I have been a regular reader of the technology section of the South China Morning Post as your product reviews are generally impartial and you appear to be relatively well-informed on technology trends.
However, I was very disappointed with the review of the Casio QV-5700 digital camera ('Simple snapper has too little juice', May 20). Basically, it struck me as very rushed, and it did not do the camera justice. It is a professional-consumer camera for serious amateur photographers looking for manual and value-added functions.
I have a Casio QV-5700 myself, and I guess that means my opinion will be somewhat skewed by my emotional attachment to it. But as an owner it also means that I am well versed in its functions.
Second, I am a research analyst specialising in Japanese technology. Rightly or wrongly, I believe I have a solid understanding of consumer electronics technology.
Only a few cameras on the market provide on-board memory and these usually have much lower pixel resolutions. Bottom line is that this is not a prevailing industry standard for mid- to upper-range models as there is very little merit in providing 16 megabytes to 32MB of internal memory for a camera that requires 2.4MB per shot - it is simply not cost-effective nor practical. Further, this camera is IBM Microdrive compatible. This is a big plus as it allows the user to store as many as 410 photos at the highest resolution (2560x1920).
You complained that the power switch could accidentally be turned on. I have never had a problem as I carry the camera in a dedicated bag, as one should given the equipment's delicate nature.
The 3x optical zoom, you wrote, 'does not work very well when taking close-up shots'. May I remind you that a zoom is for wide-angle telephoto shooting. The Best Shot mode is one of the 100 shot options available, a proprietary feature on the Casio QV-5700/QV-4000 models and a major selling point. Most cameras only have five to 15 shot options.