Casio Exilim EX-Z4U - A handy and easily packed point-and-shoot digital camera
Written: Feb 06 '04 (Updated Apr 01 '04)
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Pros: Small Size, 4-megapixel resolution, easy-to-use, large LCD monitor, excellent point-and-shoot camera
Cons: Anyone looking for more than a point-and-shoot camera should look elsewhere
The Bottom Line: The Exilim is perfect for anyone who wants to have a camera with them all the time to capture moments
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| jps246's Full Review: Casio Exilim EX-Z4U Digital Camera |
Looking for a digital camera that can slip into your shirt pocket, yet have enough features to take quality pictures and be easy to use? Casio’s Exilim EX-Z4U fits the bill.
I was lucky enough to borrow a friend’s for a few days to see how it stacked up against my Olympus C-4000 and I found that the Exilim is an excellent point-and-shoot digital camera that is not only small and easily stowed away in a pocket, but is also powerful enough with its resolution, zoom lens, and large color monitor.
Camera Details
Coming in with a 4-megapixel resolution, prints from the Exilim can range up to 8x10 with little or no problems. The standard 3x5 and 5x7 photographs are no problem with a camera of this resolution. The actual resolution on the camera is 4.23-megapixels.
The camera measures only 0.90 inches deep, 2.25 inches high and 3.43 inches wide. The Exilim weighs an amazingly light 0.28 pounds (a little over 4 ounces). It’s not quite as small or as thin as a credit card, but the Exilim is small enough and light enough to put in a pocket and not have the feeling that you have this lump sitting there.
There is a bright, and very large (compared to the size of the camera) LCD monitor to either compose pictures or review pictures that you have already taken. For those who want it, you can snap a grid across the monitor to help you compose the pictures.
There are 3 shooting modes on the camera, “fine, normal and economy.” Most people shooting pictures for emails, websites or smaller prints (3x5) will do fine shooting in normal mode. But if you are interested in larger prints, pictures should be taken in fine mode. The pictures are stored as jpeg images.
The SD/MMC (secure digital, multimedia card) cards supply storage capacity in the Exilim with capacities up to 512 megabytes. The Exilim also has a built in 10-megabyte storage. When shooting in fine mode, an image will take between 6 and 8 megabytes a piece, about ½ to ¾ of that in normal mode and a 1/3 or so of that in economy mode. Image storage is based upon the size of the memory card that you have.
The Exilim uses a docking system to transfer images and to charge its lithium-ion battery. When you are ready to charge or transfer images, you merely place the Exilim on the supplied cradle and the dock is connected to the computer through a USB cable. The images transfer and the camera recharges. It’s a fairly simple and straightforward way to charge the camera and to transfer the images (if you don’t have a dedicated memory reader for your computer). To use the dock you must install the software included with the camera. This is an easy process and once you’ve done it, it is easy to download the pictures from the camera.
Battery life is rated around 500 or so images per charge. However, I found myself downloading the pictures often enough that the camera was almost always charging and I had just about a fully charged camera all of the time. On a road trip or a vacation the situation would be different though because you wouldn’t be able to charge constantly unless you had your cradle and a laptop with you.
The built-in 3x optical zoom lens is equivalent to a 35-105mm 35mm lens and the Exilim also offers a 4x digital zoom. However, ignore the digital zoom (like you should on any digital camera). If you use the digital zoom, the pixels are merely blown up and the quality of the image is rapidly degraded.
The Exilim can focus on images as close as about 15 inches (a little over a foot away) out to infinity. In macro-mode, the Exilim can focus on an image from about 6 inches to about 17 inches away. It’s not quite as good as other macro modes I’ve seen, but it is sufficient if most of your picture taking is the point-and-shoot variety and not close-up photography.
The camera has 21 pre-set modes for picture taking. This is a useful feature for new users, but most more experienced users will probably ignore most of them. Pre-set modes include portrait, scenery, twilight, nighttime, and the like.
The Exilim’s controls are fairly easy to understand and use. The menu system on the LCD monitor is also easy to follow and understand (especially since it’s so large and bright). Most users will be able to pick up the camera and figure it out for the first time, but a thorough reading of the manual will help to make sure that you know exactly what this camera can do.
Prices on the Exilim run between about $320 to about $390 depending upon where you buy it. My friend purchased the camera for $360 dollars. The camera comes with the cradle, a USB cord, an AC adapter, a hand-strap for the camera and a CD-ROM with the included software for the cradle. The camera does not come with any memory cards and you must purchase one separately.
My Thoughts
Having had the camera on borrow only for a week from my friend, I can’t speak to the overall battery life of the camera (when you aren’t using the dock regularly), but on almost every other measure, the Exilim met or exceeded what I would have expected for a compact point-and-shoot digital camera.
It might not have some of the manual controls, or the bells and whistles that other 4-megapixel cameras have, but that’s not the goal of the Exilim. It was designed to be a compact camera for people interested in taking snapshots and having a camera that you can bring everywhere and not be weighed down by the standard camera. I brought the Exilim with me to the office, drove around with it, had it just about everywhere I went throughout the week (much to the chagrin of everyone else) and the amazing thing was that it wasn’t clunky and it wasn’t annoying to have with you. It was always there so you could quickly pull it out and take a quick picture.
It really was a handy little camera and with the quality pictures and high resolution, you could get excellent prints from this camera.
Final Thoughts
If you are looking for a compact digital point-and-shoot camera that takes excellent quality photographs and has a high enough resolution for some larger prints, the Casio Exilim is an excellent choice. With a 4-megapixel resolution, a small size and weight, some handy features, a big and bright LCD monitor, and a simple to use interface, the Exilim is perfect for anyone who wants to be able to have a camera with them all the time to capture moments without having to feel tied down by a larger and heavier camera.
Photography Reviews:
Books and Magazines:
Shutterbug Magazine / Popular Photography Magazine / PC Photo / Outdoor Photography / Photography Outdoors / American Photo
Cameras:
Olympus C-4000 Digital Camera / Olympus D-460 Zoom Digital Camera / Minolta Maxxum 300si (35mm SLR) / Polaroid PDC 640 Digital Camera / Kodak EasyShare CX4300 Digital Camera / Canon Elph LT APS Camera / Olympus Stylus Infinity Zoom 35mm Camera
Printers, Scanners & Memory
SanDisk 128MB SmartMedia Card / Memorex 128MB SmartMedia Card / HP Photosmart 1115 / Microtek Scanmaker 4800 / HP Scanjet 3570c
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 360
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Fool-Proof for Absolute Beginners
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