Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Instant Film Camera (White)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I looked for a reliable, classy-looking Polaroid camera as a wedding reception guest book. After thorough research, I determined Instax was cheaper and just as reliable, if not more, than the new Polaroid instant cameras. Both cameras function similarly and use the same film; yet Instax has better reviews and is cheaper. The 8S has a few extra bells and whistles: a clip-on lens for close-up pictures, light/dark and indoor/outdoor settings, the mirror on the front of the camera, and two shutter buttons for either landscape or portrait photographs. Also, the lithium batteries are not hard to find for sale online; I haven't had to replace ours yet, but we know that availability and price would afford on inconvenience.

I have loved it; it was perfect for the party and I still use it frequently. The film is fairly inexpensive, so we continue to use it. The pictures are the size of a credit card with white borders, and the camera comfortably fits in a small purse. On our honeymoon, the good quality allowed us to take pictures of us in front of landmarks and beautiful areas. Also, a little mirror resides on the front of the camera to facilitate quick self-portraits, which can be taped later into journals as keepsakes. Learning which lighting settings work best in certain conditions took some trial and error, but every picture turned out vintage-y and fun, so no film was wasted.

One last word on durability: I didn't have the wrist strap around my arm and accidentally dropped the camera on a ceramic-tiled floor. The film flew out of the back of the camera, but nothing broke off or dented. The camera still looks great and functions optimally, and I only lost the top film, the rest of the cartridge still printed great pictures. That was a while ago, and I haven't had any problems at all!



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GoPro HERO3+: Silver Edition

CUSTOMER REVIEW



GPH3+ Silver Edition (1.09 firmware):



I'm writing this review in a rather disappointed mood. I bought this camera for both action shoots and time-lapse no-scope astro-photography.



Some Observations:

* The camera is tiny: much smaller and lighter than the pictures would let you believe. It comfortably sits on the palm of your hand.

* Wi-Fi is a battery vampire. In my tests, it will cut published battery life in about half. And unless you have the live view BackPack, you are going to need it together with the GoPro app.

* Without a heavy investment on accessories/harnesses/handles/leashes, you will find yourself with a $300 paperweight, for all action videography intents and purposes.

* The ultra-wide has quite a bit of barrel distortion at the edges, but this is normal for this type of lens.



The disappointment:



As mentioned above, I had two purposes in mind for this camera: 1) I wanted a good under-water and action/rugged video and still camera to tote along when we go on family trips. 2) I like doing no-scope, time-lapse astrophotography and this is where this camera falls flat on its face. I ran several tests with good light and "night" light. time-lapses of clouds and of stars. And anything out in infinity came very soft, even at the center of the frame. This was a disappointment because my bud's GP2 takes much, much, much better pictures and time lapses than this much newer model. Then as some suggested, I took still pictures of myself and people standing within 10-15 feet were also soft-focused and not in a good way. Another disappointment that I mentioned above is that Wi-Fi will suck the life out of the battery really, really fast. On a full charge, I took about 32 minutes of video and about 17 still pictures before GP3+ battery dies on me.



All in all, these issues are simply too important for me and am returning the camera as we speak.



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Tasco Essentials 10x50Binocular

CUSTOMER REVIEW



Face it, at this price point, for any 10 X 50 under $100, you aren't going to get superior optics, but I'm blown away with this pair of binocs.



First of all, look at the price. This is the cheapest pair of 10 X 50's which isn't a toy. Tasco doesn't have a great reputation for great optics and ironically part of that reputation comes from selling binoculars which are under $100! But then, you can't expect budding enthusiasts to shell out $1000 for a new pair of binocs for something they don't know if they'll like or not.



What I can say is that I've tested this against a few pairs of binocs under $100 and this is definitely the best pair so far, bar none, and it's the cheapest pair. The optics are sharp, it was easy for me to focus and it isn't too heavy. It comes with a thin neck strap, a cleaning cloth (which I won't use) and a nice but thin case. I won't worry about the accessories too much because they're just extras.



Update: I continue to be very happy with this pair of binocs, using it for anything from stargazing to birdwatching. First, for stargazing, this is 10X power so I'm mainly using to it look at constellations and the optics are very sharp. There is no reflection of any kind inside, even with lights outside, so it's very good for that. For birdwatching, I'm amazed at the clarity and sharpness of the lens. It brings the objects in view very close and without any distortion. I just love this pair of binocs, I strongly recommend this for anyone looking for a 10X50 pair of binocs.



