Best Video Surveillance Equipment
The Nest Cam Indoor is the perfect addition to any home. And the coolest part is that the Nest Cam can tell the difference between movement from say a hand getting into a cookie jar, and a person entering a room. SET IT UP ANYWHERE: The compact size of the Nest Cam makes installation a breeze. Nest Cam Indoor’s stand works in all kinds of homes, on all types of surfaces. Or you can unscrew the camera from the base and attach it to any standard tripod mount. Your Nest Secure can use your smart light bulbs to help get your attention in the event of an emergency; your smart washer and dryer can take the data from Nest and run the next load of laundry when energy demand is low.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The original review was made prior to the new app update, which really does an amazing job in increasing overall functionality of the camera as a whole. As you can see in my original review of the product, I was not happy with using the camera as a baby monitor. The previous version didn't make it conducive to having it in a baby's room due to limited notifications. I'd also mention that I really appreciate that Nest took the time to update a previous gen product. There's no load time / buffering when going back, I don't know how the engineers at Nest were able to do this, but their video compression algorithm is really top notch. --ORIGINAL REVIEW--. While the nest cam is "cool" and works as it should, I simply can't give it 5 stars. We purchased 2 thermostats, the smoke alarms and the nest cam. Small, attractive and website and app are very well designed and work great! Through the app, setup was done very quickly, and it starts working fast as well."
"I purchased the Nest Cam Security Camera 3-pack. Unfortunately, Nest only associated two of the licenses with two of my cameras, leaving the third camera without a storage ability, despite paying for it. The third license, according to my account, will be applied to my next camera purchase, essentially rendering one of my three cameras useless. Despite buying three cameras and three licenses, I have one camera which i useless one license which Nest are trying to get me to buy a fourth camera to use it."
"The reason for the 1 star review is that if you don't subscribe to their Nest aware that starts at $10 a month you will have to stare at a banner ad on all of your devices that you have the Nest app installed on nagging you to subscribe to it. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with Nest support this morning and was even transferred to a senior level tech who told me the only way to get rid of the banner ad was to subscribe to Nest aware."
The Nest Cam Outdoor is the perfect addition to any home. SECURITY HAS NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD: The Nest Cam Outdoor is here to help set your mind at ease. Nest Cam Outdoor is beautiful, weatherproof, and it plugs into power, so you never have to worry about dead batteries. Whether you're watching for the kids to get home from school, checking to see if your package has arrived, or scaring off a potential burglar, Nest Cam Outdoor is here to help! Nest Cam looks for motion and listens for loud sounds, like a boom or the crash from a window breaking.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Had a Christmas package stolen form my driveway, because of the camera we were able to identify the license plate and the thief which ultimately resulted in his arrest."
"We've had occasional situations where a camera has gone offline, but I attribute that to a flaky WiFi signal and not necessarily the camera. Regarding the Nest video recording service, we pay the monthly fee for all of our cameras. In the simplest of installations, you'd mount your camera in the desired location and then run the cord to an outdoor power outlet, securing the cord along the way with the included clips. I wanted to use this wiring so I was able to use a power over ethernet (POE) splitter and injector (bought on Amazon) to run power to the camera and then connected the splitter to the camera's power cable using a USB adapter. Because the cable is permanently attached to the camera itself (which isn't inherently a bad thing, and probably has to do with waterproofing), installations like mine which don't require the cable to span a long distance to connect to power end up with a long mess of extra cord. Aside from the physical installation, Nest makes it simple to connect and configure the camera to your home wifi. Using the app you can view your camera's live feed, view past motion events (still images if you don't subscribe to the Nest Aware service to record your video), configure settings like night vision, sound, etc., as well as turn the camera off and on (if you ever need to)."
"The problem is that they only offer 2 cloud storage option subscriptions to store your history with their Nest Aware cloud storage offering. Here is the break-down: Currently as of 10/24/2016: 1) 10 day - $100 per year per camera with a $50 discount for each additional camera. So for me - that would be $300 / year - to store 10 days of history for 5 of my cameras. OR - They also have: 2) 30 day - $300 per year / camera with a discount 50% discount per camera ($150 per year). This is ridiculous for home consumers who want simple home security. Nest - please make a subscription option for home security for owners to choose how much storage they want or offer and entry level package to store 1 or 2 days storage at a reasonable price."
"You will either get too many annoying alerts that aren't important or basically no alerts. You get (Some) snapshots of alerts. (This means you're probably going to get a lot of annoying alerts that don't matter to you, or you can basically not get any alerts). Since you only have picture snapshots, a lot of alerts won't even have anything in the picture because the motion detected it too late."
In addition to knowing when your dog is active, it can help you to identify separation anxiety through patterns such as constant pacing or licking feet. 3) Person Alert: Furbo will let you know when a human comes into view: whether a dog walker is scheduled to stop by or an intruder enters the home. Furbo uses DOG RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY to send you Dog Activity Alert, Person Alert & Dog Selfie Alert.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The first night I had the Furbo I was awaken several times in the middle of the night by high pitched squealing and giggling of glee from my gf not being able to contain herself."
"When I got my Furbo I had problems making my smart phone work with it-NOTHING to do with the Furbo-but the Furbo people were extremely wonderful and helped me know what to do! I was an hour away from home through this so I connected, and it was sooooo wonderful to see my dogs and know they were doing ok! They went and laid back down and I watched them sleep happily while my husband drove us home!"
"Furbo sends your phone alerts when your dog is barking or when their are loud noises in your house- i.e. when your CO detector is going off!"
"I bought the Furbo as a family Christmas gift so that our kids who are away at school could watch their two dogs at home at pop them treats for fun. I'm out of town for work right now, and the last two nights I've connected and been able to watch the dogs on my smartphone as I shoot them treats which they love. We have to unplug and replug-in the device to start it up again regularly which takes about a minute or two (at home), and/or close the Furbo app and reopen it remotely."
