P700 beginners guide

Hi !

I'm getting my P700 in a few days.

I've read this site and forum for several months and I noticed that P700 can be improved a lot by right settings. Example the RAW/hidden menu...

Now the Casio forum is full of messages of the new Z750 so it's hard and slow to find these tricks and hints for P700. So I'm suggesting that all P700 users who know some settings or tricks that beginner like me should know, would post them here.

Regards:

Almost a proud new owner of P700…

Here is the RAW mode:

Hidden menu:
1. While firmly pressing down both [DISP] and [UPPER], turn the
power on.

2. After the version appears, press buttons in the order of [DOWN],
[DOWN], [DISP] and [MENU] in 0.5 second. The diagnostic menu
appears.

and someone else pointed out that the Bayer mode is located under
option 6

3. select option 6 Image Flag. From here you can set the Bayer
mode to "on" and then use the menu button to back out of the
service menu.

This will generate 2 files, a jpg and a RAW file their names go
like this:

xxxxCIMG.RAW 10.4 MB
CIMGxxxx.JPG 4.2 MB (for fine compression and largest
file size)

Thanks for all of the help! - Rafael

Following these instructions on
my 700 i get a screen:

++ KX824 ++
Ver 1.00

but pressing [down] [down] [disp] [menu]
does not help me get to any menu.

henrik , you need to do it very quickly only half a second .

it sometimes takes me a few goes to get the key press sequence done quickly enough .

alanmzifa said:

henrik , you need to do it very quickly only half a second .

it sometimes takes me a few goes to get the key press sequence done
quickly enough .

Click to expand...

Yes! Wiorks! Thanks!

henrik

I agree... I just received my new P700 and am excited to start using it to take some better pictures. I am hoping to find these tips and tricks too, like adjustment of saturation and sharpness to ideal levels that are better than the default.

when I first started viewing these forums the casio forum was dead - the third or fourth post down could have 2/3 days old . It's good to see so much chat now , even if it is ALL z750 .

I bought my p700 based on a review here and a camera mag . I'm quite pleased with it and as time goes on I find ways to take account of situations better using the features of the camera .

I'm just an enthusiatic snapper with a very young child so don't have the time to mess about with it as much as I'd like .

I'd be particularly interested in any Best Shot user defined scenes others have come up with which could be swapped between users and added to the cameras through the Best Man editor .

http://www.sassenfeld.de/software/bestman/bestman_e.html

I've tried experimenting with Infra Red filters to see what it could do but I think I've been the only one to try this as I didn't get responses from previous threads I'd started .

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1015&message=13844266

I'm wondering what the experiences are of P700 owners now , having used the camera for several months ?

Hopefully some will post their experiences and more samples on this thread .

I'm off in a few days to Cyprus for 2 weeks , I should end up with a couple of useful snaps by the time I get back .

Naama said:

Here is the RAW mode:

Hidden menu:
1. While firmly pressing down both [DISP] and [UPPER], turn the
power on.

2. After the version appears, press buttons in the order of [DOWN],
[DOWN], [DISP] and [MENU] in 0.5 second. The diagnostic menu
appears.

and someone else pointed out that the Bayer mode is located under
option 6

3. select option 6 Image Flag. From here you can set the Bayer
mode to "on" and then use the menu button to back out of the
service menu.

Click to expand...

What program(s) can you use to edit RAW files from the P700? I don't remember seeing a RAW editor that supports Casio RAW files.

On a related note, how long does it take to record a RAW file? Some compact digitals take 4-7 seconds to record RAW ... others take more than 15 seconds. Just curious how fast the P700 is.

Love mine-so keep posting!!!

Sharpens really well in PS.

I stink at PS so this is what I do

50
.1
0

Do this several times.

If you have people or faces, put threshold at about 26. I have PS 2 and 3.
Go to Filters then unsharp mask. Yes-I was that dumb.

Other settings that seem to work are
500
.1

or 60
6.

Better to crop first if you are cropping.

Watch for over sharpening.

I use the higher setting but some think it best to do all out of camera.

At the plus settings, more are useable right out of camera. I like higer color and contrast than most.

Visit my gallery. I have Just Testing and How I see it and Places and Perspectives that are of more general interest.

I have 7 cameras so sorry that I don't have it set up by camera.

Have I said I love this camera????

Fast focusing. Good indoors!!!

I found a small bag at Ritz. The battery lasts and lasts. Put protective film on the lcd. I also keep the camera in a little fabric bag I got at a hotel that is meant as a shoe shine mitt.

Put an ID in the camera bag.

Oh--Office Max and REI and other places sell these great tiny tripods. At first I resisted. But they make some shots soooo great. Also the camera easier to hold at times.

Very cheap devices. The ones at REI come with a velco strap - clever way to attach it to a limb, or other object.

Look for ones that tilt and have a way toi screw in underneath. Or you can by those quick release things.

I will think of more.

I print out the Steve's and dpreview reviews and keep it with me for reference.

