List REBEL XS simply a gorgeous encounter, November 25, 2008

I washed-out several weeks reviewing the REBEL XS vs it’s many 10 MP adversaries, I even checked it against the ultra zooms as I wanted the convenience of video as well, but too many excellent equipment stood out with this camera and so I chose upon it. I bought the rebel XS and after days of dirt testing this camera I’ve found it a gorgeous encounter.
Now I’m a professional videographer emotionally involved to a tv station in Trinidad & Tobago, my purpose for this camera was the need for a quick sharp subdue shot camera that would be impressive under low light and subdue capture impressive portrait shots to be used for my website and for large prints. I didn’t want to shell out over a 00. US for a camera body.
What is tagged by List is right: The full auto mode is truly accurate and gives brilliant shots always, it makes shooting so simple for a beginner or intermediate. The portrait mode isn’t blurry, images are clean, nicely toned, brilliant in quality for large size prints. The P ( program mode) I like alot at first because this mode sets exposure so nicely I found it addictive. I shot alot of nighttime pics of cars on a freeway, with bright, sharp, lively colours emerging. Nighttime pics at 800 iso had very very very modest noise, and I mean I was searching the pics on 15″ monitors for reason to complain, but was really impressed.
The auto focus is really quick. Th XS comes with “only” a 7 point auto focus system compared to the XSi 9 point, forgive me when I say there may be no need for another 2 points when the camera focusses so quick and so accurately. I have not gotten a soft image when shot with the auto focus operating.
Now for those point and shoot cams that boast about “face detection”….5 faces…6,7, some even 15. I also have a 10 mp ultra zoom, this simply matters modest if not at all, if the focussing cleverness of the camera is poor or average, and given the “average lens” quality they’re made of.
I have learnt clearly that a 10 MP ultra zoom simply cannot compare to a 10 MP D SLR…chalk and cheese.
I also bought the Tamron 70mm – 300mm, F4-5.6 telephoto/ macro lens. No vignetting at any end of the lens.
Auto iso is simply magnificent, have not taken a shot where the camera over estimated or underestimated the iso levels.
The Manual mode of this camera is the most impressive for me. The rebel XS via various magazine testing has come up quicker than it’s other 10 MP rivals when it comes to fps shooting, and burst images. It really does shoot 3 fps consistently, it shoots 2.3 fps in low light, worst case is over 1 fps all at 10 MP quality.
I haven’t used a decrease quality since, given I bought a Transcend 8GB SDHC card storage is not an issue.
Most of my shooting has been at nighttime, for the modest done in daylight, it has been incredible. Colours are very bright, depth of field very very nice. Macros works well. Image optimizer simply shocked life out of me. I was in a shaded area and lacking flash it really improves the subject lacking over blowing the background, stuff that is nearly impossible on point and shoot cams.

Stuff I disagree with from the “reviews” : 1- “The camera feels cheaply built”….simply incorrect, nothing is shabby, buttons are really simple to press, doesn’t have cheap clicks to them, the lens mount has a reliable feel to it, and a proper snap when it is set. Battery compartment is certainly reliable. Your finger must intricately open the door for entry, won’t be an industrial accident issue. Rubber door at a.v. ports snap in well. Rubber grip is firm enough, smooth enough to not irritate your hands.
2- ” XS is “overpriced” compared to the XSi…..Xsi shoots slower than the XS, XSi picture quality is equal to the XS even though the XSi is 12 MP. The XSi may be the 3″ LCD and a few other upgrades, but these upgrades don’t add up when the picture is taken and the quality of both cameras match alike. I may have chosen the XSI if I wanted to spend the extra 0. u.s but for the lesser price, I’m yet to regret.
3- “The XS “only has a 2.5″ LCD compared to a couple of it’s rivals having 3″ LCD’s”. I can see each business clearly with this screen, even with Histograms, and grids onscreen. If LCD’s get much larger then list may need to install a tv tuner as well….the 2.5″ is more than sufficient.
4- “The XS doesn’t have SPOT METERING compared to the XSi, so this is a huge issue”- haven’t encountered a reason to complain yet, after 500 nighttime shots and 200 day shots.

THE DOWN SIDE: the EOS software for uploading the photos to computer, and remote controlling the cam via computer is AWFUL. It’s a task to upload, as it is beach balling when you hit “upload”. Digital professional software is non responsive. I have not been able to use the software past the install point. Mac version here.
Better use i-photo and photoshop.

I highly rate this camera, and as a videographer who’s accustomed to t.v…

Read more

May be the perfect cordless phone, June 2, 2010

We picked up the KX-TG6512B the other day to try before taking the plunge on a better system with 6 handsets. Our ancient Uniden 5.8 GHz system was fantastic, but the batteries on all the handsets are losing their cleverness to hold a charge and it interferes with our wireless network. I started looking for a DECT 6.0 replacement system but never found one that had all the features we were looking for, but now that I effectively stumbled across the 6500 series from Panasonic it looks like I’ve found our perfect phones. Here’s what I like:

- You can customize the banner on each handset. This may seem like a minor feature, but we had gotten used to it on the Uniden and liked it.

- You can check the Caller ID on one handset after someone else has already answered a call on another handset. We really end up doing this practically a bit with our ancient Uniden phones, but I had read a review of the older Panasonic 6440 phones that said this wasn’t possible. I was very pleasantly surprised to see this now works, since I was about equipped to live lacking that feature.

