Casio Exilim EX-Z60 Review
By Vince Veneziani
June 15th, 2006
Summary
The Casio Exilim EX-Z60 is a great digital camera with a lot of features. For $249 you get 6-megapixels of fine photography power behind a sleek, thin silver casing. The quality you've come to expect from Casio is very apparent in the Exilim EX-Z60. Pictures can be previewed on its gigantic 2.5” LCD that is crisp, clear, and bright — a valuable asset to photographers. Combined with the EX-Z60's anti-shake DSP technology and BestShot configurations, you get a decent camera at a great price. Read on learn the positive and negative aspects about this offering from Casio.
Full Review
Features and Design
Though not as stunning as its bigger brother, the Exilim EX-S600, the EX-Z60 is indeed a fine looking digital camera. With dimensions of 95.2mm (Width) x 60.6mm (Height) x 19.8mm (Depth), this is a slim camera that wears a polished silver color, resembling most other digital cameras on the market. Nice looking, but nothing we haven't already seen before.
You'll be getting plenty of use out of this camera since it has lots of options to make photos look great. The use of Casio's BestShot technology will make every shot look great regardless of the circumstances. The EX-Z60 camera features a total of 33 BestShot settings guaranteed to wow users. You can also shoot movies with this camera, unfortunately they don't come out as well as the EX-S600's results do. It's more of a gimmick that a useful feature.
On the back of the device, you'll find a huge 2.5” LCD screen. This is a great feature Casio has included because it allows you to view photos without squinting and navigate through menus with ease. The button layout on the back is similar to the EX-S600, but is slightly trimmed down. It looks less robust and a little cheap. A menu button, zoom buttons, playback and movie record buttons, a circular d-pad, and a BestShot button take up the rest of the camera's space. Everything is very easy to use and fits together well.
The bottom of the camera features a hole for a standard tripod, a proprietary USB port, and a compartment to put the battery and memory card into the camera. There is also a little loop for a lanyard included on the side of the EX-Z60, which is great, but a small pouch would be most appropriate for a camera like this. In the future, it would be wonderful if Casio included a case of some sort for their Exilim line of cameras since most of them tend to be thin and fragile. Though overall, this little camera has a nice, clean design that many will be happy with.
Image Courtesy of Casio
Setup and Use
Casio decided not to include 2 valuable things with this camera that perhaps should be included in the future: a dock and a memory card. The memory card is no big deal since this is a 6-megapixel camera that is targeted at users with some photography experience. Chances are if you're buying this camera, you'll already have an SD or MMC card lying around. Not having a dock though, is a huge pain that will irritate a lot of consumers. The need to use Casio's proprietary USB cable is annoying and leaves the camera vulnerable to accidents such as falling off a desk and becoming damaged.
Turning on the camera using the power button located on top is fast. Press it and next thing you know, the camera is on and ready to take pictures. Using the camera is very easy and out of the box, it will yield excellent results. However, to get the most out of the EX-Z60, you'll want to use the BestShot feature. Just tap the “BS” button on the camera and it will display a myriad of choices for different scenarios. A few include: portrait, sports, children, and collection. Using BestShot for an appropriate scene will make your photos look stunning.
Another feature Casio touts is the Exilim's anti-shake DSP technology. Casio does a great job here helping people with shaky hands take great photos. Aside from users with shaky hands, other circumstances may warrant the use of this feature. Say you're at a concert and need to zoom in to get a picture, the anti-shake feature will really come in handy and you will come out with a decent photo, as opposed to a blurry mess.
Be prepared for a disappointment if you decide to use the movie feature on this camera. The quality isn't great, the sound is flawed, and the viewing results in general aren't spectacular. However, the EX-Z60 isn't a camcorder and isn't being marketed as one (unlike the EX-S600). Use this digital camera for its intended purpose of taking photos and you'll enjoy this camera for years.
Image Courtesy of Casio
Performance
This is a stellar digital camera for only $249. You will be hard pressed to find something of this quality in the same price range. Photos taken at low resolutions look great, and become stunning when they approach the 6-megapixel mark. You can capture movies for fun if you want, but don't expect anything to come out worth editing. Just use the movie-capture function for fun at a picnic or family outing.
Compared to its thinner and more powerful brother, the Exilim EX-S600, the EX-Z60 is deficient in some areas. The S600 is smaller, has a better design, and is designed to capture movies in stunning quality. On the other hand, the S600 also costs $100 more than the Z60 and still is only 6-megapixels. Thus, the average photographer will be just fine with the EX-Z60 and should get plenty of good use out of it.
