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Casio EX-Z750 Point and Shoot

Casio EX-Z750 Point and Shoot Digi. Having had a number of Canon P&S digital compacts over the last few years (and a Nikon Coolpix or two) I recently purchased (on the recommendation of a colleague the Casio Point and shoot  7.2 Megapixel camera whist traveling through Heathrow, whilst on the way to Italy I wasn't sure that I would need a P&S but as I had opted for the light kit (Billingham Bag, two bodies, three lenses, two flash and a laptop, with no chargers) I thought what the hell. I'd treat my self.  Fortunately the camera battery was 75% charged. As it turned out I didn't actually need to use it in anger on the trip. 

It might have been more comfortable to use the Casio rather than racing around on the back of moped in the centre of Rome, with two Canon DSLR bodies swinging from the shoulder.  I did however take a couple of test frames with it and have to say that for a piddly little camera it really isn't bad at all. The first thing that you notice is that it is very small, and almost all of the rear of the camera is a preview screen. It seems to have just about every single mode that I can reasonably think that a P&S could require, including movie and sound only record options, 2 fps per second burst and a best shot mode, which I can only liken to an idiot mode, you tell it what you are shooting and it makes the appropriate settings. The screen on the back of the camera is huge (2 and a half inches) the same size as the EOS1d mkII N, not bad on a camera that is only about three and half inches wide.

The mode that I liked most was the anti shake mode, hmmm I thought, nice, but must be very small gyroscopes or some incredibly sophisticated motion detector sensor.  But No I was wrong, Instead the camera lowers the resolution down to 1600 x 1200 and boosts the ISO as needed. D' uh! Like most digital cameras, the EX-Z750 isn't very Mac-friendly when it comes to software it is supplied with Windows software and Mac Software however the mac software requires Mac Classic (or OS9 as I know it). The camera requires an SD card to operate, which if like me you only use CF cards and CF card readers, the adaptor that I purchased to convert SD to CF appears not to work.

I loved the camera's oversized 2.5" LCD, the microscopic optical viewfinder is a waste of time and space-which is almost as small as the iddy biddy control buttons.

More than two-dozen Best Shot (scene) modes and built-in help wherever you look, make the EX-Z750 an ideal camera for snapshooters who want to take pictures quickly and easily without having to fuss with settings.

For those who want a little more control, the EX-Z750 has enough features to keep them happy, too. Plus, everyone will benefit from extras like flash intensity adjustment and the ability to adjust brightness and white balance in the camera's playback mode. The Casio is surprisingly speedy when it comes to startup, shutter lag (there's practically none) and autofocus. The battery life is outstanding. However, flash recycling slows things down, and its continuous shooting speed won't capture really fast-moving action. Bright colours, accurate exposures and sharply detailed macro shots all contributed to this camera's surprisingly good image quality. Noise was rarely a problem, and I noticed very little purple fringing. All in all, the Casio EX-Z750 is an excellent 7-megapixel camera  that fits comfortably in a shirt pocket, great for those jobs where the full size kit can't possibly go.

Rear View with Preview screen

What's in the box?

The 7.2 effective Megapixel Casio Exilim EX-Z750 digital camera

NP-40 rechargeable lithium-ion battery

AC adapter

USB camera cradle

Wrist strap

USB cable

A/V cable

CD-ROM featuring Casio PhotoLoader and PhotoHands, Ulead Movie Wizard SE VCD, and drivers, No Good for  OSX

Printed basic manual + full manual on CD-ROM

Casio is one of those camera manufacturers who doesn't include a memory card with their camera. Instead, they build some memory right into the camera. Unfortunately Casio gives you an absurdly low amount of built-in memory on this 7 Megapixel camera -- just 8.3MB. You can fit one -- yes, one -- photo (at the highest quality setting) into that amount of space, so consider a memory card to be a requirement.

Using the included NP-40 lithium ion battery (which has just 4.6 Wh of energy) the camera can take a whopping 325 shots per charge! Casio EX-Z750 Point and Shoot Digi.

The Z750 has a ton of automatic shooting modes plus three manual modes. If you can't find a Best Shot scene for your situation then you can create your own. The manual modes let you choose any shutter speed, but you're stuck with only two aperture choices at any point in time. At the wide end of the lens your choices are F2.8 and F4.0 and at telephoto they're F5.1 and F7.4. In-between there will be other values. Why couldn't they let you access the full range? Due to the design limitations of building a very small aperture assembly and shutter unit as a single item means that compromise is the key word. Below the mode dial you'll find the Menu and Display buttons plus the four-way controller. The four-way controller is used for menu navigation, exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV in 1/3EV increments), selecting manual settings, and adjusting the focus manually.

The EX, or shortcut menu gives you quick access to the most commonly used camera settings, including image size, white balance, ISO, and autofocus area. You can also adjust these settings in the main recording menu.

The EX-Z750 has Rec, Quality, and Setup tabs on the main menu. including the following options:

Self-timer (Off, X3, 2 sec, 10 sec) - X3 takes three shots in a row

AF Area (Spot, multi, free) - see below

AF-assist light (on/off)

Quick shutter (on/off) - when this is on the camera takes the picture without focusing first when you press the shutter release all the way down

L/R key (EV shift, white balance, ISO, metering, self-timer, off) - customize what the left/right directions on the four-way controller do

Audio snap (on/off) - add 30 second voice clips to your photos

Grid (on/off) - helps you compose your photos

Digital zoom (on/off) - it's best to keep this off

Review (on/off) - post-shot review feature

Icon help (on/off) - shows "guidance text" on the LCD when you change certain settings

Memory (Flash, focus, white balance, ISO, AF area, metering, self-timer, flash intensity, digital zoom, MF position, zoom position) - what settings are remembered when you turn off the camera

Size (see chart above)

Snapshot quality (see chart)

Front view

Movie quality (HQ, normal, LP) - more on this below

EV shift (-2EV to +2EV in 1/3EV increments)

White balance (Auto, daylight, cloudy, shade, fluorescent 1/2, tungsten, manual)

ISO (Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400)

Metering (Multi, center-weighted, spot)

Sharpness (-2 to +2 in 1-step increments)

Saturation (-2 to +2 in 1-step increments)

Contrast (-2 to +2 in 1-step increments)

Flash intensity (-2 to +2 in 1-step increments)

Flash assist (Auto, off) - see below

The "free" AF area option lets you use the four-way controller to manually choose select a focus point from anywhere in the frame, save for a little border around the edges.

The manual white balance option lets you use a white or gray card so you can get perfect colour even under the most unusual lighting.

Screen (Normal, bright)

Sounds (Startup, half-shutter, shutter, operation, operation volume, playback volume) - adjust all the blips and bleeps plus the volume

Startup (on/off) - you can use your own startup image if you'd like

File numbering (Continue, reset)

World time

Home/world - choose the current time zone

Home time setup

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