.

In recent months I have owned TOO many small point and shoot cameras including..the older Canon SD950, a Fuji F100FD, a Panasonic TZ5, Even an Olympus 1010 model..and lastly bought a new discontinued Fuji F30 off e-bay for indoor low light shooting. I am sort of running my own private consumer reports situation it seems. :)

This SD 990IS is maybe the best OVERALL point and Shoot I ever had. But, instead of all the usual glowing remarks Canon Elphs seem to get..I want to point out a few negatives or inconsistencies with this camera. I mostly bought this camera because of the new function..FACE SELF TIMER seemed like a GREAT and useful idea as I take more pics with my g/f, or friends, dog, whatever..on timer than anything else. Long story short Face Detection works THE best on this 990 of ANY other camera I have ever used. It's nearly flawless INDOORS. However I tend to use this Canon more OUTDOORS. Problem is is in rather bright sunshine like MANY cameras, Face detection has trouble. Simply, often it doe NOT detect a face..and won't detect the second face either. This is only in rather strong sunshine..otherwise Face detection and Face Self timer DOES work and works rather well. The lens is OK, but on such an expensive elph I feel there should be less purple fringing THOUGH it's not BAD..but it IS there...and also indoors ISO set above 250 or so tends to get a bit grainy. So much so, I set the megapixels to 10..thereby why did I need a 14.7 meg camera??

I have also noted to my eyes this camera is not producing the almost too vivid colors of most canons...DEEP greens...Deep blues. But I actually feel the colors produced by this camera are perhaps more natural than almost any point and shoot I have had so that's a good thing. Also a positive..this camera handles blown highlights (Too BRIGHT) and dark shadows better than most. To sum up..this IS a really good camera with REALLY useful features WHEN they work, ala face detection in bright sun.

I feel Canon and just about all the point and shoot cams presently out there are WAY too concerned about who's got the most meagapixels. I'd much MUCH prefer a camera closer to my OLDER Fuji F30 which BLOWS the doors of this Canon in low light no flash) WITH JUST 6 MEGAPIXELS..then a nearly 15 meagpixel camera with too much noise. The Fuji's lens sadly has THE most purple fringing outdoors of any cam I have tried, hence my search has continued. To sum up..in today's market..perhaps this 990is may be about the best OVERALL small cam out there..but as I pointed out..if you are rather picky..it has a few flaws and I feel it is a bit overpriced...BUT also a VERY good camera which will make most people quite happy. It has a nice metal body..and the battery lasts a LONG time..another plus!

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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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Sennheiser HD 429 Headphones Black

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $79.95
Sale Price: $59.96
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

If you are in the market for headphones at this price point, you are likely looking at both of these models. I ordered both, tried them out side-by-side, and returned one. I kept the Sennheisers.

Let me start by saying that I am NOT an audiophile. I was looking for headphones to use with my iphone, that I could use at work at a reasonable volume without disturbing, or being disturbed by, my neighbors with sound leakage. My previous headphones were the inner-ear style, and I found those to be extremely uncomfortable.

Second, I'll say that both the Sennheisers and the Shures are excellent, from a layman's perspective, and that you really can't go wrong with either. Again, a true audiophile would probably tell you something different, and be able to explain the technical side of why one is clearly superior, but I am not that guy.

So, why did I prefer the Sennheisers? The 2 main reasons are:

1. Better sound isolation. Not just a little bit, but a lot. With the Shure 440s, my wife was able to sing along with the song I was listening to at 50% volume from 12 feet away. Compare that to the Sennheiser HD 429's, and I had to get within arms length before she could even hear a noise, let alone be able to tell what the song was and sing along. Further, I had her turn up the volume of the television until I could hear it through the headphones. She got up to 30 with Sennheisers, compared to only 14 before sound started leaking through on the Shures.

2. Better comfort. This is obviously a personal preference, and will depend a lot on your head size and shape, but for me, the Shures felt like they were going to fall off every time I moved my head. The Sennheisers felt tighter, but not in an uncomfortable way. Just the opposite, actually. Then Sennheisers felt secure on my ears, and like it would be no problem to go jogging or working out in them, if I were so inclined.

