Nikon COOLPIX L820 16 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 30x Zoom Lens

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $279.95
Sale Price: $249.89
Today's Bonus: 11% Off

I added the video above, not a review but a sample video from the camera of some deer playing in our back yard. I used the included software to edit the video remove the sound. Bear in mind that the video size/quality had to be reduced to share on Amazon.

My wife and I did a lot of research online looking for a camera with a 10x or larger zoom, video capability, low light w/o flash and most of all easy to use. We first purchased the Coolpix L610 Nikon COOLPIX L610 16 MP Digital Camera with 14x Zoom NIKKOR Glass Lens and 3-inch LCD (Black) at our local Best Buy because it was on sale and over $100 cheaper than the L820. This was a mistake, we got the camera home and it just didn't take the pictures we expected (flash picture came out almost black and the zoom wasn't as awesome as I had hoped for :) plus more poor reviews than I had noticed). After reading about this camera the L820 and finding that it was actually only $50 more than the L610, we exchanged the L610 for the L820 and we couldn't be happier.

I am not a photographer but I like to take pictures and I like them to come out well. This camera allows you to set the camera to Auto mode and not have to think about much else besides finding something to take a picture of. The camera is laid out well, making it easy to choose from the many different modes and preset features to allow you to take best pictures possible, so I think it suits the novice and an intermediate photographer. The zoom is in two places on the top near the shutter release and on the left side of the lens housing which is a nice touch.

The 30x optical zoom is amazing, allowing us to take close up pictures of wild life without disturbing them and the detail is stunning. So far, we have taken some beautiful pictures of flowers and deer. I will continue to update the review as we take more pictures and some video as well.

We purchased a 16gb memory card which can hold over 3500 pictures on the highest setting or over 2 hours of HD video. We also bought this charger and batteries eneloop NEW 2000mAh Typical, 1900mAh Minimum, 1500 cycle, 4 Pack AA, Ni-MH Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries with 4 Position Charger so we will never have to worry about buying batteries again. We will get another set for back up sometime soon.

The only issues I have with the camera so far is that the lens cap is secured to the case and not the lens, so you must make sure to take the cap off before turning on the camera. Also, I wish they included the micro HDMI cable like Mediabridge Micro-HDMI to HDMI Cable with Ethernet (6 Feet) FLEX Series High Speed then you can hook up your camera to your TV and show your HD videos you shot in HD. The cable that is included is your simple RCA inputs and that wont display in HD.

Overall for $200 we couldn't have asked for more. 30x zoom, 16 mp, awesome low light capabilities, easy to shoot, fast turn on time and many more features. I would recommend this camera to anyone looking for a powerful camera on a budget.

Updated 6/28/13 We added a few pictures to the image gallery to show the quality pictures the camera takes. We are by no means photographers but the camera does all the work for us. We are very pleased with this camera.

Update 8/6/13 We have taken probably 100+ pictures and at least 10 minutes of video and we are still on the original batteries after 6 weeks of use. We still love the camera and we haven't found a real fault yet! The videos have come out amazing, we couldn't be happier.

Amazon has removed the pictures we posted, looks like all customer images are being removed, which is a shame.

We have been able to transfer pictures with out using any software or drivers on my 10 year old spare XP laptop using the provided USB cable. The file transfer speed is very quick. I would suggest if you have any troubles with transferring pictures that a card reader is a great way to go and easy to use method of transferring files from any type of card. IOGEAR SD/MicroSD/MMC Card Reader/Writer GFR204SD (Green/Gray) would work excellent for this.

Update 12/2/13 Used the timer feature and a tripod for Thanksgiving pictures and they couldn't have come out better. The flash on the camera is bright and accurate taking pictures of what you see with great color. Again, the camera has not disappointed yet.

Thanks to everyone for the nice comments and I hope I can answer any questions you may have.

Thanks for reading and I hope my review was helpful!

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LG Xenon GR500 Unlocked Phone with QWERTY Keyboard, 2MP Camera

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I have had this phone for about 6 months now and have had NO problems out of it. I read reviews that talked about the screen freezing up but this has never happened to me. I would recommend this phone to anyone.

