Rating: 
Summary: QV-3000 Plus USB Software not compatible with Windows ME
Review: I have a QV-3000 Plus digital camera that will not upload photos to Windows ME uning the USB connection. Casio support has recommended returning to Windows 98 full version. My problem is I had upgraded from Windows 3.1 to 98 in steps. Before purchasing the Casio camera I decided to upgrade my computer and moved to Windows ME full version. Casio support will not guarantee that the camera will work as advertised unless the full version of Windows 98 is loaded. I have tried to purchase Windows 98 full version and have been told by retailers that this version is no longer available. So until Casio and Microsoft get their act together I am stuck with a very expensive photo album or paper weight.
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Digicam Prompts Improvised Off-Camera Flash
Review: I bought a QV-3000EX last year, prior to a 2-month trip to Europe where I found myself using it nearly as much as my SLR camera. The beauty of on-the-spot review and even deletion of a photo is great...something no film camera can do. At the time and continuing since then, I have used the camera quite a bit and have a strong overall opinion of it, but with some complaints. The complaints don't take away enough to drop my rating below 4 stars, but they do exist as follows:First, the viewfinder provides a distorted, non-linear view if the camera is not held perfectly vertical; fortunately the recorded image is still OK. Also, while not unexpected, there is considerable parallax error with close-in photos, in which case the image on the screen should be trusted over the viewfinder. Second, there is no provision for a screw-in filter on the lens, as available with the Nikon CoolPix models. In general, neither problem is critical but rather an annoyance. Given all the features of this camera that can pretty well satisfy even an advanced photographer's needs, the lack of screw-in filter support seems an oversight. Third, there is no external flash connection. I've been quite surprised that red-eye in several photos has been minimal to non-existent even when the subject's eyes seem directly facing the camera. Luck perhaps, as red-eye does still occur occasionally. Although flash quality is good, I know from experience that it can be improved significantly and red-eye totally avoided if I use off-camera flash. Fortunately, I was able to rig up a small flash deflector that I attach to the camera with a small strip of velcro, bouncing the flash to trigger a slaved off-camera flash unit. That has provided excellent results and any exposure errors can be immediately previewed and corrected using the LCD screen. Fourth, battery drain: With the use of the IBM Microdrive (major selling point of the camera), battery drain is quite significant and even with 1450-1600maH NiMH batteries, I still observe indications sooner than I'd expect that the batteries are getting low. Those indications include the slightly longer delay time in saving a photo to disk and a prompt in the LCD screen to cancel the save if desired. If I anticipate that as a problem for any planned photography, I switch to using a 65MB compact flash card which provides improved battery performance and faster saving of photos. I recently purchased an external, rechargeable 120maH Sakar digital camera battery pack at Fry's Electronics, and the initial impression is that it will provide me with better battery performance than the NiMH AA batteries; the only inconvenience is then leaving the door open on the camera where the DC power cable attaches. Fifth: Low light focusing - Quite poor. Sometimes this problem can be worked around by selecting either the manual or infinity focus option. More often I just have to look for some other nearby person or object at a similar distance away and in better lighting, and use that to establish a pre-focus point before returning to my subject. Those items notwithstanding, I very much enjoy this camera and highly recommend it. Most notable is the compatibility with the IBM Microdrive, even at the expense of increased battery drain. Lens quality (a Canon lens) is excellent and color rendition seems very good. The 3.3MB image size is sufficient to obtain photo-quality 8x10-inch prints when printed on my Epson 1270 printer and passable 11x14-inch prints. Using Adobe Photoshop to further edit my 11x14 prints by applying filter effects that render more of a watercolor look to the photos, I have obtained some very nice "artistic" prints in exchange for a tradeoff of the photo-quality sharpness. Stilhave successfully slaved my camera to an external flash in a manual exposure mode. To avoid red- eye induced by on-camera flash, I fashioned a small cup of plastic to deflect the camera flash upwards, triggering the remotely slaved flash only. The cup can be easily attached via a small strip of velcro. While I've rarely used any flash at all, the slaved flash setup does provide better results than the on-camera flash. Of special note are two "hidden" features of the camera that I learned of from imaging-resource.com as follows: Uncompressed TIFF Mode: Resulting in a 6MB file size that takes 20-30 seconds to save between shots, this does provide a way to capture more detail if the need arises. The one problem is that the TIFF is a non-standard format that many programs cannot read properly. ACDSee and IRFanView are two Windows programs that can open and resave this TIFF format