Casio Exilim EX-Z1050 Digital Camera Review

Connectivity
Software (3.0)
Previous Casio digital cameras came with archaic editing software that included cartoons of koala bears and lizards. It wasn’t very intuitive, so there are already some improvements seen on Casio’s new third-party software. The CD-ROM included with the Z1050 comes with the following: Photo Loader with Hot Album Ver 3.1, Photo Transport Ver 1.0, USB Driver B, Adobe Reader, Microsoft Direct X, and the User Manual on PDF. These programs only run on Windows operating systems; there isn’t any software for Macintosh computers.

Installation was an interesting process starting with a colorful “Let’s Install Photo Loader with Hot Album” window. The bright colors and graphics remind me of supermarket ads touting sales on bananas and chicken.

Photo Loader is incredibly slow. It took about 10 minutes to upload 400 images from a folder on my desktop. Once uploaded, things went a little smoother. The program has text labels rather than the older cartoon-style stuff, so it is much more intuitive. Users can sort images by the date the picture was taken or the date it was imported to the software using a sorting tool on the left side of the window. Users can also view different sizes of thumbnails and a calendar with buttons along the top of the window. From the bottom of the window, users can delete and rotate images. That’s as far as the editing goes though. This program is simply a fancy viewing browser. Users can print and email from this window, play slide shows, and create discs with photo slide shows (that’s the Hot Album part).

If users can’t view the movies properly, they should install the Direct X program. Even still, videos can only be played and stopped and the volume adjusted. Fast-forwarding, rewinding, and editing are not possible. There are more options in the playback mode of the camera than in this software.

The Photo Transport program is really a 1x2-inch window and a handful of buttons for transferring photos. It allows users to upload photos from a computer to the camera.

Overall, the included software is weak; there are hardly any editing features and it is laboriously slow.

Jacks, ports, plugs (5.0)
The top of the Z1050’s right side has a small plastic door that covers a single port. The door doesn’t exactly fit into the body perfectly so users should avoid putting the camera in vulnerable situations (i.e. by a misty waterfall, at a windy beach, etc.). The port itself fits the USB and AV cables. The USB function can be set to Mass Storage (USB Direct Print) or PTP (PictBridge) in the setup menu. The AV function can be set to NTSC or PAL in 4:3 or 16:9 format. The output audio is monaural. There is no optional power adaptor: Casio doesn’t sell one and there’s no place to put one. Thus, users have to keep batteries fresh. This is different than the camera’s predecessor, the Z1000, which had a port for a cradle and adapter. 

Direct Print Options (6.0)
The Casio Z1050 can print from the playback menu. Users can create “layout prints” from the menu: these consist of two templates that group images together on 7-megapixel scrapbook-like pages. The first template places two pictures on a page and the second template fits three. Users can choose the background color from six neutral choices. This features does make scrapbooking simpler. The actual printing is done through the DPOF Printing option in the playback menu. It allows users to easily select images, select all images, or cancel the order. Users can turn the date stamp on and off with the “BS” menu and adjust the number of prints to be made from 0-99. Prints can be made from movies with the Motion Print option: it allows users to select a frame from the video and create a small print from it individually. It can also group nine frames from the movie on one print: eight of the frames are automatically selected and the central frame is selected by the user. With 10.1 megapixels, the Casio Z1050 can potentially make very large prints – poster size according to the user manual.

Battery (7.0)
The Casio Z1050 has an NP-40 lithium-ion battery that gets decent mileage. It can snap 370 shots before needing a recharge. A battery indicator appears in the lower left corner of the LCD screen with three levels on it, so users should have plenty of notice before it runs out. Previous Exilim cameras came with cradles that charged the batteries, but the Z1050 has an external charger. The BC-31L battery charger consists of a base and a separate cable that connects it to the wall. This isn’t as nice and portable as a wall-mount charger, nor as sleek as a camera cradle charger. The 1.2-ounce battery takes about 150 minutes to fully charge. The camera is not compatible with any power adapters, so users should pay special attention to keeping the battery fresh, especially when performing functions like downloading pictures to a computer or updating the camera’s firmware.

Memory (3.75)
The Casio Exilim EX-Z1050 has 15.4 MB of internal memory, which is enough to snap an entire 2 images at the finest resolution. Users will have to purchase extra memory for this camera: it is compatible with SD, SDHC, and MMC media. Users can copy images from the card to the internal memory and vice versa in the playback menu.

Other features (7.0)
Voice Memo – Users can add voice memos in the playback menu using the Dubbing option, which allows users to add 30 seconds of audio to an image file. The monaural audio is saved as WAV and can be played back on the camera.

Voice Recorder – Near the end of the Best Shot mode menu is a voice recording mode that has nothing to do with images. This could be useful for lectures if the professor or speaker is within about 20 feet of the camera and speaking loudly, but it won’t record much if in a large lecture hall. Just on the internal memory, audio can record for up to 48 minutes in WAV format. It can be reviewed in the playback mode.

Basic Reference Guide – This disappointing inclusion is the only printed guide included with the camera. There are an entire 14 pages in English, and 14 pages each of 6 other languages. Most of the pages are cluttered with useless information like how to push the shutter release button and where to put the battery (c’mon guys, it’s not that hard). The guide is a PDF document on the included CD-ROM, but I’m not a fan of booting up my computer and finding a page in a PDF every time I can’t figure something out on the camera.

Dynamic Range – This is designed for use when shooting backlit subjects or in other situations where underexposure could easily occur. The dynamic range expands to the following options from the recording and playback menus: Expand +2, Expand +1, and Off. There isn’t a live view, but the resulting pictures certainly show a difference. It does keep the entire image well-exposed in tough lighting, but the images I took were still a bit furry on the edges.

Portrait Refiner – This setting is supposed to enhance skin tones by reducing the blemishes made by noise. The options are found in the quality portion of the recording menu: Noise Filter +2, Noise Filter +1, and Off. I snapped a few images of my palm with each setting and magnified them to look for differences, but I really didn’t see any. They all looked relatively noiseless but detail-less too.