Throwback Thursday: Casio QV-4000
Long before there was an app for that, your camera had a scene mode for that.
Cameras and smartphones have gotten pretty good at detecting what kind of scene you're trying to photograph and optimizing your settings for the best shot, and they're only getting smarter. But fifteen years ago when we reviewed the Casio QV-4000 such technologies didn't exist.
Instead, you got 'Best Shot Modes,' a collection of exposure modes designed to help you match the right camera settings to the scene you were shooting. There were 5 pre-installed on the QV-4000, but you could install a hundred more by simply loading them from the CD-ROM that came with the camera onto your Compact Flash card.
So with more than a hundred modes to choose from, you can imagine how specific they get. In no particular order, here are some of my favorites:
- Photo of a toadstool
- Portrait in a field of flowers
- Photo at a hotel
- Photo of a mossy wood
You can see them all here. And even though they seem a little funny now, Casio was only trying to answer a question we still haven't quite cracked: how do you help the average consumer take better photos? Automatic scene detection and technology like Google's HDR+ solve some problems, but I know I still see plenty of backlit portraits and blurry 'night at the bar' photos in my Facebook feed.
The answer is starting to look different than a hundred different user-selectable scene modes, but the problem is sure the same.
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Apr 25, 2018
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Oct 13, 2017
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Nov 23, 2017
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Just
posted! I've just put up our second review of the day. Another four megapixel
digital camera, the Casio QV-4000 enters the market as direct competition
to Canon's PowerShot G2 and Olympus's C-4040Z. The big difference? $200.
The Casio brings us a fully featured four megapixel digital camera with
a 3x Canon optical zoom lens, CF Type II support, full manual control
and a vast number of features for just $700. But what about image quality? | |
Casio
Japan has today announced the new 4 megapixel QV-4000. This camera, obviously
the 'next in line' from the QV-3000, QV-3500 series, features a 4.1 megapixel
CCD sensor outputing a 2240 x 1680 image (3.7 megapixels). It has a 3x
optical zoom lens which is labelled "Canon Lens", interestingly
this lens looks identical to that used on most of last year 3 megapixel
digital cameras. (something some of us suspected for a long time). Design
wise it's much better looking than the older Casio's, definetly some echo's
of the DSC-S75 there though...
UPDATE: Samples available. |
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As a stills camera the Fujifilm X-T3 is a pleasant update to one of our favorite APS-C cameras, significantly improving the autofocus. If you're interested in stills and video, though, it's knockout.
The Nikon Z7 is slated as a mirrorless equivalent to the D850, but it can't subject track with the same reliability as its DSLR counterpart. AF performance is otherwise good, except in low light where hunting can lead to missed shots.
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Whether you've grown tired of what came with your DSLR, or want to start photographing different subjects, a new lens is probably in order. We've selected our favorite lenses for Nikon DSLRs in several categories to make your decisions easier.
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