Sony HDR-SR5E 40GB High Definition Camcorder
The ultra-compact stylishly-designed AVCHD HDD Handycam with ClearVid CMOS Sensor x.v.Colour and Carl Zeiss? Vario-Sonnar?T* lens. Featuring 40GB HDD it records 1080i HD movie for up to 15 hours. Number of Pixels Gross (K): 4.0 Megapixel still image recording and 2.3 Megapixel Dual Rec while recording movies Built in Microphone: Dolby Digital 5.1ch Creator for Surround sound recording with built in microphone LCD: Size (inch): 2.7 Wide Clear photo LCD plus screen with touch panel Minimum Focusing Distance: 5.1-51 USB Streaming: TBC 16:9 Wide (Full): 16:9 Mode ; 41.3-485 / 4:3 Mode ; 50.5-594 Optical Zoom: 20x Digital Zoom: 80x SteadyShot: Super SteadyShot Flash (Automatic Pop Up): No Memory Stick Compatibility: Memory Stick Duo Supplied Accessories: AC Adaptor AV Cable Rechargeable Battery Pack Handycam Station USB Cable USB Driver Editing Software Battery Life (Mins): STAMINA up to 6 hours 45 minutes (with optional battery LCD backlight off) Warranty: 1 Year

Customer Review: Superb in every way
This is another superb camera from Sony. As soon as you take it out the box you know it’s something special just by the way it feels, looks and sits in the palm of your hand. The build quality is superb, on many cameras you’d just get a normal resolution LCD screen to watch while you record but Sony have even installed a 2.7″ HD screen. The docking station makes it easy to backup or transfer files and everything feels sturdy and made to last.

The video quality is just unbelievable, it is the highest quality you could imagine and looks even better than ?2,000 TV studio cameras - no joking. Due to the x.v system the colours are lifelike, sharp and very bright. There’s no ghosting, blurring or shaking at all thanks to the super steady shot, it’s hard to see how this kind of quality could ever be improved upon. I filmed a cat walking on a fence which was a good 50 metres away, I had it on full zoom filming through a glass window and even then it was so clear you could see every whisker on his face. I have used it on a 40″ and a 19″ TV, it looks stunning on both. Thanks to super nightshot It’s equally as good in total darkness for all those of you who do ghost hunts or film nightlife, you can see up to 20 metres away and the quality remains as stunning and clear as if it were day. With up to 28 hours of “film” in standard definition and 5 hours at the top quality I doubt you’ll ever run out of room and it’s so much easier than carrying round spare tapes with you everywhere you go.

There’re lots of super features like the “old film” effect where you can make it look as though you’re recording on an old black and white camera from the 1930’s. There’s steadyshot to get rid of shaking caused by your hand. You can use the camcorder as a normal digital camera too and get 9999 pictures on the hard drive and there’s memory stick slot you can use too. The camera even has a flash, you can take them while still recording videos and the photos are as good as on a still camera thanks to the 4 megapixels. You can record in 5.1 surround sound which can really add a new dimension to your films and if all this sounds too much for you then just hit the “easy” button and the camera makes all the decisions for you! There’s a cool slow motion feature so you can record live action at about half the speed, great fun!The list of features goes on and on.

Editing is a slight problem although it is getting easier as time goes by. In High definition mode it records in a new format called AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition). AVCHD is not very editing friendly, it won’t load into about 90% of editing programs such as windows movie maker so I thoroughly recommend buying Sony Vegas 8 platinum for about ?50 at the same time as this camera so you can edit footage. You’ll need a powerful PC to edit HD footage (minimum 3.0 GHZ with 512mb ram and a 256mb graphics card) and even with that it takes 30 hours to publish a 1 hour film in 1080i. You could always just film in normal resolution though and you can easily edit that straight into any program.

Overall this is a top-notch camera.There are higher spec models in the range such as the SR7 and SR8 but they just have bigger hard drives and a very slightly better lens so this seems the pick of the bunch for me. I tried several hard drive high definition cameras before i bought this including JVC and Aiptek but this Sony model just blows everything else out the water.