2a. As far as long term comfort, I wore them each for 2 straight hours. This was a struggle with the Shures, because like I said, every time I moved my head, I felt the need to adjust them, and tighten them just a little bit. However, despite what is said about the Shure 440 earpads being bad and needing to replace them with the 840 earpads, I did not find the standard earpads to be uncomfortable at all. For the Sennheisers, they stayed comfortably secure the whole time, which I liked. The earpads are soft and very comfortable. When I took them off, I did notice how warm my ears must have been, because they felt cool when in the open air again. But I did not notice my ears being uncomfortably hot while actually wearing them, it was only when I took them off. I also found the padding on the top of the head to be more comfortable with the Sennheisers. The Shures started irritating the top of my head after about 45 minutes.

As for sound quality:

Again, not an audiophile. I tested both sets of headphones on a wide variety of music. I like my music to sound balanced, not to heavy on the low end or the high end. The Sennheizers seem to deliver more bass than the Shures. A bit too much on some settings, actually, but by using the "Acoustic" setting on the iphone equalizer, the Sennheisers sound very well balanced to this layman. For the Shures, I found the "Classical" setting to be the best. But you can play around and see what works for you.

Both sets were easily run by my iphone, without use of a headphone amplifier. But, with the better noise isolation, I was able to keep the volume lower with Sennheisers.

If there is one area where the Shures have a clear advantage, it is the wire. The Shures use a thick, coiled wire, like the one that connects from the base of a telephone to the handset. The Sennheisers have a just a long, thin, straight wire. It feels a little flimsier than the Shure wire, and might wrap around something without you even noticing. So, both wires give you the same range of motion, but the Shures do it neater, if that makes any sense.

TL;DR: The Sennheisers are the choice for me. They lost one star for the wire. I would rate the Shures at 3 stars, knocking off 1 for sound isolation and 1 for comfort. But like I said before, that comfort thing is highly subjective. Overall, the sound quality is equal. It is just a matter of finding the right setting for your preference.

Both are great choices for the price point, and I'm sure you'll be happy either way, but for me, the Sennheiser HD 429s hold a slight edge over the Shure SRH 440s.

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Rokinon Cine CV35-S 35mm T1.5 Aspherical Wide Angle Cine Lens

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $649.00
Sale Price: $514.34
Today's Bonus: 21% Off

I recently bought the Rokinon 85mm Cine lens to use on a Sony a99 camera, mostly for video. I found that I liked that particular lens so much that I started using it for still photography as well. In fact, I like the sharp look of those files so much that I started to look for more Rokinon lenses to put on my camera. I'd been researching this 35mm 1.5 Cine lens of Sony Alpha cameras for a couple of weeks when I noticed one of those mysterious Amazon price drops. It seemed like too much of a bargain to pass up so I went ahead a bought one. I'm very happy I did.

Stuff to get out of the way right up front: This (the 35mm Rokinon Cine lens) is absolutely a manual focus lens. There is no electronic interface between the lens and the camera. It does not focus for you. If you can't tolerate focusing the lens yourself then this is very much not a lens for you. No autofocus. But not having autofocus is part of the design and part of the appeal for me. It means that there's so much less stuff to go wrong with on this product. And most people who are seriously into making films and commercials on video use manual focus lenses because it gives them maximum control over the look of their images. If you are lucky enough to shoot with the new Sony SLT cameras you'll find manual focusing is made simple with the cameras' built in focus peaking. If you are shooting with more prehistoric Nikon and Canon bodies you'll probably want to use the lens on a tripod so you can depend on Live View and magnification to get sharp focus.

Stuff to get out of the way, part 2: Since there are no electronic linkages between camera and lens there is no automation beyond what the cameras naturally give you with aperture priority control. Again, fine by me since I'm using an EVF and real time Live View I can always "pre-chimp" and see exactly what I'm getting while I'm shooting. That means I can compensate and change settings in a heartbeat if the scene in my finder looks too light or too dark. Finally, since the camera has no idea what lens is on front or what the heck the lens is doing there's no way it can give you complete exif data. You'll just have to get over that. The lens is also enormous. Not too heavy but large in size.

