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Remember how frustrated you were when you last used a product so badly thought
out that you wondered if you and the designers were natives of the same
planet?
If not, may I recommend the Casio QV-10? I can guarantee you'll be left
wondering about the possibility of alien life forms and their potential role in
consumer electronics design on Planet Earth.
The basic design concept of the Casio QV-10 isn't bad; in fact, it's
brilliant. But some boneheaded tradeoffs in the implementation along with some
really sloppy software design combine to make the QV-10 a really weak
product.
Camera Hardware
I should point out right here that no digital camera can compete with its
film-based counterparts in terms of image quality. In fact, a $100 35mm camera
will produce images which are so much better than those produced by a $1,000
digital camera that you'd be embarrassed to put them side-by-side.
The same can be said for any high-end 35mm SLR and a high-end digital camera
like the $28,000
Kodak DCS-460.
That said, the currently-available set of digital cameras remain eminently
useful for electronic illustrations such as those commonly found on the Web. If
photography is your reason for publishing on the Web, you'll obviously want to
use a more traditional method of image transfer, like Photo CD, but for simple
illustrations requiring rapid turnaround time, digital cameras can be hard to
beat.
Note: All of the inline images in this review are reduced;
click on the image to see the full-size version.
The QV-10 is about the size and weight of a small 35mm snapshot camera. One
look at the back of the camera, however, tells you that it's not one of those
little snapshot cameras. Instead of a viewfinder, there's a small (1.8" diagonal)
active-matrix color LCD which shows you what the camera sees. If you've seen
Sharp's
ViewCam
camcorder, you've seen the concept before; this is smaller and lighter, though,
since there's really nothing mechanical inside. The viewfinder works quite well
in most situations; it is, however, virtually unusable when the camera is outside
in bright sunlight.
Unlike a 35mm camera, there's no
prominent image lens on this camera. The image sensor (a 250,000 element, 1/5"
CCD) is housed in the small section off to the right (when viewed from the
front). That little section swivels through 270 degrees of travel, so you can
even do a self-portrait if you're so inclined.
Here's one place you can find an example of what's right with this
camera: when you've got the lens flipped around so it's facing you, the LCD image
is a left-to-right mirror image of the camera's actual view. This makes composing
the picture easier since the image moves as expected when you move. But when you
capture the image, the correct (non-mirror-image) view gets stored.
Images are captured by pressing a "shutter button," just as on a conventional
camera. But the shutter is electronic, so there's no noise at all when you take
the picture; the only indication you see is the word "WAIT" in the middle of the
viewfinder screen for a few seconds while the image is stored to the camera's
flash RAM. The camera has 2 megabytes of flash RAM, enough for storage of 96
images.
Exposure control is automatic, though a manual override (in the form of "+"
and "-" buttons) is available. The effect of these controls is immediately
visible on the LCD screen. The lens also has two mechanical aperture settings: F2
and F8.
The lens is fixed focus; everything beyond 60cm at F2 (28cm at F8) is in
focus. A macro setting is available; when active, the lens is set to focus on
objects about 14cm away (again, of course, depth of field at F8 increases the
acceptable focus range).
The camera takes four AA batteries. A fresh set of alkaline batteries should
last you about two hours, says the manual. My experience suggests that that two
hours is measured on the alien planet I spoke of earlier; on Planet Earth, you'll
have about one hour before you see the "low battery" indicator come on. And you'd
better heed that indicator when it comes on (more about this later).
A self-timer button triggers a ten-second countdown, just as with a
conventional camera.
Under a little hatch on the top of the camera are three jacks. One connects
the camera to a computer; another carries a video signal to a monitor, VCR, or
video printer. The third and final jack is a 6-volt power input, which helps tame
the camera's voracious appetite for batteries somewhat.
Image Playback
By sliding a switch on the back of the camera from "record" to "play," you can
use the monitor on the back of the camera to review the images you've stored. The
"+" and "-" buttons move forward and backward through the images you've stored in
the camera.
The image on the camera-back monitor is also also
sent as NTSC composite video if you have the video cable connected. Here's an
image grabbed from this digital output (the object in the photo is a digital
pager). The number shown in the upper right-hand corner is the "page number" in
the camera (photographers would call this the frame number); the camera's "DISP"
button will show or hide this number.