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Transcend 32 GB Compact Flash Card 400X (Blue)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $91.70
Sale Price: $39.95
Today's Bonus: 56% Off

If you need a fast high capacity CF card at a reasonable price, Transcend's 32GB (Blue) card is a good choice. This 400X card has a maximum read speed of 90MB/sec, and more importantly a write speed of 60MB/sec.

Shooting photos at maximum quality (saving both JPEG and RAW files), I was looking for a faster card for my Canon 7D an 18 megapixel digital SLR. The results using this card are excellent. The 7D has a burst rate of 8 frames per second, and the camera's buffer is large enough, so that you can easily shoot a 10 or 15 shot burst, without the camera locking up. Of course it takes some time for the camera to write to the card after such a burst, so I did a quick comparison using the Transcend 400x card, a Kingston 266x card, and a Transcend 133x card. I took a 10 shot burst, and then measured the time between the last shot and when the frame counter in the display stopped blinking, roughly indicating that data had finished writing to the card. The results of this crude test were, that the 400x card took 5 seconds, the 266x card 15 seconds, and the 133x card 25 seconds. Increasing to a 15 shot burst, the results were, 7.5 seconds for the 400x card, 22 seconds for the 266x card, and 37 seconds for the 133x card.

My tests are informal, and your results may vary, but these findings may provide some rough indication of the performance the card is capable of. I have used it on a couple of shoots, and haven't experienced any delays, while the camera writes to the card.

I have heard various professional photographers recommend using smaller cards, usually 8GB, rather than 16GB or 32GB cards. The thinking is that cards will eventually fail, and they feel more comfortable having their images from a particular shoot (usually a wedding), on several cards rather than on one card. That way if a card happens to fail, they will not lose all the images from that one event. While that kind of approach may make sense to someone shooting a wedding, I like having a card with enough capacity to shoot an entire event, and not have to worry about running out of memory or changing and keeping track of cards. Using a 7D, a 32GB card is good for about 950 images, which is great for photo shoots with models, shooting on a trip, or an extended event, like a basketball tournament, or runners in a marathon.

With camera file sizes increasing, "large capacity" is a relative term. So that 8GB card that was "huge" a couple of years ago, is kind of "small" today. Someday soon, the same will probably be true of even 32GB cards. Transcend's new 64GB (Blue) compact flash card may seem excessive, but digital SLR's being capable of shooting high definition video, has raised memory requirements to a new level. And finally, while using bigger cards may be more "risky" for some, for others they are more convenient, and they are generally less expensive per GB.

Due to good performance and reliability over several years, Transcend is a brand that I have come to trust for both compact flash and SD memory cards. Transcend cards are usually less expensive than equivalent cards by SanDisk or Lexar. They have a lifetime warranty, but fortunately I haven't had a Transcend card fail yet. If you do happen to get a bad card when buying from Amazon, replacement is usually a fast and hassle free process. This 400x card is fast, and at this time is a very good deal for under $100.

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Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Pancake Lens with Canon 2400 Case + 3

Customer Ratings:

I bought this "bundle" for my Canon EOS 6D. All the products came brand new as stated in their website. After 3 months of use one of the tripod parts broke down after regular use. I contacted the seller (Cameta Camera) and sent pictures of the damage. Their customer support contacted me in less than 24 hours and replaced FREE OF CHARGE the tripod.

This is for sure great customer service. Would buy again without hesitation! Thanks for making a customer happy!

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Sony NEX-3NL 16.1MP Compact Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $519.00
Sale Price: $419.00
Today's Bonus: 19% Off

I love this camera. It is the perfect "lazy" camera if you want more then a standard point-&-shoot but aren't ready to invest in a big DSLR. This camera does support other DSLR lens, but the one is comes with works beautifully. The bundle is alright, Haven't found the need yet to use the cleaners. The bag is not specifically for the camera, but still works. The SD card in the bundle is the right speed. Only thing I don't like is the extra battery it came with. It will charge to 100% in 2 hours, then when you use it the next day says it is at 30%.