in a standard format that yields a 9MB file size. To access this mode on the camera, press the Set and Flash buttons simultaneously in any capture mode. Turning off the camera will disable this feature. Manual Exposure: This was particularly useful when I devised my flash deflector for the slaved off-camera flash. If you hit the Set button and the left arrow button simultaneously while in Shutter Priority mode, you are put into a full manual mode that lets you control both aperture (the left and right arrow buttons) and shutter speed (the up and down arrows). Using a slaved Vivtar 283 flash off-camera in automatic mode, I set the camera the the aperture setting specified by the flash expsosure calculator dial. An advantage over an SLR camera is that the digital camera can be set to whatever shutter speed is desired; there is no focal-plane shutter vignetting of the image to worry about. So, all in all, this camera provides a wealth of features to explore but there remains room for improvement. Would I buy it again today over the competition? Most likely I would, but what I've learned would also find me studying all the cameras just that much more closely. At the time of purchase, this was the only 3.3MB digital camera I could find that offered the range of features I desired and the storage capacity I sought. Finally, I've just learned about some freeware software for this camera at dicasoft.de that allows the use of a PC to control the camera automatically. While such needs are non-existent for me at the moment, they may be fun to toy with.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Pictures Without Huge Effort
Review: This is a great camera. It's not for absolute novice beginners, but anyone who's spent a little time fooling around with a digital camera can take great pictures with it. Some perks are the large storage capacity, quick data transfer via USB cable, and the way the camera adjusts to prevent backlighting. One downside is that the camera eats batteries, but so do most high-tech devices. I've taken many pictures with this camera and they've all been crisp and true to the original colors of the subject. I highly recommend it as an intermediate-level digital camera. It's one of the few newfangled gadgets out there that's actually worth the price.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Digital Camera
Review: I've always been interested in the concept of digital cameras, however I was reluctant to buy one because I was concerned about the quality of prints. Now that there are several photo services available that allow you to upload your digital pictures and then have them develop them, the quality of the prints are superb provided that you have a 2 or 3 megapixel digital camera. I was very close to ordering an Olympus 2 megapixel camera but was a little nervous about buying a camera that had a limited amount of memory. Then I heard about the Casio QV3000 and how it came bundled with the IBM Microdrive. I was immediately interested and then became even more interested when I heard of the price!! 1000.00 for a camera that has the Microdrive which alone is valued over 300.00... I can't believe that this camera isn't getting more attention in reviews and in the press. It's phenomenal. I can honestly say that I am very happy with the camera. I was also pleasantly suprised with how easy the camera is to use, unlike the Kodak and Olympus cameras which I found clunky to use at best. The Casio software that is provided is excellent. It automatically downloads your pictures from the camera as soon as it detects that the camera is connected. It also places all the pictures into an HTML page and allows you to either manually view the images or run a full-screen slideshow. Battery life is superb provided that you buy the Ni-MH rechargeable batteries. Regular batteries will be toast in less than 10 minutes! And as for disk space, it's such a relief to know that it's very difficult to run out of space when you have a 340 megabyte harddrive in your camera. If you have the photo setting set to fine (highest quality), you can take about 250 high quality pictures, more than enough for a lengthy vacation!! The biggest problem I have with the camera is the lens cap. For some reason, Casio made it so that the zoom lens expands as soon as you turn on the camera. If you keep the lens cap on while turning it on, the camera shuts itself off. I've also heard that this isn't too healthy for the camera, but nonetheless, just remember to take the lens cap off first. Also, I'm a bit disappointed that other lenses can't be added to the camera, such as telephoto or wide angle. Other than those 2 nits, I highly recommend this camera to everyone!! Great job, Casio!
Rating: 
Summary: Great camera, terrible customer support
Review: I love this camera. Fantastic options, great pictures. The microdrive is wonderful. If you have a great understanding of digital cameras and software, this is a wonderful choice. If you need any type of technical assistance, you are on your own. I called Casio technical support because I wasn't happy with the clarity of the prints on my printer. When asked for suggestions the response was "Uh Uh I don't know." When asked if she knew anything about this camera I was told "Not really" I then asked to speak to her supervisor and was told, "They don't know any more about this camera either". In case I forgot to mention this was Casio's digital camera technical support. Pretty bad on Casio's part.
