A review of the Casio Exilim EX-Z700 digital camera
Casio have produced many digital cameras just recently, which fit into their digital compact range being, the Exilim Card or Exilim Zoom. They have produced the World’s first 10 mega pixel camera, which is an impressive achievement in the digital world. The above two ranges do have some good models, but we are still waiting for Casio (or anyone else) to produce a digital compact with the Wow factor. We check out the Casio Exilim EX-Z700, which claims to have a ‘class leading battery life’, read on ……….. Design |
| The Casio Exilim EX-Z700 is not as fancy as the Exilim Card range of cameras which are sleek and shiny and available in a range of funky colours including red and blue, but it is however, very sophisticated and charming. It is available in Silver or Gunmetal. The front of the camera has a shiny chrome 2.7x lens, which protrudes elegantly from the camera body with the flash just above it to the left. There is also the self-timer light on the front above the lens. The top the camera has the power button and shutter release button which has the zoom dial around it. The back of the camera has the generously large 2.7” LCD screen and very minimal controls next to it. The controls are positioned rather differently to the average digital camera and did confuse us somewhat, as they have placed the playback/shooting button at the top, where the zoom rocker usually is) so we accidentally pressed playback when wanting to zoom in. It took some getting used to but was quite annoying. The d-panel is further down in a square shape with the OK button in the centre, we found this quite easy to get on with and the delete button is at the bottom of it. Above the d-panel are a Best Shot selector button and the menu button. There is a sturdy door on the bottom of the EX-Z700 which, holds the battery and memory card in place. |
| Features |
| The Casio Exilim EX-Z700 has some good features that keep it among its competitors with the 7.2 mega pixels and a great Super Bright 2.7” LCD screen. There are Auto Framing and Layout Shot modes on this model which were quite impressive as the Auto Framing is designed to keep moving subject e.g kids or animals, centre in the frame, which seemed to work well and the Layout Shot allows you to take multiple shots and then collage them together and place them onto one of two layout templates. A nice little extra to play with, but not something that would be used much. We think the most attractive feature is the Anti-Shake DSP, which is the equivalent to Image Stabilisation and works well to reduce handshake and when focusing on moving subjects in low light. The scene modes are displayed in a unique way and are named Best Shot which can be found on the shortcut button on the back of the camera. Casio have designed the selector so you can choose between 33 (!) modes and these are illustrated on the screen by a photo, which represents your potential scene. |
| Performance |
| We were pretty impressed with the overall performance of the Casio Exilim EX-Z700 as it was quite a mover, with a start-up to shoot time of only 1.2 seconds and will snap a shot every 1.5 seconds thereafter. The shutter lag was equally impressive at a pleasing 0.4 seconds, which has got to be the fastest we have tested for a long time and a massive selling point as nobody wants to be waiting around for their camera to get going when the subject is ready and waiting! The 2.7” LCD is a great bonus and is really bright and clear in the correct lighting conditions, but unfortunately, is difficult to see in bright light or low-light, and with no view-finder you have to rely on it. The images we achieved from the Casio Ex-Z700 left a lot to be desired, although colours were accurate and details were fine, the images were noisy from ISO 200 and at ISO 400 they were just unusable. We noticed purple fringing on a few shots, which was not too impressive and blurring, was present down the left side of almost all of our images. The battery life was a great plus which allowed us to take around 450 shots per battery charge, which is around 100 more than any other we have reviews, although the battery saver blackout was quite annoying and we had to keep switching the darn thing back on all the time. Not sure which we'd prefer, a camera that needs charging a bit more or one that will take loads of shots but keeps switching off? |
| What's In The Box? |
| AC Power Cord, Rechargeable Lithium Ion battery, AV cable, USB Cable, USB cradle, AC adapter, CD-Rom, Manual. |
| Overall Opinion |
| The Casio Exilim EX-Z700 is a nice easy 7.2 mega pixel digital camera to use, but it has a few annoying flaws, which if corrected would result in a great and highly competitive model. We were impressed by the long battery life of the Casio EX-Z700. All in all, not a bad camera for the price. |
| By Hayley Malyon |
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Pros + Quick performance + 2.7” LCD + Anti-Shake feature + Price |
Cons - Poor image quality |
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Picture Quality 7/10
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Battery Life 8/10
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Setup Simplicity 8/10
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Build Quality 8/10
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Ease of Use 8/10
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Overall Rating 
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18/12/2006
at 11:17:00am
Read Casio Reviews
| Web Reviews - beta | |||
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Casio Exilim EX-Z700 Video Guide 3 minute video guide to the key features of the Casio Exilim EXZ700. Plus detailed review and price comparisons... read | |||
cameras.co.uk
30/1/2007 2:52:00pm
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Casio Exilim EX-Z700 Review The Casio Exilim EXZ700 is a good solid digital camera. It is competitively priced and if you do not want to pay over the odds for a pocket sized camera then this model is well worth considering... read | |||
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cameras.co.uk
6/11/2006 9:43:00am
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