Casio - Exilim EX-Z1050 digital camera Review

Overview:
I purchased a Exilim EX-Z1050 around Christmas 2007, and really loved the features packaged with the camera. With a large screen, high megapixel count and compact size, it was a great buy. I'm a bit of an amateur photographer, but it's a just a fancy more than a hobby. However, that said, I must remind anyone looking for a camera that if you expect the quality photos you see from professional photographers, you'll have to dish out the money for a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) Camera. No point & shoot camera at this point can replicate the quality one of those higher end cameras produces. The EX-Z1050 though, meets the quality and expectations of what one would expect from a point & shoot.

Usage:
To begin, the camera itself looks quite asthetically pleasing, with chrome accents and (in my case and the featured photo) a jet black housing for all the internals. In terms of size, it's reasonably small; it fits comfortably into larger pockets and purses. Mine came with a lovely little black leather magnetic seal case, which was a nice touch. The packaged lanyard, when attached, doesn't detract from the looks of the camera either. Function and form right there. The large 2.6" screen makes capturing photos much easier, as you don't have to put your nose right to the camera to see the details of a photo. It's a bit of a fingerprint magnet though, admittedly. The interface is a intuitive, but not really all the user friendly to someone who may not know the first thing about camera terminology. (Macro? Infinity? White Balance? HELP!) It's all covered in the manual, but few people actually take the time to read through it from my experience.

Taking Photos:
When it comes to actually taking photos, the EX-Z1050 is quite simplistic. Hold down halfway to focus, and the push all the way to snap a photo. The vast array of shooting modes is very accomodating to those less well versed in manually altering the settings. The "Best-Shot" mode is also a particularly useful touch, allowing a user to save his/her preferences for shooting everyday photos. Most prominently though, would be the Exilim's high number of features. There are far too many for me to list in this review, but some of the ones I liked were the high-speed continuous photo function, continous flash, and anti-shake. All the little functions eventually come in handy at one point or another. When viewed at full size on the computer though, photos can tend to be a bit fuzzy, and sometimes a bit noisy too. BUT, this problem is easily remedied with a very, very simple solution. FLASH! It lights up a scene so that the camera has enough light to take a good photo. Worst of all though would be the camera's inability to take usable photos during low-light conditions. WIthout an impossibly steady hand, photos taken at night or by candlelight become incredibly blurry and have a very high level of noise. Also worth mentioning would be the extended life of the battery, which fortunately is rechargeable. It lasts for quite a long time when compared to other cameras, and it's rechargeability means you won't have to spend a fortune on batteries everytime they run out of energy. Lastly, photo sizes tend to be very large when uploaded onto the computer, with one photo being around 4 to 6 megabytes in size. Windows' Snipping Tool can help if you have Vista, but if you don't then sending photos to others via email can be quite a hassle.

Taking Videos:
Video recording on this camera is quite simple, requiring you to only push down the shutter and aim the camera at the subject. However, a steady hand is required, or else the videos will look quite shaky. A tripod fixes that problem, but not many people I know carry tripods around with their cameras. The monophonic microphone is also disagreeable; it makes videos sound a bit too tinny and has a tendency to capture too much background noise. Worst of all though would be the file size of the videos when uploaded to a computer. The size of the files makes sending videos to relatives through email virtually impossible. 25 Minutes of video can take up to more than a gigabyte of storage space in some cases. The voice recorder runs into the same problem of having utilized a monophonic microphone in the camera; unless you're in a very quiet room during recording, you'll pick up a lot of unwanted background noise.

Conclusion:
So in conclusion, I would say that this is definitely a great little device for the casual photographer. It works great for someone who is interested in a camera that they can take with them all over the place to snap photos anytime. Whether it's parties, vacations, scenery, or just a new Facebook profile photo, this camera definetely works like a charm. You might be wondering how I could say such a thing after having mentioned a lot of bad attributes of the camera. Well, quite honestly, those bad attributes aren't particularly hindering in the device's usability and my sense of appreciation towards what the camera is able to give me: Memories of times well spent. It takes good quality photos for a fraction of the price of a DSLR and is quite simply a very useful little device. Buying it now would be much cheaper than when I purchased it last year, and for that price, it's a steal. Would I buy it again for the price I originally acquired it for?(~$300). Honestly no, because on the market there are better technologies for that price. But technology is constantly changing, and that's simply the price one pays when buying any piece of technology. However, this camera is now available for about half the original price, and is definitely worth looking at for that cost.