Kashif Blog dot Com » Electronics

Best Canon Digital Camera

Kashif — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:08:00 +0000

Everybody wants to capture their memorable moments with the help of a camera but handling cameras correctly sometime become a tedious task because most of the cameras are not user friendly hence the output is not good enough. To resolve this problem canon has now introduced a user friendly camera, “Canon Powershot SD990IS”, which is so far the best compact digital camera of highest 14.7 MP resolution that produces superfine images and videos. Some of the high-tech features of this camera are highlighted below.

DIGIC 4 Image Processor :

This new digital camera from canon is equipped with high-tech features and smart image processing due to the Digic 4 processor which

1. Efficiently manages the database of each picture in the memory: This canon camera shoots the picture or movie by pressing the shutter button twice, at first
when the button is pressed half way the green light flashes to indicate that the processor has managed the data of the shot and then pressing the shutter button fully the camera takes the picture according to the preset data.

2. Accurately adjusts the focusing faces: The processor is fast enough to automatically adjust the focusing faces specially when the self timer is ON.

3. Smartly detects and corrects red eye: Its smart processing sharply detects the red eye if and only if the red eye correction is selected. The menu of this option will then appear on the LCD and you can easily remove the red eye in your picture.

4. Intelligent contrast correction: Through this feature you can detect and correct the dark areas in an image without distorting the brightness of bright areas. This option is available in the main menu by the name of i-Contrast.

Highest Resolution of 14.7 MP :

Most prominent feature which makes it unique among the family of powershot camera is its resolution i.e, 14.7 Mega pixel which results in fine, smooth and clear image output. You can also adjust or minimize the resolution to five different levels available.

L (Large) : 15 M (4416 X 3312)
M1 (Medium 1) : 9 M (3456 X 2592)
M1 (Medium 2) : 5 M (2592 X 1944)
M1 (Medium 3) : 2 M (1600 X 1200)
S (Small) : 0.3 M (640 X 480)

Intelligent Image Stabilizer :

This is one of the best canon digital camera which will never produce blur image just because of intelligent image stabilizer which automatically adjusts, the zoom in image and counters the camera movement.The maximum zoom limit is different in different resolution i.e the digital zoom varies in limit according to resolution while the optical zoom 3.7x is same for all. However the given ranges of digital zoom are :

L stops zoom at 3.7x
M1 stops zoom at 4.7x
M2 stops zoom at 6.3x
M3 stops zoom at 10x
S stops zoom at 15x

Variety of Picture Modes :

The canon digital camera has two types of picture mode selection

1. By Selecting Shooting Modes:

There are five shooting modes which you can select by the mode dial on the upper right
corner. These modes include:

Auto: Camera adjust all the setting by it self.
Program: You can easily adjust or program the setting according to your requirement. Through this mode you may adjust brightness, flash, shot quality, resolution and many more.
Manual Mode: This mode can be set when the mode dial is at P/M mode then by move the main dial to select manual shoot mode in which you can manually adjust the aperture value and shutter speed by selecting the TV option.
Quick Shot: This mode allows you to take quick shot specially for moving object with accuracy and sharpness as you take the steady shot.
Standard Movie: This switches the camera to shoot movie

2. By Selecting Appropriate Scenes :

Through this option you can create sixteen different scenes in your picture which you can select by moving the main dial. These modes include; portrait, foliage, snow, under water, night mode, fireworks, kids & pets, indoor, aquarium, sunset, beach, ISO 3200, color accent, color swap, digital macro and stitch assist.

Besides these outstanding features the camera is also designed with number of other remarkable features which you can only be examined when you experience this great powershot camera. When you are going to buy this digital camera online you will go through some details of its accessories which are provided with or available separately. For your convenience here I have provided some details of its accessories so that you don’t need to search more if you want to buy it you can easily buy digital camera online.

Digital Camera Accessories :

The camera comes out with:

Supplied memory of 32 MB along with two different memory of your own choice either 2GB or 8GB.
Wrist strap for safe handling
Rechargeable Battery pack with terminal cover (NB-5L)
batter charger (CB-2LX / available separately CB-2LXE)
Canon digital camera solution disk
AV cable (AVC-DC400) (available separately)
Interface cable (IFU-400PCU)
Power cord

Price and Availability :

This Canon SD990IS 14.7 MP digital camera is easily available at Amazon for online purchase and delivery. To see the updated price, Click here.

