James, do you know what the Canon or Nikon equivalent would be? I'm overwhelmed with all the choices. Thanks!

It turns out that the camera's sensor has died after fewer than 18 months and perhaps 300 total photos. Kodak offered me a 15% discount on a new camera, but I don't really want any more $350 cameras that might quit so quickly. I also don't want any more cameras that can only be repaired in Connecticut by Kodak for exorbitant fees. Bottomline, I went out and bought a Canon.



Thanks to Mr DeRuvo for his kindness in trying to help.

so they are just magnifying lens that you can buy from kodak to go with this camera

I have a P850 and now a P712 and with the lense adaptor the wide angle works great but you need to use the P20 flash to avoid shadows from the large lense.

Thank you for your honesty Ardi. I took your advice and I'm currently looking into the Canon Digital Rebel XT. It cost a lot more, as you mentioned, but it would do everything that I need it to. So I'll just save my money for now and wait until I can get exactly what I need.

thanks, Ben for your care,

i've been checking all the weekend everything, and to my understanding, Z612 is performing somewhat better at shooting outdoors pictures. also its shutter max speed is 1/2000 while p712 is 1/1000. as i understand then it's even better at shooting action photos..

i've checked the www.flickr.com and the photos that people are putting there, and to my further amazement photos taken by z612 were better. or maybe photograpthers were better, not counting photos of macro shots that were taken with p712, but i believe it was done, not without DH lenses.. so if to apply same lenses to z612 you could actually get the same results with z612..



as i understand now, buying z612 instead of p712, i loose:

1. panorama feature, however, i'm planning to buy a kit of lenses that will enable me to get similar results on z612 without this feature, or do it with computer software.

2. time lapse recording, which is the thing, that bothers me the most.

3. a bit of speed in general and lcd refresh rate (but not much, according to reviews)

4. a spot for an extra flach (hot shoe), which i do not care anyway..

5. more manual controls (that's as i understand is manual white balance)

6. ISO 64 sensitivity (but in general according to many reviews p712 from starting from ISO 200 and on gives nothing but noise) well, of course not that drastic..

7. one megapixel. but, as i realize it would become noticeable only on big prints, which is important, but the difference of the dimensions withour any difference according to many sites are few, well not much cm.



what do i get?

1. extra 100 $ (for buying extra battery, and lens kit..)

2. smaller, lighter (which is important to me)

3. sharper landscape images (which is the main factor)

4.better action images.. (which i'm not sure :) )



and what about you, Ben, what model do you own?



thanks for your reply, and please comment on the obove, because i became a photographer only during this weekend, and yet even without a camera :), well i don't count my first dc 2mp fuji 2600 zoom, model of 2001 year which i gave to my parents.

have a good day.

thanks, Ben

for your advices,

i actually came to z612 by reading user opinions, then started my research.

maybe you have flickr.com account, place a link, i would like to check your photos.



thanks once again, and have a good day, man! :) (and take some good shot with your S2 IS :) )

Mystic,

For sure some good pictures -- wish you would send some of fast action shots. Horses ,cars or ball players. What setting were used?.

Thanks

Mystic...I looked at both the Kodak Z612 and P712 and all the reviews. Most were good for both cameras. The pros gave the Z612 a little higher rating but I like to go mostly by the consumers who use it everyday. I chose the P712 for many reasons first the price I got for $249 at Sams Club a steal. I have had 4 Kodak cameras and loved them all. I still have the Z730 which is great because it's smaller and takes great pics. The P712 takes awesome close-ups...everyone tells me they cannot believe how beautiful they are. I guess the pics say it all because 4 of my friends went out and bought the Z730 and the P712. Also, the zoom is worth every penny. If you chose the Z612 i'm sure the picture quality is just as good because I highly recommend most Kodak cameras. The P712 also has the hot shoe flash connector to add the p20 zoom flash which is great for indoors and night photography. I just took 150 pics for a senior prom and they were awesome. Which ever choice you made i'm sure your taking great pics.

The P712 AC adaptor can work fine on any world voltage. The US version of the camera includes the US type plug, but international plugs can be obtained from Kodak by mail order. The plug piece is a small and simple (cheap) piece which slides onto the charger. In general, I would prefer to not use voltage adaptors on something delicate, especially if it doesn't need one. Since a fresh charge is good for over 200 pictures, you might try just buying a couple of extra batteries and take 3 freshly charged batteries. That should be enough to cover a lengthy overseas trip.

It's called saini digital photo, an e-bay store out of Indiana.

I just bought the telephoto 3x and the wide angle lens from this company. I am please with the wide angle lens but the telephoto 3x doesn't produce crisp pics on my Kodak Z710. I contacted Kodak to see if the problem is "user error" since I am an amatuer and kodak said they do not support this brand, "Bower". They offered a list of companies whom they do support. I am in the process of contacting the manufacturer in Japan for advice. I just re-visited the ebay site where I purchased the lens and they only accept returns on items that you complain to them about in the first 3 days after receipt. So just be careful. I will probably wind up paying more for a different lens. Hope this helps you.