"Furbo sent me notifications to my phone when he was crying, so I would log on and talk to him right away."
"I was hesitant at 1st thinking my 2 yr old 115lb german shepherd would just plow it over when he first heard my voice but thanks to the training video and advice on how to introduce your pet to it that didnt happen."
Best Complete Surveillance Systems
Arlo Pro is a 100% wire-free indoor/outdoor security camera with rechargeable batteries and audio and can be added to any Arlo base station system. Weather-resistant - Arlo Pro cameras are Weather-resistant so you can place them anywhere-indoors and out.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I had some locations outside far from power outlets where I wanted surveillance, purchased and Arlo Pro system for this coverage. The image quality is slightly poorer, but the functionality is easier, there is free cloud recording, the app interface is cleaner, and the wireless feature means I can place these in spots the others can't go. Works out of the box, recent app update lets you scroll through video feed in time-lapse fashion. A small hiccup in that a recent app update seemed to wipe camera settings, but afterward everything else has been fine. From personal experience I will say the cost doesn't sound so bad at first, but after 3 years of paying it I'm realizing using Nest cameras has become a multiple thousand dollar system for us. No cloud option; SD card stores video locally, app on phone allows you to view feed in real time. In my experience, Samsung's zoom is crisper and its night vision is superior than Nest. Night vision is on par with Nest, but if you buy the Arlo Pro skins (sold separately), they actually reflect off the IR in the corners of the screen and wash out the image. If you use it to monitor & talk to a baby or pet, the lag is considerable and you cannot hear yourself on the other end. Fantastic audio quality, and it's true two-way so both sides can speak and hear each other at the same time (like a cell phone). Samsung Smartcam can also double as a baby monitor by playing lullaby music and a few other songs. I used to have a Nest cam in my detached garage but I had to bring it back in the house as it was dropping signal multiple times per day. But it has worked every time I've called on it, connects fast, doesn't drop video for me, and is currently located farther from my router than my Nest cams. And in this winter's 30 degree weather, my Arlo Pro cameras had no problems recording clips while my outdoor Nest cam fell offline several times. Recording sometimes takes too long to start (i.e. 2-3 seconds after motion first detected), which means I get a lot of clips where I see the tail end of something moving across the screen. I have the cameras perpendicular to the area they are monitoring so objects go across the screen, if you use them head-on the motion sensing is poor. For me, the positives easily outweigh the negatives: Ease of use, everything working out of the box, and the wireless capability is a combination of features the other systems don't have. If you're still on the fence, the one thing I'd circle back to are Nest cam's long term costs for cloud storage. UPDATE: Less than a month into ownership, some of the shine has come off the Netgear Arlo Pro. None of these issues started until after a week or two after deployment, the cameras worked well out of the box but began to show warts soon after. The biggest disappoint has been Netgear tech support, they never did help me and left my trouble ticket with the answer that a new app will be coming out soon and that should resolve things. When the cameras record video clips, I get large green stripes blocking the field of view. During the Spring and Summer we had no green blotches and the cameras properly reported power levels. If the cameras make it through the winter without doing the green blotch thing and I can pull up the feed on command, I'll raise the rating again. I do like the system, the app and cameras, but the niggling issues (and the fact it still doesn't pick up everything) have kept it from being a five star product."
"I bought this system because I wanted to hang cameras outside of my house so that I can see what's going on when I'm not home and so my wife can feel safer. I have 4 cameras all together, and 3 of them are attached to trees outside, the 4th is outside, but attached to the house. The camera sends you an alert, almost immediately (which I love) when it detects motion. I was looking at the camera image in real time and when I saw one of my cats in the backyard I was able to tell her where he was and she was able to retrieve him. That being said, I have lots of trees near my house, and even with pruning branches, I still get so many alerts when it's windy that I tend to turn off the cameras until it gets less windy. Also, I had to work on placement of the cameras so that I don't get an alert every time a car drove by my house. For me to get on a ladder, unscrew the camera from the mount on the tree, bring it in to charge via USB, then go back out and get on my ladder and try to re-aim the cameras is a pain the butt. The camera is supposed to be an HD camera, but the image during the day is really pixelated, especially if it's windy. The cameras internal IR light is puny, but I have security lights outside to light up my yard, so I don't rely on the cameras own IR light. I would recommend this if you want a general idea of what's happening around your house, just don't expect crisp, sharp images (but really, how often do you see security cameras footage on the news that's clear? I think most security cameras aren't that sharp anyway. ). In fact, I felt the difference was great enough that I've returned my previous system of 5 arlo pro cameras (thank you Amazon for your amazing customer service) and bought 5 arlo pro 2 cameras. I did call netgear and ask if they had some kind of exchange program for owners of the arlo pro who want the arlo pro 2, where I could send my old cameras in, pay the difference, and get new cameras..."
"Mounted a few outside, and that's when I started to notice how poor the quality was. I understand the benefits of having a wire free system (renting a place where you cant drill or run wires, or having the ability to move the camera when ever you want). I would have kept it if it didn't cost so much or if it had a slightly higher bit rate which would result in a lot more detail."
Best Security & Surveillance Installation Services
Camera SPEC. Two-way audio - The camera has a built-in mic so that you can talk and listen through the Zmodo app anywhere and anytime, making it feel like you never left home. Receive motion alerts - This WiFi camera will send push notification alerts to your smartphone when motion is detected so you will know what’s happening immediately. Always stay connected to your home by remote monitoring through the mobile Zmodo app for iOS and Android or via Internet browser on user.zmodo.com.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I initially purchased a 3-pack, and after testing them for a couple weeks, I decided to get another set. It took me about 10 minutes to set up the first 3 that I got, not counting the time I spent positioning and mounting the cameras. One last bit of advice I would offer, is that you might want to consider purchasing an aftermarket power cord. The cords that come with it are fine, but I bought a set of 3 10ft USB to micro USB cables in order to have more flexibility about where the cameras were placed in relation to the power source, and conceal the cord more effectively."
