Casio EX-ZR200: Review compact standalone digital camera

If Casio EX-ZR200 camera is not the champion of its class but this compact offers good results and has a very rugged battery.

Casio EX-ZR200

Between Canon, Nikon, Panasonic and Olympus a war is going in the Era of Digital cameras and brands like Casio are rising though with their quality cameras. Recently, it has revealed Casio EX-ZR200 which is a compact super-zoom rather interesting.

Performance of Casio EX-ZR200:

Casio EX-ZR200 doesn’t have ultrazoom – x16 or x20 – and but simply offers simply zoom x12.5. In fact, this difference is not huge and the ZR200’s zoom range (24-300 mm in 24×36 equivalent) covers 90% of traditional needs. The unit is well made and look if it’s left to the discretion of each, it is well in hand with his little grip and its small size makes it the friend of all pockets (205 g only).

Responsive and quick Casio EX-ZR200:

Just under two seconds to start, the development in half a second even in low light: the ZR200 is a reactive device. While we appreciate a compact design that is instantly available but this little Casio is already up in the lead pack.

Heir to the expertise of Casio for the burst mode, the ZR200 delivers 3 to 30 frames per second and provides a software interface as ugly as reactive.

Finally a real battery in Casio EX-ZR200

Small special mention to Casio, the world of compact, is the only decent to offer autonomy to its devices. Without reaching the 1000 photographs of the EX-H30, the ZR200 has a range of 480 images. In tests, someone shot no less than 200 pictures and some videos captured and the battery was still half full when observed. If only the competition – Canon in mind – could be inspired a little.

Specs:

The film quality is very satisfactory and it is a good thing because it has long been a weakness of the Japanese brand. The 16-megapixel CMOS sensor delivers images even in low light with good management of digital noise to ISO 1600: it’s OK for the photo without the flash of grandma in her kitchen.

Colors are fine although it lacks paw: one feels a certain neutrality in shades and we would like greens and blues are a little more intense, but it is very decent.
Neat video, but sound quality is little behind

On the video side the results are good: if the microphones offer a made a little mess in complex situations (street scenes with voices and cars, wind …), the image is of good quality with Full HD encoding (codec h.264 in. mov) rather licked and excellent detail. Beware though the effects of optical pumping (the development that suddenly changes) on the plans with subjects in and out of context.
The weakness of the optical

If Casio has improved its image processing, the brand still has a ways to go to overcome its second default view. If details are accurate to the center, the corners are slightly fuzzy and distortion in wide angle quite significant. Fortunately, the development is fast as well as zooming.

Conclusion for Casio EX-ZR200:

The Casio EX-ZR200 is one of the affordable, compact, powerful enough and has a range ideal for travelers: the four stars are well deserved. However, it is not the best in its class and does not offer a more engaging user interface. It only remains to Casio to improve its optical blocks and make its menus a little more sexy for the next generation has a little more flavor.

 

Comments are closed.