seattlety's Full Review: Casio EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z60 Digital Camera
Appearance
The Casio Exilim is a nice looking camera. The Exilim is advertised as being thin, and this is completely true. The camera is about 1 1/2 cm thick. This is nice because its almost smaller than my wallet, and I can just put the camera in my back pocket and forget its there. The 2.5 inch LCD display pretty much takes up the entire back of the camera. This is VERY nice when you are showing other people your pictures. Its important to mention this camera does not have a normal viewfinder; it only has an LCD screen. Overall it is a very sleek, stylish camera and I repeatedly get comments on how thin it is when other people use it.
Settings and Taking Pictures
The camera settings are very easy to use. You push the "BS" button on the back which will open up a menu of 34 settings to take pictures. Many of these are very usefull and prety much work for heir intended purpose. My favorites include the black and white setting, the "retro" setting which makes it look like an old faded photograph (orange and yellow... very cool!)the "old photo" setting allows you to take pictures of pictures, the scenery mode (great for mountains, skylines, views), the "fireworks" mode, and "nightscenes" which I have used to take pictures of city skylines at night.
All of these modes are easy to find because you can scroll throught them and for each mode it shows a thumbnail of an example of the what you could use the mode for.(very helpfull)
The flash is easily controlled with the flash button (there are 5 flash modes), and the shutter speed, quality, and anti-shake all can be easily chnged using the menu. There also is a very helpful timer setting which can be set at 2 or 10 seconds.
Viewing Pictures
Like I said earlier, the large screen makes viewing and sharing your pictures very easy. You just push the play button, which takes you out of the camera mode into the viewing mode. One thing that is nice is that when you switch into play mode the camera essentially turns off (the lens retracts and closes) this is nice because then you can ahnd the camera around without the lens extended to it does not get fingerprints. You can then scroll through the pictures.
The Battery
Here is one of my biggest requirements of a camera; battery life. I was a little bit skeptical in getting a camera using a lithium battery. The likes using AA batteries in my previous camera because I was always able to buy batteries on the go, or use rechargeable batteries. Previous to the Exilim I had a Kodak Easyshare V530 and it had a built-in battery which had a HORRIBLE life. So when I got the Exilim I was amazed at the battery life. I have never had it die on me, even when I go on vacations and such. It comes with a charger, and you pop the battery out of the camera and stick it in the charger and it takes a few hours to fully charge. I also was impressed at how thin the battery is (4 mm thick!). To insert the battery you open the compartment in the bottom. This is the same place where you put the thin battery as well as the SD memory card.
Loading pictures onto your Computer
This is very easy with this camera. You can either use he included USB port, insert it into the camera and turn it on, or you can remove the SD card and stick it into your computer (if you have the adapter).
Picture Quality
I have found the quality to be great. except for some low-light settings in which the resolution is grainy for some reason. It also is important to keep the Anti-Shake option on, otherwise the pictures WILL be blurry. Other than that, the pictures are excellent!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 180 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
6.0-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 14 x 19-inch prints 3x optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD display Start-up time of approximately 1....More at Amazon Marketplace
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