"My only complaint is zmodo say you’ll get free 24 hour recording playback if you don’t have the cloud based recording playback but there is no 24 hours recording playback."
"Stunning HD image, easiest app of the 3 I have tried, and a very compact nice looking camera."
"They do what they say, you can monitor them via the Zmodo App on your phone or PC, but the quality is not good at all. First let me say that I have worked in IT for almost 15 years and I always setup my own home networks, cable equipment, etc. This involves connecting to an AdHoc wifi network the camera creates when in Setup mode. After a lot of research and some fairly obscure forum finds, I saw a recommendation for another Zmodo camera model from a user who was using an iPhone 6 and having similar problems. The next issue; Image Quality. Now I finally have my two cameras setup sort of caddy-corner to cover a large room. Now, if I hadn't gone back and read the support docs, I would probably have never guessed that meant "Low Definition." Unfortunately, it seems that LD is the default option (to save on mobile data) and you have to toggle HD every time you access the cameras. From my research, that seems to be impossible without some serious reverse engineering (there is a project out there a guy is working on to grab images from these cameras outside the Zmodo world). Then, there's a security concern... Out of the box, these devices were running an older version of the firmware. With that version, once I got them on my network I discovered they had several ports open by default: 23 (Telnet). 80 (Web Interface). 8000 (Video Interface). 9000 (Mobile Video). The troubling thing is that in all my digging through the web, I could not locate any solid info on what the default telnet admin password could be. I DID find that some Zmodo cameras have a telnet account for root that is passwordless!! But, and this is a HUGE But, the default seems to always be Low Definition, including the alert images that are captured. For that reason, these will most likely be delegated to the box of toys that won't get used for any serious security setup. In the attached photos, you will see a screenshot I took from the phone while viewing in LD and HD mode. Lastly you will see the example "video" I captured form my phone while reviewing a motion even in the Zmodo app."
"I've had these for a while and the one time I needed it the most it failed me wow it's quite astonishing.The notification i recieved was after they had ransacked my house n manage 2 get a 43 in vizio wireless t.v..."
Best Surveillance Accessories
Reliable Wi-Fi connectivity to access your camera with YI Home App on mobile device, and YI Home App on PC at anytime, anywhere. YI Home App allows you to customize your settings according to your preferences: defined activity regions, camera sharing, customize alert schedules, and more.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you read other reviews that complain of 6 second clips, I assure you, all you need to do is click on "view full clip". I am uploading a video that shows a stranger looking in my mailbox in the middle of the night. So long as the night vision is turned off."
"Collects data, passwords, browsing history, time spent on websites unrelated to the company, etc... it states that they collect information ,including browsing history, passwords, etc..., and stores the info on the servers."
"It states that YI server can record you and your family in your home for up to 6 seconds at a time and can share the videos too."
"Got these cameras a few weeks ago, two of them..Really liked these cameras, worked very well and would have given them 5 stars.. until the latest firmware update. Update 9/1/2016 They have still not released any new firmware since the broken 201604071151 firmware to resolve the quality issue, they seem have have dropped any development or support of this camera and only are supporting their newer YI Home camera 2 and the new pan tilt."
"Would be an excellent camera if it were customizable (it's not)."
"Not sure why AMAZON allows such products to be sold in US since it directly violates basic privacy of its customers, but these details are not initially disclosed when we bought these cameras."
"Deal breaker for me."
""By using the App, you authorize the collection of information about you, your use of the App, the device on which the App is installed, any cameras you have connected to the App, and the use, transmission, processing, and storing of information as described in XiaoYi’s Privacy Policy (located at http://www.weareyi.com).""
Best Surveillance & Security Cameras
The Nest Cam Outdoor is the perfect addition to any home. SECURITY HAS NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD: The Nest Cam Outdoor is here to help set your mind at ease. Nest Cam Outdoor is beautiful, weatherproof, and it plugs into power, so you never have to worry about dead batteries. Whether you're watching for the kids to get home from school, checking to see if your package has arrived, or scaring off a potential burglar, Nest Cam Outdoor is here to help! Nest Cam looks for motion and listens for loud sounds, like a boom or the crash from a window breaking.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Had a Christmas package stolen form my driveway, because of the camera we were able to identify the license plate and the thief which ultimately resulted in his arrest."
"We've had occasional situations where a camera has gone offline, but I attribute that to a flaky WiFi signal and not necessarily the camera. Regarding the Nest video recording service, we pay the monthly fee for all of our cameras. In the simplest of installations, you'd mount your camera in the desired location and then run the cord to an outdoor power outlet, securing the cord along the way with the included clips. I wanted to use this wiring so I was able to use a power over ethernet (POE) splitter and injector (bought on Amazon) to run power to the camera and then connected the splitter to the camera's power cable using a USB adapter. Because the cable is permanently attached to the camera itself (which isn't inherently a bad thing, and probably has to do with waterproofing), installations like mine which don't require the cable to span a long distance to connect to power end up with a long mess of extra cord. Aside from the physical installation, Nest makes it simple to connect and configure the camera to your home wifi. Using the app you can view your camera's live feed, view past motion events (still images if you don't subscribe to the Nest Aware service to record your video), configure settings like night vision, sound, etc., as well as turn the camera off and on (if you ever need to)."
"You will either get too many annoying alerts that aren't important or basically no alerts. You get (Some) snapshots of alerts. (This means you're probably going to get a lot of annoying alerts that don't matter to you, or you can basically not get any alerts). Since you only have picture snapshots, a lot of alerts won't even have anything in the picture because the motion detected it too late."