Customer Review: Superb HD Camcorder from Sony
I’d been looking into purchasing a HD (High Definition) camcorder in order to take away on holiday and capture all of those memorable moments in stunning HD. I heavily researched the few HD models which are currently on the market and took an interest in Sony’s new HDD (Hard Disk Drive) camcorders which were released in June/July of 2007.

Sony have released three HD models which record to HDD in the new AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) format: the HDR-SR5E, HDR-SR7E and HDR-SR8E. The HDR-SR5E is the cheapest of the three.

I purchased the HDR-SR5E a few weeks ago, shortly after the release date, based on my research and my own personal requirements. At the time (and even now) there were very few reviews on this model, which is mainly why I am writing this, for the benefit of others!

Upon receipt of the camcorder, my first impression was ‘WOW!’. I had seen in a Sony Store a few days before-hand and so wasn’t too shocked at the size, but others could be. The device is fairly small, considering its capabilities, but feels strong and is of the typical high build quality from Sony.

All of the required cables etc were included in the box, along with a Handycam Docking Station and remote control. Be aware though, that the HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) cable needed for a HDMI connection is not bundled with the device. However, the camcorder can be connected to a HDTV using the supplied component cables.

I put the camcorder to test on a recent trip to Norway, capturing approximately one hour of footage at high quality (HD-XP). To my surprise, I used just under 7GB of the 40GB hard drive and did not even have to charge the supplied battery during the trip (takes approx. 2hr 20 min to charge). The touchscreen LCD is a joy to work with and the camcorder itself is easy to hold when filming for long periods of time.

Now for the real stuff…picture quality. In my opinion, the picture quality produced by this camcorder is superb. When viewed on a HDTV, footage is sharp and clear, and colours are strikingly accurate. The focus of the camera is accurate exposure adjusts automatically to produce some stunning shots. The camcorder has 10x optical zoom which is excellent, especially for capturing those shots a little bit further away. Moreover, the camcorder records in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, which is extremely good quality.

Footage can be uploaded to a computer for editing and playback using the supplied USB cable. However, be aware! This new AVCHD format requires quite a lot of processing for playback alone, never mind editing. If your computer is more than 18 months old, I wouldn’t recommend trying to edit such footage. The supplied Picture Motion Browser software will play the footage but editing options are limited. The software will, however, allow you to burn the AVCHD footage to DVD for playback in a PlayStation 3 or convert the footage to MPEG-2 for standard DVD players. Obviously, this loses the HD quality, but having tested this option myself, I can confirm that the quality is still relatively good. At present, support for the .m2ts format (which the camcorder records in) is also limited. However, if you have a Sony VAIO computer released from 2006 onwards, you should have no problem importing the .m2ts files into Adobe Premiere Elements for editing, as the VAIO Edit Components software (v6.2) provides AVCHD support.

Differences between this cheaper model and the other two models (SR7E and SR8E) are, in my opinion, very little. As far as I am aware, both the SR7E and SR8E offer a viewfinder, larger hard drives (60GB and 100GB respectively) and the inclusion of ‘Super SteadyShot’ as opposed to just ‘SteadyShot’ which IS included in the SR5E. Unless you have an extremely shakey hand, I can’t see there being much difference with the addition of Super SteadyShot. Obviously the larger hard disk drives and viewfinder do support the higher prices of these two models, but the SR5E is much cheaper and still offers approx. 5 hours and 20 minutes of high quality HD recording to its 40GB HDD.

Overall, this is an all-round winner. I would definately recommend this camcorder to anyone who is looking for a new model to capture memories in HD. Build quality is very good, both picture and sound quality are superb, and the unit is very easy to use. All of which you would expect from a Sony product.

As a final note…..a suitable bag for this camcorder is the LCS-VA20 which I purchased from Amazon. I would also recommend a larger battery, such as the NPF-H70, to compliment the supplied battery, should you be going on a longer trip with the camcorder.

