Casio Exilim EX-Z850

Viewfinder
The welcome surprise of the Z850 is its optical viewfinder. While most compact digital cameras have ditched this feature in deference to the large LCD on the back, the Z850 is able to get the best of both worlds with optical and LCD viewing capability. Compact models at the higher end seem to maintain their optical viewfinders, but with LCD screens getting larger and larger we wonder how long users will appreciate this feature until it too becomes a rarity.

LCD Screen
Casio runs into trouble here with its LCD. While we love the large screens on small digital cameras, why oh why do manufacturers fill them with so few pixels, especially on the advanced models? On the Z850’s 2.5-inch screen, there are only 115,200 pixels, which is not nearly enough to get an accurate read of captured image quality. Perhaps general consumer electronics manufacturers, including Sony and Panasonic, are less mindful of photographers’ particular needs? In contrast, Nikon, Canon and Kodak included lovely screens with upwards of 230,000 pixels this year.

On the upside, the LCD does include Casio’s "Super Bright" technology. According the press material, it generates about 1,200 cd/m2 of luminescent output, which is designed to make it easier to view when outdoors. Unfortunately, since we saw this camera tethered to a booth at a trade show, we weren’t able to fully review this feature in a variety of lighting conditions. We’ll revisit it in an upcoming full review.

Flash
The Z850’s flash ranges from 0.33’ to 14.11’ (W) and 1.64’ to 7.87’ (T). An interesting new feature called Rapid Flash lets the user take three flash photos in succession in one second to better capture the moment. When the EX-Z850 is in this mode, also called Flash Continuous Shutter, the flash’s range is 1.31’ to 10.83’ (W) and 1.64’ to 5.91’ (T). We will more fully test these specs and flash performance under controlled conditions in a follow-up review.

Other flash modes on the camera are Auto Flash, Forced flash ON, OFF, High Power Flash, Soft Flash and Red-eye reduction which uses a pre-flash.

Lens
The variable focal length lens on the Z850 is a pretty standard 3x zoom, which translates to approximately 38mm (W) to 114mm (T) in a 35mm format. The lens is made up of 7 elements in five groups with an aspherical lens. Aperture range is f/2.8 (W) to f/5.1(T). Along with the 3x zoom, the camera comes with an 8x digital zoom for a total of 24x when combined. As always, consumers should be aware that digital zoom degrades the image. On brief tests with the camera’s 3x optical lens, the zoom seemed fairly responsive though further testing will be necessarily to evaluate color fringing and corner sharpness.