One Chance To Wow Me Goes By The Wayside: Lexar 1 GB Picture Card Fails!

The Good: Great capacity
The Bad: Lost pictures!
The Basics: Having lost a whole vacation worth of images on a Lexar CompactFlash 1 GB picture card, I'm in no mood to be charitable to them.


When it comes to digital cameras, I've never been picky toward any one brand name. My wife, on the other hand, has had a lot more experience with digital cameras and flash drives. It is through hanging out with her and moving large sums of information between computers that I have come to truly appreciate some brands and their products. I have also come to loathe some memory products. When I began using her digital camera, I had no particular bias against Lexar. Indeed, the only reason I was down on the Lexar Jumpdrive Sport (reviewed here!) flash drive was the fact that it did not store much in the way of information or pictures. But now, having used her Lexar CompactFlash 1GB picture card, I think I'll be steering away from Lexar for the foreseeable future.

The reason for my loathing of the Lexar CompactFlash 1GB picture card is simple: ours lost all of the information on it. Without removing it from the camera, the contents of the picture card have become scattered and unreadable. You know the phrase "You only get one chance to make a first impression?" Well, when your first impression of a memory card is "it loses my entire cross country trip with my partner, including my wife's first experiences with caves, Western states and a Star Trek convention," that's pretty insurmountable. For my personal feeling, I'm wary of anything that has such extraordinary capacity because it leads to taking such risks as losing two weeks of images, but my partner is more liberal in that regard. Or, she was until last week when our Lexar CompactFlash 1 GB picture card failed and wiped itself.

Lexar CompactFlash cards are what my partner's Nikon Coolpix P5000 digital camera (reviewed here!) used and the 1GB capacity was impressive. That amount of capacity held 1,000 images when the camera was set to the middle quality level on the camera. Unfortunately, my partner used the card for a week and it failed. The thousand image capacity of the CompactFlash is wonderful for my partner, as she is a professional photographer and she was able to take pretty much unlimited pictures and then delete unusable ones en route to our next photo-worthy locale. For me, it's a bit too many pictures on the camera at a time, but then, I'm not a professional. For her needs, a gigabyte is pretty much the minimum for a day trip.

In other words, this would be a great picture card for professionals, but it managed to lose all of the images on it. Technically, they are on there in some capacity, but they cannot be extracted and that makes this card virtually worthless.


Basics

The Lexar CompactFlash Card with the 1 GB capacity is a small chip designed to store digital images on compatible cameras. This picture card is a medium sized, flat storage device that fits into virtually any digital camera that uses a fifty pin connection to a camera. The fifty pin connectors use two rows of tiny pins to insert into the female end of this card. For those who do not know if this is appropriate for your camera, this is information that every camera's manual will have. "Pins" in this case are actual tiny pointed, round metal pins in the depth of the camera's memory card slot (usually gold) that conduct the information into the video card. The easiest way to check is to read the manual or check the number of pins on your current picture card.

The Lexar CompactFlash card is approximately one and five-eighths inches wide, one and three-eighths inches deep and 1/8" thick! This is bigger than the most compact cameras' chips and not as easily lost. The chip may be kept in the camera or removed to plug into a chip reader to extract the data on it. This is medium size, but because most people never remove them from their cameras, losing them or damaging them from extracting them from the camera ought not to be much of an issue.

Capacity

As one might guess, the 1 GB Lexar CompactFlash Card holds only one gigabyte worth of visual information. This is an incredible amount of capacity for people who are spending a day out shooting the sites at places they are likely to only go once in their lives or just kicking back and getting great candids at a party or event, unless one is a professional in which case it can be filled in under ten minutes with the right camera! I have found the one thousand high quality pictures this will store to be great for the concept, but a bit nerve-racking when I find myself in more risky situations, especially considering ours lost all thousand of the images that were on it!


Durability

The Lexar CompactFlash card is essentially a tiny piece of plastic and it appears to be strangely more fragile than the smaller, thinner and more exposed chips I have used in the past. Without being exposed to sparks, energy sources, or any form of trauma, our CompactFlash lost the ability to read what was stored on it. Inside the camera and out, it cannot read what is on the card. It knows that the capacity is full (my wife was peeved when the device was filled up, then lost the information!) but it cannot read any of the images. Removing it from the camera, putting the chip in a chip reader, the information is still unreadable.

