No comments about Olympus FE-340 8MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom (Blue) + Deluxe Super Savings DB Roth Accessory Kit.

5 comments about Canon PowerShot A60 2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom.

1. I bought my A60 to replace my A40 after it was stolen. I figured if I had to replace a camera that I absolutely loved, I'd go with the next model up. Now I wish I would have just gone with the same camera. Besides a smaller, lighter build and more interesting sounds when operating, there are NO differences between the two. The biggest difference I've noticed with my A60 is the interference/colored lines that are often on the LCD when I turn it on to take a picture. It's like trying to watch TV with a bad signal. My A40 may have been less glamorous, but at least it was reliable. I'm keeping the A60 for now because I'm grateful to have a digital camera at all, but as soon as I have the extra money I'm going online and buying another A40.



2. We got the Canon Powershot A60 when it just came out, atleast 2 years ago. Now after many droppings on cement, the picture is messed up, but that's my 13 year old self's fault. I hope my dad gets a newer Canon soon. It may seem dated and bulky compared to newer and more expensive models, but this is jam packed with features. And it was really expensive when we got it. We got our use out of it, though. It's a really nice camera, but I've dropped it too many times before. (ATLEAST 8) And now the screen is sometimes messed up, I know I said that before, but I just want to let you know it's my fault (Not the brand's)... anyways you can have sepia, black & white and other cool effects... if you don't want to spend the money on the newest thing on the market, buy this, you'll love it too!
   
   I LOVE THIS CAMERA
   
   It has video, a decent microphone, different types of flashes, tons of settings, great zoom, and lighting settings. (AND MORE)
   
   Get this camera today, you won't be disappointed, (and I would know, my aunt is a world renouned photographer...)



3. This camera was great for about two years. Then, various functions ceased to work, and the camera died altogether after 4 years of moderate use. Maybe this is all people expect or want anymore, but I expected better of Canon. I had hoped to be able to use this camera for many more years--am I unrealistic? I would like to believe that a quality camera made by a reputable business should last longer than 4 years.



4. Same exact thing happened to me as the reviewer Joe; got the E18 error and lens won't move after only 18 months! Canon, you should be ashamed; such JUNK!



5. I've had this camera for almost 4 years and it had completely stopped working. The lens doesn't open anymore. The camera has taken decent pictures, but sometimes the photos have come out with fuzzy gray lines across them. I wouldn't recommend this camera unless you plan on having trouble with it in the future.

5 comments about Olympus Camedia C-720 3MP Digital Camera w/ 8x Optical Zoom.

1. I purchased this camera 18 months ago from Best Buy (sorry Amazon, I didn't have my account yet). My first digital camera. With accessories and the price of the camera at the time (they are now selling for half??) we spent $600.00. From the start the camera on Auto and Sport settings produced pictures that were blurry and out of focus about 1/3 of the time. Best Buy and Olympus had me convinced, being new to digital cameras, that I was the problem and that I might have been better served with a more basic camera (really?). The camera has since been back for repair with Best Buy once already under their extra four year warranty (5 week turn around, I plan to use a $100 Kodak digital I carry on my motorcyle in the meantime) and is going to go back again as the problem is now worse. When it comes back the next two times I will take it out of the box, have them take a blurry, out of focus shot of me and hand it right back to them. After the first "repair" Best Buy did not report that anything was found in need of repair only that the camera was recalibrated. I expect that there is nothing to fix as the camera is fundamentally flawed. The shutter speeds at Auto and Sport settings are just too slow. Three "repair" tries with Best Buy and we get our money or credit back. Olympus now tells me, after their warranty has expired, to go to the manual settings and increase the shutter speed and shoot in the manual mode. In other words that their camera shutter speed at Auto and even Sport mode will continue to be slow (and ruin pictures). By this time I had already figured this out despite their condescending advice that I probably should not have such a complicated camera! I have read similar reviews re: this particular camera with these problems at several other consumer sites. Check it out for yourself. Stay away from the Olympus C series. Interesting that they are currently not available from Amazon(things that make you go hmmmm)??!! I am staying away from Olympus all together. Customer service is a run around with a product they are unwilling to recognize as defective. Customers experiencing problems with these cameras (it seems from other reviews that not all are troublesome) should be offered a replacement or a trade toward something that works (maybe something simpler for those of us thought of as digitally challenged). We are extremely disappointed. Wake up Olympus. Time to cut the manure and reach out to make this right with your customers. I would love to retract this review.



