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Comment on UK Sell Panasonic Lumix FS35 Digital Camera – Violet (16.1MP, 8x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD Best Price by Mary kelly

Mary kelly — Sat, 19 May 2012 18:25:05 +0000

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful

PANASONIC LUMIX FS 550, 20 July 2011

This review is from: Panasonic Lumix FS35 Digital Camera - Black (16.1MP, 8x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD (Electronics)

BOUGHT THIS FOR MY HUSBAND WHO VOWED HE WOULD NEVER GO DIGITAL - OH BUT HE HAS AND THINKS THIS LITTLE CAMERA IS WONDERFUL- EASY TO SET UP - WONDERFUL CLEAR PICTURES AND GREAT TO TAKE VIDEOS OF THE GRANDCHILDREN.PRINTS CAN BE ENLARGED QUITE A LOT AND QUALITY IS STILL EXCELLENT.

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Comment on UK Sell Panasonic Lumix FS35 Digital Camera – Violet (16.1MP, 8x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD Best Price by Mrs Picky

Mrs Picky — Sat, 19 May 2012 18:22:09 +0000

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful

Point, click, fabulous pic!, 4 Sep 2011

Mrs Picky -

This review is from: Panasonic Lumix FS35 Digital Camera - Black (16.1MP, 8x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD (Electronics)

This really is a fabulous camera, especially for the money. Easy to use, small to carry and excellent results. I mainly leave it on the 'intelligent auto' option and let the camera do the rest. There is little, if any, lag on pressing the shoot button, and the high speed burst, where many pics are taken very quickly, is impressive.
Battery life is excellent, so too is the video option.
If you want a camera which is affordable, takes fabulous pictures and all you have to do is point and shoot then get this one - you can't go wrong. The best little camera I have had - I have paid more for others but have had less favourable results!

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Comment on UK Sell Panasonic Lumix FS35 Digital Camera – Violet (16.1MP, 8x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD Best Price by MrsBumble

MrsBumble — Sat, 19 May 2012 18:17:53 +0000

131 of 132 people found the following review helpful

Snap happy, 26 Oct 2011

MrsBumble -

This review is from: Panasonic Lumix FS35 Digital Camera - Black (16.1MP, 8x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD (Electronics)

Let me start by saying that I am no expert, and you will find no in-depth analysis of zoom ability or pixel quality here. I only just about know what those things are... I am the most novice of novices and a true fledgling in the world of cameras and photo taking.

What I was looking for was a compact camera that takes a smashing crisp picture of mostly a) a toddler who rarely stays still and b) an excitable jack Russell. I wanted ease of use, and no blurry stuff. A camera that could take a professional looking photo even in inexperienced hands. I have certainly found all of the above in the Panasonic lumix fs35. I had previously returned a Finepix because the pictures just weren't of the quality I expected. Getting a refund and spending a few £'s more was a wise move.

The pictures I have so far taken (all using the intelligent auto option) have been amazingly clear and precise, regardless of lighting, distance or subject. In the absence of using baffling technical jargon, isn't that what we're all looking for from a digital camera?!

I would recommend this fine camera to anyone without hesitation.

Only two small things: 1) the battery life isn't brilliant, remember the charger if you're away for any length of time. 2) treat gently, robust in clumsy hands it is not...

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Comment on UK Discount Canon 580EX II Speedlite Flash Unit for Sale by Canology "Rob"

Canology "Rob" — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:59:08 +0000

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

Totally Justifies its Price Tag, 4 Feb 2011

Canology "Rob" (UK) -

Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)

This review is from: Canon 580EX II Speedlite Flash Unit (Accessory)

I have to admit that when I bought this flash gun, I had no idea about half the stuff it does. But I'm glad to say that now I've learned all about it, the 580EX II totally justifies its large price tag. For me the three main features that put this unit ahead of all of Canon's other flashes are (1) weather sealing to match the 1-series cameras, (2) the stonking great guide number of 58m/190' at maximum zoom of 105mm, and (3) on-board master remote transmitter for slave flashes.

I love the fact that the flash can actually zoom to automatically match the focal length you are shooting at (from 24mm to 105mm). The inclusion of a fold-away diffusion panel and plastic catch-light was also quite cunning. Other features which are sure to please are the stupidly fast recycle times and the fact that the unit is flash-ready virtually as soon as you turn it on from a cold start. Also the range of motion that the flash head has been given - its 180 degree swivel is especially important since when using the flash off-camera you will likely want the flashing end pointing one way and the infra-red receiver facing another (i.e. towards the Speedlite transmitter). I find that when I bounce the flash off a white ceiling indoors the light it gives looks incredibly natural and very even.