This is a relatively small chip and is easily lost, at least when compared to a flash drive (compared to a camera card, it is pretty much the standard size or somewhat larger). Users must be very careful while handling it. Still, even with taking proper care of this card, it gave up on us and once you've had a product give up like this, it doesn't matter what the ideal is in terms of capacity, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

Warranty

Lexar does not extend any warranty on the CompactFlash 1 GB card, but as they say, if you lose the memories, no warranty matters.

Overview

The Lexar 1 GB CompactFlash card is the worst card I've ever used in that it is the ONLY one to ever lose all of the information on it, even though it was used properly in a device it was designed for. That makes it very easy to not recommend and to pan as well.

For other memory devices, please visit my reviews of:
Fujifilm xD-Picture Card (256 MB)
Data Traveler 2.0 1 GB Flash Drive
Tribeca Pinkdrive 2 GB

1/10

For other electronics reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

A Very Simple Product, The Nikon UR-E5 Adapter Works For More Than Its Stated Function.

The Good: Durable, Easy to use, Additional benefit
The Bad: Very basic piece (not included with camera or lenses), Seems expensive to me.
The Basics: Necessary for anyone attaching a telephoto lens to a Coolpix camera, the Nikon UR-E5 Lens Adapter is a simple metal ring that prevents lenses from getting damaged by spacing.


The Nikon UR-E5 Lens Adapter is a remarkably simple product; it is a metal ring designed to connect a heavier, telephoto lens to a Nikon digital camera. The UR-E5 is specific to the Nikon Coolpix series of digital cameras; my partner has a Nikon Coolpix P5000 (reviewed here!) and this is designed exactly for that. It is very important to note that the UR-E5 is not included with the Coolpix P5000 or any of the telephoto lenses that one might wish to use with the Coolpix cameras. As a result, the UR-E5 Lens Adapter becomes an essential piece of equipment for any photographer who wants to increase their versatility with the basic point and shoot camera, which is what the Coolpix is.

The Nikon UR-E5 Lens Adapter is a metal ring which has been powdercoated black to match the black matte color of the Coolpix cameras. It is a steel ring that is 1/8" thick at its widest point and is a perfect circle just under two inches in diameter. The Lens Adapter has threaded ends on either end and at its widest end it has treads to offer friction against the users fingers so it is easy to twist in or out of the camera or lens.

What is the point of this metal ring? Simple; the Nikon UR-E5 Lens Adapter connects the Coolpix cameras to the telephoto lens that one may buy separately. It is a very simple connector, nothing more, nothing less. Because of how the Coolpix camera is designed, the zoom function extends the lens from the camera out of the camera body and lens the camera comes with may not be removed. When the digital camera is at maximum zoom, the lens projects almost two inches out in front of the camera housing. As a result, a telephoto lens may not be attached directly to the camera (because telephoto lenses are not recessed within their housing - i.e. there is nowhere for the camera's lens to go within the telephoto lens when it is at maximum zoom). Telephoto lenses for the Nikon Coolpix cameras are designed to screw into the base, but because of the lens arrangement, they cannot; if one were to screw a telephoto lens into the base of the Coolpix and accidentally hit the "zoom" button, it would break the motor and lenses as the camera's lenses pushed out into the telephoto lens! Thus, the Nikon UR-E5 Lens Adapter essentially acts as a spacer, which prevents lens and motor damage on the Coolpix cameras.

This is a ridiculously easy product to use as well; the ends are threaded, so one merely screws the male end into the female end which is right around the lens on the base of the Coolpix. This is pretty much idiotproof; there is only one place to thread the UR-E5 on the Coolpix and it will only go on the one way. Then, turn the Coolpix camera on, extend the zoom lens and then take your telephoto lens and carefully screw it into the female end of the UR-E5. It is that simple. Both the telephoto lens and the adapter screw in and out very easily.