The sensor size on this camera is the same as the higher end Nikons and the Macro function is particularly good if you need close up shots/product shots.

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Motorola Motonav TN555 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable

Customer Ratings:

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program

I really wanted to like this product, but it didn't stand up to side by side comparison with my 2 year old Nuvi 750 (see my review on the nuvi here http://www.amazon.com/review/R3BLFWG7PQZ883/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm )

Here are some my gripes about the Motonav:

-mine arrived used or at least covered with oily fingerprints, but it was via Amazon Vine so I didn't sweat it.

-usb cable is difficult to plug into motonav, as a result the delicate internal pin is already bent in mine

-updating the software took aver two hours and motonav spent quite a bit of those two hours locked in and endless cycle of error messages and powering on and off. I had to manually reset motonav several times just to continue downloading the updates. As an aside, it appears to be using a Windows based operating system.

-can not zoom out to view large map of routes. Full route only viewable via micromap which does not show street names and is not zoomable. Being a highly visual person, this is important to me. I don't care to see the street by street written route. I want to see the map and be able to quickly navigate to parts of the route to zoom in on the details. I drive all over South FLorida and I need to see where the GPS is taking me before I go there (some areas are just not safe).

-motonav has voice command options, but I found them to be mostly ineffective, even when speaking slowly and loudly

-there is only one voice option (snobby female) that works with all functions of the motonav. If you switch to a male voice, you end up with different voices for different features, some male and some female. The nuvi has a few dozen voices to choose from and the voice you choose works with every function.

-route retrieval was sluggish/slower on the new motonav as compared to my two yr old garmin nuvi.

-it is fairly difficult to hold this device without pushing buttons mounted on the sides and top.

-screen is not easy to see when hit with direct sunlight as compared to my garmin nuvi. I was not able to find any settings to increase contrast on the motonav

-only comes with one map update which must be completed within 6 months of activation. Free lifetime maps should be standard by now.

Things I did like about the Motonav!

-fewer screen touches to get to most functions and searches as compared to Nuvi

-more detail in the maps (parking lots mapped out in addition to streets)

-sleek appearance

-syncs with blutooth compatible phone to give you access to your address book (if you want to initiate calls via your gps)AND uses your phone to give you live traffic

-automatically routes around traffic problems if you so choose

For me, the good points don't compensate for the not so good ones. Check out my video to see the Nuvi and Motonav in action side by side.

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Pentax DA 12-24mm f/4 ED AL (IF) Lens for Pentax and Samsung

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,079.00
Sale Price: $799.99
Today's Bonus: 26% Off

Pop Photo (Apr-06) praised this lens as a "Wide Winner" for spectacular performance on bench testing: excellent image sharpness and contrast; imperceptible distortion ["best of breed"]; and barely notable vignetting at the short end. I can add breathtaking color, crisp contrast and ruler-straight linearity to that list. At first glance, a 2X zoom doesn't sound impressive these days until you realize that this parafocal zoom sweeps an incredible 100 to 60 degree viewing range, that's just perfect for cramped interiors, group pictures or landscapes. This zoom is a landmark of stellar engineering: combining extra-dispersion glass and aspheric lens elements into flagship "great glass".

But a finely-tuned optical engine performs optimally only if all cylinders fire in unison ... at daylight trial, I noted a hideous 'purple fringing' [chromatic aberration] of trees and power lines outlined against an overcast sky -something was badly remiss. Rather than returning the lens, I packed it up for warranty service so as to alert the manufacturer to quality control slippage. Irreparable misalignment [probably from rough shipping/handling] was acknowledged; replacement with a brand-new lens was hassle-free as well as timely.

Should you detect distortion (run some test shots before starting a formal shoot!), fear not -Pentax service was knowledgeable, courteous, and helpful. To their great credit, exchange was virtually painless, and the new replacement lens at last performs flawlessly. Although the initial unit turned out to be a glass lemon, Pentax made good (try that with a new car!); I have nothing but praise for the fair and decisive warranty follow-through.

