Overview
The Casio Exilim EX-Z110 is a six megapixel digital camera with a three times optical zoom lens. It can be used as a simple point and shoot camera or you can take more control over the final image by using the manual exposure controls available. This type of camera can appeal to couples or families where one person is looking for ease of use and someone else would like something more advanced. The Exilim EX-Z110 offers a fairly inexpensive option if you would like a camera with some advanced features.
Image Quality
Up to now I have experienced a number of difficulties with focusing problems whenever I have tested Casio digital cameras. Thankfully the Exilim EX-Z110 is free of these issues. Having said that I am used to sharper lenses and the indoor results were also disappointing.
Starting with the outdoor scenic shots the camera handles these fairly well. With bright light available digital cameras generally find this type of shot fairly straightforward. For a six megapixel digital camera I was a bit disappointed though as I managed to produce shaper outdoor shots with the five megapixel Canon Powershot A610. Looking at the first outdoor sample shot the softness of the lens shows up throughout the photo. Good check points where this is highlighted are the brickwork, the chairs and the boat names. In fact I am used to seeing sharper images than this with most cameras I test.
In terms of colours the Exilim EX-Z110 makes a good fist of greens and blues. As these colours are likely to dominate scenic shots you should be able to take acceptable photos colour wise with this camera. You will see from the dedicated test for colour that the colours are not quite as vivid as those produced by some other cameras. I feel this gives them a pleasing, natural look though.
The outdoor portrait is a fairly typical shot for this type of camera. The time of year the shot was taken means that it may not be quite as warm as ones taken in summer.
Moving indoors I hit problems. Neither the shot of bottles taken in poor light or the indoor portrait are sharply focused. Of late this has been an area where I have seen an improvement in the cameras I have been testing. Therefore I cannot recommend this camera for lowlight photography. There is also a touch of red eye showing in the indoor portrait.
Finishing on a high note the camera manages to produce a fine macro shot. It is a clear image and indicates the camera should be capable of some decent close up work.
One other point to note is that I found the flash unit could be overpowering when used on the standard setting. If you look through the menu system you will find an option to decrease the power of the flash. This should help to tone down the flash levels as required.
Shutter Lag and Recycling Times
I was able to take a single photo in 0.08 seconds and five photos in 7.35 seconds. These are very fast times indeed, especially the single shot. This is an area where Casio have clearly got it right and outperform just about all of their rivals.
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. To support the optical zoom there is a 4x digital zoom feature. For close up photography the camera can focus within 6cms of the subject.
For composing photos there is a 2" LCD screen. This is made up of around 85,000 pixels. There is also an optical viewfinder.
The built in flash unit has a maximum range of 3.1m. This falls to 1.8m when the zoom lens is in use. The flash modes are Auto, Flash On, Flash Off and Red Eye Reduction. The level of brightness produced by the flash can be set to one of five intensity levels.
Pan, infinity and manual focusing are available as well as the default auto focus. You can select either multi or spot auto focusing.
To help you take the best possible photo there is a very wide range of scene modes. These are known as best shot settings. All you need to do is select the one that most closely matches the type of photo you are taking and the camera does the rest. The scenes available 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, backlight, anti shake, high sensitivity, monochrome, retro (sepia), twilight, business card and documents, and whiteboard. As you can see this is a very comprehensive list. In fact there is also a custom setting you can create yourself.
To add something different to your photos there are a number of digital filters. These are black and white, sepia, red, green, blue yellow, pink and purple. The sharpness, saturation and contrast levels can also be adjusted.
For when you would like to appear in the photo there is a self timer. This can be set to either a two or ten second delay. There is also a setting that fires off three shots after a ten second delay.
Short movies can be taken. These are only limited in duration by the capacity of the memory card. You can zoom in and out while shooting a movie and sound can be recorded as well. The maximum resolution is 640 x 480.
Among the more advanced features are fully manual exposure, aperture and shutter priority. It should be noted that the aperture settings you can use are limited to f3.1 and f4.4. This is a real restriction. Shutter speeds can be set in a range of 60 seconds to 1/2000 seconds.
There are three types of metering (Multi-pattern, centre weighted, spot), exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV in 1/3EV steps), sensitivity (ISO 50, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400), white balance (auto, sunshine, cloudy, shade, fluorescent, tungsten and manual). Continuous shooting is available as well. You can also use the camera as a voice recorder.
Casio supplies all the necessary cables and software to connect the Exilim EX-Z110 to a computer and a television set.
Ease of Use
Despite the fact you can vary shutter speeds and aperture size to manually control the exposure Casio have done a good job in keeping the EXILIM EX-Z110 easy to use. As well as the standard automatic mode there is an easy mode that cuts menu options to a minimum. I find Casio menus easy to use anyway, but this helps to simplify use even further.
On the back of the camera you will find all the buttons and dials to control the main features of the camera. This includes flash and macro mode. The control dial itself allows you to switch between easy, automatic, best shot, movies and manual modes.
Cost
You can pick up a Casio EXILIM EX-Z110 for around £140. This compares to around £190 for a Canon Powershot A610, £240 for a Olympus SP-350 and £192 for a Pentax Optio SVi.
When you consider the prices shown here you can see the EXILIM EX-Z110 offers a very cheap way to pick up a digital camera with manual controls. It is substantially cheaper than any model I am aware of that offers this level of exposure options.
Style
In terms of looks the EXILIM EX-Z110 is not much different to a whole host of digital cameras. It is a typical shiny, silver rectangular box. It has dimensions of 90 x 60 x 27.2mm and weighs in at 136g.
Batteries and Memory Cards
Two AA batteries are required to power the camera. Casio estimates the EXILIM EX-Z110 will take around 180 photos on one set of alkaline batteries.
The camera comes with 8.7mb of memory built in. Therefore a memory card is not supplied with the camera. I was able to take six photos before the memory was full. This was using the default settings. It is a good idea to buy a high capacity card to go with the camera. It is compatible with SD cards.
Click here to save money on SD cards..
Points I like:
Almost no shutter lag
Inexpensive camera with manual exposure
Where it is not so hot:
Indoor Photos
Summary
The Casio EXILIM EX-Z110 certainly offers a very cheap route into digital cameras with manual exposure modes. The specification is impressive for the price and shutter lag is more or less non existent. Unfortunately the camera is far from perfect. I would like to have seen much sharper images. The camera also struggles in lowlight.
Casio EXILIM EX-Z110 Front View
Casio EXILIM EX-Z110 Back View
Casio EXILIM EX-Z110 Top View
Sample Menus
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