The Q5W From a photographers perspective

[Wintermoon]

I should be receiving my Q5W today or tomorrow. Unlike most of the posts I've read, I'm buying it for it's ability as a photo viewer. I am especially interested in it's ability to view Nikon raw (NEF) files in the field. I'm hoping I'll be able to use it to review photos in playback mode or in review mode without copying the photos to the Q5W. I don't know if this is possible but I'll be trying it as soon as I get it. Of course I'll be storing my photos on the go but that's a given.

I almost bought an Epson P-5000 but really wanted more features such as web browsing and the USB host connection.

BTW, I ordered mine from Newegg. I've ordered from them in the past and thought they were trustworthy. It wasn't till I finish placing my order that I was presented with a screen stateing the product is returnable for [B]exchanges only. I'm a bit worried about this fact. I think they could have made this info more obvious from the start. It's not stated on the product page but it can be found under the Warrenties and Returns button. I called to cancel the order not an hour after I placed it but was told it had been processed and too late to cancel. I'm unsettled that my purchase is now a $600 gamble. I had expected better from Newegg.... [blush]

[Wintermoon]

I'll be sure to write a review ASAP....

[roscomc]

I hope this helps http://cowon-germany.com/Q5/Kameraliste.pdf

[Wintermoon]

Thank you for the info roscomc. It's high time a PMP supported Nikon and Canon raw files... I'm truly hopeing the functionallity and display are all I hope they will be...

I can live with interface and menu issues. After all there will be updates coming soon. As long as the hardware is solid I'll be happy.

[Prosperus]

I hope this helps http://cowon-germany.com/Q5/Kameraliste.pdf

Says that the Canon 400D will be supported? According to the review at gadgetaholic.com the Q5W isn't compatable with canon cameras because they don't function as plug and play. Can someone confirm that canon cameras, specifically the 400D/XTi works OTG with the Q5W. If so then I'll probably suck it up and order the thing tonight. Will be going away for the holidays and will likely take more than 4GB of photos while away so I'll need to offload them somehow. The Q5W seems like it would be much easier to carry than my laptop if it will do the job. So anyone know for sure if it'll support the 400D?

[Wintermoon]

The compatibility list says it's supported. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on how you look at it) I've only Nikon gear, so I can't verify it for you.

So far, I'm very pleased with the unit. The icons and text are small for me but I'm getting used to it. Also, I'm getting around the interface better than I thought I would after reading all the reviews.

More to come later.

[DSAK77]

Works great with my D40X and NEF files....too cool!!!!

[Evilone]

cool. H ope it works with my Canon.

[sere83]

am i correct in thinking though you can only view files upto 10mb? Is that not a bit stupid as most raw files are huge?

[Wintermoon]

I believe your correct, at least that's what I read. However the largest raw file I've ever seen on my D70 or D80 was 5.5 to 6.5 Mb. So 10 Mb shouldn't be a problem.

I wish my camera would create 10 Mb raw files. That would put it at about a 20 Megapixel. That would be something... :)

[Cyrus The Virus]

Cannot connect my Canon 350D, somehow its asking for the name of the driver to install, just have it two days, so still learning, but for now, NO CANON support :(

[Prosperus]

Strange. I've emailed and live chatted with tech support at cowon america and they insist that canon cameras are supported, including both the 350 and the 400.

Really hope that there is the potential to use them OTG via USB...

[Wintermoon]

I also posted this question under another topic but then realized its a photography question, so I'll post it here as well.

This question may be way outta line but it seems to be I sould be able to do this. I'm trying to attach my Nikon D80 as an external video source using the Q5W as the host. I'd like to see if I can review photos as soon as I take them, just like you can on the Nikon screen, without copying them to the Q5W. It would be heaven to be able to do this in the field.

I set the video setting to NTSC in both devices, then set the camera usb setting to PTP and the Q5w usb setting to MTP. When I turn the camera on I get a message saying "Unidentified usb device" "Enter the driver name:"

Does anyone know what driver I would need for Windows CE? Am I on the right track or spinning my wheels?

Thanks in advance!
Michelle

[Wintermoon]

I see a driver for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 USB Camera Driver (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2ef087c0-a4ae-42cc-abd0-c466787c11f2&displaylang=en). This looks like what I need. I realize the name states it's for Embedded CE 6.0 but it may be compatible with all versions of CE as it appears to say the operation platform is Windows CE. I'll give it a try tonight.

[Prosperus]

I'll be talking to tech support later today and although I was pretty repetitive and blunt I'll be sure to ask the question of if the Q5W will work out of the box OTG with the canon 400D. Not that I want to be rude but I'm heading on a trip next thursday and if the q5w doesn't work with my camera I need to bring my laptop, or at least go out and buy a bunch of extra mem cards so I NEED to know that it works without much tweaking. Will let you all know how it goes.

[danieln]

Prosperus,

If it doesn't work out of the box, you could try an fast and dirty solution:
buy the cheapest USB reader and plug your card through it.
It worked for my Archos 604W.
Hope is just a temp solution until Cowon fixes its drivers.

[Overfunction]

I attached a 2 types of usb flash card readers to the USB host on the Q5W to read my 6mp cannon jpgs from a 2gb SD card. Pics were running between 2.5-3mb each. Using the Cowon photo viewer was incredibly slow.

From Flashcard Reader:
29 seconds to load initial file list
3s to display 36 thumbnails
28s to display next photo
25-30s to display each photo during slideshow mode.
Forget even trying to use "cartoon" mode.

I then tranfered the jpgs from USB flashcard reader to the hard disk:
13 files, 32.8mb, in 60s = 0.5mb/s

From hard drive:
6 seconds to load initial file list
3s to display 36 thumbnails
6s to display next photo
5-6s to display each photo during slideshow mode.
"cartoon" mode difficult

I have no clue why viewing the files from the SD card reader was so slow. The led light was lit up the whole time while it was taking 29s to view a photo. Possibly a decoding problem. Hopefully this can be fixed with a firmware change, since obviously it is not a transfer issue.

[Wintermoon]

I've noticed Jpgs and Nefs were very slow as well. I could see where opening a picture to view it whole screen would take a while but it seems to be completely loading each picture in thumbnail and file view.

Cowon has responded well to the first round of issues. Hopefully, as you said, this will be addressed in a firmware update. :)

Michelle