good for the price, but service is a hassle
It's hard to complain for the price, the QV-R51 is very good in most ways but I have some gripes. Using the internal HTML album generation, the metadata came out all garbled (must be a software bug). It comes with other bundled software for generating albums offline though, which is adequate (it generates HTML that works with IE Explorer, but not fully with Mozilla). As far as the other bundled software, the autoloader is ok, but they include a lot of other stuff which is junk, you'll waste an hour looking at it and then throwing it away. Just pay a few bucks for better software.
The focus is pretty unstable in movie mode.. the movie feature is just there as a freebie I suppose, but lack of sound and focus limits their usefulness. Usually the snapshot auto focus is good, but it is slightly off often enough (even in good light) that you are forced to zoom in on the image in playback mode if you want confidence that you won't be disappointed with some shots when you get home. It would be nice if it did a zoomed-in review of just the target/focus area for you automatically so you could quickly see if it was good enough without pushing a lot of buttons (manual focus mode does something sort of like this).
My main gripe however, it that it suddenly quit working after 22 days of gentle use. Casio has a one year warranty, but dealing with their customer service is a hassle... it's hard to track down a human Casio rep, and they won't pay for shipping to their service center.
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My Newest Obsession
I can't say that I am an extremely credible source on the subject, but I know high quality when I see it. The Casio QV-R51 is by far the best digital camera I have ever encountered, and although it has its faults, it is definitely the best around for the extremely low price range. Not only is this camera a 5 mpx gem, the photos (if you have any SKILL to those posting reviews below) come back with incredibly high quality and breathtaking detail. 2560x1920 images and a 2 inch LCD, who could go wrong?
I have had this camera for three months, and I have used it so much that one would assume that I have had it for over a year. So far, after thousands of images, I have encountered no major problems that would ever make me even consider sending it back.
On the negative side, every camera has its faults, the first being that the zoom isn't as large as I'd like, but it works well, so it's not a major issue. Second is that the red eye doesn't work in all cases, but it is not a function that I normally use, so I don't have problems with that either. The majority of the cameras I have encountered have problems with resolving red eye, and I am still convinced that my little sister is cursed with red eyes that simply cannot be avoided. There is also the issue of having video mode with no audio, but seriously, if you really have a need to be taking a 60 second video, it must be something so interesting that audio is not necessary. This is a digital camera, not a video camera, so don't use the function if you're going to be nitpicky about it!
All in all, with the bestshot functions, video functions, manual focus, AA batteries, and every other thing about this camera, faults and all, I still reserve five stars to my newest obsession! Trust me, it will be more than well worth it for the price.
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Returned after 2 weeks
What can I say... This one disappointed me. I did a lot of research before buying a digital camera and seeing the first 3 reviews I figured it is a good camera.
The good things first. The big LCD is really a plus. It is really difficult for me to go back to a camera, which has a smaller LCD (we DO get used to a good thing too quickly). However it lacked clarity especially in the dark (my friend had an older 3mp-cybershot camera from Sony and the quality was incomparable).
The size is nice.
I expected the batteries to last longer but it was ok. Plus I do have 2 other pairs of rechargeable batteries so it was not a big inconvenience.
The picture quality was OK...Neither nor... some pictures were blurry some were very good... red eye reduction didn't really work on all the pictures. Nighttime pictures weren't that great.
The video without sound that was a really bad one. I understand that this is not a digital camera but what is the use of a video without sound.
The next thing, which convinced me I should return the camera, is the way it looked after a couple of uses. I was really careful with it however after a few days the camera looked as it was used at least for a year. The zoom and the shot button silver paint were wiped and you could see the ugly yellow plastic. I would have expected it after at least a year of extensive use but not after 100 pictures.
As a result I just shipped the camera to Amazon.
Hopefully they will honor the 30-day return policy.
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A digital camera that lasted less than half a year
I bought this dig camera when there was no customers reviews, so i basically risked it. Well, my consequence is that I have to send it back to the Casio Company for repair. I bought it in March, 2004 and now tons of lines appeared on the screen for i don't know what reasons. They said maybe I drop it, it went through some scanning problem, or just there are some problems with it! v.v ... Other THAn that.. this dig cam is pretty good .. but I don't know what the say.. not only half a year yet~ The pictures are pretty nice, great functions, it would be better if this 5 mp dig has sound for the video mode. Hopefully the problems will be fixed or else I guess risking is baD.
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Very happy with it
We have been very happy with this camera. We bought it a year and a half ago. Large screen. Good pictures. Small size.
Buy extra rechargeable batteries, so you always are ready to put in a fresh pair. The flash will use them up fast.
I selected four stars because I would have liked it to be a little quicker to take the picture, and quicker to charge the flash. You will probably only get those features on a digital SLR at a much higher price, however.
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