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Ex-Pro Battery charger - Ultra Pro Travel Charger - Simple design including In-Car Adatper, European and UK Plug. Charges in an average of 2 hours ! Automatic Cut-Off on completion of charge, Charge indication lights. Works on 110-240v, Travel anywhere and use with ease ! 1 Year Warranty.
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Wear the 100% shock free 128MB KEY013 and enjoy eight hours of MP3 or 16 hours of WMA music on the go. Transfer music and data or recharge via direct USB.
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Hama Compact Camcorder Case
The Hama TrackPack II DFV42 photo-video case is made from canvas, finished in black with grey trim and features an inner lining for added protection.

Customer Review: Brilliant Camcorder Case
I received this bag yesterday and am very happy with it. I have a Sony DCR-HC27E and the bag is a perfect size for it. There are handy pockets which provide ample space for at least 3 or 4 spare tapes plus instruction book etc. Highly recommended.

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Digital camcorder, multifunctional and easy to use.

Modes: Digital Video Recording / Still Photos / MP3 player / Audio Record / PC Camera / Removable PC data storage / Card reader.

Manufacturer Specifications

? Image sensor: 3.0 Megapixel CMOS sensor / 6.6MP via interpolation

? Internal Memory: 32MB memory, Expandable via MMC or SD card up to 2GB

? Still digital photo resolutions: 2976×2232 (6.6M Pixels); 2048×1536 (3.0M Pixels); 1600×1200 (2.0M Pixels); 1280×1024 (1.3M Pixels); 800×600 (0.48M Pixels)

? Video Recording mode: 640×480 pixels; 320×240; 160×120

? PC Camera mode: 640×480; 352×288; 320×240

? Digital Zoom: 4x

? File Formats: JPEG / ASF / MP3 / WAV

? Monitor: 1.8-inch TFT LCD can rotate a maximum of 270 Deg

? Exposure: EV+1.5 ~ -1.5

? White balance: Automatic / Sunshine / Tungsten / Fluorescent

? Flash Mode: Forced / Automatic

? Shooting Mode: Single shot / Self-timed shot / Continuous

? Self-Timer: 10 seconds delay

? Interface: USB1.1 / TV OUT / earphone jack

? Lens: Fixed 5 Glasses Lens f=10.8mm F=2.8

? Focus range: 25cm ~ 50cm (Macro) / 50cm ~ inf. (Normal)

? Shutter speed: 1/15 to 1/4000 second

? OSD Language: English, Chinese, Spanish

? Power Source: 4x AA batteries [high strength rechargeable batteries recommended; not supplied]

