5 Megapixels for < $300: Kodak DX4530, Olympus C-50 Zoom, Casio QV-R51

The Design: Casio QV-R51

88.3 x 60.4 x 33.4mm

On the front of the camera, we can see the lens, the built-in flash, and a self-timer lamp. The lens is protected by a small automatic cover that opens before the lens extends and after the lens retracts. The lens has a 3x optical zoom and a 4x digital zoom. The optical zoom is equivalent to 39-117mm on a 35mm camera. The aperture range is between f2.8 - 4.8 in wide angle and f4.9 - 8.4 in telephoto. The shutter speed range is from 1/2000^th - 4 seconds. Both are automatically adjusted. The flash range is 2 - 10ft in wide angle and 2 - 5.9ft in telephoto.

On the back of the camera, the first thing that really stands out is the size of the LCD screen. It is a 2" screen with 82,960 pixels. Just above the LCD screen are the optical viewfinder, 2 indicator lamps, a play button, and a record button. Pressing the play button when the camera is off will take you to play mode without having to extend the lens. Pressing the play button when the camera is on will switch from Record mode to Play mode (the lens will retract automatically after being left in Play mode for about 10 seconds). Pressing the Record button when the camera is off will turn the camera on in Record mode. Pressing record when the camera is already on and in play mode will also cause the camera to switch over to record mode. One common digital camera function that is missing from the QV-R51 is a shooting priority feature that would allow a half press of the shutter to switch the camera automatically to record mode. In order to take a picture from play mode you must press the record button and then press the shutter release button.

To the right of the LCD screen is a dedicated Menu button. Just under it is a 4-way arrow pad with an independent "Set" button in the middle. Below the arrow pad is a Display button that changes the display settings in record and play mode. In record mode, pressing this button will cycle through the following display settings: live histogram, clear camera setting information from LCD, turn off LCD, turn on LCD with camera setting information. In play mode, the Display button controls the following options: add a histogram and shooting info to the display, clear the display except for the picture, bring back the basic information on top of the picture (shot number, resolution, quality setting, date, time, and battery status).

On the top of the camera is a small Power button. When the camera is off, pushing this button will turn on the power and LCD screen and extend the lens to its default position. The speed at which this camera can be ready to shoot is surprisingly fast (we will discuss this later in the article). When the camera is on, pushing the Power button will power down the camera and retract the lens. Also on top of the camera is the zoom control and shutter button.


The bottom of the camera contains the battery compartment and metal tripod mount. The Casio QV-R51 supports 2 NiMH, Lithium, or Alkaline AA batteries. The camera comes with 2AA NiMH batteries and a wall charger. The charge time for these batteries is approximately 4 hours.

On the right side of the camera is a movable tab that covers the port for the optional 3V AC adaptor. Just a little bit further down is a post for the included wrist strap.


The left side of the camera is bare except for a tab that covers the USB port for downloading pictures from the camera.

The Casio QV-R51 offers a number of image size options with quality options: Fine, Normal, or Economy. The image size settings are outlined in the table below.

Setting	Compression	Resolution (pixels)
2560x1920	JPG	2560x1920
2560x1712 (3:2)	JPG	2560x1712
2048x1536	JPG	2048x1536
1600x1200	JPG	1600x1200
1280x960	JPG	1280x960
640x480	JPG	640x480

This camera does not have an uncompressed image setting. All of the image sizes have an aspect ratio of 4:3 except for the second one (as labeled). In addition to image size options, there are also several adjustable quality settings. Sharpness can either be set to Hard, Normal, or Soft. Saturation and contrast both have options for High, Normal, or Low.

Another feature that the camera offers is the option to use digital Color filters. The options include: Off, B&W, Sepia, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink, and Purple. Although these are all options that can be applied by an image-editing program afterwards, the ability to compose shots with color filters may bring about some creative ideas.

