Auto Mode
The automatic mode can be easily found by pushing the button with the red camera on it. A menu pops up, and users can scroll between Snapshot, Best Shot, Movie, Still and Sound, and Voice. Snapshot is Casio’s term for the fully automatic mode. While it would have been nice to have a one-touch auto button on the camera body, finding it in the LCD screen isn’t exactly tedious either.
Drive / Burst Mode
Unfortunately, there is no burst mode on the Z57 – an odd and critical exclusion for those reliant on speed.
Playback Mode
Images can be easily viewed on the oversized 2.7-inch LCD screen either in single frames or in pages of nine per screen. Pictures can also be viewed in slide shows, which is much more enjoyable to view when the camera is connected to a television with the A/V out cable. Each image can be enlarged 4x and resized, trimmed, reversed or rotated. A Calendar function chronologically organizes all images in the memory, which is a nice feature if users have large memory cards holding vast amounts of files. Movies can also be played back with sound.
Movie Mode
The Casio Exilim EX-Z57 has a movie mode that is good for emailing or posting on the web, but a bit limited for television viewing. With 320 x 240 pixels, the Z57 shoots 15 frames per second. This is slightly choppy, but better than flip animation. This digital camera will record audio, though the quality is not too impressive. The microphone picks up small noises, distorting the sound and reducing clarity. There are some positive features to the movie mode: the length of the movie clip is only limited to the capacity of the memory card. There is also a small amount of zoom available in the movie mode; this is a rare feature in compact digital cameras to have any bit of zoom. Beware of zooming in while recording a movie, as the more you close in on a subject, the more exaggerated jerky movement will be. Overall, the movie mode has some interesting features, but the resolution and speed (basic capture capability) isn’t up to par with other models.
Custom Image Presets
This Casio Exilim is skinny, stylish, and lacks major manual options, so it is clearly targeted towards point-and-shoot consumers. There is a huge market for fashionable, simplistic cameras with basic features, and Casio targets this crowd successfully, offering an array of scene selections, which it calls its Best Shot mode. The following scenes are available: Portrait, Scenery, Portrait with Scenery, Coupling Shot, Pre-Shot, Children, Candlelight Portrait, Party, Pet, Flower, Natural Green, Sundown, Night Scene, Night Scene Portrait, Fireworks, Food, Text, Collection, Monochrome, Retro, Twilight, Business Cards and Documents, and White Board.
This long list far surpasses the basics, opting for a flashier, more eclectic inclusion of applications, such as the Coupling Shot. The Coupling Shot combines two pictures that are taken simultaneously, aligning them next to each other. This is one of those impractical, yet oddly enjoyable modes. Users can take the right side of one person and put it on the left half of another person. An included Business Cards and Documents mode is slightly more useful. This mode takes text that is shot at an angle and straightens it to make it easier to read. Perhaps the best aspect of the custom image presets is the menu layout presented when scrolling through the options. It is probably the best layout I’ve seen. As users scroll up and down through the options, there is a text title, a short five-or-so-word explanation of the mode, and a sample photo of what the scene is used for – a remarkable resource for beginner users or those not yet accustomed to digital camera terminology.
