I’ve had a very good month financially on Associated Content, so I decided to use some of the money I’ve made to buy a new camera. I owned a Canon camera up until recently, which I absolutely hated. So, when it came to buying a new camera, I decided to go back to the brand I loved before – Casio Exilim. I owned a Casio Exilim for 4 years and was able to take amazing photos with it so, last week I bought a new Casio Exilim camera – the Casio Exilim EX-Z80.
Casio has several models of digital camera out at the moment. Starting with a model that has a resolution of 6.1 MPs, they go all the way up to their latest model with 10.1 megapixels. I decided to choose the medium range camera, the Exilim EX-Z80. It has a resolution of 8.1 MPs, which after doing research online I learned takes pretty much the same photographs as the camera with 10.1 (the increasing megapixels is a gimmick by camera companies to get you to keep ‘upgrading’ your camera. My old Casio camera had a 4.1 megapixel resolution, and the photos are practically the same as my new one).
When I chose the camera, I was pleased to see there was a great choice of colors available. I could have chosen the Casio Exilim EX-Z80 in black, pink, blue, green or gold, but decided to go with the silver color. I felt it looked a little more classic. It also comes with a white leather case, so you’re camera is protected before you even start.
The Casio Exilim EX-Z80 is tiny. It’s 3.5 inches high by just over 2 inches wide, with a depth of .70 inches. It’s perfect for fitting in a pocket or a small purse, so you can carry it with you everywhere. It has a 2.6 inch LCD screen, which allows you to see the photo you’ve just taken perfectly. Some cameras have a smaller LCD screen, so what you see on them doesn’t look the same when you get your camera home and start to look at the photos on your computer. The Casio screen is so large that you can figure out any problems with the photo while you’re still able to retake it.
The Casio Exilim EX-Z80 also has a 3 x Optical Zoom, so you can zoom in on a subject if you’re too far away. I’ve used it a few times and have discovered it’s a nice addition if you only partially zoom. However, if you zoom in all the way, the pictures come out a little grainy, so this probably isn’t a feature I will use much.
It also has a nifty little ‘movie’ button, so you don’t have to mess with changing settings if you want to take a movie. You just click the red ‘movie’ button at the back of the camera and it starts taking a movie. The movie quality is excellent too.
Some of the other features it has include:
Best Shot – you can use this feature to take the ‘best shot’ possible. Works great too.
Portrait or Self Portrait – this allows it to take perfect portrait photos as it has ‘face recognition’ software, which makes people’s faces look clear and gorgeous. On the Self Portrait feature, it takes great photographs while you’re holding it and pointing the lens at yourself.
SceneryandPortrait with Scenery – if you use the Scenery feature, your scenery photos are beautiful and Portrait with Scenery makes both your subject and the scenery behind them look beautiful.
Pet – Excellent feature if you have pets. I’ve used mine with my rabbits and the feature works wonderfully as it has an extra fast shutter speed, because animals tend to move around a lot.
Flowers, Food and Fashion Accessories – These three features allow you to take perfect flower, food or accessory photographs every time. A useful feature if you have a website or sell products on sites like EBay.
Monochrome or Retro – I’m obsessed with these two features. They allow you to take photographs either in black and white (monochrome) or in the sepia brown tones of the 19th century (retro). Truly gorgeous and I’ve had some great results with them so far.
Night Scene – I tried the night scene feature at the night market in Bangkok last week and the photos were awesome. Everything is in perfect focus, the subjects are clear and, with the facial recognition software, you don’t get that blurry look you sometimes get with other cameras at night.
Auction – Auction is a fabulous feature for anyone who sells online. I used to sell on EBay and it was always a nightmare taking product photographs. The auction setting is an awesome tool, and does work very well. Your products are well lit and in perfect focus, something I found very difficult to achieve with my old camera.
You Tube – the Casio Exilim has a YouTube capture feature, which allows you to take perfect videos to upload to YouTube.
Voice Recording – One of the main reasons I bought a Casio Exilim was because of the voice recording feature. I have to record my voice for English classes I teach and this is the perfect tool for it. You can use it to interview people, record lectures, make podcasts, anything you want. It has a built-in microphone, which is very powerful, and can record for 3 1/2 hours.
The Casio Exilim EX-Z80 has a battery life of around 3 ½ hours, it can take about 210 still images before the battery dies, around 3 ½ hours of voice recording and 1 hour of movie video. You can even plug it directly into your television to watch the photos or video when you get home, and it comes with the AV cable to do that.
Mine also came with a free 2 gig memory card and a free tripod (in Thailand, cameras usually come with a lot of free stuff). The price for me though was higher in Thailand than it would have been in the US. In Thailand, it’s currently retailing for around $230, whereas in the US it’s around $180 (cheaper on some websites). However, the free memory card and the tripod made up for a lot of the increase in price.
I would recommend the Casio Exilim EX-Z80 to anybody. It’s a small, stylish camera that takes great photos and video, as well as voice recording, and it fits in your pocket. My only complaint is the little door you have to unhook to plug in the USB cable to the camera. It’s very flimsy and I’ve a feeling it will eventually break off. I’d recommend a different way of accessing this in future models. Other than that though, it’s a great functional camera for a good price.