Rating:
Summary: SLICK CAMERA
Review: I REC THE CAMERA FROM AMAZON WITH NO PROBLEMS, BUT THE AC ADAPATER SEEMS TO BE A PROBLEM TO GET. ALSO AMAZON SHOW THEY HAVE THE KODAK RECHARGABLE KIT ON HAND BUT AM STILL WAITING ON IT.... NOW HAVE FOUND OUT FROM CASIO THAT THE USB SUPPORT HAS BEEN DROPPED ON WINDOWS ME VERSION(MUST USE SERIAL PORT). PEOPLE AT CASIO HELP DESK NOT VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT THE CAMERA(NOT SURE WHAT THEIR PROBLEM IS). IF THEY FIX THE USB PROB ON WINDOWS ME THE CAMERA WILL BE WORTH 5 STARS(DOES WORK ON W98). TAKES VERY GOOD PICTURES,BUT EATS NORMAL AA BATTERIES. BE GLAD TO GET RECHARGABLES SOON.THEY ALSO HAVE FIXED THE CAMERA LENS COVER PROBLEM THAT OTHERS COMPLAINED ABOUT. SOFTWARE WORKS GREAT. SUGGEST GET FLASH READER (THE 340 DRIVE WILL NOT WORK WITH THE INTELLFLASH READER AS THEY NORMALLY SHIP NEEDS SPECIAL ATA ADAPATER TO ALLOW THE DRIVE TO PLUG IN,INTELLIFLASH TECH SUPPORT NO HELP. CASIO SHOW NECC PART IN THEIR ON LINE STORE.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Camera - Some insights
Review: When I started research 3.x gigapixel digital cameras, the short list came down to this: Casio QV 3000 EX, Sony DSC-S70 and MVC-FD95, Nikon 990, Kodak CD4800 and Canon Powershot S20 and G1. After tallying all the features and costs of each, the Casio emerged as the the clear winner. I'm sure you've read all the specs from other reviews, so I'll just comment on a few things. - The 340mb IBM microdrive is a must-have in a digital camera. Go on a long vacation, take 240 or so 2048x1536 pics in FINE resolution and don't think twice about running out of space or having to buy more memory. - The USB connection downloads these pics very quickly, plus, you can set it up so your computer sees it as another HD, viewable via Netscape or IE. - Casio packed this camera with a lot of features that I'm not sure it needs, like B/W and Sepia modes, for example. These effects can be done in software on your PC. -Memory buffer. I was pleased to find out that this camera has enough for a short "burst mode". Some of the cameras above don't. - Biggest complaint: No A/C adapter in the unit I bought, though I knew this before I bought it. I wound up paying around $52 on Casio's website for one to be delivered UPS 2nd day. But, I also got a $100 rebate on the camera, and the more recent EX Plus version includes the adapter, so, just make a note. - No jack for an external trigger. This is kind of amazing. What you can do with this camera is limited only by your imagination. And, yes, many functions and features are dependent upon a half-press of the shutter button. BUT, I don't see any reason why Casio couldn't come up with an external shutter button that works the same way as the one on the camera. The reason for the external shutter trigger is that you don't touch the camera when you take the shot. IE, you don't move it by accident when using very slow shutter speeds or night shots, etc. I did not know this before I bought it. -You must have at least two sets of four NiMH rechargable batteries for a day of shooting. Three is even better. And get a charger that charges them in under 5 hours. They're cheap and plentiful. Regular alkaline Duracells, for example, will last, well, I've never seen batteries go so dead so fast in my life. The NiMH batteries, on the other hand, last a very long time. Longer than any other rechargable battery available. Overall, this is an outstanding camera. I feel that I would have spent more money on any of the others I mentioned in memory cards, for starters. IBM has also released a 1 gigabyet version of its Microdrive. And the camera will accept memory cards of the CompactFlash type I and II as well. This is both the ultimate vacation camera, as well as an excellent tool for the serious photographer, minus my comments above. I've only touched on a very few of the many, many features the QV 3000 EX comes with. I've been through the manual, used the camera, and it exceeded my expectations.
Rating:
Summary: My view on this one
Review: I have been waiting for a long time for this kind of product to show up in the market. I must admit I am very picky and won't spend a penny if I am not sure. But after I saw this one I bought it immediately. I should say the biggest part that it attracted me is the 340 IBM micro drive. It really solve the problem of long journey. Though the battery is still a small problem, this can easily be offset by preparing several set of rechargables. The Canon lense is known to have the excellent optical results. The menus are easy and built-in pictureing modes are impressing. There are a lot of good features like 3x optical zoom and 2 digital which I think is the best for now in the market. The only thing that I want to mention that I am not too convinced is that Casio should build in more optimized programs in it(I mean in like those in Canon and Nikon). It is a little lacking in this aspect. This can be observed if you shoot a pic with Nikon 990 with the same resolution It is observable that Casio is not as good. But with the money for the features, I think it really worth it. By the way, Casio is difinitely a leader in PDA or Pocket PC so, I am not suprised that this camera will be interoperatable with their new PDAs in the coming future.
Rating:
Summary: Average camera but don't you ever spoil it!
Review: This camera takes quite high quality pictures but the speed is slow. I bought mine in Malaysia, the service support by Jebsen & Jessen Marketing (M) Sdn. Bhd. is terrible. Don't you ever spoil it. You have to wait forever for the spare parts to arrive. I now own a Nikon Coolpix 990. You will definitely be better off with a more reputable camera brand.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera for the rookie and then some!
Review: I am still learning all that this camera can do but so far I am impressed! The menus are easy to follow so don't be intimidated by the manual. Currently, the USB is non-Windows 2000/ME compatible but who needs it with a flash card reader. The automatic modes take great pics, especially when you select the type of light you are shooting in. I know enough about photography to be dangerous but this cam is easy to follow. Make sure to get a couple sets of NiMH rechargeables. One set goes a long way but take two to keep up with the 340 MB Microdrive. How cool is that little gizmo! The difference between my 1.3 MP cam to this is astounding.
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