8.32 Megapixel, 3x Optical Zoom, Compact, Video Capability Included, 2.5 in. LCD Panel, MMC Card, SD Card, Built-In Flash

Reviews

Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z850 digital camera review

Design

We’re always talking about small digital cameras but this one really is small enough and designed ergonomically enough to use with one hand.  The Casio Exlilim Zoom EX-Z850 digital camera is only 130g and measures 89 x 58.5 x 23.7 mm making it pretty tiny. The silver casing has the 3x zoom (38mm-to-114mm) at the front – where else would it go, eh.  And there’s also the flash just above it as well as the view finder.  At the back you’ll find a 2.5 inch LCD together with a dial for the different operations such as manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority and automatic exposure mode together with the different scene modes.  Just below this dial is the four-way cursor control pad with a central nipple to select you options.  On the side you’ll find the EX button which takes you directly to the white balance setting, ISO and autofocus mode.  The on/off button is a tiny little thing at the top of the camera, and we suggest if you want to use it you carry a pin or some sharp object around with you as it’s difficult to press and also the zoom which is much easier to use even with big fingers.  The camera runs on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries which are charged through a docking station as is any transferring of pictures because the actual camera doesn’t have any jacks at all.

Setup/Installation

Charging the digital camera is done through the docking station that's provided - there's no charger just this.  Once you've charged it up you just need to start snapping away.  The functions are very simple to follow and the icons on the screen make it easy to find your way around.

Features

It takes no time to switch the Casio Exlilim Zoom EX-Z850 digital camera on thanks to its high speed start up operating system.  This 8 megapixel camera has all sorts of different functions.  The 2.5 inch flat screen is really bright and colourful and the ideal size for viewing pictures.  The 3x optical zoom extends out to around four inches and even switches from standard to macro focal range on its own.  Using the button at the back you can manually flick from pan focus to manual to infinity focus.  And there’s a function to select focusing from multiple points or just the one.  There’s a whole selection of 36 scene modes including portrait, scenery, sunset, sports and other more unusual ones like fireworks, natural green or soft flowing water. As well as this there’s some other special effect modes such as old photo and even business card mode or a nice white border around your pictures. And you can mess around with the balance, light, brightness of the photo from the camera and even store both original and touched up version.  We particularly like the flash feature on the Casio Exilim EX-Z850. As well as the usual red-eye function this flash has intelligence.  Rather than going off at the same time as the shutter, this one flashes just before capturing the image in order to get the correct exposure.  And if your subject is too far away there’s a High Power flash mode that travels that bit further.   From the panel at the back you can use the dial to manipulate manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, and automatic exposure modes, plus Best Shot (35 scene modes), movie, and movie scene modes, as well as audio recording.  You can change the information on the screen by pressing the display button and it will give you all sorts of info and setup options.  The Ex button allows you to quickly change resolution, white balance ISO and autofocus too.  Like most digital cameras this one also comes with a movie function.  The Z850 gives two 640x480 pixel or 320x240 pixel film modes both which get saved on to the SD card.  The Casio digital camera doesn’t have any jacks or output sockets on the camera itself but instead provides a handy cradle that you plug the Z850 in if you want to transfer anything to your computer.  It also charges the battery through this which can take around 440 shots on one charge.

Performance

There’s very little not to like about the Casio Exilim. It starts up quick and all the responses are fast too.  Powering up only took a couple of seconds as did taking photos.  The shutter lag was good too at around 0.4 seconds.  The actual interface is very user-friendly and working out how to use the camera was simple if you followed the onscreen instructions.  We love the fact there are so many different modes, 36 is no mean feat to achieve in such a small camera but Casio have and it all seems to work well too, in particularly the special effects ones, which we really liked.  We did find that the image of the screen when taking photos had a bit of ghosting if you moved the camera or the wind blew your subject but the actual photo taken was fine.  The battery life was good too and took a long time to die down which makes it ideal for holidays abroad.

What's In The Box?

Casio Exilim EX-Z850 8 megapixel digital camera.

Overall Opinion

For the price you can't go wrong with the Casio digital camera.  It comes packed with loads of different scene modes which makes taking photos very easy.  The on-camera editing facility is great too as you can play around with your photos before sendign them to your computer.  The only thing that might be a problem is the docking station, but even that isn't bad once you get used to it.

Pros	Cons
Good resolution natural accurate colour, Wide selection of scene modes Excellent battery life Good price	Macro mode doesn't get as close as it should Only two aperture settings Have to use the docking cradle to charge battery and use AV output (or buy another lead)

Reviewed by on 1:54pm Fri 21st Jul 2006

Factor	Rating
Ease of Use	4/5
Durability	4/5
Style	3/5
Service & Support	3/5
Value for Money	3/5
Recommend	1/5
Overall	3/5

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