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Response: Which iPhone to Get?

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In response to my iPhone musings, I got the following reader email which actually sums up a lot of my second and third thoughts too: You might have a point about the fancier camera, but otherwise I would buy the smaller model. Its screen is about the same size as that of my Nexus 4, and I don't feel at all like it limits me with a too-small screen. But I do sometimes stretch to get my thumb the reach to the other corner of the screen. It is plenty big for a phone. A phone is a pocket thing. (Well, in my case it lives an ancient REI soft sunglasses case that I have on my belt.) Ubiquitous, handy, convenient, almost always with me. Small is crucial for all of that. Certainly a large screen is cool, but you need a place to put it: don't break a fundamental feature of a pocket phone by getting too big. That is what your small tablet is for. I have my phone with me almost always. I have my Nexus 7 tablet with me nearly as much. The bigger screen is great, yet it fits in some...
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Sony GV-D200 review

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Sony GV-D200 I've been using a Sony GV-D200 deck to transfer old Video8 and Hi8 tapes. Some of these tapes are over twenty years old, and no longer having a Hi8 camcorder that worked I was concerned that if I didn't do something about transferring them to a more modern format soon, I might never be able to. While Sony no longer make camcorders that use these tapes - that I know of - Sony does still sell the GV-D200 deck (or Video Walkman, as it's sometimes labelled.) They also offer the GV-D800, which is almost identical but adds a small LCD screen for about $120 more. I didn't think I'd need a screen since I was using this to capture to the computer, but you will need an external monitor when you first set it up. Physically, the device is small. At 5 7/8" wide, 5 3/8" deep and 2" high, it's the smallest video deck I've encountered. I used to have a Video8 deck that I thought was small; and it was twice as deep and twice as high. The t...
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Sony VCL-HA07A wide angle converter lens

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I'm a big fan of wide-angle lenses; it always seems the lens I have is never wide enough! For camcorders, a lens converter (a lens that screws in front of the camera lens) can go some way to solving this problem; though these can be expensive (the wide-angle conversion kit for the Sony HXR-NX5U costs $800) and the quality of the image won't be as good as the original lens. On the consumer front, the choices are a little cheaper. For my Sony HDR-XR500 camcorder I found the Sony VCL-HA07A which fits the 30mm filter size of the camera and costs about $30.  It also includes 25 and 37mm adapters. Sony VCL-HA07A, lens covers and adapters For $30 I wasn't expecting much, but at the some time, the risk seemed small. Even if the lens was only used for occasional shots, I felt that being able to get a little wider would be useful. While the lens is glass, the lens shell of the VCL-HA07A is plastic. The plastic construction might even be considered a feature; it's still a f...
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