"The problem is that they only offer 2 cloud storage option subscriptions to store your history with their Nest Aware cloud storage offering. Here is the break-down: Currently as of 10/24/2016: 1) 10 day - $100 per year per camera with a $50 discount for each additional camera. So for me - that would be $300 / year - to store 10 days of history for 5 of my cameras. OR - They also have: 2) 30 day - $300 per year / camera with a discount 50% discount per camera ($150 per year). This is ridiculous for home consumers who want simple home security. Nest - please make a subscription option for home security for owners to choose how much storage they want or offer and entry level package to store 1 or 2 days storage at a reasonable price."
Best Video Equipment
Length: 6 Feet |. Style: 1-Pack. Meets the latest HDMI standards (4K Video at 60 Hz, 2160p, 48 bit/px color depth) that supports bandwidth up to 18Gbps and backwards compatible with earlier versions.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"While I cannot speak for the configurations of other users, I can confirm the following: Using this cable on a Samsung KS8500, I can confirm that this cable supports: UHD 4K HDR Content. 4K 30Hz 4:4:4. 4K 60Hz 4:4:4. I am attaching a picture of the chroma test as well."
"Please do not waste your hard earned money on overpriced HDMI cables in the name of picture or sound improvements. In order for a HDMI cable to have a "High-speed" moniker, it must be capable of showing resolutions up to 4K --> 3840 x 2160 at 30fps (or 4,096 x 2160 at 24fps). And as the highest resolution any 4K TV currently on the market can produce is 3840 x 2160 at 30fps, even if you found a $100 cable at your local BestBuy that claims it can transmit much more than that, it doesn't matter as you are limited by your source (i.e your cable box, Xbox, PS4 e.t.c) and your TV's hardware capabilities. Hence, if you do happen to own a TV and another device that both have HDMI 2.0 ports, any AmazonBasics High-speed rated cable will work perfectly fine with it."
"I don't know that I could tell the difference in performance of a basic vs some kind of "superior" HDMI cable but there is one thing about this product you might need to know.. the insulation makes these really thick.. maybe about double size of other HDMI cables."
"I needed to run an HDMI cable from a conference table to a wall outlet and it needed to run across the floor, inside of the rubber conduit cable keeper."
"With HDMI cables, you don't have to spring for the $200 diamond plated cables or whatever like other companies would have you believe to get the best picture."
"These cables work perfectly for my Roku ultra and my Samsung 4K TV."
"My old one supplied by cable company was causing picture issues and they suggested a new HDMI cable."
"I have a Vizio M65-E0 4K HDR TV and an LG UP970 UHD Blu-Ray player, which worked fine with other HDMI cables I had."
Best Binoculars, Telescopes & Optics
PowerSeeker 127 EQ Telescope (item #21049) PowerSeeker 127 EQ - General Features Quick and easy no-tool setup Slow motion controls for smooth tracking Erect image optics - Ideal for terrestrial and astronomical use Fully coated glass optical components with high transmission coatings for enhanced image brightness and clarity 3x Barlow lens triples the magnifying power of each eyepiece Accessory tray for convenient storage of accessories "The Sky" Level 1 planetarium software with 10,000 object database and enhanced images. No tools are required for assembly! PowerSeekers are designed and manufactured using all fully coated glass optical components with high transmission coatings for enhanced image brightness and clarity. Optical Design: Newtonian Reflector Aperture: 127 mm (5 in) Focal Length: 1000 mm (39.37 in) Focal Ratio: 7.87 Eyepiece 1: 20 mm (0.79 in) Magnification 1: 50 x Eyepiece 2: 4 mm (0.16 in) Magnification 2: 250 x Barlow Lens: 3 x Finderscope: 5x24 Mount: German Equatorial Tripod: Aluminum Accessory Tray: No-Tool Tray with Eyepiece holder CD ROM: "The Sky" Level 1 Weight: 17 lb (7.71 kg) Limiting Stellar Magnitude: 13 Resolution (Rayleigh): 1.1 arcsec Resolution (Dawes): 0.91 arcsec Photographic Resolution: 254 line/mm Light Gathering Power: 329 x Angular Field of View: 0.8 ° Linear Field of View (@1000 yds): 43 ft (13.11 m) Optical Coatings: Aluminum Secondary Mirror Obstruction: 1.6 in (40.64 mm) Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Area: 10.2 % Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Diameter: 32 % Optical Tube Length: 20 in (508 mm). B. All returns must be accompanied by a written statement setting forth the name, address, and daytime telephone number of the owner, together with a brief description of any claimed defects. (310) 328-9560. Fax. Monday-Friday 8AM-4PM PST. Comes with aluminum tripod and accessory tray.Focal Length of Eyepiece 1 (mm) 20 mm (0.79 in).Focal Length of Eyepiece 2 (mm) 4 mm (0.16 in).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"1) Collimation. This telescope can be collimated easily by eye, if you want to collimate with a laser, you'll have to remove the corrective lens in the focuser tube. 2) The finder scope is unusable. While I agree, it's not the best finder scope out there and lining it up with the telescope can take a long time but, it is possible with time and patients. (note: it is a scope and not a finder, the image is reversed in the finder). 3) I can't see anything out of this thing. You need to collimate the scope and line up the finder scope, the instructions are in the manual for eye collimation (tip: back the focuser tube all the way out when you collimate, doing this will let you see both the secondary mirror and the primary, also note, this went through shipping and if it arrived with all the mirrors aligned and ready to go, get a power ball ticket because you'd be the luckiest person on the planet. 4) The Barlow is useless. Please google and youtube what a barlow is and how to use them, it's not a true lens and once you find out its true purpose, it'll make more sense. 5) The 4mm lens is useless. See my comment on the barlow, using the barlow with the 4mm will tame things a bit, also, get a lens and filter kit with a 15mm and a 9mm lens. One last comment on this issue is, do not try to push the telescope into position with the clutches locked, use the controls on the tripod to position the scope, if you need to make big adjustments, loosen the clutches (should be OK because your telescope is balanced) position the scope to the general area of viewing, lock the clutches and use the controls to fine tune."
