Opteka Universal Studio Soft Box Flash Diffuser for Canon EOS Nikon Olympus Pentax Sony Sigma and Other External Flash Units

Opteka Universal Studio Soft Box Flash Diffuser for Canon EOS Nikon Olympus Pentax Sony Sigma and Other External Flash Units

A dramatic, eye catching photo can mean dramatic profits. Getting a well exposed photo is extremely important. Photographers often turn to a flash to help light the scene. The problem is that flash can cause harsh reflections or glare spots or create deep shadows that distract viewers. This little, portable universal external flash diffuser will prevent those problems when using a flash. Simply put the unit over the camera’s flash, point and shoot. The light will be softened and your photos will be well exposed, without the harsh glare spots.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Does what it says
This puts a tiny softbox around your flash, which arguably isn’t very useful.

While travelling, taking it out of storage and putting it together takes about 5 minutes, so you’ve got to prepare some before using it. This softbox is about 6″ diagonal, so to have any affect your subject will need to be within a few feet of the flash. These limitations really kill the usefulness of this item.

So while the box is technically ok, you’re probably better off getting a light cone or similar for your portable lighting solution.

5 Stars Great lighting for what it is.
I was looking for something that was small and portable but would give me a bit softer light that the sto fen diffuser on my 580ex II. I’ve been very happy with the results this gives and for the price you can’t go wrong. The little rubber band broke after about 6 months of use, but I just found an o-ring at OSH and it works just as well. It looks cheap, feels cheap, and is cheap, but the results are great.

2 Stars Does not fit my flash…
I purchased this soft box, because in the description it stated that it would work on a Nikon SB-600. When I received it and put it together, the opening was way too large for the SB-600′s flash head. When I tighten the velcro strap, the edges of the soft box bowed inward. I don’t use the product, because it doesn’t fit the flash properly and it falls off. I suppose I could rig it so it wouldn’t fall off, but I shouldn’t have to. The description said it would work with my flash. That is what I get for using the search filter for lowest price first and purchasing the first item on the list.

5 Stars I love it!
When I was trying to decide whether or not to purchase this particular softbox, I noticed a lot of people complaining about the quality… like it seemed as though it would fall apart or something. I do not get that impression at all. It is made of a bendable, foldable material, but doesn’t seem “flimsey”. It is meant to be compact so that you can fold it up small and fit it right into your camera bag… (mine fits inside the front pocket of my bag nicely). It is super easy to attatch to the flash and stays on great. I think for the price and the compactness of the this diffuser, it is well worth the money and comes very much in handy. I have been happy with the results… though I should say I use it mainly as a form of fill flash with my outdoor portraits… not main lighting. Definately recommend.

5 Stars would recommend
The quality of this product is surprisingly really good and I can definitely tell a difference when I use the product in my pictures. (I use the 530ex ii with it)

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Garmin n vi 265W 265WT 4 3 Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic

Garmin n vi 265W 265WT 4 3 Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Annoying Issues for the Novice User

Generally the unit is fine, and a great travel aid. It has some nice features which are not obvious, and one has to stumble into them with use. A few issues cropped up in use for me that are worth mentioning:

1) I find the traffic info really marginally useful. I began a trip from Baltimore to Arlington VA with about a 50 min initial ETA which actually took 120 min. Never did the traffic indicator show more that about 10 min delay.

2) One has to use a little care with finding things like gas stations en route. I was running low on gas and, selected a gas station that appeared to be in the right direction, and was 2.1 miles away. Must have been as the crow flies–and not by route mapping, because it took more than 6 miles to get there, and a river crossing. Was quite a bit out of my way–though I selected it because I thought it wouldn’t take me out of my way.

3) Traveling in not very northern Canada–there is a strong tendency for the unit to select small cut-offs to save time in its routing, which can take you over many unpaved roads. In reality, this often saves no time and puts a lot of unnecessary wear on your car.

4) Most of the time the unit pops up quick and can find satellites. I had one occasion in California when it took about 120 seconds.

Its definitely good to keep a paper map along.

3 Stars Wrong cradle size
I ordered this GPS unit from Amazon. I got the maps upgraded from the garmin website – not a big deal. But later I found out that the cradle which was inside the box was of smaller size. The GPS unit would not fit into the cradle. I got the package replaced by Amazon within 3 days. Everything seems to be working fine inside the new package. Just a waste of time upgrading maps in 2 units!

4 Stars GARMIN NUVI is a good product overall.
Expect to use 2 hours of set up time. You will have to connect to the internet to download updates initially. This Garmin Nuvi is easy to use once it is set up.

