Very fast to start and operate, the EX-Z120 delivers good
images without any particular effort on the part of the user,
and with a resolution that is sufficient to produce 7.5 x
10 in. (18.75 x 25 cm) prints at 300 dpi.
The simplicity of the camera
extends to the terminology Casio used for its functions and
modes, which tends to hide the camera's true capability. The
Snapshot mode, for instance, is in fact a Program
mode, which gives the user a variety of controls with the
exception of the aperture and shutter speed selection. This
simplification is probably taken a bit too far however, as
can be seen in some of the 32 Best Shot programs.
Aperture: f8, shutter speed: 1/160 sec., 50 ISO.
If a bit oversimplified in some areas,
the Casio EX-Z120 still offers priority modes and a fully
manual mode. And, while there are only 2 apertures to choose
from in Aperture Priority mode, the Shutter Priority mode
offers a wide selection of speeds which make up for the paucity
of apertures, and provide good flexibility. Indeed, with exposure
times extending to 60 seconds, a night shot captured with
very little ambient light is possible.
By default, the EX-Z120 measures
exposure with the Multi metering pattern. The Multi metering
appears to have a slight bias towards highlights, resulting
in images which occasionally have deep shadows while the bright
areas are perfectly exposed. However, this is preferable to
the inverse, as bringing out details from shadow areas is easier
than from overexposed ones.
The colours the camera captures are true to
life and pleasantly saturated, without any particular colour
dominance. Like other recent Casio cameras, the EX-Z120 offers
a myriad of colour filters to produce creative effects with
the images.
The autofocus is fast, whether using the 9 AF-point system
or the spot focus. But the spot focus is more reliable and
effective when tracking a moving subject. Missing, however,
is an AF-assist lamp, which would have been useful when the
ambient light is poor, and the zoom is at its maximum.
On the optical side, the 3X zoom,
equivalent to a 38 to 114 mm — almost a standard on
this class of compact camera — exhibits neither major
barrel nor pincushion distortion, and is free of any chromatic
aberration throughout its entire focal length range, even
when the subject contains very strong contrasting zones.
Noise, on the other hand, can become noticeable
at higher ISO settings and even at lower settings when the
ambient light is poor, while when photos are captured with
plenty of light, noise is imperceptible.
Interestingly, the camera offers two modes that boost sensitivity
into an even higher range than what can be selected manually:
the Anti-Shake mode — not to be confused with an optical
stabilizer — and the High Sensitivity mode, both of
which can increase sensitivity up to 1600 ISO.
Regrettably, the images these modes
produce tend to be very noisy, which lowers the image quality,
and in turn their usefulness.
On the other hand, flash photography
with the EX-Z120 yields better photos if the sensitivity is
set to Auto, and the camera is allowed to adjust it to compensate
for the limited range of the small built-in flash. This has
the effect of extending the range of the flash, and since
the camera only increases sensitivity to a maximum of 200
ISO, noise, even at this level, remains acceptable.
The EX-Z120 can only capture JPEG images, but offers three
levels of compression.
Aperture: f2.8, shutter speed: 1/8 sec., 200 ISO.
The best image quality is available
when the Fine compression is used, as it uses a compression
ratio in the 5:1 range, which avoids JPEG artefacts and still
maintains a good level of detail. Nevertheless, when some images
are looked at closely, the inclusion of a RAW format, or even
an uncompressed format would have been appreciated.
Overall, as with many other
compact digital cameras, the Casio EX-Z120 yields excellent
images when used under bright sunshine, but even when this
is not possible, it is still able to produce very good images.
But where the EX-Z120 stands out the most, at least in comparison
to many other compacts, is the speed with which it reacts
to the controls, and the speed and accuracy of its autofocus,
making it a good choice to capture fast-moving subjects.
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