Samsung PL200 - Digital camera - compact - 14.2 Mpix - optical zoom: 7 x - supported memory: SD, SDHC - black Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm surprised this product hasn't been reviewed yet. Anyway, I got this camera on Black Friday from Radio Shack like the other person who wrote the review said they were going to do. I was a bit skeptical about this camera especially because even though it's 14.2 megapixels, the price makes it feel like it isn't a lovely camera.
First I'll talk about the photos. The pictures are very good quality. 14.2 megapixels goes a long way when taking photos, and it definitely pays off here. One small thing I found kind of annoying though is that if you take the memory card out while the camera is on, the camera shuts off right after you take it out. Not a big deal, just wanted to point that out. Not much internal memory to be honest, you can take around 20 photos, or about a minute in a half of video if you don't have a memory card in this camera.
One thing I absolutely LOVE is the video quality. 720p HD video is great, though the sound is quite loud if you ask me, at least compared to my Kodak Zi8 HD camera. (I wouldn't recommend taking this camera to a loud DJ party) Also, people have asked about zooming the video affecting the sound. I don't really think it makes any difference, though you have to change the default setting of the camera to make sure it records sound while taking video. The BIGGEST key feature though is being able to pause video while recording. That feature is simply AMAZING. It not only saves me time by not having to edit the video on my computer, but it stays as one file the whole way through without any problems in playback. That feature alone makes me love this camera for taking video. Also, since this is HD quality footage, expect BIG file sizes for videos. a 6 minute video that I took is almost 400 MB, so it may take awhile to upload these videos to youtube.
Battery life isn't the best, but it's definitely better than a lot of cameras, in terms of taking video anyway. I was able to get about 50+ minutes with a single charge, shooting at least 9 different movie files. Can't really rate the battery life in terms of taking pictures though, since I haven't taken too many.
The zoom is VERY good on this camera. 7x zoom for a camera this size, are you kidding me? Quality is great when zoomed in all the way as well. It can be noisy if you are zooming in while taking video, but a lot of cameras have that anyway.
The ONLY real reason I'm giving this 4 stars instead of 5 is mainly because of the accessories they give you out of the box. While the camera strap is nice, the charger is another story. It's WAY too short!! It's only about maybe a foot in a half long, which is quite a disappointment if you ask me. It was definitely a challenge to charge this thing from an outlet without almost being forced to lay the camera on the ground, or even HANGING from my outlet since I have an outlet higher off the ground where I charge everything. What's worse is that it's a specific cable for the camera too, so it's not like you can use your own USB cable expecting this to charge, cause it's not compatible. (The cable kinda looks like an HDMI cable to plug into the camera except it's thinner) Unless you have a separate battery charger like sony does for its cybershot cameras, you'll have to rely on charging with very little cord room. At least I had no problems charging the camera when it was connected to my pc, and it's a simple plug and play camera too when you hook it up, as I was quickly able to access my files when I plugged it in.
Overall though, I'm VERY happy with this camera. Besides the flaws in being able to charge this thing, I was VERY happy with the video quality, the photo quality, and especially the ability to zoom up to 7x. I'd look into seeing if Samsung makes a longer cable to charge this camera, cause I know people will be complaining about that. Either way, I'm definitely going to recommend this camera cause you are getting a LOT of bang for your buck with this device.

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RiteAV RCA Splitter Male to Female Review

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(More customer reviews)It does what it is supposed to and is cheap to boot. How can you not like it?

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XiTech 720P HD MOTION DETECT CAR DASH VIDEO CAMERA RECORDER DVR 64GB 2.5" TFT LCD 1280x720, 30fp Review