Pros: VOICES: There are other voice choices other than the standard voice. I like the Squirrel voice as it sounds like one of the chipmunks and on long drives will make random statements (such as “do you see any trees?”). This breaks the monotony on long drives. BLUE TOOTH: The Blue Tooth phone option is great for driving as the Garmin also acts as a speaker phone. SPEED LIMIT: There is also a display that tells you the speed limit. This is a good feature when you don’t know the speed limit and are on long drives. MOUNT: It also came with a mount that holds the Garmin securely. CHARGER: The Garmin Nuvi also came with a car charger, although the internal battery is good for about 2 hours without a recharge.

Cons: It is about 80% accurate on the speed limit display. I have encountered some occasions where the speed limit was 70 and the display stated 65. If the Blue tooth on the Garmin looses connection with your phone, it does not automatically reconnect. You have to go to the screen option and reconnect. The reconnect is not clear and will require either playing with the controls or turning off the Garmin and turning it back on to reconnect to the phone. (It may lose connection while traveling if, while wearing your cell phone, you go inside a convenience store or go beyond 30 ft from your car). On residential homes, sometimes (not always) it is off by 2 or 3 houses, but it gets you within a couple of houses. If you have the house address, this is no problem to overcome.

2 Stars Two deal-breaking flaws
Garmin 265WT is a decent VERY BASIC GPS. If you do your research ahead of time, say on Google, and type in the destination addresses to the Garmin, it will get you there. But it has two fatal flaws that make it almost (but not quite) unusable. 1. The database of locations (points of interest) is inadequate. If you want to stay at Hilton Hotels and eat at McDonalds, you will be fine. But if you think you will just browse for POIs in a new area and find anything interesting, forget it. Also, the list of POIs is in random order and there is no way to alphabetize, so you may end up scrolling through dozens or hundreds of meaningless names. This is true also for POIs you enter by hand. The “Favorites” list is in random order. 2. The second flaw is that the POI search feature is stupid. It accepts no wildcards and you must spell the POI’s name exactly to get a match. Looking for a particular Courtyard Suites hotel? Sorry, It won’t be found because it is in the database as MARRIOTT Courtyard Suites. Looking for Anthem Mall? Not found, because it is entered as OUTLET ANTHEM MALL . Ha, ha. Very funny. You’ll be happier if you spring for a better model or a different brand.

1 Star Great product, when it works
Randomly goes dead upon initial start up. Sometimes freezes enroute. Maps are 90% accurate. Nice equipment other than reliability issues. Purchased a few months ago and will replace with TomTom soon.

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Kingston DataTraveler 101 4 GB USB 2 0 Flash Drive DT101C 4GB Cyan

Kingston DataTraveler 101 4 GB USB 2 0 Flash Drive DT101C 4GB Cyan

Kingston’s family of convenient, compact and reliable DataTraveler USB Flash drives just got bigger with the addition of the DataTraveler 101. DataTraveler 101 contains room for high-definition photos, graphics-intensive documents, videos, spreadsheets, presentations, term papers, and music that can be stored and retrieved in a flash. Sleek, practical, and attractively designed, the affordable DataTraveler 101 serves the needs of the budget conscious user as well as those looking for significant storage capacity and data protection in a lightweight, compact design. It features a capless, swivel design for added functionality and ease of use.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Avoids misplaced caps
I bought this because I don’t like keeping up with the separate caps. I did expect the swivel cover to fit closer. With the big gap between the cover and the plug end, I feel like the plug is merely covered, not protected. Now that I’m getting a collection of these, for various uses, I’m considering getting a case for them; then loose caps and cover gaps won’t matter.

I also think the metal swivel is very unattractive from a design standpoint, but it’s function that matters and I have no complaint there. The price is also fair, so I won’t hesitate to buy more of these.

5 Stars How to recognize a deal.
Don’t be too quick to disparage your old thumb drive that’s three times the physical size, one-third the speed, and one-sixteenth the storage capacity of the pictured Kingston Flash Drive. I’ve never lost one of those primitive (i.e. pre-2007) Sandisk flash drives. With the current crop of thin plastics, I’m fortunate to retain the cap for a month, and now that the drive itself is as small and light as a disposable cigarette lighter, I find it difficult to keep the gizmo in my pocket for more than half a year.

Knowing that I wanted a drive with 2-4 gigs and with either a retractable connector or one with a “permanently”-attached protective cover, I simply started going down Amazon’s list of best-sellers. This one, appearing at #17, was the first one with a firmly affixed cap. (The swivel design is quite ingenious. I recently tossed a retractable Transcend drive that kept retracting whenever I attempted to insert it in my computer’s USB port, not good,)

If price were no object, I’d look for the slightly larger, heavier and more rugged Sandisk Titanium (not the “Micro” version, however). But at present this blue (“cyan”) Kingston (always a trustworthy brand) is not only the right price but the exceptional no-brainer: it’s twice the size of its smaller 2 GB brother yet is going for 3 dollars less.

