Casio Exilim EX-Z60 First Impressions Review

Manual Control Options
This being a point-and-shoot camera, there isn’t much in the way of manual control. A high speed shutter setting prevents blurred pictures in low light, but its actual setting was not listed.

Focus
Auto Focus
Like other cameras in this class, the EX-Z60 uses contrast detection on the CCD. Casio provides either a selectable spot or multi spot setting. Macro focusing is a selectable option. There is a Pan focus option that we did not have an opportunity to test; however, we will evaluate it fully when we conduct our full review of the Z60 in the coming months.

Because of the screen viewfinder, it is hard to evaluate the performance of the focus in a precise way. Casio lists the focus range in normal mode as 15.75 inches to infinity, with macro mode ranging from 3.94 inches to 19.69 inches.

Manual
Focus distance can be changed manually, but this function is not so useful in a camera that uses the display screen only for viewing. You can set the focus manually to 3.94 inches to infinity.

Metering
Metering can be set to either multi-pattern, center weighted or spot, which are the common and expected options.

Exposure
Exposure compensation of +/- 2 EV is provided in increments of 1/3 EV, but there is no other way of controlling exposure, such as adjusting the shutter speed or aperture opening.

White Balance
Offered white balance modes are Auto, Fixed and manual. Six preset settings for daylight, cloudy, tungsten, etc. are provided in the fixed mode. Alterations to white balance are displayed on the viewing screen in real time so you can see the effect, which is always a nice feature. Incorporation of a manual adjustment tool is a nice touch and will help ensure that users can properly calibrate the recorded color to the lighting of the scene. It’s adjusted using the shutter button, but the scale is arbitrary and it is not clear if it adjusts Kelvin temperature up or down only.

ISO
Auto is the default mode for ISO control, but you can select from options of 50, 100, 200 and 400. Fixed settings are reached easily in the Quality dropdown menu. This range was fine for cameras of last year, but including longer ISO ranges on compacts with at least one ISO option past 400 is a trend of 2006.

Note that there was a visible increase in the EX-Z60’s image noise as ISO setting was increase to its maximum of 400, but it did not seem any worse than other cameras in this price range, however, we will explore this in more depth when we conduct our studio tests on the Casio Exilim Z60 in the upcoming months. Check back for our full review of the camera.

Shutter Speed
There is no adjustment per se of shutter speed. The company lists a range of 1/2 to 1/2000 in normal shooting mode, and Casio says that the "Fireworks" setting increases the shutter time to 2 seconds. User will have to use this mode to get longer shutter speeds.

Aperture
The variable aperture zoom lens has a range of f/3.1 to f/5.9 from wide angle to telephoto. There is no manual adjustment.