Back to Full QV-7000SX ReviewBack to Full QV-7000SX Review
Go to QV-7000SX Data Sheet
Go to QV-7000SX Pictures Page
Up to Imaging Resource Cameras Page
|
(Initial review date: 5 December, 1998) |
 |
|
1,280 x 960 pixel resolution |
|
|
2X optical zoom, + 2/4X digital | |
|
|
Spot or Average light metering | |
|
|
Optional aperture-priority metering | |
|
|
Mini-movie and in-camera HTML capability | |
|
|
8MB CompactFlash card included |
Casio, long a giant in consumer electronics, has also been
a consistent innovator in the world of digital cameras. Their
original QV-10 was the first digital camera to incorporate an
LCD screen, a feature that has by now become almost a mandatory
component. Casio was also the first company to introduce a swiveling
lens, a feature that with few exceptions has been a hallmark of
their cameras.
Long-term Casio watchers will have noticed a two-stage
pattern in their product releases, in which a new camera model
is frequently followed by another one having the same basic characteristics,
but introduced at either a lower price point or with additional
features. Most recently, the QV-5000SX was introduced at the Spring
'98 PMA show, and began shipping in May. In late summer of '98,
Casio dropped the other shoe, with the QV-7000SX, which brought
back the trademark swiveling-lens design that had been dropped
in the QV-5000, added an optical zoom lens, and extended several
other of the 5000's capabilities.
With the introduction of the QV-5000SX, we noted that Casio
appeared to be moving away from their prior camera-as-consumer-electronics
vision, and more toward a view of the digital camera as a photographic
tool. With the QV-7000SX, they have extended the photographic
capabilities to include options found on only a few cameras to
date (November, 1998), such as spot metering(!), and optional
manual aperture selection. Overall, the QV-7000SX is a capable
photographic tool, while still retaining some of the "gadget"
appeal of the earlier Casio units.
QV-7000SX "High Points" overview
Several readers have requested quick, up-front feature summaries
of the cameras we review, which we'll be doing from this point
onward. Herewith are the key characteristics of the QV-7000S,
ranked in a completely arbitrary order reflecting our own personal
biases and dispositions ;-)
- 2x optical zoom lens (32-64mm equiv.), 2x/4x digital tele mode
- Spot (!) or averaging metering
- Optional aperture-priority metering
- Manual focus option with very fine gradations (28 steps)
- Focus/exposure lock
- +/- 2EV exposure compensation in (very fine) 1/4 EV steps
- Usable light range ~EV8 - EV21
- In-camera HTML capability
- Swiveling lens assembly makes it easy to shoot above crowds
- Includes 8 MB CompactFlash card
- 3x image inspection mode on playback
- Built in 4-mode flash
- Macro, Mini-movie, and Panorama modes
Overview
The QV-7000SX's standout feature relative to prior Casio models
(at least those prior to the QV-5000SX) is its 1.3 megapixel resolution.
Casio lists the CCD sensor as being a 1/3 inch unit with 1,310,000
pixels, but only 1,250,000 "effective" pixels. We've
seen this more conservative "effective" pixel rating
on other cameras, but have to admit we don't really know what
it means. It's possible that some pixels at the extreme periphery
of the array may be masked-off by the camera's optical system.
Regardless of how the sensor pixels are counted, the camera captures
images with pixel dimensions of 1280 x 960 or 640 x 480, depending
on the image quality setting selected.
Once images are captured, they can be viewed on the rear-panel
LCD screen, a 2.5-inch "TFT" unit, specified as having
122,100 pixels in a 555 x 220 array. (This is a noticeable increase
in screen size over the 1.8-inch unit on the QV-5000.) While it
will still wash out in direct sun, we found the anti-glare coating
on the LCD screen of the '7000 to be much more effective than
that of many digital cameras, and the screen more useful in bright
light than those of many cameras we've tested.
The QV-7000 also includes a flash, which now appears to
be a standard feature on Casio's cameras. The autofocus lens mentioned
earlier also has a macro mode (selectable from the top-panel controls),
as well as a manual-focus mode. This last is a feature missing
from many top-end digital cameras, and particularly welcome when
shooting under dim conditions, where the autofocus may not work.
The QV-7000's Movie Mode allows you to capture "movies",
with successive frames captured every 1/10th of a second, and
a duration of 3.2, 6.4, or 12.8 seconds. (Up to twice as long
as the QV-5000.) "Movie" mode works by cleverly changing
the clocking of the CCD sensor elements to read out portions of
the array independently of each other, creating 16 movie frames
from each conventional frame stored. This of course, greatly reduces
the resolution of resulting images, but the small 160x120 pixel
image size makes for quite compact final files, well-suited to
casual inclusion in an email or in the corner of a web page.
Other innovative functions retained from earlier models
include in-camera panorama stitching, and the ability to capture
high-contrast images and apply them to other shots as titles.
Design
With the trademark swiveling lens design, there's no confusing
the QV-7000SX with a conventional film-based point & shoot.
Somewhat bulkier than the '5000, the '7000 measures 5.5 x 3 x
1.7 inches (140 x 75 x 53 mm), and weighs in at about 9.9 ounces
(280 grams) without its batteries. The result is a camera a bit
large to fit the typical shirt pocket, but well-suited to carrying
in jackets or purses.
Like most digital cameras, the control layout of the QV-7000SX
favors the right hand, with most major functions controlled by
either the right forefinger, or by pressing one of the four buttons
arranged along the bottom of the rear panel. The most commonly
used operating controls are directly accessible via the rear-panel
buttons, while less common ones are reached via a menu system
using the LCD screen to display menu choices. (As we'll describe
in more detail later, we've consistently found Casio menu systems
to fast and easy to navigate.) The zoom control for the lens is
located on the right front of the camera, directly below the shutter
button.
