Casio Exilim EX-Z300 Digital Camera First Impressions Review

The Casio Exilim EX-Z300  is a new $400 point-and-shoot model from Casio, due to ship in October. It has a 3-inch screen, 4x optical zoom, 10.1-megapixel resolution, and the option to capture HD video. Overall it struck us as an average effort, although it did have two interesting features. The first is family priority face detection. You access the "Set Family" function, snap photos of your loved ones, and the camera stores them internally and gives them focus priority next time you take a picture. The second innovation is Make-up Mode, which puts a quick Photoshop-style airbrush job a button-press away.

Other than these two features, the EX-Z300 resembles any other point-and-shoot with a focus on ease of use. The Casio press materials stress low light use as the camera's strong suit, a tough to claim to evaluate standing at a booth at Photokina. When we get the final version of this camera into our lab, we'll put its low-light capabilities to the test.