2. We purchased a C-720 in 2003 and are very pleased with it.
   
   With proper training, anyone can take awesome pictures with it. There are several reviews here that criticize the camera's "slow" auto and sports settings. I've taken probably 10,000 pictures with this camera, and almost none of them were taken in either of those modes. I highly recommend using P mode for outdoor pictures, or pictures in good light, and shutter priority (S mode), with shutter speed at about 1/30 or 1/40 of a second, and the exposure compensation on +2.0, for indoor pictures. The results are great.
   
   The good things about this camera include the wonderful 8x zoom (for outdoor pictures, with shutter speeds of 1/250 second and faster, even max zoom shots come out great), the vibrant colors it captures, its wonderful work without a flash (very dramatic pictures), and the nice effect in portrait setting (in which it uses depth of field to have a sharp target and blurred background). The menus aren't that difficult to use. Battery life is great; I typically get 200-300 shots on one set of freshly charged NiMH batteries. My 128 Mb SmartMedia card holds about 200 pictures in the mode I use most often, and they're large enough to print sharply as 4x6 or 5x7, even after I crop a lot out of them.
   
   There are two things I don't like about the camera.
   
   The first is that it has a tendancy to develop "hot" or "stuck" pixels when doing a lot of shooting in low-light situations. Pixel mapping (a built-in pixel repair function) fixes this, but it's still really jarring to see ugly red and green pixels in the viewfinder and LCD and images when this happens.
   
   The second is a quirk with my camera, and, from what I've read, lots of Olympus cameras. The C-720 uses a capacitor to "remember" the date and time, even with no batteries in the camera. There is something wrong with the capacitor in the C-720 I own. The connection to the batteries, even a freshly-charged set, breaks quite often. When that happens, the camera won't turn on until I open the battery compartment and rearrange the batteries, and then half the time, the date/time (nothing else) has been lost and needs to be reset. Because the camera cleverly uses the date to name the image files, this lost date/time is a real headache to deal with.
   
   Because of the battery/capacitor quirk, I'm docking the camera one star. I'd give it five if the date/time didn't reset way too often.
   
   As more and more people buy digital cameras, that are usually higher-end than the film cameras they once had, the learning curve associated with camera like this will decrease. To anyone who finds themselves disappointed with this camera because of blurred pictures, read my advice above and try again. Once you know what you're doing - it won't take long - you will take great pictures with the C-720.



3. I researched carefully before buying my first digital camera. Prices were still up, but had dropped enough to afford a 3 megapixel. For my purposes that is plenty. I am not sorry I went for the Olympus 720. Two years later it is still working beautifully. On auto-mode it takes great pics, automatically adjusting for low light and finding the focus quickly. The controls are well-placed. Since most of my photos are for personal or online use, I rarely use the advanced features. I only hope Olympus continues to maintain the high quality of this product. If so, I'll be faithful for life.



4. Don't waste your money...there are much better cameras out there. This camera is too big, doesn't always cooperate, and takes horrible indoor pictures. It has an eight time zoom but the more you zoom the more distorted your photo is...very disappointing.



5. To put it as simply as I can, this is the camera that I never get rid of, and brag about the photos. I am no great photographer, but with this camera I catch things that no other could come close to! Children playing in the water and it picks up even the smallest drops of water in the air! Red eye has never been an issue and the clarity is excellent. Ive had this camera for about 13 years (when my 1st child was born) and I will never give it up. Other smaller cameras come & go..but the C-720 will always be my 1st choice. Its one tough piece of technology too! Its been dropped, sat on, thrown, exposed to water & sand...notiing has killed it yet in my graveyard of cameras. I strongly recommend this daring to anyone.

2 comments about Slik Compact Professional Tripod with Ultra-Smooth 3-Way Panhead.

1. I am very happy for this purchase. It is truly a pro level product. It has a solid metal head that is easy to adjust. Quick release lock is a big plus. Everything is great and it only cost half of Bogen tripod plus head.
   
   The flexible feature I was talk about is that you can easily extend angle of each leg in two stops. See my pictures above.
   
   The only thing not so perfect is that the leg lock is by screw, takes a little time but very secure indeed. It gives very stable support, even when the center bar is raised to the top.
   
   I found using it as a monopod is fun too, and even one leg supports my 6 lb system very solid.
   