The range of actual flash functions the unit supports is also first class: full E-TTL, TTL, full manual, strobe flash, first and second curtain syncing, high speed syncing... the manual is almost as big as the manual for a mid-range EOS camera and I highly recommend reading it! The creative potential you have with even just one of these units goes waaaaaay beyond the pop-up flash of prosumer cameras.

Essential accessories are the Stofen OM-EY (for those situations where there are no suitable walls and or ceilings for bouncing flash), bungee ball cords (for lashing your flash unit to bits of furniture on those occasions when you want to use off-camera flash and don't have any stands with you), and a bunch of flash gels (for balancing the flash light's colour temperature with any ambient light that could otherwise ruin the shot).

7D/60D/600D OWNERS PLEASE NOTE! If you are planning to use high speed sync wirelessly, then you will still need a 580EX II or a Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2. The integrated Speedlite transmitter in the newer Canon bodies doesn't support those functions wirelessly. So it won't be enough to have the 7D and a bunch of 430EX flashes; your best bet for HSS (FP-flash), second curtain flash, and flash exposure bracketing via Canon wireless is to use a 580EX II as the master unit.

To give you an idea of this unit's power output, I set up a test shot lit by bounce flash. For a target 2m away in a room with a 9' white ceiling, low natural light and no tungsten light, and medium subject-background contrast, I used the following settings:
- Flash set to E-TTL with high speed sync turned on;
- Flash pointed straight up with no modifiers attached;
- 7D in full manual mode, white balance on 'flash';
- 70mm end of a 24-70mm lens;
- Shutter speed of 1/1000s.

The resulting image was slightly dark wide open at f/2.8 and using ISO 100, and the flash exposure confirmation lamp did not light (this should turn on to show that the 580EX thinks it gave a good exposure). I dialled up to ISO 200 and this gave an image which was absolutely perfect.

This test gave similarly perfect images at f/4 and ISO 400 (common aperture for indoor snapshot of a person), and at f/8 (common aperture for indoor snapshot of a small group) I had to go to ISO 1600 to get the same exposure and vindication from the 580's exposure confirmation lamp.

At f/8 I found that ISO 800 gave an image which the flash considered to be under-exposed, but which would in reality have needed only the slightest exposure tweak in post-processing.

It's very good to know that the 580EX II can perfectly expose indoor shots like this at shutter speeds as fast as a thousandth of a second, without breaking a sweat.

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Comment on UK Discount Canon 580EX II Speedlite Flash Unit for Sale by R. T. Slassor

R. T. Slassor — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:27:11 +0000

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful

Brilliant flashgun in more ways than one., 14 April 2009

R. T. Slassor (North East UK) -

This review is from: Canon 580EX II Speedlite Flash Unit (Accessory)

I use this coupled to a Canon 1Ds Mk3 and all I can say is, if you own a Canon DSLR of any description...you will benefit by owning this flashgun to a greater or lesser degree, obviously depending on the capabilities of your particular model camera. It feels very solidly built. When attached to your cameras hot-shoe there is absolutely no free play. It is located by a pin which locks into the hot shoe when you turn the locking lever, meaning whichever position you use your camera in there is no possibility of the flashgun becoming loose, or the contacts becoming misaligned. The locking lever is much more secure, and easier to use than the usual knurled ring. This especially helps when hands are cold. It recycles very quickly indeed, without making the annoying whine of some units. I know some people are reassured by this whine, but I am not. Fill in flash needs no effort on your behalf. Simply put the flash on the camera then turn it on. The output can be varied to suit the amount of flash needed for creative work. It has a stroboscopic mode for those who wish to record a series of images of moving subjects on one frame. Bags of power for bounce which is a big problem on less powerful units. The head swivels easily to whatever direction you desire, and is detained securely in the set position. This flash can be used as either a master to trigger other canon units, or as a slave. It can be used outdoors in the foulest conditions thanks to the new sealing arrangement around the hotshoe fitting (make sure your camera is also environmentally sealed of course). I use uniross hybrio batteries, and I have never had any problems, but if you are using the flash heavily I would recommend having a few spare sets to hand. I always carry a 15 minute charger in my bag, which is only the size of my (empty) wallet then when a set becomes exhausted, I put them straight on charge (provided I am in a place that has an electricity supply of course). I could write a book about the abilities of this flash, but there is a host of reading material on the internet. If you are in the market for a flashgun for your Canon DSLR, bite the bullet and buy this one. You will not regret it.

