Product review: Polaroid 2x3 inch Premium ZINK Photo Paper

This is a review  of Premium Zink Photo paper.  I am using Premium Zink paper in a Polaroid Snap camera. I took photos both inside and outside and they came out slightly blueish. I have used Zink paper in the past and saw no blue cast. When I look closer at the packaging I noticed that the temperature range for the use of the Premium paper is fairly narrow: 68°F to 77°F degrees. It was definitely colder than that for my outside shots, and probably on the border for the inside shots as we keep the house at about 68 degrees in the winter.



Other than the blueish tint I like many things about Zink paper. The image on the paper cannot be smudge as the process uses no ink. The print feels thick and very glossy. Unlike the glossy print I get from my ink jet printer Zink paper does not show finger prints. Pretty neat!



Each paper sheet is 2" x 3". The paper is inserted into the camera with the bar code facing down, shiny side up. The camera takes 10 pieces of paper at a time.



I received this paper for evaluation and review. Bottom line: Premium paper is a cheaper alternative for Zink paper (about 25 cents per sheet as I write this review) if a blueish cast will bother you make sure you plan to use it the recommended temperature range. Unfortunately the temperature range is not shown in Amazon description, only on the foil wrapper of the paper itself.



You can locate Polaroid Premium ZINK Photo Paper on Amazon via this link.





AshopZones review

Product review: Smart phone camera lens Kit 3 in 1: 198 Fisheye Lens,15x Macro Lens 0.63x Wide Angle Lens

The kit includes 3 lenses: a fisheye, a wide angle and a macro lens. Initially I thought I had only two lenses in this kit, but his was because the wide angle and macro lens are shipped screwed into each other and have only one lens cap between them. Fisheye lens has a cap of its own. The side that screws into the holder does not have a lens cap. Another kit I own has caps for both ends of the lens, which is better. The lens holder is a clip. The clip is very nice, it opens easily but holds very tightly. Finally, I like that they come in a case. It helps to keep all pieces together. The case has a carabiner, so I can clip it to my purse so the lenses are always handy.



I included photos taken from the same spot with and without the lenses so you can see the difference. My favorite lens in the kit is the fisheye lens, it allowed me to take very interesting photos that I could not take without it, the photos are always sharp no fussing with the lens is needed. Wide angle lens is also easy to use. The macro lens provides magnification but focus is more challenging and requires a bit of fussing. This typical for a macro lens, so not a knock on this lens specifically.



I received this kit for testing and review. Getting a free product does not prevent me from honestly describing pluses and minuses of my experience.



YOu can find this camera lens kit on Amazon via this link.





AshopZones review

Product review: Polaroid Snap Instant Digital Camera with ZINK Zero Ink Printing Technology

Polaroid Snap camera is fun to have at a party. Instant prints are fun to share with friends. However, as a camera on its own right it is not the best. The prints you get are not as good if the ones I can take with my phone camera, for example, and print later. But that's the key "later" vs "now". I am including a few prints taken with the camera (indoors and outdoors) and they all have a blueish tint. The camera has a flash and the documentation says that the camera focuses and flashes automatically, but in all the pictures I have taken so far the flash has not triggered. The auto focus has been good in 99% of the photos.



The package does not include a manual or any documentation other than a small pictogram. I had to Google for documentation and then click "buy" on Polaroid web site to get to the place where I could download the documentation and download a firmware update. I have done both, the photos you see are using the latest firmware.



To turn on the camera you have to pop up the view finder, which looks like a retractable flash from the first glance. The pop-up opens easily, often accidentally when I just brushed my hand over the camera. The lens is covered with a magnetic cap. It is not attached in any other way to the camera and is fairly easy to loose if you remove it to take pictures.



The big red button on top of the camera is the shutter. When you press it there is no clear feedback that the photo has been taken until the printer starts making a whirling noise and the print comes out. From experienced I learned to press and wait a second in order not to waste paper by pressing twice because I did not think I made good contact the first time.



Zink paper is placed into the camera with the bar code facing down, shiny side up. The camera can hold only 10 pieces of paper at a time. Each paper sheet is 2" x 3". The images appears on paper by heating the Zink paper in different ways. The camera uses no ink which makes the print come out of the camera totally dry, you cannot smudge it. The print feels thick and very glossy. Unlike a regular glossy photo print Zink paper does not show finger prints.



The camera generates 5M images. The images can be saved as well as printed if you insert micro SD card into the camera. The camera supports micro SD cards up to capacity 32G. The micro SD is not included. In attached video I show both the scans of printed photos and the image saved to disk. You can see that the blue tint appears only on the paper print.



The camera runs on rechargeable 7.4V battery which is non-removable. This means at some point non-rechargeable battery will become a problem as it will hold less and less charge as the battery ages.



I received this camera for testing and review. Bottom line? A lot of fun at a party but not the best camera if you discount the ability to get instant prints. So how much weight does this unique feature have? For me taking in account all pluses and minuses it fell somewhere between 3 stars (ok) and 4 stars (good).



You can find Polaroid Snap on Amazon via this link.





