Casio Exilim EX-Z300

Noise
Image noise is that insidious visiual static that appears most noticeably in solid-color areas, and increases dramatically as ISO sensitivity settings goes up. On a camera with good image noise performance, perhaps you'll be blessed with only a light sprinkling of the stuff, whereas some cameras of lesser quality may produce images that are entirely unusable when lighting conditions get tough. We test for image noise by shooting the ever-popular GretagMacbeth chart at every full-resolution ISO as well as the camera's auto ISO setting, and use Imatest to determine the percentage of image noise present.

Noise – Manual ISO (12.99)
The Z300 has an ISO range of ISO 64 to ISO 3200, an impressive spread for a pocket camera. You expect to see the noise percentage increase in concordance with the ISO, which you can notice in the graph below. The minor increase in noise levels off after ISO 400, which indicates a competent noise reduction system kicks in at that setting.

This is another area where the Z300 has excelled. At ISO 1600, the noise percentage is beneath 1.25%, and at ISO 3200 it only 1.4%. This camera will keep noise levels low, especially at that sweet spot of ISO 400 to 1600, where you can actually shoot in mediocre light without requiring a flash.

Auto Noise (2.96)
More than just a measure of image noise, our auto test tells how well the camera chooses the best ISO for a given situation. If you rely on your automatic settings, you want your camera to choose an ISO that's appropriate for the light levels. Alas, even under or bright studio lights the Z300 chose to shoot at ISO 400, which produced a comparatively low score. If it had chosen an appropriate light sensitivity for the situation, somewhere between ISO 100 and ISO 200, it would have scored substantially better.

Low Light (5.20)
Our low light tests are twofold: first shooting at varied lighting levels, and second shooting long exposures. The former involves lighting the GretagMacbeth chart to 60 lux (approximately normal indoor illumination), 30 lux (equivalent to a single 40-watt bulb), 15 lux (the light provided by a television screen) and 5 lux (about a single candle in a dark room), shooting at ISO 1600, and analyzing noise levels and color accuracy with Imatest.


The Exilim EX-Z300 did quite well in this test, keeping its color accuracy above average, especially at 30 and 15 lux. It also kept noise levels at a reasonable level, though it struggled to focus under the minimal illumination provided by the 5 lux setup.

The second half of this test is based on long exposure. The Z300 can only reach exposure lengths of 0.5 seconds normally (but up to four seconds in night mode), which makes it not much good for anyone desiring to take long-exposure photography. Within the bounds of that short exposure, the color accuracy was good, but the image came out under-saturated.

Casio Exilim EX-Z300 Low Light Scores

Still Life
To illustrate the effect of shooting at different ISOs, we photograph the same two scenes at every available ISO, using the camera's automatic exposure system under fluorescent and incandescent light. Click on the thumbnails below to see the full-size originals, but be aware that the files are large and may take time to load.

Video Performance (6.13)
The Exilim EX-Z300 is an odd beast, in that there's no designated video mode. Instead, you press a shiny red button to start recording. On the whole, the Z300 did relatively well for video, except in the resolution test. We test at two light levels: 3000 lux and 30 lux. The former represents filming under bright sunlight, while the latter is more of what you'd see in a poorly lit room or around a campfire. We record the footage in HD mode (720p), and then extract frames from this via Quicktime to analyze using Imatest.