February 15, 2005 — Casio announced the latest in its Z series of Exilim digital cameras: the Casio EX-Z57 and Casio EX-Z750. The cameras are on display at the Photo Marketing Association Show in Orlando, Florida. The Casio Z57 is strikingly similar to the 5-megapixel Z55 that was released in August 2004; the only differences in the cameras are the optical viewfinders and LCD screens. The Z750 has all the benefits of the Exilim’s slim figure, but it comes with 7.2 megapixels. Both digital cameras will be available worldwide in April.
With more megapixels than most slim cameras, the Casio Exilim EX-Z750 has the automatic settings of previous models, but packs in a few manual functions as well. With 7.41 total megapixels on its 1/1.8-inch CCD, the Z750 has manual and automatic shooting modes, as well as several movie modes.
There are Short Movie and Movie Best Shot modes, as well as a Past Movie mode function. This feature was introduced on the Casio EX-P505 when it was announced on January 30. The Past Movie mode captures video five seconds prior to the first push of the shutter release button and continues recording until the button is pushed again. The movie mode records in either 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 resolution at a rate of 30 frames per second.
The shutter speed, ISO, and white balance settings can be adjusted manually. The shutter speed ranges from 1/8-1/2000th of a second in the normal shooting mode. In the Night scene mode, the speed slows up to 60 seconds and in Fireworks mode, it slows to a fixed 2 seconds. ISO speeds cover from 50-400, a standard range for compact digital cameras. The white balance has six presets and a manual mode.
A 3x optical zoom lens, equivalent to a 38-114mm lens in 35mm format, extends out of the camera body in two segments. There is an electronic cap that snaps open and closed to protect the Casio Exilim EX-Z750. A 2.5-inch LCD screen highlights the neatly laid out back of the camera. The 4.6-ounce digital camera has slim measurements of 3.5 x 2.3 x 0.9 inches. Perhaps the only physical flaw of the stylish EX-Z750 is its miniscule optical viewfinder. The Casio EX-Z750 comes with a USB cradle that makes printing and downloading photos faster and fairly simple. The 7.2-effective-megapixel camera and cradle package will retail for $449.99.
The Casio Exilim EX-Z57 is lacking in manual options, but only because it is aimed at the point-and-shoot consumer market. It has a rectangular shape with a 3x optical zoom lens that extends in three segments from the camera body. This camera has very similar dimensions to the Z750 and even weighs 4.6 ounces. With 5.25 total and 5 effective megapixels, the 1/2.5-inch CCD can record in six image sizes to either the SD/ MMC card or the 9.3 megabytes of internal memory.
The following shooting modes are available on the Casio Z57: Snapshot, Best Shot, Movie, Still Photo with Voice, and Voice Recorder. This model lacks the breadth of the Z750’s movie modes, but matches its ISO speeds and white balance settings. A 2.7-inch LCD is handy in viewing the slide shows or chronologically ordered images in Playback Mode. The Casio Z57 will retail for $399.99. Both cameras boast extended battery life that lasts about 325 shots per charge in the Z750 and 400 in the Z57.
