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Photo 1. The Casio Digital Camera Card camera is about the size of a lipstick container and attached to what appears to be a type III CompactFlash card. 
Photo 2. When inserted into a Casio E-100 or E-105, the camera card does not add much volume to the combined system. 
Photo 3. The picture taking software can take both video and still images. This image was taken under a flourescent lamp under the same conditions as the photos above. To be fair, I have not played with the various settings of the image taking software. I expect to get better images under sunlit conditions (as opposed to sub-optimal indoor conditions). 
Photo 4. This picture was taken with the macro setting chosen. This setting is selected by physically twising the lens to the setting. |
Questions or comments? Drop by and discuss the Casio Digital Camera Card and other Palm-size PC related topics on the: MSN Windows CE Forum Palm-size PC web based messageboard September 30, 1999. Casio was nice enough to loan me their new Digital Camera Card for the Cassiopeia E-100 and E-105 Palm-size PCs. The JK-710DC is a lipstick sized camera mounted on a CompactFlash card. The 1.6oz camera swivels 180 degrees on its axis and can take both still images as well as movies. It will be available later this year for US$299. The camera uses a CCD lens with a 350,000 pixel resolution. It has a variable shutter speed (1/30 to 1/1000 second). It is rated at 45 minutes of continous shooting. Still shots resolve to 640x480 JPEG files. Videos are stored in the CMF format introduced by Casio earlier this year. The file format is based on MPEG3. I have not yet found a way to transform a CMF file to a MPEG3 file. The Casio Mobile Camera software is provided with the camera. Note that it must be installed without the camera card installed. The Mobile Camera software plays a number of roles. It can adjust the camera for various lighting conditions. It can adjust the shutter speed. It can take either still images (photos) or movies. Videos can be recorded with recorded with sound using the E-100/105's built-in microphone. The Mobile Camera software also has various playback modes for still images and videos. It can also create albums of still images. The camera does not have a flash. However, even in the suboptimal lighting conditions around my home at night it produced reasonable images. I am looking forward to trying it out under daylight conditions. As you can tell from the pixel resolution, you probably are not going to replace your current megapixel (or even sub-megapixel) digital camera with the Casio Camera Card. However, its size, convenience, and ability to record video as well as still images is going to place this item on every E-100/105 owner's wish list. October 3, 1999. I spent the last few days taking a few more shots. Photo 4 on the left demonstrates the macro lens setting feature. I think it performed the task well, though, the colors are a bit exaggerated (too saturated). Photos 5 and 6 below illustrate some of the differences between the results of a 640x480 images photographed using a Casio Digital Camera Card (Photo 5) and a Sony Mavica FD-71 digital camera. The Casio image tends to be overexposed and, again, exaggerates certain colors. The wall seen in the image is a faded reddish-brown, not nearly as saturated as the image implies. The Sony Mavica image (Photo 6) is a shot of the same flower bed. The difference in composition illustrates a problem of using the Casio E-100/105 with the camera card. The Casio's screen is very difficult to see outdoors. Thus I was unable to accurately frame the image.
Bottom line? I am still very impressed by the Casio Digital Camera Card. It will not replace my Sony Mavica FD-71. But, I am willing to bet that I will get some photographs that I would have missed simply because I will probably carry the Casio Digital Camera Card all the time. In comparison, I only carry my Sony digital camera when I know that I will want to take photographs. Sometimes, the best camera is the one that is available to shoot a once-in-a-lifetime photograph. |