Bob

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Comment on UK Discount Canon 580EX II Speedlite Flash Unit for Sale by Sood "Sood"

Sood "Sood" — Sat, 19 May 2012 16:57:21 +0000

133 of 135 people found the following review helpful

A Excellent Flash, that will hopefully last me many years, 26 Nov 2007

Sood "Sood" (UK) -

As an amatuer with only a 350D I was in two minds whether or not to go for the 580ExII when i could easily have gone for the cheaper 420Ex/430Ex / 550Ex / 580Ex. In the end I decided to future proof and just go with the 580 ExII, I may upgrade my camera body in a number of years, at least I will still be able to use this and all the lenses I have collected so far.

The Canon Speedlite 580EX Flash contains a superset of the features found in the Canon Speedlite 550EX E-TTL Flash in a smaller, lighter and more modern designed housing, although it is still way bigger than the 430Ex. So big it is the biggest peice of equipment in my camera bag! (apart from the tripod of course). Mount this with a 70-300mm tele photo lens and you've got a real workout ahead of you!

It takes 4 normal AA batteries and the flash is on nearly instantly. Recycle time is extremly fast - it was amongst one of the main swinging points for choosing this over the earlier models. I was a bit disspointed with 1700mAh rechargeable batterries although normal alkaline batteries gave me much more flash usage. I might have to try higher value rechargeable batteries like the 2500/2700mAh.

Immediately above the diffuser panel is a white, semi-rigid piece of white plastic (a catchlight reflector) that pulls straight out to create a catchlight in your subject's eyes when using the flash in a vertical bounce position. I never really thought bounce shots would make that much of a difference but boy was I wrong. You get a much better natural light in the shot.

A single button releases both the tilt and rotate locks while a single grip/button press allows the flash head to be rotated and tilted at the same time. Rotation is up to 180 degrees in both directions. I found the tilt very easy to use, even one handed.

One of the other things I liked about this flash is the AF Assist Beam to enhance autofocus in low light conditions, which aligns its beam to the Canons camera focal point and projects itself as a red ir patch on the subject. The white balance is also comunicated directly to the camera too.

Another good point is this flash can be a wireless E-TTL master or a slave when paired up with other speedlites. At the moment I only have one flash, but it means I can opt for the cheaper wireless 430Ex or similar at a much later date when I want to upgrade my setup to include more than one flash, and use the 580 Ex to fire off the slaves automatically.

The hi speed synch, allows the camera to go all the way to 1/4000 second (took me a while to realise I had to set the hi speed synch on the flash, otherwise the fastest shutter speed you'll get is only 1/200 second), although this is at the cost of range / power.

Flash power is great, and I got some really cool pictures using the second curtain sync, although it was more by fluke than anything else! Build quality is super, and both battery door and hot shoe lock can be easily operated with only one hand.

Bottom Line: An excellent flash, may be a bit confusing at first if your a novice/amatuer as I am, but also a bit on the expensive side compared to the 3rd party flashes available for canon. I also found the amazon prices to be very steep - I found this flash a lot cheaper searching around, maybe I bought a grey import, but I've read the imports work just as well as the official ones (as long as you go through reputable sellers) , and so far everyhting works well. On hindsight this flash is probably overkill for the casual photographer - but then this will make sure you experiment more to get the best out of this professional flash.

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Comment on UK Low Price Nokia E5-00 Sim Free Mobile Phone – Black In Stock by McStick

McStick — Sat, 19 May 2012 05:09:33 +0000

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

Perfect, except for the software, 24 Sep 2010

McStick (United Kingdom) -

This review is from: Nokia E5-00 Sim Free Mobile Phone - Black (Electronics)

When I first took this phone out of the box, it rattled rather badly. So I thought that this was just another example of Nokia's increasingly poor build quality. However, it turned out that it was in fact just the sim card holder, and once the sim card and battery were inserted, the rattle disappeared. The build quality is actually surprisingly good, and the materials look and feel good quality too. Now that it's ready to go, there's no squeaks, rattles or any other annoyances with regards to the design and build. The key pad also has a good quality feel to it and is very easy to use once you get used to it.

