Just like its precursor,
the QV-7000SX, the new Casio QV-8000SX is a rather large compact
camera with a lens section able to rotate 270º. There is no optical
viewfinder, but a 2.5" LCD screen instead.
QV-8000SX
is a substantially improved camera, and one equipped with a remarkable
8X optical zoom.
The left side of the camera, where the large grip housing the batteries
provides a firm hold, contains many of the most accessed controls. The
grip is topped by a 2-stage shutter release, a mode dial, menu access
and control buttons, along with a push-on/push-off power switch which
is placed around the shutter release.
The front of the grip supports the control for the zoom lens, which aside
from its 8X optical range, is "augmented" by a 4X digital zoom
for a total of 32X. Using the digital zoom, of course, degrades the image
quality considerably.
The mode dial is used
to select the camera's various recording modes:
Timer
mode (interval shooting),
Panorama
mode,
Movie
(AVI)
mode
Normal
mode,
Night
Scene
mode,
Portrait
mode,
Landscape
mode.
A
menu button is placed nearby, and 2 others (plus and minus)
are used for menu navigation. All selections are made by pressing the
shutter release. The close proximity of the plus and minus buttons means that some practice is required to get used to them.
A
switch placed just below the Mode dial selects either the Playback,
or Recording modes.
Four more buttons, placed below the LCD screen, control the Flash modes
(Auto, Redeye, Forced, Off); Focus modes, (Manual, Infinity and
Macro); Self timer (10 or 2 seconds); and the Display button,
which controls the display of overlays and the access to the advanced
menu mode.
While in Playback mode, the Flash button makes it possible to jump from
one image folder—where the photos are stored on the card—to
another.
Ergonomically, the
Casio QV-8000SX is quite well designed, however, for a couple of basic
functions, the design requires a bit of time to become comfortable. This
is due to the unusual placement of the zoom control, and of the power
switch. The grip position of the zoom control seems to befuddle a fair
number of people who try the camera. Most confuse the power switch with
the zoom control, with the predictable result of turning off the camera
instead of zooming...
Similarly,
the placement of the strap attachment, near the base of the camera on
the grip side, is a bit uncomfortable as the metal buckle pokes into the
palm of the hand while holding the camera. A higher position on the grip,
so that it falls between the thumb and index while holding the camera,
would have been preferable. That position would also have avoided the
peculiar design of the camera bag, which has a slit opening on one side
near the bottom to let the camera strap go through.