The steel body of the Nikon UR-E5 Lens Adapter makes it ideal for connecting even the largest telephoto lenses designed for the Coolpix cameras as it can handle the weight of the lens. This is very durable and easy to use. However, the bigger the telephoto lens, the more frontheavy your Coolpix camera will become and amateurs might find the camera difficult to use with a bigger lens. Pretty much any use of the UR-E5 to attach a telephoto lens will require the operator to use two hands to take photographs.

There is one additional benefit to picking up a Nikon UR-E5 Lens Adapter and that is that its muted black finish and depth can act as a screen for pictures shot at normal depth! The principle behind a screen is that usually they attach to the end of one's camera lens and they prevent ambient light from side angles from hitting the lens and causing streaks or burnout in the resulting images. The Nikon UR-E5 serves the exact same function so long as one is not zooming with their Nikon Coolpix's primary lens! Leaving the Adapter on without attaching an additional lens does not significantly change the weight or use of the Coolpix, so leaving it on only becomes a problem when one is storing their camera.

The UR-E5 adapter is made of steel, so it is built to last and after years of use, neither my wife nor I have had any problems with this showing any wear. It is a good adapter for any Nikon telephoto lenses designed for the Coolpix digital cameras. If the telephoto lens is a generic or not specifically designed for Coolpix cameras, it may require a different adapter.

The peripheral function is hardly enough to justify purchasing this simple metal ring for those who do not have telephoto lenses, but anyone who has a Coolpix and is thinking of upgrading lenses will find this is an indispensable tool.

For other products for the Coolpix P5000 or other digital camera products, please check out my reviews of:
Fantasea Waterproof Housing for Coolpix P5000
Fujifilm xD-Picture Card (256 MB)
Nikon Coolpix S60 Digital Camera

6/10

For other electronics product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

| | |

Just Past My Comfort Threshold On Capacity, The 256MB Fuji xD-Picture Card Is Great (But...)

The Good: Great capacity, Good warranty, Relatively inexpensive, Easy to use, Durable
The Bad: May be lost easily when outside camera.
The Basics: A perfect card with amazing capacity, the 256MB FujiFilm xD-Picture card overcomes the anxieties us paranoids have about such excessive abilities as this has!


Sometimes, a product is fine in its own right, but experience teaches those who use it valuable lessons. In my case, fear teaches me a lesson that experience has yet to illustrate to me. I love taking photographs. It's a hobby and while I am not all that good at it, getting married has encouraged me to preserve the new memories and experiences we are having together and I am generally thrilled with that. However, the more pictures I take with my camera, the more anxious I become about keeping the pictures on the card in my camera.

I have a Fuji Finepix camera (reviewed here!) and it uses Fuji xD-Picture cards. Despite my anxiety with continually moving up in sizes, I bought the 256 MB capacity while on my honeymoon and it worked as I hoped it would. I did not have to upload my pictures until night (I was able to easily go two days on the honeymoon before uploading, even when feeling free to take all of the pictures I wanted to take), but there were enough pictures on the card that made me feel anxious about keeping them there, encouraging me to upload them from the card. However, the number of pictures this card was able to hold put me at the threshold for my comfort level with picture cards. In other words, after a day and a half of shooting with my camera, this card made me anxious, not because I have ever had a Fuji xD-Picture card fail, but because if this one did, I was now at a place where I could lose vast amounts of pictures that I would like to be able to keep and enjoy!

This is a great picture card for professionals, but most people who travel with their computer and have anxiety over everything in the world failing, this is at or beyond the comfort of many users as an entire library of images fits on it! Truth be told, now that I am married with a photographer, I am discovering: 1. This is still painfully low capacity for a professional and 2. The Fuji Finepix camera is a pretty basic digital camera and no professional in the world is going to be using it for serious photography. That said . . .

Basics

The Fujifilm xD-Picture Card with the 256 MB capacity is hard plastic card that stores digital images. This picture card is a small, flat chip that fits into virtually any Fuji digital camera and any other camera that uses an eighteen pin connection to a camera. If you are unsure of whether or not that applies to your camera, either consult the camera's manual or carefully remove your current memory card and count the pins. "Pins" are the flat leads (usually a gold-color) that conduct the information, they are separated by faint nonmetallic bars. If your memory card has eighteen little bars then it is considered an eighteen pin lead and this product would be instantly compatible with your camera.

