Casio Exilim EX-Z700 Digital Camera Review

by Emily Raymond
Published on November 22, 2006

Navigation
Intro	Testing / Performance
Physical Tour	Components
Design / Layout	Modes
Control Options	Image Parameters
Connectivity / Extras	Overall Impressions
Conclusion	Specs / Ratings
Photo Gallery

 

The Z700 is a point-and-shoot digital camera, but it comes with a surprising number of manual options. Most of the options are buried in the recording menu: metering, AF mode, AF area, focus, ISO, white balance, and exposure compensation. Users can make it a little easier to access these features by assigning them to the left and right sides of the multi-selector; this is done in the setup menu. This camera does not have manual control over shutter speed and aperture, so diehards will be disappointed.

 

Auto Focus (6.0)
The contrast detection auto focus system isn’t incredibly sophisticated. It shows many of the same problems that exist with other compact models: blurred images, audible noise, and not a very good range. The Z700 can focus from 15.75 inches to infinity normally and 5.91-19.69 inches in the macro mode. Most cameras’ macro modes can focus as close as an inch or two, so the Casio Z700 is very limited in just how close it can get. The focusing system makes a tiny noise within the lens. As for the blurred images, they happen most often in low light – even with the Anti Shake or High Sensitivity modes selected and even with the auto focus assist lamp illuminated. The following auto focus modes are available: Auto Focus, Macro Focus, Pan Focus, and Infinity. Most cameras have auto, macro, and infinity, but the Pan option is still a rarity. It fixes its focus to a certain distance and locks it. When the camera is focused, green boxes appear. There are nine boxes that appear a translucent gray until used as a point of focus. There are Spot and Multi auto focus area modes; the latter mode allows more than one box to light up green and focus at once. There is a Quick Shutter option on the Z700 that lets users bypass the auto focus system altogether. This doesn’t seem like a great idea anyway, and the auto focus system really doesn’t take that long. It sure doesn’t have the amount of shutter lag that is present on most compact models. It’s certainly better than previous Casio digital cameras. The auto focus system has its drawbacks: trouble in low light and low contrast, a bit of noise, and limited macro. But it works fairly quickly and does well in good lighting.

Manual Focus (2.0)
The Casio Exilim Z700 has a manual focus mode, but it isn’t very intuitive. It is selected in the menu, but when users exit the menu there are no on-screen instructions to tell how to focus. After some guesswork, users will find that you have to push the Set button to change the focus. The center of the image is magnified, so it is easier to see whether the subject is in focus. The manual focus ranges from 5.91 inches to infinity and works well – better than most compact digital cameras’ manual focus modes for sure.

 

ISO (6.0)

The Z700 has an automatic ISO mode and 50-400 manual settings. This range used to be standard – about two years ago! Casio is behind the times on this one. Manufacturers are offering more and more sensitivity as consumers shun the flashes in low light. There are two modes on the camera that use an ISO 800 setting: Anti Shake and High Sensitivity. The ISO 800 setting is not available for manual setting, though, which is too bad. Looking at images taken with those modes, the High Sensitivity in particular, explains why it is not offered as a manual setting. The pictures are horribly discolored, over-saturated, noisy, and rarely focused.
 

The white balance menu provides live views that help beginners choose between the following: Daylight, Overcast, Shade, Day White Fluorescent, Daylight Fluorescent, Tungsten, Auto, and Manual. The auto mode seemed to work fairly well, although the manual mode is almost guaranteed to work better at all times. It is fairly simple to set. It is set while in the menu, with on-screen instructions prompting users to push the shutter release button while framing a plain white surface. With such a limited ISO selection, the absence of a dedicated flash white balance setting will be missed. 

The Casio Z700 has a 1/2.5-inch CCD with 7.2 megapixels for snapping pictures. Those pictures can be taken using the many automatic modes on the camera, but the exposure of those pictures cannot be manually adjusted. While no shutter speed or aperture settings can be tweaked, there is an exposure compensation range (the standard +/- 2 EV in 1/3 steps) that displays a live view. If users press the top portion of the multi-selector, full shooting info appears (including the shutter speed and aperture settings) as well as a histogram. The histogram helps users check the exposure. Red, green, and blue lines also grace the chart. Unfortunately, the histogram is incredibly tiny and difficult to see.

The Casio Exilim EX-Z700 has the typical metering options available: Multi pattern, center weighted, and spot. The first option is the default and seems to work fairly well. There is a Backlight scene mode that uses the spot metering mode to keep subjects properly exposed and full of details.

 

Shutter Speed (0.0)

Although the shutter speed cannot be manually adjusted, the numbers are displayed in the shooting information when the top of the multi-selector is pushed. The mechanical shutter automatically flips as fast as 1/2000th of a second and as slow as a ½ second. There are exceptions to the slow end of the range though. In the Fireworks mode, the camera always uses a 2-second time. In the Night scene mode, the range is widened 1/2000-4 seconds.

 

Aperture (0.0)

The aperture can’t be picked by users, but it can be viewed. The lens offers maximum apertures of f/2.7-4.3 and a minimum aperture of f/7. This is certainly a small range, but the max f/2.7 aperture at the widest focal length is good news.