So, the lens seems primitive by modern standards. What does it have going for it? Well, my quick tests show me that the lens is sharp wide open in the center and just keeps getting sharper as I stop down. By f5.6 it's as sharp as any lens I've played with in the last 20 years. According to photozone.de it's a sharper lens than the $1400+ Canon 35mm 1.4L and the $1800+ Nikon 35mm 1.4 lenses. And that's both wide open and stopped down. Pretty amazing for a lens that's so inexpensive.

My work is generally slow and thoughtful. I work to a client's comprehensive layout or I shoot foot or I shoot portraits. I'm not a sports shooter. In the realm within which I work there's no bonus for super speedy handling. For me the lens works very, very well. I want a handful of things from a lens: I want high sharpness, I want good resolution, I want good contrast, I want good bokeh and I want the lens to be well built and able to take professional use for years to come.

The Rok 35mm 1.5 delivers all that.

Bonus: If you shoot video you'll find it's nice to have clickless apertures and a geared focusing ring. The clickless apertures mean you can make very subtle exposure or focus changes while filming instead of having to endure half stop jumps in exposure while the camera is running. The geared focusing ring means the lens can be used with follow focus units already on the market with no sweat. If you don't shoot video and have churlishly decided that you never will you should consider the non-Cine, f1.4 version of this lens. The optics are the same (great) but the aperture is click stopped and the focus ring is just a conventional focus ring. The bonus is that you'll save between $75 and $100 dollars.

I feel like the 35mm and 85mm Rokinons (Cine f1.5) are the two lenses I could take anywhere and do compelling work with. I rarely go wider but I do go longer. If I were starting my career from scratch I would certainly consider the 35m, the 85 and an a99 body as the core of my systems. Add some lights and a tripod and I can make stills and great short films.

When you compare this to the major brand offerings from Sony, Canon and Nikon it's clear that, if you are willing to learn manual technique, you'll end up with as good or better image quality at a fraction of the price. I'd buy it again. In fact, I like it so much I might buy a second one as a back-up.

One more thought: This would make a wickedly sharp 50mm equivalent on a cropped frame (APS-C) camera body.

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Tamron 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 AF Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Lens

Customer Ratings:

I've had this lens for about 3 months and it has been even more satisfactory than expected (and I ordered before it had been reviewed). I wanted a reasonable quality, small, lightweight "walk around" lens, at a reasonable price, and it has been great for me. As an amateur photographer and using a Nikon D50 SLR, my acceptance level may be limited, and someday I may want better glass. But for now I am very very happy. After receiving it and using it for a while, a very positive review appeared in Popular Photography magazine.

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Sony DSC-WX300/B 18.2 MP Digital Camera with 20x Optical Image

Customer Ratings:

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program The Sony DSC-WX300/B 18 MP Digital Camera with 20x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3-Inch LCD is a strong entry from Sony against other cameras in this market segment and price point. It meets and beats several features of competitors, but also fails to be quite as much as it seems to be at first glance. Nevertheless, anyone considering what to take along for photo making on holiday should seriously consider the Sony DSC-WX300.

First let me say that I am a long time fan of Sony digital cameras, and that I have owned many different CyberShot models in the past, and that I am an avid user of the Sony NEX cameras. Superficially, the Sony DSC-WX300 looks like a tiny NEX model. The controls are laid out using very much the same wheel and button system on the back to access the menus, and the styling is very similar. The all metal body conveys a feeling of quality and looks great.

Aside from the controls and family resemblance, they Sony DSC-WX300 is at heart a CyberShot, the Sony line aimed squarely at point and shooters, not at serious amateurs (whatever that is; a good photographer who is not paid any money for his pictures, instead of a mediocre photographer who is?). It is packed with features appealing to sophisticated but casual users. But it is a JPEG image only camera. It does not output RAW image files. It also lacks multi exposure bracketing. Although it would be easy to assume that the Sony DSC-WX300 is a possible competitor to the Canon PowerShot S110 or the Panasonic LUMIX LX-7, the Canon and LUMIX cameras are both more "serious" point and shoot, "pocketable" cameras, with RAW output and more comprehensive PSAM modes.

