I recently purchased the excellent Fujifilm F60fd Finepix camera for my son at the excellent price of $150 after rebate, but made a big mistake after following a favorable price advertisement using Google search.   Even though I knew that Google does not do a good job screening for questionable merchants appearing in regular and paid results always seems like something of an endorsement and this was my first mistake.

My second mistake was to let the salesperson at Broadway Photo (who also appear to operate under several other names and websites online) explain to me that the camera needed an expensive “High Speed Error Free” SD Card and special battery to replace the one that came with the camera.   This was a gift and therefore I had not done any research myself and needed to get the order going immediately so I went with the recommendation.

The “high speed error free” SD card and battery were both overpriced – in fact they didn’t charge me the quoted prices anyway, and this added  $109 to the cost of the camera.  Although I was foolish not to have checked for online complaints against Broadway and checked to see if this really was needed, I was short on time and they had already delayed my order telling me I needed to call in to clarify something.

My credit card company can help resolve this but it’ll take a lot of paperwork, so the take away from this is pretty obvious – before making online purchases you should:

1) Check the merchant to see if they have a lot of complaints.   If they do, do NOT buy from them.

2) Do not buy any parts or accessories without at least a bit of research to confirm they are needed for your device.

Cameras, memory broadway photo, camera memory, high speed error free memory card, sd cards

Casio’s focus at CES 2009 was on their robust new digital camera line.   G4 covered the Casio CES Press Conference at CES.

The most interesting aspects of the new Casio cameras will be high speed photography and effects which will allow regular users to deploy some things only pros could use before such as 60 frame per second sequences in simple cameras and 1200 frame per second high speed video from relatively inexpensive camcorders.

CES, CES09, Cameras, conferences Cameras, casio, CES, CES 2009, CES09

The StickPic

 Product Review:

By John R. Ghysels, Special to Technology-Report.com

Anyone who has spent much time hiking knows that hiking poles have now become as much a staple for North American outdoors enthusiasts has they have been for Europeans for decades.  Those seeking to avoid injuries and early wear on joints use sturdy poles to ease the strain on knees, hips and backs.

For the photographer on a group hike, there is rarely time for toying with tripods and complex camera gear.  Taking self-portraits or couple-shots outdoors can be a hassle since there is rarely time to find a well positioned rock and or fiddle with a timer. 

That’s why I was impressed with this tiny device from inventor, outdoors enthusiast and fellow Sierra Club volunteer, Rod Java.  Rod developed this little wonder to take quick shots by placing a camera on the end of a hiking pole. This puts the camera far enough away for a easy shot of a single person or small group. This makes taking quick photos in front of breathtaking vistas fast and easy and helps capture those great, once in a lifetime memories. 

It’s one of those things that makes one wonder why no one ever thought of it before. 

You won’t find this device anywhere on ebay.  Rod sells a few hundred every year, mostly to Europeans who have become hip to the utility and “cool factor” of this lightweight, photo enthusiasts tool.  You’ll find it at www.thestickpic.com. 

-John Ghysels

December 1, 2008

Cameras, Outdoors, gadgets hiking, hiking poles, monopods, outdoor photography, Outdoors, photography, Sierra Club, The Stickpic, tripods

Canon Powershot SX10

Product Review: Why go SLR?  Power finally arrives for the portable digital camera. 

By John R. Ghysels, Special to Technology-Report.com

Many picture buffs like myself are torn between the weight, expense and size of many digital SLR’s, and the increasing power and convenience of the near SLR portables.  Hardcore travelers like myself know the convenience of throwing a camera in a case or backpack and the hassle that the weight, care and feeding of an SLR can pose on such trips. 

Fortunately, it looks like that a reasonable price and high quality has finally come to super-zoom portable cameras. This item, only introduced in October of 2008, is setting a brand new standard for others to follow.  Earlier “super-zoom” models; zooms in excess of 10x or 12x, suffered from image quality problems as long zooms strained the limits of their tiny processors. The long zooms need to capture light and reduce the effects of vibration and all these negative effects increase exponentially with each increase in zoom power. It used to be that only the large lenses and higher sensitivity power of expensive SLR’s solved this problem. 

It appears that processor sensitivity has finally caught up with the portable 20x optical zoom, if the enthusiastic raves on Digital Camera HQ  http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/digital-cameras/canon-powershot-sx10is_product-reviews.html, and www.amazon.com as well as other sources are any indication. 

Even more exciting, the price seems to be falling toward the $300 level as I write this, despite the surprisingly high demand that has emerged for many gadgets during the 2008 holiday season.  Might be worth picking one of these up for your holiday or summer travels. I definitely will. 

John Ghysels, 11/30/2008.

Cameras, Websites, blogs, gadgets Cameras, portable, SLR, super zoom, superzoom, SX10

By John Ghysels, Special to Technology-Report.com

Product Review: High computing power in a small package; the Latest Acer Aspire One

A while back, I started a “sales journal” using ACT to track notes on my sales calls. I was using a fragile, old 50 GB mini-laptop to write in notes on my clients immediately after calling on them. This practice became an invaluable tool on tracking little details and items for follow up that usually didn’t make it to my easily lost or otherwise non-transcribed paper notes. Needing more memory, I tried carting around a full size laptop for this purpose for a time, but I found I just didn’t bother to take notes when it came to wedging that big computer into my lap in front of the steering wheel for a few minutes after every call (yes, while still parked, you smart alecs!). Also, when it came time for trips, I kept reaching for the mini when packing, despite the obvious advantages of my more powerful laptops. 

For car seat road warriors like me, I was excited when I saw the low price on this relatively powerful ACER machine.  For a mere $350, you can have the power to run RAM hungry programs like ACT, while still pulling off the usual suite of Office programs and email.  At 2.2 lbs with the included 3 cell battery, the weight can’t be beat, and with 1 GB of RAM and 120 GB Hard Drive, it offers plenty of flexibility and room for those needing portable power.

Thoughtfully, Acer loaded Windows XP Home Premium, rather than RAM hog Vista, which keeps the little machine speedy enough, and saves the trouble of having to rollback to XP for some business applications. 

If you are a photo bug like me,  I have found that having the ability travel with a camera and bring along the ablility to download, share, email and upload pictures tends to make one a helpful and popular family travel companion.  It is actually a bit amazing that of this still comes in at about $100 less than the well known and popular Lenovo S10.  In fact, this laptop costs about half the price of many mid-level consumer SLR cameras, yet would be a invaluable part of a traveling photographer’s pack. 

Some have faulted the 3 hour battery life on this lightweight unit, however, given the added outlets at many new airports and the ease of adding regulated AC converters in the car, I can’t say this worries me much. If it is a concern, a 5 hour, 6 cell battery is available, that boosts the weight to only 2.8 lbs. 

I find when it comes to making a quick trip, from making a few sales calls to a family overnight, nothing beats a tiny package of power when you need it.  Adding in the 5 in 1 card reader wraps up this package nicely, especially given the rapidly falling prices of SD memory.

Editor’s warning:  BEWARE there are TWO versions of this computer for sale at the moment, under the same name, and nearly the same price. The earlier version is a Linex version, with one a 16 GB “solid-state” hard drive. The newer version has a 120 GB hard-drive and runs on Windows XP Home. So unless you have an affinity for Open Office, stick with the bigger hard drive of new version of the Aspire One. 

November 28, 2008

John Ghysels

Cameras, Mini laptops, Travel Aids, computers, gadgets, laptops, portable computing, technology 2 pound laptops, laptops, Mini laptops, portable computing, road warriors