Casio QV-300

My wife and I received a Casio QV-300 digital camera as a wedding gift. At the time we only had a Unix machine (Sun SS1+). Searching the web, we were able to find software called qvplay that enabled us to download the pictures onto our Sun. I had to make a minor fix to the code (version 0.92, haven't checked to see if latest version, 0.93, fixed that one), and had to futz with the software carrier detect settings (see ttysoftcar(8) and ttytab(5)). I could only get the lowest speed to work (about 60 seconds per picture), but it was adequate.

Then we got an Apple Powerbook 3400 (very nice laptop). I was excited about using the camera with the laptop, because the Sun only has 8-bit color, and an extremely lousy monitor. Copying pictures from the Sun to the laptop, sure enough they looked fantastic. But I couldn't get the camera to work with the laptop at all.

After many months of calling Casio, giving up, then trying again, I finally got an answer (phone numbers below). You need a speical cable, just for the particular model of laptop that we have (this is Casio's fault, no other serial devices have such a requirement). And I found that you could get the cable for free. I got it, and it worked! But the bad news was, the Mac software produced pictures of a lower quality than the (free) Unix software. This was particularly odd because the Unix software does a direct download of data stored on the camera with no modification. So the Mac software provided by Casio was actually post-processing the image to make it worse.

Casio has new versions of the software, which I've been told by people on the net produces better quality pictures. But casio wants to charge me 40 bucks for it. I could probably call the more friendly phone number and ask them for it for free; so far I just haven't bothered.

Now, for some reason, I can't get the camera to work with my Sun. But the same software works on the FreeBSD box I have at work, and that allows me to use the top speed (pictures download in less than 10 seconds). Mysteriously, some protocol commands fail on this box, but only at lower speeds.

1-800-435-7732 Casio's official support line, totally worthless (maybe they've since learned)

1-800-633-0633 Some sort of shipping/ordering center where you can order the latest software

1-973-442-5707 Some sort of technical support line that was actually able to help me, and send me the free cable. If you call this line, ask for the latest software too, and they may send that to you for free (someone on the net said this worked for them)

Recommendation

It takes pictures that are more than adequate for most web pages.
Macro and telephoto settings are quite handy.
Casio is a pain in the butt.
The serial interface is very finicky.
Four AAA batteries are typically dead in less than an hour.
It's old - better cameras are now available, with zoom, flash, and higher resolution, for a price similar to the original QV-300.

Pictures

My wife and I spent the weekend of our first anniversary in Mohican State Park (in Ohio). The pictures from that trip are unmodified (except some were rotated 90 degrees) images copied from the camera using the qvplay software.

We went to Santa Monica to look for jobs in L.A. And then we went again.

Casio QV-* Camera links

My web camera (using server push)
My web camera (using META REFRESH, a.k.a. client pull)
My QV-10/100/300 Webcam Software
QV-10/100 software - This has the latest qvplay software by Ken-Ichi Hayashi, and an english protocol description.
ftp://ftp.itojun.org/pub/digi-cam/ - ftp download site for various things.
Beau software sells webcam software for the QV cameras.

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1-800-435-7732	Casio's official support line, totally worthless (maybe they've since learned)
1-800-633-0633	Some sort of shipping/ordering center where you can order the latest software
1-973-442-5707	Some sort of technical support line that was actually able to help me, and send me the free cable. If you call this line, ask for the latest software too, and they may send that to you for free (someone on the net said this worked for them)