Casio Exilim EX-Z1050

Viewfinder (0.0)
There isn’t an optical viewfinder on this digital camera, so users have to resort to the 2.6-inch LCD screen with its wide view. The wide screen is 14:9 formatted, which is quite an odd size. Most of the image sizes are 4:3, so the image can either fit to the left of a “panel” menu display or black bars frame the right and left sides when the “panel” display is turned off. The panel display is a vertical strip of nine settings on the right that act as a sort of “function menu.” These are the most frequently used settings and make them easier to access than placing them in Casio’s lengthy menu.

To access the function menu users must push in the Set button and then navigation is enabled. Otherwise, pushing around the multi-selector activates features like the self-timer and the flash mode. Users can change the information displayed on the viewfinder by pushing the top of the multi-selector, labeled “DISP.” Information can be hidden or viewed and a histogram can be added. The resolution on the LCD screen isn’t the greatest and the refresh rate is typical, so fast-moving subjects look a little jerky. But the LCD viewfinder is fairly typical of point-and-shoots.

LCD Screen (5.5)
Casio included a strangely shaped 14:9-formatted LCD monitor on the back of the Z1050. None of the image sizes fit into this screen, so there are always black bars on the edges. The only time when the space is truly utilized is when the “panel display” menu appears to the right of 4:3 images.

The LCD measures 2.6 inches diagonally and has only 115,000 pixels. The individual dots on the screen can be seen so viewing pictures isn’t completely smooth; it’s sometimes hard to tell if images are in focus.

Casio calls this LCD “Super Bright” because it has technology that automatically brightens the screen when outdoors. Unfortunately this isn’t enough and viewing outdoors under the bright sun is nearly impossible. To complicate matters, the viewing angle is extremely limited so users can’t see the image while holding the camera above, below, or to the sides of eye-level.

Overall, the LCD screen is a cheap component with its low resolution, limited viewing angle, and odd format.

Flash (6.0)
The flash is oddly located to the upper left of the lens. Many cameras cram the flash into the upper right corner of the front, but then the left fingers sometimes wander in the way and block the flash altogether. Some cameras place the flash directly above the lens; this is preferable because it garners the most even coverage of the frame, but if too close to the lens it can cause red eye. It looks like there wasn’t any room above or to the right of the lens, so the camera’s designers positioned it to the left.

The positioning actually wasn’t a huge issue in the images, but the flash still produced a bright spot in the center. All of the edges were slightly underexposed too. The flash reaches up to 10.83 feet when the lens is zoomed out and then drops off to 5.91 feet when the lens is zoomed in. This short range is a bit disappointing. It won’t work well in the macro mode either: the Z1050’s flash is only effective from 1.31 feet. The flash intensity can be adjusted on a 5-step scale within the recording menu, although the option is buried in a long list so it isn’t easy to find.

When snapping self-portraits and such, subjects tended to be nice and bright but all else in the background vanished into black. This can be remedied by activating the flash assist in the quality portion of the recording menu. This supplements the flash by increasing the ISO automatically. Obviously this feature does not work if the ISO is manually adjusted. It also won’t work if the flash intensity, exposure value, or contrast setting is changed. The flash assist really makes a difference and looks a bit better at first glance on the LCD screen, but upping the ISO increases noise and decreases dynamic range (for more on this, see the Testing/Performance section of this review).

The flash modes can be accessed from the bottom of the multi-selector; options include auto, on, off, soft flash, and red-eye reduction. Grouped with the drive modes is a Flash Continuous mode that snaps three pictures in one second using the flash. The flash isn’t nearly as powerful though. When zoomed out, the flash reaches 1.31-6.56 feet and only 1.64-3.61 feet when zoomed in. Overall, the Casio Z1050’s flash unit took a lot of coaxing to produce nicely lit subjects. There are lots of options available like the flash assist and flash intensity, but most point-and-shooters won’t want to play the trial-and-error game to adjust these and get decent pictures.

Zoom Lens (5.0)
The Casio Exilim EX-Z1050 has a 3x optical zoom lens that extends from the front of the camera when it is turned on. It measures 7.9-23.7mm, equivalent to a 38-114mm lens in the more traditional 35mm format. Casio’s lens is constructed from seven lenses in five groups with an aspherical lens, but its quality doesn’t transfer into the images.

One of the pictures I took was of my son standing next to a window with the sun’s rays shining down on him. It looked good on him, although contrast was strong, but when photographed, the sunshine looked like a bright white spot on the floor. That’s common, although the purple lining around the light shows a flaw of the lens.

The lens’ aperture opens as wide as f/2.8 when zoomed out and f/5.1 when zoomed in. Don’t expect great low light shots when zoomed in: the tiny aperture won’t let in enough light to properly expose the image.

The zoom lens can be controlled with a ring that surrounds the shutter release button. When it is pushed, a horizontal bar appears on the bottom of the LCD screen. It shows where users are in the 3x range with a line. The control isn’t very sensitive. It stops at only six focal lengths when zooming in and five zooming out; it tends to regurgitate a bit when zooming out too. For instance, it zooms out and then when your finger releases it zooms in and out again real quick.

The camera has 4x digital zoom that can be turned on and off in the menu. When it is on, it shows up on the zoom scale as a sort of addendum. The optical zoom is shown on the left of the horizontal bar that appears on the LCD and the digital zoom on the right. Separating the optical from the digital is a line that acts as a sort of reality check. When users zoom in, the zoom stops at the line – as if to say “Do you really want to do this?” The zoom control will only move when pushed again.

Grouped with the drive modes is a Zoom Continuous mode, but it really isn’t a drive mode at all. When this is activated, the camera snaps only one picture. It also saves a file of the cropped center of the original image; all of this is done in post-processing. The second image saved is only three megapixels. So really, this has nothing to do with the optical zoom lens.

Unfortunately, the Casio Z1050’s optical zoom lens is just another cheap component.

Testing / Performance Page 3 of 13 Design / Layout Casio Exilim EX-Z1050 Digital Camera Review Navigation