All that said, the Sony DSC-WX300 has some very interesting features that make it a serious camera for holiday, snapshot and webcentric photo making. The main selling point for the Sony DSC-WX300 are its very small size, it really is "pocketable", combined with its rather amazing 20X optical zoom range, a mind boggling 40X zoom range using optical + digital. The image quality from the lens appears to be quite good. But in the end the image quality is both driven by and limited by the size and sophistication of the tiny thumbnail sized sensor and the electronics. This is the Achilles heel of all digital cameras, and very much the weak point of all pocket cameras. At the end of the day, especially with micro sized sensors used in pocket cameras, no matter how sophisticated, as ISO speed increases there's just no way to not have image quality start to suffer as heavy noise corrections start to be applied to the image by the camera.

Sure enough the Sony DSC-WX300 produces rather amazingly good looking shots up to about ISO 800. But, as with all pocket cameras, the image starts to soften after that. As is the case with almost all digital cameras these days, it's hard to tell just what part the quality of the lens, the limitations of tiny sensors and the alchemy of digital lens and image correction in the camera play in making the final result.

The Sony DSC-WX300 features excellent movie capture specs. But, as with most still cameras that also double as video cameras, the length of any one recording is limited not by storage but by the ambient temperature and other factors that impact how quickly the sensor will heat up while recording continuously. If it gets too hot it will shut down. The Sony DSC-WX300 is rated for video recording up to twenty-nine minutes. I made a ten minute test video without any problems. But, on a hot day, or if your hands have warmed the body already, or the camera starts out hot for any reason then the maximum recording time may be reduced quite a bit. It's not a movie/video camera, it's a still camera that you can capture video clips with. Still, in such a tiny size, the quality and video feature are pretty amazing.

The menus are traditional Sony CyberShot: concise easy to navigate, and without too many options. The Wi-Fi connection worked well for transferring files to and from both a smartphone and a PC, although it requires installing the Sony PlayMemories app. Of course all the devices have to be networked together, a task that's easy if you have little to no router or device security but which becomes an escalating pain as your standards for device security and interoperability increase. Still, it works.

Battery life appeared to be as advertised: rather good. You plug the charger directly into the camera rather than removing the battery and charging it alone. As seems to be the norm for these kinds of cameras, there are a zillion "scene" modes. Why it's assumed by camera makers that someone will have the presence of mind to parse, understand and select the correct scene mode but is assumed to not be organized enough to use PSAM modes is a mystery. The only thing lacking is a "two people being hit on head by coconut while standing in front of blast furnace mode" or maybe a "Batman in white cape snow boarding" mode. But, if you have time to investigate all the modes, and the memory to remember which one does which, it's an asset.

The camera has three different auto modes, but no easy direct PSAM control. About the 18MP sensor: mega-pixels alone are not a good guide to picture quality. An image from a 10MP APS-C sensor with a mediocre lens can easily look better than a picture from an 18MP micro sized sensor with an excellent lens. And let's not forget that with digital images that a large part of what you see in the image has passed through numerous digital processing and correction stages in the camera. The skill of the programmers and the processing power of the camera play an important role.

All that said, the Sony DSC-WX300 delivers some serious value, with a few compromises, and has a number of outstanding and well implemented features. It will easily beat the image quality from even the best smartphone cameras, it is almost as pocketable as a smartphone, it will produce full HD 1080P movie clips, it will network with social media picture sharing via Wi-Fi to your smartphone or tablet, and it has an extraordinary optical zoom range that should cover just about any picture situation.

If you don't need features like RAW file output, exposure bracketing and PSAM type controls that are offered by cameras like the Canon PowerShot S110 and Panasonic LUMIX LX-7, and are after a super portable high quality point and shoot for holiday and family snapshots, then the Sony DSC-WX300 is a serious contender and well worth buying. RECOMMENDED.