Tip: the bulbous cyclops snout of the forward element is close to the surface, begging for scratches and smudges. Protecting the front end with a haze or UV filter in essence adds an unproven 14th glass element to a balanced optical design -buy the high quality multi-coated filter (mounted in a thin WA ring) this star performer deserves to minimize glare, internal reflection and corner vignetting.

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JVC GR-D372 High-Band Digital Video Camera 32x Optical Zoom/800x

Customer Ratings:

I bought this camera after quite a bit of research as I had limited funds, but still wanted a quality item. I've owned it for nearly a year & will say that it definitely is nice & compact, user-friendly, & shoots quality video. I did not buy it for the digital image ability as I was told that it really didn't take quality pictures.

My one & only complaint is that there is no way to download the video onto a PC. I was told by a Costco rep. that it had those capabilities, which was a huge selling point for me. At the time, I was 8 months pregnant & by the time I had a chance to attempt a download, my 90-day return ability was long gone. Had I been able to, I would have immediately returned it & paid a little more money for something I could eventually burn onto a CD or DVD.

So, if you're fine with VCR tapes or just keeping your video files on the mini-tapes, then by all means, purchase this product because it really is a good deal for the money.

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Bower SLY288FXB Ultra-Wide 8mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens for Fuji X

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $349.99
Sale Price: $279.00
Today's Bonus: 20% Off

I have a passion for finding the utimate Fisheye lens for both Photo & Video recording and up until now have experimented with add on lenses with usually the same results of having to zoom in for proper compensation.

This lens when used with my Panasonic Micro Four Thirds camera is the ultimate Fisheye lens.

It's only $299.00 which is less then half price of the automatic Panasonic lens and does the job at 180 degrees.

Although the focus and aperture settings are not automatic it was still easy to use the lens.

Most of the time the focus is set at infinidty and everything from about 5 feet remains in focus.

I used the lens outside or with a light inside and it's just amazing.

You don't see that much distortion unless your close up on a subject. Otherwise you are able to fit so much more in your photos and Videos.

I like the fact that everything appears sharp and clear and the distortion of the Fisheye is available when I want it in my Videos.

I will probably keep this lens on my camera permantely until I find the need to use a zoom lens.

Since there are at least 2 of these lenses available on Amazon be sure to search for other 7.5mm lenses as the price varies even thought they're manfactured by the same company.

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SIRUI T-1205X 5-Section Carbon Fiber Tripod

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $374.95
Sale Price: $280.95
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

This is the smallest tripod I've seen that is solid enough to actually use in the field, in my opinion. It folds very small and will fit in most daypacks. Of course, it doesn't bring the camera to eye-level for a 6 footer like me, but it does an adequate job of holding the camera still. It is well made and I've not had any mechanical problems with it.

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Tokina AT-XAF124DXC 12-24mm Wide-Angle Lens for Canon

Customer Ratings:

Looking for an ultra-wide angle lens for your Canon crop sensor camera? This is one to consider. The lens itself is built to high standards. It's a hefty combination of glass and metal. It feels like this thing can withstand just about anything. The image quality is nothing to scoff at. At 12mm wide-open it is a little softer than I would like at the corners, but as you stop down this decreases. Throughout the rest of the focal range this lens is quite sharp.

At the time of purchase, I considered this and the Canon EFS 10-22--the Sigma 10-20 and Tamron 11-18 just didn't have the rave reviews that the Canon and Tokina shared. Both to me had very comparable image results. Aside from difference in cost, the constant f/4 was one of the contributing factors to me buying the Tokina over the Canon.

If you are considering the Tokina lens, I think that you won't be making a mistake. This is a quality performer at a reasonable price. As with all photo equipment, you should test it out at your local camera store to see if it's for you.

