Product Information
QV-AutoCam
is a superior alternative to Casio's free
camera-to-PC software QV-Link. But
QV-AutoCam is more than just a faster and
easier-to-use QV-Link. It also produces
better pictures. You can even use
QV-AutoCam to set up a WebCam using the
built-in FTP client, or you can make your
own animations.
Main Features
Faster
Picture Downloads
QV-AutoCam can download at
speeds up to 115,200 baud. This can make
the downloads faster:
Example : Download 36 fine mode
images from QV-100 and save as CAM files
:
QV-Link
2.01 at 56kbps (maximum speed) : 9
Minutes
QV-AutoCam at 56kbps : 8
Minutes
QV-AutoCam at 115kbps : 5
Minutes
Better
Image Quality
QV-AutoCam can often produce
much better quality images than QV-Link.
This is especially true for QV-xx series
cameras (e.g. QV-10, QV-10A, QV-11,
etc.). Have a look at these two images.
They are both produced from the same
camera picture, taken with a QV-10A.
 
The first picture is
produced with QV-Link (version 2 -- the
version that came with the QV-10A); the
second with QV-AutoCam. Both are
unretouched. The QV-AutoCam image is
actually slightly smaller (18 Kbytes
compared to 21 Kbytes) because the JPEG
quality setting was fairly low. You can
alter this setting in QV-AutoCam to
produce even better images than the one
shown here. For more examples, see our Sample Images pages.
QV-AutoCam includes a
specific color correction for Casio
cameras. You can apply this manually,
varying the degree of correction
yourself, or you can let QV-AutoCam
figure out how much correction to apply.
Thumbnail Browser
QV-AutoCam includes a handy
Thumbnail Browser that lets you quickly
and easily "see" the pictures
(CAM and JPEG files) on your disk.
You can also select pictures
using their thumbnails, and then
manipulate them (move or copy to another
directory, delete, print, make contact
sheet(s) with, or even send to the
Internet using FTP).
Automatic Camera
You can use QV-AutoCam to take
pictures at timed intervals (e.g. every
10 minutes). After each picture is taken
it can be fetched back to the PC and
deleted from the camera (if you like --
so that the camera memory doesn't fill
up). Once you have captured a series of
shots you can view a slide show or
animation of the frames. ( Note : the
Automatic Camera feature is not available
on QV-700, QV-770 and QV-5000SX cameras.
The cameras themselves do not support
"remote recording" ).
Live WebCam
You can extend the Automatic Camera so
that after taking each picture, it sends
it to a location on the Internet using
FTP (File Transfer Protocol). By this
means you can set up a "live"
WebCam. ( Note : the WebCam feature is
not available on QV-700, QV-770 and
QV-5000SX cameras. The cameras themselves
do not support "remote
recording". You can however use the
built-in FTP client to send picture files
directly from within QV-AutoCam).
MiniLab
Wizard
The MiniLab Wizard allows you to do
common tasks (such as fetching or
printing pictures) without having to
think too hard.
An example of how
easy the MiniLab Wizard is to use.
Printing Pictures
The quality of modern ink-jet
printers (such as the Epson Photo range)
is so good that pictures taken with a QV
camera and printed look remarkably like
photographs, especially when printed on
Photo-Quality Glossy paper.
The only problem : this
paper is expensive. But for some reason
it is more economical to buy larger sheet
sizes (A4) rather than the postcard sized
ones. This is one reason that you might
want to print several pictures on each
page. (There are of course other reasons
as well)
QV-AutoCam lets you print as
many pictures as you like on each page.
You can say how many rows and columns of
pictures you want, and whether you want
picture titles and borders.
You can also set the size of
the margin, so that you can print right
up to the edge of the paper if you like
-- don't waste any more of that expensive
glossy paper!
Contact
Sheets
These can be useful for indexing pictures
(for example, on the Image Samples page, the index is
a QV-AutoCam Contact Sheet). But contact
sheets are also useful when you are using
the built-in image retoucher to adjust
Brightness, Color, etc. After each
variation you can add a copy of the
picture to the contact sheet so that you
can compare them side-by-side.
Keywords
You can give your pictures Keywords (such
as "car", "holiday"
or anything you like). To make it easy,
you can select a bunch of pictures and
add several keywords in one go. Suppose
you have just been to the beach taking
pictures. Later you could download the
pictures, select all of them and add the
keyword "beach".
The purpose of Keywords is
to allow you to find your pictures again
afterwards. You can search your whole
picture collection and QV-AutoCam will
display the thumbnails of all the
pictures that match. You can then use
them like normal thumbnails -- print
them, copy to a floppy, etc.
This very simple but
powerful tool turns your picture
collection from a jumble of files into an
instantly viewable, organized collection.
Animation
and Mini-Movies
The newest Casio cameras, the
QV-770 and the QV-5000SX have the
facility to record
"Mini-Movies" -- up to 6
seconds of movie frames. You can play
these Mini-Movies directly in QV-AutoCam,
and then save them in standard Microsoft
AVI format (this means that you can play
them on any Windows PC, or with a browser
such as Netscape or Internet Explorer)
Users of older Casio cameras
can also make "Mini-Movies"
(animated clips) from a set of single
pictures. For example, you could use a
series of AutoCam time-delay pictures to
create time-lapse photography, or you can
make an animation sequence using the
"take-a-picture, move-it-a-bit,
take-a-picture, move-it-a-bit"
technique. As you would expect,
QV-AutoCam lets you save these animations
in AVI format.
Here are a couple of examples. The first
one, clouds.avi (314kb), was produced
using time-lapse photography and shows
storm clouds passing overhead. The
second, pens.avi (545kb), is a silly
animation using some felt pens. (Once the
file is loaded, click to see it play).
Both were made with a QV-10A camera.
 clouds.avi (314kb)  pens.avi (545kb)
Beau Software .... www.beausoft.com ... info@beau.co.nz
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