? System Requirement For PC: Windows 98/2000/ME/XP

? Dimensions: 120×71x45 mm

Accessories

? User Manual

? Sortware CD

? USB cable

? AV cable

? Camera Bag

? Li-ion battery

? Earphones

? Strap

? Manufacturer and Origin: China

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Versatile DVC ultra-powerful 34x optical zoom and convenient dual recording capability for shooting stills during video recording. Number of Pixels Gross (K): 800 Gross Pixels Built in Microphone: TBC LCD: Size (inch): 2.7 Widescreen LCD Maximum aperture: TBC Minimum Focusing Distance: 2.3 - 78.2mm USB Streaming: TBC 16:9 Wide (Full): Yes (High quality) Optical Zoom: 34x Digital Zoom: 800x Focus: Full Range Auto: Yes SteadyShot: TBC Flash (Automatic Pop Up): TBC Interface: DV Out SD memory card slot USB terminal S-Video Output AV Output Memory : SD Memory cards Supplied Accessories: AC adapter Battery pack Shoulder strap AV cable USB cable Remote control Software. Battery Life (Mins): TBC Warranty: 1 years return to base warranty
Amazon Price: ?176.50
Customer Review: JVC GRD-760 - review
In auto mode (if the auto focus works properly) in day light the camcorder has great picture and is pin sharp. But in very bright scenes the colours can be washed out as the camcorder doesn’t automatically get darker to compensate for the brighter scene so you loose detail in what ever your videoing. Battery charging is very simple and easy, you press the Data button and you can instantly see battery life. I love the graphics which show battery life, but the battery doesn’t last that long. Viewing the tape. —————– Move the selector to play mode, viewing the tape is easy to do but what is annoying is you can easily move the joystick to another position and instead of viewing the tape, you switch the camcorder lamp on or if you want to run the tape and normal speed you can do that instead the tape rewinds or fast forwards, that’s annoying and the camcorder should have had buttons inside it for rewinds, fast forwards and play. Did try editing the tape as the joystick didn’t feel to strong. Auto focus ———- Auto focus isn’t fast, even in daylight it some times gets confused and tends to “hunt” around until it gets a lock on (which means you could loose a once in a life time moment) If you point it at the sky to video a plane or helicopter flying in the distance, Auto focus can’t do it as it just hunts around for it. In low light or at night (unless there is bright spot some where) Auto focus is utter rubbish. The macro feature is good but the auto focus lets it down badly as it cant lock on fast enough and when it does, it doesnt stay locked on. i.e. If you video a flower gently moving in the wind with a bumble bee landing on it. As the flower moves in the gentle breeze the auto focus looses focus for a bit and then has trouble locking back on to it. Image stabilisation is great but this only works when the auto focus works properly. If the auto focus is having trouble Image stabilisation wont fix the problem. I want some thing which I can trust 100% of the time and which works with out me worrying about it, this doesn’t work that well and I can’t trust it. Controls ——– Controls are very easy to use and are laid out ok, it took me a short while to master them. Going from 16.9 to 4.3 is at push of a button on the LCD screen and is very easy, the camera works it all out for you. If you take a photo the camera automatically switches off Image stabilisation and 16.9 mode while the photo is being taken and puts them all back when its finished to allow normal video to be taken, that’s great. Once you set the camcorder up, you never need to do it again. Accessing more detailed menus is a real pain as the instruction manual isn’t that clear and controls on the camcorder don’t help much in this way, so it can takes ages to find a menu which adjusts low level stuff such as 12 bit or 16 bit sound. If you want to take picture it will not happen instantly, there is bad shutter lag which again means you loose that once in a life time moment, so better have your SLR camera handy if your going to do this. Also the picture quality on the JVC isn’t that good or clear. It has a great feature where you can take a photo and it automatically saves it to SD card