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Blackberry Playbook 7-Inch Tablet (16GB)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $499.00
Sale Price: $154.95
Today's Bonus: 69% Off

A bit about me first I am a techno-nerd. I LOVE gadgets. Large, small, you name it. After eyeballing many tablets, including the iPad, Xoom, Samsung and others I chose the 64GB Blackberry Playbook. Why? For one, because it is the right size. I can put it in my purse and carry it about with me. More reasons it has spectacular graphics true 1080p HD and it supports flash. It has a camera and an HD camcorder. It has a solid feel in your hands, the touch screen is very responsive and intuitive. After playing with it for a short span of time I now zoom from app to app. One of the (many) things I find amazing is that the tablet does not lag while running many concurrent apps I'm not talking small apps, but processor intensive ones. The battery life is pretty good too I've played for over 10 hours before I had to recharge it. The screen is spectacular I said that already didn't I?

One thing I have read on various sites is that there aren't "many apps" available. HELLO it is new just released actually. How many apps were there for the iPad when it first came out? New apps appear daily and this summer it will run Android apps. That just exponentially increased the quantity of fodder for app hounds like me. The Android apps will be available through Blackberry App World. Read more about this on Android Central. Angry Birds anyone? It's also a boss gaming tablet for you gamers out there.

I have a huge iTunes library. One of the reasons I purchased the 64GB version was for the music. RIM made it so easy to import tunes from iTunes. First download Desktop manager and install. Plug in the Playbook. It installs the drivers and voila! It sniffs the installed iTunes and asks you what you would like to sync to the Playbook. I also read a lot of technical magazines I get electronically. I have these saved off to a folder on my PC. Now I copy them to my Playbook and read them where ever I am.

I can connect to the internet a few ways with the wireless ability it has, or tethering to my mobile phone or, if you have a Blackberry running version 5 or above you can use the Bridge to gain access to the internet while about. I have scratched just the surface of this amazing tablet. It has so much more I could talk about.

I love my Playbook. I am so glad I waited for its release. WOW

Update 7.01.2011

I've had the Playbook for over two months, use daily and have taken it with me everywhere I go. As such, I have more information and thoughts to share.

My Playbook recently traveled to Universal Studios and Disney's Magic Kingdom. Beautiful pictures and video were captured. I am a camera fiend my Nikon D80 was left at home by an oversight and panic (withdrawal is more like it) set in. I must say that my Playbook saved the day. Would this completely replace my Nikon? For me, no. I am a lover of SLR/DSLR's. However it does a very nice job rendering photographs in a pinch. I shot beautiful 1080p video as well.

Apps I have 183 apps so far on my Playbook and the choices available increases daily.

The browser is something to behold on this thing. It is fast, renders pages beautifully and the flash content looks incredible. As the Playbook supports flash, a great deal of things can be had directly via the browser without the requirement of an app.

RE: the noise about the 'too small' power button non-issue really. You turn the Playbook on by swiping the screen from top to bottom. If the timeout is too long, you can alter this through the settings. About the only time you ever have to touch the button is to turn it on from a total power down. It's more an issue of a habit to use a button than anything else. Once you drop the button desire, the puny size is perfect.

RE: the noise regarding it wasn't ready I've used my tablet daily for well over two months and I haven't encountered a single issue. No freezing, nothing at all. Ask me how many times I've had to reset my iPod or my PC/laptop?

RE: the noise regarding the immediate OS update as a software engineer I appreciated the fact RIM had an update issued right after the tablet shipped. That means they fixed/added new features that the initial install didn't contain. This doesn't mean the OS wasn't ready it was. They just were able to roll out an update soon after the release. How often is iTunes updated??? How often is Windows OS updated? Why is RIM bashed for a standard process? Ah, the Bizarro World we live in...

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Pioneer AVH-P6300BT 7-Inch In-Dash DVD A/V Receiver

Customer Ratings:

This Head unit, Pioneer AVH-P6300BT is an excellent fit for my car. It is perfect for any vehicle that only will accept a single DIN dash opening. Mine is more like 1.5 DIN but with the Crutchfield adapter fits great. The only modification I had to do is to trim off the rear support inside the dash. Dremel tool tape and about two minutes of my time.

The 7' screen is nice and big. It features touch screen controls with manual volume, SRC and FWD / REV buttons. most all other functions are touch screen. The FWD and REV also have duplicate touch controls on screen. There is a USB port on front, and an aux in for a 1/8 mini. This jack is also used for the Auto EQ function.

