Canon WP-DC90 Waterproof Case for PowerShot A620 and A610 Review

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(More customer reviews)The Canon WP-DC90 Underwater Housing is engineered specifically for the Canon A-610 and A-620 compact digital cameras. It gives access to all camera controls and is rated to 130', the maximum depth for recreational scuba diving. I have used this housing on one dive trip to Cozumel, shooting 950 stills and about 70 minutes of video during 17 dives. The housing was easy to use and maintain, and fit the A-620 camera perfectly. The image quality of the video was outstanding, and would have been even better if I had had an u/w video light. I did have a u/w strobe for shooting stills, and these photos were also outstanding. The A-620 camera and WP-DC90 housing did a fantastic job for me considering my limited budget.
CONSTRUCTION: The WP-DC90 housing is made of clear molded polycarbonate with an optical glass port in front of the camera's lens. All camera controls are accessible from the housing's buttons and levers, including the main control dial, zoom control, 4-way controller, and record/play switch. The camera's built in-flash loses some effectiveness as it is partially blocked by the lens port, so the addition of an external strobe or video light is recommended. Buy a "slave" strobe, the type senses the camera's built in flash, as this housing and camera do not support TTL flash metering. The camera is loaded into the housing through a large hatch in the back that is sealed by a single rectangular rubber o-ring. This is the only user-seviceable component of the housing, and it (plus the groove in the housing) MUST be carefully cleaned, dried, and re-lubed with silicone grease every time the camera is loaded into it before a dive. Spare o-rings can be purchased from Canon's Parts Department for about $20.
Besides the large rear hatch for loading the camera, the housing has 14 other penetrations for control levers and push buttons, corresponding to the camera's controls. These are all sealed with o-rings that are NOT user serviceable. For this reason, the WP-DC90 housing should be considered to have a limited lifespan for scuba diving. I met a family in Cozumel that had a pair of Canon A-85's in four year old WP-DC30 housings; one of these sprung a leak during through the shutter-button o-ring during a dive; these housings had made about 100 dives total. I don't know if the WP-DC series housings can be returned to Canon for reconditioning (replacement of all non-user-serviceable o-rings), but I suspect that this would not be economically practicable since a new housing costs only $169 retail.
The failure mode for small o-rings like those on the WP-DC series housing involves the gradual build up of salt crystals around the control shafts that erodes the o-rings until they can no longer seal tightly. With this in mind, the WP-DC90 housing and A-620 camera do provide a means of capturing underwater video at 640 x 480 x 30 fps quality, and 7 megapixel stills, in a package that costs only $400 (plus the cost of an SD card if you don't already own one). This is a fraction of the cost of almost any other type of underwater video system, and I highly recommend it if you want a record of your dive vacation at a reasonable price.

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The Canon WP-DC90 Waterproof Case is specifically designed to protect your Canon PowerShot A620 and A610 digital cameras from sea water and sand. Reliable and easy to use, this case offers new shooting possibilities and it can help you realize the full potential of digital photography. Shooting great underwater pictures is simple and your PowerShot camera has many features that are specially suited to the underwater environment. With the help of the WP-DC90 you can create brilliant underwater pictures at depth of up to 130 feet, even on your very first dive.

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Orion Scenix - Binoculars 10 x 50 - wide angle - porro Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought these binoculars directly from Orion about 8 months ago. Over the years, I have owned several pairs of 7X50 and 10X50 binoculars from different manufacturers such as Tasco, Jason Empire,etc. They all had one thing in common -- BK7 prisims. They produced fair images, but usually had some flaring around objects and very little resolution.
Not so with these Scenix binocs. They have BK4 prisims, as evidenced by holding the binocs at arms length and looking through the eyepieces. Rather than the diamond you see with the BK7 prisims, there is a nice round apperature with these glasses. I looked at Venus just last night and could make out the crescent shape. Jupiter's moons can also be seen and star clusters like the Double Cluster in Perseus show up sharp and crisp.
For nights when you just don't feel like setting up the scope, these make for a nice, convenient alternative. Very nice for the price.

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Orion's Scenix binoculars offer the superior optical and mechanical quality you expect in more expensive binoculars but at prices nearer to those of lesser-quality department stores brands. The Scenix series incorporate porro prisms made from BAK-4 optical glass, the same type found in binoculars that sell for many times the price. Moreover, every air-to-glass surface is antireflection coated. The objective lenses are multi-coated for maximum light transmission. The housings are constructed of sturdy metal, and armored with protective rubber. All include a vinyl carrying case, lens caps, deluxe wide neck strap, and accept a tripod L-adapter. Two-year limited warranty.

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Pentax X70 12MP CCD Digital Camera with 24x Optical Triple Shake Reduction Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD Review

