Casio Exilim EX-Z57 Easy Camera Review

With the release of the EX-Z57, Casio produced another option within the popular 5-megapixel compact digital camera market.  The camera does away with the optical viewfinder in favor of one large and impressive 2.7-inch LCD screen.  The Casio Exilim EX-Z57 has a number of manual control options and a movie mode setting with audio. The Z57 comes with 9.3 MB of internal memory, but this is only enough space for 4 photos at the camera’s largest image size. Also, on a performance level, this camera struggled with image quality and color accuracy.

 

The Casio Exilim EX-Z57 has an extremely durable metal body and simple clean design that leans towards functional and away from fashionable.  The large 2.7-inch LCD has a resolution of only 115,200 pixels, which means that images won’t be as crisp as they are on smaller LCDs from cameras by most other manufacturers.  The Z57 is small enough to be highly portable at 3.5 x 2.3 x 0.9 inches, but the small size and large LCD mean that the fingers of the left hand will probably end up smearing the screen.

 

The Casio Exilim EX-Z57 comes with three focal settings outside of full AF mode: Infinity, Pan Focus, and Digitized Manual Focus.  Manual ISO settings of 50, 100, 200 and 400 are provided, which is a standard range. The white balance options include a series of presets, auto, and a customizable setting.  The exposure compensation can be changed from +2 to -2 in 1/3 increment stops.  The maximum aperture for the Casio Z57 is a relatively wide f/2.6; even though this is not manually controllable, this provides more shooting flexibility and will give the EX-Z57 a performance edge in low light conditions.  Adding to all of these manual options is an immense catalog of 23 preset shooting modes, which should cover nearly any situation that can be encountered by the average shooter.

 

 

Sadly, the Casio Exilim EX-Z57 produced very inaccurate colors.  Your Great Aunt Martha’s lips are going to be redder than ever and her memorable blue frock will be a different shade of blue in your photograph.  The resolution and sharpness of this Casio were also disappointing, and users shouldn’t expect to make large prints from this camera’s images.  Images contained a lot of noise when the camera automatically chose the ISO setting; when manually adjusted, the Z57 produced less noise.  The Exilim is slow to awaken with a start-up time of 3.66 seconds, but at least the camera is quick about capturing its blurry, noisy, under-saturated images, with a shutter lag of a mere 0.01 seconds.  At least your subjects won’t have to wait long for the shot.

 

The movie mode on the Casio Exilim EX-Z57 was also unsatisfying, with a maximum image resolution of 320 x 240 at a stuttering 15 frames per second.  Audio is captured simultaneously through a monaural microphone.  Many other manufacturers provide more resolution at much smoother frame rates.

 

In the end, the Casio Exilim EX-Z57 is a 5-megapixel point-and-shoot camera with alluring specifications but disappointing performance. The best thing going for it is its 2.7-inch screen, which makes it easy for your friends to gather ‘round and see images in playback - but keep in mind the screen’s poor resolution. For $300 or less, there are better options out there.