Casio Exilim EX-FC100

Viewfinder (0.00)

As with the vast majority of point-and-shoot cameras presently on the market, the Casio Exilim EX-FC100 does not have a viewfinder.

Display (3.65)

The LCD on the EX-FC100 is 2.7-inches in size, with a resolution of 230,000-dots. This is pretty average, and of noticeably lower quality than the Sony T900’s 920,000-dots and the Canon SD970 IS’s 410,000. The LCD can be set to three levels of brightness, as well as Auto 1 and Auto 2. These auto modes adjust brightness based on current light levels, with Auto 2 adjusting more quickly.

Flash (5.50)

The flash can be set to auto, off, on or red-eye reduction. Its intensity can be set on a continuum of ±2. It’s rated from 4 inches to 10 feet at wide-angle. Shooting against a blank wall, it suffered from a fair amount of light dropoff, but nothing too unusual. The flash is placed very near the shutter button, and is very easy to block accidentally. Next to it is the autofocus assist lamp, which wasn’t overly powerful — the camera had a lot of trouble focusing under very low light.

Lens (7.00)

The lens on the FC100 is a 5x zoom, with a range of 6.4mm to 32mm (which is equivalent to 37mm to 185mm in 35mm parlance). At wide-angle, the maximum aperture is a fairly slow f/3.6, and f/4.5 at maximum zoom.

The act of using the zoom is quite jerky, as it lurches over pre-determined steps of focal length. This makes it very difficult to precisely frame an image while zooming, as it doesn’t have any fine controls.

Zoom Ratio Examples
6.42 mm	14.4 mm	32.1 mm

Battery (8.50)

The included Lithium ion rechargeable battery is a 3.7-volt, 1300mAh NP-40 unit. Casio rates the battery as able to last 300 shots on a charge, and we feeling this is pretty accurate. For a small point-and-shoot, this is a pretty lengthy charge.

Memory (4.00)

The EX-FC100 takes SD and SDHC cards, which are inexpensive, high capacity, and easy to come buy. The camera also has some degree of built-in control for an Eye-Fi wireless card. You can turn the card on and off from within the camera, which can save battery life.

Jacks, Ports & Plugs (1.00)

There is only one port on this camera, a proprietary I/O that is used for both USB and AV. This makes replacing cables costly and difficult, as opposed to using a standardized I/O format.