AshopZones review

Product review: Orea Adjustable Nd Polarizer Hd CPL Telephoto Wide Angle Macro Phone Lens 4 in 1

This lens kit exceeded my expectations. I already have a camera lens kit with fisheye and zoom lenses for my phone so I expected something similar but wanted ti add a wide angle lens and a few filters to my collection. But these are better lenses than my previous kit. In addition the kit includes two holders (one screws down, one just clips on). I like the screw down mechanism better because it moves around less, however what I like most is having two holders. This allows me to quickly switch between the two lenses without having to unscrew them from the holder.



I am attaching a slide show of the photos taken with the lenses in this kit. To show what each lens does I show a picture taken with a camera without a lens and then next to it the picture taken with one of the lenses for comparison. The kit also includes two filters - a polarize filter and a variable density neutral filter. Polarizer is good for cutting down glare. Variable filter is really neat for capturing moving water (like waterfalls).



Taking photos with my phone is more fun with the filters. They are fairly large relatively speaking, so they do add a bit of extra gear to carry around.



I received this lens kit for testing and review. I like them! I hope side by side photos with and without the lenses help you see how they work.



You can find the lens kit on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: Polaroid Cube+ 1440p Mini Lifestyle Action Camera with Wi-Fi Magnetic Mount

There is large number of small action cameras out there. Many of them are GoPro clones, Polaroid Cube+ is a little different.

I own a couple of GoPro clones so I thought it might be useful to compare the best of the clones to the Polaroid Cube+.



As far as the video quality, I would rank it below the 4K sports cameras. It does not do well when driving directly into the sun. It does quite well in good lighting, and it does well at night. I am attaching a video that shows clips taken under different conditions: into the sun, without sun beaming into the camera, at night on my dash, and at night on my roof.



I got the camera in January 2016 and the audio is working fine (audio is included in attached video). I read older reviews that mention a problem but it appears to have been fixed in the version I have.



The biggest difference between GoPro clones and Polaroid Cube+ is the mounting system. Polaroid Cube+ has a strong magnet as its mounting system. I has driven with it on my roof on the highway without losing the camera. We even hit a huge pot hole at 65 miles an hour and my husband had to hold me down "No, we cannot pull over and see if the camera is still there as we are not going to try to retrieve it if it is not there and get killed." But the cube was still there when we arrived.



Another big difference is the user interface. The GoPro sports cameras have a very intuitive rich interface driven by menus. The cube has one button and talks to the owner in beeps and LED color changes. Green is turned on, red means it is recording. This is a trade off Polaroid made to gain the small size.



The documentation that comes with cube is as minimalist as the user interface. You get a leaflet with several pictures. No words. This documentation is enough to turn on the camera and take pictures or video. However, there was no documentation with the name of the app and no documentation of how to turn on WIFI. When I turned on the camera I saw a new hotspot on my phone. I attempted to connect to it and it asked me for a password. Because I set up many WIFI on sport cameras I tried several variations of common passwords and guessed it correctly on the third try. I found the app by taking a guess and searching Google play on "Polaroid CUBE+". In my video you can see what the app looks like. Once I started the app it told me the default password for the hotspot. Once connected to the hotspot, the app connected the camera and WIFI without problems. The app name and the password should have part of the documentation. There is no excuse for making the user guess such basic things.



The camera comes with a bumper case. However, it somewhat decreases the strength of the magnet and I don't use it because I rather use all the magnetic power I have to make sure I don't lose the camera.



You can use the camera without changing configuration, but if you want to change config you need to run an app which is included on the micro sd card of the camera. If you want to run the software you will need to attach the camera to a computer (Windows or Apple). For Windows the name of the application is PolaroidCube.exe, for Mac the application is called app.zip



Configuration can change:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

' Whether the camera overwrites old files when it runs out of space (the default is no)

' Whether you want to see a time stamp (the default is no)

' The volume of the buzzer (the default is good if there is no noise around, if you are using a camera as action camera it might be too low)

