Body
This camera is a follow up to the previous EX-Z1000, the
first 10.1 megapixel compact camera. It now has a smaller body as well as has a
bigger and brighter LCD. The Z1000 retailed at $399.99 and now the
Z1050 is
retailed at $269.00 The body is made of aluminum. The back has a nice thumb grip
with 8 dots to help hold your grip while you use your index finger for the
shutter and zoom. Casio’s bodies are known to be silm and stylish. This camera
follows suit. It is 3.6 x 2.3 x 0.95 inches and is 0.81 inches at its thinnest
point. It weights only 4.4 ounces without the battery.
Display
The LCD is a 2.6 inch 14:9 formatted LCD. It is called the
“Super Bright” LCD because it automatically increase the brightness depending
on how much light it reads is around it. The LCD has a very limited viewing
angle. Looking at it other then directly onward gives a washed out look. The
extra wide screen leave room for a menu bar on the side while you are taking
pictures. This menu bar lets you quickly change settings such as the flash,
photo size, focus type, and etc.
Zoom
This is a unique camera for Casio using the zoom ring, Casio
uses mostly two buttons on the back for zoom. This zoom ring was found on the
z1000 as well. The zoom on this camera is a 3x 7.9-23.7mm optical zoom which is
a 38-114mm equivalent. The maximum aperture is F/2.8 at 38mm and F/5.1 at 114mm. One perk of having a 10MP camera is the use of
digital zoom. When you take a picture the zoom bar shows a green arrow where
the optical zoom ends, then it shows a red bar where lossless digital
zoom ends. That means if you select to take a picture at 5MP it will take a 10MP photo and
crop it down to what you see in the screen giving you a lossless digital zoom. After the red bar it will simply do a normal digital zoom which
crops the current picture and reduces its quality. You are only able utilize
this lossless digital zoom if you take a 5MP picture or smaller.
Features
As with all Casio’s they feature the Best Shot Feature. This
is a button located on the back labeled BS. There are 36 Best Shot scene modes
from portrait, scenery, food, for eBay, to some fun ones like retro and
monochrome, as well as some occasionally useful ones such as business cards, and
whiteboards. These best shots help beginners automatically setup options for
their shots.
There are various other options on this camera. The focus system has and Multi, Spot, and Auto Tracking focus. The Auto Tracking system will identify the subject of the camera then continue to identify it as you move the camera around or as the subject moves until you take the picture. The ISO can be set from 80-800 ISO. 1600 ISO can be reach if the High Sensitivity Best Shot is selected. The shutter has a default range of ½ to 1/1000th of a second. It can be set to 2 seconds if the Fireworks mode is selected and from 4-1/1000th if the Night Scene mode is selected. The Aperture is as large as f/2.8 to f/5.1 and as small as f/8. It also has the standard antishake for Casio cameras. It can also do a maximum of 7 shots per second in continuous shooting mode but only at 2MP.
Connectivity
Normal Casio cameras all come with a docking station which
is required to connect your camera to your computer or to charge the camera.
Even it’s predecessor the Z1000 had a cradle. Instead the
Z1050 has a separate battery
charger. You have to open the camera, take out the battery, charge the battery,
then put the battery back in. This is quite tedious. What is nice though it
uses a usb cable to copy pictures to a computer, too bad it wont charge the
camera too.
Overall if you’re looking for a cheap 10MP camera the Casio Ex-Z1050. Other then that it’s just a standard Casio camera. The 10 MP is a plus since it gives you lossless digital zoom for pictures taken at 5MP and under. Printing at 8x10 you only need a 2MP camera to print at 150 DPI. A good picture would be printed at 300 DPI and you only need 7.2MP
This camera can be found here:
http://www.casio.com/products/Cameras/Exilim_Zoom/EX-Z1050SR/
Specs
|
Model |
Casio Exilim Ex-Z1050 |
|
Street Price (August 07) |
230.00 |
|
MSRP |
269.99 |
|
Dimensions |
91 x 57 x 24 mm |
|
Weight
|
125g |
|
Image Resolution |
10.1 MP |
|
Movie Resolution |
640x480, 512x384, 320x240 |
|
Movie Frame Rate |
25.00, 12.50 |
|
Focal Length (35mm equivalent) |
38 - 114 mm |
|
Zoom Ratio |
3.00x |
|
Digital Zoom Values |
4x |
|
Auto Focus Assist Light |
Yes |
|
Normal Focus Range |
40 cm to Infinity |
|
Macro Focus Range |
10 - 50 cm |
|
Aperture Range |
f/2.8 - f/8.0 (wide) / f/5.1 - ??? (tele) |
|
LCD Size |
2.6 inches |
|
LCD Resolution |
114960 pixels |
|
ISO Settings |
80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 |
|
Shutter Speed Range |
4 - 1/1000 seconds |
|
Self Timer |
2 or 10 seconds |
|
Flash Modes |
Auto, On, Off, Soft Flash, Red Eye Reduction |
|
Flash Range |
10cm to 3.3m (W); 50cm to 1.8m (T) |
|
Memory Card Types |
SDHC / SD |
|
Memory Included (MB) |
15.4 |
|
Video Out |
Yes |
|
External Connections |
USB 2.0 Full (LOW) Speed |
|
Batteries Included |
1 x proprietary NP-40 Lithium Ion rechargeable |
