Overview
The Casio Exilim EX-Z60 is a six megapixel digital camera with a three times optical zoom lens. It is a fairly slim model and will slip into a large pocket. It is a simple digital camera and it should not take long to get to grips with it. In terms of price this is one of the cheapest cameras of its type that I am aware of. Therefore the Exilim EX-Z60 is likely to appeal to anyone who is looking for a straightforward point and shoot camera that is easy to carry around and will not break the bank.
Main Features
Megapixels:
Zoom:
LCD Screen:
Dimensions:
Weight:
6
3x
2.5 inches
90 x 60 x 27.2mm
136g
Macro:
HD Movies:
Manual Controls:
Batteries:
Memory Cards:
10cm
No
No
Lithium-ion Rechargeable
SD/MMC
Image Quality
The test shots for the Exilim EX-Z60 fall into two distinct categories. The categories are those taken outdoors in good lighting conditions and those taken indoors where the light is not so good.
Looking at the outdoor photos these are quite pleasing. In terms of sharpness they are not the very best, but the camera is still capable of taking a well focused photo. If you take a look at the first test shot you will notice the tiles on the roof of the building could be clearer. This is an area that causes problems for the majority of cameras and it is only those with the very best lenses that can cope with this.
Focusing does tail off slightly towards the edges of each photo, but again I would say you can find many digital cameras that are a lot worse than this one in that respect. The camera handles light and dark areas well. Often a digital camera will struggle to bring out detail in these areas, but I cannot detect any real problems with the Exilim EX-Z60. One problem I have noticed is a degree of pixilation showing up in the sky. This is where the sky does not look completely smooth.
I like the outdoor portrait shot and there are no problems to report with it. The picture was taken in the shade on a cloudy day. I used the cloudy setting for white balance and this gives a warmer feel to the shot than would have been achieved if I had just left the camera on fully automatic.
The test for colours works well too. There is never anything particularly exciting to report when it comes to the colour test and here we have a standard result. No one colour dominates and the colours have a level of depth to them.
The macro shot is better than I am used to seeing. The camera produces an even and sharp focus. Although I wouldn't suggest this camera to be your first choice if you were looking for a camera to specialize in macro and close up photography it should still give you good quality macro snapshots.
Indoors is a different matter and the camera struggles to focus when the lighting is not perfect. This occurs in both the indoor portrait and the shot of beer bottles taken in more or less complete darkness. There is also a touch of red eye lurking in the portrait shot. If you are looking to take a lot of photos indoors or in lowlight I would advise you to look elsewhere.
Finishing my tests in another problem area the camera does not handle higher ISO settings very well. Pushing the camera up to ISO 400 produces a high level of noise and a clear drop in picture quality.
Shutter Lag and Recycling Times
I was able to take a single shot in 0.25 seconds and five shots in 8.36 seconds. I would describe both of these times as average.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.
Features
The three times optical zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 38 - 114mm in 35mm format. There is also a 4x digital zoom feature. The lens has a maximum aperture of F3.1 (W) to F5.9 (T). For close up photography the camera can focus from 10cms away from the subject.
There are a number of different focusing settings you can use. These are for auto focus (where you can choose either spot or multi point), manual focus, pan focus and infinity.
Casio probably offer more scene modes than any other brand. Scene modes tell the camera the type of shot you are about to take and the camera can then use what it believes to be the optimum settings. The scene modes available with the Exilim EX-Z60 are portrait, scenery, portrait with scenery, children, sports, candlelight portrait, party, pet, flower, natural green, autumn leaves, soft flowing water, splashing water, sundown, night scene, night scene portrait, fireworks, food, text, collection, auction, backlight, anti shake, high sensitivity, monochrome, retro, twilight, old photo, business cards and documents, white board and custom scene.
The built in flash unit has a maximum range of 3.7m. That is more or less standard for this type of digital camera. This drops down to 1.9m when the zoom lens is in use. The flash modes available are Auto, Flash On, Flash Off, Soft Flash and Red Eye Reduction. You can also adjust the intensity of the flash.
As is becoming increasingly common there is no viewfinder on the back of the camera. There is a large 2.5" LCD screen. I used the screen on a sunny day and it out performed all other brands of camera I was testing on the day. A lot of useful information is displayed on the screen. This includes low battery, space on the memory card and a histogram.