' Light frequency (50 Hz or 60 Hz). Default is 60 Hz

' The date/time



OPERATION

~~~~~~~~~

There is one button on top of the camera that controls everything

' To turn on the camera press the button for 3 seconds (green light turns on)

' To take a photo press once (red light turns on briefly as it saves the photo)

' To start video recording press twice (red light starts blinking as it records)

' To turn of video recording press once (red light stops blinking)

' To turn off press to the button for 3 seconds (the light goes off)



OUTPUT FORMAT /

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The video output is generated in MP4 format. Some cameras break up video in many files which are written out every several minutes. Polaroid CUBE+ writes out one large file for the entire trip. I personally like the small files approach better. If a file gets corrupted you don't lose the entire video, you lose just a segment. With that being set so far all videos I have recorded are playable, I had not bad files. I am using class 10 micro sd card that came in the package.



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

' This camera is very small. It is 1.25" cube.

' The lens on the camera is a wide angle (124 degrees)

' The battery is sealed in the unit and I don't see a way to replace it if I ever need it. At some point this will become a problem. When the camera goes down to 10% charge it beeps a warning. I am getting approximately 1.5 hours of continuous recording from it with the fresh battery.

' The camera can record while it is plugged in. The camera has an option to cycle, so it can overwrite old videos when it runs out of space.

' The camera has only a magnetic mount (there is no 1/4 mounting screw).

' The camera does not come with any other mounts, however I found that the packing box (which has a magnet) makes a nice stand that I can use on the dash of my car.

' The camera comes with a class 10 micro SD card.

' The camera charges with a regular micro USB cable. It works in all my chargers include a car charger.

' The camera comes with a short data cable. This cable allows you to transfer files from the camera to the computer. If you decide to use your own longer cable (which I am doing) make sure you are using a data cable not a charging cable (the cables that come with external power banks are often the charging cables). In a charging cables the two data connections are shorted together (rendering the cable useless for data transfer), but this fools devices to see the cable as an AC power connection and thus the battery accept a higher current for charging. For moving data from the camera to the PC you need a data cable.



Even though the video is not as good as my 4K sports camera, its unique mount is fun to use and gets unique views and sounds.



This camera is provided by Polaroid for testing and review. Getting a free product does not prevent me from pointing out short coming of the camera as I have done in this review. The camera is better than OK rating of 3 star, but maybe a little short of 4 stars. What improvements I would like to see? 4K video, 1/4" screw mount in addition to to the magnet mount, and better documentation.



You can find "Polaroid Cube+" on Amazon via this link





AshopZones review ★★★★☆

Product review: ZOMEI Camera Tripod Carbon Fiber Tripod Monopod with Ball Head

ZOMEI Q666C is a nice tripod and scores well on my list of requirement for a tripod. This tripod met four of my requirements for a tripod and fell short on one (but not badly).



My requirements:



* Quick release plate. This tripod include a quick release plate. The release plate is made out of metal and is sturdy with a heavy duty construction. Quick plate tightening mechanism can be tightened by a coin. It holds well.



* Lightweight. This tripod weighs 3 pounds 6.7 oz (this weight include the tripod and the ball head). This tripod is heavy enough to withstand a gust of wind yet light enough to carry around without much trouble.



* Quick release legs. This tripod does NOT have legs with quick release locks. Each collapsible leg is made out of 4 sections and is released by twist locking mechanism. Zomei twist locks do not take a lot of turns and they feels well made.



* Ability to support my Canon rebel digital SLR with 300 zoom lens. This tripod handles my Canon DSR camera with 300 zoom lens without a problem. It is rated to support 30 pounds, way more than I will ever need.



* Flexible ball head or ability to mount any ball head. This tripod comes with a nice ball head and can accept any other standard ball head. The panning and tilting is smooth. The ballhead has three adjustment knobs.



' Pan knob is a small knob at the bottom.

' Ball knob is the medium sized knob. Using it I can position to ball to align with a 90-degree slot for vertical orientation.

' Small knob at the top controls the quick release plate.



This tripod came with a couple of extras:

' The package includes a carrying case.

' Also included us a bag to store the ball head. Since I already have another ball head I find a storage bag useful to store the one I am not using.



Tripod's maximum height is 65", minimum height is 18.6".



This tripod can be converted into a monopod using a provided hex key. The conversion is not fast as it requires working with a number of screws and washers. It is not something I would do on the road as it is easy to loose a washer or a screw. Some of the screws pretty tight.



This is a nice sturdy tripod that is not too heavy!



You can find "ZOMEI Camera Tripod" on Amazon via this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: btoto H9 2.0 Inch 170 Degree 6g Ultra-wide Angle Lens 4k Sports Action Camera

I received this camera for evaluation and review as part of a new product introduction. Getting a free product does not effect what I say, I always give a rating purely based on how the product performs. A few months ago I reviewed another camera from the same vendor and gave it a 2 stars rating. Despite knowing that I am reviewer who gives critical reviews when the product deserves it he sent me this camera for testing anyway. That's a sign of a good seller and a good product.



Btoto H9 is my first 4K camera and I can really tell the difference. The colors and clarity is excellent. The 170° lens provides a very wide view, but as any lens with such wide angle causes barrel distortion.