The Fujifilm xD-Picture card is approximately one inch wide, three-quarters inches deep and only 1/16" thick! This is small and easily lost. Fortunately, one of the more common camera accessories these days is a picture card wallet, so they should be easy enough to not lose. The xD-Picture cards are smaller than some and because most people never remove them from their cameras, that ought not to be much of an issue (and, as far as the travel concept goes, the space one saves with picture cards over film is likely to be eaten up by space needed for batteries to keep one's camera powered).

Capacity

As one might guess, the 256MB Fujifilm xD-Picture Card holds two hundred fifty-six megabytes worth of visual information. This is an incredible amount of capacity for people who are spending a day out shooting the sites at places they are likely to only go once in their lives or just kicking back and getting great candids at a party or event. I have found the seven hundred sixty-eight pictures this will store to be more than sufficient for even a decent family vacation. Still, I found it a bit nerve-racking when I find myself in more risky situations; the capacity allowed me to shoot fearlessly all day without worrying how many pictures I had left, but I limited some of the places I went for fear that the camera might get damaged and I would lose the hundreds of pictures I had already taken. When one considers how many pictures they honestly usually take while on vacations or at weddings or such, seven hundred sixty-eight is the fairly impressive amount. With my camera (and most peoples) there are various quality levels for the pictures taken. My FinePix offers four quality levels based upon the resolution of the shot taken.

At the minimum resolution (.3M) the 256MB card will hold 1936 photographs, but they will be the most grainy that the camera takes. Conversely, a 256MB chip will only hold 384 of the highest resolution images possible. My experiences have been that I do not like the result of the lowest resolution images and I burn through batteries and memory far too quick with the highest capacity ones. I keep my camera set to the 1M quality, which provides images that are a decent size with an impressive enough resolution and this picture card holds 768 pictures at the medium quality. With my increased desire to take photographs, I found I was quite happy I upgraded to the 128MB card, but was more anxious when I then upgraded to the 256MB card. In fact, I am more likely to use this on social trips (like weddings) than recreational (theme park) trips! Despite my concerns before my last trip, I did not come anywhere close to filling up the card with all 768 JPG files that are 6.40 inches (162.2 mm, 1280 pixels) X 4.80 inches (121.9mm, 960 pixels) with a 200 X 200 DPI resolution (though, honestly, that might just be the imaging program I open the pictures in) and True Color (24 Bits).

For those who can live with 768 great pictures between reloads or almost two thousand crappy ones, this is a great memory card for you. I suspect that this is the perfect amount for most people, even those of us who are paranoid about losing pictures on a picture card.

In my experience, even as the picture card gets full, there is no noticeable difference in transfer time (i.e. amount of time it takes for the image to get put on the picture card after it is taken) from when the picture card is empty vs. when it gets full. As well, there seem to be no advantages in the transfer speed on this card vs. other FujiFilm xD-Picture cards. The only thing that seems to have a real effect in transfer speed is increasing the level of quality of the photographs. The bigger the file, the longer the transfer time and as this picture card becomes more full at maximum resolution, it may take up to two seconds for the camera to be ready to take another shot.

Durability

The Fujifilm xD-Picture card is essentially a small, plastic chip and this style of picture card is a lot thinner than most picture cards I have recently come into contact with. Some picture cards are even self-contained with the pins all being protected on this inside. This is not the case with this style of picture card. The leads plug into a slot in one's camera (consult your camera manual for how to do that). As well, there are chip readers that may be plugged into computers to read the chips directly. It is important to note that software support for extracting information from this card is entirely dependent upon the user's camera or computer! This picture card comes with no software support, nor does it require any to use. It simply plugs into a compatible camera and is as easy to use as batteries.

However, this is a small device and is easily lost. As a result, users must be very careful while handling it and a picture card wallet is highly recommended. I have NEVER had this picture card lose a file. Proper care indicates that one should ground themselves (eliminate static electricity from the body) by touching something metal before touching the card. The only other way I can imagine to damage this is step on it or poorly packing it in a carry-on!

This is a durable card that most people will never need to take out of their camera.


