Casio Exilim EX-Z850 Digital Camera Review

Casio Exilim EX-Z850

Digital Camera Review

Oct 27, 2006 - By James Murray
1.8 The Casio Exilim EX-Z850 was released earlier this year at PMA 2006 and while not the most appealing model in terms of innovative styling, this camera does have some impressive specifications. Housed inside of a metal shell, this 8 MP camera has a 3x optical zoom lens, 34 preset scene modes, a full movie mode with editing in playback and both shutter and aperture priority modes. This camera will certainly appeal to beginning users looking for a camera to grow into with manual control over focus, white balance, exposure and ISO. The camera has a 2.5-inch LCD with 115,200 pixels and a real image optical viewfinder. The Casio Exilim EX-Z850 originally retailed for $399.99, but now retails for $349 on the Casio web site and can be found for even less online.
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Likes
- Logical menu interface with strong graphic design
- Live previews in menus
- Durable aluminum frame
- 34 scene modes
- Long battery life
- Price
Dislikes
- Poorly positioned controls
- Inaccurate color reproduction
- Low sharpening levels led to loss of detail
- High noise levels at ISO 200 and 400
- Limited sensitivity range (only up to ISO 400)
- Poor low light autofocus 
- Lots of noise in long exposures
- Terrible viewfinder
- Poor handling
- Dysfunctional color correction
- Poor LCD resolution

Conclusion
The Casio Exilim EX-Z850 has a sturdy aluminum body that measures 0.93 inches thick. The size and portability may be a big plus for many consumers, but there are tradeoffs. Those include poor handling, under-sized and oddly placed controls, and ports that are only accessible from a camera dock. Casio took some other shortcuts too: The LCD screen’s resolution is substandard and the optical viewfinder isn’t accurate at all, making both viewing options muddled. Still, this digital camera retails for $349 and can be found for significantly less online. The Casio Z850 stands near the top of its class in terms of build quality and manual controls in a price bracket where many competing models are plastic, with a primarily automatic interface. The Z850 doesn’t fall short in automatic modes either though. It provides users with 34 scene modes and the ability to save 999 more. Overall, the 8-megapixel Casio Z850 is a good candidate for budget consumers as the price continues to fall, but some of the camera’s shortcomings may be too much for many other consumers to take.

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