The camera produces very good video during the day and at dusk. The only time during the day when the video was not excellent was when the sun was directly into the camera, which is a challenge for any camera. The night time video is not as good. The camera has an intuitive interface, it also has WI FI that allows me to see what the camera sees on phone. The camera is exactly the same size as GoPro camera and accessories designed for GoPro fit it.



Live video via WI FI works very well: it was easy to connect the phone to the camera and the delay between action and live video is minimal (you can see it in my video). When you are using live mode the video is not recorded to the micro SD. The app for live product is called Ez iCam (I show the install and how the app works in the video). The name of a hot spot you need to connect to is ICAM-H9 (note that the name is slightly different from documentation - at least on Android phone).



Btoto H9 supports micro SD cards up to 32GB (the micro SD card is not included).



The camera produces video in the following resolutions (recorded in .mov format) using degree HD wide angle lens.

4K 10fps, 2.7K 15fps, 1080p 60/30fps, 720 120/60 fps. Amazon compresses video submitted in the reviews plus has a limit of videos size so I have to compress it before submitting as well, so what you see in the review video is much worse than what the camera produces.



To recharge the camera takes about 3 hours from empty, I am getting about 2 hours of video on one charge.



The package includes a large number of clamps and holders as well as a waterproof case. The manual is okay, it does not have instructions for every button but it was enough for me to find the right app and to figure out how to use the camera.



In attached video you can see video of the camera and video taken by the camera.



If you have questions on something I did not cover post a comment and I'll do my best to answer it.



You can find "btoto H9 2.0 Inch sports camear" via this link





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: AFAITH Portable Folding Ultra Aluminum Tripod

I do quite a bit of table top photography and through the years used a large number of small tripods. This tripod has all the features I value:

(1) Sturdy - AFAITH is the sturdiest small tripod I have. Everything tightens nicely, the feet are rubberized. I am using it with 17.1 oz camera. It can support a load up to 6.6 pounds.



(2) Quick plate - FAITH has a nice metal quickplate, because it is metal it will not get distorted if I over-tighten it. A few of my small tripods did not held up for a long time due to quickplate issues when they were made out of plastic.



(3) Quick release legs - AFAITH tripod increases the length of the legs by loosening one knob at the bottom of the leg. They also have a quick release at the top, which allows me to change the angle of the legs. So though this is not a classic quick release lock, this is better than having to extend each joint one at a time. Sometimes I have to fiddle a little with the AFAITH leg knobs to get them to catch but not bad.



(4) Flexible ball head, ability to take pictures at different heights and angles - AFAITH has three knob ball head with a built-in level. It works well. I can extend the tripod to 18". Minimum height is 7" without removing the central column, and 5" with the central column removed. My favorite feature is that I can really tilt it down and take pictures from above.



(5) Light weight - 1.66 pounds.



I received this tripod from AFAITH with a request for an honest review be it good or bad. I have been using it every day for the last two weeks - I like it!



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: Eye-Fi Mobi Pro 16GB WiFi SDHC CARD

I am using this card in SONY-NEX5 phone and Android phone. The set up was incredibly smooth. All I had to do was install the the EyeFi app, it came up and told me "insert the SD card and take a picture". That's it! No hotspot to connect to, no need configuration of any kind. I took a picture a 1 minute and 5 seconds later it appeared on my phone. After the initial upload the images were uploaded a little fast, videos took a little longer.



EyeFi app also allows some basic operations such as deleting files, sharing, and a few other basic operations. It is easy to use.



Is it perfect? No. After using the card for a couple of weeks I ran into several practical issues. They are not deal breakers for me but prevent it from being a perfect experience:



1) It uploads ALL photos, so if you shoot a lot of photos in raw format this can fill up the phone memory.



2) It would be nice if there was an option to delete images from SD after a successful transfer. Such options does not exist and SD card needs to manually cleaned up - either periodically or when one runs out of space.



3) I wish it had is a switch that allows me to turn off WIFI on the card (at a hardware level). I have this feature on my old WIFI SD card and do use it when I do not want uploads to occur.



I received Eyefi sdcard for testing and review. It exceed my expectations for ease of use and set up. I have no problem using, although after several weeks of use some functionality that I would have found useful is not available.





You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★☆

Product Review: Crenova HD 12MP Infrared Trail Hunting Camera Wildlife Camera

I am really enjoying this camera. We see a lot of wild life in our area and we have many bird feeders that are fun to watch. The camera is activated only when something interesting is happening, so every video it captures has something good on it. The battery use is quite good it runs several weeks on one set of batteries while capturing hundreds of short videos every day. I checked that after 1 week the battery level indicator showed remaining battery capacity of 2/3. In attached video you have a sampling of videos with the camera mounted in four different locations. The large birds you see in the first segments are the wild turkeys which come to visit us almost every day.



The camera runs on eight AA batteries (not included) and you need to provide your own SD card (up to 32G in size).



The video quality is highly dependent on lighting. In the day light it is very good, however at dusk or right into the sun the video is okay but not as good as say my SONY NEX5 camera. The wild life camera also takes infrared pictures in total darkness (black and white). I have included a couple of video clips taken at dusk when the camera switched to infrared.



This camera is large, robust, has a great camouflaged case. It is waterproof and has been out in several rain storms without any problems. The camouflaged case is 5.5" tall x 4" wide x 2.5" thick.