Viewfinder
One consequence of returning to the rotating lens design is that
the QV-7000SX has only an LCD viewfinder, rather than the combined
optical and LCD approach of the QV-5000. The LCD viewfinder has
the advantage of avoiding parallax problems, particularly at close
quarters, by showing what the CCD array is actually looking at.
(This is especially useful when shooting macro subjects.) In contrast
to most digital cameras we've tested, which crop the CCD image,
even on the LCD screen the LCD viewfinder of the QV-7000SX is
dead-accurate. Of course, there are downsides to LCD viewfinders
as well: They invariably wash out in bright sunlight, although
the QV-7000SX does better in this respect than most. LCD screens
also consume large amounts of battery power. Given the choice,
we'd prefer to have both optical and LCD finders, but that would
undoubtedly increase the size of the camera significantly. At
122,000 pixels, the LCD screen of the QV-7000 shows more detail
than most, although its larger size spreads this detail over a
larger area, which reduces the apparent sharpness somewhat.
Optics
The lens on the QV-7000SX is a moderately "fast" f2.8
design, with a focal length range equivalent to a 32-64mm lens
on a 35mm film camera. The normal autofocus range is from 9.6
inches (0.25m) to infinity. When the "macro" mode is
enabled, the optical configuration is changed to allow focusing
as close as four inches (10cm). The manual focus option allows
a total of 28 focus steps from 10cm to infinity, an unusually
fine degree of control. The previous QV-5000 used a combined aperture/shutter
system that linked aperture to shutter speed. While this arrangement
is very common in digital (and film) point and shoots, we like
the ability to select aperture independently of shutter speed,
to control depth-of-field in the image. Thus, we were very pleased
to see the option for manual aperture control appear on the QV-7000,
with settings of f2.8, f5.6, and f11.
A particularly welcome feature on the QV-7000SX is its
provision for manual focus adjustment. When the camera is operated
in "manual" mode, you can preset the focal distance
to 28 different values, ranging from 10cm (4 inches) to infinity.
We say that this is a welcome feature because most digital cameras
with autofocus lens systems have difficulty focusing in very dimly-lit
conditions. A few units provide one or two fixed focus points
as a manual override, but almost none offer the range of manual
focus adjustment that the QV-7000SX does. Manual focus override
is important because most autofocus cameras will simply refuse
to take a picture if they aren't able to achieve a solid focus
lock. We were especially pleased to see Casio increase the number
of focus steps with the QV-7000: One of our few complaints with
the earlier QV-5000 was that the limited number of focus steps
made it hard to achieve good focus at short distances with low
aperture numbers. (Important note: Because the QV-7000's manual
focus option uses the "+" and "-" buttons
to control the focus distance, exposure-compensation is not available
in this mode.)
In addition to the manual focus option, the QV-7000SX provides
a fairly standard "focus lock" feature, in which the
camera will autofocus whenever the shutter button is half-depressed,
and then retain that setting as long as the shutter button isn't
released. This is very useful for focusing on off-center subjects.
In another departure from the QV-5000SX, the QV-7000 locks both
exposure and focus when the shutter is half-pressed. (The QV-5000
locked only focus.) Particularly when used in conjunction with
the spot metering option of the QV-7000, the combined focus/exposure
lock is very handy.
"Digital Zoom"
In common with many other recent digital camera models, the QV-7000SX
offers a "digital zoom" function that simulates the
operation of an optical zoom lens. We say "simulates,"
because the end result is not the same, and it's important to
understand the difference. Also, various manufacturers are implementing
"digital zoom" in different ways, adding to the confusion.
(As it turns out, the QV-7000SX employs both approaches commonly
used for digital zoom, in its 2x and 4x modes.)
All digital zoom techniques involve taking data from a portion
of the CCD array and using it to "fill" an image file
in some fashion. We say "in some fashion" because there
are two ways in which manufacturers "fill" the file:
The first approach is to simply chop out the data from the central
pixels of the CCD array, and package it as its own file, pixel-for-pixel.
This results in a smaller data file, containing only the pixels
from the center of the array. You could achieve the same effect
by simply cutting out the center of a file in an image editing
application, and saving it as a separate image. The effect is
the same as using a longer focal-length lens on a lower-resolution
camera, but you end up with a lower-resolution picture as well.
Nonetheless, the ability to create a "telephoto" image
(albeit at a lower resolution) without resorting to copy/paste
operations in software is often a decided advantage. (Close-up
shooting subjects for 'web publishing comes to mind.) This "in-camera
cropping" approach is used by Casio in the '7000s "2x"
digital zoom mode, producing a 640x480 image that is a pixel-for-pixel
copy of the center of what would normally be the 1280x960 full-frame
image.
The other way to "zoom" digitally also begins
by taking data only from the central portion of the sensor array.
This time though, rather than just saving it in a file "as-is,"
the camera interpolates it back up to the size required to fill
the original frame: The "zoomed" file has the same number
of pixels in it as the original, but object edges are softer and
there's less detail. Again, while not a true zoom, this effect
is similar in some respects, and the result may be useful for
some applications.
Casio uses a combination of both methods just described
in the QV-7000SX's "4x" zoom mode: Data is taken from
only the centermost 320x240 pixel area of the sensor array, and
this data is then interpolated up to create a 640x480 pixel final
file size. While we found the '7000s 2x digital zoom quite useful,
we felt it would be hard to find a practical use for the 4x output.
To our eye, the 4x-mode images were far too pixelated and soft
to be of much value. An argument could be made in favor of their
use for web presentation, as we discussed above for the in-camera
cropped images. In that situation though, you would in most cases
want to scale the image down to produce the final web image, which
somewhat defeats the purpose of in-camera "zooming"
to begin with.
