Casio Wrist Camera WQV-10

Today is the 4th in the series of Casio Wrist Camera watches. After the improvements made in models WQV-1 thru 3 comes the best of the models, the WQV-10.

When looking at the screen, you see the first (and main) improvement which is that the display is now in colour. The screen is a 20x20mm display with 6240 pixels (78x80) and is capable of displaying 4096 colours. Because of this, you can select different display colours (3 colours and 2 layouts), and the calendar feature returns, but with the possibility of choosing a day's colour.

The camera is a 0.025 megapixel colour camera (176x144 pixels) with a 1/14" CMOS sensor. As with the others, the lens is at the top of the camera, the screen acts as a viewfinder, and the shutter button is on the front. The watch has 1MB of memory which can hold up to 100 photos, and they can be transferred to a computer (at 115 kbps) through the infrared connection (located next to the lens). Shutter speed is 1/5.5 to 1/1660, and there is a manual shutter speed option. The watch also allows for a 2x digital zoom. Pictures can be given a title within the watch with up to 24 characters possible per image.

The watch uses a 2412 module and has alarm and stopwatch modes as well as the camera and playback. This is powered by a CR2032 battery accessed by the coin opening slot on the back which gives a life of around 6 months of average use. Low battery is signalled by a red marker on the display, and stops the camera and playback modes working.

Casio Wrist Camera WQV-3

Today is the third in my series of Casio Wrist Camera watches, and was the follow-up to the WQV-1 and WQV-2 that I previously blogged.

The WQV-3 was an improved version  of the first two models and was released in September 2001 (US). It kept the same monochrome LCD display with its 120x120 resolution, but upgraded the sensor to provide colour images instead of the earlier models monochrome photos. Images taken are 0.03 megapixels (176x144) on a cmos sensor through the f2.8 lens. When taking pictures, the contrast can be edited, and there are multiple presets for outdoor, indoor, etc.

Power comes from a CR2032 battery and there is memory protection to ensure you don't loose the photos when the power runs out. Overall, the watch can hold up to 80 pictures in it's internal memory, and the pictures can be transferred to your computer through an infrared connection from the transmitter next to the lens.

The watch contains a 2411 module which gives it 5 alarms, a timer, and a stopwatch. There is also a calendar display mode accessed by the forward and reverse buttons.

From a design perspective, this model is more rounded than the first two designs which used a rectangular shape, and so this looks more like a regular watch. The WQV3 came in two designs, a black resin model with resin strap, and this version which has a silver case and stainless steel strap.

Casio Wrist Camera WQV-2

It's back to the camera watches again today.

Casio first started their camera watch range in 2000 with a model called the WQV-1 (which can be found in an earlier post). Today's watch is the WQV-2, which was out around 2000/01.

The WQV-2 is extremely similar to the original, but with a different case design. It has a rounder design, a rubber strap, and came out in bright colours (like the yellow of today's model). The watch uses the same 2220 module, and also has a dot matrix LCD display of the same resolution. The screen normally shows time and date (set in pixels which are the equivalent of a 28x28 grid). It has a host of features including 5 alarms, stopwatch, and timer.

The camera takes black and white stills, and uses the screen as an electronic viewfinder. The camera has a few modes which allows the contrast to be set, and work with indoor or outdoor lighting.

Casio Wrist Camera WQV-1

For the whole of today, I'm going to be doing my other big hobby, concert photography, at a local music festival. As the day will be lots about me with a camera, I thought I'd wear one on my wrist as well!
The watch I chose was the first of the Casio Wrist Camera range, which came out in 2000, and is called the WQV-1.
The watch face is dominated by a large greyscale dot matrix display (somewhere in the order of 240 x 320 pixels, same as the photo resolution).
By default, this screen shows the time and date, but in camera mode, the screen becomes the camera viewfinder.
It is a 2220 module powering the watch, and modes are: time, camera, alarm (x5), timer, stopwatch, and IR mode. The IR mode is used for photo transfer from the watch to a computer.
The camera lens points forward from your wrist, so that when you hold the watch in front of you, the camera can take what you are looking towards. I only mention this as some watch cameras have the lens on the face which makes it awkward to take shots with. Pressing the shutter button on the front of the watch activates the camera mode, which switches the display to the viewfinder (with a reasonably good refresh rate for an old LCD screen). The camera also has a night mode, and an option to take 2 pictures in one, split down the middle. Storage is very small, with only 100 photos fitting in memory (but these do not disappear even if the battery runs flat).
I bought this on a trip to the US in 2000 for around $200. I remember being asked by a friend "why did you spend so much on a watch that takes pictures ? ", so my response (as he was wearing and expensive Tag watch) was "why did you spend 10 times as much on a watch which only tells the time?! ". As this was very new, and before the time of mobile phone cameras being everywhere, so lots of people (including airport security) were very nervous about it!