The camera can run in "test" mode or real mode. Test mode allows you to see what the camera is recording using the LCD screen. In the test mode you can also change settings via menus displayed on the LCD screen. The interface is intuitive and controls are easy to use.



The camera produces AVI and JPG output. The files appear under the standard DCIM directory on the memory card.



The camera records 1080P video and images up to 12MP.



* Image Sensor: 12.0 Mega Pixels

* Picture Size: 12MP=4000x3000 / 8MP=3840x2160 / 5MP = 2944x1656 ,2MP=1920x1080 (JPEG)

* Video Size: 1920x1080 (15fps), 1280 x 720 (30fps), 848x480 (30fps), 640 x 480 (30fps)

* Memory: SD-card up to 32GB

* IR flash effective to 20 meters (65 feet)

* Motion detection: center 30-40°, side 30°, all three sensors 120°

* Lens: F=7.45; FOV=55°

* Trigger distance: up to 20 meters (65 feet)



In addition to the camera in the case, the package include USB cable for TV hookup, a mounting bracket, and a user manual. The user manual is pretty good: 25 pages with diagrams.





You can find it on Amazon by following this link.







AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: Campark ACT70 WIFI HD 2560X1080 Action camera

My initial impression of CamPark was very good. Day time video is very good, it does well even in the very sunny situations and does not overexpose. The video during the night under very low light conditions was acceptable. Live video works well. Menu-based interface is well organized and easy to use. The documention is quite good and has a lot of details. The camera comes with a large variety of accessories, including a suction window mount, waterproof camera, and a remote control. I was very pleased for several days.



However, after a few days of usage the camera crashed and was stuck on the first screen (I could not turn it off or proceed to the next screen). I "fixed" it by removing and then reinserting the battery. Initially, I thought this fixed the problem as the camera recorded for another 30-40 minutes. But when I got home I saw that after the crash all recordings were in slow motion. I fully recharged the batteries and tried a few more recordings. They were all in slow motions. I went through all the menus and contacted the manufacturer. The manufacturer was responsive and provided me a software update to install on the camera. However the download is very large and needs to be downloaded from a Chinese site. I have attempted to do this download many times, some of the downloads failed others reported success but unzip utility failed reporting a corrupted zip file. I have not been able to test if the upgrade resolved the problem or not.



In attached video you see examples from the videos before and after the crash. Note that Amazon compresses video so this degrade the video quality in the clip.



Here are my notes from set up:



1. The name of the camera hot spot is "amba-boss".

The password you need to enter to connect to the hot spot is included in documentation.

To put the camera into WIFI mode you need to press the right most button on the top of the camera.



2. The name of the app is "LinkinEyes". This app shows live action from the camera, as well as allows to change camera configuration.



In my video I show live video. It looks good! The delay between the action and display is minimal, it is better than another small camera I have with live video capability.



CamPark supports micro SD cards up to 32GB, Class 10 is recommended (the micro SD card is not included).



It runs on 900mAH and I get slightly over an hour on one charge. To recharge the camera takes about 2 hours from empty. For the fastest charging the camera should be turned off when charging, however it can record while charging if desired.



I received this camera for evaluation and review as part of a new product introduction. Getting a free product does not effect what I say. My reviews reflect only my experience with the product and reviews are good or bad only based on how well the product works. If you have questions on something I did not cover post a comment and I'll do my best to answer it.





You can find it on Amazon by following this link.







AshopZones review ★★☆☆☆

Product review: Pergear A216C Touchless Sensor 216 Led Video Light Panel

The seller combined several different light panels in this listing. My review is for Pergear A216C Touchless Controller with Air Switch.



The light panel works with F550 SONY compatible battery (the package includes two batteries which is great as I can recharge one while using the other). I own several light panels and this panel has a couple of unique features that I like (1) touchless switch lets me save the battery life by turning it off and on quickly. Once I set up the light level and color I can turn the light on and off without having to move the panel or fiddle with the switches. With the other panels I need to either move them or reach around which may reposition the lights (2) I can control the color of the light without using filters. This light panel also has a switch that changes the light intensity. This feature is not unique to this panel, I consider it a must-have feature as it is incredibly useful.



Another minor but nice feature that my other panels do not have is a button that ejects the battery. This will prolong the panel light. I dropped and broke one of my old panels trying to remove a stiff fitting battery.



The panel comes with a light diffuser. I like that it snaps in snugly into the panel and does not fall out even when I turn the light upside down.



The light panel generates continuous light. Once you turn it on the light panel stays on. This panel does not communicate with the camera like a flash. I use it mounted on a tripod so I have more control of how the light is directed.



The photo panel is 5" by 3" and 1.5" deep. The light weighs 8.15 oz. It 216 LED lights.



Color temperature of the lights: 3200K-5500K



In addition to the extras I already mentioned the package also includes gloves which are sized small (I have small hands and they fit me perfectly) and a cleaning cloth (7.75" x 7.75").



Overall, I like this light very much. It is easy to set up and easy to change the amount of light I get to fit any situation.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.







AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: Apexel 2 in 1 Clip-on 180 Degree Fisheye Lens + 20x Macro Lens

Left without the lens, right with the macro lens

With fisheye lens