Overall, our opinion on digital zoom techniques is that
they can be a genuine convenience for some applications, but they
in no way take the place of a true optical zoom lens. Bottom line,
it's a nice feature to have for those times you need it, and a
worthwhile addition to digital cameras, as long as it comes more
or less for free (e.g., adds little or nothing to the end-user
cost of the computer).
Exposure
As with most of their cameras, Casio doesn't give an explicit
equivalent ISO speed for the QV-7000SX in their literature. Our
desire to quantify everything was further frustrated in the case
of the '7000 though, in that they specify neither the ISO speed,
nor the usable exposure range. In practice, we found that the
QV-7000 could produce usable images down to an exposure level
of about EV5 in "night" mode (see below), or EV 8 in
"normal" mode. (As a reference point on the low-light
side, our fairly brightly-lit indoor portrait shot is taken at
a light level of about EV12. A value of EV8 is only 1/16th as
bright, which corresponds to a rather dimly-lit room.) Using night
mode in the darkest surroundings produced images with a fair bit
of sensor noise in them, though. At the opposite end of the scale,
the camera seemed perfectly capable of capturing images of light-colored
objects in full sun. Thus, we'd estimate the normal exposure range
of the QV-7000SX to be about EV 8 to EV21.
Shutter speeds in the QV-7000SX range from 1/4 of a second
up to 1/1000th of a second in normal mode, and down to 1 second
in "night" mode. The "sports" mode apparently
restricts the lower limit of shutter speed range to some higher
value, but Casio's documentation doesn't state what that was.
As with most digital cameras today, the QV-7000SX includes a self-timer,
allowing the photographer time to get into the shot him/herself.
The 7000's self-timer provides delay settings of either 2 or 10
seconds. The 2-second setting deserves a minor additional comment:
The very slow shutter speeds available in night mode make a tripod
almost mandatory in dark conditions. However, even the act of
pressing the shutter button can introduce significant camera shake,
particularly with a lightweight tripod. One solution to this can
be to use a self-timer with a short delay to trip the shutter
a few seconds after your finger leaves the shutter button. Thus,
the 2-second setting on the QV-7000's self-timer can be very useful
for night shooting.
Given the rather long maximum exposure times of 1/4 second
in normal mode, and 1 second in night mode on the QV-7000SX, we
feel compelled to insert here our standard mini-flame against
handheld exposures in low light: (Regular readers of our reviews
can skip the remainder of this paragraph.) Many third- or fourth-generation
digital cameras such as the QV-7000SX are allowing much longer
exposure times than were possible with earlier devices. This has
proved to be somewhat of a mixed blessing for the manufacturers
though, in that they often are wrongly blamed for fuzzy images
that are the fault of the photographer. A general rule of thumb
for amateur photographers is to use a tripod whenever the shutter
speed drops below 1 divided by the lens focal length in millimeters.
With the QV-7000SX's 32-64-mm equivalent lens, this guideline
would suggest a tripod for any shutter speed slower than 1/32nd
- 1/64th of a second. When you realize that the longest exposure
time the camera is capable of (even in normal mode) is eight to
sixteen times slower, you can appreciate the need to brace or
otherwise support the camera in some fashion when shooting under
dim conditions. Don't blame blurry pictures on the camera when
you're blithely hand-holding shots even a pro would shy away from!
(Flame off.)
We mentioned the QV-7000's spot-metering option earlier:
Now's the time to go into it in more detail. Most digital cameras
(and virtually all point & shoot film cameras) use an "averaging"
metering system. That is, they look at the average amount of light
coming from the scene in front of them, and adjust the exposure
accordingly. This works well if the subject you're photographing
is about the same brightness as the background, but fails miserably
under strong backlighting, or for light subjects against dark
backgrounds. Most digital cameras include exposure compensation
adjustments to let you compensate for these conditions, requesting
either more or less exposure than the automatic metering would
select on its own. This is a reasonable workaround, and indeed,
the QV-7000SX has very easily accessible exposure-compensation
adjustment controls. A much better approach though, is for the
exposure meter to base its calculations on exactly the part of
the subject you're most interested in. This is called "spot"
metering, because the exposure meter just looks at a small spot
in the overall image. The QV-7000's metering can operate in either
spot or averaging mode: When it is in spot mode, a small circle
appears in the center of the LCD viewfinder screen, showing you
the area of the image being used to determine exposure. As noted
earlier, you can use the focus/exposure-lock function in conjunction
with spot metering to handle off-center subjects.
We mentioned the QV-7000's exposure-compensation adjustments:
In normal operation, the "+" and "-" buttons
on the top panel of the camera boost or cut exposure in 1/4-EV
units each time they're pressed, with a maximum range of +/- 2
EV. The 1/4 EV steps provide very fine exposure adjustment, since
most digital point & shoot cameras only give you 1/2 EV steps,
if they provide exposure compensation at all.
Flash
he built-in automatic flash has a specified working range
of 2.3 to 6.6 feet (0.7 to 2.0 meters), a bit smaller maximum
distance than most digital cameras we've tested. At the other
end of its range, despite the rather high minimum distance rating,
we found the flash performed exceptionally well when shooting
close-ups: We found no tendency to wash-out the subject, even
when shooting at the minimum focusing distance of 4 inches (10cm).
The flash offers four operating modes, including "off"
(flash never fires), "on" (flash always fires, for "fill
flash" operation, "auto" in which the flash fires
as directed by the camera's autoexposure circuitry, and "red
eye reduction" mode, in which a single pre-flash fires before
the main exposure, to make subjects' pupils contract, reducing
the chance of red-eye. Because the flash consumes appreciable
battery power, and can take a fair while to charge when the batteries
are low, we liked the fact that you can choose to have the camera
remember the flash setting from one use to the next. (In other
words, if we left the flash in "off" mode, it remained
so when we next turned the camera on.) Also, if we left the flash
on, but later decided not to wait for the flash circuitry to charge
up when turning on the camera, we found that the flash charging
could be terminated (and the flash turned off) at any time by
pressing the flash-control button on the rear panel.
