Customer Reviews

Casio Exilim EXZ50 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I bought this camera after much research and am glad to say that I haven't regretted it for a second! I never write reviews, but since this camera has only one review so far, I thought I'd put in my $0.02 to help spread the word.

------- WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR -------
Before this, I used a Nikon Coolpix 990 -- fantastic camera, but too bulky and heavy (took 4 AAs) to carry around daily. For my second camera, I wanted something very portable (i.e. small and light) with long battery life. I didn't necessarily need 5MP; that was just a bonus.

------- PROS -------
Where do I begin? The EXZ50 is very small, so it's a cinch to carry around. So far, the battery life has been great. The start-up time is almost nil; no waiting for the camera to "boot up" once you turn it on. Even more importantly, it saves photos to the memory card very fast (my Nikon used to lag a bit) so you can take several photos in quick succession. The LCD is a good size, especially in relation to the camera. The controls are intuitive and user-friendly. Getting your photos to your PC is so easy: just put the camera in the docking station and hit the "USB" button! Tons of great features -- read about them on the site I mention at the end of this review [sorry, Amazon edited out the site]. Oh, and the pictures turn out great!

------- CONS -------
I do have a minor quibble in that the LCD display is a bit dark in low-light conditions. Maybe that's just a given, but on the Nikon, the display was bright even in low-light. It could be that I just haven't figured out how to fix that. Also, the macro mode isn't as great as on the Nikon, but I knew that before purchasing and it was something I was willing to live with. Don't get me wrong, it isn't *bad* (the Casio manual says the range begins at 6cm), but I take a lot of close-up jewellery shots and for those, I'll continue to use my other camera. Again, the point of my getting this Casio was to have something to carry around daily.

------- THE COMPETITION -------
For a long time, I'd been leaning toward getting a Canon (who seem to dominate the "tiny camera" field), but I read so much about the so-called "E18 error" that it scared me away (plus, I personally know people who've had memory card failures). I didn't go with Olympus because I read a lot about long lag-time and low battery life. Also, Olympus and Fuji use xD memory cards, which cost a bit more, and none that I looked at beat the slimness of the Casio. I already have a battery-sucking Nikon, so I skipped that brand. I've never been a big fan of Sony, so the Cybershots were out (partly b/c of those proprietary memory sticks). I almost went with a Panasonic Lumix, but it was a bit too expensive compared to others. Nothing in the Minolta family jumped out at me, either. You can see I mainly considered companies who make cameras their main business. I know Casio isn't strictly photography, but this camera does have a Pentax lens.

[...]

Overall, I'm thrilled with the Casio Exilim EX-Z50! There are tons of cameras out there, each with its pros and cons, so I know the choice is tough. Luckily, I feel I made the right one for me!

Im more than satisfied with this camera, not only is it reasonably priced, it exceeds my expections, and here are the reasons why:

1. User Friendly - very easy to use, no complicated functionalities, outstanding point and click features. Easy to figure out because features are simple and convenient.

2. Photo Quality - photo quality is very impressive for what it is. Best Shot feature is very useful and zooming in and out is easy to do.

3. Battery life - this is perhaps the best feature because it is very long. I was able to take five 10 second long video clips and 45 still pictures in one event and the battery life was still in good standing.

4. View screen - is very clear, nice and wide which makes photo playback much easier and more fun.

6. Shutter reaction time - is about a second its easy to take candid photos.

7. Camera size - small and compact, easy to carry around in a small purse or pocket.

8 Download - very easy to download and picture quality is nice and clean.


Overall, I highly recommend this camera for those of you who like taking pictures of anything.

I got this camera after researching for a month what camera I thought was the best. This camera has so many features that I fell in love with. The size of it for starters is increadible. It takes such clear beautiful pictures. The docking cradle is an added bonus becuase it elimniates the hard work of downloading pictures. The camera is also light wieght and I was looking for a camera that I could fit in an evening bag. I look forward to taking this camera every with me. I definetly recommend this product to anyone looking to buy a camera.

I hate to sound like one of those grumpy guys who says "this camera is no better than the brand XX I bought 3 years ago" but it's true! I REALLY wanted to like this camera for all it's nifty features, but at the end of the day, picture quality was no better (and sometimes worse) than my old 3mp sony cybershot p7. Here's the scoop

Pros:
1. Great size/ body. Looks awesome and feels solid. Nice grip placement.
2. Menu system is the BEST I have ever seen. REally intuitive, easy to get to all the settings.
3. 23 shooting modes! And there is an example for each, you don't have to memorize what all the cryptic symbols mean
4. Start up is very fast. This is where the casio kicks butt over my old camera.
4. DECENT photo quality, but...

Cons:
1. ... Picture quality is simply not as good as my 3mp Sony. I tried every setting there is and took lots of comparison photos... day, night, macro, magnifying, using different sizes and enhancing them. Bottom line: more noise and less sharpness with the Casio. It's more megapixels, it should be sharper, no? I have no explanation.
2. LCD is big, but it is VERY grainy in low lighting conditions. Embarassing. My sony has a smaller screen, but it's not snowing all the time.

For me, the picture quality is the deciding factor. For others, it might not matter... The Casio certainly takes VERY decent photos, and I can't see how anyone could give it a "poor" rating. But I'll stick with my beat up sony, thanks!