This lens fits any phone as long as it is possible to position the clip over the camera lens. In order to fit the distance between the center of the phone camera lens and the shorter edge of the phone should be less 30mm (1.18"). If the camera lens is lower them it is also possible to mount the lens from the long edge pf the phone as long the distance between the camera photo lens and the phone edge is less than 30 mm.



The kit contains two lenses a macro lens (which is good for taking close up photos of small objects) and a fisheye lens (good for super wide angle). The lenses in this kit hold on to the camera by a compression clip. I have another lens kit which attaches by tightening a brass screw and that mechanism stays on the phone better without moving. With a compression clip you need to be a lot more careful not to push the lens of the camera lens.



I am attaching  photos taken with the lenses in this kit. The fisheye is easier to use as it is easier to take sharp pictures without a lot of adjustments. 20X macro requires quite a bit of work to get crisp photos. Macro photography is difficult to focus even in 35 mm photography, holding the phone steady is even more difficult. The focus area is very shallow and very small, so it takes a lot of patience to get sharp photos. However, even when the photos were not shart I got many visually pleasing abstract color shots. I thought some of them will make beautiful backgrounds, so there is a way to turn mistakes into something useful.



These lenses definitely push my phone's capability beyond of what it was capable of before. I enjoy photography so this made my phone photos much more fun.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★☆

Product review: Ivation Universal Smartphone Camera Lens Kit All Smartphones,10x Telephoto Lens,Fisheye Lens, Macro Lens

This lens kit exceeded my expectations. I am attaching a slide show of the photos taken with the lenses in this kit. I thought the photos came out quite well. I included photos from the same spot with and without the lenses so you can see the difference. My favorite lens in the kit in a fisheye lens, it allowed me to take very interesting photos that I could not take without it, the photos are always sharp no fussing with the lens is needed. 10X lens gives good magnification, but requires manual focus so it takes a bit of work to get crisp photos. But as you see in the photo I was able to take photos of bees on flowers. About half of the bee photos I took were sharp and half I did not quite got right. Photography is one of my favorite hobbies, so I am really enjoying these lenses. Photos with my phone are much more satisfying now!



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.







AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: Prime Pro | Mega Mini Spy Camera Pen

This is a pretty neat spy camera. In attached video you can see and hear snippets of my evening out with the pen in my pocket. The video the pen takes pretty good quality but since you can't tell exactly where you are pointing the framing is difficult. The video has quite a bit of shake because it is taken while the person is walking or moving. In addition for the ladies the pockets are often on the part of the chest that is not flat so the camera lens will be pointing a bit up rather than straight ahead. In my video I got a lot of ceiling shots. Carrying this pen in the purse might be another option that will work in some situations better than a shirt pocket. Attached video contains the video taken with camera in my shirt pocket, I did not hold the pen in my hand so this is a realistic example of what the video would look like if I wanted to take video in a covert manner.



After I fully charged the camera, I was able to take video for 40 minutes. It is a little difficult to tell if the camera working or not. I could tell it was recording because it got slightly warm. When it stopped recording it got cool so I knew it stopped recording. When I got home I found two video files with a total recording time of 39 minutes. It is also hard to tell when it is fully charged or how long it take for it to get fully charged. When I charge it the indicator light is red, but it continued glow red even overnight when I think it was already fully charged.



The camera has no controls, it operates by detecting motion. The only thing you can control is setting the date to the current date, and this is done by createing a text file which contains the current date. A sample copy of this text file is present on the micro SD card. Just edit it with any text editor and modify sample time to current time. Save the file. The name of the file us userconfig.txt.



This pen camera looks very similar to a normal pen and it even writes well. It has a very short ink canister because most of its body is the battery and the camera.



The camera lens is right above the clip. The clip has a nice mechanism which closes the lens when you don't want it to take pictures. Very thoughtful!



The charging port and the port for Micro SD are revealed when you take off the cap.



The status indicator is a small light on the opposite side from the camera lens. If you are carrying the pen with the camera out then the light is facing you so you know what the camera is doing. To start recording you need to do a short press on the button on top of the pen. Another short press turns it off. A long press while it is on puts into motion activation mode. Note that the instruction refer to the color of the light is amber, but to me it looks like light green light. Do not remove the micro sd card until the pen stops saving the file which is indicated by status light being off.



The camera produces either jpg photos (1280x1024) or AVI videos (1280x720). The camera is 8 mega pixels. It can take TF card up to 32G.



Finally, if something goes wrong it is nice to have an escape hatch. There is a reset to manufacturer's setting pin hole on the camera. I was able to reset the camera by pushing it with the back end of a needle.



Overall, a very good combination of stealth and video.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.







AshopZones review ★★★★★

Satechi Bluetooth 4.0 Smart Trigger

The Satechi Smart Trigger is a type of a remote control. Remote controls have many benefits from artistic to practical - from taking long exposure photos without a shake to including the photographer in the photo. So what is different about this remote control from a standard infra-red remote control? It provides you a bit more control over the timing, gives you a timer on the screen of your mobile device, and you don't need to remember to bring another gadget along on your trip. In addition it has a mode that allows you to take photos with an interval giving you an ability to take time lapse photos.