Overall, the flash in the QV-7000SX is a marked improvement
over those in previous Casio cameras: Several of the earlier models
were prone to producing odd color casts when the flash was used
for subjects with bright ambient lighting. In particular, when
the flash was used for "fill" illumination with bright
incandescent lighting, the pictures tended to have a very strong
yellow cast. This appears to be completely rectified in the QV-7000,
as evidenced by the very natural coloring in our indoor portrait
shot taken with the flash enabled.
White Balance
The QV-7000SX normally operates with a very effective automatic
white balance control enabled. Alternatively, you can manually
select a fixed white balance to compensate for incandescent, fluorescent,
or daylight lighting. We found the automatic white balance to
be very effective at neutralizing colors, particularly if the
scene contained at least some pure white object. If the scene
has an overall color balance biased in one direction or another
by the subject's coloration (such as a large background area of
colored wallpaper on an indoor shot), this could fool the automatic
white balance and produce an incorrect color correction. Surprisingly,
we found that the automatic white balance produced a much more
neutral tone than the "incandescent" manual setting
on our indoor-portrait test subject, which does contain large
areas of pure white, in the model's shirt.
Movie Mode
The QV-7000SX continues the "mini-movie" mode popularized
by the QV-770 and QV-5000 before it. In this mode, long sequences
of low-resolution (160x120) images are captured in very rapid
succession (at 0.1 or 0.2 second intervals). The resulting movies
can be played back directly on the camera's screen, or downloaded
as composite images to the host computer, where they can be assembled
back into a movie via software. Movies on the QV-5000 can be 32
or 64 frames long, stored as four 640x480 images in memory. The
maximum duration of 12.8 seconds is twice that of the QV-5000,
although this is achieved by dropping the frame rate: 3.2 second
movies are stored 4 frames per camera memory image, and captured
at 5 frames per second. 6.4 second movies are stored 16 frames
per camera memory image, and captured at 10 frames per second.
12.8 second movies are also stored 16 frames per camera memory
image, but the frame rate again drops to 5 frames per second.
The efficient memory usage, combined with the large 8 MB on-board
memory capacity of the '5000 means you can store quite a few movies
without overly encroaching on your storage capacity for normal
still images.
The QV-7000's mini-movie option also includes both "future"
and "past" modes. The "future" mode operates
as you'd expect: It begins recording when you press the shutter
button, and ends when the camera runs out of memory. The "past"
mode is an interesting option: For capturing fast-moving events
(when your reflexes may not be up to the challenge), the camera
continuously digitizes movie frames, then saves the last 3.2,
6.4, or 12.8 seconds of action that occurred before you tripped
the shutter. In "past" mode, you begin the recording
process by half-pressing the shutter release. The camera will
begin recording frames, displaying a "Stand By" message
until the chosen movie length has been reached. Then, whenever
you press the shutter button all the way down, the previously-stored
movie frames are saved to disk, producing a movie of all that
went before your final shutter-release.
In-camera movie playback requires the four frames of memory
holding each movie to be "grouped" so the camera will
recognize them as belonging together. In prior Casio cameras,
this grouping was only possible if the images were left untouched
in the camera's memory just as they were captured. In the interest
of providing a truly universal "presentation machine"
though, Casio has provided a grouping option in the '7000, whereby
images uploaded from a computer can be re-grouped so the camera
can recognize them as a movie. This is a welcome addition relative
to earlier models.
Panorama Shooting
With recent software innovations, "panorama" shooting
has become increasingly popular, and Casio provides unique features
in the QV-7000SX to support this. As in prior models though, they
go the competition one step better, and allow you to actually
preview panoramas you've shot directly within the camera. To create
a panorama, a series of up to 9 images are taken in sequence,
panning the camera between each shot. In playback mode, panorama
images are identified by an icon at the top of the frame. Pressing
the shutter button while viewing a panorama frame shrinks the
image to occupy only the central portion of the LCD screen, and
presents a sub-menu for controlling "playback" of the
panorama. Pressing the shutter button again begins a slow-motion
pan back and forth across the breadth of the panorama, which can
be paused with another actuation of the shutter button. Panning
direction is controlled via the top-panel "+" and "-"
buttons, and panorama viewing can be canceled by pressing the
"menu" button.
As you might expect, the in-camera image-assembly is only
of sufficient quality for display on the small LCD screen: You'll
want to use the Spin Panorama software included with the '7000
to assemble the separate images together into a single, super-wide
picture on your computer. (Note that Spin Panorama allows you
to stitch as many images together as you like, bypassing the 9
image in-camera limit.)
One of the big challenges in creating panoramas is to have
all the initial images line up properly, and to include enough
overlap between them to allow the software to smoothly blend from
one image to the next. Normally, this requires either a special
tripod head, or a lot of guesswork. In the QV-7000SX though, a
clever panorama capture mode saves a slice of the image from the
right-hand side of the previous frame, and moves it over to the
left-hand side as an aid to alignment. Even better, the reference
image is translucent, meaning you can "see through"
it to the current scene coming from the sensor. This lets you
achieve almost perfect alignment every time. (Although we confess
that using a tripod is still necessary to obtain the best results.)
The ability to achieve such good alignment between shots makes
the final stitching process much easier, and reduces the likelihood
you'll have visible seams in the final panorama.
Just as with movies, in-camera panorama playback requires
the frames of memory associated with each panorama to be "grouped"
so the camera will recognize them as belonging together. In prior
Casio cameras, this grouping was only possible if the images were
left untouched in the camera's memory just as they were captured.