The owner of Saini Digital Photo runs he business out of his house in Indiana.

I agree with Mike 100%. My friend and I are both in the same situation, but through Amazon not eBay. Saini Digital Photo is definitely the place to get ripped off! We both bought similar items that were never delivered, cancelled our orders and were then given a run-around about their not being able to track the order from Amazon and they wanted to know how I had paid for it - information that they had to have gotten when the order was placed with them. Don't trust only in seller ratings, evidently they can be rigged.

SAINI DIGITAL PHOTO is the worst eBay seller I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. Their eBay site is really good looking, and their products are displayed and described attractively. Unfortunately, their claims of being "professional business people... blah, blah, blah" is nothing but BOLD FACE LIES. These folks are thieves.



I wanted a 3x telephoto for our Sony H5. I wanted it fast as I'd missed a birthday so I included postage fees in excess of $50 US to have it air mailed, expedited, and fully insured etc. The money was withdrawn from my account IMMEDIATELY.



Three and half weeks later I received the lens and was more than a little surprised to learn they had posted it ORDINARY MAIL for a total of $5.76. NO insurance. NO expedited. The little lens adapter was Scotch Taped to the outside of the flimsy retail-type box the lens comes in from the manufacturer and this flimsy package was simply placed in another cardboard box with NO PROTECTIVE PACKAGING... it was just rattling around inside the outer box... they might as well have dropped kicked it from Indiana to my place.



After two days of trying, there was no way we could get the lens to work properly... my guess is that one of the elements inside had been jarred from its mounting. When I emailled them to complain someone named RITA RICHARDS emailled back telling me that someone must have forgotten to send the parcel airmail or insure it. Yea, right. She suggested I phone and they would help me to "get it working." I declined the offer since we are both semi-professional photographers with decades of experience and we know how to use a lens adapter and whether or not a lens is working or not. RITA RICHARDS finally agree to give me back most of the money.



So I returned the lens, properly packaged and insured, with TRACKING. They received it and I have the proof they did. However, I've received NO REFUND and NO COMMUNICATION whatsoever from these "professional business people." I'm going to give them ONE MORE CHANCE to return my money before the eBay "dispute console" time limit (60 days) and then I'm going to lay a MAJOR COMPLAINT about this with eBay. I almost wish it was for more money making it worth SUING THEM for THEFT THROUGH THE MAILS. I want eBay to close them down. Clearly they're counting on ripping folks off for $100 here and there as part of their income. They're getting away with it because people like me are gullible enough to think that a 97.5% rating is good enough. I've learned the hard way... I will deal ONLY with sellers with 100% ratings over several years. I won't allow myself to be ripped off by crooks this way without making a MAJOR STINK about it.



WARNING! Do NOT deal with SAINI DIGITAL PHOTO of Indiana. They will more than likely steal your money as they did mine.

This is what I received when my "Lens Kit Did not fit my Nikon D40"





Dear seabro,



if you had any brains you would know your own camera, you dont even know how to comprehend what you read, the ad clearly says 58mm, your camera takes many different lenses which have many different sizes of filter threads, duh, I wish I had ESP but I dont. How the hell are we responsible for your stupidity? I know, its our fault that you bought the wrong size lenses, just like its our fault you are a moron for not knowing your own camera. Grow up you whiner, its pathetic listening to an adult cry and complain like a little spoiled child. I bet you are a Liberal Democrat, you sure behave like one. Cry, complain, whine, cry some more, blame others for your short comings, typical Liberal Democrat behavior. Your coments really show your immaturity, you wont hurt us any with your comments, its easy to see the childish behaviorand immaturity in your comments, you only make yourself look like an idiot.





still sore about your stupidity in not knowing your own Camera, just remember you are the minority here, keep trying to hurt us, 98.5% is pretty damn good when you consider the idiots we deal with every day like yourself, its funny you are wasting so much time and energy on absolutely nothing. Whiners like yourself cant see that the glass is half full not empty, I know I hit a nerve when I called you a liberal whiner. I deal with more people than you could ever imagine, if we piss of 1.5 people out of a 100 that even give feedback its damn good. Remember only 60% even leave feedback. I can guarantee that every unhappy person leaves neg feedback, but many, many satisfied buyers never leave feedback so our percentage is much higher in reality. all you can find is about 10 people who complain over 2 years, wow, owee, yeah, I can find over 20000 that are happy, sucks when you have to wait on your money doesnt it??? Cant be in business for 10 yrs if we steal from people like they say, MORON

Oh joy, can I add to the Saini complaint bucket. Here's the response I got. I mailed repeatedly for a week asking for the status of my return item, but no response. Finally I filed a paypal dispute. Please note that all the while I responded professionally and politely. I gave them all the information I had and they needed. Here's what I get:







From Seller - Saini Digital Photo LLC10/23/2008 08:51 PDT

you are living on another planet if you think i am going to refund you anything without proof of a tracking number, and then your refund will only be what you paid for the item. Typical Indian trying to get back double what you spent.