Warranty

Fujifilm tends to have a five-year warranty on a lot of their picture cards, and this 256MB card has that. In all honesty, having used FujiFilm xD-Picture cards of various capacities for years, I have never had any need to cash in the warranty and I suspect this will last more than the five warrantied years.

This product has a five-year warranty and I cannot speak to how responsive the company is to replacing them when needed, as I have not needed to exercise that.


Overview

The Fujifilm 256MB xD-Picture card is great as far as capacity and usability go. I find myself endorsing it as a perfect card, despite my anxiety, but I suspect this will be the highest I ever go or recommend most casual photographers consider.

For other camera-related products or memory, please visit my reviews of:
CB-5L Charger for Nikon P5000 camera battery
Tribeca Pinkdrive 2 GB
Nikon CoolPix S60 digital camera

9.5/10

For other electronics product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

The Charger, The Canon CB-5L Does What It Promises!

The Good: Does what it promises, Easy-to-use
The Bad: Not grounded, Relatively expensive to replace
The Basics: A product that does just what it promises (no more, no less), the Canon CB-5L charger is a simple, generally well-designed device.


The Canon CB-5L battery charger, is a one-function device with remarkably few bells and whistles. As a result, it makes it exceptionally easy to write about it with an economy of language. Besides, it fits perfectly with my earlier review of the erratic Ultralast UL-BP511 battery (here!) which this is the charger for.

The Canon CB-5L battery charger is intended for a single purpose: to charge UL-BP511 battery packs, which are used in Canon cameras and camcorders. My partner and I drain her UL-BP511 (or at least as much as it can be in the camera) and have been using the Canon CB-5L battery charger for six months to recharge our two camera batteries.

The Canon CB-5L battery charger is a black plastic battery charger that is so light that until the lithium-ion battery is placed in it, the cord can actually cause it to tip up! It is a 3 ½” long x 2 ½” wide x 1 ½” tall plastic box with a 4 foot cord. This serves as a tray for the BP511 battery and has a track into which the battery slides. The track is neatly designed so that the battery may only slide in the proper way, which connects the leads on the battery to the leads in the charger. The four foot long electrical cord ends in a standard North American two-prong plug and it is worth noting that as a result, this charger is not grounded. I, therefore, always recommend plugging the CB-5L into a power strip or USB to protect the batteries that are being recharged from potential power surges.

Also, the cord detaches from the CB-5L, which seems to imply that other plugs will go into it, making it possible to travel with this and recharge your batteries with the proper accessory cord (or a car adapter). No other cords come with the CB-5L.

When the CB-5L is plugged into a wall socket and the BP511 battery is slid into the charger, there is a red LED that lights up and begins blinking. The frequency of the blinking light on the charger informs the user of how much charge is left in the battery. So, if it blinks once and it takes a while to blink again, the battery is almost completely dead. One of the interesting aspects of using the CB-5L is that it instantly confounded me how the charger could indicate that the battery was so close to fully charged and yet the camera the battery was used in would indicate the battery was dead!

A fully-exhausted battery charges on the CB-5L in about four hours. Use is simple: plug the charger in, slide the battery in and wait. There is nothing else the user actually needs to do to make this work.

One ought to use care with what one puts around the CB-5L, as this is an electronic device with exposed leads. While it appears virtually impossible to get electrocuted by it, spilling things on or near it is not recommended. Spills do clean off the smooth plastic surface easily, though with a damp cloth. Batteries left in the charger do not get hot, nor ruined.

In other words, outside a slight design problem with the plug and the fact that there are generic chargers for the BP511 battery on the market that charge as well, as fast, for less money, this is a fine product.

For other digital camera product reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Fantasea underwater housing
Nikon P5000 digital camera
Nikon L16 camera batteries

7/10

For other electronics reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


| | |

Not A Camera, The Fantasea Housing Waterproof Case Makes The Nikon Coolpix P5000 More Of One!

The Good: Easy to use, Works, Durable
The Bad: Expensive!
The Basics: Hardly an indispensable piece of camera equipment by any means, the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing does exactly what it promises by allowing photographers to take pictures underwater.


