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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Casio QV-4000 represents remarkable value for money in the increasingly competitive four-megapixel performance bracket, utilising a superb imaging CCD from Sony and an excellent 3x optical zoom lens from Canon. Aimed at the semi-professional or serious hobbyist, the QV-4000 may be justly described as "feature-packed". On initial inspection, the QV-4000 is reminiscent of the Sony DSC-S85 both in size and build quality. There are plenty of controls to navigate the multitude of features including an unusual layered dial, which while straightforward, could be a little fiddly--especially if wearing gloves. There is also a jog dial wheel and four-way joystick controller for switching rapidly through shutter speeds, aperture settings and many of the other camera functions. This may sound confusing but it's surprisingly intuitive. Other notable strengths are its low power consumption, the fact that it is supplied with four NiMH AA batteries and charger and the feel that the digital signal processor is unusually fast. Together, these make this a very usable camera.
More important than ease of use is image quality and here the QV-4000 really excels. In normal operation, both indoors and out, images are crisp, clean and with excellent colour balance producing vibrant greens, natural flesh tones and coping well with poor quality tungsten in incandescent lighting. It is good to see the inclusion of an AF illuminator, which is pretty essential for almost any indoor and night time shooting, although this doesn't quite compare to Sony's more sophisticated Hologram AF. Exposure modes range from the "point-and-shoot" Auto mode, program AE, aperture priority, shutter priority and a fully manual mode. Additionally there is the facility to bracket by an EV shift of 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 and 1 through either three or five images. Casio has also included a sophisticated program mode or "Best Shot Selector". This allows selection of pre-recorded settings most appropriate to a particular subject. Five of these "best shots" are loaded on the camera as standard including a landscape mode and a soft focus mode. The real strength of the system is the ability to either create your own "best shots" or download any of the 100 available on the CD provided--either way, you can save a lot of time by having an almost infinite number of presets that will control most of the camera's settings from shutter speed to filters.
If this level of flexibility were not enough, Casio has also included connections for both external shutter release and an external flash. In addition to the standard always on, always off and red eye reduction functions that you would expect, the built-in flash can also be set to normal, strong or weak illumination, fast, normal or slow sync speeds and unusually, a front or back curtain sync setting. Together these features add to the QV-4000's credentials as a camera for the creative enthusiast. The software supplied with the camera is easy to install and includes atypically good manuals, a USB driver, QuickTime (for viewing recorded movies), a "Best Shot" library and a panorama editor. This last program is a simple tool for stitching together frames recorded using the camera's built-in panorama recording facility.
Highly recommended in all areas--value for money, picture quality and feature set--the Casio QV-4000 is supplied with battery charger and batteries, 16 MB CompactFlash card, lens cap and cap holder, neck strap, video cable, CD-ROM and USB cable. Our one gripe would be that 16 MB CompactFlash is insufficient for a four-megapixel camera, but fortunately you can pick up more memory without too much additional expense. --Nick Baxter
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
This camera has a solid, substantial feel about it. It is easy to handle and grip. The camera comes with rechargeable batteries and a charger all in the price.
The camera, for a beginner like myself, is very straightforward to use, and on the automatic settings produces excellent results. The picture quality once downloaded onto a computer is quite staggering. The toggle and push buttons on the camera are well made and not too fiddley.
The only hassle we have found so far is the lens cap, which you not only have to remember to remove, but has to be 'put' somewhere, hopefully not to be lost!
The Casio has many other functions which a more experienced camera 'buff' would appreciate, but even newbies like myself can get to grips with the video shots and panoramic picture settings quite comfortably.
A very good buy with the Canon lens - worth buying a spare set of batteries for, although our camera lasted virtually the whole week of our holiday, taking in excess of 100 pictures, before running low. Easy to read 'on-screen' displays show all options selected, as well as battery life.
Highly recommended.
The camera, for a beginner like myself, is very straightforward to use, and on the automatic settings produces excellent results. The picture quality once downloaded onto a computer is quite staggering. The toggle and push buttons on the camera are well made and not too fiddley.
The only hassle we have found so far is the lens cap, which you not only have to remember to remove, but has to be 'put' somewhere, hopefully not to be lost!
The Casio has many other functions which a more experienced camera 'buff' would appreciate, but even newbies like myself can get to grips with the video shots and panoramic picture settings quite comfortably.
A very good buy with the Canon lens - worth buying a spare set of batteries for, although our camera lasted virtually the whole week of our holiday, taking in excess of 100 pictures, before running low. Easy to read 'on-screen' displays show all options selected, as well as battery life.
Highly recommended.
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