Sukhvir Saini







After I finally resolve the issue (1 month later), I post negative feedback on ebay. Then I get these messages:









Dear p*********,



cry, whine, complain, feel better now, been checking every day so you can



leave a neg fbk the same day someone else does? truly a mature reaction, you



never spoke to me and I am the owner, its funny how little people like you



lie and complain about everything, how come you dont just return it since you



are so unsatisfied? Anyway you feedback wont harm us, we are having the best



sales in years even with the so called bad economy. Your neg will be gone in



a day or so to a differnt page and at 98.5% no one even cares about what you



say, its easy to see that we deliver what we advertize and people are very



happy other than that 1.5 cry babies out of 100 that even give feedback, its



guaranteed that one out of 100 will never be satisfied unless you give them



the product for free, you are one of those, how does that make you feel? How



does it feel to be that person? cry whine complain, cry somemore, its



embarassing on your part. People see you for what you are with your petty



feedback.



- sainidigital









Dear p*********,



by the way if you look back thru the feedback you will notice that the



cheapest people are the most bitter, must have something to do with not



having money, you think? Maybe thats why you guys are poor because of your



personality of being big crybabies and whiners, no one wants to give you a



good job or deal with your attitude. Have fun being poor.



- sainidigital

Here is more to the drama from Saini Digital.

I filed a complaint witH BBB though I knew this may not help me and here is what I get in response from Saini Digital in an email:



"good one with the BBB, they dont give a damn, whats great is that you are spending so much of your time on this, I will make you wait till the last day that I possibly can because assholes like you deserve to be treated like you treat others, you didnt have to give a negative, now you get the rewards of that negative feedback, got to make sure we live up to our reputation :), Well I see here that on the 22nd you will get your money back unless, I decide to ship the item, maybe I will send it to you on the 22nd and then you wont get any money back unless you spend some of your money to send it back to me, you want to play hardball, well you got hardball, this can all be solved easily, change your feedback and apologize and you are clear, otherwise paypal holds your money for up to 2 months. We dont have your money anymore since you made a dispute, paypal has possession of it in a holding account, sorry but the BBB will do nothing because we dont have your money anymore. HA HA HA Do you think you are dealing with amatures here? We deal with asshole customers all the time."



all I could say was WOW, how could I be such a fool to deal with such person.

I WAS going to buy from this company but there in far to much evidence that at least "SOMETHING" negative is going on with them and I now refuse to deal with them... Even if they were a rip off, it is the responses from them to the people that posted a complaint that is the key. Any business that would send emails such as they did surly should not be allowed to do business ANYWHERE, let alone Ebay.

What everyone here is stating might just be true. I bought a filter and paid more than a week ago. Then the seller claimed a file on me stating that I didn't pay even though I did! What a crazy seller! I responded to this person, but I haven't gotten a response yet. I also filed a complaint on paypal to let this seller know. So far, this seller is the most horrible seller on ebay that I've encountered and I've been purchasing on ebay for a few years now. =_= Now I've yet to receive my item or money. So we shall see what happens. Hopefully I don't experience the same as everyone here. The high 90+ percent good seller rating the seller has is very misleading. This seller doesn't deserve that high rating. Just my two cents before you/anyone buy anything from Saini Digital.

Around and around we go. They will deny don't you know.Not a sweet word to be had, they are just Bad, Bad, Bad.

I am so glad that I found this page. I was going to order some lenses and filters thru Saini Digital Photo. Now I am not. I will drive 20 miles to a Camera Store and get the parts there. With so many complaints why are they still doing business??

Crap, I just purchased a fish eye lens from this company for about $40 and THEN I found this forum. Wish I would have looked sooner. I'll update in a few days (or perhaps weeks or months, judging by the experiences of some people here) on whether or not I get it, if it's defective, or if Saini and Rita Richards are complete unprofessional douchepies to me too.

WOOO!! Before I explain that little outburst, first of all I'd like to commend seabro's reply to my message from earlier in the year, because it rhymed. Very thoughtful of you. As you will see from my post back in April, I was once in a position very much like you all. I had found myself conned by some tosser called rita richards and some backyard company called saini digital. Well, I continued to chase the matter, and became more and more irate with the responses I was getting. However persistence, and also a brain, resulted in my victory in the matter. I received my full refund in approximately June (appologies for not posting this info earliler - exams and holidays intervened). There's a chap here called "slightly worried" (rightly so) and maybe some others who have recently purchased from Saini. Y'all might benefit from knowing how I did it. I should add I'm from the UK, and my delivery address is in the UK. Delivery times and consumer protection may vary for customers of SainiDigital in other countries.