Below are some sample images. Please click on them to view a larger image.
Click for a larger image
Click for a larger image
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Conclusion
Any consumer looking to purchase a new digital camera soon should seriously consider the Casio Exilim EX-Z60. It's the perfect balance of a high-quality digital camera with a price that most people can afford when shopping around. If you want to do both movies and photos, step up to the EX-S600. Otherwise, the BestShot technology and other great features included in this camera will be sure to attract your attention and get your money's worth.
Pros:
- Good picture quality
- Decent price
- Huge LCD screen
- BestShot technology brings photos to life
Cons:
- No dock included
- Movies made on camera are mediocre
- No viewfinder
- Does not come with a memory card
Specs
| Imaging Elements | 1/2.5-inch square pixel color CCD, 6.37 million total pixels, 6.00 million effective pixels |
| Image Files Format |
Still images: JPEG (Exif Ver.2.2), DCF1.0 standard, DPOF compliant |
| Recording Media | Internal flash memory (image area 8.3 MB), SD Memory Card, MMC compatible |
| Image Size (Pixels) |
Still images: 2816 x 2112, 2816 x 1872 (3:2), 2304 x 1728, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480 |
Data Size:
| Pixels | Image quality/ recording time |
File size | Internal memory (8.3MB) | SD Memory Card 256MB * | |
| Still Photos |
2816 X 2112 |
Fine/Normal/ |
Approx 3.63MB/ |
Approx. |
Approx. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
640 x 480 |
Fine/Normal/ |
Approx. 360KB/ |
Approx. |
Approx. | |
| Movies |
640x480 (HQ) |
Recording time: |
Approx. 10.2MB/sec. |
Approx. |
Approx. |
| 640x480 (Normal) | Rcording time: unlimited** |
Approx. 6.1MB/sec. (30 frames/sec.) |
Approx. 11 sec. |
Approx. 5 min. 27sec. | |
| 320 x 240 (LP) | Recording time: unlimited** |
Approx. 2.45 MB/sec. (30 frames/sec.) |
Approx. 27 sec. |
Approx. 13 min. 34sec. |
* When using Panasonic (Matsushita) 256 MB card
** Within limits of memory and battery life
|
Lens: |
6 lenses in 5 groups, with aspherical lens; F3.1 (W) to 5.9 (T), f=.6.3 (W) to 18.9mm (T) (35mm conversion: approx. 38 (W) to 114mm (T) |
| Zoom: | Optical 3X, digital 4X (12X when used together) |
| Focusing: |
Auto Focus with contrast detection, |
| Exposure Control: |
Light metering: Multi-pattern, center-weighted, spot by CCD |
| Shutter: |
CCD electronic/mechanical shutter, |
| Aperture: | F3.1/4.4, auto switching * Using optical zoom causes the aperture to change |
| White Balance: | Auto WB / Fixed (6 modes) / Manual |
| Sensitivity: |
Still images: Auto * / ISO50 / ISO100 / ISO200 / ISO400, |
| Recording Functions: | Still images, audio snapshot, Continuous shutter (normal speed, high speed, Flash continuous), self-time, macro, BEST SHOT, movie with audio, Voice Recording |
| Self-timer: | 10 seconds, 2 seconds, Triple Self-timer |
| Built-in Flash: |
Flash Modes: Auto Flash, ON, OFF, Soft Flash, Red eye reduction |
| Viewfinder: | Monitor screen |
| Monitor: | 2.5-inch TFT color LCD, 115,200 pixels (480×240) |
| Timekeeping Functions: | Date and time: Recorded with image data, Auto Calendar: To 2049 |
| World Time: |
162 cities (32 time zones) worldwide, city name, date, time, |
| Input/Output Terminals: |
USB / AV connector |
| USB: | USB 2.0 (Full-Speed) compatible |
| Microphone: | Monaural |
| Speaker: | Monaural |
| Power: | Rechargeable lithium-ion battery |
| Battery Life: |
Approx. 180 images (CIPA Standards) |
| Dimensions: |
3.75” (W) x 2.39” (H) x .78” (D) (excluding projections; |
| Weight: | Approx. 4.16 oz (excluding battery and accessories) |
| Bundles Accessories: |
Rechargeable lithium-ion battery, Lithium-ion battery charger, |