In Snapshot mode (Auto mode), you have control over flash behavior and focusing modes. Pressing the down arrow key will switch between these different flash modes: Flash off, Always fire, Red-eye, and Auto. An indicator icon will show up on the LCD screen to indicate which setting you have chosen. The absence of an icon means the camera is in Auto flash mode. Pressing the up arrow key will cycle through the 4 different focusing modes: Auto, Macro, Infinity, and Manual focus. Again, the absence of an icon means that you are in Auto focus mode.

With auto focus, you can select between Spot and Multi modes. Spot mode focuses on the very center of the frame in the brackets (as shown). In Multi mode, 7-point focus points appear on the display. When you half-press the shutter button, the camera automatically selects a focal point based on the closest subject to the camera. In Macro focus mode, you can focus from 3.9"-27.6". Infinity focus mode causes the camera to focus out to infinity automatically. In Manual focus mode, you can control the focus by using the left and right arrow pads to focus close and far, respectively.

Besides Snapshot mode (Auto), there are 21 "BestShot" modes available as well as a Movie mode. Some examples of BestShot modes are Portrait, Scenery, Nature, and Candlelight. Each option has specific preset menu settings that are designed to enhance the overall image quality for the type of shot that you are taking. A quick description of the purpose of each setting is displayed when cycling through them. Two interesting BestShot options are Coupling Shot and Pre-shot modes. Both are options that allow you to include yourself in a picture with a friend by taking two separate shots that are automatically "stitched" together for the final picture. In movie mode, the camera captures a silent 320x240 movie clip in AVI format. The maximum length for a clip is 60 seconds (whether or not you have a larger capacity card).

This camera offers exposure compensation by +/- 2 stops in 1/3 increments. You can adjust the compensation in the menu or you can program the left and right arrow keys to decrease and increase the exposure. Flash compensation is also available with three options: Strong, Normal, and Weak. There are 3 different metering modes from which to choose. The default setting is Multi-pattern, where the camera measures the light in several sections of the frame to determine the best exposure. The second option is Center-weighted metering, which measures the light mostly in the center of the frame in the focus brackets. The last option is Spot metering, which measures a very small area from the center of the frame. In addition to metering options, you are given the following ISO settings to select: Auto, 50, 100, 200, and 400. With Auto chosen, the camera will attempt to pick the best ISO setting for the situation (from 50-200).

The QV-R51 offers 6 white balance options: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Incandescent, Fluorescent, and Manual. It is nice to see that this camera is following in the footsteps of the QV-R40 and R41 in that it offers manual WB. We feel that it is something that every camera should have for those shots when preset options don't quite capture the color.

One of the nice features about the QV-R51 is that you can customize the behavior of the left/right arrow keys in Record mode. They can be set to select any of the following: Recording mode (Snapshot, BestShot, Movie), Exposure compensation, White balance mode, ISO setting, and Self-timer mode. If you tend to switch between one of these settings frequently, it is much faster to use the left/right arrow keys than it is to go through the menu. Another handy feature is the ability to tell the camera what to remember when you turn off the camera. Almost all the options in the menu have an On/Off setting to indicate whether the camera should retain the settings it had before it was turned off. Also, the live histogram function (via the Display key in Record mode) is very useful for obtaining an even exposure. Some cameras offer histograms in play mode only after the picture is taken. Another feature that may be useful to some users is the option to compose shots with a 3x3 grid, which is displayed over the live image on the LCD.

In play mode, pressing the right/left arrow keys shuffles through previously taken photos. If you hold the right or left arrow key, the camera will shuffle through the pictures at a very fast pace. There is also a calendar screen that displays the first picture taken on each day of the month. A traditional thumbnail display ,which holds 9 images at a time, is also available to find pictures that you have taken. When viewing a single picture, you have the option to magnify the image by sliding the zoom controller to the right. An image can be magnified up to 4x.

In play mode, there are a number of options available to the user, including: Slideshow (specify images, slideshow duration, and picture interval time), Protect, Rotate, Resize (to 1600x1200, 1280x960, or 640x480), Trimming (with a moveable and sizeable cropping area), Create Album (creates an HTML-based webpage of photos), Alarm (turns on camera and sounds at a specified time), and Copy (from internal memory to flash card and vice versa).