SHOOT YOUR FRIENDS.... WITH A CAMERA SILLY! (Casio Exilim EX-Z20)

Member Name: jojopillo

Product:	Casio Exilim EX-Z20
Date:	13/05/09 (217 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: EASY TO USE, GREAT PICTURES, BIG SCREEN

Disadvantages: POOR INSTRUCTIONS

It always takes me a while to bring myself up to speed with the times, so when it came to buying a digital camera I was no different! My first foray into the world of digital photography was a £10 second-hand ebay purchase of an Olympus - can't remember what model it was but it looked like a brick and weighed about the same. But the point was that it gave me my first taste of this splendid way of capturing our precious moments.

My 'brick', as well as being cumbersome, also used 4xAA batteries which never seemed to last very long, so the convenience seemed to be outweighed by the running costs. Fortunately/unfortunately my beloved brick slipped out of my pocket (probably due to the effects gravity has on such a massive object) while I was messing about on the lions at Trafalgar Square and met its untimely demise in many pieces on the pavement below. Thankfully, due to memory card technology I didn't lose all my previously taken photos, but still lamented the loss for the remainder of my short break.

As with most things I never missed having a digital camera until I'd had one; and although I was desperate to get a new one I didn't want to just settle for something cheap for the sake of it. And because I don't have much disposable income I wasn't able to replace it as soon as I'd have liked to.

Luckily, when my birthday arrived a few months later my mum gave me £100, so I was determined to get something with it that would last and not just blow it on a night out or other frivolity. It took my little brain a short time to come up with the perfect purchase. Something that would not only last me, but also something that I would use on a regular basis; a new digital camera!

I looked around a few of the more obvious outlets; Currys, Comet, PC World, Jessops, but was a bit overawed with the seemingly limitless choices available. I also found that the sales assistants would baffle me with allsorts of technical jargon and show me cameras costing hundreds of pounds. I'm not a photographer, and I'd say that the vast majority of digital camera users know very little about the technical side of photography either. And I, like most, just want a camera that is easy to use and can take a good picture. To me, that is the most important thing.

I think it's a good idea when looking to buy a new camera that you have a good idea of the things you want from it and stick to that; don't be sold on lots of technical gadgetry that you will never use. The most important features I was looking for were ease of use, good picture and video quality and a decent sized screen. Other functions were irrelevant to me. I have no idea what ISO, White Balance and exposure are (all you photo buffs are probably now sniggering at my lack of knowledge) but I've managed to get some great pictures and video despite this!

It was during a non camera hunting shopping expedition to Boots that I noticed their photography section and thought I'd take a look. There wasn't the greatest choice (this can sometimes be a good thing with my Libran trait of not being able to make decisions) and my eye was instantly drawn to a lovely looking little Casio number inside the glass display cabinet. I must admit though that the first thing to catch my attention was the word 'sale'. Originally £129.99 this camera was on offer for £69.99, so being within my £100 budget I thought I'd ask for a closer look. The chap who helped me didn't blind me with all the technical stuff and just let me have a good look and feel (shame on you!) ... of the camera. The screen was a good size (2.6" wide LCD) it was small enough to fit into the palm of my hand and weighed very little too! So far so good. He then let me have a demo of the picture taking which I found to be really easy, with the picture you've just taken staying on the screen for a few seconds so that you can see whether you've taken it properly. The video recording is one touch and with 8.1 Megapixels I had to concede that I'd found myself the perfect camera at the perfect price for my needs. 'Sold!'

The camera has a small built in memory of 12.4Mb, which is only good for a couple of pictures, so it is essential to acquire a good sized memory card for your new camera so as not to find yourself short when on your holidays or when capturing those precious video moments! Bearing in mind I still had £30 left I also purchased a 2Gb Fuji memory card which was half price at £14.99 (gosh I was having a good day!) the card I bought was an SD card but the camera also supports SDHC, MMC, and MMCplus memory cards (no idea what that all means!)

It's available in silver or black. The one I got was black, but to be honest I think they made a mistake because I'm sure it was only the silver one that was on offer! Shhh!

What's in the box?
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Hurrying home, I made a nice cuppa and sat down to open the box and get down to using my new acquisition. Upon opening the box I found;

The camera (obviously!)

A Lithium ion rechargeable battery

Battery charger with AC power cord

USB cable

AV cable

CD-ROM

Camera strap

Instruction booklet (in 19 languages!)