First of all, some background. SainiDigital is a company on Ebay that claim to sell photographic equipment. The company manifests itself as the notorious Rita Richards, of 12584 Courage Crossing, Indianna. Their terms and conditions contain a clause that absolves them of any duty to refund or exchange goods after an ill-descript 30-day money-back and exchange guarantee, with the following qualifying clauses:



"...This means that we will refund full item cost for these items, this does not mean that shipping is refunded on these items. We will not refund shipping if you just don't like the item or if you thought it was something different, etc... You must also help us get our fees back from ebay for that particular sale by going thru Ebay's unpaid item policy in order to be eligible for the Full Item Cost Refund..."



The company also states that delivery to the UK may take up to 2 months, and that claims for non-delivery will not be considered prior to this. This is attributed to variable customs procedures and resultant delays in international orders. Generic small print? Words to put the buyer at ease? I think not! A wolf in sheeps clothing more like, waiting to pounce! Perhaps one ought to have realised this inherent trap for the unwary customer, from the word go :S



They appear to be operating - very succesfully one must add - a scam whereby they deliver a parcel through recorded-delivery to their local USPS ( United States Postal Service) Post office. At this point the customer receives an email from eBay saying the item has been delivered, and a tracking number is provided. The customer is immediately able to track said item on the USPS website, and feels infinitely reassured that his much-desired camera lens is finally on its way (it will appear as "Accepted in McCordsville"). Little does he know however that the item was not paid for in full, and as such, after 4 weeks of waiting, the item will be - as the King himself predicted - "Returned to Sender". The vigilant customer will see the words "item returned to Fishers, Indianapolis" on his tracking screen at www.usps.com and become considerably vexed.



Crunch-time: the buyer contacts the seller, and receives gramatically incorrect and incomprehensible messages from Rita Richards. They state that the 30 day time period has lapsed and SainiDigital is no longer obliged to refund the item. The naiive buyer (like me) will NOT have opened a case in the dispute centre at PayPal, because he previously had no reason to do so. Chances are 45 days have elapsed, and PayPal will refuse to open a dispute. And furthermore the foolish buyer (like me) will have used a Debit Card for the transaction, and therefore will be unable to reclaim money through a Credit Card company.



So how dyu get back at these a-holes? My first advice is to be polite, professional and constructive in your initial emails. If you are currently reading this and in the same predicament, you need to send them an initial polite email requesting a refund, for prolonged delivery times. Do not yet accuse them of theft, or send them insulting emails as previous customers appear to have done, because you currently have no firm evidence to support your claims of theft. If you have not yet reached the 45 day PayPal dispute centre limit, OPEN A CASE NOW. If you have reached the "return to sender" stage, you are within your consumer rights to request a full refund on the grounds that the delivery time was quoted as 2 months, but it will now clearly breach that delivery date. You could alternatively request that Saini Digital sends you the item using an alternative "private" postal service, such as DHL or UPS. The cost of this delivery will be astronomical (eg. $50) but you can request that the additional expenses be covered by SainiDigital because it was their error that led to breach of the delivery date.



I did all of these things, except for open a PayPal dispute, because I was too late. You will receive this reply:



"...I have no problem shipping it via UPS but do you want to pay over $50 for shipping? You are better of paying for priority mail or express I personally use only those 2 service to UK & Belgium to mal stuff ti my family & it gets there with in 2 weeks time..."



I of course reitterated that I expected HER to pay the delivery costs, in a polite manner of course, because the inadequacies were caused by the company, not me. To which she replied the following:



"...I am sorry but that won’t be possible …….because it was shipped & we have all the receipt & tracking to prove since we are not at fault ………Like you honestly don’t care about what company I use…….. then I can say that ….it is really nice to human conversation you can do pretty rude……Anyway we cannot do what you want us too sorry..."



If you're reading this now, and thinking "thats exactly the stage I'm at!", then your probably thinking you've lost your hard-earned cash. But don't worry. This is where you are now allowed to take the aggressive stance in this transaction. The important thing to realise now is that SainiDig is not merely conducting a "scam". They are in fact committing a crime, reffered to as "Obtainance of Money Transfer through Deception". This is an act described under Section 15A of the 1968 Theft Act (remember, I'm a UK customer and will therefore quote UK law). Details of this are readily available in online legal texts. I contacted three parties at this stage requesting assistance in obtaining a refund for a non-delivered item. EBay did not help at all. SainiDigital pay ebay lots of money through sales, and therefore, eBay will not support this conflict. My UK bank could not help because I'd used a debit card, not credit card. Finally I spoke to PayPal requesting permission to reopen a case dispute. I had to telephone their Dublin Branch, using an international sim card, and spent a long time waiting on hold. I explained the full story to the operator, and in the end he empathised with me, but said my 45 day window had passed, and PayPal were not allowed to open a dispute. I asked to speak to his line manager. She called me back next day, and I explained the story again. She said she would investigate and get back to me in a few days. In the meantime I should try to contact the seller and resolve the issue.