Once turned on, the phone is laid out much like any other Nokia smartphone, and offers a choice of home screens. Personally, I like the active home screen where it gives a list of six applications along the top, such as Facebook, Nokia Maps and Ovi Store. This can be changed to a contacts bar if you prefer, as one of the other home screen choices. Your e-mail can also be checked directly from the main screen and will tell you how many new e-mails you have if it's set to download automatically. It's at this point where I encountered my problems. For an entire afternoon, I struggled to get my e-mail set up and to download to my phone. But nothing happened - I just got an empty inbox every time I synced with my e-mail account! The reason for the problem was however that I had used Nokia Messaging (the e-mail program) on a previous phone, and for some reason, the software won't allow you to sync the e-mails to more than one phone at a time. In order to cure the problem, I had to cancel my subscription to Nokia Messaging, and re-activate at email.nokia.com. While I say subscription to Nokia Messaging, this phone is supposed to come with that, so as far as I'm aware, there are no extra charges.

I also tried the Mail for Exchange feature, but I also encountered problems with that! It would actually download the e-mails, however once it had finished doing so, a error message would pop up and say that it couldn't sync. Bit of a false report I think... Other software issues include responsiveness, where occasionally the phone stopped responding. Most times however, it recovered itself after a few minutes, but on a few occasions, I had to take the battery out.

The camera on this phone isn't that impressive quality wise, but then, since this is designed as a business smartphone, it's probably not one of the most important features. For the business user, there are a range of apps pre-installed on the phone which could be very useful, such as Quickoffice, Adobe Reader, Bloomberg and AP Mobile(Associated Press). In addition to this, there is a free subscription to Nokia Maps, so getting lost on business trips shouldn't be an issue! I have found the sat-nav on both this phone and my previous Nokia to be excellent, considering it is free.

The other features on this phone are very similar to all Nokia smartphones, and include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and other basic applications such as a calculator and world clock. In my opinion, this is definitely a phone to consider alongside the Blackberry range, and if Nokia released a software update to cure the above mentioned problems, it would be a perfect phone. With regards to the e-mail, a reference to the subscription problem I encountered with the e-mail service would be good, however it appears in neither the short hand book included with the phone, or the full copy on the Nokia website! So,if you're having problems with it, cancel your subscription and start again!

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Comment on UK Low Price Nokia E5-00 Sim Free Mobile Phone – Black In Stock by D. G. Parrott "Big Bald Bugger"

D. G. Parrott "Big Bald Bugger" — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:11:40 +0000

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful

A Tidy Piece Of Kit, 17 Sep 2010

D. G. Parrott "Big Bald Bugger" (Out There!) -

This review is from: Nokia E5-00 Sim Free Mobile Phone - Black (Electronics)

When I first saw this phone, it looked as if it was a cloned E72...

How wrong was I?...

Right from when I purchased this phone I have been impressed, It is in fact better than the E72, it is a shade larger but, slightly lighter. The keys have a nice rubber feel to them and are easy to use, the space bar is larger than previous similar phones from Nokia. It has a nice sturdy contruction which belies its shape and overall thickness. The battery cover is of a stainless steel construction and is opened by pressing a small button on either side of the phone. The screen is a nice size and the clarity is very good, as far as one can tell it is very user friendly, so much so that my Wife is now considering one of these as her next phone!

The sound quality is also very good and nice and clear. As for the built in Sat-Nav I have not yet used it, so therefore will not comment about it, but from what I have heard from other users, that too seems to be of good quality.

Towards the top section of the handset there is a good size TFT colour screen & at the lower section of the casing is a classic style QWERTY keyboard. There is a centrally positioned five way navigation key complete with call & end keys, which is neatly positioned between the screen & the keyboard. Either side of the navigation key the you will find a messaging key & a home key, which are also well positioned for ease of use & providing a shortcut option to these features.

The screen itself measures 2.4 inches & has a screen resolution of 320 pixels by 240 pixels, displaying up to 256,000 colours on a brightly lit screen. The E5 has volume controls which are located on the edge of the casing allowing the user to adjust the volume quickly & easily. the casing comes complete with subtle chrome effect accents which highlight the navigation key on the front of the handset & the camera lens on the back of the casing. The casing has slightly curved edges which softens the overall appearance of this powerful Smartphone. It measures 11.5cm by 5.89cm by 1.28cm which will fit is most pockets when not in use. The E5 weighs a total of 126 grams including its fitted rechargeable battery which feels good to hold in the hand.

All in all, a nice new addition to the smartphone set and one which I am very content to have.

