Casio QV-2300UX PlusA 2 megapixel swivel-lens design with lots of creative options and a 340-megabyte Microdrive included (US only)<<Video, Power, Software :(Previous) | (Next): Reference: Datasheet>> Page 12:Test Results & ConclusionReview First Posted: 1/29/2001 |
Test Results
In keeping with our standard policy, our comments here are rather condensed, summarizing our key findings. For a full commentary on each of the test images, see the Casio QV-2300UX Plus' "pictures" page.
As with all Imaging Resource camera tests, we encourage you to let your own eyes be the judge of how well the devices performed. Explore the images on the pictures page, to see how well the Casio QV-2300UX Plus performed, and how its images compare to other cameras you may be considering buying.
The QV-2300UX Plus did a very nice job with color balance, handling even our difficult indoor portrait's incandescent lighting with ease. We used the manual white balance setting the majority of the time, as it did the most accurate job. The QV-2300UX Plus was tricked slightly by the overwhelming blue in our Musicians portrait, but still managed to get a good color balance in the other shots. The QV-2300UX Plus reproduced the large color blocks in the Davebox target very well, though some colors appeared just slightly undersaturated. Tonal handling was also good, as the tonal variations of the Q60 target were visible up to the "B" range. The QV-2300UX Plus' saturation adjustments did a nice job of controlling color intensity, which we found useful with the Davebox shot. Overall, the QV-2300UX Plus color handling is excellent.
In our resolution test, the QV-2300 shows visible detail out to about 700 lines per picture height in both horizontal and vertical directions, but some aliasing begnis at around 550 lines in both directions. Accordingly, we'd "call" the overall resolution at 600 lines per picture height, both vertically and horizontally. Sharpness is a bit below average among competing models we've tested. Overall a middle of the road performance in the resolution department.
With full manual and automatic exposure control, as well as a variety of special Scene modes, the QV-2300UX is very flexible with exposure. In addition to the standard exposure variables, the user can adjust white balance, exposure compensation, ISO, sharpness, contrast, saturation, and flash mode. All this control gives the QV-2300UX Plus great low light capabilities, as we were able to capture reasonably bright, useable images at light levels as low as 1/16 of a foot candle (0.67 lux), at all three ISO settings. (That's really dark!) Color balance was rather warm at the lower light levels, but gradually cooled to a normal level as the light level increased. Noise levels stayed relatively low at the ISO 80 and 160 settings, but increased at the 320 setting. Despite being more prevalent, the noise level at ISO 320 is still not the worst we've seen. (We direct readers to Mike Chaney's excellent Qimage Pro program, for a tool with an amazing ability to remove image noise without significantly affecting detail.) To put the QV-2300UX Plus' low light performance into perspective, an average city night scene under modern street lighting corresponds to a light level of about one foot candle, meaning the camera can handle even darker situations relatively well.
We found the QV-2300UX Plus' LCD monitor to be quite tight, showing about 87 percent accuracy at wide angle, and about 86 percent at the telephoto setting (for both image sizes). We generally like to see LCD monitors as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, so the QV-2300UX Plus came up a little short in this area.
The QV-2300 turned in about an average performance in our macro test, capturing a minimum area of 3.65 x 2.74 inches (92.8 x 69.6 mm). Focus was a little soft, and some barrel distortion was visible, but overall the results were good. The flash shot came out a little dark, due to the camera being fooled by glare from the brooch. This actually bodes well for flash use in macro pictures, as it says the flash has no trouble throttling down enough for close-in work.
Overall, we were very pleased with the performance of the QV-2300UX Plus. Its white balance system can handle most light sources, even difficult ones, and color balance is pretty accurate as well. Combined with the wide variety of exposure modes, the camera's low light capabilities extend its shooting range to include even the darkest situations. We also found the sharpness, contrast, and saturation adjustments very handy and useful.
Conclusion
Overall, shooting with the Casio QV-2300UX Plus was a real pleasure. It provides excellent exposure control and a bounty of special features that are not typically found in other digicams. The preset Scene modes are perfect for novices who want to take great pictures of sometimes difficult subjects, and the extensive color adjustments offer a host of creative options that will tempt even the busiest editor to play! ;-) If the extremely flexible exposure options don't excite you, then the 340MB IBM Microdrive certainly will. The camera is small, portable, and packs a substantial 2.1-megapixel CCD. Given its generous exposure and creative controls, reasonable price, and excellent image quality, we expect the QV-2300UX Plus to appeal to a broad range of digital camera buffs.
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