In the interest of providing a truly universal "presentation
machine" though, Casio has provided a grouping option in
the '7000, whereby images uploaded from a computer can be re-grouped
so the camera can recognize them as a panorama. Again, this is
a welcome addition relative to earlier models.
Operation and User Interface
With all its operating modes and features, you'd expect the QV-7000SX
to be cumbersome or complex to operate. While there are a lot
of buttons and menu options, we found the 7000's user interface
easy and *fast* to navigate. (The QV-7000 uses the "pSOS"
operating system from ISI, a competitor to the new "Digita"
system. We found menu navigation on the QV-7000 to be much faster
than on Digita-based cameras, perhaps due to the simple monochrome
screen icons it uses.) Some users and reviewers have complained
that the icons used in the Casio user interface are overly cryptic,
and hard to interpret. For our part, we respond by noting that
there are only a few icons whose functions need to be learned,
and the user interface is lightning-fast to use once you become
accustomed to it. Thus, in our view, the advantages far outweigh
the disadvantages!
Major camera modes are selected by rotating the top-mounted
"mode dial." We like mode dial interfaces, as they make
for very rapid camera operation, and reduce menu complexity. The
mode dial primarily controls recording or camera-configuration
modes: Playback mode is selected by flipping a toggle lever at
the upper rear corner of the camera, under your right thumb. (We
particularly like how quickly the '7000 can switch between record
and playback modes for checking your pictures: Even for fine-mode
images, you can pop into playback mode in under two seconds to
review your last picture.) Commonly-used camera features are readily
accessible from the external buttons, without need to drop into
the menu system. These functions include exposure compensation,
flash settings, auto/manual focus and macro mode, self-timer settings,
and on-screen data display.
Given the wide array of functions on the QV-7000SX, we
can't realistically step through each one here, but we'll describe
several of the major functions to give a general sense of what
it's like to operate the camera. (Readers of our earlier QV-770
and QV-5000SX reviews will find the following descriptions quite
familiar, as the operation and menu structure of the QV-7000SX
is very similar to that of its predecessors.)
Normal Picture-Taking
Most of your picture-taking will probably be done in the "normal
recording" mode, designated by a horizontal "page"
icon at the top of the display. With the back-panel switch set
to "Rec," you're ready to take a picture. In this mode,
the LCD panel acts as a viewfinder, but also gives you some information
on camera settings: Indicators in the upper left-hand corner show
the flash mode (no icon means auto-flash), and whether or not
the lens is set to macro mode. When in manual-focus mode, the
current focus distance is displayed at lower left, just above
the battery-condition icon. Other information displays on the
LCD screen are controlled by the "Disp" push-button
on the top panel. You can show or hide several informational displays,
including the mode indicator itself, a storage indicator showing
the current resolution setting and frames remaining in memory,
and a battery-condition indicator. In low-light conditions (and
when the "night" mode isn't selected), a camera-shake
warning appears in the viewfinder, at middle-left. When spot metering
is selected, a small circle will appear in the center of the viewfinder
to indicate the metering area. The displays for flash setting,
macro or manual focus, and camera shake can't be disabled with
the "Disp" button, due to their importance to the picture-taking
process.
While previewing the scene, the viewfinder display gives
a fairly good representation of what the final image will look
like. Assuming you don't have direct sunlight falling on the LCD
panel, you can get a pretty good idea of what the exposure will
look like on the final image, although we observed that the viewfinder
is a bit darker under low-light conditions than the final image
will be. If the image seems too light or too dark, you can adjust
the exposure by up to 2 EV units in either direction, simply by
pressing the "+" or "-" buttons on the top
panel.
Changing image resolution in recording mode requires entering
the menu system, where you can select from one of the four alternatives
(Super, Fine, Normal, Economy) using the "+", "-",
and shutter buttons. Other options on the record menu include
White Balance (auto, incandescent, fluorescent, daylight); Aperture
(auto, F2.8, F5.6, F11); Digital Zoom (off, auto, x2, x4); Movie
Mode (past, future); Movie Time (3.2, 6.4, 12.8 seconds); Metering
(Multi, Spot); Sharpness (soft, normal, hard); Time Stamp (off,
date only, day and time, full date and time); and Folder (camera,
folders A,B,C,D,E). (The "folder" selections choose
between predefined storage locations on the hard drive, to help
with the organization of your images.)
Shutter Lag
Shutter lag is a measure of how long it takes a camera to actually
take the picture after you've pressed the shutter button. In this
category, we found the QV-7000's performance to be very good relative
to other cameras on the market: When the shutter release is pressed
from a "standing start" (no pre-focusing or autoexposure
performed), the total lag time until the picture is captured is
at most 0.4 seconds. On the other hand, if the exposure and focus
were locked by a half-press of the shutter button prior to taking
the shot, the lag time drops to something between 0.1 and 0.2
seconds, a very fast time, and one that's close to the limit of
our ability to measure it. (We perform our shutter lag and cycle
time measurements with the Digital Eyes shutter-lag timing utility.
Visit their web site to download a free copy of this small Windows
program.
Cycle Times
For a megapixel camera, the QV-7000SX cycles fairly rapidly between
successive images, but we confess we missed the almost instantaneous
cycling of Casio's earlier VGA-resolution models. In "Super"
resolution mode, the camera was ready to take the next picture
after about 9 seconds, a time that dropped to about 7 seconds
for economy-mode images. Flash charging happens after the prior
image is stored to memory, adding to the picture-to-picture cycle
time. We found the worst-case cycle time to be about 19 seconds
with the flash enabled, and a set of NiMH AA batteries with very
little charge left in them. In common with many other late-model
digital cameras, the QV-5000SX takes a little while to "boot
up" when you first toggle the power, but at 6 seconds, the
delay before you can take the first picture is far from the longest
we've measured.