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Comment on UK Low Price Nokia E5-00 Sim Free Mobile Phone – Black In Stock by Tomas Jankowski

Tomas Jankowski — Sat, 19 May 2012 03:22:27 +0000

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

Hmm, fantastic phone but..., 26 Mar 2011

Tomas Jankowski (uk) -

This review is from: Nokia E5-00 Sim Free Mobile Phone - Black (Electronics)

I bought this phone nearly two months ago and when it works it is fantastic(my girlfriend has one as well).
The maps and navigation is superb and the email works well. The camera could be better, but for the price it is ok.
If you are looking for a business phone with a full keyboard it does the job and a lot more.

Now the bad:

My phone started freezing up after two weeks. A week on I could no longer turn it all at all. My girlfriends one had a faulty gps from the beginning. They were both sent back for repairs and came back after two weeks. Both were reset, so lost all the data in one of them(I backed the other one with ovi suite luckily). My one works ok again, however the second one came back with the gps still not working. I was going to send it back to repair in the next couple of days, but decided to restore it with ovi suite to get the contacts back... and the gps works flawlessly. After the restore the phone seems to be working ok, but I cannot use one of the home screen settings because the e-mail shortcut keeps crushing. After changing to a different standby layout it works fine.

Yahoo and gmail were easy to set up this time(enter email and password and the phone did the rest). I think an update for Nokia mail came out, as setting it up two months ago was a nightmare.

Now that both the phones are working again it is a pleasure to use them.

All in all, a great phone but the software has(or maybe had by now) many software bugs.

My network provider gave me an option to re-contract with a different phone after it came back faulty, however I do really like it and decided to give it another shot... If not the issues I had with it I would certainly give 5 stars.

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Comment on UK Sell iPAD 2 16GB 3G WiFi (Black) Lowest Price by David Glasgow

David Glasgow — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:48:00 +0000

181 of 193 people found the following review helpful

The Best Tablet PC with a 'Superb Capacitive Screen,' Sublime., 25 April 2011

David Glasgow (United Kingdom (Edinburgh)) -

This review is from: iPAD 2 16GB 3G WiFi (Black) (Personal Computers)

Call me Lazy but I purchased this for lazying about on the couch when I could NOT be bothered to boot up the "main DESKTOP" and sit in front of the huge screen.

Its nice once and a while to get away from the 24 inch Desktop PC Screen. Hence the iPad 2. - I don't know what I would do without it now TBH.

Anyways I never bought the iPad 1. because I just never got around to it, (however the new iPad 2), has a host of features at a slightly lower price and could not turn it down.

The iPad 2. has an "Apple made: A5 Dual core 2x 1 GHz ULTRA FAST CPU",- (double the speed of the iPad 1), and is so, so responsive its a beautiful article to work with, while sitting back connected via WIFI wirelessly linked to the Home LINKSYS router.

It has everything including "Garage band" which I've always wanted to boot, all for a decent price...My "16GB Model. mine cost just over 4 hundred".

I must admit its very thin, however it has a very tough Aluminium metal support: at the back, so its rock solid, NOT just made out of plastic, Like the white model would have you believe. No its a very study device indeed. and its still a trifle over priced compared to the Motorola Zoom, in my humble opinion. As the Zoom has many more features its also built very well however the iPad 2 has it by a hairs breadth quality build wise, even tho, the Motorola ZOOM is a beautiful device to hold and use.

However, if you want simplicity go for the ("iPad 2") with the best "capacitive touch keypad" in the world and more apps than anyone else, however, if you want unlimited features go for the Motorola Zoom with Android 3.0 OS, and if your cash strapped and still want a decent device go for the Samsung Tab -:(7 inches only) still nice to use.

If you do deicide to purchase from Amazon UK, be sure to buy a decent case with it, because its prone to sticky fingers, "hence the finger prints over the screen", and if you accidentally drop it, a case will help break the fall, providing you get a good one... however, there's many to choose from "Please don't buy the cheapest" - as they're a waste of money, buy something that will protect your new investment, "Apple iPad 2" for 5 years time with "an included screen" protector "essential" changing them regular every 3 months, as they're not expensive.

PS. everyone with Savy, and common sense, I can assure you unlike some others may have said: "You definitely DO NOT NEED any instructions" as the iPad 2 is in my humble opinion, is completely idiot proof. the "GUI is very intuitive" and there's really no need to read instructions, in my point of view... nope.!

Thanks again for reading folks, if you found my review useful Please leave me a Positive VOTE. - much appreciated.!! :-)

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