So overall this is a useful device. However the current version of the mobile app has many problems, it often gets into an invalid state which requires several corrective steps and the user interface of the device is not intuitive. I made a video where I demonstrate the corrective steps, I hope it will save people time of figuring it out on their own.



COMPATIBILITY

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To be happy with this gadget you need to own the supported camera and the supported mobile device. My Canon camera was one of the supported models, my Galaxy 7.7 Tablet was not compatible, but my iPad Mini did work. Note that I included a photo showing a screen shot of the Google Play with incompatible message in case you want to check if your device is compatible prior to purchase. The photo collage can be located by following 'customer photos' link under the main photo.



The Satechi Smart Trigger is not compatible with all devices because it uses Bluetooth 4.0, requiring your smart phone or tablet to also use Bluetooth 4.0. The compatible devices using Bluetooth 4.0 are: iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad Mini, iPad 3, Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4, and Samsung Galaxy Note 2.



The Android store would not let me install the app as it flagged my device incompatible. iTunes App store did not find the application under iPad apps, but the app I found under iPhone apps worked on my iPad Mini.



PAIRING TROUBLESHOOTING

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The difficulty comes with pairing the device to the tablet. It is possible to get the app into a wedged state in a number of way with several different errors. I show several of the error conditions I encountered in the video. The solution to all problems is the following three step process, which I also include in my video.



✔ 1. You need to make your mobile device forget the bluetooth profile associated with Smart Trigger (under settings)

✔ 2. You need to delete the Bluetooth profile tag from within the app itself

✔ 3. You need to stop the app from running. This is accomplished by touching the home button twice, selecting Smart Trigger from the list of running apps and holding down the icon for a few seconds until the red minus sign appears, then selecting the red minus to stop the app.



These three steps clean up whatever went wrong in the previous attempt, and you can start again



✔ 4. Open the Smart Trigger App with the Smart Trigger receiver turned off.

✔ 5. Click on the scan menu of the Smart Trigger App, press the button on the receiver once. Sometimes scan starts automatically.

✔ 6. When the prompt to pair come up, select 'pair'

✔ 7. Now the *key* and yet not obvious step is that you are not done pairing when you select 'pair' button, you need to touch 'Smart Trigger' label that is displayed on the screen. Note that this text does not look like a button, it just text. On the left you will see 'Smart Trigger' text, on the right you will see a trash can. Do NOT touch the trash can, touch the 'Smart Trigger' text.

The 'Smart Trigger' label does not always appear on the screen, sometimes you just see a pictogram of the camera. If you don't see 'Smart trigger' label and you cannot touch it, the pairing will fail and you will need to start again with step 1.

✔ 8. When you touch the label the grey Connection Status icon turns red confirming that you have paired the device

✔ 9. Once you see the red indicator you can attach the cable that goes from the Satechi unit to your camera's remote control port.

Satechi recommends that the camera be set to Bulb mode and Manual Exposure. You can use Start Trigger when the camera is set 'P' mode and 'Timed shot mode' but the camera does not allow the use of Bulb Mode while in 'P', so you will not be able to use all of the features of Smart Trigger. You can only set BULB in the Smart Trigger App to the maximum exposure length allowed by your camera in 'P'. The same limitation applies to 'AV' mode. 'TV' mode is not compatible with the Smart Trigger.



Once the pairing occurs the app works fairly well until the next time you need to do the bluetooth pairing.



I should note that Satechi has some nice troubleshooting videos on YouTube, however each of the corrective steps is in several separate videos so it takes quite a bit of research to find all the relevant steps. I hope my video which has all the steps together will save you some research time.



FUTURE APPP UPDATES:

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I have reported the issues I encountered to the manufacture. They told me that there is work in progress on the next version of the app (as of May 23 2013):

Upcoming app updates will include fixing the issue with Bluetooth connectivity (the pairing process) and allowing users to select shutter speeds of less than 1 second.



Note that the Smart Trigger device mounts in the camera's shot shoe, so with the smart trigger mounted you will not be able to use the hot shoe for your on camera flash. Smart Trigger does not communicate with the camera, it uses the hot shoe for convenience, so in a pinch you can let Smart Trigger tangle and use the hot shoe for your flash.



WISH LIST:

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There is a future enhancement that I would love to see in the Smart Trigger (after the connectivity issues are addressed). I would like to have an ability to see through the app on the phone what the camera sees. This way I can adjust the composition when the camera is mounted in a way that does not allow me to see the viewfinder or LCD screen of the camera itself. With the availability of SD cards with WI FI capability this sounds like a real possibility.



I received Satechi Smart Trigger for testing, evaluation and review. I noted the positives and negatives of my experience, and I hope you will find the video and troubleshooting tips useful. I gave Smart Trigger 3 stars - I thought the mobile app rated 2 stars at this time and the device itself 4 stars. I will monitor the updates to this mobile app and once the pairing issues are fixed will re-evaluate.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★☆☆

Wifi Sd Memory Card Class 10 New New Inc® Ez Share

I am using this card in SONY NEX-5N camera and I tested it with iPad Mini, Samsung Galaxy 7.7 tablet, and Galaxy Nexus Phone. The functionality of the card works, but the documentation is somewhat lacking. I had to figure out several configuration issues. The two main issues was finding the mobile app and resetting passwords back to default. In addition it turned out that my Galaxy Tablet 7.7 is not compatible with the ezShare app.