5 Stars Inexpensive and work
It was ~$14 shipped. Inexpensive and it works like it should. Plenty of space for a little thumb drive.

5 Stars Highly Recommended
It is a great product and it holds a lot of things on it and I highly recommend it to anyone.

4 Stars Happy with Amazon
It’s a good flash drive. I would pay more for one with a metal housing.

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SanDisk Cruzer Micro 4 GB USB 2 0 Flash Drive SDCZ6 4096 A11

SanDisk Cruzer Micro 4 GB USB 2 0 Flash Drive SDCZ6 4096 A11

Cruzer Micro is an incredibly small USB Flash Drive (UFD) that connects to a computer’s USB port. Users can easily store their key documents, pictures, music and video clips on a Cruzer Micro and transfer them to another computer with a USB port.Cruzer Micro is small, portable, and smart. Small, compact size fits on any keychain. New retractable USB port eliminates the need for caps and protects your port. Cruzer Micro is a computer in your pocket.er. The new retractable USB port eliminates the need for caps and protects your USB connector.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Fantastic amount of space for the price
I’m usually a bit annoyed when it comes to prices of flash drives/thumb drives/or whatever, but the price for this 4GB flash drive was fantastic. I only ended up paying $11 or so for the whole shebang, that’s cheap. It works like any flash drive, and the closing feature is a nice addition. Also fast shipping from shipper, can’t go wrong here.

5 Stars Thumb Drive
Every SanDisk USB thumb drive I’ve purchased has been a winner. I’ve never had any problems with this USB flash drive compared to others that start acting up.

3 Stars Slooooooow
Well, it’s cheap, for 4 GB.

But, it’s also very slow, around 3 MB/s Write speed. 25 minutes to fill it up. Outrageous.

Read speed is above 20 MB/s.

Still, I would not buy a second one, when you can buy a class 4 or class 6 MicroSD card and an adapter for the same price, and you can get better write performance with that combination, in a smaller form factor.

3 Stars Great product, not great shipping
I was very pleased with the flash drive. It holds plenty for our organization’s needs and I like that I don’t have to worry about keeping up with a cover. I was not pleased with having to pay postage due for the shipment. Beach Camera’s response to my email regarding same was essentially, “Sorry about that.” I doubt I will use this supplier again.

5 Stars The Sandisk Cruzer Micro 4.0GB Flash Drive ROCKS!!!
I purchased the Sandisk Cruzer Micro 4.0GB flash drive because my sister lost the one I had lent her and the replacement she purchased for me shortly thereafter was not backwards-compatible with Windows 98 — the computer that hosts my ProMetric beam cross-sectional analyser (a [...] test instrument that sees frequent use for my website at [...]) runs this OS. Needless to say, it performs absolutely flawlessly!!! I couldn’t be more satisfied. It was only when I went to write this review that I saw other users of this product who were dissatisfied with it. Mine did *NOT* come loaded with any extra software to “throw a monkey wrench into the works” as it were (which I would most likely have deep-sixed anyway), so I have no complains in that department.

I’ll be publishing a brief, quasi-informational web page about this product at [...] on the morning of 05-16-10 (or “16 May 2010″ if you prefer).

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Canon PGI 220 Ink Tank Black

Canon PGI 220 Ink Tank Black

Exceptional Quality, Remarkable Durability. Large capacity pigment ink tank for superior text quality. Individual ink tank system increases efficiency.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars good
works great in the printer obviously because it is genuine canon. good price compared to other retailers.

5 Stars A Better idea for Printer Ink
First off this ink tank features windows on the side of the tank so you can visually see the ink. Second the Canon PIXMA MX860 Wireless All-In-One office Printer I use this in uses just about every drop of ink in the tank before saying it needs replacing. Third this is designed only to hold the ink and doesn’t feature a printer head (that is installed separately into the printer and doesn’t need replacing). As such it features very few components that require recycling contributing to making this at least a bit greener than the ink cartridges on the market and lower cost. In short a great idea by Canon.

4 Stars Great Ink
Ink works great – much cheaper than the stuff I used in my previous printer, and it’s really easy to swap out. I’m a heavy user (small business) – but it still last’s a fair amount of time.

And you can’t beat the free shipping on this product with Amazon Prime.

5 Stars Great purchase
I received this ink cartridge in only a couple from Amazon. It came as bought, new, and in perfect shape.

4 Stars Works like charm
GOOD!! What more can you expect from an OEM product. Works well. A little pricey if you are into printing a lot of pictures like me.

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