There's a "MODE" button on the top of the camera which can be used to display
four pictures at once in a two-by-two grid, or nine pictures at once in a
three-by-three grid (pictured here). A "ZOOM" button will allow one to look at a
portion of a single image; this looks pretty blocky, though.
When an image is on-screen, the "DEL" button can be pressed; you're given the
choice to delete an individual image (pictured at left) or all images (at
right).
Any of the images in the camera's memory can be marked "protected;" when this
is done, the image(s) will survive the "delete all" operation and are not
candidates for individual deletion.
Using the QV-10 with a Computer
I installed version 1.2 of the QV-PC software on my Windows 95 machine and
connected the faintly ridiculous-looking serial cable to my machine. (Mac
software and a cable adapter are also included).
The software installed
easily, and had no problems establishing a connection with the camera. Thumbnail
images (in essence, a contact sheet), can be downloaded from the camera. Clicking
on an image causes the LCD display (and attached video device, if any) to display
that image; this could potentially be really useful for giving presentations.
Double-clicking an image will download it from the camera to the computer. The
only problem with this is that the images look really awful. Images
downloaded from the camera have very visible compression artifacts. The
astute reader will note that the pictures which follow are in JPEG format. I
converted these from the .BMP format saved by the camera software using Photoshop
at the "high quality" setting. The compression artifacts you see are the camera's
work; they're not from the conversion process. (Remember, click on the small
photo to view the zoomed-in version; the thumbnail images here don't look all
that bad.)
Digital pager photographed in
macro mode.
Low-light, high-contrast
image. Check out those compression artifacts! (They're especially visible around
the head of the lamp).
This is a pretty well-lit
shot designed to test both resolution and color.
Another resolution-and-color
test, this time in macro mode.
Macro-mode close-up of some
fine detail. Again, check out the compression artifacts! I never thought I'd say
this about anything, but the frame-grabbed NTSC video output from the device
actually looks better (in general) than the straight digital output. (I
used Play Incorporated's
"Snappy" video
capture device for all of the video-captured stuff in this document). Compare
these NTSC grabs with the digitally-transferred images. The left-hand column is
the captured video (I had the DISP function on, so you can also identify them by
the frame number in the upper-right hand corner). (Click on any image for an
enlarged version)
Presentations to Go
One of the most intriguing features of the QV-10 is that images can be
uploaded from the computer to the camera; these bitmaps, of course, need
not necessarily be photographs. Assuming the compression artifacts aren't too
objectionable (and that your type is large enough), the camera is a formidable
presentation tool since an entire talk can be put on a very portable
device; there's no need for a laptop computer, LCD panel, scan converter, or any
of the other gadgets usually associated with giving a presentation from a
computer. Just find a large-screen monitor/TV, plug in, and go.
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid
So, what's wrong with this picture? OK, so the image quality isn't great, but
the camera's really small, holds a lot of images, and has great potential as a
portable presentation tool Every time you write to the camera's flash memory, you
risk turning it into a paperweight. Included with the camera was a scary-looking
yellow scrap of paper with warnings in about eight different languages. A power
interruption while writing to the camera's flash memory (after taking a picture
or while uploading from the computer) or a data communications problem while
uploading from a computer to the camera will cause the message "MEMORY ERROR -
CALL TECH SUPPORT" to appear on the display. According to the sheet, "whenever
this happens, the unit cannot be used and all of the digital images stored in the
camera's memory will be lost." "Well," I thought, "I'll call tech support
now and find out how to reset the camera rather than wait for this to
happen, which it invariably will some Friday at 5:01pm, right after their tech
support folks go home. After about ten minutes in a tight
redial-busy-hangup-pickup loop, I got through to their tech support number. Their
automated attendant system informed me that there were two calls ahead of me
(suggesting strongly that their national tech support operation is in possession
of not one, not two, but three telephone lines for incoming calls. Color
me impressed.)
The technician who answered said that he was familiar with this situation and
had, in fact, just spoken with one of the senior technicians about this very
issue. There is no way for the user to reset the camera; it must be sent in to
Casio for service.