A little technical info
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The battery is about 30x30mm and 5mm thick, is 3.7v and 720mAh (tumbleweeds rolling through my brain!)

The software on the CD-ROM is compatible with Windows Vista, XP and 2000 and with Mac 9/10.1 to 10.4 operating systems.

ISO ranges from 64 to 1600

Auto focus

3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom (12x combined)

Built in flash with 5 modes

Self timer - 2 or 10 seconds

File formats are .MOV for video, JPEG for photos, and WAV for audio

8.1 Megapixels which means the largest still pictures can be 3264 x 2448 pixels in a 3:2 aspect ratio and 3264 x 1840 at 16:9 smaller sizes are also available.
Video is 848 x 480 wide @ 30 fps (frames per second) and 640 x 480 normal @ 30 fps. There is also a long play video mode which is 320 x 240 @ 15 fps.

The focal length is 6.3 to 18.9mm which is equivalent to a 35mm film camera

Dimensions; 89.7 (W) x 51.7 (H) x 19.0 (D)mm

Weight Approx 100g

Usability
*******

The camera isn't full of buttons and it's quite easy to get used to the ones you use the most. On the top are the on/off button and the shutter button, which is surrounded by a small circle which swivels to operate the zoom. Most of the back of the camera is taken up by the screen and there is a small round button in the top right corner for one-touch video recording. There are playback and record buttons for easy mode switching. A menu button and one called 'best shot' which, when pressed, gives 27 different kinds of shooting modes for various kinds of pictures (portraits, scenery, still life, action photos and many more!) - I've not used this facility yet!

In between these is a toggle button which can be used to scroll through your pictures and switch between the various functions including flash, picture quality, shutter speed and timer; these are all featured down the right-hand side of the screen for easy reference whilst in capture mode.

When you press the on/off button the shutter on the front opens and the lens concertinas outwards in a nice smooth operation. The picture on the screen is the shot you get, so by simply pressing the shutter button you can capture your on-screen image.

The one-touch video button starts video recording when pressed and stops when pressed again, it's as simple as that! Sadly though, for some reason, it only records up to ten minutes at a time and I can't find how to change this.

The menu button brings on screen all different options for playback and capture modes as well as the display settings, sound settings, time and date and even the colour of the menu screen itself (mine is pink!) there are so many options available in the menus that if I were to list them here you would be extremely bored!

The instruction booklet which comes in the box is very basic and sadly didn't answer many of my questions about some of the functions in the menus. I've had to learn an awful lot through trial and error - mainly error!

The charger, unlike phones and other cameras, does not plug directly into the camera and you have to take the battery out and place it into the charger, which I found to be a bit of a pain but I suppose it's handy if you have more than one battery. The battery takes 1-2 hours to charge fully and lasts a long time (months, with minimal use) and a couple of days when used on a trip, with a mixture of video and still capture.

The transfer from camera to computer is one of the things I like, as rather than having to load the photosuite that comes on the CD it treats the camera as a mass storage device and opens in a window which you can easily view and/or move to your own folders on your computer.

Highest quality still pictures equate to between approximately 1.5-1.8Mb on your computer and high quality video is about 28Mb per minute.

Summary
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Not being a photographer this camera suits all my needs and after a little playing around have found my favourite settings. It is very easy to use and the picture and video quality is more than enough for my needs. I imagine if you were looking for more technology you would have to look for a bigger camera, but the size of this is one of the things that appeal to me.

For most of us, who only want to take short video and photos of special occasions, this is an ideal piece of equipment, and I can also envisage this to be a very useful acquisition to a beginner in professional photography, as there is also much more functionality than a casual user would need. Thankfully though these functions are available, although not in your face, and don't get in the way of everyday use, but are there if you require them.

All in all this camera ticks all my boxes but the only thing that is a let down for me is the lack of explanation in the instruction book. I feel there is so much more to this camera, but sadly I'm not technically minded enough to work it out. I have tried searching the Casio website for a more comprehensive guide but unfortunately to no avail. Not bad though, when you think that this is the only issue I have!

I bought a little mobile phone pouch from Poundland which my camera fits snugly into and I take it in my bag with me wherever I go; you never know when you'll see something you want to snap!

Pros
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* Lightweight
* Small
* Large screen
* Easy to use
* Good battery life
* One touch video recording

Cons
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* Maximum 10 minute recording
* The insufficient instruction booklet

Summary: A GREAT HANDY CAMERA!

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