Digital Trends

Casio Exilim EX-Z1000

July 12th, 2006 | by David Elrich

Performance

The Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z1000 is ready to go in less than two seconds once you hit the tiny power key. Make sure you don't trim your nails too short since you'll need an edge to press the button. The lens quickly extends from the body and the LCD screen pops to life. As usual we started out in Auto Snapshot mode and then worked our way through many of the other options available including many Best Shot settings.

The LCD screen worked well in a variety of situations including very bright sunshine. As noted, the LCD has that unusual 14:9 shape. What this offers you is rather cool. You can display all of the camera's key settings in a narrow vertical band on the right and they don't clutter the screen. Just hit the Display key and you can get the layout that works best for you. You can even have the histogram on view as you're shooting. With all the key icons on the right, you can make adjustments as the need fits while viewing a standard image. You can adjust the flash, focusing, anti-shake on/off, ISO, white balance and exposure compensation.  It's very easy to read and follow; Casio engineers get high-marks for this system and their onscreen menus overall. Only HP Photosmarts and Kodak EasyShares are in the same ballpark.

Initially when I used the camera I had some difficulty getting accurate focus but checking in the Owner's Manual on 65, I discovered the camera has a factory default setting for Quick Focus that helps you grab quick shots. The manual said if you want more accurate focus you should turn it off. Well, if you buy this camera, make sure you do just that. The results were like night and day during my test. I also switched from multi point to spot focus; that helped as well.

As mentioned earlier, I took 10MP shots of the same subject using the Casio and a prototype of the Sony DSLR-A100. This was really like having the 2006 Detroit Tigers play your local Little League team—a very unfair comparison given the capabilities of each but on paper it's still 10MP vs. 10MP. The Casio uses a 1/1.8-inch sensor while the Sony is a full APS-C sized CCD used in D-SLRs. As we've reported many times before, when you cram too many pixels on a small sensor, the end result is digital noise. And the Casio has it when you up the ISO beyond 100 (400 is the max).

I made 8 ½ x 11 prints of totem poles and other subjects and surprisingly the Casio held its own. When you put them side-by-side you could see the Sony was more accurate while the Casio was a bit warmer (more yellow). Still if you used the Casio as your only camera—as most people would—you'd be very happy with the results.

As mentioned the Casio has noise issues while I didn't see any with the Sony until 800. And as for response time—forget it; the Sony or any other D-SLR blows it away. Still the EX-Z1000 did a reasonable job saving 10-megapixel files to a high-speed card. Image detail was good without blown highlights and there was little purple fringing. Noise is the real downer here at higher ISOs.

Manual focus is available, as are seven white balance options but forget about anything like aperture- or shutter-priority. After all, it is a compact point-and-shoot digicam.

Like all compact digicams, the EX-Z1000 takes video clips, in this case 640 x 480 pixels at 25 frames per second rather than 30 fps. For me, these clips are good for grabbing a quick, few-second scene and will never take the place of a camcorder.

Image Courtesy of Casio