Shooting with the QV-1000C

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NikonWeb
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Shooting with the QV-1000C

Post by NikonWeb »

I had some spare time this weekend, and decided to finally install a TV capture card I bought a long time ago, and to go shooting with my second QV-1000C (which I haven't really used before).

Background

This is a still video camera, announced in 1988. It was Nikon's first filmless camera - but it's not digital. The still frames of analog composite video are stored on a 2 inch magnetic floppy disk. To read these disks, you'll need a special video floppy player. I'm using Nikon's own QV-1010T Still Video Transmitter that was part of the QV kit.

Since it's video, you must capture the pictures using - you guessed it - a video capture card (or a similar device) on your PC. I simply connected the transmitter to the capture card using a regular composite video cable. I then captured a few seconds of video in a regular AVI file, and grabbed a single frame watching the clip in Windows Movie Maker (it's easier than it sounds).

Here are a few quick test shots. No post processing whatsoever:

Image

Image

Image quality isn't much to brag about, but remember that the camera was especially developed for photo journalists working under tight deadlines. It was this or nothing.

Video capture software

I've played with a few different programs for recording the video stream, and ended up using VirtualDub (www.virtualdub.org). This produced better results than the other programs I tried. VirtualDub includes a Noise reduction setting which seems to be very useful.

Battery breakthrough

Unfortunately I've only been able to take a few photos on a single battery charge. After a short shooting session where I managed to take maybe 8 or 10 photos (including those seen here), I've come to realize it's not a battery issue - it's a charger issue.

I have two such cameras, and two chargers. So far, I've only used the AC adapter that came with my first kit. It's not the original adapter, and it causes the charger to power down way too soon (after just a couple of minutes). I've just powered up the charger using a different solution (via a power adapter for the QV-1010 transmitter) that came with my second kit. I believe this will charge the battery properly, and allow me to use the camera under real field conditions (yes, I know it's insane). The first battery is charging as I write. This is going to be fun!

Here's my current camera:

Image

What's in your bag?

Jarle :-)
Last edited by NikonWeb on Sun Jul 06, 2008 6:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
NikonWeb
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20 years of camera evolution

Post by NikonWeb »

Here's what 20 years of camera evolution will do for you:

Nikon QV-1000C (1988) vs D300 (2007). No prize for guessing which is which:

Image

Image

QV photo taken with QV Nikkor 11-120mm f/2, D300 photo taken with AFS Nikkor 300mm f/4.

Jarle
Stan Disbrow
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Location: Raleigh, NC USA

Post by Stan Disbrow »

Hi,

Well, that QV image isn't all *that* bad given what the image has to go through before we get to see it posted here. There's loss in each of the three analog stages (to disc, from disc and in the computer capture card) that the signal has to pass through before it becomes digital.

What I like about the system is that the camera is small and light yet has this enormous range of focal lengths compared to a 35mm system.

I suppose one could use a modern camcorder and gain the lens capability with much better single frame image quality, though.

Still, I feel it's good to use the older stuff once in a while, even if it's just for grins! :)

Later!

Stan
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer
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