Casio Exilim EX-Z850

Manual Control Options
Since it’s aimed at a slightly more advanced group of users, the Z850 offers some pretty good manual features. For those who want a little more creative control, there are both aperture and shutter speed priority AE options. Those settings can be accessed either via the mode dial or by the handy EX button on the back left of the camera. The "one-touch" EX button lets the user manually adjust several camera settings on one screen – including ISO, exposure, shutter speed, aperture, white balance and other functions. Kudos to Casio for giving so much control to the user. Surprisingly, some of the major photo-centric camera manufacturers such as Nikon and Canon don’t even offer this much control on their top slim point-and-shoot models.

Focus
Auto Focus
The 9-Point Multi AF offers the user a good range of focus areas that are clearly indicated on the screen. If a subject has multiple focus points, the autofocus does a good job of showing you just which spots you can hit. It’s also pretty quick, using contrast detection to lock in on a subject with just a half tap of the shutter button. There are also quite a few focus modes – Auto Focus, Macro mode, Pan Focus (movie only) Infinity mode and manual focus. Approximate auto focus ranges are: Auto Focus, 15.75" to infinity; Macro, 3.94" to 19.69."

Manual Focus
Under the manual focus setting, the user can select the AF area: selectable spot AF, multi AF or free AF. There’s also an AF Assist Light. Manual focus range is 3.94" to infinity.

Metering
Light metering is fairly standard on the Z850 with three settings – Multi-pattern, center-weighted and spot by CCD.

Exposure
Good control of exposure on Z850 is a welcome surprise. The camera has four settings – Program AE, Shutter Speed Priority AE, Aperture Priority AE and Manual exposure. Exposure compensation is also available from –2 to +2 EV in 1/3-stop increments.

White Balance
Another great function on the Z850 is the ability to adjust white balance manually. Enthusiasts and even some pros who might carry the Z850 around as a pocket camera will love being able to adjust the white balance as per the environment and/or the environmental conditions. There is also an Auto WB setting and six pre-set modes, calibrated to common light sources.

ISO
ISO is one area where the Z850 disappoints. Given all the manual controls, features and options, you’d think this camera would give you a broader range of sensitivity settings than it does. Unfortunately all you get is selectable ISO from 50 to 400. There is apparently also an ISO 1600 setting but that’s only selectable when the Best Shot Anti-Shake or High Sensitivity preset has been chosen. We’ll explore the capabilities of this 1600 setting in the full review.

Shutter Speed
Under Program AE, shutter speed on the Z850 is from 1/2 to 1/1600 of a second. In Shutter Speed Priority and Manual Exposure AE, it’s from 60 to 1/600th of a second. In Aperture Priority AE, it’s from 1 to 1/1600 of a second.

Aperture
In Program and Shutter Speed Priority AE, aperture ranges from f/2.8 to f/8. In Manual Exposure and Aperture Priority AE, it’s from f/2.8 to f/4.