   If you are in a market of a $70 tripod, you will be surprised by the quality;
   If you are a pro and planning to spend $200 - $300 on a tripod plus head, you might be surprised by the price. :)



2. I am a reasonably new photographer and have been using a older video camera tripod. A couple months ago that one broke and i desperately needed a new one. I started looking for some in the 50 dollar range. But none of them seemed to have the quality i was looking for. This one was exactly what i needed and will be able to hold a good amount of weight from your camera and most telephoto lenses. The tripod overall is very solid and the center column has two ways of securing it (not sure if this is common) There have already been a couple times where the one screw in stop saved me from having my camera slam in to the column holder. I really like this tripod and wold recommend it to anyone who is looking for a all a round sturdy and nice tripod. Don't spend any less on another tripod buy this one! It is worth it. I will never go back to the cheaper stuff ever.

No comments about Canon " Refurbished "Powershot S2 IS Digital Camera, 5.0 Megapixel, 12x Optical Zoom, 4x Digital Zoom.

3 comments about Dora Digital Camera.

1. The pictures taken on this camera were of poor quality. I exspected more quality for the price I paid. A disposable camera has better quality!



2. It is a toy so I didn't expect top quality photos. I couln't figure out how to save more than one picture. My 5 year old daughter loves this camera. She happy to have her own digital camera since all of her older sisters has digital cameras. You do have to angle the camera a certain way in order to get a good picture. Sometimes you can't determine what the pictures are but it's for kids anyway. The small screen on the back is just big enough to see a face but that's fine because the kids do enjoy it.



3. Both of the other reviews I see on this page are dead on, yet I have to give this camera 4 out of 5 stars. Indeed, it takes horrible pictures, the flash is too bright and often saturates the picture into complete whiteness, you can't zoom at all, you can't turn the flash off, it's hard to delete the pictures in memory. (If your kid is like mine they take the 79 pictures that this camera holds in about 10 minutes).
   
   BUT, my daughter loved this camera. It's got a neck band so she can't drop it unless she tries, and even then I'm prtty sure it would be okay, though I haven't tested this by any means. I can put the pictures on my computer and they look all right there, not great by any stretch of the imagination, but easily good enough for a pree-kindergarten kid to admire. She can see the picture for a moment after she takes it in the preview screen, or go back and look at them later. It makes Dora noises which she loves. And, perhaps best of all, it gets her to stop asking to use my much better camera. We can both take pictures at the same time now and double our fun.

No comments about Logitech Quickcam Communicate Camera Built-in Microphone USB.

5 comments about Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5K 5MP Digital Camera with 12x Image Stabilized Optical Zoom (Black).

1. I bought the DMC-LZ5 for my teen daughter a year ago. Right after the 1-year warranty expired (naturally), the lens got stuck in the "out" position and would not retract. The camera wouldn't focus, so was unusable.
   
   I was able to fix it by gently pulling the lens housing and rocking it from side to side until it snapped into place.
   
   The camera worked fine after that for a few months, then got stuck again, this time in the "in" position. After turning on the camera, with the lens cap off, it would display "Remove Lens Cap and Press > Button". Pressing the ">" button displayed an out-of-focus image. (This same problem was described by another Amazon reviewer.)
   
   I was able to fix it again by pushing on the ring around the lens (without touching the lens of course) and rocking the lens from side to side until it snapped into place.
   
   Since it's not my camera, I haven't seen what actually causes it to jam up myself. A guess is that turning the camera on with the lens cap in place caused the lens to jam against the lens cap and damaged the drive gears.
   
   I'm not a camera repair person, just passing this info on for anyone else that may have a useless DMC-FZ5 laying around. I hope no one else will need this information :-)



2. Bought this camera 2+ years ago. Everything worked really well for the most part and took some amazing pictures. This was really my ideal digital camera and I would've given it more stars if it wasn't for the fact that it quit on me after the warranty ran out. It just stopped working..the lens was stuck in the inside position and i was unable to fix it. I ended up opening it up to check out the mechanics and now it is truly finished :). I am thinking of buying the fz7 as replacement but not sure due to the jamming problem I experienced with the fz5.



3. I LOVED this camera, everything about it, until it jammed for no apparent reason after having it just over a year. I've seen other users with the same problem on this website so I guess I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. But, do I buy another Panasonic, do I upgrade to the FZ8, don't know whether I trust them or not which is a shame because as I mentioned it is great - easy to learn & use, takes reliable pictures etc.



4. The Panasonic Lumix FZ5K (K for black, S for silver) is came out on February 2005. In tech terms, it's a little old but still a great camera and an even a better value. It has dummy-proof modes that allow newcomers to digita photography to focus on the composition and is advanced enough for all but the pickiest dSLR users. The package includes everything you need to get started, including the battery charger.
   
