This is probably the first written VQ1015 Entry manual? Hehe! I am pretty new to this camera, this manual is based on what my distributor has told me and also some added points based on users from other sites/blogs/forum etc. Hope it will be useful for you :) I may add on or revise the info here later if I find out more details or discovered something new about the cam.
How To Put Battery?
1. Put your left hand thumb at the bottom, middle finger at the top left corner and use index finger to keep the view finder pressed down.
2. At the same time use your right hand middle, ring and little fingers to grip the metal keychain, pull it towards your right while your right thumb help push the coloured cover towards the left at the bottom. Index finger goes to the top right corner.
3. Please insert battery in right direction or you might spoilt the camera.
4. After putting the battery, just pressed down the view finder and just slide the camera body back into cover.
About SD Card
1. The recommended brand would be Kingston or Toshiba SD Card ( make sure it is original ), it should worked fine with most sets. If there is no response on the LCD when you insert the SD card, that means it is not compatible or was sensitive to this card. Try using another card.
2. For VQ1015 April Edition ( Serial No. starting with 0811 ), there is no built-in memory, so you won't be able to take photos without a SD card.
3. Slide in the card and turn the the camera to hold it in vertical position, use two thumbs to press in the SD card and all other fingers supporting the camera at the bottom. You will hear a click when it is inserted into position.
4. Using the same method, remove the card by pressing the card again with two thumbs , it will eject out.
How To Read The LCD Symbols.
1. 4 tiny boxes - 640x480 pixels.
2. 5 tiny boxes - 1280x1024 pixels.
3. 9 tiny boxes - 1600x1200 pixels.
4. 3 overlapped Squares - Taking 3 multiple shots at one time. ( Meaning one click will allows you to take 3 different photos )
5. Standard self-timer icon - It allows roughly 20secs you can hear soft beeping sound, it gets faster towards the end before it takes the photo.
6. Video Cam icon for taking videos - The video mode is 320x240 pixels, you can take up to 40sec.
7. 'DEL' wordings, just click on the shooting button and it will delete the last taken photo.
8. "F" inside a tiny box - Format the card, it will delete everything in the card. Click the shooting button once, the shooting counts numbers will blink and press again the shooting button and it will erase everything and format the card. It may take a few secs.
9. There is a "60" and when you click on shooting button, it will became "50". I found this info online that it has to do with the flicker rate on electrical lights which means the Hz of electric frequency in your country. Check here to find your region, then set the cam to match. But according to my distributor, this feature don't make any difference in the photos.
Setting The Camera
To set the camera to 1600x1200 pixels as default.
1. Click on mode button to show the 9 tiny boxes icon, and click once on the shooting button.
2. Click on mode button again to go to "F" with tiny box icon ( Format Icon ) and click once on the shooting button. The LCD will show blinking texts, within this 5 secs, click on the shooting button again. Thereafter everytime you on the camera it will be at the 9 tiny boxes (1600x1200pixels) mode as default.
A 1600x1200 pixels photo is about 200KB, that means you could have 1000++ photos in a 2GB card.
How To Shoot?
1. The shuttle will open before you see "---" on the LCD, so make sure you hold really still before the "---" appears. The first photo when you just on the camera is often slower, thereafter it should be faster.
2. The exposure is automatic, so the timing to take each photo will be different as according to light condition, it will take more time for low lights and night shots.
P/S: The exposure time for each camera may have slight difference as this camera is a small factory production, there is no standard on this as according to the manufacturer.
My personal experience, don't expect much for low lights and night shots, this camera can't really perform in such conditions, but every unit is different, I have tested on my colleagues and also 2 of my buyers' units, some do perform better.
How To Change Firmware For Taking Black & White Photos?
Please read the following carefully, do read twice or more before you start it. If there is any doubts, please ask first before you do it.
Caution: Firmware update is not covered in the warranty. Do this at your own risk. Any damage due to firmware update cannot be repair - it will kill your camera FOREVER!
1. Download two files from the below link. One is "VQ1015 ENTRY 0727" and the other is "VQ1015 ENTRY 0612". Please refer to the screenshot below. RECOGNIZE THE CIRCLED JAPANESE WORD "内蔵メモリ無のENTRY" instead of just following the screenshot blindly, who knows if they will change the link position later?!! Please be very careful not to download the wrong one.
The reason is the other one is for earlier VQ1015 batch which has built-in memory. Never attempt to try on the wrong file! Those who brought the VQ1015 from me, you have the April 2009 Edition with Serial No. starting with 0811, this set do not come with built-in memory. Other users please verify your set batch before trying.
After your successful download, please unzip both files.
Download Link: http://shop.prokitchen.co.jp/other.command?url=/zakka/vistaquest/vq1015-entry-download2.htm
2. Inside Firmware0612 Folder, you will see firmware filename "YHTMMSF.BIN". Please check carefully, the firmware inside Firmware0612 Folder is to update the camera to take Black & White photos.
3. Use a battery with sufficient battery life, this is very important, if the battery went flat during the update process, it will kill your camera. The firmware is the system for the camera, once there are missing datas, there is no way to on the camera at all and there is no way to repair the camera.
P/S: I would suggest using a new battery when doing this step as I find that the battery detector for this camera didn't seems to be accurate, so do not rely on the LCD reading for the battery life.
4. Remove SD Card. Never leave SD card inserted in camera during firmware update. This is VERY IMPORTANT!
5. Use the given USB cable to plug the camera to the computer. From the Firmware0612 Folder, copy and paste the file "YHTMMSF.BIN" to the camera's 100IMAGE folder which is located inside DCIM Folder.
6. To remove the camera from the computer, you have to do it the same proper way like you remove a USB thumbdrive. Mouse over to the bottom right of the monitor screen, find the icon "Safely Remove Hardware" right click/double click on it, follow instructions to disconnect the Camera. You will hear a short beep followed by a longer beep, altogether two beeps.
7. To revert the Black & White back to Colour mode, use the firmware "YHTMMSF.BIN" from Firmware0727 Folder, repeat the steps from 3 to 6 again.
For original instructions in Japanese, visit prokitchen.
Photos Credit: prokitchen
Error Codes
E57/E58
When you see these codes, there are 2 possibilities. First possibility is the battery is too weak, change a new alkaline battery. The second possibility is try remove the SD card and put in again. Some people mentioned online that you should use this SD card solely for this camera, which means don't save different camera's photos in one card. Copy all your datas from the SD card to your computer harddisk and then reformat the SD card with your computer.