The technician elaborated: this was a design decision to do this (to
safeguard any pictures not destroyed by the problem which caused the error to
occur--yes, I know this is at odds with the little yellow warning sheet), and
that the reset to clear the problem is strictly a software operation. Yes,
that's right, you send your camera back to them, and they plug it into their PC,
run a software reset program through the very same serial port interface used in
normal operation, then pack it up and send it back to you. I asked: no, the
software isn't available to end users; in fact it's so closely guarded that the
service centers don't even have it. They have to send the cameras suffering from
this problem off to Casio USA's headquarters (I assume this process differs if
you're outside of the U.S.) All of this "usually takes less than two weeks,"
according to the technician. (Random aside: what is it that takes so long
about getting consumer electronic equipment fixed? I have a mental vision of the
Factory Authorized Service Center Corporation, a gigantic warehouse full of
broken electronic gear. Every once in a while, the lone person working there
takes another piece of hardware off the shelf, opens it up, scratches his head,
and mutters to himself, "Look at all them wires in there!" It goes
downhill from there.)
My first guess upon hearing this was that the technician didn't really know
the answer, so he was simply making something up which seemed plausible to him
but not me. After asking a number of fairly detailed questions, though, it became
clear that he really did know this product pretty well, and this problem in
particular.
He did make the alarming suggestion, however, that I use nickel-cadmium
rechargeable batteries after I expressed dismay at the camera's hunger for AA
cells. One wonders about the wisdom of this move, though, given the fact that the
camera will self-destruct if the camera loses power when flash RAM is being
written. The low-battery warning with alkaline AA cells is only issued with about
seven minutes' operating time remaining; given the discharge curves of NiCd
batteries, this time could be a lot shorter.
I was able to confirm that NiCd batteries are, indeed, unwise for use in the
QV-10.
Kimura Kazushi maintains some
information on his
web
pages about the QV-10, including the Japanese-language FAQ. Since no
English-language version of the FAQ exists, he was kind enough to mail me a
translation of the section on the FATAL ERROR message (same as the MEMORY ERROR
message in the US version of the camera):
There is no way to recover from a FATAL ERROR :-(
Then all you can do is send QV-10 to the shop for repair.
How to avoid the FATAL ERROR:
- Take care when you take a picture.
(Because FATAL ERROR is a flash memory *WRITE* error.)
- Avoid low battery voltage
You should take heed of the low-battery indicator.
Don't use NiCd batteries or manganese battery.
- Avoid DC power supply disconnect--even if it's only momentary.
Don't touch the QV-10 and the cables when uploading;-)
- Use a lithium battery, if you can.
It is expensive but has a very long life span.
So, it's just a matter of time, in my opinion, before the camera
self-destructs. Maybe you'll be lucky. Maybe you won't. Put another way, would
you trust the health of your hardware to the ability of Microsoft Windows
to reliably communicate with the serial port?
In Conclusion
The concept behind this camera is, as I said before, simply brilliant. If it
were just the fact that the image quality is kind of weak, it would be easy to
forgive; after all, the device is a mass-market item based on camcorder
technology. But it's also fairly easy to, well, destroy the camera in the course
of normal use, particularly if you use it for offline presentations--one of its
greatest strengths. Combine that with a difficult-to-reach tech support
organization, bad information regarding product usage, obstructionist policies
regarding the software reset tool, and a lengthy turnaround time when service is
necessary, and you have a great idea with some really fatal flaws.
Casio has just announced their QV-30 camera. A revised version of the QV-10,
it has a telephoto lens and a larger LCD panel display. The image capture
electronics, however, remain largely (if not completely) unchanged. Image memory,
in particular, has not been increased from the 2Mbytes of RAM found in the QV-10
This suggests that any improvements in image quality will be incremental
improvements at best. According to the technician, the QV-30 will behave
identically with the QV-10 if a flash write is interrupted, so this new camera
has paperweight potential as well.
It's a great idea, really. But it's ruined by flaws in the implementation.
