Digital Trends

Concord Eye-Q Go Wireless June 7th, 2004 | by Nino Marchetti

Image and Video Quality

Outfitted with a CMOS sensor, picture quality on the Concord was decent though only in the best light with the best settings. The three picture resolutions can easily be selected via the on screen menu, and confirmed with a reminder on the LCD.

For those wanting to use the 4x digital zoom, it's important to note that in VGA mode (640 x 480) zoom is not available. Also, the zoom can not be monitored through the lens finder, but only the LCD.

Picture quality can also be further fine tuned by choosing from one of three options which determines the JPEG compression. Choices here include fine (5.1:1 compression ratio), normal (12:1) and economy (24.1). These settings make great sense in terms of both memory storage and how the photos will be used, be it as a print for display or an image sent via email.

With a default setting of 640 x 480 and economy, which is the best for transferring files via Bluetooth, picture quality seemed to be the sharpest. Images under normal conditions (decent lighting, little movement) were fine at the other resolutions, but any changes in these environments brought muted results. As is often the case with CMOS-based cameras, photos turned out too dark, too light, blurry and, in some cases, with a blue tint.

640 x 480 image taken in Normal mode. Click thumbnail for full-size image.

1600 x 1200 image taken in Normal mode. Click thumbnail for full-size image.

1280 x 960 image taken in Economy mode. Click thumbnail for full-size image.

1600 x 1200 image taken in Economy mode. Click thumbnail for full-size image.

Video recorded on the Eye-Q Go Wireless was fairly clear at 320 x 240 and playback, at 15 frames per second, didn't skip a beat. As with image quality however, the overall impact of the AVI video playback is influenced by everything from the steadiness of your hand to the lighting quality around you.

Click here to download a video sample recorded on the Eye-Q Wireless.