I'm researching the purchase of my first digital camera and am thinking about purchasing the Casio QV-2000UX, but I have two questions: (1) is there a difference between the way a USB camera downloads to a windows 98 pc vs. downloading with a USB card reader? I understand that the card reader appears as a drive on the pc, does the camera also appear as a drive? (2) Does anybody know of a store or chain that sells the Casio camera? I can't find anybody on Long Island, NY that does, so that I can see and touch the Casio before I make my final decision. Thanks.

-- Randy King (bikeride@fnol.net), May 15, 2000

Answers

A USB card reader is possibly a little faster than the the built-in USB connection on the 2000UX, but the difference is small. Also, Casio's USB built-in reader makes the card function and appear as a drive on your PC. If you have a MAC, you must order extra software for $9.95 to make the USB work.

CompUSA stocks the camera and I think it is priced at $499 there.

Tom

-- Tom (tclmail@yahoo.com), May 16, 2000.

I connected my 990 to my USB port, loaded the drivers and Windows 98 recognized it as a device in windows explorer. From there I just dragged and dropped them onto my hard drive. I would imagine that Windows would handle the Casio the same way.

With my 500 MHz PII it took less than two seconds a frame with images shot in XGA/Fine but the transfer time could be camera dependent to some degree.

-- bill (this_old_house@pobox.com), May 16, 2000.