I purchased QV-10 summer of 96 and played with it for about 2 weeks before I returned it. Yes, the camera is really nifty, and girls in my class always wanted to see themselves on that cute LCD screen, but that killed the batteries very quickly. Whatever savings you think you are going to get over the your M6 in film costs, the savings evaporate in battery purchases. Plus, the image quality is marginal. But what made me return the camera was the following experience: I had a 486 PC from a friend and used that to download the images from the camera. I got plenty of problems while doing that by not being able to do batch transfers properly, software crapped out after the first image. However, the biggest bummer was when I tried taking the images to my fathers Mac, Casio's software on a Mac side refused the images downloaded on a PC side. That was final straw that broke my back and camera was back in the store pronto. Again, cute product, but awfull implementation. But what would you expect from one of the first ones?! I am sure by now Casio has solved most of the problems I have experienced, but I am not ready to trade in my EOS system just quite yet.
Bought Casio's latest model (QV-300) about a week
ago. It does have some improvements, namely, better
resolution (640x480 max) and larger LCD screen (2.5")
However, same problem remains with the possibility
of a power interrupt destroying the camera during
an image transfer. Seems like Casio should have
fixed this by now but they didn't. Also, battery
consumption is still bad. I did a test and got
97 minutes of play (without taking pictures) vs
130 claimed in the manual, and only 57 pictures at
one per minute vs 96 in the manual. Each time I
used brand new batteries. While attempting to
transfer images to the PC on batteries, the low
battery indicator came on during the second picture
and this was with brand new batteries too!!!!
I think the camera is OK, but am very disappointed
in the battery consumption and the possibility of
wrecking the camera.
I've just bought the QV120, which continues the problem with a power loss while writing to the flash memory, but the impression you're all giving is that Casio won't return your camera in working order - everyone's using the term "destroy" as if to imply that the camera will never function again. And, by the way, some of the under $10.00 disposables will outperform all but the most expensive digitals. For me, the lure was being able to take just a few pictures without having to waste the remainder of even a 12-exposure roll. I enjoyed the review. Thanks.
My agency purchased the QV-10 some time ago, and we (my department) inherited it. I worked fine, except for the huge nuber of batteries it went through. Camera to video worked well, and was more fun when adding music (not through the camera, of course). Then, we upgraded computers. You know, delete this, you get that, swapping computers, etc. Well, we needed to reinstall the QV-10 software. No dice. We had a corrupted disk. So, I call tech support. Long wait. Then, I told the techie what was wrong. He infuriatingly suggested that I shouldn't put the software on more than one machine (thus insulting me both by not listening and insinuating the copywright infringement). He gave me a fax number to plead for replacement (not toll free) and an 800 number to order replacement software. $39.95 plus $6.50, for that?! Wow. I've rarely been that steamed. Thanks Casio. Thanks a lot.
I purchased the QV-10 and was very impressed with
it until I tried to use a mac that was not mine
to download pictures to disk. I got a message on
the Mac i was using that said I had a corrupted
disk, so here i am 2000 miles from my computer
with no way to download my full camera which was
purchased for taking pictures the prodution of a
multi-city show. I called Casio and was told I
could not use the disk on more then one machine.
I did manage however to hack around the disk
corrution problem by opening pictures on another
disk I had, then installing the program on the
rental computer ! But now I have a boat anchor
camera because I used it while I had a low battery.
I get a message on the screen that looks like
japenese writing. I have to send the Camera to a
Casio factory repair center. 2 weeks they tell me
for repair, we'll see !
I must make one comment about your comparison of
digital cameras to 35mm. True, most digitals don't
stand up at all, but I wouldn't say all....
I have a Minolta RD-175 that takes spectacular pictures,
and with my Kodak DS8650 Dye-sub printer, I regularly
plop down 8 x 10's that are as good or even better
than I can with film. Our study uses the digital
almost exclusively, and except for the expensive toys
related to it, and the time it takes to acquire images
for processing, we (and our customers) like it much better.
(Especially when they don't have to come back next
week to look at proofs.)
Thanks for the info about being carefully when the batteries gets low. I bought my QV10 just this Sept 15,1997 $499 Aust with free QV Link 2.03 kit. I love it because it is fun to use. I can get 96 pic with 4 fresh alkaline ($0.59 each). I upload the pic to my website and my relatives can see all 96 pic. I conserve battery power by not replaying too much while I am on the field. The TFT LCD is where much of the power is consumed. The cost of color toner or ink to make a hard copy is not worth it. So in my opinion QV10 is good for e-mail and homepages which is where the fun is. Accept the limitation and you will have some fun .