at the same time as you videoing other things, this is good. Low light performance ——————— In auto mode indoors including at night with lights switched on in the room the camcorder gives good images. If go in to the garden at twilight the image is ok-ish. But the auto focus lets it down as it can get confused. Some times the lamp comes on (when you didn’t ask it to), that’s very annoying if your filming some thing like a wild animal which doesn’t need to see you. When you switch to manual and go to twilight mode this isn’t that good as images can be blurry at times as the camera looses focus lock, the one for ultra low light (which has an owl symbol) is a pile of utter kak. Its useless for capturing any thing moving in crisp clear fashion all you see are wavy lines all over the place or blurry moving imagines unless your filming a lit up building then its crisp and clear (so useless for making a movie at night). Best feature of this camcorder is build quality, that is great and has a solid well built quality feel and looks like it will give countless years of service, the LCD hinge looks like its heavy duty stuff and the clasp to keep it next to the camera is a great feature. Conclusion ———- I was really looking forward to this camcorder as I read a few good reviews but after having it for a few days I was very dissappointed by it. The main thing a camcorder needs is a good auto focus system as your recording moving images, this hasnt got it. JVC’s engineers need to give this camcorder more auto focus points = camcorder can “see” better. They also need give the camcorder’s computer better software which will allow it to lock on to a subject and not let it go if it moves. Auto focus and low light performance let this camcorder down very badly. Its no use having a camcorder which looks good, is well made, has a lot of toys to play with and (when the auto focus works properly) has pin sharp images if it cant auto focus and give pin sharp images all the time. The JVC only does it around 60-70% of the time, that’s no good for those once in a life time movies such your kid having her birthday etc or saying those first words or capturing images of you and your brother from New Zealand (who you haven’t seen in 20 years) seeing each other at the airport for the first time you need a camcorder which will record them. If you want a decent camcorder which will give good video, better to look else where. The Samsung VPD375W has very similar features to the JVC GRD760 but the Samsung has better auto focus which 97% of the time locks on and stays locked, the JVC can only do that 60-70% of the time. The Sony HC37 and 45 are similar priced as the JVC and Samsung, These Sonys are great camcorders but don’t have all the features of Samsung or JVC have such as taking pictures and video. The DVD and HDD Sonys have features of the Samsung and JVC but they cost 2-3 times as much. ************************************** Good points :- Looks good and has some chrome around it so has a bling factor. Great solid build quality which will last for years. (if the auto focus works properly) in day light pin sharp video with no grainy-ness. (if the auto focus works properly) good Image stabilisation Easy to use and setup. Bad points :- Auto focus lets it down extremely badly in lot of the areas I filmed in. Overall bad low light performance. JVC eats power so you’ll need to recharge it a lot. Doesn’t come with firewire cable. Washed out colours in daylight. Accessing detailed menus is a real pain. Camcorder manual isn’t that detailed. By e-mail JVC customer service is very slow and getting back to you and most don’t know enough about the product. If you call them its an 0870 number which is very expensive.
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Ex-Pro Battery charger - Ultra Pro Travel Charger - Simple design including In-Car Adatper, European and UK Plug. Charges in an average of 2 hours ! Automatic Cut-Off on completion of charge, Charge indication lights. Works on 110-240v, Travel anywhere and use with ease ! 1 Year Warranty.
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Samung DVC Camcorder in White
Amazon Price: ?156.31
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Optimize Your Photos for the Web