So I did this...hehehe. I began searching the US White Pages and subsequently doing criminal records checks on individuals with the surname Saini, living in the region of Indianna. I discovered an individual called Sukvir Saini, married to Ritu Saini. I am to this day not convinced that the individual "Rita Richards" actually exists. Personally I believe Rita is an alias for Ritu Saini. The two are listed as owners of a company called Saini Digital (for those of you non-indians, Saini is a common Punjabi surname). Their business address is 12584 Courage Crossing, Fishers. This is infact their rather attractive home, which you can view freely on Google Street View. Their phone number is provided in all Rita's emails: Tel No. 1-317-490-2632. I tried emailing them a few times in those few days, but got nowhere. They avoided answering questions and refused to refund my money. She acted like she didnt speak English and ended up speaking crap in her emails. She kept stalling for time, not aware that I had commenced proceedings through PayPal. Therefore, I began telephoning them. I quickly realised that they switch their telephone to voicemail during the daytime, and their answermachine box is full. Therefore it is physically impossible to make their telephone ring with the answermachine switched on. Then came a smart move by me (even if I do say so myself). I phoned them when it was 3am in Indiana. Their answermachine had to be switched off, and the phone had to ring. Initially the phone rang and rang, and noone picked up. I called again 5 minutes later. And again. Then someone picked up.



"Hello"

"Hi could I speak to Sukhvir Saini please?"

(I didn't ask for Rita, because he would realise this was a business call, and hang up).

"Yeah this is me"

"Hi this is D. I purchased a camera lens from you and I believe you're trying to commit an act of theft against me. Do you have five minutes to talk"

"Jesus its 3 o'clock in the f***ing morning, f**k off"

"No wait I'd just like to talk"



He hung up, so I called him back several more times. His phone rang and rang. At some point he probably took the phone of the hook. I now knew that Sukhvir Saini existed and was the real owner of SainiDig. I knew that Sukhvir spoke fluent English, and he now understood the allegations I was placing against him, and I had established direct communication with him. I had made progress! I was contacted by PayPal around this time, and they advised me to continue attempting correspondance with Sukhvir, and they too would try to enforce the rules from their end. I had actually struck gold with the line manager and PayPal. She completely trusted me and appeared to take this case very seriously. I therefore followed their advice, and cc'd them into any correspondance I sent/received. The next day I sent the following email.



Dear Sukhvir,



It's nice to finally know your real name. Why have you been going under the alias of Rita Richards? Please read the full email below and think very carefully how you wish to proceed before replying.



Sorry to have woken you up so early in the morning. I didn't realise that the time difference between London and Indiana are so different. I am fully versed in the sales contract that you have described for the item (this was in reference to his previous email, where he claimed I did not understand our sales agreement).



Your sales contract describes in great detail a policy regarding the return of defective or unwanted items. And you have very generously cited that below. However you have perhaps intentionally omitted the title of this section in your sales contract. The policy that you have cited below is a Returns policy.



Current UK and USA Trading Standards Law:



I am not requesting a "Return". I am requesting a "Refund" for a non-delivered item. Your sales contract does NOT describe a "Refund for non-delivery" policy. Therefore, since you have forgotten to include this in your policy, you are subject to the Laws outlined by UK Trading Standards groups (and a USA/Canadian equivalent called the Better Business Bureau). Therefore, I suggest we both operate under the following guidelines, as described by Trading Standards. These dictate that until an item has been received and signed for by the customer, it remains the property and responsibility of the seller. The eBay corporation abides by and enforces this law. If the seller is unable to deliver goods within the terms of the sales contract, the customer is by law entitled to full reimbursement of their money. The eBay corporation also abides by and enforces this law.



If a seller (i.e. you) refuse to refund money for failed delivery of an item, they (the seller, you) will be committing an act of "Obtaining Money Transfer by Deception". This is outlined in Section 15A of the Theft Act (1968) and is Statute Law. I have cited section 15A of the Theft Act (1968) below:





15A. Obtaining a money transfer by deception



(1) A person is guilty of an offence if by any deception he dishonestly obtains a



money transfer for himself or another.



(2) A money transfer occurs when-



(a) a debit is made to one account,



(b) a credit is made to another, and



(c) the credit results from the debit or the debit results from the credit.



(3) References to a credit and to a debit are to a credit of an amount of money and to a



debit of an amount of money.



(4) It is immaterial (in particular)-



(a) whether the amount credited is the same as the amount debited;



(b) whether the money transfer is effected on presentment of a cheque or by



another method;



(c) whether any delay occurs in the process by which the money transfer is



effected;



(d) whether any intermediate credits or debits are made in the course of the



money transfer;



(e) whether either of the accounts is overdrawn before or after the money



transfer is effected.



(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction on



indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.







