Rongta Kids Digital Print Camera Ages 3-10

Rongta Kids Camera

I retired a few years ago from a career that was paying me 6 digits a year and allowed me to travel the world.  I can attribute the skills that led to my career from my exposure to tech toys from my youth.  Radio Shack kits, radios, CB radios, cameras, etc.  I feel it is vital to expose young children to technical hobbies.  Enter the Rongta Kids Camera.

The Rongta Digital Print Camera is not only fun but is sure to inspire your young children to learn photography and computer skills leading to  imaginative creation.   And hey, it’s fun!  Listed price is $49.99 at Amazon with a $20 coupon.  John’s Tech Blog’s readers can receive an additional 10% off by using the code 10JohnsTech

The code is good until 20 December 2024.  That is darn near half of the original price.  And just in time for Christmas!
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Taking Better Pictures Cheaply With Canon G7

If you are like me you frequently scour eBay and Facebook Marketplace for great deals.  Or to pick up collectibles or hobby items.  You know as well as I do that there are ads out there with HORRIBLE pictures in them.   Maybe you are guilty of this as well.   I know I have put up some for sale ads before with substandard photos.   This blog may seemingly take a backwards approach to solve the problem.  Most of us think that we need new and better equipment to improve our photos.  That simply isn’t the case.   We can vastly improve our images with a camera that is nearly 20 years old.  I’m going to use the venerable Canon G7.

Canon G7

The G7 was released in late 2006 and unless I miss my guess it was released first in Japan.  I was living in Japan at that time and I was positively giddy at getting my hands on one.

The G7 was a gem however, I had a bad case of upgrade-itis and sold mine and got a G9.  My first thoughts were that I should have never gotten rid of the G7.

And then one day I stumbled across one at a super great price that was in pristine condition and I decided to see if the magic was still there.

The principle allure of using this old camera is that it can be tethered to a computer which is a feature that you just won’t find in non-DSLR cameras these days.  There are a couple of caveats though.
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Tethered Photography

Tethered Photography

Sometime roughly around the early 2000’s camera makers offered the feature of tethered photography to some of their lower end cameras.   Tethering a camera to a computer allows for stable, hands free shooting.  It also allows the photographer instant feedback on a large computer monitor.   Camera settings can be changed quickly on the computer until the desired results were reached.  This was especially useful in food photography, or in sales and marketing of products.  Hobbyists like me used it for photographing items for sale and for photographing things like coin collections, and even portraits.  As you can see in the pic, you don’t need a fancy studio to get a good shot.

In a nutshell, tethered photography is a PRO FEATURE.  Canon, Nikon, FujiFilm, and Sony had tethered options but Canon mostly led the pack.   With the release of the Canon Powershot G11 in 2009, Canon removed this feature.   I guess they figured out that people wouldn’t purchase high end cameras if they could achieve professional results with less expensive, point and click cameras.

Canon A640

Even to this day cameras from this era that are able to be tethered fetch a premium price on the secondary market.  If you don’t believe me, go to eBay and look for a Canon G9 or G10.

Even a 20 year old Canon A640 goes for over $100 still.   It should be noted that I took this photo with a Nikon D7000 It was tethered to an $80 Evolve III Maestro laptop using Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 software.
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Auto-Vox Solar4B Wireless Backup Camera

Auto-Vox Wireless Backup Camera Solar4B

I was recently contacted by a Auto-Vox and was provided their Solar4B Wireless Backup Camera ($169) for review.  At the time of the review there was a $50 off coupon available at the Amazon link above.

Auto-Vox did not apply any conditions to the review nor did they pay for the review. Conversely, what you will read here is what I actually think of the camera.

First of all, they couldn’t have selected a better person to review this.  I have a 17′ Rockwood A122  pop up camper and have always wanted some form of backup camera mounted on the rear  of it.

You’d think every single camper in the world would have wiring and connectors preinstalled. But you would be wrong for thinking that.   An Auto-vox backup camera is perfect for my situation.
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I had a Ring Pro that was a few years old. It died. I would log in to look at something only to find it was alive a day or two before then died.  Then miraculously it would come back to life only to die again.

I bought a new Ring Pro to replace it and documented that process here.   It was a living fucking hell. It should have been easy.  But it was not easy.  Enough of that.  I spouted off enough about it in the last blog entry.  Let’s talk about fixing the one that was broken.  This will just cover the battery replacement and not the entire tear down or rebuild.

Basically you just open the thing up and remove the motherboard.  There are several connectors on the board which must be CAREFULLY removed. Take a picture first before you disconnect anything.  Regarding the connectors, just get under them and pop them up with a spudger made of plastic.  THEY ARE FRAGILE.  Then remove two screws , pull the speaker out and then lift the motherboard.

Connector removal locations

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