To use this card you need to perform the following steps

1. Verify that you mobile device is compatible with the mobile app prior to purchasing the card by downloading the app. You don't need to install it at this step, the app store notifies you if it is not compatible on the first screen as shown in my video.

Once you have the card....

2. Install the card into your camera.

3. Download ezShare app to your mobile device and install it

4. Make sure the camera is turned on

5. Connect to a Wi Hi hot spot created by the sd card

6. Run the app to change the passwords (Wi Fi password and admin password). You can also change the hot spot name (also referred to as SSID).

HOW TO RESET PASSWORD BACK TO DEFAULT

________________________________________________



If you forget the password or what to change it after the initial change, you need to be able to set the card settings back to the defaults. The official procedure (option #1) did not work for me, I contacted the manufacture and he suggested option #2, which did work:



OPTION #1:

1. Insert the ezShare WIFI sd card into SD slot of the computer(Use USB to SD converter if no slot in the computer).

2. Delete the file named "ezshare.cfg" in the root directory.

3. Eject the ezShare sd card and re-insert back into the

4. Hotspot name(SSID), WiFi password and admin password should be result back to defaults.



OPTION #2:

1. Reformat SD card either in the camera or in the SD slot of the computer



When I used procedure #1 neither the SSID nor the password was changed, even though the file was deleted from the SD (I tried deleting on both Windows and Linux operating systems and verified that the file was gone). The second procedure (I reformatted SD using the camera) worked like a charm. Note that if you reformat your card to clean it from old photos after moving them to your computer, you will lose your SD settings every time you do it.



Obtaining the app

_________________



I tested the card on iPad Mini, Samsung Galaxy 7.7 tablet (running Android ICS 4.0.4), and Galaxy Nexus Phone (running Android Jelly Bean 4.21). The name of the Apple app is "ez Share WI-FO SD". The name of the Android app is "ezShare Android" (note no space between ez and Share).



When I got the Android app page it told me that the app is not compatible with my Galaxy 7.7 tablet. I visited the ezShare web site, where it it shows that this app requires Android 2.2 or higher. So there is something about Galaxy Tablets that the app cannot handle. Based on this experience my recommendation that you try to download the app before buying the card to make sure you will be able to use it.



Note that later I installed this app on my husband's Samsung Nexus Phone and it installed fine.



Configuring the mobile device

________________________________



The rest of my testing I completed with iPad Mini which worked without problems.



In my video I show the set up steps, as well as some useful screen shots (e.g. Android store page for ezShare, how App store looks for a mobile device that is not compatible, iTunes page for ezShare, ezShare official tutorial, ezShare home page)

1. The video starts by locating and installing the ezShare app

2. Then you will see me starting the app for the first time and getting an error 'card is not connected', this happened to me quite often because my camera automatically turns itself off in about 1 minute of inactivity. To fix the problem you need to turn the camera back on

3. When you get an error, the ezShare hot spot turns itself off, and you need to turn it back on. Default password for the hot spot is '88888888'.

4. Then restart ezShare app, the default admin password is 'admin'

5. When the app starts you will have a chance to change the hot spot name (SSID)

6. Next I show how to see the card video (i.e. videos on the card that are in my camera). Card Album shows the photos that are on the card in the camera.

7. From the Card album page I have an option to select individual photos and add them to the download queue.

8. Next I look at the download queue and see the photo being transferred. When the download is finished, the entry moves to the history column.

9. The final segment shares useful screen shots



Using SD card without WI FI

_______________________________



WI FI hot spot capability of the card takes a lot of extra power from the camera. The card has a switch which allows it to turn of HI FI and function as a regular card. The switch on the edge which is visible when you insert the card.

I am attaching a collage of two photos showing the card and switch. Sharing mode is when the switch is towards the short edge of the card (photo #2).



The SD card can me used a normal SD card. You can access files on it by connecting the camera with USB cable to your computer, or removing the card from the camera and inserting it into the computer's SD reader. I tested being able delete and change files on the SD card as I do normally with SD cards that do not have HI FI functionality. As mentioned earlier if you reformat SD hard you will reset the passwords and SSID name back to defaults.



WI FI vs USB

_______________________________



What is this card best suited for? Sending small files or videos to your mobile devices for sharing. In my video you might have noticed that downloading an image takes a bit of time. This is because my camera is set to shoot photos in FINE format, and the size of the files is around 3.5 MB. If you want to transfer large files to your computer it will be much faster using a USB connection (more than 3 times faster). If you are interested in the numerical comparison and charts, there is an interesting article "Exploring Time Capsule: theoretical speed vs practical throughput" by Prince McLean which includes comparison of USB 2.0 and WI FI networks.



Wish List

_______________________________



I would have liked if the mobile app had direct integration with Dropbox

I would have liked that reset to default worked another way - switch on the card or via a pin push on the edge of the card (i.e. I want to be able to reformat the card without resetting passwords)



I received this card from the manufacture with a request for a video review that will help other people configure and use the card. I hope my video helps you get started.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.







AshopZones review ★★★★★