Casio EX-Z1000

Reviewed March 2007

Interface & Software

Interface

Just like the Casio Exilim EX-S770 reviewed recently, the Casio Exilim EX-Z1000 offers the possibility of using a traditional interface that places icons around the periphery of the monitor to indicate current camera mode and settings, or a novel, Casio-designed user interface. This interface, called the Operation Panel, presents a settings/menu on the right side of the 2.8-inch LCD monitor, shifting the image to the left side of the wide screen without making it smaller as long as the 4:3 aspect ratio is used.

The Operation Panel view makes it possible to adjust settings (Image Size, Flash mode, Focus mode, Self-Timer, Anti-Shake, Sensitivity, White Balance, Exposure Compensation, and the Time and Date) directly, without having to access the corresponding menu sections.

The rest of the interface, the menus, are standard, and similar to those of other Casio cameras. Whether set to a capture mode or the playback mode, an access is provided to the Setup menu to adjust basic camera settings:

• Sounds controls the sounds made by the camera:
  • Startup: 5 sounds or Off.
  • Half Shutter: 5 sounds or Off.
  • Shutter: 5 sounds or Off.
  • Operation: 5 sounds or Off.
  • Volume: allows controlling the sound volume from 0 to +7.
• Startup: controls whether or not the camera displays the Exilim logo animation, or a photo captured by the camera, or nothing when it is powered on.
• File No. decides how image files are numbered: either Continuous, which numbers the files sequentially; or Reset, which restarts numbering photos at 1 whenever the camera's memory is formatted, or a freshly formatted or blank memory card is used.
• World Time provides for a home time by selecting a home city, and a world or travel destination time. The time in either place can then be selected for display.

• Timestamp: decides whether or not the date, or date and time at which a photo is captured will be permanently superimposed on the image.
• Adjust: serves to adjust the time and date on the EX-Z1000.
• Date Style selects the way the date will be presented: YY/MM/DD; or DD/MM/YY; or MM/DD/YY.
• Language selects the interface language: Japanese, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. (Note that the region of the world where the camera is purchased impacts the languages available).

• Sleep: decides the time delay after which the EX-Z1000 goes into sleep mode if unused (30 seconds, 1 or 2 minutes or Off).
• Auto Power Off: determines when the camera powers down automatically after a period of inactivity (2 or 5 minutes).
• REC / PLAY controls whether the and can be used to turn on/off the camera. Three options are available:
  • Power On: the buttons can be used to turn on the camera, but not to turn it off.
  • Power On/Off: the buttons can be used to turn on or off the camera.
  • Disable: requires the power switch mounted next to the shutter release to be used to turn on or off the camera.
• USB controls the USB protocol:
  • Mass Storage (USB Direct-Print) lets the camera be recognized as a hard disk by a personal computer, or allows it to be used to print directly to an Epson Direct-Print compliant printer.
  • PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) is intended for use with a PictBridge compatible printer.
• Video Out provides settings to connect the EX-Z1000 to a television: NTSC 4:3, NTSC 16:9, PAL 4:3, PAL 16:9.
• Format serves to format an SD/MMC memory card, or the camera's built-in memory.
• Reset: returns the EX-Z1000 to its factory defaults (Reset, or Cancel).

Software

One CD is included with the Casio EX-Z1000 in North America. The disc contains a number of programs for computers using Microsoft Windows, but only a limited offering for Mac:

The disc is called CASIO Digital Camera Software:

For Microsoft Windows:

Photo Loader 3.0 Photohands 1.0 USB Driver B Adobe Reader 6.0 Direct X Microsoft DirectX 9.0c

For Macintosh:

Photo Loader 1.1

In addition, manuals for the camera, Photo Loader, and Photohands are included on the disc in PDF format.

Photo Loader is a utility that, once the EX-Z1000 is connected to the computer via USB, automatically downloads images and videos to the computer.

Photohands 1.0 is a very simplistic image editor, that has been included with Casio cameras for the last few years. The program has a surprising interface that appears to have been designed for very young children.

Images are located using the first of the round buttons on the right side. Once a folder containing photos is selected, the images appear in a vertical film strip that occupies the window with a green background in the screen capture shown below.

At this point, the user has to select one of the 4 icons, stacked on the left side of the program's window, to work with a selected image. These icons are the primary user interface of the program.

Starting at the top, a chameleon icon indicates the program's photo retouching options: adjustments for contrast, brightness, saturation, sharpness, noise removal or "filter" which converts the image to either sepia or black and white.

A Before and After view is available, but the After window is quite small and unable to show any detail, making it quite difficult to appreciate how the image has changed.

The second icon, a kangaroo, is the indicator for the program's image resizing function. Images can be resized up or down, without any apparent limit, save for the program's own limitation at handling memory.

The third icon is a koala, indicating Photohands' capability of rotating images. Images can be rotated by 90° clockwise or counter-clockwise, by a full 180°, or flipped horizontally or vertically.

The fourth and last icon is a dog, a piece of paper clenched in its jaws: it represents the program's ability to print, either in landscape or portrait, and imprint the date on the photo.

Those wanting to edit or re-work photos captured with the EX-Z1000 might be well-advised to consider using a more flexible program.