Right before my wife got rid of her Nikon Coolpix P5000 digital camera (reviewed here!), I went through all of the swag she had to accompany it with her and I marveled at some of the weird accouterments she had inherited for it. Arguably the most obscure and weird one was the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing. Have you ever wanted to take your digital camera underwater to take pictures? Well, that is exactly what the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing is for. No kidding, this clear plastic shell is designed to keep the Coolpix P5000 (and P5100) camera safe to take underwater. The beautiful thing about it is that it actually works!

Exactly what is sounds like, the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing is designed to protect the Coolpix P5000 and for a novice, I found it remarkably easy to use. For the purpose of the review, I experimented with the underwater housing in a bathtub and at Green Lakes State Park. As a result, my experiments with the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing took my Coolpix P5000 down to a depth of about thirty feet underwater. Those doing photography at depths deeper than that would need to experiment in ways I was not able to. That said, the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing did exactly what it promised and was an accessory that enhanced my partner and my ability to have fun, even if it did seem extravagant or esoteric to me when we first unearthed it.

The Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing is a clear plastic case that is essentially the same shape as the Coolpix P5000, only slightly larger. This hard-plastic case a little over 1/8" thick, so while the Coolpix is four inches wide by 3 1/8" tall and 2 1/2" thick, the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing is about 4 5/8" wide, 4" tall (to the top of the buttons) and 2 3/4" thick. The hollow shell is quite light, adding less than a pound to the overall weight of the camera when one is using it and this is offset because when one uses this, they are underwater, so it feels lighter anyway. Comprised primarily of plastic, the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing has metal latches on the sides and a rubber ring that creates a watertight seal around the entire seam.

Basically, the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing is two halves of a plastic shell. If one imagines a plastic, camera-shaped clam, they have an idea of how the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing looks and works. To use the device, one need only have a dry, flat place. I tend to err on the side of paranoia and when it comes to cameras, the thing that needs the most protecting is the camera lens. As a result, I always start by placing the back side of the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing on a table. Then, simply lay the Coolpix P5000 into it, which is easy because the housing is molded to fit the camera housing. There is only one way the base of the Fantasea will fit on the back of the P5000, so this is pretty much idiot proof.

Next, take the front molded portion - this is easy to distinguish from the back because the back part is flat, whereas the front has an extended area over the lens which allows the user to have the zoom function engaged - and press it into the back. The seam will get tight as the sides press into place because there is a rubber ring in the female side of the back. The front half of the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing has a male ridge around the seam, which presses into the back portion. To lock the housing sides together, there are four metal latches - two on the left, two on the right - which simply pull into place and lock the unit together, making it watertight. The latches are simple metal tabs which are attached to metal loops. The loops extend from the back to the front half and then when the tab is pressed down, the pressure keeps the two pieces together.

Getting the camera out after one is done using the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing is easy as well; simply use your thumbs and flip the four latches and the housing splits open when the metal loops are lifted above the plastic ends on the opposite side. The fact that there are four latches adds to a feeling of security when using the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing. If one latch accidentally gets knocked, the camera will not come out of the housing, nor will it (in my experience) allow water into the housing. In other words, the design of this device makes it very easy to protect one's camera while underwater.

Using the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing is very easy when the housing is properly surrounding one's camera. Atop the camera housing are two buttons, one which allows the user to access the shutter control and the other that allows one to adjust things like the time delay dial. I saw no real point to using the time delay wheel while underwater - the Housing has a button which is depressed, then twisted for that and it seemed to work - as I was mostly working on breathing underwater and taking pictures, as opposed to posing for photographs underwater. The other button, though is an easily-usable spring-loaded button which one presses and it pokes the shutter control, allowing one to take a photograph subaquatically!

The housing is that easy to use. It snaps and latches on, allows the basic functioning of a camera underwater and because it is clear allows the camera to take pictures and use the automatic flash function. It may be easily cleaned with any glass cleaner (not recommended if one is taking the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing back into water with lifeforms one does not want poisoned) and it is quite durable. I dropped my Coolpix while inside the Fantasea twice on land and once into the tub and it did not crack, shatter or scratch! For those looking to take pictures underwater, this does exactly what it promises in that it protects the camera and allows for basic functioning of the Coolpix P5000 underwater.