Sukhvir, as you can see, I am fully versed in the nature of our sales contract. If you contact eBay they will inform you that you are required by US Law to refund the full quantity of my money. This includes Postage and Packaging and Item Value. The total value is $42.98. I have cited their relevent policy regarding the reimbursement for failed postage below:



Extract from the eBay Laws for businesses guidelines:

(For businesses)

Loss or damage in transit

If the trader arranges for goods to be delivered to a consumer, the goods remain at the trader’s risk until delivery. It is, therefore, the trader’s responsibility to ensure that goods are not lost or damaged in transit, and/or to take out appropriate insurance. It follows that optional postal insurance should never be offered to consumers.



You will see that since the item never reached me in person, it was still your responsibility. I am currently in correspondence with eBay UK and PayPal International and they are awaiting further information from me. This will depend on your next course of action.



If you refund me the full quantity immediately, I will suspend the case and and inform both eBay and PayPal that you have complied with the terms of the sales contract. This is the easiest and quickest option. The entire case will be over within hours and you will never hear from me again. If your initial postal procedure was correct, then you will be able to reclaim any money lost via the US Postal Service. This is described in the eBay Businesses Guidelines. You cannot claim any money back from eBay through the "Unpaid Items" service because the item has been paid for. The failure is either with the US Postal Service, or you have intentionally or unintentionally incorrectly attempted to post the item. I suspect the latter. eBay certainly have no responsiblity over the item. As described previously, the responsibility is with you, the seller.



If you chose not to refund me, I will take the following action: I will open a formal Case for Investigation through PayPal. I have already notified PayPal of your name Sukhvir Saini, and that you have been operating under an alias. I will open a formal Case for Investigation through eBay and make a claim for Obtaining Money Transfer by Deception. I am already in correspondance with all of these individuals and have their attention.



Please refund me, to save us both a lot of trouble.Regardless of the laws that I have stated above, I believe that you have a moral obligation to refund me, and I believe that you know this. I hope that you refund my payment today. Please think very carefully if this is worth $43, and please reply soon. I will be very happy to speak to you on the phone if you prefer. If you refuse to communicate with me, the Indiana State Police Criminal Investigations Bureau have offered to visit you (presumably on suspicion of fraud), so as to speak in person. I have told them not to do so today, as I wish to resolve the matter through diplomatic means.





Regards,

D





Sukvir sent his usual ambiguous reply. He confirmed his name was Sukhvir and that Rita is his employee. He evaded the topic of reimbursement, so I sent him this. Importantly, I kept in full contact with PayPal International and kept them informed of all our private correspondence. By this point they had got fed up of his antics, and were preparing to refund me. They had confirmed they would be investigating his transactions on eBay as a result of this dispute.



Dear Sukhvir Saini,



Thank you for clarifying your identity. Please could you now clearly state your choice to the following question so that it may be documented in electronic form. A simple yes or no answer will suffice.



In light of the demonstration of responsibility and entitlement described in my previous email and cited below, will you refund me, D $42.98 immediately ?



Due to your failure to respond adequately, as promised, I have escalated the matter with PayPal, and on 15/04/09, PayPal communicated their intentions with you. The status of this case can be viewed in the PayPal Case Resolution centre. You have 9 remaining days to respond to PayPal. Alternatively you can refund me directly and I will close the case with immediate effect.



Please send me a definitive reply immediately, or I will continue to escalate the matter, acting towards The Obtainance of Money Transfer through Deception, as outlined in my previous email cited below.





To which he replied:

You have obviously received that lens by now, now stop the dispute.



That afternoon, PayPal phoned me and confirmed Saini had breeched the sales contract and they would be mediating a full refund in my favour. I had quietly hoped that the would shut him down, but its clear that he's still up and running, so perhaps they did'nt have the evidence, or more likely couldn't be bothered to persue the matter further. I did however take some pride in my little success, and have realised that if there are any others out there who have successfully claimed refund, we are all unable to leave feedback! This is why his feedback score is currently 98.1%. The only people that leave feedback are the few that are conned by him and fail to acheive refund. Those that do, are unable to post on his feedback wall and therefore he continues to operate.



Anyway, I might have started off this rant in a somewhat excitable mood (I wasn't high, honestly), but it's now past my bedtime, so I'm gonna leave it here. If anyone is struggling the same as me, I'm happy to help, but to be honest, its just about communicating effectively with PayPal International, and doing things in the right order. There might be a few phone calls involved, but I used a Lebara Mobile sim card, and my total expenditure in the issue was £3.



Sukhvir, if you're reading this, which I desperately hope you are, I never got to thank you for the transaction, so here it is. You're a disgrace and I hope you realise what a worthless individual you are to society.



D.