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Nikon D50 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera with 28-80mm f3.3-5.6G AF

Customer Ratings:

First of all, I must admit that this is only my third digital camera, and first digital SLR. But it isn't my first SLR ... I have used a Canon Elan IIE for a number of years, and trust me, that camera is no slouch.

But enough about me ... the D50 is the real star of the show! I have had the camera (along with the standard lens included with the kit) and so far I am extremely happy. I purchased it just in time to capture some photos of my new neice, and my family swears that the pictures that I was just casually snapping at the hospital look like they are professional portaits. Granted, some of my family members ... well, their necks are pretty tan, if you know what I mean, but you get the point. The camera has a slew of modes that are ideally suited to your subject (portraits, action, etc etc), and they do a great job of making all of the fine adjustments that improve the overall quality of the photo for the non-experts. But this camera has varying levels of automation to where you would practically require a photography degree to get your picture. My skills are somewhere in between, but trust me, if you are an absolutely beginner, in 5 minutes you can be taking photos that are 99% of the quality that a pro with a $5000 setup would take. Now you might need to snap a few dozen shots to get just one that is amazing, but that is what is just wonderful about digital cameras. And with a huge, super sharp LCD preview window, you can see in an instant if you have a decent shot, and if not, delete it and try again!

The camera takes the small "big-toenail" SD memory cards, which is a departure from what you will typically see in a digital SLR. I personally like the smaller size; otherwise, I don't believe there is a significant difference. If you pick up one major point from this review ... READ THIS !!!! I initially tried shooting with some SD memory that I had been using in my MP3 player. It worked fine, but if shooting a series of rapid shots, it would take the camera what seemed like a couple of seconds to write to the memory. That is typical with all of the digital SLRs that I have read about ... you get maybe a dozen high-speed shots, and then the camera sort of "bogs down". And most of the time that is fine. But this camera takes advantage of the slightly more expensive "pro" SD memory, which can be written to at extremely high speeds. Because of this, the camera can take an unprecendented number of shots (I believe 137 according to Nikon)!!! Folks, that is amazing, let me tell you. You can just hold the button down and fire away, and capture all of the high-speed action that you can imagine. No more excuses for missing that perfect action shot. Sure, you aren't going to require this feature very often, but it is nice to have, just in case. And even with normal shots, the high-speed memory seems to work much quicker than normal memory.

The camera can save files in three different size (resolution) levels, three different JPEG quality levels, and the complete uncompressed RAW format. I've been shooting using the medium resolution and medium JPEG quality, and the photos look sharper than my old Canon 35mm SLR. You could easily print out 8 x 10 photos and they would look perfect even at the medium quality setting; poster size would look fine at the high quality setting.

The rechargeable battery that is included is simply amazing I believe they rate it for 2000 shots, and I believe it. It would be VERY diffult to drain this battery in a single day, even with numerous flashes and auto-focusing shots.

The fast auto-focus, very user-friendly menus, flexibility with all Nikon lenses, and near-pro quality at a price that the weekend-photo-warrior consumer can afford, I don't see how you can go wrong with this camera.

Happy photographing!

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Pentax K-x 16203 Digital SLR Camera with DA L 18-55 and 50-200mm

Customer Ratings:

I have had this camera for four months now and am really impressed. It has a lot of bang for the buck. You can keep it as simple as you want or take advantage of all the manual settings. The menu is very simple to navigate. I bought this on a recommendation from my brother who not only sells cameras, but owns two of this model now. When I saw the red one, I knew I had to have it.

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Opteka 650-1300mm High Definition Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $399.95
Sale Price: $234.95
Today's Bonus: 41% Off

I used this lens quite a lot before I purchased a Canon 400mm prime lens. Although the Opteka lens is somewhat soft and has some chromatic abberation, the images are quite good if the subject has good contrast. I've used this lens with a 1.4X tele extender as well. The resolving power at 1200mm is about 85-90% that of the Canon 400mm used with a 3X tele extender(giving the same 1200mm). I used a test chart similar to the ISO12233 chart to check the resolving power. Where the Canon shines is that it has next to no color shifts in the shadows or on the edges of images. Small black areas will go deep blue and small bright areas (like an egret against a dark background) will have a litttle blue edge on one side and orange edge on the other with the Opteka, but this not normally noticeable unless the image is blown up. Normal subjects will not usually show the chromatic abberation, except on the edges of an image WHEN BLOWN UP.