A few months ago I bought a QV-300, which is the
latest incarnation of the QV... series. It's a
very fun thing to own but it has its flaws.
First, there's no warnings about the camera
self-destructing and requiring factory reset, and
so far, I have had no problems, although I always
put the camera on a DC convertor when I down or
upload.
It's been great for capturing photos during
our various outings and the ability to e-mail
photos the next day has been a great novelty.
The QV-link software is dorky. It's hard to coax
JPEG images out of the camera until you master the
quirks of the software. I have not fiddled with
the TWAIN driver to any great degree but it seems
to be as addled as it tries to deposit the .CAM
images.
NI-CD batteries are a bad idea. The problem is
that nicads have a very low internal resistance and can delivery prodigious amperage at full charge. The problem is that when they are being drained quickly and as they hit depletion they get HOT. Hot enough to hurt the camera, IMHO.
Still, a fun toy - not a general purpose instrument but a great thing to photograph events and create web images.
Phil Wherry's review of the Casio QV-10 was well-done and interesting. However, he is way off the point on cheap digital cameras. They are toys, rather like Polaroids. I enjoy my QV-30,but I'm not selling my Minolta or my Leica. I am glad to get his warning on power interruptions, although I do use a Casio 6-volt converter for downloading purposes. As he says, take batteries!
I have had a lot of fun with my QV-10a. As the webmaster for an ISP, this toy has been of great value to me for the purpose of quickly putting images of events and people on the site. Specially interesting: the Photoshop Plug-In. I rarely use and image without some kind of help from Photoshop so the possibility of downloading them directly into the program and then saving them as JPEG's or GIF's is a must. I think I trashed the QV-Mac (1.2) application the second or third day.
Idea: I think it would be really interesting to adapt a zoom lens from a broken video camera onto the QV-10 CCD module. This could not only be nice just for the zooming, it could also help get better performance under low-light conditions. Has anybody tried this sort of thing?
I purchased a QV-120 in August, 1997, and was somewhat dismayed at the resolution, even at 640x480 still seemed a little fuzzy, but I realized that lower end digital cameras still have a ways to go to match traditional print film. Remember, traditional photography has about a 150 year head start over digital. In regards to heavy battery use: I also went through about a million batteries and quickly figured that the savings I anticipated in not having processing costs were rapidly evaporating, till I found a cure. I also read that Ni-cads were not good for the camera, but Ray-O-Vac has renewable alkaline batteries with a plug in charger. The total cost for the charger and 8 AA batteries (to be able to continuously rotate fresh batteries) came to about $20.00, and has probably saved me ten times that much in new batteries. The rechargable alkalines don't last quite as long as Ni-cad, but I have been recharging these for months, and so far they are doing fine. Also, once you have purchased the rechargable unit, new Ray-O-Vac rechargable batteries are relatively inexpensive. I found the recharger and the batteries at Target. FYI
My discs are also corrupted. Sounds like Cascio has built them to self destruct after a few loadings. Any one know where can get copies of the discs?? Please?? I like the camera though.
I have a Casio QV-10a and when was downloading
photos of the chamber to the PC the Windows 95
hung up and after that the camera get me the
famous FATAL MEMORY ERROR.
A year ago that I can not use my camera,
because I live in Argentina and the only one
dealer of Casio that says be capable of
accomplishing a software reset said me that
would cost around U$S 80.
I think this is too expensive, because a
software reset it's very simple to do.
I'll never paid U$S 80 for plug my camera
to a PC and run this software reset.
I am electronic technician and I can not
fix my camera by my self. That's ridiculous.
Again... Thanks to Bill Gates!!!
For your wonderful and very stable Windows 95.
I bought a QV-300 a couple of months ago with the intention of using it to display snapshots on the Web for my family back in the States (I'm working in Amsterdam). My primary gripe with this camera is no flash capability. My friend has a Ricoh with flash that takes much better pictures in poor light. For pictures indoors with the QV300, lighting conditions have to pretty optimal for any results worth using. I would never recommend buying a digital camera without a flash, as this area seems to be overlooked in your review. Thanks for a great website on photography in general.
With all the complaints re battery usage in the Casio QV-10 etc I fail to understand why users have not switched to using re-chargable ni-cads.
