The Casio Exilim EX-Z200 weds Casio's wealth of features to a 10-megapixel sensor with image stabilization. Is the coupling fruitful?
Review summary of the Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z200:
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 A rarity for Casio, the Exilim Zoom EX-Z200 is a fairly ugly camera. Still, it packs all the innovative features typical of the Exilim line, and Casio's YouTube software remains a nice inclusion. On other hand, while the EX-Z200 does feature sensor-shift image-stabilization and a 10-megapixel sensor, the camera costs considerably more yet produces lower quality images than other Casios we've seen. For the price, better compacts can be found. Release: April 2008. Price: $270.
Pros: Bevy of features. Sensor-shift stabilization.
Cons: Bloated design. Noisy shadow-detail. Considerable chromatic aberration.
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Full Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z200 Review:
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Design - Mediocre
Casio is so typically adroit at creating nice looking, nice feeling point-and-shoots that the aesthetic shortcomings of the EX-Z200 is doubly disappointing. It's a dull camera, both too thick and too airy, and its plastic shell of a body just seems to be waiting to fall apart. Ultimately the EX-Z200 is among the most expensive of Casio's compacts, yet it feels like it belongs at the bottom of their line up.
The core design is identical to other Casio products: the back is almost entirely devoted to the 2.7" LCD viewfinder, the back-right houses the majority of the controls, and the power and shutter buttons are on top. We still like the twist-zoom wrapped around the shutter release, and we still like the exclusion of an electronic viewfinder in favor of a more focused design. Still, with this iteration Casio has lost the slim, svelte appeal of their other point-and-shoots, all in favor of an unseemly bulk that sells the EX-Z200 short at very first glance.
Features - Very good
The EX-Z200 mostly maintains Casio's stable of point-and-shoot features, from their top-notch automatic shutters and face-detection to their above-average burst modes. The camera also features sensor-shift image-stabilization and a 28mm wide-angle lens, though still no panorama modes or super-macro support.
As is becoming the norm for higher-end compacts, the EX-Z200 features dynamic-range expansion, configurable in the system menu. In our tests it was similar to the point-and-shoot implementations of Nikon's D-Lighting, in that it tended to boost shadow-detail but never accomplished much with blown highlights. Dynamic range correction remains pointless for RAW shooting, but with cameras like the EX-Z200 that can only deliver JPEGs, it's a great way to avoid crushed contrast-gamuts.
The EX-Z200 also has above-average video recording, including native support for 16:9 aspect-ratios and resolutions up to 848x480, both of which handily surpass the meager requirements of YouTube uploads. Video is recorded to an H.264 stream, audio to a 44.1khz AAC stream at ~90 kbps, and both are multiplexed into an MOV file, so the potential for quality is high.
Interface - Good
The EX-Z200's interface is exactly the same as that of most other Casio cameras, which is largely a good thing. Shooting parameters are quickly selectable during use, and system settings are configurable in three easy to navigate menus. We don't particularly like Casio's decision to bury macro and focus settings in the system menu, especially when the four-way controller only has two allocated shortcuts. Focus and macro modes are among the most important settings on a camera and should be treated as such, not banished to the same menu that has grid-assist and meter-mode settings.
Casio has included a decent storage / printing utility, but unfortunately it has no real editing capabilities. Thankfully, the bundle also features Casio's YouTube uploader, which makes sending videos from the camera to a YouTube account a painless, one-step process. Otherwise the Casio EX-Z200 comes with the standards: a USB cable, an A/V cable, and an external charger.
Image quality - Mediocre
The EX-S10 features a 1/2.3" sensor, giving it an ~8% increase in surface area over typical 1/2.5" point-and-shoot sensors. On one hand, this is an appreciable improvement over most compact sensors. On the other hand, considering the EX-Z200 is packing 10-megapixels into its images, i.e. 20% more information over the standard 8-megapixels, it needs all the surface area it can get. At best, the noise distribution would be as good as an 8-megapixel camera with a smaller sensor. That said, the Casio EX-Z200's noise management is as good as could be expected, considering its higher pixel-count. ISO-50 is functionally noiseless. Noise isn't readily perceivable at full zoom until ISO-200, and it isn't notable sub-100% zoom until ISO-800, but it is considerably dense at ISO-1600.
Wide-angle test
Keep in mind that, for this wide-angle test, the drab colors are a result of the overcast lighting and are largely an accurate rendering of the scene. However, no lighting condition could explain away the chromatic aberration along the right side of the image, a ghastly purple fringe that's visible even at ~25% zoom. Lesson learned: wide-angle lenses are a great tool for expansive photography, but certainly not if they're cheaply built and mar their images with optical distortion.
Edge test
The EX-Z200 performs far better at the upper end of its focal range, though even here some haloing is still visible along the street sign. Also, as expected from the squinched photon-sensitivity of a small sensor with a lot of pixels, noise performance is worse in real-world tests. Here, even at ISO-50, noise is a problem in the shadows in the left-hand corner.
Low-light test
The camera's sensor-shift stabilization is excellent. This is an indoor, low-light shot taken at 1/6 second, and it was free of camera-shake on the very first try. The shot itself is sharp and free of the aberrations that plagued the scene test. However, noise is markedly noticeable, even though the shot was taken at a relatively low ISO-200 sensitivity, and focus inconsistency is visible in the corners, another sign of a subpar wide-angle lens.
Macro test
The EX-Z200's macro function is humdrum: the camera only maintained focus up until five inches or so, such that the illustrious Tweetledum only fills the center portion of the picture. In the age of 'super-macro' compact lenses that can practically focus on a subject flush with the lens's surface, the macro performance here is unimpressive.
Price and availability
The Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z200 will start selling for $270 () in April 2008.
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