Saini Digital is a scam run out of a house in Fishers, Indiana. They consistently overstate the value of their items for sale - on eBay and Amazon.com. They misrepresent what items are designed to do. They are unresponsive to requests for clarification. Sometimes they do not even ship items until pressured (actually sometimes not even then). They try to take in as much money as they can while delivering as little as possible. Please refer to D's excellent post above and then ask youself and eBay: HOW CAN EBAY JUSTIFY ALLOWING A SELLER LIKE THIS TO CONTINUE TO POST ITEMS FOR SALE ON EBAY?

Thank you it does help, but is there something better that is a digital that can take great dusk/low light/evening photos? Without the noise? As that photo seems more blurry than what I would like to find.

Hi Ben,

What do you actually mean by "see a lot of image noise"?



Thanks

Carol

Will the kodak P712 stop a runner in the one hundred yard dash? What program can I use to print one frame from the video recording on a P712?

Andrew,

Thanks, that's very helpful, i will checkit out, it certainly sounds like it has the lot!

Cait

Here's another option - I am currently testing the Olympus SP-550UZ ( digitalcamera-hq.com/digita...  ) and have so far been quite pleased with the results. 7.1 MP, 18x zoom, image stabilization and some great scene based program features including a 15fps burst mode. This is great for sports photography.



Now some will argue that the 15fps burst mode only allows for about 1.2 mp. I think it's better than that. But even so, it will do for snapshots no larger than 4x6, and you still get that action shot. For full res, it does have a 3 fps burst mode as well.



It also has in camera editing features such as cropping, sepia and black/white alerations, nite modes, super macro mode for REALLY close up shots, panoramic guides for shooting multiple shots to stitch into a panorama, even a mode for shooting documents.



I'm really enjoying it. If I had to complain, however, I have found the menu structure wanting and difficult to use on the fly. But other than that, it's a top notch camera.

It sounds as if you may be confused if you buy a camera which is too complicated or which has cryptic displays. Go to a store (and it may take a couple of tries, WalMart is bad for NOT doing this) which keeps the display cameras use-ready, with strong batteries and empty memory. You'll want to try them out, and find one which has strong selection of automatic modes to help you (action, macro, and so on). I cannot emphasize this enough, you want OPTICAL image stabilization, not DIGITAL image stabilization. Optical systems move elements of the lens to compensate for movement. Digital systems crop the sensor, removing some resolution, detail, and sharpness to accomplish the stabilization. Though rare a few years ago, optical IS is common now, and is a big help with super zooms. You might try the Kodak Z712. It retails for less than $250. That said, there are a plethora of excellent choices. Panasonics are very easy to use, but I was unimpressed with the image quality on mine. Most any quality brand (why doesn't anyone mention Nikon anymore?) of 10x+ zoom camera will give 4x6 prints that anyone would be happy with.

My son breeds dogs and has a kennel. I am looking to get him a new digital for Christmas. He takes multiple pics for his website and goes to many dog shows where he takes pictures on the "fly" of the other dogs. He was wanting an easy to use digital, but one that takes good pics when the animal is in movement - no blurry pics. What do you advise for these conditions? Thanks

Fuji has great sensor, it is one of the best in shooting in low light. Fuji have said that their F30/F31FD is close to vision like human eye. The only weakest the that it has lots of purple fringing.

try watch this...

youtube.com/watch?v=ElmIw_K... 

Both cameras (your old Minolta and the P712 ( digitalcamera-hq.com/digita...  )) offer the option of full manual control. This is definitely nice. The Kodak has gotten reviews of being somewhat noisy if you use ISO 400 or over, but it has a larger image sensor than the Minolta (plus more megapixels) so I would say the images will be cleaner than what you're used to. The Kodak can shoot in RAW and TIFF, which the Minolta could not - if you get into advanced stuff that can be really helpful.



Some people say that the Kodak is somewhat confusing in how it's laid out- I think it just takes a little getting used to, as the Easyshares are some of the most user-friendly cameras on the market.

Well TIFFany,



The Fuji S9000 only takes JPEG and RAW format. The Kodak p712 ( digitalcamera-hq.com/digita...  ) is a great camera that has TIFF format option.

Ben, I have been using the Nikon coolpix 4100 (5.8-17.4mm; 1:2.8-4.9). I would like a better one, that has manual and auto focus, mero features, better resolution, etc.

Looking foward to your aswer, MACARENA.

Ben, Thank you SO much for your advice! I have made a research of the cameras you listed and the high-end prosumer ones will cover my needs. I share your opinion about a SLR camera, they will be a waste of money and time. Maybe later, if I make a photography course and lear more (I hope so), i will buy one. So far, i am going to invest my saving on a Sony H5, Canon PowerShot S3 or Kodak P850 who looks pretty much to a SLR. As you had said, I am going to try them (or at least hold them) and make my final decision in the store. By the way, any suggestion?

Thak you again, MACARENA.

Do you know if kodak will do trade in on a P712 I have DX7440 I need to stop a basketball player in fast movement.

