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General discussion

How about the Concord Eye-Q 4360Z?

Aug 24, 2004 12:52AM PDT

Any user comments about this camera? The prices I see are terrific, and it appears to be just what I need, but is the camera any good?

Discussion is locked

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Re: How about the Concord Eye-Q 4360Z?
Aug 24, 2004 1:41AM PDT

It is just about impossible to get customer information about the lesser known cameras.

With the technology available today, most any competent company can build a digital camera. But it may not be a great camera. They have to select good components and need some camera knowledgeable experienced engineers.

I suggest you read the professional review:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/iq4360_pg5.html

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Re: How about the Concord Eye-Q 4360Z?
Aug 27, 2004 10:27PM PDT

I teach digital photography classes and one student had that camera and the pictures looked really bad.

DigiDiva

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Re: How about the Concord Eye-Q 4360Z?
Sep 3, 2004 9:17AM PDT

I purchased a Concord Q4360Z recently and in my opinion the camera is FANTASTIC, especially for the price I paid ($169) thru HSN. Get on the Wal-Mart website and compare it with other 4 megapixel cameras, it has the same qualities as the higher priced cameras.
Also check out the Concord Cameras website--lots of good info there.

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Questions about Concord 4360z
Apr 19, 2005 3:18AM PDT

I have recently switched from a film camera to digital and bought a Concord 4360z. I needed to ask 'support' the following questions but their telephone number listed in the camera's instruction book is no longer in use. Although Concord has a web site it does not give an e-mail address and only appears to invite contact for camera servicing. I have already used this twice and have received no reply thus the company is as elusive as the Scarlet Pimpernel! Meanwhile these are the questions I asked if there is anyone out there who may know the answers? The salient specifications of the camera are:

x3 optical and x6 digital zoom.
Lens: 7.23 - 21.7mm (equivalent to35 - 105mm in 35mm format), f2.8 - f4.7 at wide zoom setting. Aperture 2 steps: f2.8 and f5.6 at wide zoom setting.
Auto exposure and white balance
Electronic shutter 4s - 1/2500 s plus mechanical shutter.

Questions
1. Do I assume the term 'wide zoom' is at the max focal length x3 and at this focal length the max aperture is f4.7? I ask this since I know of wide angle and telephoto (max zoom) so assume the word 'wide' is used instead of max?

2. I know what a mechanical shutter is. What is an electronic shutter and what is the tie up?

3. Given the auto exposure how does one control the shutter speed for action shots - or is this what 'aperture 2 steps' refers to, namely with good lighting conditions f5.6 is used with a reasonably fast shutter speed? If so it poses the question at what minimum shutter speed does it change to f2.8? I ask this because so far all the action shots taken are not very sharp in spite of good lighting conditions, the green autofocus led being on steady (ie. not flashing) and the camera being mounted on a tripod which seems to point to either a very slow shutter speed or a below average lens.

4.From half pressing the shutter button someone mentioned that the so called 'lag' time to process the shot on the Concord 4360z is about ? - 1 second. Would this mean then that if panning with a moving subject in the viewfinder one should ensure to keep the panning action going for an extra second or so?

5. From what I have read it seems most photographers are of the opinion that digital zoom is a waste of time and simply reduces the quality which prompts the question is it perhaps better to use only optical zoom and carry out any enlargement on the computer? If nothing else at least it would be a stationary enlargement rather than that due to magnified hand shake.

Kind regards,
Pat Alley

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Questions
Apr 19, 2005 7:33AM PDT

1. f2.8 - f4.7 means the brightest aperture is f2.8 if you are not using any zoom. And the brightest aperture is f4.7 when you are using a certain amount of zoom.


"Aperture 2 steps: f2.8 and f5.6 at wide zoom setting." means the camera has only those two f-stops when no zoom is used. When it is zoomed those two f-stops will probably be f4.7 and f8.0

2. A digital camera does not have a shutter. It is merely a switch. The switch triggers a timer based on the shutter speed setting.

3. Your camera is point-and-shoot, which means you cannot control shutter speed. The camera selects the f-stop and shutter speed based on the amount of light it sees. The firmware in the camera determines what is appropriate for the amount of light.

4. If you use the half press of the shutter speed; 1/2 second or longer from half press to full press would be considered slow. Most cameras can do this in 0.1 second.

With any digital camera, the best procedure is to hold the cameras steady, press the shutter button and silently count to three before moving the camera or yourself. Get into the habit of this and you will find it easy to get accustomed to.

Panning with the action with a digital camera while using the LCD screen is near impossible. You will likely end up with a photo of the background, not the action. You will have better success if you use the viewfinder. Remember to keep panning for the full 3 seconds you are counting silently to yourself.

5. Digital zoom degrades the quality of the photo.
Cropping and enlarging a section of the photo with a good software program if preferable, because you still have the unaltered photo as well as the one you cropped from it.

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Questions about Concord 4360z
Apr 20, 2005 12:30AM PDT

Thankyou 'snapshot2' for answering my questions. Perhaps you would be kind enough to elaborate on a couple of points.

1.The specification does say "Electronic shutter 4s - 1/2500 s plus mechanical shutter".

2. I think my question 3. did suggest the same interpretation as you gave and I was using the viewfinder. I agree one has no control over the shutter speed but I do feel the designer (manufacturer) should specify at what minimum shutter speed it changes to f2.8? If it is say 1/25sec then it is far too low and time to get rid of the camera but if it is <1/100sec then it is reasonable particularly if panning with the movement. As I say I have not had a sharp action picture as yet and this seems to be borne out by the review at:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html
which is why I would like to contact "Concord"

Incidentally for what it is worth the current consumption on switching on and lens opening is 1.5 amps then 500ma for the lcd. No wonder the x2 1.5v NIMh batteries don't last long!

Kind regards,
Pat Alley

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Concord 4360
Apr 20, 2005 1:13AM PDT

1. "Electronic shutter 4s - 1/2500 s plus mechanical shutter"

The Shutter speed can be as slow as 4 seconds or as fast as 1/2500th of a second.

The reference to mechanical shutter makes no sense at all.
Unless they are trying to say that the camera has a "bulb" mode where the shutter will stay open as long as the shutter button is pressed.
If that were the case the owner's manual should have information on how to cause it to do that.

2. With point and shoot cameras, they do not specify what shutter speeds are used.
Some cameras have a "shake" icon that comes up on the screen if you are using a slow shutter speed.

Some point and shoot cameras have scene modes such as beach, portrait, sports, etc.
If you have a mode than indicates something to do with action, use that mode.
I have found that not many have an action setting.

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Should you buy another camera, look for one that has manual controls, such as aperture priority and shutter priority.
This gives you control over the photo situation.

The Canon A510
and the
Fujifilm E500
sell for under $200 and have manual controls.

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Concord 4360z
Apr 21, 2005 3:25AM PDT

Thankyou once again 'snapshot2' for taking the time to answer my questions.

Kind regards,
Pat Alley

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Other Stuff
Apr 25, 2005 12:15PM PDT

The Camera actually does have a mechanical shutter as well as the digital shutter. This seems odd to me but hey. Also this camera was on sale for $99 at CompUSA the day before thanksgiving last year.