I chose this camera (after a rather intensive stint of web research) as a replacement for my bulky, sluggish Nikon Coolpix 775. I've had it for a little over a month now and I'm thrilled with it. It's fast - powers up and snaps in seconds. The pics are (to my eye) great quality; the intuitive interface and controls and "Best Shot" feature makes it easy to use right out of the box. The battery life is impressive as well; I used it for days snapping pics on a recent vacation without recharging it.The enormous LCD display makes it easy to review your pics before d'loading them. The convenience of the cradle is one the I'd originally underestimated, as well. All in all, a great shutterbuggin' experience.

There are fancier camperas with more features. There are slicker-looking cameras. They are all big. This camera can hide under a credit card yet it takes fabulous pix and even avi video. The software is even adequate for manipulating photos although an Adobe Photo package makes this camera come to life. Load it up with memory, crank the resolution and sharpness to max and go on a shooting spree with this camera. I used one for five days including video shoots, playback and lots of start/stop and the battery still shows a full charge. It's simply amazing for its size. Yes there are better cameras which cost more and are the size of a Nikon F3 but for a tiny camera, this one rocks.

Although I did not buy this camera from Amazon (found it cheaper elsewhere and paid for that in customer service) I felt compelled to write a review here since it will likely get the most exposure at this website.

I have had this camera for 2 weeks now and I am absolutely thrilled with it. I bought it originally for two features -- the 5MP resolution and the size of the item itself. The pictures are great and look like they would easily lend themselves to enlargement without a loss in clarity. The camera easily stows away in the pocket of your pants and it's like it is not even there.

PROS - small size/portability; 5MP resolution with the ability to set resolution at 5, 4.28, 3, 1.875, 1.2, and 0.5 MP; movie mode which records movies as long as you have memory; voice recording as long as you have memory; picture/voice mode allows you to place a 30 second voice caption onto your pictures; ability to manually set f-stop, shutter speed, focus, whitebalance, electron volts; can zoom and crop images right on the camera; up and ready to take a picture in <2 seconds, 3x optical zoom, controls very intuitive, 2 inch LCD screen large and clear

CONS - images grainy in low light (what camera isn't?), SD card slightly difficult to remove from camera, voice recorder doesn't record clearly when input is very loud, 4x digital zoom does not keep image clarity very well

EXTRA SPECIAL PRO - battery life (I have taken over 200 pictures with flash on 70, two video clips of 1 and 5 minutes, and a voice clip of 10 minutes and the battery indicator hasn't budged off full)

I would highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a high resolution point and shoot portable digital camera. It's a winner.

Well, I've been buying at Amazon for years and this is my first review. I had to speak up because it's important.

I've been considering the Casio Exilim EX-Zxx line for a couple of months. I did my due diliegence at all the usual places: Cnet, KenRockwell.com, DPreview, Steves-Digicams, PCMag, etc. I poured over user reviews. I bought the EX-Z50. My God, what a massive, massive dissapointment!!!!

Let me first say that I am no amateur with digicams or 35mm photography for that matter. I've been an avid hobbyist for nearly 20 years. I've been in the digital mix for 5 now. I shoot primarilly Nikon D70. Like another comment here, I was also looking for a super portable pocket-cam when not wanting to tote the big rig.

The GOOD: The EX-Z50 is fantastically cute, solid feeling, feature filled, and has good pricing. It's easy for my novice wife to pick the thing up and start using it with little instruction. The screen is excellent. The controls are above par. As Ken Rockwell mentions, the Exilim line seems to have been designed by real photogs with features such as easy White-Balance and intuitive menus. The unit starts up really quickly. The focus is relatively fast for a point-and-shoot. Shutter lag is very slight - excellent performance. Did I mention this thing is small and cute? Great design.

The BAD: And most importantly... the picture quality is beyond HORRIBLE!!!! Severe barreling at anything past 50% telephoto. Purple fringing all over the place. But my biggest gripe is the MASSIVE, MASSIVE, GRAININESS in nearly every single picture in every single setting. Imagine a cheap 110mm camera using ISO800 file all time. It is compleltely unacceptable at any ISO setting on the Casio. Perhaps I'm spoiled by the stellar D70 performance. But this is downright bad. I am shocked. I implore Casio to take a hard look at their digicams before trying to pass them off in the public domain as good cameras. This is a serious emabrassment. I am returning my unit and reviewing others.

Tons of features, good battery life, slim but very functional packaging. The only downside I have found so far is that the instruction manual doesn't provide much information on the myriad of features - disapointing to have all the bells and whistles and not have the supporting information to go with them. All in all though, this camera is simply wonderful and has met all my performance expectations and needs.

I was especially excited about receiving this camera. I had looked for a digital camera for some time and loved the compact size and large screen that this one provided. I had it for about 8 months when I went on my honeymoon in Hawaii. I had not used it for that amount of consecutive time prior to this trip but of course was taking many shots of the scenery. The camera started malfunctioning and locking up and not saving the picture that it locked up on. This of course happened at very inopportune times and had to be reset many times as well, sometimes effectively and sometimes not. I would say buyer be scared, especially if you are planning to use it a lot for one type of important event. It probably was worth spending more money and getting a better name brand. The size of the lcd screen is great, however the quality of the pictures could be better. Although you can change the picture quality size, a size for normal pictures that you would get is not included such as 4x6 and 8x10. It does have a 5x7 size though.