Customer Reviews

Casio QV-R4 4MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I simply love this camera. My wife and I recently had our first child, and I started looking for a good digital camera to capture all the moments. I wanted something that was compact, fast, had a good zoom, and didn't eat batteries up too fast. The QV-R4 has gone beyond all my expectations. It's much better than any of the Canon Elph camera's which I have also had experience with. It is extremely sturdy, and the battery refuses to give up, especially when you turn off the LCD and use the eyepiece. The manual says you cant take 600 something pictures without the LCD, and I believe it. I bought a 256 MB SD card to compliment the camera, and I can take over 100 pictures with it on the highest resolution setting, which will print flawless 8x10 inch pictures. If I want good 4x6 inch prints, I can lower the resolution and store 400 pictures on one card. If I want internet quality pictures, I can store 2400 on it. The camera's response time is amazing. I have taken over 500 pictures with it already, and not once has it refused to take the picture the second I pressed the shutter release. It focuses fast, and it has a plethora of options to choose from. I recommend this camera over anything else out there. Unless you NEED a large digital camera for publishing quality photos, don't waste your time. You can slide this in your pocket and take it with you.

I'm more of a filmmaker than a photorapher so I don't own a $15,000 digital still camera. I have, until now, been very hesitant about going digital when it comes to still photography. It's very difficult to compete with the resolution of 35mm film cameras. Problem being: you never know when you're going to snap that perfect shot you'll want to become a table top picture. I could've easily bought a digital camera before, but without paying INSANE amounts of money I would always be resorting to a resolution comprimised photograph. With this puppy, I can take many photos at the highest resolution. I have two 64MB memory cards can can take about 30 pics on eash with the hightest setting. That's a 2MB picture!! The day I bought it I plugged it directly into my iBook and lauched iPhoto...without any software to be installed, it simply begain downloading the pics. While in the computer I decided to zoom in on the pictures to see how good the resolution gets....I just kept zooming and zooming and the picture looks good. I feel comfortable now that I'm not loosing out on quality by using the digital means.

It has a couple of features I think are very cool. One is the timelaps feature. You set the camera on a table and tell it to take a picture every 1-60 minutes and it comes on automatically and snaps it. Another one are what casio calls the 'best shot' options. One of the things I hate the most is giving up the camera to someone to take a picture because I may have to be in the shot. I'm always very particular about the angle, subject size etc about a shot...but most people don't seem to be. One of the best shot options allows me to snap a photo and it will take that picture and overlay it onto the lcd display at about a 50% opacity so the new photographer can align the camera using the photo I took as a guide to line everything up.

In comparing this digital camera with my 35mm film camera I noticed a couple of things about the imagery. Film has been engineered for 100 years to produced the nicest looking image. Applicable digital technology about 20. Fleshtones and Blacks are the hardest things for the digital image to compete with, but the casio does great. Sometimes the automatic settings come under par, but I can adust the shutter speed and f-stop manually to get the image just right using the lcd. I haven't figured out how to calibrate the flash to match film, but that's for another weekend....it works pretty good on auto. (i'm picky)

Keep in mind that I haven't tried hundreds of these cameras in this price range but I was instanly attracked to the casio because of the nice interface, its small size, and its big punch.

I'll still use my film camera of course when beauty is of upmost importance, but for a camera I can stick in in my bag and be happy with the Casio rocks.

Good luck to all. Scott Morabito,

I was totally amazed by all the functions that this camera can perform. It has options that my more expensive cameras don't have. The main reason I bought this camera is to have a light weight digicam to carry in my purse at all times. I was missing too many opportunities. I have taken dozens of test shots and have not been disappointed. The color of creeks, in this part of Texas, is brown from the tannic acid, I merely use the built in blue filter and I have wonderful water! All the grass is dead and the pines have brown needles with a little green, I use the built in green filter and it looks like summer. The clarity is good right out of the camera and the images need little or no post production work. It surprised me that the battery life is so good since I thought that with a pack that small, I would run out in no time, but it's excellent. I can't say enough good things about this camera. I like it much better than my G2. The ability to regulate the flash is great, since I would tend to blow macro shots right out of the scene. The option to reduce the flash output is extremely valuable to me. The camera is unbelievably easy to use and I started shooting before having had time to read the manual and had no difficulty. I'm in the process of reading it now and it is also excellent, easy to understand and to the point. The camera is also fast, which is a definite plus!

I just picked this camera up and snapped a few photos. The user interface is wonderful: as long as you don't want to do manual focus or other manual functions, you won't even have to read a manual to figure out how to use features like "Best Shot" modes or using the special effects like "sepia". The UI is the best I've ever seen in a digital camera though I have really only used a Canon camera for more than a few minutes.

While the photos look great when imported into my Mac, the extra resolution above 1600x1200 doesn't seem to make that much of a difference (even as I zoom in to different areas). I'm going on a trip tomorrow so I'll have a chance to vary the resolution and see if it really matters. If you just want your first digitial camera, 1600x1200 resolution may be good enough for you and you'll save some money. One thing that I noticed and liked was that this camera seems to take pictures pretty quickly (less lag) as compared with other cameras I've used.

Now for some flaws. The movie mode is horrible when compared to my brother's Canon Powershot (roughly the same size and his model was cheaper than this one). For one, the Canon had sound but you don't get sound with this camera. You may argue that if you want to make movies, buy a DV camera but my brother has sent me some cool little emails of my niece and the movie mode really is a good plus. Second, the movie mode picture was much grainier than with my brother's Canon. I probably won't use the movie mode on this camera but I probably would have if it was better.

In summary: great pictures so far (even though it is a cloudy day), great size, best UI I've seen, but the awful movie mode prevents me from giving this camera 5 stars (though I guess 4.5 stars would be closer to my opnion).

I have used this camera for couple of months now and I am quite pleased with it, though I am dissapointed that you can not buy the charger from the manifacturer separetly. I have lost the charger and I can not charge the battery. I have to carry an external battery unit to use the camera which really dissapoints me. I do not understand why the manifacturer does not supply the charger for the unique battery that the camera comes with?????

Love this camera. Just point and shoot. No need to reread the manual if you don't use it for months. It has so many other capabilities that I forget to use that would make my pictures even better, but however you use it the photos come out great. The preprogrammed settings for different environments really, really works. The LCD display is amazingly clear. The battery door is a little fragile -- broke it and had to replace it, but other than that, this thing is rock-solid quality. For the other reviewer who lost the charger, they are available at www.pacparts.com

I recently purchased this new 4mp camera from Casio. The historigram is great and the overall use of the equipment is easy to use. The pictures are high quality and given the internal "auto" settings, found it to be wonderfully simple and ready to shoot. It powers up quickly and is small enough to fit in your coat pocket. The only flaw is the movie mode, sound is not a component of this camera? I wish it was so everyone could see and hear my three angels on any email I wish to send. Thanks to Casio for meeting my digital needs, I will be a return customer for sure!!!!!!