What the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing does not do is make it easy to make adjustments underwater. Here one learns quickly about exactly what type of water they are in. I had no problems with the Fantasea in the bathtub. Everything we photographed was close and the water was clean. However, when we took the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing and the Coolpix P5000 to Green Lakes State Park, we got a crash course in the difficulties of shooting underwater.

First, the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing inhibits the use of any of the dials on the back, as well as the power button on top. As a result, one needs to make all adjustments to the camera and turn it on before one seals the camera into the Housing. This is problematic if one has it to the factory-set settings like "powersave mode," which puts the Coolpix into a stasis if a picture is not taken within thirty seconds of the last adjustment. So, that's something that needs to be disabled first. Then, there is making the choice of zoom or no zoom. Personally, I figure anything one wants to take a picture of underwater is going to be at a distance where they'll want the camera's zoom function engaged. The Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing easily accommodates the fully-extended lens of the Coolpix P5000 as it is designed exactly for that.

But the idea of the crash course in shooting underwater raises issues that have nothing to do with the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing, save that to make any adjustments, one needs to surface, go back to dry land and open the Housing, make adjustments, reseal it and return to the water. The chief problem that made me wonder why I was bothering with this product was the flash. The flash seems like an obvious thing for one to have engaged in most freshwater sources, especially as one dives down a bit. The Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing protects to a depth of at least thirty feet below the surface in my experience, but at our perfect and beautiful state park, the water down there gets a bit dark, especially if the clouds come and cover the sun. So, I did what any photographer would do, I left the water, went back to dry land, turned the flash function on and went back underwater. Unfortunately, this was a mistake in my setting; Green Lakes is a very clean lake, but the camera's flash illuminated the particulate matter (i.e. algae) in the water and the photographs that resulted were pretty much worthless. As a result, the Coolpix tended to work better without the flash (the controls for which are not accessible with the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing) and one pretty much gets the pictures they get underwater with it.

The screen that shows the pictures on the back of the Coolpix P5000 is visible through the back of the Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing, but while some might want to dwell underwater and see what the pictures they just took look like, I was much more concerned with surfacing and breathing again.

The Fantasea FP 5000 Underwater Housing is ideal for Coolpix P5000 owners who have spent a lot of money on a trip that takes them underwater in exotic and well-lit locales and the otherwise stifling price in the $200 range seems minimal when one considers the underwater pictures one might get on a trip to, say, scuba diving in the Bahamas.

For other camera and camera product reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Nikon Coolpix S60 digital camera
Nikon L16 digital camera
Fuji Finepix A200 digital camera

8.5/10

For other electronics product reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


| | |

Erratic Functioning Makes For A Split Decision On The Ultralast UL-BP511 Battery Pack!

The Good: One works wonderfully, Quick recharge time, Durable
The Bad: One has really crapped out on us!
The Basics: The power source for many Canon products, the UL-BP511 becomes more erratic as time goes on.


My original intent was to review my wife's camera (that shall be forthcoming) but it died on her recently, leaving me adrift and unable to review it. That said, I thought it might be useful to write about the battery pack used to power her Canon EOS10D given that we have had two such batteries now. We have been using the UL-BP511 battery pack for three months now and the durability of the battery comes from the fact that we received ours used; a professional photographer had been using both batteries for over two years prior to our acquisition of them.

The Ultralast UL-BP511 is a very specific battery pack. It is a two-cylinder battery that measures 2 1/8" long, 1 1/2" wide and 7/8" tall. It is specifically designed for cameras from Canon and similar camcorders. If your device requires the UL-BP511 it ought to have come with one or the manual will clearly dictate that it is required for the device. The UL-BP511 puts out 7.4 volts and 1600 mAh of electricity, so it is not useful for much other than small electronic devices specifically designed for it. This is a Lithium-ion battery which means two things: it is hazardous to dispose of except through proper channels and it is rechargeable.

This is a plastic-encased battery pack with metal leads only at the end that goes into the device. This makes it very easy to use as the flat bottom of the battery pack puts it on tracks within the Canon products and it may only be slid in one way: the proper way. The plastic case of the battery pack is thick and resists cracking. We've dropped our batteries several times on things like stone and concrete and this has not made a dent in the battery case or damaged the gold-plated leads on the UL-BP511.