Hi, I noticed that you haven't marked any replies as the "best answer." Are you still looking for an answer? If so, I recommend you re-submit it on digitalcamera-hq.com  so it will have a better chance of being noticed. These days it looks like most questions are being answered within a few days. Good luck!

Hi, I noticed that you haven’t marked any replies as the "best answer." Are you still looking for an answer? If so, I recommend you re-submit it on digitalcamera-hq.com  so it will have a better chance of being noticed. These days it looks like most questions are being answered within a few days. Good luck!

Hi James, many thanks for the info. We had a look at Picasa, it is great, we have swapped all our photos over from easy share.



best regards



Trev

Many thanks Joe, I am not a pro photographer and have lost many photos when taken with with downlights and outdoors such as concerts lighting up the stage. The photo turns out very blurred with the lights distorted.



shall have to practice



regards

Trev

Thankyou. My computer was down That is why I did not awnser you so quickley.You have helped me greatly.

The Z7590 was great, I had the prior DX6490. The P712 is an excellent replacement for that camera. You'll find some new features that you probably wanted (image stabilization, 12x) and others you might never use (MF, hot shoe). It is a tad bigger, but the Z712 has most of the same features in a 7590 size case.

Brenda,

I suppose we'd go from $300 to maybe $600. We'd be wanting to take still shots immediately. After taking the senior pictures it would be given to our daughter who is entering college for general use. She has taken some photography classes in HS and may explore photography some more in college.



Jeff

Since your daughters are probably going off to college. Perhaps you may want to look at something very portable. The best thing to do about senior pics is not to wait until that last minute. If they are in a regular school then the school will have some requirements for their yearbooks to have the pic submitted. Usually must have shot of just face, etc. and usually can even require dress regulations. Our school also requires a black and white for the paper. They offer pics taken at the school and then you can look at them and if you don't like them you pay nothing. (Just in case all goes bad) But hopefully you won't have any problems. Remember - try to catch them doing more natural things that you or they want to remember. You can always add in some items that have meaning, like a certain stuffed animal, necklace, or scenic spot.

Hi Jeff... I'll give you some advice. First of all, you should know the diferences between a DSRL and a point & shoot (even with manual controls). There are two types of customers... the ones who want a small and cool device, take nice pics, and just have fun and the ones who don't care if the camera is big, if the lenses are big too, but they care a lot about response and image quality. Of course, these last ones, are more expensive... but you are getting much more from each buck you spend. The tecnical differences are: a much bigger sensor (like 7 or 8 times) what makes more light pass to each pixel, and make more vivid images; image procesors, that are the ones which convert the image in digital information (let's say that the worst SRL is at least better than the best point & shoot); response (SRL are on in 0,2 secs... don't expect that from a point & shoot). But, the SRL are not that comfortable... with almost any of them, you cannot take pics with the LCD, and are in some cases up to 6 or 7 bigger cameras.

I will recomend you cameras from $400, and up to $700... despite you said $600. Why? Because SRL prices start at $500... so you don't have too many of them by that price. The average, is around $800 and $1500.



Recomended Point & Shoot:

* Canon Powershot G7

* Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5

* Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1

* Ricoh Caplio R5

* Samsung NV7 OPS

* Samsung S850



This ones, are point & shoot cameras... but they are kind of small. You also have those with ultra versatile lenses, but much bigger. Some of the bests are:

* Samsung Pro815 (with 15x lenses, and a decent sensor)

* Panasonic FZ30 (you also have the FZ50, but you should know that there's almost any difference between 8 and 10 mp, than the $100 extra bucks) I would recomend THIS ONE!

* Kodak P880

* FujiFilm FinePix IS-1



SRL's I recomend for the price:

* Pentax K100 (or K110... the difference is the image stabilization)

* Nikon D40

* Canon Rebel XT EOS 350 D



To decide between these three, you should first know some things about them:

1º Pentax K100 was the surprise in the last photography event of 2006. It has even better picture quality than the Nikon D50, and it has shift sensor image stabilization.

2º The Nikon D40 is the last release of Nikon, and it's made to compete with the Pentax. The image quality is slightly better (let's say that the throne was for the Nikon D50, until the Pentax K100 was lounched to the market, and they just released the Nikon D40 that has some better end details, but there are almost no differences). BUT! this camera doesn't have a built in autofocus... so you have to buy every lens with it's own autofocus system, which makes them more expensive. Much more... if you want image stabilization... you will have to buy much more expensive lenses, when the K100 comes with it.

3º There's no difference between 6 and 8 mp. But much more... this is the most expensive of the three, and Canon is well known for bad quality kit lenses... so you will have to buy extra lenses. This one doesn't come with image stabilization neither.



My opinion: buy the K100 camera body, and then look for lenses around 120 and 200 bucks. Sigma is a very good brand for the price you pay them. Look for versatility, something like 18-90 mm, or 28-120... or even more. I've done that.



Hope this helps you to find the best camera for you and your daughter, and I expect you to post in the future what you bought, and how pleased you are.

Alan.