Casio Exilim EX-G1 Digital Camera Review

Conclusion

The Exilim EX-G1 is a small, stylish and tough camera: it is just 0.78 inches thick, but can take images at up to 33 feet down, and at temperatures of down to 14ºF (about -10ºC).

But these good looks don't carry over to the images: we found that while they had low noise, they were very soft. Especially at the edge of the frame, where sharp edges turned into blurry messes and fine details just weren't captured.

This is presumably because of the compromises that Casio had to make to pack a 3x waterproof and shock-resistant lens into this thin case. Most other cameras that are waterproof down to 33 feet are rather chunky, but the EX-G1 looks like a supermodel in mid diet.

It's also a slow camera to use, shooting just 1 frame every 3 seconds at the maximum resolution (you can shoot at 3 frames a second, but only at a 2-megapixel resolution). The colors the camera captured were mostly accurate, but were rather undersaturated and somewhat dull looking, making even bright blue skies look like gloomy days. This can be fixed in any image editing program, but it does make the images look less appealing at first glance.

Overall, the EX-G1 feels like a case of style over substance: it's a small stylish camera, but the images it captures aren't that good.