This works well for. Granted the initial layout is high but after that it costs very little.
I got a QV-10A as a free incentive from a salesman. So far I have used it to take thousands of pictures, downloaded on my home PC, a PC while on vacation, and a friend's Mac. All worked well, producing medium-quality picture files.
I use rechargeable ni-cad batteries, or recharged alkaline batteries, as I do with all my battery-consuming equipment. This has not caused a problem, but I am always alert for the end of battery life.
There have been two problems. One is the software, which is terrible. I used an Epson digital camera in 1996, and the `EZPhoto' software with it worked so much better. Also, since it plugs into my mouse port, I can't use both devices at once, which is a big hassle.
The second was the FATAL MEMORY ERROR. This was not caused by my use of rechargeable batteries, but by the battery compartment door falling off while I was taking a picture. I can't understand why, as I never treated it roughly. Anyway, it was serviced for free and returned with the lost pictures intact. If Casio had asked me to pay for fatal error recovery, I would have thrown it away.
I bought a QV-10A, when they dropped the price to
$300. This was a waste of good money,the last time
I threw away money was at a Casino,funny how the
two names are like Casio & Casino.
The problem with the camera is you can't download
the pictures to Adobe Photoshop,and can send only
one picture at a time to this picture editor.
Your time and batterys are wasting away just to
get a few pictures to Adobe, The company (Casio)
didn't spend enough time to write software that
could accomplish this.Beware if you buy Casio
camera and be sure to get the salesperson to
inform you if they have improved this feature.
I have two qv10a cameras I aquired at about the
same time (around 18 months ago). I just recently
unboxed the second camera, and within 5 batches of
photos, it's having problems.
I keep getting memory error #1's, and resetting
the camera doesn't seem to fix the problem. Even
after I used the qvplay software to delete all the
pictures in the camera and reset it, there were
problems. Now it seems to want to take pictures
only in black and white. The LCD's not broken, the
pictures are actually B&W when downloaded. After
only a few shots, it's got a memory error #1
again.
My other qv10a camera has been dropped down
stairs, out car windows, and run all the way to
totally deal batteries while taking pictures. I
haven't had any problems with it, and I've never
seen a memory error.
I have an almost opposite perspective of the
QV-10A camera.
I think too many camera snobs discount the
digital cameras because their resolution is
lower than a film camera. But a good picture
isn't just defined by how clear it is. It's also
partly due to framing and composition. It took
me a long time to get used to the LCD screen
because I was so used to a view-finder, but
finally I've decided that I prefer the LCD
screen. I think the QV-10A is a good way to
learn to compose pictures better because you get
instant feedback through the LCD screen and
because you don't have to worry about "wasting"
film. I've taken some great pictures with this
camera. I don't think the 320x240 size limits
their impact. Sure, I'd love a megapixel camera,
but you get what you pay for, and I think I've
had a bigger bang for my buck with this camera.
My QV-10A cost $200 which is below the $300 list
price. The QV10A has better color than many more
expensive digital cameras I've used. The camera
has survived numerous droppings and even dog
bites. It doesn't LOOK sturdy! It you want a
bang-around, but good quality camera I recommend
the QV-10A.
I think there's a consistent thread here...[sigh].
I too have been unable to successfully download
using QV-Link Mac, after switching to System 8 (or
maybe System 7). It appears to be some type of
power problem, which it can't be because I'm using
the power adapter (which I even checked with a DM
to make sure it was working). The most outrageous
thing, however, is that QV-Link is NOT available
for download from the web, for all of us with
corrupted disks and those who need upgrades. Come
on, Casio, this thing ONLY works with YOUR
cameras, and is a required part of the process! Ah
well. So, does anyone have any idea as to where a
poor soul like me can download the latest
(functional) version of QV-Link Mac?
I bought a Casio QV-100B from an on-line
auction. I wanted to use it for a "show-and-tell"
at the parts store etc.(as in, "See, I want one
that looks like this...") also got it for web pix
to family on the internet etc. I also found the
camera to be a battery gobbler! I talked to Casio
about this, they said NOT to use ni-cad batteries
as their life was too short (i.e. memory error);
and NOT to use lithium batteries as they get too
hot in the camera case and could damage the
camera. This was after I read in the camera manual
that said I could use lithium batteries if I find
alkaline life to be too short.