Garage Battery Charger : Dead Battery Companion

Kashif — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:23:00 +0000

One morning you decided to take out your vehicle that you haven’t used for a couple of days. You packed your stuff load it in your car turn the keys and nothing happens. You do this a few more times and still nothing. This is when you realize that your car battery is almost dead and does not contain enough charge to start your vehicle. Now only if you had a battery charger in your garage then you will not have faced such a problem but even a battery charger will not be able to start your vehicle from a nearly dead battery. Not all except the Black and Decker smart battery charger has an amazing 75 AMPS jump start capability that will start almost any vehicle that has 12 V lead acid battery and does not start by its own battery.

This Black and Decker Smart Battery Charger can not only jump start a vehicle in emergency situations but it has also the ability to charge any 12 V lead acid battery at 25, 10 and even 2 amperes. Some of its useful feature are highlighted below:

Automatic Battery Charging :

This Black and Decker charger is fully automatic when it comes to charging a battery. You just have to clamp the cables on to the battery terminals, select the charging rate and that’s it. It is a smart charger and will stop charging immediately when the battery has fully charged. This will be indicated on it LCD display. Plus it will also display how much current it is using to charge the battery and will also indicate any faults using the same LCD.

The 25 Amps charge setting is ideal for charging a dead battery in less than 2 hours. If you are not in a hurry then you can leave the battery over night at 10 amps rating. If you plan not to use your car from a few days to a couple of weeks then it is best to take out the battery and connect it with the charger and use the 2 amps tickle charging feature. This setting will ensure that the battery maintain its charge as long as it is connected to the charger. Not to mention that the 75 Amps engine start feature is a real man for emergency vehicle start ups.

Batteries Supported:

Technically speaking it is a battery charger that no only charges car batteries. In fact it has the ability to charge any 12V lead acid battery of RVs, lawn movers, ATVs, boats and many more. This shows how useful this 3 pounds charger can be and is a must have garage item.

Advanced Electronics:

Unlike others this charger is very light weight as it is not comprised of a heavy transformer instead it is equipped with a small transformer along with the rest of the electronics circuitry which makes this tool even more light weight and easy to move inside your garage.

Safety:

If battery charger is connected to the wrong terminals of a battery, it could result in damage to both the battery and the charger and in the worst case it can even harm the person standing close. But this is not the case with this battery charger as it has built in reverse hook-up as well as spark resistant protection which will not only indicate a fault status on its LCD display but will only begin charging the battery once its smart sensing technology assures that the battery has been properly connected.

Its automatic float mode monitoring also makes sure that the battery is not over charged and is immediately cut off (internally by displaying a FULL signal) from the charger.

Having all the above features plus the emergency jump start ability, this charger convinced me to place an order immediately as it is a must have garage battery charger specially if you have to deal with batteries or you do not drive on a regular basis.

Manufacturer : Black & Decker
Model : VEC1095ABD
Warranty : 2 years
In-Stock : Check availability

Looking for PC Backup Power to Prevent Data Loss

Kashif — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:25:00 +0000

Working on a PC loosing your unsaved data due to power outage or some other glitch in the power network is real pain specially if this happen quite frequently. Even backup generator take a few minutes to start and they also will not help to prevent your system from shutting down. For this purpose, uninterrupted power is required to be delivered to PCs and other electronic peripherals. These uninterrupted backup power comes in the form of uninterpretable power supply or simply UPS. A UPS is a backup power that continues to deliver electric power even in the case of complete blackout. They are equipped with backup batteries that are automatically charged when the power in up and will continue to provide backup power is case of a power outage.

The CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD is a similar UPS that works the same way as described above. It is specially designed for PC, printers, scanners, monitors, CD/DVD players etc. Some of its features are highlighted below:

Manufacturer : CyberPower
Backup Type : UPS ( Uninterpretable Power Supply )
Output : 120 V / 60 Hz
Backup Time : Up to 50 minutes
Warranty : 3 years
In-Stock : Check availability

LCD Display

This UPS has a diagnostic LCD display at its front panel which displays real time status of the backup power and output. 11 different parameters can be obtained from this LCD display including input/output voltage levels, battery capacity, estimated backup time remaining, fault condition, output frequency etc.

AVR Capability

AVR stands for automatic voltage regulation. This backup power has the ability to stabilize the voltage maintaining the voltage within acceptable operation ranges in case of certain rise or fall in the input voltages. This ensures that your connected devices are safe from electrical surges and it also prevents the backup battery from getting damaged due to those surges.

PC Software

The UPS comes with a PC software called PowerPanel PE Smart management Software. If there is a power outage, the PowerPanel PE automatically saves your PC files that are open and unsaved. It will then put your PC in Hibernation mode so that this reduces the power consumption and increase the backup time for your PC. This software can easily be installed on any windows based PC and it uses minimum resources and also provides visual status as shown above.

