Canon PowerShot SX210IS 14 1 MP Digital Camera with 14x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 0 Inch LCD Black

Canon PowerShot SX210IS 14 1 MP Digital Camera with 14x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 0 Inch LCD Black

Feature-rich for All Around Value.

Decidedly slim and sleekly refined, the PowerShot SX210 IS packs a feature set that reads like a wish list. The 14.1 Megapixel CCD joins a 14x 28mm Wide-Angle Zoom for imaging power to spare. Frame your shots in the bright 3.0-inch widescreen PureColor System LCD, with the Low Light mode for sharp images in dimly-lit situations. It also captures stunning HD movies with Dynamic mode for enhanced image stabilization when shooting movies using wide-angle settings. Capture smooth HD video (720p) with stereo sound for a truly natural, high-quality HD experience. The PowerShot SX210 IS not only goes wherever you do, but takes your photography and video to a whole new place, too.

Features

• Powerful 14x Optical Zoom with Optical Image Stabilizer.
• Improved Dynamic mode for enhanced image stabilization when shooting movies using the wide-angle setting.
• 14.1 Megapixel resolution will generate 16.5″ x 23.4″ prints.
• 28mm Wide-Angle Lens to capture more in your frame.
• Large 3.0-inch wide PureColor System LCD with high resolution (230,400 dots) and wide viewing angle.
• HD shooting capability at 720p with stereo sound plus HDMI output for easy playback of video and photos.
• DIGIC 4 Image Processor with evolved Face Detection Technology tracks the faces of moving subjects and lets the shooter enter the frame seamlessly with Face Detection Self-Timer.
• New scene modes for more creative shooting (Fisheye Effect creates a circular fish-eye appearance and Miniature Effect creates a graduated blur on outer edges of the subject).
• Smart AUTO mode (22 Scene) intelligently selects the proper settings for the camera based on the shooting conditions of the scene as well as Face and Motion Detection.
• Servo AF/AE continues to focus and track subject while pressing the shutter button halfway.
• Smart Flash Exposure produces natural looking photos when using the flash to photograph subjects in strong s

  User Ratings and Reviews

  3 Stars No HDMI cable
  Just got the camera, and so far so good. nice quality photos and innovative features. But it reacts a little slower than I hoped for – my 7 year old Sony is about the same speed – albeit 1/3 the mega pixels. But I’m a little disapointed that a camera touting HDMI output requires me to get cable separately (they include an analog style red/white/yellow cable like what you used with a VCR) So I will have to wait for the accessory cable to arrive to see how my photos and videos look on the 50″ plasma. I skipped the canon brand $40 HDMI and ordered a $4 no name brand. Keep in mind this is mini hdmi to hdmi. I jut feel that for the price $329 they could include the cable that takes advantage of HD video and HDMI output offered on this model.

  BTW my charger is a nice compact unit with a built in plug – nice to avoid yet another charger cable.

  3 Stars Good camera, only if you know what you’re getting
  This review is my personal opinion. I bought this camera elsewhere, but Amazon is still perfectly safe. The SX210IS has a wide screen LCD. This is great is you like to take a lot of movies. If not, the screen is just too big for the pictures that it takes. I bought it mistakenly thinking that it could take shots in the same shape as a print, that is 4 by 6. But this camera does not do that. It takes 4:3 shots and 16:9 shots (as in standard and wide screen TVs). Most folks will want 4:3 and for this, the screen is too wide. The camera has what reviewers call “heft.” I call it heavy. Too heavy for my shirt pocket. On the plus side, it takes very decent pictures and has a number of settings usually found on SLRs, such as Aperture and Speed priorities. In short, if you want a mini-SLR and you don’t mind the default 4:3, than this camera will work great. On the other hand, if you want a second camera, one to just throw in your purse or carry in your pocket, then look for something lighter.

  5 Stars Great Camera!
  The picture quality is great and the size and weight are perfect. I wanted a camera small enough to carry around in my purse but that also created great quality pictures and that is exactly what I found in this camera.

  5 Stars Love it!
  This is a great camera. It takes beautiful pictures about as well as an SLR camera! The only downfall, is the high amount of megapixels make the videos harder to download. Not a big problem and its worth it for the beautiful pictures!

  4 Stars My thoughts on SX210
  First off – background on me and what I was looking for: I would classify myself as an intermediate photographer. I own a Nikon DSLR which I use primarily for low light situations having learned the hardway at my son’s 18th birthday that my old point-and-shoot did a lousy job of photos in low light situations. I am planning a trip to Europe in the fall and simply did not want to lug my Nikon camera around with me along with all the other stuff – like map, dictionary, travel guide – that I would have to take with me as I wandered around whatever town I was in. So I started my search for a really good PNS camera. What was I looking for in the PNS ? My goal in picture taking is to have a terrific photo of what I actually saw. So when I got home and looked at the photo, I would say: Yes, that’s exactly what it looked like when I was there. So onto my criteria: First size. I wanted it to be small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket. Second, confidence that it would take good to great photos under normal (not low-light) conditions. Third, I liked the idea of HD videos of my trip, so I wanted that capability. Fourth and finally, at least decent performance in low light conditions as I expected to frequently want to take photos inside a museum or art gallery.