We tried the fast Lexar "4x" compact-flash cards
in the QV-7000SX to see if there was any appreciable difference
in cycle times with the quicker cards. We were puzzled, in that
the first time we tried the faster card, we noticed a substantial
improvement, whereas subsequently, we saw little difference. (The
non-Lexar cycle time dropped to about match that of the high-speed
Lexar card.) At this point, all we can say is that there is little
difference in the QV-7000's cycle times with faster CF cards,
but YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).
Movie Mode
In "Movie" mode, the frames-remaining indicator changes
to show the number of movies that may be recorded in the available
memory. In Movie mode, the flash is disabled (indicated by a blinking
"no flash" icon on the LCD screen), and the LCD readouts
indicate "Digital 2x Zoom", because only the central
portion of the CCD sensor is used for capturing movies. You can
toggle between 2x and 4x zoom modes though, via the record-mode
menu system. All the normal record-mode menu functions remain
available in movie mode, allowing access to manual white-balance
settings, manual focus, etc.
Self-Timer Mode
Self-timer mode is indicated by a stopwatch icon. Self-timer mode
on the QV-7000SX is fairly simple, as the self-timer function
works in conjunction with any of the camera's other recording
modes, rather than requiring option selections within the self-timer
function itself to choose between single-shot or movie recording
modes. This is a nice feature, since you may sometimes want to
use self-timer mode for panorama-mode shooting, if you're taking
pictures using available light with long exposure times: Light,
inexpensive, bring-anywhere tripods are generally a bit rickety,
particularly if used at full extension. Using the self-timer with
such a tripod gives vibrations time to die down before the shutter
trips, contributing to sharper pictures.
Panorama Mode
We discussed panorama mode at some length earlier, so won't spend
much time on it again here. Like the most recent Casio cameras,
panoramas can only be shot in the horizontal ("landscape")
orientation. (The earlier QV-700 VGA-resolution camera permitted
panorama recording with the camera oriented either horizontally
or vertically.)
Image Review
Once you've taken one or more pictures, you can view them on the
LCD screen by flipping the back-panel switch to "Play."
In this mode, the last picture taken is displayed first, and you
can page back and forth between shots by pressing the "+"
and "-" buttons. To review images more quickly, you
can switch to a 4-up or 9-up index display via the "Menu"
button. In these modes, the +/- buttons step you through the camera's
memory 4 or 9 images at a time. (When you return to normal single-image
viewing mode by pressing the shutter button, the image that was
in the upper left-hand corner of the screen is displayed at full
size.)
In Play mode, you also have the option of zooming in on
the images, using the LCD screen as a "window" into
the full picture. Zoomed in, the full image is about twice as
large as the LCD screen, and you can pan around to inspect the
full detail of the picture. Panning is controlled by the ubiquitous
+/- buttons, and a small icon in the upper right-hand corner of
the LCD shows you what part of the image you're currently viewing.
(Note though, that movie and panorama images aren't subject to
zoom-viewing.)
Timer Mode
The QV-7000SX includes an "intervalometer" option (a
fancy term for it - Casio just calls it a "timer"),
which allows you to take pictures automatically at predetermined
intervals, ranging from 1 to 60 minutes between shots. You can
also set the camera either to begin taking images as soon as you
press the shutter button, or to wait until a specific time to
start. (We can imagine some very interesting science projects
growing out of this feature, although Mom or Dad may not be keen
on having their camera tied up for a few weeks taking pictures
of a seed sprouting!)
"Custom" Settings
This mode-dial position lets you set several camera operating
parameters. One of the most welcome menus is the one that lets
you set the "sleep" and "power off" times.
The sleep setting determines how long the camera will stay ready
to take a picture, with its LCD illuminated. Available values
include Off, 30 seconds, and 1 or 2 minutes. Auto-shutdown times
may be set to 2, 5, or 10 minutes. (Note that the "Off"
position for the sleep setting only means that the screen will
stay lit as long as the camera is on. The camera will still shut
down after 2, 5, or 10 minutes, as set by the auto-shutdown timer.)
Happily, the camera appears to stay powered-up continuously when
it is connected to the AC wall adapter: This may be of interest
to people wishing to either take long time-lapse sequences, or
those industrious enough to write software to drive it as a "webcam".
(Note that this latter use isn't supported by any of Casio's software.
You apparently can use it as a video camera, via the video out
port, but there's no provision for continuously capturing images
digitally to feed to a web server.)
The other function of the "Custom" mode is to
let you choose which camera options will be remembered between
power-down cycles: You can choose to have any or all of white
balance, aperture, digital zoom, flash, auto/manual/macro focus,
and multi/spot metering settings saved when the camera shuts down.
By selecting an option and setting the mode memory for it to "on",
the camera will always power-up with the same setting for that
option as when it was last shut down.
In-Camera Image Manipulation
As digital cameras become increasingly "smarter," it
becomes practical to do more and more image manipulation within
the camera itself. While not providing quite the range of in-camera
capabilities as the QV-700 or '770, the QV-7000SX does include
several special-effect filters, and the ability to overlay a previously-captured
"title" image onto other shots, varying title background
shape, color, and position. (Title backgrounds can even have varying
degrees of transparency.)
The image manipulation and titling capability is clearly
directed toward those who would use the camera's video-out capability
(see below) for presentations driven directly from the camera.
Some may question the benefit of assembling presentations in the
camera, rather than using a computer and simply uploading the
results back to the camera for display. While the camera's standalone
capabilities are obviously less than those of a software package
running on a host computer, we found the in-camera functions both
more useful and more fun than we had anticipated: You might not
want to rely on the QV-7000SX as your only presentation tool for
a multimillion-dollar business deal, but they'd be absolutely
great for family "slide shows" or school projects.