The focusing on the Opteka is CRITICAL and gets difficult past 900mm, since the light gets prettty low. I made and put a Vernier scale on my lens and got pretty good focus by splitting the slightly out of focus near and far focus distances. I have some excellent hawk and egret images taken with the Opteka 650-1300 mm lens (email me at

harold-moore@sbcglobal.net for some images if you like). I also made some cardboard STOPS for this lens which work well. It is not practical to go much beyond F22 because of diffraction. A 2X tele is NOT recommended--F32 at max focal length--because diffraction is becoming significant and will blur the image AND, of course, the focus is very difficult. A high quality 1.4X teleconverter will give you 1800mm at f22 with fair images--but the focus is critical and DIFFICULT. If you learn to focus this lens--gets much more difficult past 650mm--then you can get some

pretty good images.

The Opteka is a good starter lens IF you cannot afford the Canon or long focal length Tamrons etc. The main advantage of this lens is its very low cost. The Tamron 200-500mm is close to $1000 and the resolving power is similar. I had fun with Opteka lens and now I don't need it since I have

purchased the Canon 400mm (I can stack 3X and 1.4X teles on the canon to get around 1700mm--again the focus is MANUAL and very difficult past 1000mm since the light levels are so very low (on both lenses). I have also put a Vernier scale on my canon, and it is handy for distant birds that are very far away and must be, therefore, shot at 1700mm. This works well IF THEY WILL JUST STAY STILL.

The Opteka is about 4 1/2 pounds and takes a litle time setting up on a medium sized tripod--this sized tripod will work satisfactory--although I like my heavier duty tripod with Cullmann ball head. Again the

lens is not as sharp as a canon, but similar to that of the Tamron. I compared test chart images of the Opteka at 650mm and my Tamron 70-300mm zoom with a 2X Tamron teleconverter at distances where

the image was the same size. The Opteka resolved as well as the Tamron, but I had to really get it in focus, which I did with the Vernier scale.

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Transcend 4 GB Class 6 SDHC Flash Memory Card TS4GSDHC6

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $15.31
Sale Price: $9.95
Today's Bonus: 35% Off

In the past, I bought a Transcend 8GB SDHC card for my Canon SD1000 camera. I recently bought the Transcend 16GB SDHC for my new Canon SX20IS. Both cards work very well and I've had no problems with it so far. I wanted to take this opportunity to update my review since my original review was also posted (by Amazon) for the 16GB card. This is because the only difference between these two cards is the different capacity. So, if you're in the market for an affordable high quality SDHC card, this may be the one for you. Sorry, I kind of sounded like a used car salesman right there, didn't I? I assure you that I don't work for Transcend. But, here's why I think this card is awesome:

Pros:

-Affordable!

-Large capacity

-Class 6 read/write speed (which is very fast... but is no longer the fastest class available)

-Lifetime warranty (at least that's what the package says :)

-Transcend is a reputable company that's been making memory products for a very long time. ( I swear to the tech Gods that I don't work for them!) Other reputable and reliable memory card companies include Kingston and PNY. All three of these companies have been making memory chips for many, many years.

Cons:

I can' really think of any "Cons" about this card. But here's the 2 closest things I can come up with right now: (1) "Class 6" is no longer the fastest speed available and (2) This card does NOT make coffee for you in the morning, do your dishes for you, give you compliments when you're having a bad day, or magically improve your photography skills.

IMPORTANT SPECIAL NOTES ABOUT SDHC MEMORY CARDS:

-SDHC cards are not compatible with most older SD cameras, SD devices, or SD card readers.