To help you get the colour tones right there are a number of white balance settings you can choose from. All you need to do is select the most appropriate one. The settings available are auto, sunny, cloudy, shade, fluorescent night, fluorescent day, tungsten and manual.
To add interest to your photos there are some colour filters you can apply. These are black and white, sepia, red, blue, green, yellow, pink and purple. You can also adjust levels of sharpness, saturation, contrast.
For when you would like to appear in a picture there is a self timer. This can be set to a delay of either two or ten seconds. There is also a triple self timer. This allows you to specify a delay time and then take three photos in quick succession.
For shooting movies you can use a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. This is backed up by a top frames per second speed of 30. This gives you TV quality movies. The duration of each movie is only limited by the capacity of the memory card. Sound can be recorded with a movie, but you cannot zoom in and out.
There are a couple of useful features you can use after you have taken a photo. These are the ability to trim or crop a photo and to be able to make a smaller copy of the original. This can come in useful if you would like to create an image to send by email.
Among the more advanced features are exposure metering (Multi-pattern, centre weighted, spot), exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV (in 1/3EV steps)) and ISO sensitivity (50, 100, 200, 400; automatic or manual switching - 800 with anti shake and high sensitivity).
Shutter speeds range from 4 seconds to 1/2000 seconds. These are controlled automatically by the camera.
Three types of continuous shooting are available. These are normal, high speed and flash.
Normal allows you to keep shooting until the memory card is full. High speed allows you to fire off three shots is quick succession. Flash allows you to take up to three consecutive shots with flash.
Casio supplies all the necessary cables and software to connect the Exilim EX-Z60 to a television set, computer and PictBridge compatible printer.
The camera can also be used as a voice recorder.
Ease of Use
Casio have made the Exilim EX-Z60 very easy to use. If you take a look at the back of the camera there are very few buttons compared with other digital cameras. My only complaint is that if you want to shoot a movie you will need to dip into the menu system to place the camera in movie mode. Otherwise everything you need to take a picture is at your fingertips.
The menu system itself is well designed. It is basically a case of scrolling through the menu until you find what you are looking for. Nothing is hidden or tucked away and all the options are described in plain English without the use of symbols or abbreviations.
To cut the menu options to a bare minimum you can put the camera in easy mode. This makes it even more straightforward to use.
Cost
You can pick up a Casio Exilim EX-Z60 for around £145. This compares to around £185 for a Panasonic DMC FX9, £270 for a Canon IXUS 800 IS and £155 for a Olympus MJU 600.
As you can see the Exilim EX-Z60 is a fair bit cheaper than other digital cameras with a similar specification. Personally at current prices I feel the Sony DSC W50 offers better value for money, but if you are on a very tight budget then this camera is worth considering.
Style
The appearance of the Exilim EX-Z60 is slightly deceptive. It looks to me as if it is slimmer than it actually is. With dimensions of 90 x 60 x 27.2mm in is just a little too wide to slip into a tight pocket, but you will not really notice it if it is in a jacket pocket.
I like the way the camera looks. Although rectangular in shape the top and bottom of the camera are rounded giving it a pleasing shape and taking away any harshness from the design. It is available in black and silver and weighs 136g.
Batteries and Memory Cards
A rechargeable lithium ion battery (NP-20) is used to power the Exilim EX-Z60. Casio supplies both a battery and charger with the camera. Casio estimate you should be able to take around 180 shots before the battery needs to be recharged.
There is 8.3mb of storage built into the camera. Therefore a memory card is not supplied with the camera. I was able to take just four photos before the memory became full. This is very poor indeed. You are strongly advised to buy a high capacity card to go with the camera. It is compatible with both SD and MMC cards.
Click here to save money on SD cards..
Points I like:
Design and style
Ease of use
Where it is not so hot:
Indoor photos
Very small internal memory
Summary
If you have a limited budget then it is worth taking a look at the Casio Exilim EX-Z60. It is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde camera. It is good outdoors when the light is bright, but clearly struggles indoors or in lowlight.
Casio EXILIM EX-Z60 Front View
Casio EXILIM EX-Z60 Back View
Casio EXILIM EX-Z60 Top View
Sample Menus
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Related Pages
Casio Exilim EX-Z60 Review Casio Exilim EX-Z60 Specification Casio Exilim EX-Z60 Sample Images
Review Date
May 2006