Mine is connected to several Amps powering 12 speakers and a 10' sub. I yanked out the crappy Monsoon System. Excellent sound, very loud, but crisp and clear.

This thing is not short on connections. 6 channels of outputs, Bluetooth mic for hands free calling, video out for back seat monitors, USB,

Aux in, SD card reader, rear view camera input, interface bus, tethered remote input, etc....

Flip out screen is very stable especially in a lowered Trans-Am with sport suspension

You can adjust the screen viewing angle to lay slightly forward, straight, and laying back. You can use a standard iPod/iPhone USB cable to listen to audio. However you need to purchase the cable required to view video/audio! Use cable below.

Pioneer CD-IU51V AV iPod/iPhone Cable for Pioneer AV and Navigation models

My only gripe is I haven't gotten the Auto EQ to work......yet. But not much of an inconvenience because you can program the 8 band EQ just like a normal EQ.

Plus I got mine when the price was $569 :) now it's $695 : Ouch.

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Nokia Lumia 1020, Yellow (AT&T)

Customer Ratings:

INTRODUCTION:

Because of my circumstance, I have used in the past, or am currently using, at least two models from each major OS: the very first iPhone, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 5, Galaxy S2 LTE, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, Lumia 900, and now Lumia 1020. This puts me in good position to judge Lumia 1020, I think, in comparison to other devices. To make the long story short, Lumia 1020 is an absolutely amazing technological feat, a marvel, something that an engineer could only dream in his wildest dream of making. I am from a technical background myself and I still cannot fathom how Nokia engineers could house the 6 Zeiss lenses unit into the tiny package, while sacrificing or compromising virtually nothing. Incredible ingenuity, to be sure. The ideas are brilliant, the execution perfect, and the result is a landmark phone-camera. Just look at the photo samples above. It renders my Canon 5D with huge 70-200 mm zoom lens almost useless. Not quite, but sufficiently so, at least for non-commercial purposes. Better yet, Lumia 1020 can take a shot that is at once zoom and wide-angle at the same time depending on what you want to do with the image, something which no DSLR is capable of.

MAIN OBSERVATION:

The other day I visited a local violin shop and was reading boardfull of ads, standing in front of a wall in the shop, as I was searching for a violin instructor. Suddenly a thought came into my mind 'Wait, why am I doing this? All I have to do is to take a photo of the entire wall from a few steps back, go home, blow it up on my computer screen, and I can read even the finest fonts on the ads including contacts.' Old habits die hard and I was not utilizing my new Lumia 1020 until this idea hit me! So I did just that, and bingo, there was nothing I could not read at home, even though the photo was taken under dim light of the shop! (By the way this camera has xenon flash as well, but ISO 4000 did the trick without the flash.)

You cannot possibly know the usefulness or desirability of something until you have one. Someone once said, "The world never needed Beethoven's ninth symphony until he created it. Now the world cannot live without it." You cannot know how convenient it is to have a camera that is far sharper than your own eyes until you have one. No matter where you go, you have the world's best capturing and recording device with you. Now that I have one, I am discovering new uses everyday and imagining even more. If I can go back to my college years, I would no longer need to take notes, at least not from the blackboard -I can simply capture the entire blackboard image when the professor is done filling it up and should be able to read the faintest chalk mark later in my room. These days I capture almost everything (product manuals, my sons' report cards and paintings at school, bulletin boards, advertisement boards, receipts, my car tire's recommended pressure, my car tire's specification...) and I have perfect peace of mind. I left for my summer vacation without my DSLR but I felt just fine and rightly so. My night-time fireplace shots taken with this "phone" came out much nicer than my friend's shots taken with a "proper" camera; Lumia 1020's low-light photography is simply spellbinding.

By the way, 41 Megapixel does not mean you will get 41 megabyte size photo files with every shot you take! Thanks to the amazing Pureview technology that packs 7 mega into each mega "super" pixel, you get a 5 megabyte photo plus 1 megabyte email attachment size automatically. You can further crop anyway you want on your camera and the result will be still far better than any smartphone photography in the world, if not most compact digital cameras. (Sad to say, I think this really nailed the last one on the coffin of the category called "compact digital cameras." Who needs those now when Lumia 1020 has a better lens, better sensor, far better software technology, and you can even use it as a phone?)

