Casio Exilim EX-Z1050

At first glance, the Casio Exilim EX-Z1050 looks like every other digital camera and adds funky color choices; pink, blue, silver, and black. Look a little closer though, and you’ll see that it offers 10.1 megapixels – a spec that’s plastered on almost every surface of the camera. Besides that, the features are pretty basic: a 3x optical zoom lens and 38 Best Shot scene modes for a $269 price tag.

Physical Tour

Front (8.0)
The Casio Exilim EX-Z1050 looks like other digital cameras from this manufacturer. Its front face is mostly flat with rounded corners and a lens that protrudes about a tenth of an inch when powered down. The lens is on the right side of the camera’s front and is embellished with the following lightly printed labeling: "Exilim Optical 3x, f=7.9-23.7mm 1:2.8-5.1." Around the base of the lens is a chrome ring with tiny grooves for decoration. In the upper right corner of the Z1050’s front are two circles: the larger one is the auto focus assist/self-timer lamp and the smaller one is a microphone. To the upper left of the lens is the long oval-shaped flash unit with a printed Casio label to its left. An embossed chrome Exilim brand name sits in the lower left corner, and the camera’s swankiest feature is worn in the center of the left side: "10.1 Mega Pixels." Behold the 10.1-megapixel digital camera. Ooooo, ahhhh.

Back (7.5)
The back of this digital camera isn’t very flat. The left side is occupied by a 2.6-inch LCD screen that is wider than usual and framed in black. In the lower left corner of the black frame is another Exilim logo. And in case you forgot how awesome your camera is, there is a "10.1 Mega Pixels" label in the upper left corner of the back.

The LCD is slightly raised on a platform, as are the two buttons above it. The Playback and Recording mode buttons sit side by side above the right half of the LCD. A small LED sits to their left, indicating when the camera is busy reading or writing to the memory card. In the upper right corner of the Z1050’s back are eight tiny raised plastic bumps meant to keep the thumb from slipping. These actually work better than most and are actually a little sharp; they could definitely exfoliate your fingers so you have a smoother touch.

Below this series of bumps is a tiny menu button with a multi-selector beneath it. The top of the selector is labeled "DISP" to change the display on the LCD while the bottom is graced with the flash icon so the flash modes can be selected. There is a trash can icon next to the flash to indicate an easy deletion solution in the Playback mode. In the middle of the multi-selector ring is a central set button. Beneath the multi-selector is the "BS" button that matches the menu button in size, shape, and color, and is meant to select the "Best Shot," not any other "BS" you may have been thinking of.

Left Side (7.0)
The left side of the Casio Z1050 looks very plain and is pretty much featureless. It has a shiny 1/3-inch band down the middle that is surrounded by the cheaper front and back panels.

Right Side (7.0) 
The same shiny band that was on the left side extends down the right side, as well. There is a freely moving wrist strap attachment near the center of the right side. Above it is a rubber door that opens to reveal the camera’s single port for AV/USB cables.

Top (7.0)
A shiny band runs down the center of the left and right sides of the camera. On the left side the phrase "Digital Camera EX-Z1050" is engraved into the band, with a grating for a speaker below it. On the right side is a tiny power button with a much larger shutter release button to its right. Surrounding the shutter release button is a zoom ring that moves right to zoom in and left to zoom out.

Bottom (5.0) 
The left side of the bottom is a battery/memory card compartment that slides to the edge and springs open nicely. Just right of the bottom’s center is a quarter-inch tripod socket constructed of plastic and colored similarly to the body (ours is blue).