Even by today's standards,
the Casio Exilim EX-Z1000 is very compact. While it may not
be as slim as some others in the Casio line, this is still
a camera that is designed to fit easily in a pocket or a purse,
a camera that can be taken anywhere and at any time. The design
of the EX-Z1000 places a 3X optical zoom and a 10.1 megapixel
resolution in the hand of the user, along with a 2.8-inch
LCD monitor to frame and review shots.
As with all cameras with this type of design, the Casio EX-Z1000's
design means that it must be held up in front of the face
to frame shots.
And, even with a large monitor,
that design easily leads to images where the horizon is not
always level, a reflection of the fact that holding a camera
out so as to see the screen is not a particularly stable stance.
At the highest image quality,
10M Fine, the EX-Z1000 applies a relatively strong compression
to images, shrinking their file size to approximately 7 to
1 when a JPEG is compared to an uncompressed file. While the
colour information deleted by the compression process is not
noticeable to the eye, some of the smaller details tend to
become less sharp and blend together when the image is seen
at full size on a monitor. However, as is often the case,
when the 10-megapixel image is printed, the results, even
when printed to a 8 x 10 inch (20 x 25 cm), are quite good.
The EX-Z1000, by default, uses a
Multi metering pattern that seems to be generally effective
at balancing the exposure so that shadows and highlights are
imaged clearly. Yet, the Multi metering also appears to be influenced
by the percentage of light/dark areas in the frame, and when
one dominates noticeably, the metering will give it preference,
occasionally causing some loss of detail in its counterpart.
Aperture: f3.4, shutter speed: 1/40 sec., 50 ISO.
The 3X zoom lens offers a range comparable
to a 38 to 114 mm on a 35 mm camera. Set to the wide angle
end, the zoom has a standard starting aperture of f2.8, a
bright aperture that can allow the use of the lowest CCD sensitivity
of 50 ISO under most circumstances. At the telephoto end,
however, the brightest aperture available to the camera is
f5.4, a considerably smaller aperture that tends to force
shutter speeds down, thereby increasing the likelihood of
camera shake when sensitivity is left at 50 ISO and the ambient
light is insufficient.
A remedy for this type of situation
is to set the sensitivity to Auto, allowing the camera to
adjust it over a range that covers from 50 to 200 ISO. Indeed,
within this range the EX-Z1000 normally yields images that
contain little noise, making the Auto ISO setting useable
without too high a penalty in terms of noise in the image.
The EX-Z1000 is capable of higher sensitivities
however, but unlike the Auto ISO range, these come at a price.
The High Sensitivity mode, for example, can
boost the CCD sensitivity up to 3200 ISO. At this level, however,
the image tends to be quite noisy, even when reduced in size,
a process that normally decreases obvious noise. Similarly,
a mode called Anti-shake allows the use of
800 ISO, which in turns allows the camera to use a faster
shutter speed in an attempt to prevent camera shake.
But, even at 800 ISO, the image
tends to get quite noisy making this mode only marginally
useful as well. In fact, 400 ISO is, in our opinion, the highest
sensitivity setting that should be used as it too starts to
show considerable noise throughout the image.
Optically, the zoom lens of the EX-Z1000 seems
to be nearly flawless. Photos show little barrel distortion
at the wide angle end, even when the subject is quite close
and contains linear elements that are aligned near the edges
of the frame. Likewise, at the telephoto end, there is no
visible pincushion distortion and, as with the wide end, images
have an even sharpness from edge to edge and corner to corner.
Still, a faint chromatic aberration — purple fringing
— can occur sometimes along the edges of highly contrasting
elements in an image captured with the wide angle end of the
zoom.
As it is for telephoto shots
captured under cloudy conditions, flash photos also benefit
from the Auto ISO setting. Allowing the camera to increase
sensitivity improves the effectiveness of the flash which,
otherwise, has a very short range at 50 or even 100 ISO.
With a 10.1 megapixel resolution,
and a good image quality, the Casio EX-Z1000 offers a great
deal of imaging power in a small and compact package. It is,
however, a point and shoot camera and this imposes some clear
limitations. While standard snapshots are well within the
camera's capabilities, more advanced photography such as night
shots are pushing the envelope. Therefore, anyone considering
the EX-Z1000 as a primary camera will be well-served by determining
their own needs, and comparing them to the camera's capabilities.
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