With Lumia 1020, the background passerby's face will be sharper than the carefully composed shot of your grandma that you took with your Galaxy -that is unless you intentionally tried "outfocusing" effect which you can also do with this super smartphone. So if you need to capture certain information but unsure of which to take, or if you are not sure of the composition of your shot, just capture the whole thing and then worry about it later -you can crop, view, do whatever you want and your photo will still retain that sharp resolution.

OTHER PLUSES:

-Windows Phone 8 is EXTREMELY stable. I repeat: no crashes whatsoever. Totally different experience from using Android.

-Double Core Lumia 1020 certainly feels whole a lot faster than the quadcore Galaxy S3 I used. I think quadcore is a marketing ploy, a gimmick.

-Touch is so much more accurate than all android systems I used including Galaxy S3 and Nexus 7. So much fewer mistyped characters when writing emails or sending messages.

-Separate and independent camera button (real, physical one) a big plus. No need to go through the app process to take a picture. It's like having a completely dual identity: a phone and a camera. Neither is subordinated to the other. Each stands on its own.

-Best of all, wifi and 4G LTE data switching is seamless and fast. My Galaxy S3 used to search for the "right" wifi or data all the time and when the wifi signal was weak, it would not work at all so that I would have to "turn off" wifi when there was weak wifi around just to use the data. No such things ever happened. Extremely strong wifi signal reception and superfast 4G LTE with AT&T. Totally happy with this.

-Having "Live Tiles" is like having widgets in lieu of app icons. They display information in the absence of activating the app such as where you last left off in your Kindle, what appointment you have today, etc. Furthermore, you can change the sizes of them (just like widgets) so that you can vary the sizes according to each app's importance, how much information you want to view without activating the app, etc.

-Rock solid. I dropped mine twice without any protection from about 1.5 meter heights. Not a scratch.

-Beautifully organized filing system for photos. With Android, the pictures I took were all over the folders. This is whole a lot neater.

MINUSES TO SOME (BUT NOT TO ME):

-No Instagram and no Temple Run. (Frankly, I could not care less. All the major apps I use are there -Viber, Office, Facebook, Dropbox, Twitter, Chessgenius, Amazon, Kindle, Yelp, Flixster, Skype, etc.)

-$300 with 2 year contract. Good things cost money in life I get over it. (Frankly, I would have paid $300 even without the phone -just to use the phenomenal digital zoom camera that is both wifi and data capable.)

MINUSES TO ME:

-No automatic screen rotation off. This gotta be the worst oversight. For those who read their smartphones while lying down on bed, the automatic screen rotation is a pain. Nokia and Microsoft, if you read this, PLEASE IMPLEMENT THIS FEATURE IN YOUR NEXT UPDATE!

-Lack of file manager. This is a big minus to someone like me who does extensive work with phone and attaches many documents of different types to emails, but may not be so to many others. For me, there's gotta be a way to attach various documents (other than just photos) from the new email window directly.

-Copy & paste loses style when used in email.

-Included video player does not properly show subtitles when in .smi format. Again, this is a big minus only to someone like me who watches many, many foreign movies, but may not be so to many others. I miss MX Player Pro on my android.

-Windows' fancy way of opening apps (ie turning like a book page) can look pretty to some but I prefer minimum distraction. Would be nice to have an option to choose page-turn or plain-turn. This is my nitpick.

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PlayStation Vita 3G/Wi-Fi Bundle

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $299.99
Sale Price: $211.45
Today's Bonus: 30% Off

Other people have written great reviews on what comes in the box, etc, etc so I don't need to add to that; however the following info has been left out so far.