While on the subject of presentations using the camera
as the "host," we need to make an important note: Some
cameras are very finicky about what images they'll display on
their video screens, insisting either that the uploaded images
be original (untouched) camera files, or that they adhere strictly
to the "EXIF" standard for camera JPEG images. While
we haven't experimented extensively with this capability, several
readers have commented to us that the Casio cameras appear to
be much more obliging in this respect, happily accepting all manner
of uploaded images for subsequent display. We had the opportunity
to try this with the QV-7000SX, and found that JPEG files modified
by PaintShop Pro on a PC were read by the QV-7000 with no problems.
Image Storage and Interface
Memory
The QV-7000SX stores images on a removable CompactFlash memory
card, and an 8 megabyte card is included with the unit. This will
hold approximately 14 images in "Super Fine" mode, 19
in "Fine" mode, 33 in "Normal" mode, and 55
in "Economy" mode. As mentioned earlier, movie files
occupy the same space as 4 "Economy" frames.
HTML Index
The QV-7000SX has one new feature that we found particularly appealing,
although we didn't use it in any of our work. You can enable an
"HTML" mode in the camera that causes it to create web-based
picture indexes, complete with date, time, and image parameters
(shutter speed, aperture, image quality setting), for all the
images it captures. We don't have the time or space here to go
into full details of the layout of these images, but suffice to
say that a complete index system is created for all images in
the camera, stored in multiple folders. Just as you'd expect,
clicking on a low-res thumbnail in the index opens the full-resolution
file. With a CompactFlash card reader attached to your computer,
you can use this feature to either browse the contents of the
camera's memory card, or copy the card's contents en masse to
a file folder on your hard disk, and browse them there. Definitely
a neat feature!
Computer Interface
Images are read from the camera using the included QV-Link or
TWAIN driver software to download images via the built-in serial
port. The QV-Link software is quite straightforward in its operation,
and versions for both Mac and PC platforms ship with the camera.
In the most common mode of operation for QV-Link, you would probably
begin by opening the camera's memory as an index of thumbnail
images. From there, it's easy to select multiple images for download,
and then transfer all the selected shots in a single download.
Alternatively, the camera's entire memory image can be downloaded
for later sorting and culling in a single operation. Images from
the host can also be uploaded back to the camera, increasing the
QV-7000's usefulness as a presentation device.
The maximum data-transfer rate between the QV-7000SX and
a computer is 115,200 baud. For maximum-resolution images, this
translates into an image-transfer time of roughly 50 seconds.
Economy-mode images take about 11 seconds to transfer at the same
data rate. (These times were measured on a laptop with a 120 MHz
Pentium processor: A few seconds of the "transfer" time
is occupied by image processing, meaning that faster processors
will show slightly lower overall transfer times.)
IR-TranP and Camera-to-Camera Transfers
While we had no way to test it, the QV-7000SX revived the IR-TranP
infrared wireless data link capability previously seen on the
QV-700 and QV-770. With a properly-configured host computer, you
can transfer images between CPU and camera without a serial cable.
Supposedly, IR-TranP transfers can be quite a bit faster than
standard serial connections, but we confess to never having experienced
them ourselves. Another consequence of the IR-TranP capability
is that you can transfer images between QV-7000SX cameras, simply
by setting them up facing each other, hitting the "play"
button on one, and the "record" button on the other.
(Although we're hard-pressed to think of a use for this capability.)
Video Output
Casio was one of the first companies to include video output capability
on their cameras, a function that is now commonplace. We've mentioned
this ability earlier, and the concept of using the camera as a
presentation tool. We vacillate somewhat though, as to how frequently
the typical user will take advantage of this capability. For casual
one-on-one sharing, the built-in LCD screen is often sufficient.
For a better viewing experience, whether in home or office, there's
frequently a computer handy, and computer CRTs almost always look
better than televisions. On the other hand, regardless of where
you are, you can probably find a television handy that will either
have a jack for direct video input, or have a VCR attached that
does. Overall, video-out is a handy feature, and one that we'd
rather have than do without. Most digital cameras support either
the NTSC video standard used in North America, or the PAL standard
common in most of the rest of the world, but not both: The QV-7000SX
allows you to select either, using the "Setup" menu
to do so.
Power
The QV-7000SX is powered by four standard 1.5v AA batteries, or
the included AC power adapter. Casio recommends either alkaline
or lithium primary cells, but we also had good luck with NiCd
and NiMH batteries. A word of caution though: We've heard from
owners of earlier QV-camera models that the lower operating voltage
of most rechargeable batteries can cause the camera to fatally
"hang" as the batteries approach the end of their usable
charge. We've never experienced this ourselves, but suggest you
be very careful not to push your batteries too far: Recharge them
fully at the first sign of a low-battery warning! Casio themselves
recommend against NiCd or NiMH batteries. We've also heard from
readers that the Casio cameras have a fairly conservative "end-of-life"
battery voltage setting of about 1.15 volts. Since NiCd or NiMH
batteries start out at only 1.2 or 1.25 volts or so, this is relatively
little margin before the batteries would be considered dead. In
our own experience though, we've had good luck running Casios
from NiMH AAs. Again, our only caution is that YMMV (Your Mileage
May Vary).
Included Software
In common with Casio's other cameras, the QV-7000SX has a rich
assortment of included software. The software package includes
Casio's own driver software, Adobe's PhotoDeluxe Home Edition,
version 3.0, ISR's Ixla Digital Camera Suite, PictureWorks' Spin
Panorama and Spin Object, and a package called PictureFun Photo
that we frankly didn't try. Of these, the Casio drivers and QV-Link
application and Spin software are available on both Mac and PC
platforms: All of the others are PC-only. The Casio and Spin software,
and the PictureFun Photo application also support Windows NT.
