Casio EX-Z1000

Reviewed March 2007

Image Quality

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 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.