Casio Exilim EX-Z85 Review and Rating
The Casio Exilim EX-Z85 is one of the smallest and most lightweight digital cameras I can recall reviewing.
It weighs in at around 100g without batteries or a memory card.
So it should be no problem to slip the camera into just about any pocket.
I guess the design of the camera is similar to many other small digital cameras.
There is not too much you can do with a camera this size.
Casio has rounded off the corners and I like the silver section around the lens.
As with other cameras from Casio you have quite a choice when it comes to the colour of the camera you would like to buy.
The Exilim EX-Z85 is available in eight different colours including two shades of pink.
The others colours are silver, black, blue, brown, green and orange.
So you should be able to find one colour that suits your needs.
When it comes to the price this is one of the cheaper pocket digital cameras.
Although it is not over laden with features Casio have squeezed one or two extra ones in that you do not always see with other brands.
These include a YouTube upload mode.
The aim of this feature is to make it as easy as possible to shoot a movie and then upload it to YouTube.
This feature together with the price, size and range of colour options suggest to me that Casio are aiming the Exilim EX-Z85 primarily at younger people.
Other features include a smile shutter that will fire off a shot if the camera detects someone is smiling.
Another similar option detects when the camera and subject is still before taking a shot.
You also have access to additional focusing options such as manual focusing and infinity focusing for homing in on more distant subjects.
To add something different to your photos there is also a number of colour filters available to you.
These are black and white, sepia, red, green, blue, yellow, pink and purple.
Further refinement of how a photo will look can be achieved through adjusting levels of sharpness, saturation and contrast.
As with other Casio digital cameras you will find almost all of the camera's options tucked away within the menu system.
The camera has very few buttons and dials on display.
To counteract this Casio give you the option of displaying menu options on the right hand side of the LCD screen.
This makes it easy to see the current settings you are using as well as making it quick and easy to change them.
I must admit to being surprised by the picture quality on offer from the Exilim EX-Z85.
It may not be absolutely top drawer, but for such a small, snapshot camera I found the photos to be sharper than many of its direct rivals.
Other common problems such as sun glare were handled as well as could be expected.
The strength of the flash unit is on the low side and this makes it a strong probability that the best photos you are likely to capture will be outdoors in good light.
Although this is always the case the difference in quality is more pronounced with the Exilim EX-Z85.
When it comes to other digital cameras that could give the Exilim EX-Z85 a run for its money I like the Olympus FE-20.
In terms of features the Exilim EX-Z85 has more to offer, but there is little to choose when it comes to picture quality and the FE-20 is even cheaper than this camera is.
There is little to choose between the two cameras when it comes to size and weight either.
All in all if I was looking for a very small digital camera that was easy to use and sold for a reasonable price I would be happy to give the Casio Exilim EX-Z85 a very close look.
It weighs in at around 100g without batteries or a memory card.
So it should be no problem to slip the camera into just about any pocket.
I guess the design of the camera is similar to many other small digital cameras.
There is not too much you can do with a camera this size.
Casio has rounded off the corners and I like the silver section around the lens.
As with other cameras from Casio you have quite a choice when it comes to the colour of the camera you would like to buy.
The Exilim EX-Z85 is available in eight different colours including two shades of pink.
The others colours are silver, black, blue, brown, green and orange.
So you should be able to find one colour that suits your needs.
When it comes to the price this is one of the cheaper pocket digital cameras.
Although it is not over laden with features Casio have squeezed one or two extra ones in that you do not always see with other brands.
These include a YouTube upload mode.
The aim of this feature is to make it as easy as possible to shoot a movie and then upload it to YouTube.
This feature together with the price, size and range of colour options suggest to me that Casio are aiming the Exilim EX-Z85 primarily at younger people.
Other features include a smile shutter that will fire off a shot if the camera detects someone is smiling.
Another similar option detects when the camera and subject is still before taking a shot.
You also have access to additional focusing options such as manual focusing and infinity focusing for homing in on more distant subjects.
To add something different to your photos there is also a number of colour filters available to you.
These are black and white, sepia, red, green, blue, yellow, pink and purple.
Further refinement of how a photo will look can be achieved through adjusting levels of sharpness, saturation and contrast.
As with other Casio digital cameras you will find almost all of the camera's options tucked away within the menu system.
The camera has very few buttons and dials on display.
To counteract this Casio give you the option of displaying menu options on the right hand side of the LCD screen.
This makes it easy to see the current settings you are using as well as making it quick and easy to change them.
I must admit to being surprised by the picture quality on offer from the Exilim EX-Z85.
It may not be absolutely top drawer, but for such a small, snapshot camera I found the photos to be sharper than many of its direct rivals.
Other common problems such as sun glare were handled as well as could be expected.
The strength of the flash unit is on the low side and this makes it a strong probability that the best photos you are likely to capture will be outdoors in good light.
Although this is always the case the difference in quality is more pronounced with the Exilim EX-Z85.
When it comes to other digital cameras that could give the Exilim EX-Z85 a run for its money I like the Olympus FE-20.
In terms of features the Exilim EX-Z85 has more to offer, but there is little to choose when it comes to picture quality and the FE-20 is even cheaper than this camera is.
There is little to choose between the two cameras when it comes to size and weight either.
All in all if I was looking for a very small digital camera that was easy to use and sold for a reasonable price I would be happy to give the Casio Exilim EX-Z85 a very close look.
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