Basic camera operation and connectivity is provided by
Casio's own QV-Link application for both Mac and Windows platforms.
Also included from Casio are a Photoshop plug-in driver for Mac
computers, and a TWAIN driver for Windows ones. All these basic
applications allow full control over uploading and downloading
to or from the camera, and are all you really need to get images
into or out of the QV-7000SX.
Several of the included software packages provide for image
manipulation, and the creation of various projects such as calendars,
cards, etc. Adobe's PhotoDeluxe program, Ixlaphoto and PictureMall
work only on Windows 95/98 machines. (Mac fanatics from way back,
we're dismayed to see the loss of support for Macs among the digicam
manufacturers, but recognize the economic realities they and software
developers currently face.) All of these provide for basic image
manipulation and project creation. PhotoDeluxe includes the greatest
number of "guided activities," and the most fonts and
project templates, while Ixlaphoto includes "album"
organization capabilities, tools for business presentations, and
the ability to create simple web pages. PictureMall's software
features ease of use, and links to their internet-connect services
for ordering various photo novelty items.
Spin Panorama is a panorama "stitching" program,
that lets you combine multiple shots into wide panoramic views.
Used in conjunction with the special panorama mode of the QV-7000SX,
it is particularly easy to assemble panoramic images. (As mentioned
earlier, the panorama shooting mode helps you lineup successive
shots, making the final stitching process easier, and the seams
between images less evident.) Conversely, Spin PhotoObject lets
you take pictures of an object from all sides, and then combine
them into a QuickTime "object" that you can turn and
look at different sides of on your computer.
Test Results
As with all Imaging Resource camera tests, we encourage you to
let your own eyes be the judge of how well the QV-7000SX performed:
Explore the links at the bottom of this page, to see how well
the QV-7000 performed, and how its images compare to other cameras
you may be considering buying.
The comments here are a summary of our more detailed analysis
on the "Pictures" page for the QV-7000SX: Refer to that
page for a more in-depth analysis of the test results.
Overall, the QV-7000SX exhibited good image quality, turning
in respectable, middle-of-the-pack performance in most parameters.
We felt that both resolution and color quality were noticeably
improved relative to the earlier QV-5000SX. Resolution measured-out
at roughly 600 line pairs per picture height in both horizontal
and vertical directions, with only very slight color aliasing
for parallel lines at high frequencies.
As noted earlier, the LCD viewfinder on the QV-7000SX is
deadly accurate, showing exactly 100% of the final image. (This
is a real benefit for macro shooting, or other situations where
exact framing is particularly important.)
Color accuracy on the QV-7000SX was quite good. Contrast,
while slightly high, was also improved over that of the earlier
QV-5000SX. We did notice an odd tendency to render a particular
shade of blue as a more purplish hue than it actually was, but
this behavior appears to be limited to a very narrow range of
colors. Overall, the 7000's color rendition was quite good, clearly
in the mainstream of megapixel-class digital cameras.
The QV-7000SX' built-in macro capability worked very well,
particularly with the lens run out to the telephoto end of its
focal-length range. At its closest focusing distance of 4 inches
(10 cm), it covers an area 1.7 x 2.25 inches (43 x 58 mm). If
all you need is a 640x480 image, the 2x "zoom" is quite
effective in macro mode, reducing the minimum area to only 0.85
x 1.125 inches (22 x29 mm). The flash also worked well all the
way down to the minimum focusing distance, even though Casio rates
it as having a minimum usable distance of 2.3 feet (0.7 meters).
Overall, we found the QV-7000SX' "digital zoom"
to be useful in the 2x mode, in which it is simply chopping out
the central portion of the image. The resulting 640x480 images
would be useful for web work or other low-resolution applications.
On the other hand, we didn't see much point in the 4x zoom (which
interpolates the central 320x240 portion of the CCD up to a 640x480
image), as the resulting images were so soft and lacking in detail.
As noted earlier, the flash on the QV-7000SX is significantly
improved over that of earlier Casio cameras, producing very naturally-colored
images under the bright incandescent ambient lighting conditions
that previously caused severe problems. The QV-7000SX' flash performed
remarkably well in close-up situations, despite a very conservative
minimum-distance rating by Casio.
See for Yourself!
Take a look at the test images from the
QV-7000SX (with extensive comments), or jump to the Comparometer™ page
to compare its reference images to those from other digital cameras.
Conclusion
Overall, the QV-7000SX turns in a respectable "megapixel"
performance, and adds some unique features either unavailable
or hard to find elsewhere. (The movie and panorama-capture modes.)
With the addition of a zoom lens, spot metering, manual aperture-setting
capability, improved manual focus, and enhanced flash performance,
it offers many "pro" features found on very few of its
competitors. Its flexibility and multimedia capability make it
uniquely suited for web publishers, but we expect its true megapixel
resolution will find it many print-based applications as well.
Prior Casio cameras tended to reflect consumer-electronics sensitivities
more than photographic ones, but the QV-7000SX clearly provides
many of the creative tools serious photographers demand, while
leaving behind nothing that a "consumer" could want.
If you prefer a greater degree of control in your picture-taking
than most digicams permit, the QV-7000SX could be for you.
Reader Comments!
See what
other Imaging Resource readers have had to say about the QV-7000SX,
or add comments of your own. (Read what's here,
then add your own!)
This document copyright (c) 1998, The Imaging
Resource, all rights reserved. Visitors
to this site may download this document for local, private,
non-commercial use. Individuals who have themselves
downloaded this page may print a copy on their personal printers
for convenience of reading and reference. Other than this explicit
usage, it may not be published, reproduced, or distributed in
print or electronic and/or digital media without the express written
consent of The Imaging
Resource.