At the present time, I am using four lithium AA
cells, but am doing a "turn on the camera-take-the
picture-turn off camera" sequence. I also made a
110 VAC to 6 VDC adapter; and a D cell battery
pack for longer field sessions. The software is a
little clumsy, especially when you have to
disconnect your scanner and mouse to use the input
cable from the camera to the computer. Casio said
I couldn't use an input switcher instead of
doing all the disconnecting, as the camera and
software "won't like that." I do like the feature
that lets you download to a VCR tape for picture
storage/review. I don't like the poor pix quality
in anything but perfect lighting conditions.
Overall, I'd buy it again for the price, even
though there are some things I would like to see
changed...Hey, you get what you pay for.
Steve
I bought a Casio QV-120 about a year and a bit ago, and it's been okay, with some notable problems. First off, it really seems to dislike low light - it pretty much requires fairly bright natural or flourescent light to get any decent picture out of it at all. Even "normal" incandescent light looks dark. And, of course, the quality is what you would expect of a $300 digital. However, one thing that gets me is that it seems that the image quality is actually going *down* over time! The pictures it takes now are completely out of focus, and there is no manual working of it, so it's more or less completely useless to me now... Has anyone else experienced this?
I have a QV-770. The power problem presumably still remains since Casio still warns against rechargeables. On the advice of a totally different digital camera reviewer (I've lost their URL to the sands of disorganization -- I thought I had their URL bookmarked or memorized, but apparently I was wrong), though, I bought two sets of four of Casio's own NiMH AA type batteries with charger (a sleek, slimline recharger with a flip-out plug). The reviewers recommended (and I've confirmed that this works with my camera) switching to recharged batteries or turning off the camera at the FIRST SIGN of a low battery warning. I've never felt the need to test the camera to its low voltage limits.
I'm mostly disappointed that it doesn't use any forms of removeable media for storage. Otherwise, I pretty much knew what I was getting which was essentially a tool for capturing low-quality pictures from the world to the web with a minimum of fuss. It also works well for those totally uninvolved with the photography community to avoid the whole processing hassle when your camera's filled with pictures you don't want anyone else to see. Simply download to your computer, encrypt, and archive on a CD-R somewhere.
For a look at the last time I used the camera to document a trip, try the link I'll add shortly to my 'photojournal' from a visit to San Francisco to see my family.
So far neither I nor my friend with the QV-10 who got me hooked on this line of cameras has fried his camera due to low power, and we've both had reasonably pleasant glancing blows with Casio sales and support. But especially here, YMMV. I won't go out on a limb and say that others' experiences are any less valid than my own.
Well folks i have a miracle fix for the camara there are 2 solutions one which works for these ERRORS:
MEMORY ERROR #1: Recoverable by yourself. Photos available.
MEMORY ERROR #2: Recoverable by yourself. All photos lost.
except:
MEMORY ERROR #3: Fatal error.
First Solution"
turn on the camera, powered by the AC adaptor, whilst holding down [ZOOM] and [DEL]. Then follow the on-screen messages
Second Solution:
Go To http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/kn6y-gtu/
Since i do not have permission to copy the information.
A friend of mine complained that using the LCD screen as a viewfinder was practically impossible in sunlight. So I dismantled an optical (Newton) finder from an old broken-down "film camera" and glued it to the left side of the Casio QV-10 (the part that swivels). Granted, the viewing angle is not exactly that of the camera lens, but it helps...
I am surprised that people are still using this camera. Didn't it come out years ago? I think photo.net needs some reviews of more up to date cameras. The newer digital cameras do a much better job of replacing film cameras. Someone needs to get Phil a Canon EOS D30.
His comments would be very interesting.
I am of the school that believes in buying cameras from camera companies. Canon, Nikon and Olympus all make good digital cameras.
I'm glad that this camera is classified as "ancient history". I used this camera quite a bit during the good old days. Using the serial port always seemed to cause problems on my computer (I had enough other periphials that I had problems allocating the IRQ necessary for the external COM port!).
I still have tons of pictures taken with this camera. They make me laugh, but also look in awe in how far digital cameras have come. I now own a Canon Digital Rebel with several lens.
