Casio EX-ZR100 - First Impressions

I ordered a ZR100 on Thursday last week and received it less than 24 hours after. The camera is replacing my broken TZ7. The TZ10 and the newer TZ20 were no option as I am avoiding to buy Panasonic products after a another very bad service experience. No more Panny, no more MediaMarkt.

Before ordering, I compared these cameras: Casio ZR100, Olympus SZ-30MR, Fujifilm F550 EXR, Sony HXV9 and Canon SX220 HS. Only the Canon is available in stores to test hands-on, so I "just" compared specifications and, where available, manuals.

Casio EX-ZR100 - First Impressions

Pros

• useful zoom range of 24-300 mm

• Speed: Power-up, AF lock, shutter lag, zoom operation = this ia quick little camera

• Image Quality better than expected (better than TZ7), even in fairly low light

• Macro / Super Macro modes

• Full HD video looks clear on a Full HD screen

• Takes nearly full resolution stills while taking a movie

• Large Li-Ion battery

Cons

• 3:2 mode not implemented well (has often to be re-applied again when switching modes)

• LCD screen becomes unusable in very bright sunlight

• "Best Shot" (Scene modes) often support only "10 MP" mode, and not 3:2

• Plastic body feels a little "cheap" compared to a metal body

• Flash is a little weak, and easy to obstruct with fingers

• Slow focus / occasional focus hunting in movie mode (due to low light or using the zoom)

• Image stabilization seems not very effective when taking movies

Not yet tested

• HDR / HDR art

• Panorama

• Super Resolution (SR) Zoom

• "Premium Auto" vs. Standard mode

There is a printed manual in the box, which only covers the very basics of the camera. I know that a lot of people ask for printed manuals, but in my opinion it should be the full manual then (it't more than 200 pages for the ZR100).

My conclusion: I quite like this camera and got used to it quickly, although (due to the abundance of functions) it may be difficult to get to the desired setting fast enough. But it is a "keeper" for sure.

(I will post sample images soon)

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your observations with us. All your information is very helpful to those of us in making our camera purchase decisions, and we appreciate your time and effort.

I currently I currently own the FH100, and was considering upgrading to the ZR100, but would really appreciate if you could help me with the answer to two things.

Most cameras I have used set the shutter speed at 1/60 second for flash pictures taken in auto mode, but for some reason, the FH100 always uses a shutter speed of 1/15 second, which creates a couple of undesirable side effects. There are workarounds, but I was wondering if the ZR100 exhibited this same behavior in auto mode using flash.

The other thing is, for high speed movies, the FH100 offered a 120fps, 640x480 mode as well as the 240, 420 and 1000 fps modes at reduced resolutions. Since Casio has not posted the manual yet for the ZR100, all I have found are spec lists at various sites, but none of them list the 120fps, 640x480 resolution option. Is this just an omission in the spec lists, or did they actually drop that option from the camera?

Thank you again for your time and help.
Rich

p.s. Is there any way you could possibly make the soft copy full users guide available to us online?

Thanks for posting your review. I'm trying to decide on getting the casio zr100.

Any additional photos, and further review of the other modes and functions would be most helpful. Thanks!

Thank you all for your kind comments. I will post samples soon, but I am a little short on time and the weather was quite bad yesterday.

By a fluke, I came across this link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?d5b4kx82pi7p791

Happy reading.

100

Very nice sample photos! Thanks for posting them.

Do you have... or could you post some photos from the zr100 in low light condition. Does the zr100 have a Auto mode for low light conditions? How well does the flash do also in these low light conditions. Thanks very much for you time!

For what it is worth, I had the opportunity to borrow a ZR100 for 10days on my vacation to Philipines.

I have uploaded a selection of photos (unfortunately most are post processed by Picasa).

Feel free to look thru them:
http://bit.ly/fE7qXu

If you are interested in seeing some originals, please send your request to doreview.9.richard_lim@spamgourmet.com & I will try to upload some originals to Picasa....

Overall, I bought the ZR100 because the FH100 was no longer available for a friend. However, since she was out of town and I was going on vacation myself, I got to play with it instead. So I decided to take the ZR100 along, instead of my FH20 which I consider too bulky to take along for budget airline trips...