-SDHC cards are rated by speed using different "classes". There are currently 4 data transfer speed classes available for SDHC cards. These classes are "class 2, class 4, and class 6, and the new class 10. For example, "Class 2" would have the slowest read/write speed while "Class 10" currently has the fastest read/write speed. So if you have a device in which speed may play a crucial role, make sure you buy a higher "class" SDHC card. Please note that this SDHC card no longer has the fastest read/write speed available. There is now a new class, called "Class 10". Class 6 has a minimum read/write speed of 6MB/sec... while Class 2 has minimum speed rating of 2MB/sec, and Class 4 is 4MB/sec. Starting to see the pattern?

-SDHC cards are not only for digital cameras. Any device that is compatible with SDHC cards should work with this card. Just make sure that it takes a full-sized SDHC card. For example, there are some devices that use smaller cards... like Micro-SDHC or Mini-SDHC. If you have a Micro-SDHC or Mini-SDHC card already and want to use it in a full sized SDHC device, you can buy an adapter that can make those cards larger so that they can fit into a full sized SDHC card slot. However, you cannot make a full size SDHC card fit into a Micro-SDHC or Mini-SDHC slot.

SO WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "SD CARDS" AND "SDHC CARDS?

SDHC is basically an upgrade to the older SD cards. The reason they upgraded it was to achieve greater data transfer speeds AND capacity than previously possible with normal SD cards... and to do this, they had to redesign the card (which is why it's not compatible with normal SD devices). This was necessary because digital cameras and digital video cameras these days have higher resolutions, which equate to larger file sizes and faster data transfer needs.

Now that many digital cameras also can record HD video, you may consider getting a larger capacity card because video takes much more space than photos. The size of the video varies from camera to camera depending on what resolution and video compression the camera uses. If you plan on taking lots of video (especially HD video), I would consider getting at least a 16GB card. Check your camera specifications to see how many minutes per Gig of memory your camera can capture ...to gauge how big of a memory card you'll want to get to meet your needs.

Special Note on regular SD Cards:

If you primarily take casual photos and don't need a exceptionally fast read/write capable card, you should know that newer cameras that take "SDHC" cards will also work with older normal "SD" cards. These older cards are cheaper than the new SDHC cards, so this may be something to consider. So to sum things up, newer cameras will take SDHC and regular SD cards, but older cameras that use SD cards may not be able to use SDHC cards. This is because newer technology is usually made to be compatible with older technology (the technical term used to describe this is "backwards compatibility") ... but older technology may not have the hardware necessary to run newer tech (technical term used is "obsolete"... just kidding! ;)

I hope I haven't confused everybody by going into this much detail, but I can't help being the nerd that I am. If you are confused, don't hesitate to comment on this post and I will try my best to answer your questions. Also, any feedback is always welcome!

Conclusion: Buy the card if you have a new device that uses SDHC. It rocks! (This message has been approved by the "Duke of New Mexico")

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Leica M9 18MP Digital Range Finder Camera (Black, Body Only)

Customer Ratings:

I assume that anyone spending $10-20K for an M9 system (camera and a few lenses) will do their own homework, so I won't insult anyone with comments about the quality of this camera or the pictures it takes. All I'll say is that in the right hands it is capable of producing stunning images. But at the same time, it isn't for everyone.

I have pretty much the full Nikon pro suite, but it's not about one brand being better than the other both take fine photographs. There are many things my D3 can do that the M9 can't, and vice-versa. The M9 is a different tool, useful for different situations. Whether it's the camera for you depends on whether you encounter those M9 "sweet spot" situations often enough to make it worthwhile.

The M9 is best when you're working in a slow and methodical way, carefully composing, adjusting every setting, leaving nothing to chance. If you're the type of photographer who keeps his auto-focus lenses on "manual" most of the time, rarely letting the camera make important exposure decisions, then Leica might appeal to you. You probably also use your favorite prime lens more than any zoom.

For me, the form factor is a big part of it. The M9 isn't all that much bigger than (say) one of the bigger point-and-shoots but this is no point and shoot in terms of picture quality. Carrying something around my neck that's well under half the weight and bulk of a Nikon D3 with 24-70 lens, while not sacrificing an ounce of image quality, is important to me.

If you're on the fence, I'd encourage you to rent one for several days to experience the Leica mystique firsthand. You'll either fall in love, or you'll be unimpressed and save yourself several thousand dollars.

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