As well as fitting into the devices only one way, the UL-BP511 is excellent in that it only fits into the charger one way. The flat bottom is specifically designed with gaps in the tracks so it may only slide in properly. This battery does require a charger and it must be purchased separately. When the battery is exhausted, it takes about four hours to get the UL-BP511 back to full charge.

Using the UL-BP511 is easy; it slides into the Canon EOS10D and when one closes the battery port, the camera may be activated. We have two UL-BP511 batteries, both of which have been in use for about two and a half years, used equally. One of these batteries holds a charge for only about fifteen minutes (if we are lucky). The other is strong and is able to keep a charge - shooting with many different lighting and zooming conditions - for about an hour and a half. There are no differences - cosmetic or functional - between these two batteries, but one works, one doesn't after two years of use.

That level of inconsistency with the battery makes it a tougher product to recommend enthusiastically. Because the longer one uses this the more likely it is to crap out, this can be an annoying drawback of buying it. As the warranty is only a single year, the rechargeable battery losing its ability to retain charge after two years is something the consumer can do nothing about.

But because the UL-BP511 is necessary for operating our Canon camera, it is a necessary evil. However, before purchasing Canon devices that require the UL-BP511, one might want to take to heart that this battery pack may become a financial liability in the future when it needs to be replaced . . .lest you get less use out of your beloved camera!

For other products related to cameras, please check out my reviews of:
Nikon AA batteries for the L16 camera
Nikon P5000 Digital Camera
Fuji Finepix A200 Digital Camera

5/10

For other electronics reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

Why I’m Down On Nikon’s Lithium Ion Batteries For The Nikon L16

The Good: They can be used in other things that require a AA battery. . .
The Bad: Expensive, Fails to hold charge in a camera well
The Basics: A poor value, the Nikon Coolpix L16 batteries drain ridiculously quickly within the camera and are not rechargeable, making them a poor choice for photographers.


Ever since I did my rigorous testing on the Nikon L16 digital camera (reviewed here!), I’ve been hoping for the proper venue to tell more of the story which helped steer me away from that camera. That takes the form of the batteries. The shop I was at where I tested the Coolpix L16 took everything very seriously, as did I because I am looking for a serious piece of photographic equipment for my wife.

While testing the Coolpix L16, I took two test pictures and the camera died. I turned to the sales professional and as he popped the two Nikon AA batteries out of the camera, he shrugged and said, “They were old. Try these.” He then went into his refrigerator – film is preserved best in the cold and batteries, which operate on a chemical reaction, last longer when they are chilled to slow that chemical reaction – and returned with a four-pack of Nikon batteries designed for use with the Coolpix L16. They were cosmetically identical to the two he had removed from the camera. One of the nice things about them is that they are a lithium-ion battery which is AA size and they have very clear markings for the positive end (for those who might not want to feel their way through finding the + or – end of the battery.

But that’s all I have good to say about them. A pair of Nikon L16 batteries lasted 113 pictures before they were unusable in the camera. When that happened, the salesperson looked a little irked, but he dutifully popped the last two batteries from the four-pack into the camera and let me keep doing my test shoots. The “low battery” light came on with the first pair after the ninety-third picture. With the final two batteries (which had been sitting out), the low battery light came on after one hundred eleven pictures. For the $17.99 he wanted for a four-pack of Nikon’s special batteries, I managed to get less than three hundred pictures!

The problem here is that the Nikon L16 batteries are specifically designed and marketed for use with the Coolpix L16 camera and with a four pack being more expensive and working so poorly, it is impossible to recommend these. Serious photographers would do well to steer away from a battery that is so inefficient at holding the charge and users who need batteries for other purposes will find less expensive ones elsewhere.

The Nikon L16 batteries are not rechargeable, so this battery is both an environmentally problematic product (when it comes to disposal) and economically unviable for serious photographers.

For other power supply-related reviews, please check out my takes on:
Monster Cable AV600 Power Protector
Kyocera Travel Charger IV
Cables Unlimited KaBLING Pink Power Cord PWR-1000-06P

1/10

For other electronics reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |