Review of Casio ELIXIM EX-Z1000 Digital Camera

Casio are known for their minimalist design features, the Casio EX-Z1000 doesn’t defy convention with it’s shining silver design which is unspoilt by an array of logos that we have come to expect. It measures 3.62 x 2.3 x 0.88 inches and only weighs 4.9 ounces excluding the battery. The 2.8 inch LCD screen dominates the rear panel along with a four-way controller, menu access, and Casio’s Best Shot options (scene selections), unfortunately the optical viewfinder has decided to sit this one out - luckily the 230K-pixel LCD performs well in bright sunlight so we’ll let Casio off on this occasion. On the top of the EX-Z1000 there are a few buttons including the shutter release which is surrounded by the zoom toggle. You’ll also find a display button for adjusting the brightness on the LCD - it works well. There are also keys for playback and a tiny, mouse-like power button which can be too small for the more masculine, larger digits. What we had a little chuckle about was the Ebay mode - yes you did read that right - I’ll repeat - the Ebay Mode. What is this world coming to? Right on the front of the camera is a zoom with a built in lens cover, AF assist lamp, flash and a tiny microphone. Now then - for the Mary Poppins magic - we found out how Casio have managed to make the EX-Z1000 ultra-slim, what they have done is left all inputs and outputs off the camera body itself and have stuck them on the docking station which also acts as a charger. Clever Casio, but if you don’t want to take the docking station everywhere you would want to view your pics on a computer you are screwed. Big, big problem in our opinion

We stood over the longer-than-average spec list rubbing our hands together with glee and we weren’t disappointed when we got to know the EX-Z1000 better. The huge 10-megapixels and 3x optical zoom are its biggest features that provide an amazing performance for a point-and-shoot digicam in this price range. It takes SD cards but you’ll have to buy one to start off with as it comes without. The software is pretty basic, you get Photohands V1.0 and Photoloader V3.0, Mac users get the Photoloader V1.1. There are seven white balance options and manual focus is available too. You can make adjustments to the flash, anti-shake, focusing, ISO, white balance and exposure compensation, so there is no excuse for taking a sub-standard photo. The EX-Z1000 does lack aperture and shutter priority but we didn’t honesty expect it for the price. You can shoot videos but don’t expect the EX-Z1000 to replace the camcorder as the quality is not amazing. Our favourite feature was the extensive menu system, the on-screen menus are superb and very easy to use. On the downside, the owner’s manual is very basic, it consists of just fourteen pages of very simple stuff making you use the included CD-ROM for more info. This means you have to print out any info you want which we found very annoying and particularly stingy of Casio. Big thumbs down.

We wouldn’t say loved, but we did like the EX-Z1000’s performance. It is a speedy little thing with a power-on-to-shoot time of less than 2 seconds. The battery gave us 360 shots which is impressive and charges quickly too. The zoom is extremely fast and very quiet which is important. We enjoyed the auto snapshot mode which took some impressive quality photos, perfect for those photographers that want a hassle free snapping experience. Focus was a massive letdown, especially when we used the quick focus mode - work that one out??? We were very impressed by the end results, colours were precise and warm and detail was superb. There was noticeable noise on all photos taken over ISO400, but anything lower was acceptable. We used a 2GB high-speed SD card and we found that 10-mega pixel snaps saved very quickly to the card. Our favourite part of the EX-Z1000’s performance was it’s ability to take good photos without any hassle.

Excellent performance together with a gorgeous design is a perfect recipe to keep us happy here at unbeatable. The Casio EX-Z1000 digital camera puts on a wicked performance with loads of cool features - it can’t lose.