Casio Exilim EX-Z750

Opinion: I've been waiting for this camera to appear in the shops, to replace my stolen Pentax Optio 3. It was a toss up between this or the Optio S5n or the Sony T3.

What swayed me to the Z750 was thats its the first of the new generation of 7Mpixel pocket cameras; has a 2.5" TFT and high res Mpeg4 movie mode.

I am very impressed with the mass of functions and menu system, with very clear on screen menu displays. I like the Canon IXUS style zoom toggel button over the shutter switch ... far easier to operate than the Optio type on body zoom switches.

The screen is very clear and visible in all light conditions I have used the camera in (although you do have a viewfinder for extreeme light conditions), the screen also has a 'bright' setting which is not default but will drain the battery quicker. My only comment on the screen is that side by side with say the Sony T3 2.5" TFT its probably of slightly lower resolution but under normal use you would not know and it probbaly contributes to the Z750's good battery life.

Picture quality is good, on par with my old Pentax Optio, some colours show a slight saturation but I havent played around with the 'best shot' pre programed modes (of which their are loads, all with handy easy pic icons to select). 7 Mpixel is a boom, zooming in on my 19" monitor to 2x I cannot see any pixelation and will give the flexibility of being able to make large crops from pictures and still be able to print A4.

Start up very very fast; as is zooming. The multiple shot and continous modes work well and their even a function to take about 30 shots in about 2 seconds and you pan the camera that get stored as 'tiles' to a single shot ... great for say airshows or action shots.

The mode select wheel on the back top right of the back of the body feels comfortable to turn using the thumb whilst the index finger is on the shutter or zoom- used to select movie/snapshot/voice record/manual/bestshot modes ..... (in total 30 pre stored best shot modes all with on screen icons to select with text description ... plus you can create your own ).

Flash seems OK, in total darkness good to around 15ft although will illuminate over that the image is not properly exposed and looks grainy .... Indoor night shots with ambient light its is fine for people shots ..... The Sony T3 which I looked at has bad write ups for low light with such a small aperture lens, the Z750 is F2.8 at wide angle which is probbaly average for a pocket camera like this ... and I guess if you want A1 flash shots buy an SLR with decicated add on flash. For me and my uses the flash on the Z750 'does the job' ... their are also some exposure compensation modes for long distance flash shooting ...

The movie mode is very good, although I notice all the new generation of cameras have Mpeg4 640x480 30 frames/ses. With unlimitted movie length and a 1gig SD card you have a mini camcorder, the quality is good for full screen with good sound reproduction (although not up to DVD digicam quality, but very good). The video playback modes are very neat, you get a a whole array of onscreen functions like pause; step; slow etc ... can even crop video before/after that point and cut stills from video ... very clever!

The paper manual is very basic but the full version is on the supplied CD and very comprehensive (its in Adobe PDF format) and has plenty of colour screen shots showing operation etc ...

Manual control is very good - Aperture and Speed priority modes + total manual (select shutter speed and aperture) give great flexibility. Also the manual focus mode works well and also has a selectable 'infinite focus' mode ...

The combined charging/pc cradle has 'usb' button that automatically opens a window on the PC when pressed with the Casio folder ..... The USB2 connection to the PC is very fast, a 25 Mbyte movie file transfers in about 20 seconds and typically get about 1Meg/second ... High res full quality image files are around 4.4 Mbyte each at 7Mpixels

The Macro mode is automatic and works very well, and with the added bonus of such high res you can digitaly zoom further on the PC ...

Overall -
A great small little camera ... way too many functions to list here, including fully manual; loads of per-set picture modes; various focus modes (spot; average etc); great video capture and playback functions; lovely large and clear 2.5" TFT screen and 7Mpixels with a claimed 320 shot battery life ...... all in the size of a pack of cards ..... Can't really go wrong !

Opinion: Having had an Ixus 40 which was good and then an Optio S5i that was pretty awful the Casio is a revelation! The features and the results are fantastic! It is so easy to find your way around the camera, everything is simple and easy to use, confusion is kept to a minimum. The quality of the MPEG4 video and the facility of the burst mode and alll the presets makes this the perfect camera for someone who needs a really good everyday point and shoot camera with that little bit extra! The screen is great and at 2.5 ins makes the menus easy to read and the photos look fantastic. I would reccomend an SD card of at least 1G and as fast as you can get to get the best out of the burst mode and MPEG video.

Opinion: This is the ONLY subcompact that offers a true Shutter Priority Mode. Unlike the Canon SD and the Sony W series, the Casio (and the Sony P series) has a high speed/sports program...something lacking in the CanonSD and Sony W. The Casio uses the same highly regarded 7 MP Sony chip that is used in the Canon G6, Canon S70, Canon SD 500, Sony W7, Sony P150/200 and Nikon CP7900. Casio does not advertise or list all of the many wonderful features that this camera has.
Far above average AF in low light. 3 Meter pattern options and AF pattern options. Manual focus. Manual Mode. Individual control settings (5 choices in each) over sharpness, saturation, contrast and brightness. etc. etc. Wondeful image quality (that highly regarded Sony 7MP sensor)! In all a very capable, subcompact with great versatility and the ability to be custom configured in many ways. A shirt pocket wonder.

Opinion: This is an excellent camera.
I'm very much a novice user of cameras, I used to take pictures with the Powershot G4, but I've realized that i need a decent camera that I can carry around so that I can take pictures when I spot anything interesting.

I got a great deal for the camera, at only $420 for the camera + 512 SD card, and straight off i've been taking good pictures.

The strengths are clear and differentiate this camera with others in this category, small size, longer battery life, use of SD card, quick response times and good video recording.

I like the camera a lot and I don't think I would change much to it at all. I think the features are very good for such a compact camera. It is much better than the competition because a few cons were unbearable for me... Sony (Pro: Better looking, Cons:Memory Stick, battery life, more expensive), Canon (Pro: Quality build, Con: Small screen, big, ugly, more expensive), Panasonic (Pro: Good looking, better lens, Con: Poor battery life, No viewfinder, heavier).