Casio Exilim EX-FH20
Digital Camera Review
Nov 10, 2008
- By Tim Barribeau
2.2
The Casio Exilim EX-FH20 is the new, super-fast, ultra-zoom released by the manufacturer who made waves with the more expensive EX-F1 earlier this year. The FH20 sports a 20x zoom, the ability to take 40 frames per second at 7-megapixels, or record super-slow-motion video at up to 1000 frames per second. However, once we got the camera into our labs, we found the body to be low quality, the auto focus was slow, it went through batteries at an incredible rate, and it scored poorly in our testing. Full details follow.
| Top Point & Shoot Cameras |
|---|
|
Casio made a large splash earlier this year with their Exilim EX-F1, boasting 1200 frames-per-second video and 60 frame per second photography at 6-megapixels, but with a high $1000 price tag. The EX-FH20 continues this tradition of high-speed/high-cost, but stepped down slightly to make it more approachable for those who don't have a spare grand in their back pockets. Arriving at the not insubstantial price of $600, the FH20 can record up to 40 fps at 7-megapixel resolution, or video at up to 1000 fps (which provides ultra-slow-motion playback), and has a 20x zoom. While the video mode seems a little gimmicky due to its focusing problems, need for exceedingly bright lighting and minimal resolution, the 40 fps mode is a boon for anyone trying to capture fast-action stills.
If you're a parent trying to get the perfect shot of your kid on the sports field, or a bird-watcher capturing an egret taking off, shooting at these high speeds lets you grab the perfect shot. Unfortunately, Casio seems to have put all their effort into these amazing speeds, and not enough into designing a good camera. The body feels low quality, and in our extensive lab tests it scored poorly in every section except white balance.
So, while the high speed videos are fun to play with, and the ability to capture images at a blisteringly fast pace is certainly handy when outdoors and in good lighting, unless you really need those features, the EX-FH20 is a dubious value.
Section
|
The Good
|
The Bad
|
Tour
|
Light and easy to handle
|
Body feels low quality
|
Testing/Performance
|
Good white balance score
|
Sub-par performance in every other test
|
Components
|
Competent zoom lens
|
Average quality LCD, no automated viewfinder switch
|
Design/Layout
|
Simple button layout, easy to handle
|
Poor quality buttons and dials
|
Modes
|
Incredibly high speed video and still photography
|
Limited editing controls, no true auto mode
|
Control Options
|
Some manual controls
|
Manual controls poorly implemented
|
Image Parameters
|
Ability to shoot RAW files
|
Inability to shoot burst mode at full resolution |
Connectivity/Extras
|
Ability to use external power source
|
Eats through batteries
|
Value
|
Substantially cheaper than the F1, retains high speed
|
Still expensive for a poor overall performance
|