"I later bought the Celestron 24mm to 8mm zoom eyepiece, which allows me to zoom in without changing eyepiece, and it works very well on the smaller 76mm telescope, but again blurry images on this one. I decided to order a Celestron 1.25" collimation eyepiece ($30), which can be useful in aligning the optics (the two mirrors) in reflectors like this one. The reason is that Polaris is faint, and every time you move a mirror by a tiny bit (as explained in the Celestron instruction) the star just darts out of view in the eyepiece. Lastly, I ditched all the Celestron recommendations on day and night collimation (using either the celestron collimation eyepiece or the "ring pattern" for out of focus point sources) and did instead the "EYE-DOCTOR TEST" : I wanted to see how sharp I can get this one, when there is no wind, no shake, no atmospherics, no moving planet, no mist etc. With this method (which I seemingly invented, as it is not described anywhere in the instructions nor on the Celestron site) I was finally able to adjust (by very small increments) the three screws on the secondary mirror till I FINALLY got a nice sharp picture of the writing on the letter. To avoid any further issues due to my previous messing around, I first screwed in the secondary mirror (by loosening up the three alignment screws, and pulling in the secondary mirror all the way in until it barely touches the mount), and later pulled out the primary mirror as well(by pulling out all six screws until the whole unit comes out, then reinserting the mirror after making sure the secondary was pointing the right way, straight to the back). Then, using the Celestron collimation eyepiece with its crosshair, I carefully adjusted the secondary and primary orientations (three screws for each mirror) until all the crosshairs overlapped perfectly. In other words, the crosshair in the eyepiece has to overlap perfectly with its reflection through mirrors 1 and 2, and back to the eyepiece. I found (April 2014) that the best way to collimate this (Bird-Jones or catadioptric design)telescope and get nice sharp images is to remove the focusing lens at the bottom of the focusing tube (takes 10 mins), align the secondary and primary mirrors with an inexpensive LASER collimator (mine is an LK1 $30 from seben dot com, takes another 10 mins to do this part), put the corrector lens back in and reinsert the focusing tube (don't touch the lens with your hands, takes around 5 mins). The secondary (smaller, flat) mirror is oval-shape and mounted right under the focusing tube, held in place by three (outside)-plus-one (center) screws. Now put a focusing cap (just an eyepiece cap with a small 1mm hole in the center) at the (top) end of the focusing tube. Then make absolutely sure (after you take again very carefully the correcting lens out of the focusing tube) that the inside of the focusing tube and the secondary mirror, as viewed through the focuser, are perfectly concentric when you view them through the hole in the cap. That is, the secondary mirror has to be perfectly centered when viewed from the top of the focusing tube. After this is done, make also sure that the tilt on the secondary mirror is such that you can see the center of the primary mirror (on mine I put a black pen mark at the dead center). Now re-align the secondary and primary mirrors with a laser (in my case), with the cap with a hole, or a cheshire eyepiece."
"The instruction manual is weak in this regard and Celestron really should update it to help getting this telescope aligned. If you visit various astronomy forums and ask about this scope, most people will tell you to avoid it because of the time you will be spending collimating it. After you spent time collimating it, then the views are pretty good for the price you pay. I could see the 2 main bands on Jupiter and the moons, the rings of Saturn, but struggled to see the Cassini division. This is the benefits with using an EQ mount where you will only need to turn one knob to keep your object in view."
Best Camcorder & Camera Lenses
The AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G optical design allows a different look and feel to images taken with zoom lenses, and its dimensions are ideal for discrete snapshots and landscape shooting with a picture angle that approximates that of the human eye. When mounted on a DX-format SLR, the picture angle is the 35mm equivalent focal length of 50mm.what's in the box: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX Lens, HB-46 Bayonet Lens Hood for AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G, 52mm Snap-On Lens Cap, LF-1 Rear Lens Cap for F Mount Lenses, CL-0913 Soft Lens Case and 5-Year Warranty (1-Year International + 4-Year USA Extension). Fast, f/1.8 prime lens is perfect for low-light conditions, travel, environmental portrait and general photography Engineered for Nikon DX-format D-SLRS, the AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G lens renders a picture angle approximating the classic normal angle of view of a 50mm lens on a Nikon FXformat digital SLR or 35mm film camera Aspherical lens element minimizes coma and other types of lens aberrations, further improving image integrity Nikon Super Integrated Coating (SIC) enhances light transmission efficiency and offers color consistency and reduced flare Exclusive Nikon Silent Wave Motor (SWM) enables fast, accurate and quiet autofocus Close focusing to 1 foot for creative perspectives and versatility Rounded 7-blade diaphragm opening makes out-of-focus elements appear more natural Accepts 52mm filter attachments. Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The fact is that a 50mm lens on a full frame camera and the same lens on a crop sensor camera do not shoot the same way. Pros: - Feels well built. - Comes packaged with carrying case, good cap, bayonet style lens hood. - Can fit more in the frame. - Fast. - Captures crisp images with lots of detail. - Great in low light, maybe even better than the now older 50mm 1.8D (which by the way does not autofocus unless you have a camera with a focus motor built in). - If I had a camera that did not have a focus motor built in, no problem, this lens has a focus motor built into it. - Focusing is SILENT - unlike the 50mm 1.8D, which hunts for focus and is noisy as hell. - Manual focus override: a switch on the side of the lens allows you to either manually focus the lens, or to allow for M/A, manual and autofocus. That said, I may use this lens more as a street photo / on the go / all around lens and keep the 50mm 1.8D for portrait work or product shots exclusively. - There is some barrel distortion with this lens (which is when there is slight curve to the image from the center point to all edges) the effect is very slight and can very easily be corrected in photo editing software. Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase. The shots are to show how much can fit in the frame using the 50mm lens (on a cropped sensor camera) in comparison to this 35mm 1.8G. I love the 50mm lens, I really do, but I needed more versatility and this 35mm lens gives me just that, the freedom to have a quasi-portrait lens as well as a great, fast, and sharp all around shooter."