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(More customer reviews)This camera had a good price, but it is a disappointment. Note that this is an older model; the latest models have an HDMI port and fewer bugs.
* Not 720p / JPEG encoding artifacts: -1 Star
The CCD in this camera is natively 640x480. If you choose the 720p recording mode, then the camera just does pixel-doubling in software.
This dashcam records to MJPEG files. You won't be able to read license plates or recognize most faces because of compression artifacts. The firmware lacks an option for changing JPEG quality.
* Stops Recording When SD Card Is Full: -1 Star
When the dashcam needs to rotate files on the SD card, it stops recording for up to two minutes, but an entire accident can happen in less than two minutes. The actual amount of offline time seems to depend on the speed of the SD card.
* Can't override poweroff: -1 Star
This dashcam always powers off when external power disconnects, even if the internal battery if fully charged. I want my dashcam to continue recording after an accident.
* Can't run from a USB Port / Can't be used as a webcam: -1 Star
Connecting the USB port puts the camera into disk mode, which means that you must power it from the 5v connector. You cannot power this dashcam from an in-vehicle USB port. You cannot use this dashcam as a webcam.
* Can't invert or rotate the video: Annoyance
The firmware doesn't have an option for changing the recording orientation.
* Can't change the recording overlays: Annoyance
The only overlay option is a timestamp.
* Nearly ideal form factor: +1 Star
The size and shape of this dashcam is nearly perfect, and it uses a standard threaded mount, like on a regular camera tripod. It is much smaller than the stock photography makes it seem. The built-in folding LCD is probably the best feature.
* Adequate performance in a variety of lighting conditions: +1
Sun flaring is minor. Quality is okay at night with street lights and head lights.
* Additional Notes
This camera records to MJPEG AVI with 8 kHz PCM mono audio. Audio quality is poor; you can't hear conversations over white noise while driving, and it is unlikely that you would get all of a conversation while stopped with a traffic cop.
Wake-up on motion detection is pretty good.
In standard quality, this camera uses 2GB per hour.
Power draw is less than 5 watts at 5 volts, so you can run this camera off of a car battery for a long time.
This camera seems to be running an embedded BSD. A firmware update could get me to add one or two stars to this review.

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Panasonic Pro AG-HVX200A 3CCD P2/DVCPRO 1080i High Definition Camcorder with 13x Optical Zoom (16GB P2 Included) Review

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(More customer reviews)We used this camera to shoot our short film and it proved to be awesome. The P2 cards were a little tricky to work with, but certainly less difficult and more portable than film; without the added expense of telecine.
For the cost, we could not have gotten this level of quality otherwise. I believe its got the depth of 16mm, plus it shoots in 24p. When we saw our final projection, we were just amazed.
Great cam for the money.

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Canon PowerShot SD1300 IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)...is one you'll have with you. The nice thing about the Canon ELPH series is they easily fit into your pocket, are well built/designed, don't cost a lot, come with a boatload of features, and take great pictures. The SD1300, the latest in the ELPH line continues in that tradition, adding considerable additional sophistication and sacrificing some useful functionality in the interest of cutting cost.
It is a small camera and carries with it the baggage that comes with the convenience of having to carry so little baggage. (sorry, couldn't resist) None of the issues raised, given that they comes as part of the convenience trade-off made me consider anything other than the 5-star rating this camera deserves.
- Many of the functions are only accessible through menus, sometimes several levels deep. The good new is the Automatic and scene modes are pretty good (as long as you spend a few minutes reviewing what they really do). This camera is not intended to be used in aperture or shutter priority, let alone full manual.
- The battery life might be shorter than you expect. That's a trade-off for having a camera that's small and light; you get a battery that is small and light. One thing you can do is get a spare battery. That is good advice for any camera. Another thing that will help is to keep the display off as much as possible. That means using the monitor as little as possible. The "sad" part is that Canon chose to drop the optical viewfinder in this model. That means a camera that is simpler and less expensive to make but will go through batteries quicker because you must use the display when taking picture.
- The camera response is a bit slow for effectively capturing children and pets. The trick for doing that is to either have a great sense of timing and a shutter that reacts instantly or a reasonably fast ( > 4x / sec ) burst mode. This camera has neither.
Some other suggestions that apply:
- Use the lowest ISO available given your requirement for either aperture or shutter speed. To avoid getting technical, higher ISO always introduces higher noise. At issue is when it becomes noticeable. In newer dSLR cameras you can get over 1000, maybe well over depending on the camera, before the noise becomes noticeable. For this camera keeping it at or below 200 is a good idea.
- Don't use in-camera sharpening. Digital pictures will almost always benefit from sharpening but you are better off doing it with a photo editing program. Computer-based algorithms tend to be more sophisticated and you can better judge the results on your monitor as opposed to the camera LCD.
- If you want more vivid colors and have the choice use sRGB instead of Adobe RGB. While you get fewer colors they are distributed over a wider range. They are also render better on computer monitors, many commercial labs, and any other place your pictures are likely to show up.
Finally, I've found the Caselogic QPB-1 Compact Digital Camera Case (Black/Gray) is just the right size for this camera. It's semi-rigid so you get a fair amount of protection but doesn't add a lot of bulk. It's made even better by using one of these, Nite Ize SB1-2PK-01 Size-1 S-Biner, Black, 2-Pack, to secure it to a belt loop.
BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews can take the place of first-hand experiences that are lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've received from other reviewers and work hard to return the favor as best as I can. I hope you found this review helpful and if there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.

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Canon PowerShot SD1300 IS 12.1 Megapixel Compact Camera - 5 mm-20 mm - Silver SD1300ISPWRS Digital Cameras

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