Casio Exilim EX-Z57

Casio’s Exilim range boasts
some rather nice superslim
snapshot cameras.
This is the third incarnation in the
5-megapixel Z series range and
has a generous 2.7-inch screen.
The Z57 includes all the other
trademark Casio features, such as
Direct On record and playback
buttons and a wide selection of
Best Shot modes. These are
equivalent to the scene modes on
other cameras, but have a lot more
polish. Certain modes speak for
themselves – Sundown, Natural
Green, Night Scene – while others
do rather more. Collection mode
offers a superimposed outline to
help you compose your shots;
Business mode corrects the
perspective errors you get if you
don’t photograph items from a
perfectly perpendicular angle; the
Coupling Shot and Pre Shot modes
let you combine snaps of yourself
and a companion or pre-compose
a shot for a passer-by to shoot.
You can also confi gure and save
your own Best Shot settings. For
example, you might set up a mode
for high-contrast, high-saturation
shots with extra colour, or another
with the focus fi xed and a high ISO
for sports shots.

Instant photography?

The Z57’s focusing system
warrants a closer look. It can be set
to automatically move into macro
mode for close-up subjects and,
even more usefully, it has a Pan
Focus option. This fi xes the focus
at a pre-defi ned distance, so if you
want to grab a shot the camera
won’t wait to focus but instead use
this catch-all focus point. Compact
digital cameras have such a large
depth of fi eld that the results are
generally perfectly acceptable.
Even if you do wait for the Z57
to focus, it’s still quicker than
average, and can lock on to a
subject in less than half a second,
except in gloomy conditions and
with the zoom at full range. This
makes the Z57 feel exceptionally
responsive, and the lack of focus
lag at critical moments makes it a
far better snapshot camera than
many of its rivals.
The build quality is another big
selling point. The aluminium body
feels strong and is well fi nished.
The quick start-up time – around a
second – is another plus factor.
That giant LCD display will be a bit
of a talking point too. The problem
here, though, is that it has only
115,000 pixels, a resolution you’d
expect in a 1.5-inch display, but
not one of this size. This means the
pixel pitch – and hence the detail
rendition – is quite coarse, negating
the value of that extra screen size.
This is a very smart camera to
use, with a logical control structure.
The menus are big, clear and easy
to navigate, and the Best Shot
modes are presented superbly,
each with a sample image and a
concise explanation of what the
mode does and when to use it.
However, there’s a danger this
fancy presentation can distract you
from one of the Z57’s few
annoyances. How many button
presses will it take to fi nd the Best
Shot mode you want in the list of
23? That’s a lot of button pressing.
And are you really going to use
that alarm function with
customisable wake-up photo? Or
generate a web album for
exporting to your computer? Or
customise your start-up screen,
operational sounds and favourite
photos for internal storage?
You can also display saved
images using a calendar screen
with sample thumbnails for each
date on which you took pictures.
To do this, though, you’d better
invest in a hefty SD card, because
the camera comes with a measly
9.3MB internal memory – enough
for just four Fine quality shots.
The Casio has its strong points,
of course. It can display a live
histogram during shooting, and if
you confi gure the left/right
navipad keys to operate the EV
compensation, it’s simple to fi t the
scene’s tonal range into that of the
sensor’s by tweaking the exposure
to prevent the highlights being
clipped. To be perfectly honest, if
all cameras were this easy to
adjust, fewer people would bother
with manual modes or fancy
metering patterns.
Picture quality
From a distance images look sharp,
colourful and clear, but as the ISO
increases the tiny sensor produces
plenty of noise; at ISO 400 it’s
almost unuseable. The in-camera
sharpening/noise reduction system
attempts to limit this noise, but
while outlines stand out well, fi ne,
textural detail tends to blur into a
featureless mush. This happens at
all ISOs, so even the super-smooth
look to ISO 100 shots hides some
compromises. Snappers won’t
notice, but if you want to blow
your shots up to A4 or like fi ddling
around in Photoshop, you will.
Fair’s fair, though, and this is
essentially a snapshot camera. You
may decide its size, ease of use and
charm outweigh its average image
quality. But at this price, it has
some tough competition.