"I've had the camera for almost a year and have been disappointed my the photos I was taking (been using the lens kit that came with my camera). Before I got this lens I had essentially stopped using my DSLR because the lens kit was so slow that I was always miss his smile."
"came brand spanking new great condition, box was safe and secure."
"Overall I think this is a great first lens after a kit lens."
Best Digital Cameras
• Canon EOS Rebel T6 DSLR Camera. • Canon 18-55mm Lens. • High Definition Wide Angle Lens. • 58mm 2x Professional Telephoto Lens. • Transcend 32GB SDHC Memory Card. • Transcend 16GB SDHC Memory Card. • Vivitar SLR DC59 Large Gadget Bag. • Quality Tripod. • 3 Piece UV Filter Kit. • USB Card Reader. • Auto Power Slave Flash. • UV Filter 58mm. • RS-60 Remote Switch for Canon. • Memory Card Wallet. • LCD Screen Protectors. • Table Top Tripod. • Lens Cap Holder. • Cleaning Kit. Digital DSLR Auto Power Slave Flash - RS-60 Remote Switch for Canon - 3 Piece UV Filter Kit (UV-CPL-FLD) 58mm - Hi-Speed SD USB Card Reader - 58mm Ultraviolet UV Protector Filter - Memory Card Wallet - LCD Screen Protectors (Clear) - Table Top Tripod - 3 Piece Cleaning Kit - Lens Cap Holder.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you are looking for a great entry level camera and kit for photography look no further!"
"This is my first camera, this bundle has everything you need if you're into photography."
"An average point and shoot camera takes higher quality pictures than you will get through these lenses. All of the components are cheap, but will give you an idea if those are things you will use and should replace with better versions. All the included components are as follows: $10.69 xit macro lens xt58wab. $8.93 xit telephoto lens xt2x58. $19.75 vivitar large gadget bag. $22.46 xit tripod xt60trb. $4.50 vivitar 4in pocket tripod. $9.16 transcend 16gb flash card. $16.99 transcend 32gb flash card. $8.68 xit remote shutter release. $4.93 xit SD/microSD card reader. $7.46 pro series digital filter set. $3.95 lens cap keeper (stick on). $2.94 xit universal screen protector. $3.99 xit digital ultraviolet filter. $3.00 vivitar cleaning kit and card wallet. $14.95 slave flash. Total accessories: $142.38. $449 Canon EOS Rebel T6 Digital SLR Camera Kit with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens (Black)."
"I am no pro when it comes to photography, but I do want my own slr and want to learn!"
"Great camera and the bundle is truly amazing."
"We love this camera."
"I just got this today and can't really say much about the camera except that it's very nice and surprisingly lighter than I had expected (which is good) everything else you get with it is ok. My favorite is the large tripod."
"Other than the accessories, this is a great camera."
Best Photo Printers & Scanners
— The Epson Perfection V600 Photo delivers outstanding quality scans from photos, film, slides and everyday documents. Featuring DIGITAL ICE for both film and prints, one-touch color restoration and. Arcsoft Photostudio. , this scanner provides a complete photo restoration solution. 6400 x 9600 dpi for film Enlargements up to 17” x 22” Built-in Transparency Unit (TPU) For slides, negatives and medium-format film. up to 6 x 22 cm Scan everything you need Film, photos, documents, invoices, receipts, books, magazines and 3D objects Complete photo restoration solution. Before. After. Before. After. Before. After. DIGITAL ICE for Prints Remove the appearance of tears. and creases from damaged photos DIGITAL ICE for Film Remove the appearance of dust and. scratches from film Easy Photo Fix For one-touch color restoration Increased productivity. ReadyScan LED technology Fast scanning and no warm-up time Optical Character Recognition (OCR) For converting scanned documents into editable text Four customizable buttons Instantly copy, scan-to-email and create PDF’s Features/Benefits Create extraordinary enlargements from film — 6400 x 9600 dpi for enlargements up to 17" x 22" Scan slides, negatives and medium–format panoramic film — built-in Transparency Unit Remove the appearance of tears and creases from damaged photos — DIGITAL ICE for Prints Remove the appearance of dust and scratches from film — DIGITAL ICE for Film Restore faded color photos with one touch — Epson Easy Photo Fix included Achieve greater productivity — convert scanned documents into editable text with ABBYY FineReader Sprint Plus OCR Quickly complete any task — instantly scan, copy, scan-to-email and create PDFs with four customizable buttons Energy-efficient LED for fast scans — exclusive ReadyScan LED light source means no warmup time, faster scans and lower power consumption Take your photos further — Arcsoft Photostudio included, to help edit and enhance your digital images Weight and Dimensions (W x D x H) — Weight: 9.0 lb, Dimensions: 11" x 19" x 4.6". What's in the Box Perfection V600 Photo color scanner Transparency unit (built into lid) Film holders for: 35mm film and mounted slides & 6 x 22 cm medium-format film Scanner software CD-Rom Arcsoft Photostudio DVD Start Here poster Hi-Speed USB 2.0 cable AC adapter and power cable. Remove the appearance of dust and scratches from film — DIGITAL ICE for Film.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"11th Day Update: all 5400 slide transparencies (35mm mounted slides) have been scanned (at 2400dpi) and burned to DVDs. That was with only selective use of Color Restoration, which doesn't add anytime to the scan. We would look at each set of 4 preview images and click and highlight the ones we wanted to color restore (click on the slide, do NOT click on the checkbox...leave the checkbox on each preview CHECKED ON...that's what lets the scanner know you want to scan all 4 slides that you just previewed). Background: BFA in Art with concentration in Darkroom Photography; Own my own darkroom for 25 years; Decade as an Imaging Specialist/Scanner Operator (you can skip the next few paragraphs and get to the settings which worked well for us while scanning a bunch of old slides). Every day for a decade, 8 hours a day I used PhotoShop 3.0+, flatbed scanners, image setters and even a Nikon Coolscan slide scanner with an automatic slide-feeder. As I recall the slide feeder could hold about 40 