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(More customer reviews)I had read about the X70 prior to the camera's introduction at the beginning of April, but details about the camera were sparse as they usually are when a new camera is about to be introduced, but from what I had seen up to that point, it was a camera I was definitely interested in. It was Pentax's first foray into the megazoom point and shoot field of compact cameras, so I had to find out what it was all about. I ordered it from Amazon on April 2nd, and by April 10, I had it in my hot little hands.
First impression: It was smaller than I expected and a heck of lot lighter compared to other large zoom cameras I've held. Pentax apparently decided to use a lightweight lithium-ion battery instead of AA batteries to cut down on the size and weight of the camera. This has its good and bad points. The lithium-ion battery that it comes with is IMHO underpowered (925mAH) and good for only about 150-175 shots before needing to be recharged, so carrying extra batteries is a must if you plan on doing a lot of shooting. AA batteries would have been more advantageous in this situation because of their availability and cost. Pentax charges $53 for a replacement battery which in my opinion is outrageous for what you get. Fortunately, generic replacement D-Li92 batteries are available from overseas manufacturers for about $7 which are just as good if not better than the OEM model. Pentax should have taken a similar approach to Kodak's Z980 with their vertical battery grip accessory to add more power for the camera.
Ok... enough with the battery soapbox... The features that the camera has are impressive. Pentax, for the first time, includes a dedicated autofocus assist lamp located just to the left of the camera grip and to the right of the lens. The lamp is very bright and can be useful in the dark 10-15 feet away, but can be accidentally blocked by your hand if not careful. The 24x zoom is HUGE in performance and the image stabilization goes a long way in capturing clear shots. It features the usual range of P/A/T/M controls as well a the Pentax green button mode which basically acts like a hyper program which sets your correct exposure and speed no matter what mode you are in, even manual mode. The scene modes are numerous and features such things as flower, portrait, half portrait, sunset, night, etc.... most of which are standard on many other cameras. This camera also features auto exposure bracketing with a range of -/+2EV which is now becoming the norm for the latest batch of new cameras. This will allow a good exposure range for taking HDR photos (3 shots taken at -2EV, 0, +2EV), and processed with an external HDR software processor such as Photomatix.
It also has burst mode shooting, but there are trade offs... You can shoot at 4fps, 6.3fps, and 11 fps. At 4fps, you can shoot up to 7 shots, but the recorded pixels is set at 5MP, and JPEG quality is at 3 stars. At 6.3fps, you can also shoot up to 7 shots, 5MP, but JPEG quality drops to 2 stars. At 11fps, you can shoot up to 21 shots, 5MP, at a quality of 1 star.
Movie mode leaves a little to be desired though. You can use the entire 24x zoom range, but not while you are recording. Only digital zoom is available during shooting, so if you zoom in while recording, you will lose clarity much like you see on those reality cop shows where you view the dash cam, and they zoom in to see detail but it is blocky. The camera features HD recording (720p), but is only at 15fps. At 480i, it's at 30fps. Most likely the reason for the lack of optical zoom while recording has got to be the motor noise that would be audible with the in-camera microphone.
Ok, let's talk about image quality.... in three words, it's damn good. You have 12MP and the lens produces some very good if not excellent shots. High ISO is decent and usable up to ISO 800. ISO 1600 is marginal as to be expected from the small sensor size. Surprisingly, ISO 3200 is better than ISO 1600 IMHO, and ISO 6400 is also available in a pinch. However, at ISO 3200-6400, your recorded pixel size is set at 5MP to improve dynamic range.
All in all, despite some concerns I have about the camera, it appears that it was an excellent choice and one that I will use on a continuing basis to supplement my Pentax DSLRs that I own. There are times where I don't wish to lug around a heavy camera and lens, so carrying a camera like the X70 can be advantageous and still get good quality photos.


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PENTAX 17491 12.0 MEGAPIXEL X70 CAMERA KIT

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ePhoto Double off Camera flash Photo Studio Photography Flash Shoe Mount Swivel Bracket Umbrellas Stands 2 stands, 2 flash mount bracket, 2 shoot through umbrellas, 2 reflective umbrellas + Carrying Bag By ePhoto UB4 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is excellent value. One of the reviews claims that the swivel flash brackets are not provided... no idea what they're talking about: of course they are - this wouldn't be much use without them! I'm not too keen on the giant bag that comes with this... it's way too big for the stands + umbrellas, but as others say, you can get a tripod in there too. Probably the kitchen sink too. I got this together with the cowboy flash triggers (listed as 'often bought together' on this page) - these are also great... worked straight out of the box. All in all, if you want a cheapo studio setup and already have 2 flash guns, then you can't go wrong with this.

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Two 7 feet light standsTwo Swivel flash mount umbrella holdersTwo Reflector Umbrellas 33"Two White Umbrellas 32"One Carrying Bag includedBRAND NEW

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Zeikos ZE-CPL52 52mm Multi-Coated Circular Polarizer Filter Review

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(More customer reviews)I was hesitant at first, but I figure for under $8 and with fulfillment by Amazon I could take a risk. Plus, I was using a gift card that was about to expire to pay for everything anyway. The upshot is that for less than $8, the Zeikos CPL does a good enough job of cutting glare and reflections, while also giving me some optical control over color saturation. Is it a perfect CPL? No, of course not. Does it reduce image sharpness? Well, what do you think, it cost less than eight bucks--but surprisingly that reduction is fairly negligible.
While it's not a perfect CPL, I'm perfectly happy with what I got--a very usable circular polarizing filter. And while it might reduce sharpness a little, it does not do so intrusively and the loss is far shy of what I'd expect from such a low priced filter. I'd happily use this filter for snapshots of landscapes, beach scenes, wildlife, and other types of general or vacation type uses. If you need to print something that looks professionally done, then you'll have to weigh the gain in color and reflection control over the very minor loss in sharpness. If you're not a pixel peeper, you probably won't even notice any loss of sharpness.
Bottom line: If you're not a professional shooter and are looking into trying out the fun filled world of filters, you could do far worse than investing in a Zeikos CPL.

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Zeikos 52mm Glass Multi Coated Circular Polarizing (CPL) filter to protect your lens and decrease reflections on water and glass, as well as increasing the blue of the sky and other colors in your scene. Black metal rings.

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