I just got this bundle at the house for my son and overall we are VERY happy with the bundle and the extras...EXCEPT for the "free Data Plan". This is a little misleading but it is not Amazon's fault, it is Playstation's (or maybe AT&T). The plan is more of a "buy one get one free" instead of being a free plan overall. You FIRST need to pay for one full month's service of an ATT plan and you will THEN get a "coupon code" to be used for another months service, yet there is still a small catch the free service is only for the cheapest and smallest data plan, the 250MB plan. You also must use the coupon within 90 days of first activating the service. So this means you have to use it within the 2nd or 3rd month of service.

Also the "free downloadable game" is only if you sign up for an AT&T plan and even then you have to wait 30days AFTER signing up before you even get the code to use in the first place.

Much of this can be lost in the description. Orginially I was going to get my son the WiFi only model but I thought that this would be better with the 3g model and all the free stuff, man what a disappointment. HOWEVER, I was thinking of giving the data plans a try ANYWAY so this still turned out to be a good bundle.

It is also important to note that there IS a AC adaptor INSIDE the box, no need to order an addional one (unless of course you think you need it). I found this a nice little surprise since most PS items want you to use an USB connection to charge it against your PS3 or PC. The adaptor is a little bit of a pain given that you use a "USB type" cable (it is properitary) to the VITA which has a USB connection on the other end. You connect THAT end to a little "box like" convertor which then plugs into another cable that you plug into the wall. So three different pieces to plug your VITA into the wall.

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Voigtlander Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5 Wide Angle Manual Focus

Customer Ratings:

The Voigtlander Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f2.5 wide angle lens should appeal to Leica screw mount and M rangefinder camera users who are interested in travelling light, with a pocket camera that is almost easy to fit inside a deep coat or shirt pocket. This lens may be the ideal tool for street photographers interested in acquiring a compact 35mm rangefinder lens; ergonimically it almost resembles the Contax Zeiss 45mm f2.8 Tessar or the Nikon 45mm f2.8 Nikkor lenses with respect to size and shape. I have seen at Erwin Puts's website an enthusiastic technical report by him in which he claims that this lens is optically superior to Leica's vintage 35mm f2.8 Summaron lens made for its M mount rangefinder cameras from the 1950s to early 1970s; I believe Popular Photography had another splendid technical report on this lens in a recent issue. Owners of M mount rangefinder cameras will have to purchase a screw mount to M mount adaptor to mount this lens onto their cameras (However, this lens may be the new M mount version, so purchasing a screw mount to M mount adaptator will be unnecessary.).

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IOGEAR GW3DHDKIT Wireless 3D Digital Kit with Full HD 1080P

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $279.99
Sale Price: $186.99
Today's Bonus: 33% Off

My configuration and why I purchased this:

All of the televisions in our house have a single HDMI connection over 2x ethernet to an HDMI matrix switch in our basement, which is where all of our A/V components live. The matrix switch is controlled via an iPhone app, so we can easily change sources in each room. This setup works great, didn't break the bank, and is easy to use. We've since added a television in our master bedroom and unfortunately don't have 2x ethernet there. Running ethernet to our bedroom would require a lot of drywall repair which I wasn't excited about. When I saw the IOGear product at Best Buy Magnolia tonight, I purchased it. I expected it to fail, as most wireless products never live up to expectations. I can honestly say I'm not disappointed with it.

Installation experience:

First, I attempted to install the IOGear transmitter in our basement, directly connected to the HDMI matrix switch. (Read the instructions) After connecting the device and getting the transmitter and receiver to connect with one another, some of the components including the TiVo Premiere at 1080i worked flawlessly over this very long wireless connection (40ft through two floors). Other components including our Apple TV at 720p didn't work at all, frequently loosing signal. I can't really explain why these components behaved differently. It's odd that the components negotiating at higher resolutions performed better. That seems counter-intuitive.

Modification to original setup:

Due to the issues I experience above, I moved the IOGear transmitter to our family room which is on the first floor of our house and is closer to the master bedroom. All components stream flawlessly now, at near-hard wired quality.

Final thoughts:

I'm impressed with the IOGear unit. Wireless technology is so often disappointing. I can honestly say this product lives up to its claims. I will say, however, that the 100ft distance it has is presumably within line of sight. In my installation, I'm getting about 20 feet through a floor, walls, carpet, wood, etc.

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