mounted slides and took about 8 minutes per slide to scan. I wanted to set up a new, easy scan station for my father to scan his old slides: 54 slide projector carousels (round thingies) filled with a maximum 100 slides each. SETTINGS FOR SLIDE SCANNING. I installed the CD software, then plugged in the machine, and finally I turned it on with the ON/OFF button HIDDEN on the right side of the machine. So, for decent slide scans here is a nice setting list: Mode = Professional. Document type = Positive film. Image Type = 48-bit. Resolution = 2400 dpi. CHECK the unsharp mask box to turn it on, set level to LOW. CHECK the Color Restoration box to turn it on. Click preview, select and flip any upside-down slides with the options. Click Scan and sit back and wait while all 4 slides are scanned (a little under 4 minutes to scan and auto-name and auto-save). ACTUAL PROJECT: Each slide takes 1 minute to scan, auto-name and auto-save. 54 boxes of slides x 100 slides each = 5400 slides. Yes, at about 1 minute per slide it's a little slower (at 2400dpi) but you can save a little time and scan at 1200dpi, or even go down to 100dpi, lol. A minute per slide is a lot slower than 1 second per slide. I'd rather spend two weeks getting 5,400 great scans then spend 5 hours getting crappy scans that look terrible and I'll end up deleting. WHAT DIDN'T WORK WELL (FOR US) AND WHAT DID. First off, use the professional mode for slides. The automatic easy mode has drawbacks: it only allows 1200dpi scans at the highest setting; even though it's only 1200dpi it seems to take longer than the professional mode at 2400dpi; even though in the manual it says you can skip the preview...it actually does one preview at a time and shows that to you while it scans, which means the preview portion takes FOUR times as long. Also, when you select the color restoration option: the little preview is color restored, but the scan isn't! So: it takes 2x-4x as long and doesn't actually apply color restoration to the scan that is autosaved to your computer. Thus: if you want to scan, color restore and sharpen you have to use the professional mode (and re-check the color restoration box after selection "all" 4 previews with the blue frame highlighting them AFTER EVERY PREVIEW!!!!). I fiddled a little with the grain removal setting, but it just kind of blurred my test slides. There are other settings were you want to: UNcheck the write over files with the same name (why would you want to overwrite your previous scans? TIFFs are still a tad bigger, but if you're scanning once and then throwing away your slides then scan huge and save as TIFF for that once in a lifetime chance of archiving. Somewhere in the advanced settings option when you first open Epson Scan you can also uncheck the "include color profiles" box. Unless you're sending your files to a professional printing press that needs specific color profiles THIS JUST BLOATS THE SIZE OF EACH OF YOUR SCANS! I don't care about LAB COLOR vs CMYK vs Srgb ICC profiles and when I was a professional our printers (and by printers I mean the humans who ran huge color printing presses that are about 40' long) would set their prepress to strip out/ignore any color profiles accidentally left attached to image files we sent them...because THEY wanted to control the color, not some random file that nobody on our end looked at or modified or fixed or cared about. UNLESS YOU'RE A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER SENDING SCANS TO A COLOR PRINT PUBLICATION THAT REQUIRES YOU TO SEND ALONG COLOR PROFILES uncheck the box and save space on your computer. Click on Epson Scan. Select "Professional" and "Current Settings". 2400dpi. Check color restoration box on. Check unsharp max on / Medium. Dust spray and put in 4 slides. ****VERY IMPORTANT STEP RIGHT HERE: Click the "ALL" button the highlight all four previews with blue frames and then click "RESTORE COLOR CHECKBOX TO ON"/ (The color restoration feature shuts itself off after every preview, and if you turn it back on it only applies to the previews with blue frames around them!). This is for "pros" who only color restore 1 out of every 4 slides or whatever. Computer (we have a 2/3 year old Dell with i5 core processor and Windows 10, regular non-solid state hard drive). This Scanner. Dust-off Sprayer. USB Thumbdrive (archive 1). Blank DVDs (archive 2 or more if you burn multiple copies to send to various relatives). External HD (archive 3). Time: 1 minute per slide. This thing is heavier than my 25 year old Umax PowerLook III scanner which was used in by my at my job in a multi-million dollar publishing empire. I don't know who got to take home the Nikon CoolScan slide scanner (w/auto-feeder), LOL! Do you have only a month to scan 50,000 slides? Well, then contract a vendor to do them for 60 cents per slide and then sell you an external hard drive with your scans on it...plus shipping...plus expedited service...plus insurance which will give you a few dollars if the shipper looses all your slides so instead of your photos you'll have like $300 and the horror of loosing priceless, irreplaceable pictures. By the way: for my 5,400 slides it would cost at least $3,240 to have them scanned (plus shipping, plus hard drive they return the scans on, etc.). If anything I gave you: a template to plan your project/setup/costs & some easy start-up settings to get great slide scans. UPDATE: It's the second day of ownership, and even with our time spent testing settings, setting up a light box, unpacking and dusting off 54 boxes of 100-slide carousel wheels we managed to scan 2 entire boxes out of the 54! The ONLY THING THAT SUCKS ABOUT IT IS: after every 4 slide batch is previewed the "Color Restoration" box UNchecks itself. So you have to select all four previews and ONLY THEN click to check the color restoration box, and then scan. I can spend 5-15 minutes trying to color correct an RGB color image, and even longer for a CMYK image for print (textbook, magazine, book cover, etc.). After you do a few dozen you won't even have to think: your hand will just click ALL and Color Correct and SCAN. Good luck, have fun, spend a day or two scanning and rescanning a few documents to get the perfect settings and physical workflow that works for you!"