As for the modes- just common sense. Want faster speeds, use those settings. For the slow modes, that tripod or some support will be important.

A much under discussed and under noted camera...

E-mail anytime.

And yes--at first these posts moved once every few days.

Who says Casio can't make a camera?

Hey- I find no snobs here.

Let's right and post AFTER we buy. That is the fun part! Not everyone wants to be a professional--just learn to enjoy.

Yes, the new cameras take up the space. I am just glad folks are participating.

Lurkers--get your butts in here!!!

I haven't posted much recently because I have two new cameras I am playing with-H1 and C8080.

I have begun to use the P700 as an indispensible business tool. There was a long thread on creative camera usage.

So, those shots are pretty dull...

Enjoy! And this camera is not ugly--it is cool!!! The S2 is ugly! (sorry-just my opinion )...

Linda

http://quirky.smugmug.com

If you need a website Smugmug is very easy and then you can post.
Mention me and we both get credits-but I don't care who you mention-
it is a pleasant and convenient site.

I can give you shortcuts for posting photos.

Well here are a few quick shots I took of my new pup with the new P700 (lower res, no high res available):

http://neima.com/bella/goodfor/

And once I take it on my next bp trip, I'll post some of those here too. So far I'm really liking the camera, especially with a tripod/remote set up. It's great for playing with all the shot options and comparing them later.

Tho the frying pan was a bit scary--those were very funny.

Can I assume you posed the dog or is he a professional model?

This is a candid...



Linda

Actually she sleeps so hardcore, that it's hard to wake her up; so I place her where it might be funny to see a puppy. She's only 11 weeks.

I wish I could get my other Jack Russell to sleep on command.

Just don't put her in the blender!

I've never seen a dog sleep like that. Linda is right...a little scary, but the other part of me is laughing very hard. Certainly gets the imagination going.

gb

Almost all CCDs are installed with a infrared cut filter.
It makes images sharper, and allows the use of cheaper lenses.
(infrared doesn't focus on the same plane as RGB)

You might get something close to IR imaging by using filters in front of the lens, but in most cases, it will be almost the same as using only the red channel.

If you want real IR imaging, you have to remove that filter.
Hutech can do the modification for canon Eoses, or you can do it yourself.
But be warned, it voids warranty and causes other problems for usual imaging.

http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/irphoto/index.htm

If you find a way to do it on the P700, I'm interrested ;-)

Chris.

Chris , I bought a Hoya R72 filter .

It needs quite a long exposure so other filters might create a better result . I've experimented very little with it in IR but would reckon the results would benefit from in camera sharpening being set to -2 to help reduce noise . I'll try and post a shot here .

This is untouched (though compressed form the original 4MB to 1024 X 768 pixels on flickr

and another

Btw, why is this thread called "poor P700 owners"???
I'm really pleased with the P700 ;-)

But you're right, it seems you indeed have some IR passing through.

It is probably due to a weak IR filter that doesn't has a steep cut and allow some IR to pass through, if given enough exposure.

What was the exposure time for those images ?

Btw, you should really try to find a way of using the red channel as BW, and not using desaturation. Desaturation means you mix RGB channels together so you decrease the effect if GB has some image in it, or you make you image darker if black.

Chris.

I think it is really a great camera. Mid way better a real DSLR and a pocket.

Image quality is great for the size. When keeping low gain, it can compare to an eos 300D without being ashamed.

The high gain images suffer most from the bad noise reduction than the noise itself. For critical jobs, shoot raw then use neat image to denoise.
(for raw to 16 bits tiff I use RawDrop)

Few other things I found :

Setting contrast default to -2 gives you more details in most cases.
The 0 setting often clip some detail in shadows and/or highlights.

If you plan to color correct the images later on, then set it to -2, but if you are more like "direct to paper/screen", then leave it at 0.

Try to get used to use the histogram display.

It might seem useless at first, but believe me... when you'll be used to it, your exposure control will be much better.

Too often, I trusted the LCD display in sunshine and I produced overexposed images :-(

Buy a SD card reader. The build in usb connection is very fragile, and some people already broke it. I think it is the weakest part of the P700.
The little cover for the connectors is also very weak. Just don't use it.

And don't buy a 2Gb SD card... they don't work in the P700. Max 1Gb, and prefer high speed.
The high quality jpegs are huge and the RAW weights about 10Mb.

Chris.

Ho yes, I only have four regrets...

-Noise reduction cannot be turned off. (but you can shoot raw which is better)

-The bulb mode doesn't expose more than 60 seconds. (what's the point of a bulb mode if it is limited ?)

-More than 1 second exposure take the double amount of time to complete. So 30 seconds exposure takes 60 seconds + time to write image.

They probably do something like black frame suppression. They take the same exposure with shutter closed, then substract the ccd noise measured that way. But at long exposure times, you just loose so much time.

-Casio doesn't provide a plugin sdk that we could use in the camera. Obviously the exilim processor is very powerfull... but maybe I'm asking too much now ;-)

Chris.

Do we need to do that each time we start up the camera?