  The search turned out to be much more difficult than I had expected. Frustratingly difficult I will add. No one camera is loved by all reviewers. So those of you reading this review, who are still searching, I feel your pain. I came to the conclusion that currently there is no perfect PNS that does it all. I would do hours of research on the web and then go to the local camera store to actually play with the PNS cameras that had caught my interest. In the end I concluded that there are 3 or 4 reasonably good PNS cameras out there, but all of them required me to compromise on something I wanted. So figure out what your must-haves are and sort through the available cameras accordingly.

  Obviously I chose the Canon SX210. I have had it about 3 weeks now and have taken about 200 photos and about 6 HD movies. My comments in no particular order:

  1. the Canon does a good but not outstanding job of taking photos under normal daylight conditions. I did play with several photos on my computer and kept zooming in on a particular point to see when the picture would deteriorate. Of course it did eventually, but again, since 8.5 x 11 is the max size I expect for any enlargement, I do not see any problem with the picture quality.
  
  2. the HD video capability is more fun than I had expected. Again as already noted, the mic’s are located on the top of the camera. Great for recording my commentary, but not so good for recording sounds coming from whatever you are videoing. One other point: the Canon allows you to zoom in while taking an HD video. That’s great, but with 14X optical zoom, the more you zoom, the more susceptible the camera and the video you are taking is to shaking. If you zoom all the way to 14X, I found it impossible to avoid shaking when holding the camera in my hand. At no zoom, there is no problem with shake when taking a video. Bottom line: limit your zooming in when taking a video.
  
  3. I agree with everyone else that placement of the pop-up flash and the telephoto zoom in-and-out mechanism is NUTS. What were the Canon engineers thinking ? However both are annoyances rather than deal-breakers.
  
  4. the battery life is reasonable but not outstanding. I never ran out of battery life during a day of shooting photos and the battery re-charges in about 2-3 hours. Not bad.
  
  5. Speed – I bought 2 Sandisk Extreme III 4 GB Class 6 SD disks. I agree with the suggestions that you have to step up to a Class 6 disk to avoid serious delays when writing the photo to the disk. I also decided against one 8GB disk since I did not want all my pics on one disk. Back to speed – I also turned off the automatic review after each photo taken, and found that improved the speed of the picture taking noticeably. You can also turn on continuous picture taking and take a “burst” of photos if so desired. Bottom Line: speed is fast enough for my needs.
  
  6. Definitely buy a plastic shield (or cover?) to protect the 3″ LCD screen on the back. The Apple Store has them if you can’t find them cheaper any place else.
  
  7. The camera feels surprisingly heavy to me. But solid. I guess 14X optical zoom does create some weight.
  
  8. I set the camera on 9MP pictures since 14MP is overkill for me. I would never enlarge a photo to more than 8.5 x 11 anyway. I left the movie on HD settings however. Dumming down the photos to 9MP also improves the write-to-disk speed BTW.
  
  9. Expect a serious learning curve with this camera. I printed out the manual from the PDF file and it is 180 pages. Not all was relevant to me and my interests, but still I have spent several hours reading and re-reading sections of the manual. Since I will not take the manual with me on my upcoming trip, I have to know how to manipulate this camera.
  
  10. The 14X optical zoom is really impressive. While that was not a top consideration for me, having that capability is very cool. You can easily zoom in to an amazing degree on something from a considerable distance away.
  
  11. Low-light – I am still working on this one and how to manipulate the camera to get the best LL photos. In dim lighting it does OK – by upping the ISO, so you pay a price in the quality of the photo. In the black of night – it does OK if the subject of the photo is not more than 6-8 ft away from you. But I tried a photo at night of the moon shining off the Pacific ocean from my balcony and that did not work. Not a real surprise, but like I said, I need to experiment more in this area.

  In summary – I would describe this camera as being a really solid good versatile PNS. You can put it on full Auto and snap away happily, or switch to one of several pre-defined settings (landscape, portrait etc), or if you are really into it, go all the way to completely manual and set everything yourself. That’s not for me – but you do have that capability. The HD Videos are great, but even a short one takes up about 80-90MB of disk space. And as noted, you are unlikely to pick up the sounds from whatever it is you are videoing. PS: I have never encountered the much discussed problem with lens shadow.

  All-in-all a solid performer in an amazingly small form factor that will do what I am looking for and more on my upcoming trip to Europe.

  Buy/More Info
  

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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.

Buy/More Info