"While that sounds like an over whelming task, it has changed my approach to working with my family archives. Rather than simply copy them forward to digital in their original condition, I am being handed an opportunity to improve them. But, with the right mindset you can enjoy the experience of enhancing those photographic captures that you have kept and treasured, but seldom viewed. While in LR, as the last enhancement, edit the photo in a separate software, Noiseless CK. While the process takes time, it is enjoyable and rewarding to see the old memories once again before you in Kodak Carousel brightness and color -- and better. I doubt this machine is up to professional application either in terms of endurance or image quality."
"The second picture was scanned with Digital ICE and you can see how it removed all the dust and imperfections that were left on the slide even though I cleaned it using canned air."
"I got rid of all my darkroom equipment years ago along with all my film cameras, but still had a lot of 6x6 and 35mm negatives and Kodachrome slides. Also, when working with negatives and slides, just like you were working in darkroom, dust is a real PITA at these levels of enlargement."
Best Film Photography
Fujifilm Instax Mini Instant Film (3 Twin Packs, 60 Total Pictures) [International Version product - No warranty]. Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"When you put on your film on the camera for the first time, and take a pic for the first time with that cartridge, the first thing that is gonna come out is a black cover that was protecting the film."
"Purchased for my baby shower and used with a Polaroid camera."
"My daughter loves he camera and this is a great deal on the film."
"Can't live without it!"
"Our pictures are pinned up and rotated throughout the year."
"It’s great for my instax and it’s an amazing deal for so much film."
"Greal listing!"
"Only received 1/3 of my order, pretty disappointed.."
Best Photo Projectors
Thank to the most reasonable price, high fidelity images, focusing function and superior quality, DBPOWER 1800-lumen mini video projector is the best choice. Upgraded LED light technology - more bright than other projectors Updated fan Sound and System - the fan noise is lower than other basic LED projectors Large Screen - relax your eyes from TV Keystone Function - adjust the image size to be normal. Specifications: Imaging technology: TFT LCD, Brightness: 1800 lumens Contrast: 1000:1 Aspect ratio: 16:10 Projection ratio: 1.4:1 Native resolution: 800X480 pixels Supported resolution: 1920X1080 pixels Keystone: Manual correction 15¡ã Throw distance: 1.5-5M Screen size: 32-176 inches 3. By placing the projector at the optimum distance of about 2 to 2.5m, it will display a super-clear and bright 130” image, giving you a superior private home theater experience.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"When I plugged in the flash drive with the digital images I wanted to run - it worked perfectly right off the bat. :D. I've included two very short video that shows the projection of the digital files onto uncarved pumpkins - as you can see - this projector did a wonderful job!"
"------ end of original review -------. Added 2/9/2017: One More Thing... they have excellent customer service. When they saw my original "Three Star" review they immediately reached out to me via e-mail and wanted to know if they could do anything for me to fix my issue, they even offered me a discount to the price I paid to make it up to me or return the unit for a full refund. The following is my response to their e-mail, sent on 2/8/2017. ------------. 2/8/2017. "Thank you for your e-mail and your concern. I tried to express my experience in my review that my expectations might have been too high, beyond the units performance level, which directly lead to my disappointment. ------------ End of e-mail response dated 2/8/2017 ------------. My experience with their customer service department was exceptional which in turn I came back and willingly change my review rating to a strong "Four Stars"."
"I've since connected my Ruko stick with the provided HDMI cable and streamed Netflix through the projector, attached my JBL bluetooth speaker with an AUX cable, and even used the HDMI to connect my MacBook so we could watch old home movies and flip through photos through the projector."
Best Underwater Photography Products
With 12MP Burst photos at a blistering 30 frames per second, AKASO EK7000 Camera helps you capture the moments. you don't want to miss. Be able to captures the 170 degree wide angle perspective, AKASO EK7000 features built-in Wi-Fi, allowing you to connect. to the smart phone, tablet, computer and more to sharing via text, email, Facebook, Twitter, and more to your friends, family or followers . Note: Micro SD Card of Class 10 is Highly Recommended for 4K Action Camera. 1x AKASO EK7000 Camera. 1x 2.4G Remote Control. 2x 1050mAh Battery. 1x Waterproof Case. 1x Bicycle Stand. 7x Mount. 2x Clip. 1x Helmet Mounts. 1x Bandages. 5x Tethers. 1 x Protective Backdoor. 1x USB Cable. 1x AC Charger. 1x Lens Cloth. 1x Manual. Professional 4K 25fps & 2.7K 30fps video with 12MP photos at up to 30 frames per second for incredible photos, which is 4 times the resolution of traditional HD cameras. AKASO EK7000 is designed to withstand extreme environments, together with durable waterproof case. With the accessories, transform it for indoor and outdoor activities.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Upon my return to the US, I went to use the camera in my pool with the non-waterproof back and guess what - the camera got wet, the screen went white, and I thought I had ruined the camera leaving me with a bag of bits that I would never use again. However, I quickly removed camera from the case, removed the battery and memory card, put camera into a bag of rice and left in a warm place for 48 hours. I am happy to report that the camera appears to be working just fine - only time will tell."
"- Photos and videos sometimes show up out of order on the app, which can make it hard to figure out which ones you have already downloaded vs. which are new. - WiFi functionality for this is similar to what other things like headsets or speakers use Bluetooth for, but since it connects over WiFi, you will not be connected to other WiFi networks during that time."
"So what I did is I seach on Google and Youtube on how I can connect my Rode mic to it and I found plenty of them online. I bought a 3.5mm mount here in Amazon as well, had to tap into the Mic terminals positive and negative then drill a hole to lock in the mic port."
"It comes with a ton of accessories, and the quality is just about as good as the Gopro costing more than 4 times as much. To see the video type in, "photojunky drone zone" , and there is a full review with a lot of footage. The image is more contrasty than the Gopro so in shadows you lose some detail. and the LCD screen on the back makes everything a lot easier such as settings and actually being able to see what you are filming."
"Nice camera."