- The handsets have jacks for wired headsets. My wife and I both work in the technical field and often end up working on the computer while on a call, and a headset is a better option than a lecturer phone. This was a must-have feature for us, and many of the Uniden phones don’t have it.

- The lecturer phone quality is very excellent. We were always very pleased with the sound of the Uniden lecturer phone on the handsets, but the new Panasonic sound quality is at least as excellent.

- The batteries in the handset are ordinary NiMH AAA rechargeables rather than the proprietary (and pricey) battery used in the Uniden. Should we ever need to exchange them it will be trivial and cheap.

- There are belt clips for the handsets. We don’t use this a lot, but we do each once in a while, especially when using a headset. Some of the other models I looked at didn’t have this. Note that if you place the belt clip on the headset it covers up the modest grippy scrap on the back that’s there to help you hold the handset between your shoulder and ear, so if you like to hold your phone on your shoulder you may want to skip the belt clip.

- The buttons on the phone are back-lit and simple to find and push. On some of the new Uniden handsets the three buttons in an individual row are all run together and I heard that they can be less simple to find.

- The show on the handset is black-on-white and very simple to read.

- The phone will set its time and date from the Caller ID information.

- The thought waiting indicator light on the phones can be manually turned off simply by pushing and holding the “#” key. Our ancient Uniden phone would now and again miss the signal from the phone company to turn off the light, so it’s nice that there’s an option to manually do it easily on the Panasonic if the need arises.

There are many other features correlated to address books, etc. that are less vital to us so I haven’t bothered to learn about them or try them. But, based on the above I’m extremely pleased with this new Panasonic phone. We’ve only used it a very small time, but I was impressed enough to order the KX-TG6545B with 5 included handsets to be our replacement for our ancient Uniden system. This adds a base speakerphone with keypad, as well as an answering system we’ll never use (we have voice mail from the phone company).

So, to summarize, I really like this phone (like is too strong a word for a cordless phone). We’ve not used it enough to know how well it’ll work down the road, but based on reviews of other Panasonic phones I’m optimistic about that.

Night time Luxury, July 5, 2010

I did not realize this product was for 60+ skin when I bought it, so I was a small hesitant to use it (I’m in my forties), but I’m glad I did. The cream has a wonderful soft feel, not greasy, and it has a really gorgeous fragrance.
If you’re sensitive to smells, it doubtless isn’t right for you.
I don’t know if I really look younger since I’ve started using it, but I feel as though I do.

First Rate Night Cream, May 30, 2011

This is the best cream I’ve ever used. Even after one week I could tell a difference in my skin. It was smoother and softer. It does have a light fragrance but it’s not over powering at all. The longer I’ve used it the better my skin looks. It makes your skin feel soft smooth after you apply it. If your face feels greasy it’s because you’ve useful too much. Just a small bit goes a long way. I also apply it to the tops of my hands at night and they also look smoother and younger. I have sensitive skin and this does not irritate it at all. But, I can only speak for for myself as I’ve used other products for sensitive skin and they were very irritating to me. The price is excellent and it works. I couldn’t question for anything more.

Fantastic nightly moisturizer, May 4, 2010

I’ve been a Clinique girl for many years, until my local store went out of affair. After trying several other brands, I landed on the L’Oreal RevitaLift cream. I like it! First of all, it does not have much of a fragrance. I have sensitive skin and this has by no means irritated my face. It’s a thick cream that really does seem to keep my face moisturized well into the next morning (I apply it at night). I’m not certain of its wrinkle-fighting potential as I just hit 30, but based on the hydration, I imagine it would work very well to smooth out wrinkles. Hopefully it will hold mine at bay a while longer!
Amazon’s price is really a small less than buying this locally, which I also like. One jar lasts me about 30 days, so it’s a fantastic value as well.
By and large, highly not compulsory.

Just shy of perfect, August 31, 2011

I provide IT support for a large organization (over 20K whole staff) and I directly support a division of approx 1,000 staff. We bought one of these after I researched projectors. I personally LOVED this projector and would have rated it 5 stars but for two small things that were deal-breakers for our organization but may not be for yours.
Deal breaker 1) Wireless only worked if we turned off our firewall – a no no as far as our Security group is concerned.
Deal breaker 2) Its LOUD. Not an issue when watching a movie but the vast majority of our work entails video and audio conferences and occasional videotaping and the cooling fan was prohibitively loud for persons but not so loud you can’t reflect

Awesome, portable, and Mac-compatible, August 4, 2011

The Epson 1775W is a wireless high-resolution projector (also works with HDMI, USB, or VGA) that fits comfortably in a notebook bag along with a MacBook. On a Mac you don’t even need the USB key plugged in to the Mac. It just works across the wireless network and downloaded connection software. They are working on an update for Lion but it works fantastic on Snow Leopard and HDMI and VGA will work fine on a Lion Mac in the interim.

Plenty bright enough, and it also does automatic keystone correction, i.e., if you’re projecting at a horizontal or vertical angle, it’ll automatically change to make a perfect rectangular show on the wall.

I used the 1750 on a client implementation recently (waiting for the 1775 to be delivered). The 1750 is a slightly lower resolution and it doesn’t offer wireless connectivity or HDMI (just VGA or USB). To me, persons additions are value the premium. Fantastic for small group presentations, training, etc.