Update, July 2014: 3 years later I'm still loving it. Mainly using it to look at wildlife now. Was using it to look at fireworks on July 4th! I've taken good care of it and everything still works great.



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Gas Range Oven Igniter for WB2X9154, WB13K3, WB13K4, 4342528

CUSTOMER REVIEW



Item worked just as it should. I can give you a few tips about installation:

1. Remove oven door (easy, just lift it off hinges)

2. Remove bottom drawer, shelves and bottom pan (Ez just two screws in back on pan, flat head screwdriver)

3. Important! Remove entire bake burner tube (ez- remove three screws, 1 in front & 2 on back wall behind drawer W/ 1/4" nut driver)

4. Splice wires from new igniter to existing wires from stove (ez-cut old wires near old igniter to leave plenty of slack)

5. Remove old igniter from bake burner (ez- just 2 screws 1/4" nut driver.

6. Reverse instructions to install new unit. Took me about ten minutes total and oven works fine now!



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Kensington K33497US Powerbolt Duo Car Charger for iPhone 4S, iPad 3 (Wireless Phone Accessory) newly tagged "iphone"

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E LV Fine Point Stylus for iPad, iPad Air, iPad Mini, iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Nexus, LG G Pad, HTC and Other Touch Screen Devices (Hot Pink) (Wireless Phone Accessory) newly tagged "iphone"

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Sony AS30V High Definition POV Action Video Camera HDR-AS30V

CUSTOMER REVIEW



Vine Customer Review of Free Product (What's this?) This camera is so close to being the best in the industry but it's got some serious missed features to make it great.



Lets start with the GOOD:

Image Stabilization: It's the only sports camera on the market that has image stabilization, this is outstanding!!!

Small form Factor: the camera itself is really small compared to other cameras (but*** keep reading)

simple menus for easy adjustment from the side of camera with it's included screen and buttons on the side.

remote management: you can change settings remotely over WiFi but the options are limited.



Now to the BAD:

The lens is not rotatable: Contour(no longer in busines) and Drift (best on the market, IMO) really hit the features when they made the camera rotatable.

No mount on the camera: the camera has no way to mount it so no matter what you have to use a housing of some kind, utter FAIL

WiFi: Sucks power like crazy... Also limited ability to change setting for the camera. You can only change camera recording rates and angle of view. other settings like time lapse cant be adjusted and setting like flip have to be done from the side of camera. This is quite the pain when all the settings should be adjustable from the app.

Not able to select center point metering or change any metering setting at all, though the stock setting is pretty decent it would be nice to be able to make adjustments.

Microphone settings not adjustable.

Lousy location for mic, not accessible inside the case that it comes with (you can't drill through either because then you'll damage the locking lever that closes the case. You have to buy a goofy offset housing that then gives you access to the ports on the bottom of the camera. Even the optional screen case doesn't allow access to the microphone port... It really should be offset on the back of the camera like the Drift cameras did.

HEAT: This camera gets ridiculously HOT after only running for a short time, say 30 minutes. It seems rather clear to me that they are running the internals at either an over clocking level or have just not provided the proper heat sinking that should be had in a device like this. It seems very odd that other devices like the Ghost camera can run so much cooler and performs nearly the same. Though I might have to say this has a bit better night time visibility but the heat production of this camera is just astounding. Depending on the conditions the camera will actually shut down and stop recording because it has gotten so hot. I have worked with a number of other sports/action cameras and none have gotten as hot as this one. I used it indoors during Christmas morning with the family mounted with a couple rubber bands to a bracket on the wall for a light and after an hour it shut off from getting too hot. WiFi was turned off before beginning recording as well, and it was the camera alone, no case on it. When I noticed it had shut off I took it down but it was so hot that I couldn't even hold on to it.



While this camera has some awesome points like it's video quality, image stabilization, built in mic, and several other options it's got a lot of downfalls as well. Even still, if you want superior video quality then this is really the camera you should consider because it's image quality and image-stabilization make it an outstanding device I just wish it wasn't lacking is the other areas because then it would truly be the top camera on the market...



UPDATE the firmware: this gives you a FLIP option that allows you to slip the video 180 degrees in the camera so the camera can be mounted upside down and still give you the right perspective/angle of video.



If you like to mount a camera to your motorcycle and don't want to get vibration from the revs of the bike I would highly recommend this for that but remember you will need to adjust the angle of the video by adjusting the angle of the camera as the lens can not rotate to change the angle.



Sony, you have an outstanding start here but please, take some strong notes from the leaders in the market like Drift and others that have so much more function in their cameras for the user to be able to make the adjustments they need to.



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