Other features include :

LCD status indicators in case of faults
Audible alarms
Resettable circuit breaker in case of trip due to overload
Ultra Quiet – Low Noise
Provides Shielding against electromagnetic and radio signals
GreenPower UPS – Low heat dissipation
Fits easily under the desk or even on a desktop.
Easy to follow installation instructions
Quick setup

Warranty

CyberPower stands firm behind their product and offer a remarkable 3 year warranty which includes complete professional technical support and a connected equipment guarantee of $500K.

Where to Buy ?

If you reside in the US then you can easily order this affordable backup power UPS online via Amazon without paying any shipping fee. Depending upon your location, the UPS will take 24-72 hrs to ship to your place.

Technical Specifications:

General
UPS Topology	Line-Interactive (AVR)
Energy Saving	Yes – GreenPower UPS™ Bypass Technology
Input
Voltage	90Vac – 140Vac
Frequency	60Hz +/- 3 Hz
Plug Type	NEMA 5-15P
Plug Style	Right angle
Cord Length	6′
Output
VA	1500
Watts	900
Automatic Voltage Regulation	Yes
On Battery Voltage	120Vac +/- 5%
On Battery Frequency	60Hz
On Battery Waveform	Simulated sine wave
Outlets – Total	8
Outlet Type	NEMA 5-15R
Outlets – Battery & Surge Protected	4
Outlets – Surge-Only Protected	4
Outlets – Widely Spaced	1
Overload Protection	Internal circuitry limiting / circuit breaker
Transfer Time	4ms
Battery
Runtime at Half Load (min)	11
Runtime at Full Load (min)	3
Battery Type	Sealed lead acid
Battery Size	12V/8.5AH
User Replaceable	Yes
Typical Recharge Time	16 Hours
Replacement Battery	BB Battery – HR1234W
Battery Quantity	2
Surge Protection and Filtering
Surge Suppression	1,500 Joules
Maximum Surge Current	36,000 Amps
Phone / Ethernet RJ11 / RJ45	1-In, 1-Out (Combo)
Coax Protection RG6	1-In, 1-Out
Management & Communications
Multifunction LCD Diagnostic Display	Toggle Status Display includes: Current/Load Level, Runtime, Battery Level, AVR In Use, Battery In Use, Input Voltage, Output Voltage, Output Frequency, Overload, Wiring Fault, Silent Mode
HID Compliant USB Port	Yes
Serial Port	Yes
LED Indicators	Power on, wiring fault
Audible Alarms	On battery, low battery, overload
Software	PowerPanel Personal Edition
Physical
Dimensions (WxHxD)	4″ x 9.75″ x 13.25″
Weight (lbs)	25
Environmental
Operating Temperature	32 °F to 95°F / 0°C to 40 °C
Operating Humidity	0% – 95% non condensing
Certifications
Certifications	UL1778, cUL, FCC DOC Class B
ROHS	ROHS Compliant
Warranty
Product Warranty	3 Years Limited
Connected Equipment Guarantee	Lifetime
CEG Amount	$500,000

1TB External Memory for Backup

Kashif — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:20:00 +0000

Product Name : Iomega Prestige 1 TB USB2.0 Desktop external hard drive

Type : External Backup memory

In-Stock : Check status

Storage Capacity :

This Iomega Prestige USB 2.0 supported external hard drive has a storage capacity of 1TB which is equals 1024 GB. This is some serious amount of space for PC users and is absolutely great for scheduled data backups. It gives you the ability to store up to 4 million photos, up to 18,500 hours of music and 1500 hours of high quality video file. This is more than enough unless you have been stocking movies for decades. Not to mention this sizable memory can store millions of computer document files and spreadsheets.

USB Plug-n-Play

The external memory drive supports USB 2.0 which mean it can be plugged in to any computer USB port and it does not require any driver installation and works well with both Mac and PC. With USB 2.0, this hard drive will be able to transfer data to and from your computer at a rate of 480 Mbps.

High Speed – No Waiting

This external drive has an internal or spindle speed of 7200 rpm with 8 MB or higher cache buffer. This is more than reasonable for keeping your browsing latency-free and will also not keep you waiting while accessing your hard drive via USB cable.

Cool and Quiet

A device that runs at 7200 rpm will generate a noticeable sound but its durable aluminum casing keeps it quite as compared to other external hard drives. Just like other hard drives, this drive also becomes hot when in operation so for keeping it within working temperature limited and for proper ventilation of heat, various pores are designed on the side of this drive which do a really great job in keeping this device cool. Also the aluminum case aids in dissipating heat and acting as a heat sink.

Appearance

This Iomega 1TB hard drive is enclosed in a stylish aluminum case which has a brushed metal finishing and it looks great when placed on a table next to your computer. This backup drive also comes with a stand which will enable the user to either place the drive horizontally for vertically.