Casio was kind enough to send us the Exilim EX-Z50, a member of their
Zoom model series for review and I must say, this is my new favorite
toy. The amount of features that they have packed into this tiny aluminum
frame is simply astonishing. Among other things, the Exilim EX-Z50
can record movies and audio, automatically adjust to macro mode for
close up photos & compensate for brightness levels in dark areas
when using flash photography.
The Casio Exilim EX-Z50 offers s high resolution 5-megapixel CCD,
a 3X optical zoom lens and a 2-inch LCD screen with optical viewfinder.
It is compact and fits easily in your pocket. The battery life on
the Exilim series has been radically improved. The Exilim EX-Z50 can
take about 390 pictures on a single charge making it convenient for
long family vacations or business trips without the need to bring
a charger.
One of my favorite features has to be the Business Shot function
which allows you to take pictures of a document or white board at
any angle and let the camera automatically adjust the photo to straighten
out the text and make it easy to read. The engineers at Casio must
be James Bond fans. This technology works so incredibly well that
it makes archiving documents incredibly fast & easy. The Exilim
EX-Z50 is a scanner killer.
Other really neat features include the ability to take a picture
of a scene while something interesting is happening and then place
yourself or someone else in the scene after the fact. Here is how
it works: You take a picture with the Coupling Shot or Pre-shot feature.
The viewfinder shows you a transparent image of the picture you just
took along with the live image of whatever is in front of the camera.
You stand in front of the camera, and have someone else aim the camera
until both images line up and take a secondary shot. The Casio Exilim
EX-Z50 automatically combines the two images and makes it look like
you were standing in the shot when the original picture was taken.
This feature makes it possible to take pictures of you and a friend
even when there no one else around. It is especially useful unless
you actually enjoy carrying a tripod around.
What is great about this camera is that unlike similar cameras with
extra features thrown in as gimmicks, all of the features on the Exilim
EX-Z50 are functional and actually work well. Even the extras, such
as the ability to create HTML albums right out of the camera are useful
for those who are technically challenged. There are so many extras
crammed into the Exilim EX-Z50 that they can’t all be mentioned
here, but it is certainly nice to know you have more than you need.
With an MSRP of only $299.99 you are getting more bang than you may
ever need for your buck.