It doesn’t matter if your emailing photos of your grandson or putting images of your latest product on your online store. Too many people don’t consider optimizing their photos for the web. We’ve all been on too many web pages where it seemed that the photos would never load, and sometimes they didn’t. So here are some steps to make sure that your photos show up on your site.

1. Always have a back up original format copy of your image. Never alter the original. Believe me you will regret it.

2. Crop to size. Make sure that you crop out any extra information that isn’t needed. Remember the larger the photo the longer it takes to load or send.

3. Resize to reduce pixels. There should be an option to resize according to pixels. You’re going to want the largest size to be no more than 250 pixels or you can reduce the dpi to no more than 96.

4.Reduce the color palette. Many images have millions of colors so the first thing that you need to do is reduce the colors to 256. You will lose some depth with this.

5. Save the file in a standard format. JPEG is the most common for photos and you can compress the image with a JPEG for further reduction in file size. It’s not unusual to see GIF or PNG as well.

Remember that with a 56k connection a 150k file will take 20 seconds to load. If you’re creating a web page every photo that you add will add to the time it takes to download all of the images. If you keep the images small in size the smaller resolution will not be as obvious.

About The Author

Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

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Amazon Price: ?49.99
Customer Review: You get what you pay for!
The Vivitar V5199 Digital Camera is a dinky little camera, with a large screen and an easy to use interface (though the menu and mode buttons are switched to how you would think they’d be used). The camera itself though is much better made than I thought considering the price and though it is made of a chunky plastic it doesn’t feel cheap, like some cameras. The quality of the pictures is where it comes into problems however. The Vivitar V5199 uses a CMOS chip rather than a CCD (as found in slightly larger/more expensive cameras). This is similar to the technology used in cameras on mobile phones and the quality shows. Often images are grainy or unclear as compared to my other cameras. Where it really comes into fault however is its inability to handle lighting. For instance if I was shooting without the need to play around with the white balance and i I was shooting outside or next to a window on a good day there’d be no problems. If however (as I did) I tried to shoot in a darkened room or a club I’d find that a) I couldn’t find a suitable white balance (let alone see the image in the screen - there’s no view finder either) and b) I’d have to wait an age for the flash to charge, which once it does doesn’t actually fill the area correctly so I get red demon eyes looking at me from the dark. All in all it’s okay for a cheap camera, one to take on holidays for the kids and not worry too much about losing. However if you want a camera to capture birthdays, weddings and other special events etc, you’ll be wanting something that can give better quality each time and with a flash that fills a room and doesn’t take an age to charge. Best bet in this case is to pay a little more for a CCD camera!
Customer Review: Crap!
I was looking for a cheap camera but with good quality.. and unfortunatly the VIVITAR 5195 was a complete dissapointment and a waste of my money! The picture quality is appauling. Even when adjusting the colours, there seems to be a dull blurry fuzzy quality to the pictures. And the battery runs out so quickly.. its so frustrating. To be honest, I get better digital photos from my CAMERA PHONE!! ><
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5.0 Megapixels 4x optical zoom 2.0″ LCD screen 16MB Memory card supplied PictBridge and Print/Share button USB Connectivity VGA movie clips with sound Powered by AA batteries 1 year warranty Dimensions (WxHxD): 106×51.8×40.2mm Weight: 165g DIGI
Amazon Price: ?74.00
Customer Review: Great camera for low price, with 4 x optical zoom.
We chose this camera over the Canon IXUS range for a number of reasons: 1. Firstly, although the IXUS range is slightly smaller and in particular slimmer, we didn’t consider the size issue to be worth spending double the money on the equivalent IXUS. This camera, the A460, is perfectly small enough to fit on your pocket or handbag. 2. The optical 4x zoom is great, and you generally only get 3x zoom on the thinner style cameras. Simply, the greater the optical zoom, the better your pictures will be. Read up on the difference between optical zoom and digital zoom if you don’t know the difference - it is optical zoom that is important! 3. Price. For less than ?100 you can buy the camera, the DCC-400 case, a 2GB memory card which will hold approx 1000 photos, and some rechargable batteries. We’ve had the camera for 6 months now, and noticed just one negative point. In dusk or dark conditions when you can’t or don’t want to use flash (for example in a museum, or if taking distance shots sightseeing) this camera is not great, the image is dark and grainy compared to our other more expensive Olympus camera. But other than that, and for pictures in normal light conditions, or with regular flash indoor pictures the camera is great.
Customer Review: Not bad for the price
For Canon’s reputation and the relatively cheap price, the Canon PowerShot A460 seems to be a good camera. I enjoyed the 4x optical zoom and the 5 mega pixels are just good enough for quick photos. This camera is not as slim as it appears to be or compared to other cameras. The 16MB memory card that comes in the box is just enough for around 10 photos so one might want to consider buying a larger capacity card directly.
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Getting Your Photos Ready for Sharing

One of the main reasons people buy digital cameras is so they can share their photos with others. Even if you are just going to print your photos for yourself, you will want them to look their best. Here are some tips on getting your images ready for sharing or printing.

1. ORGANIZE YOUR PHOTOS

Delete the ones you don’t like or those that are near duplicates of others. No sense in clogging up your hard drive or CDs with junk. Use a good photo management software program like ACDSEE 7, Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 or Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album 5 to view, organize and name your images. These programs also let you batch rename so you can give more descriptive file names to a group of photos at the same time. You can add key words and tags to make finding your photos easier. Be detailed in your photo descriptions, not just “John and Laurie.” You’ll probably have hundreds of photos of your kids and it will be harder to find the one you’re looking for. Better to say “John and Laurie waterskiing on Lake Powell, May 2004.”

2. BACK UP YOUR ORIGINALS

Mistakes can happen. It is a good idea to back up all your images to a CD before you start editing or changing them. That way you always have the original to go back to if you accidentally save over an image or made changes to a photo that you later decide you don’t like. CDs hold lots of photos, making it cheap insurance.