I must say I am quite happy with the ZR100 and is considering trading in my battered TZ8 after it returns from the Panasonic service centre.

The Panorama shooting was neat....
Just select the mode, Press the shutter button and start turning.
Release the shutter when you are done (or times up).
And voila! a panorama!

100

Richard Lim wrote:

The Panorama shooting was neat....
Just select the mode, Press the shutter button and start turning.
Release the shutter when you are done (or times up).
And voila! a panorama!

I also like the panorama shooting mode, even if the image is only 1080 pixels in height in the end. Over the years, I took a lot of panorama shots with my previous cams, picture by picture of course, because none of them had a panorama mode or assistant. But I hardly ever created (stitched) a panorama at home. With the ZR100, even if the image may not be the best quality one can think of, you have a nice ready-made panorama picture within seconds.

A 180 degree example is attached below. 360 degree is no problem (even more...). Fast moving objects (cars, people walking by) may cause the panorama shooting to end before you want it, or there may be strange stitching effects.

RichSmith wrote:

Most cameras I have used set the shutter speed at 1/60 second for flash pictures taken in auto mode, but for some reason, the FH100 always uses a shutter speed of 1/15 second, which creates a couple of undesirable side effects. There are workarounds, but I was wondering if the ZR100 exhibited this same behavior in auto mode using flash.

The ZR100 sets the shutter speed at 1/60s in Auto mode (I just checked). My now dead Panasonic TZ7 used 1/30s, which was not fast enough in my opinion. Therefore I am quite happy with 1/60s.

Can the orientation of the panoramic picture be changed? instead of going from left to right, can you start from down and go up? as if taking a vertical panoramic of a tall building? the sony hx9v can do that, and i was wondering if it can be done with the zr100. thanks. great pics by the way!

ChrisSwiss wrote:

The ZR100 sets the shutter speed at 1/60s in Auto mode (I just checked). My now dead Panasonic TZ7 used 1/30s, which was not fast enough in my opinion. Therefore I am quite happy with 1/60s.

That's good news. No more workarounds.
Thanks very much for checking.

Amazon U.S. has just listed it as being sold by them (although temporarily out of stock), and I placed my order. I prefer Amazon even if I have to wait because of their reliable service and great return policy (just in case).

Also thanks for posting that link to the Users guide. I found the answer to my other question in there. They did drop the 120fps, 640x480 mode, which is disappointing. since it was the only high speed mode that offered VGA resolution.

Thanks again for your help. Enjoy your new camera.

Rich

ChrisSwiss wrote:

I also like the panorama shooting mode, even if the image is only 1080 pixels in height in the end.

Try this trick that I use with my Sony HX5V to get greater height resolution...

Tell the camera that you are going to take the panorama in a vertical direction, and then instead of holding the camera horizontally and moving it vertically, hold the camera vertically and move it horizontally. Works with the HX5, and I get a horizontal panorama with a height of 1920 instead of 1080.

Don't know if the Casio will let you fool it, but worth a try.
Have fun.
Rich

I have asked that question twice on these so far, and i am very curious as if this camera has those modes you were talking about, changing from horizontal to vertical panoramics. Thanks.

ballplayer29 wrote:

I have asked that question twice on these so far, and i am very curious as if this camera has those modes you were talking about, changing from horizontal to vertical panoramics. Thanks.

According to the users guide, it does.

ChrisSwiss posted a link to it a couple days ago.
http://www.mediafire.com/?d5b4kx82pi7p791

Good reading. Answers a lot of questions.

ballplayer29 wrote:

Can the orientation of the panoramic picture be changed?

From the manual: "You can select one of four directions: Right, Left, Up or Down". I did not try it out so far, but it seems to be possible. So it also should be possible what RichSmith suggested in another post: taking a higher resolution image by "fooling" the camera (e.g. set it to "Down", then hold the camera vertically and move to the right).

ordered my zr100 on Wednesday can't wait for it to arrive so i can start posting some photos of my own on another note wish i could have found the white one for sale but haven't seen it anywhere.