I am a keen triathlete and would like to know how digital cameras perform taking outside shots of runners or cyclists. I have studying the Fuiji MX600Z and Casio QV7000 in your reveiws and was wondering how these would perform for my needs thanks Stu

-- stuart donald mckenzie (stumck@ihug.co.nz), June 30, 1999

Answers

The web site below did a review in May of the Fuji MX-600 and Casio QV-7000SX as well as the camera I have the Espon 750Z in April.

http://www.megapixel.net/html/issueindex.html

I will let the reviews speak for themselves. I think there are areas that the Epson could offer you an advantage over the other two. The Fuji has a rather small LCD viewer that becomes washed out in sunlight. I does offer an optical viewfinder for taking the shot, but you still wouldn't be able to review the photos in bright sunlight. The Casio only has an LCD viewfinder so if sunlight washes it out your done. The Epson has a solar assisted backlighting for the LCD. Here I will quote from the megapixel review, "A simple switch, placed near the top-right of the screen, turns off the fluorescent light and opens a louver, which allows sunlight to light the screen. This energy-saving feature allows using the screen in daylight without having to rely on the batteries, and makes an already excellent screen, even better." I agree with the view. I raise cattle and have taken photos of calves playing and running at full tilt with maximum zoom (3X optical + 2X digital)using the LCD viewfinder in solar assist mode. I was very pleased with the results. I felt I was better able to track their movement than I could have with the optical viewfinder or my 35mm SLR. This is partly do to the fact I wear glasses. A couple of other things I noticed comparing the 3 camera. The Fuji lens has a slower minimum f-stop of 3.8 vs Epson's f-stop of 2.8. Also the ISO setting of the Epson can be changed from 90, 180, or 360. The Fuji is fixed at 100. Therefore the Espon should be able to stop motion for action photography better. I am not sure about the Casio. Neither the Fuji or Casio seem to have a rapid fire mode. The Epson has both a quick mode and a burst mode. In quick mode you can take one shot after another only 2 seconds apart at full resolution (non-HyPict mode) or burst mode at 2 frames/sec at 640X480 resolution. The Casio is 8 seconds apart.

What can I say I love my camera and would hate to see anyone get anything less.

Here is a nice web site comparing the Nikon 950, Epson 750, and Sony FD-71.

The web site below did a review in May of the Fuji MX-600 and Casio QV-7000SX as well as the camera I have the Espon 750Z in April.

http://www.megapixel.net/html/issueindex.html

I will let the reviews speak for themselves. I think there are areas that the Epson could offer you an advantage for you application over the other two. The Fuji has a rather small LCD viewer that becomes washed out in sunlight. I does offer an optical viewfinder for taking the shot, but you still wouldn't be able to review the photos in bright sunlight. The Casio only has an LCD viewfinder so if sunlight washes it out your done. The Epson has a solar assisted backlighting for the LCD. Here I will quote from the megapixel review, "A simple switch, placed near the top-right of the screen, turns off the fluorescent light and opens a louver, which allows sunlight to light the screen. This energy-saving feature allows using the screen in daylight without having to rely on the batteries, and makes an already excellent screen, even better." I agree with the view. I raise cattle and have taken photos of calves playing and running at full tilt with maximum zoom (3X optical + 2X digital)using the LCD viewfinder in solar assist mode. I was very pleased with the results. I felt I was better able to track their movement than I could have with the optical viewfinder or my 35mm SLR. This is partly do to the fact I wear glasses. A couple of other things I noticed comparing the 3 camera. The Fuji lens is slower minimum f-stop of 3.8 vs Epson's f-stop of 2.8. Also the ISO setting of the Epson can be changed from 90, 180, or 360. The Fuji is fixed at 100. Therefore the Espon should be able to stop motion for action photography better. I am not sure about the Casio. Neither the Fuji or Casio seem to have a rapid fire mode. The Epson has both a quick mode and a burst mode. I quick mode you can take one shot after another only 2 seconds apart at full resolution (non-HyPict mode) or burst mode at 2 frames/sec at 640X480 resolution. The Casio is 8 seconds apart.

What can I say I love my camera and would hate to see anyone get anything less.

Here is a nice web site comparing the Nikon 950, Epson 750, and Sony FD-71.

http://members1.clubphoto.com/nicholas37275/

You might also want to check out Epson's web site. They have a neat quick tour.

http://www.epson.com/cam_scan/cameras/photopc750z/

-- Bob G. (rgreg88721@hotmail.com), June 30, 1999.

Sorry for the doubleing up of my previous response. I got a network error the first time I tried to submit it . I redid it but it must of partially went through the first time and combined the two. The only reason I caught it is I came back to add that the Casio only has a 2X optical zoom compared to the Fuji and Epson 3X optical zoom. Once again sorry for the double submitting of before.

-- Bob G. (rgreg88721@hotmail.com), June 30, 1999.

The variable-ISO on the Epson sounds like a key feature for the price range, although you'll get more image noise at the higher setting. The ultimate answer is to get a digicam that provides shutter-priority metering. (You select the shutter speed (a high one, presumably), and the camera picks the aperture.) The newer, higher-end cameras support this (eg, the Nikon 950, Olympus C-2000 Zoom), but in the 1.3 megapixel arena, the Agfa ePhoto 1680 does shutter-priority also. (Check our review for details.) The 1680 doesn't have an optical viewfinder, a possibile limitation, particularly in bright sun, but it's the lowest-cost digicam I know of that gives you shutter priority

-- Dave Etchells (detchells@imaging-resource.com), July 04, 1999.

Shutter priority only helps if you have f-stop range yet to go. Even with a film camera and ISO 100 film it can be difficult stopping action on a cloudy day. I have frequently changed the ISO on my Epson 750Z from the normal 90 to 180 without seeing any extra noise. ISO 360 does get a little noisy, but a shot with some colored noise is better than a blurry one. For example would you watch a TV show with a little static before one that was out of focus? I'll take a little static. I was taking pictures today of 2 deer in the shadows of a timber and wish I would have pushed it all the way to ISO of 360 instead of just 180. Next time!

-- Bob G. (rgreg88721@hotmail.com), July 04, 1999.