3. ROTATE IMAGES

Trying to look at a sideways photo is annoying. Use your photo management or editing software to rotate photos as needed. And if you have any images that are a little crooked, you can fix that using your editing software. Most photo editors have an automatic “straighten” function, or you can manually rotate the image a few degrees to straighten the horizon line.

4. REMOVE RED-EYE

Even with your digital camera’s auto red-eye reduction function, your subject’s eyes may still have red-eye. Use your photo editing software to remove it. Zoom in on the eyes and it will be easier for you to correct the red-eye. I’ve tried a number of red-eye correction tools and find that the one that comes with ACDSEE 7’s photo editor is among the best. It zeros in just on the red eye and doesn’t darken the surrounding eye area like some other software does.

5. CROP YOUR PHOTOS

Crop out unnecessary or distracting backgrounds and focus in on your subject. Most photo editing programs will keep the aspect ratio, so when you draw a box around the area you want to focus on it will crop it as 4×6 or whatever you have specified. That way you won’t end up with an odd size photo. Kodak EasyShare Gallery also has a very good cropping tool for maintaining the proper print size. It comes with its free photo editor.

6. ADJUST LIGHTING AND CONTRAST

Some of your photos may have come out washed out or too dark. You can automatically adjust the color, brightness and contrast of your photos. The better programs like Photoshop Album 2.0, Jasc and ACDSEE also have tools for making manual adjustments for fine-tuning. Be careful not to overdo it, though, or your picture could come out grainy.

7. PREPARE TO SHARE

There are a number of ways to share your images. Several programs, like Roxio Photo Suite 7, ACDSEE7, Photoshop Album and Paint Shop Photo Album allow you to create digital photo albums or slide shows, complete with music, transitions and captions. You can burn them to CD or resize and optimize for emailing directly from the program.

Online photo services such as PhotoWorks, Shutterfly, Snapfish and Kodak EasyShare Gallery also let you share your photos on line, for free. You simply upload your images to their server into your own photo albums and add captions if you wish. Then email your friends with a link to your albums. With most of the online services your photos stay on their servers as long as you have an account with them, for free. Signing up for an account is free, you only pay for photos you choose to purchase.

For hardcore photo sharers, there are also dedicated photo sharing applications such as PiXPO v1.5.0, which lets you share photos right off your hard drive. This is a peer to peer software application that allows you to connect directly with your friends and family to share and view pictures online with no uploads. Unlike traditional photo sharing services, you have unlimited storage and you don’t have to upload your photos to a distant server or wait for friends to log onto some photo sharing site. The application is easy to install and use and it’s inexpensive, around $30. PC Magazine rated it an Editor’s Choice in their January 3, 2005 issue.

Valerie Goettsch publishes the digital photography website http://www.digitalphotos101.com featuring reviews of photo editing and album software and digital photo printing services.
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List Price: ?109.99
Amazon Price: ?80.48
Customer Review: Brilliant Entry level Action camera
This is a fantastic unit that contaiins everything you need to make easy, fun movies of your action. Perfect for kids as it is so simple to use. You really do just press and go. The software is very user friendly too, and lots of cool clips of Tony Hawk in action. I bought one for my boyfriend for snowboarding and it has since been used BMXing and just as a webcam! The photography is not going to win any awards but it’s been fun to email friends footage of their snow mishaps!
Customer Review: Great Camera for the price
Ok so the picture you get isn’t going to be great but it’s as good as the video from a normal digital stills camera but not as good as a proper digital video camera. You can buy better cameras for ?hundreds but bearing in mind your strapping it to a helmet that your assuming your going to need (ie get bashed) do you want to risk loosing that expensive cam in an instant ? The camera is light and easy to use, its compact and well designed it takes 2 AAA batteries and an SD card, it also has a laser pointer to target what you are recording.
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- 100% protection against scratches and dirt - Exactly fitting form - Self-healing surface - Blow, shock and scratch resistant - 5 years guarantee against scratching of the foil - Easy handling - No colour or contrast distortion - Self-adhesive and removable without residue
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