chadley25's Full Review: Casio Exilim EX-Z750 Digital Camera
Now that digicams (point and shoot) have evolved from the realm of cool gadgets into real photographic tools, I wanted to buy one as a complement to my Nikon dSLR. There are many times where I don't want to carry a big camera and multiple lenses around. I tried some of Nikon's small digicams, and frankly, was very unimpressed. For all their great skill in producing top-notch professional and prosumer gear, and for all their superlative optics, Nikon's point and shoot cameras are not at all in the same league. I think Canon makes some pretty good digicams, but they're nothing extraordinary; I just think they're popular and somewhat overrated on the whole. I like Sony's sensors (some of the best available) and their processing algorithms, but I don't like their proprietary MemoryStick, which invariably costs substantially more per megabyte than comparable Compact Flash or Secure Digital cards.
So finally, I saw this little Casio sitting in my local Super Target with a red clearance sticker on it. It looked good (a fully aluminum body with metal screws and everything -- the only plastic parts are the battery door and, oddly, the threaded tripod mount), it was very small, and upon a little investigation, not only hosted a plethora of features, but did so with very easy, intuitive menus and controls.
I went home to do some research and learned that this camera is beloved by actual photographers (as well as casual hobbyists) for all its myriad functions and features. I went back the following day and bought the last one they had (new in the box) for $244.
It's beyond the scope of this review to go into extreme detail about why I love this camera; there are several multi-page professional reviews online for that. I'll summarize my top 10:
10. Aesthetically and ergonomically appealing. The all-metal body ensures that your camera feels like a serious photographic instrument, not a plastic toy. Highly pocketable (the nicely rounded edges and corners are appreciated). Buttons, dials, and rockers are all well-placed and very responsive. The 115,200-pixel, 2.5" LCD is beautiful.
9. Optical viewfinder. Yes, it only shows about 85% of the actual view, but you'll never lose anything that way, and despite of a number of reviews I've read complaining about the useless viewfinder, I personally think it's always better to have one than not, even if it is small.
8. EX Button. This little button on the side convinces me that a photographer was likely involved in the design of this camera. Press this button and you have instant access to four often-used and critical parameters (file size, white balance, ISO, and focus mode/area). No muddling through multi-level menus and missing that great shot. It's fantastic.
7. Real-time four-channel histogram. This feature alone sets this camera apart from so many also-rans. Red, green, blue, and luminance are all crisply displayed so a photographer can know at a glance if the photo is exposed properly.
6. Unsurpassed movie mode. I've never seen its equal in a digicam. Four separate modes to shoot VGA 640x480 video at 30 fps with audio, including a very freaky "past movie" mode that actually starts recording five seconds before you press the button. It's seriously almost just eerie.
5. Useful scene modes, and lots of them (30+). All the standards are here (portrait, landscape, nighttime, blah blah), but some of the most amazing ones are found nowhere else, like "Business Card" mode which allows you to photograph documents or business cards, then recognizes the edges, corrects for keystoning, rotation, and skew, and reformats the photos. It has to be seen to be believed.
4. Memory like you wouldn't believe. Although there's only 8.3 MB of built-in memory, it's very useful for remembering a host of things -- such as where your zoom focal lengths was set for your previous picture, most of the shooting parameters, and up to 999 (!!) "best shot" user-defined scene modes that also capture a thumbnail shot of the photo you initially took with those specific settings.
3. "Real" camera settings. This camera can certainly do a great job of being a fully automatic point and shoot, but you can also dial up the manual mode and shoot in aperture or shutter priority, or in full manual. There's even manual focus, if one is so inclined. Exposure compensation is a breeze in all modes, and the white balance reading (a key component in digital photography) is truly excellent.
2. Fast! Everything is accelerated on this camera, which is a huge plus, considering how abysmally slow some digicams are (the Nikon Coolpix L3 was shockingly bad in this respect). Power it on and the lens extends rapidly, and you're ready to shoot in barely over a second. There is no discernible shutter lag, and shot-to-shot time is very impressive. Autofocus is breathtakingly fast (and comes complete with an AF-assist light). The speed this digicam offers is the difference between getting a great shot and missing it altogether because you're waiting 7 seconds for your digicam to recover from the last shot.
1. Image quality. Nothing listed above means anything without this one. The CCD sensor in this little Casio is larger than the one in most ultracompacts, and it's this, not just the megapixels, that makes a real difference. If you're into big pixel counts, this camera offers that too -- 7.2 million of 'em. The pictures a competent photographer can produce with this tiny little digicam are nothing less than amazing. Get them enlarged to 8x10". Get them enlarged to 12x18". Take them all the way up to 16x20" -- you will still be stunned at the sharpness and clarity. Color rendition is excellent, and focus is sharp almost completely from edge to edge.
There are other nifty features on this camera too, such as a voice recorder that will record over a day's worth of audio (provided you have a sufficient memory card) before the battery gives out. It also has a calendar which captures a thumbnail image of the first picture taken each day and displays it on that day of the calendar. It's surprisingly helpful for vacations when you've snapped off 200 pictures and want to find one without cycling through them all.
Casio's included battery is a small, proprietary lithium-ion rechargeable about the size of 3 or 4 Wheat Thin crackers stacked up. You'll be able to snap off in the range of 500 shots, presuming about a quarter of them use flash and the rest don't, before needing to dock the camera for a recharge. Quite simply, the battery life is fantastic. Zero complaints here.
I like that it uses SD cards for memory. My opinion is that this format is steadily becoming the dominant one in the flash memory market. That means more advancement in speed and capacity since it's so popular and can be mass-produced inexpensively (a good-quality fast -- 80X -- 1 GB card can be found online currently for less than $25).
I can't recommend this camera (or its big brother, the EX-Z850) highly enough. Casio has even come out with a new 10.1 megapixel camera in this same line. Frankly, that's overkill for about 99% of the applications that would tolerate anything less than a professional dSLR, but some people are all about the pixel count. Fortunately, Casio has put together a tremendous, excellent package to support all those pixels.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 244 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
The EX-Z750 is a thin, stylish, 7.2 Megapixel Digital Camera with 3X optical zoom and 2.5 in. LCD Screen. With a powerful optical and digital zoom, ac...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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