   --- Target Audience ---
   Newcomers to digital photography to advanced users. If you're new to photography, the FZ5 includes programmed modesIf you're a basic-to-advanced amateur, the program, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, manual, compensation, and multiple other settings allow for broad creative control.
   
   --- Pros ---
   Truly inexpensive 5MP.
   - You can grab one of these in Wolf/Ritz Camera or Fry's for $177-190.
   Broad optical zoom range at 6-72 (36-432 equivalent on a 35mm camera).
   Leica DC Vario-Elmarit 1:2.8-3.3/6-72 aspherical lens.
   - I've read that Leica doesn't actually manufacture this lens but the pictures speak for themselves and their "seal of approval" appears well represented.
   Max aperture of f/2.8.
   Super-compact.
   - I've used an Olympus OM-1n for many years. This camera set the standard for compact SLRs. The DMC-FZ5 is smaller... way smaller.
   Pretty responsive shutter despite its "age".
   Integrated flash.
   "Flippable" hood.
   2-hr battery charge (lasts 200-250 photos).
   "Sealed", non-interchangeable lens design.
   - With its broad zoom range, equivalent to a 36-432mm zoom lens on a 35mm camera, this is probably not a concern. The fact that it is closed removes the dreaded dust issues that only advanced dust-removal technologies can take care of.
   
   --- Cons ---
   Will not accept SD cards above 1GB.
   Only 5MP (i.e., don't plan on framing anything above 8" x 10").
   No RAW format support (TIFF is supported and will likely do the trick for non-pro users).
   Proprietary battery (no biggie; I've found third-party equivalents for $5-10).
   No hotshoe.



5. This is my quick review:
   1. Per usual, spent 2 weeks pouring over the specs, reviews and ratings
   prior to purchase
   
   2. I have small children and need something durable and responsive.
   
   3. I'm a casual user...just a little more than a point and shoot queen.
   
   In July 05 I plunked down the money for this camera. I have no regrets...absolutely, positively LOVE IT! I have taken it everywhere, banged it around, dropped it, had my small children take photos with it.
   
   I brought home the Canon and Fuji in the same price range. Tried both and
   returned both. High points for me are it's light weight, Image Stabization (a must with kids), rapid fire repeat photo ability, and
   easy downloads.
   
   Would buy it again in a heartbeat!

No comments about Olympus Evolt E520 10MP Digital SLR Camera with Image Stabilization w/ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Lens + 4GB Deluxe Accessory Kit.

5 comments about Lowepro CompuDaypack Camera Bag (Leaf Green).

1. Great product. This is what I was looking for to cary my laptop and my camera. Now I can have my laptop, edit my digital images where ever I go. This Lowpro CompuDayack is very convinient. The daypack is well padded and lots of compartments. It is very comfortable to wear on your back and it is also well padded.



2. This is the best camera back i bought. It can hold 3 lenses, One Camera and all accessories including a laptop in the back. It is a sturdy construction. I will recommend to amateur and aspire to be pro photogs



3. I originally bought this bag for a friend. Like myself, she has an advanced digital camera, as well as a laptop. Her main concern was having to carrying a fairly large cam bag, as well as a laptop bag when traveling.
   
   The bag proved to be such a great solution to the two bag issue, I ordered it for myself. In my case, this bag solves my 3 bag needs. Not only is there a space for my cam/laptop, there is a generous sized compartment (big enough to carry contents of you pocketbook). If you're a knitter, you'll find that the lens compartments are great storage for notions/yarn.
   
   As a knitter, you're always looking for the best way to carry all of your normal crap, AND you're knitting. Well the CompuDayPack is definitely something to consider.
   
   My only complaint is that the main compartment only has one zipper. So if you're not holding the bag fully upright, there's a chance that you stuff will come spilling out.



4. This daypack is a very convenient way to store and carry a lap top while travelling. The pockets are well-constructed and designed to allow storage of the computer, its associated gear, and a small manual or two. Prior to obtaining this item, I had the standard off-the-shoulder pack which caused wear on my shoulders, necessitating constant switching. This backpack allows a much more convenient carrying style. It is also easier to remove the computer for airline security inspections.
   My only concern is that some of the pockets should be removable for uses other than carrying a computer or for personalization of the packing style.



5. If you have a camera, flash, 1-2-3 extra lenses (not large ones) and want to take that with you along with your laptop (i use a 15" powerbook). I highly recommend this bag. I use it for traveling. I can take my camera gear, my computer, and the other compartment is pretty big (not for clothes or stuff like that) but for cds, cd players, sunglasses in cases, etc. The fact that the laptop compartment is separate is REEAAALLY helpful in airports... fast.