 Casio EX-G1 Rocks! |
| Review Date: December 9, 2009 |
| Reviewer: W. Fuchs, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA |
| I'm very impressed with the EX-G1. I've been a long time user of Casio camera products, until an unfortunate camera meets water incident in the Caribbean forced me to buy a Nikon S3 which as performed well for several years, until it died. I bought a Pentax Optio WS-80 and was not impressed, neither with the cheap plastic feel, nor the quality of the photos. Blue sky almost always looked like cloudy sky. So, with Casio's new introduction of the EX-G1, I was intrigued to find out if the almost twice the cost as compared to the WS-80 was worth it. Jumping to the conclusion... yes, it's worth every penny. Here are things I like, and don't like. Slim design. Precision operation of controls. Interval shooting can be set to 10sec, 30 sec, 1min, 3min, and can record photos for 3, 10, 20, 30 minutes. The display can remain on during interval shooting, or you can configure it to be off (presumably to save battery power). The WS-80 didn't have a display on/off option, and the interval settings may be slightly more flexible, but it's insignificant. I also like the video record button, which with one press, starts filming. Casio's Best Shot mode is also accessed with a single button press. The WS-80 has the battery, memory, and USB port under a single cover, which was quite flimsy such that I believe a bad drop would render the camera less than waterproof. The EX-G1 has two compartments. The battery compartment has a substantial and solid stainless steel door that takes quite a bit of effort to get open; a butter knife might come in handy. Perhaps in time it will operate more easily. The memory and USB compartment is accessed via a thumb knob that pops open the compartment cover. I like the precision operation of this compartment, but am a little concerned about an accidental opening while snorkeling, as the thumb knob need only be moved about 15 degrees (1/8 inch) to open the compartment below. A better design would have been more of a screw operation requiring a full revolution. Then again, the real probability of me inadvertently turning the thumb know is probably unlikely. I do have some concern about the tripod mount being off center. I also like the gazillion programmable options to setup and customize the camera to my liking. For example, photo's can be shot in low, normal, or high detail, regardless of the size photo selected. Whereas the Optio WS-80 only took high detail photos in the 10MH mode. Small high quality photos are mostly acceptable for the photos I take. The USB interface is not "standard" such as what I use for my blackberry, or Motorola headset. It's just slightly different... would have been nice if it were the same as the other couple USB cables I have competing for USB ports on my PC, but that's not a big deal. For years I harped on a contact I have at Casio technical support to produce a camera with interval shooting... I'm happy it's here, and that it comes in a waterproof, shockproof design. Even the packaging (the box it comes in) for the camera is cool; it looks sort of like a rock. I do wish they included a printed manual (the included CD contains the manual). The Pentax Optio WS-80 is being returned, but for buyers on a limited budget, it may suffice; however, the EX-G1 is well worth the extra money. |
Rugged and Ready
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| Review Date: December 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Chau, |
The Casio Exilim EX-G1 comes out of the box as a rugged and ready to go camera. Its build is sturdy, and although a little bit heavier than my previous camera (Nikon Coolpix S55), its slim profile more than makes up for it. Aesthetically, the red color version is beautiful and the aluminum casing makes it feel indestructible despite its small size.
I had no troubles opening the battery or memory card compartments. The instructions are clear and simple enough on the quick start guide that the full manual isn't necessary unless you need more detailed info (FYI, the full manual does come with the camera, it's just loaded on the CD, as opposed to a hard copy). The battery took roughly an hour and a half to fully charge. The user interface is friendly, and the navigation buttons are intuitive and well designed.
The Best Shot options, the alternative to Nikon's "Scenes," are plenty and quite nifty - including ones I've never seen before, like the Ebay and Dynamic modes. The EX-G1 also allows for adjustment of flash intensity, which makes it a plus when a standard intensity level simply doesn't cut it for the different environments the camera is so well suited for. The picture quality, in both color and filtered modes, is comparable to my Nikon, which I thought was great for its price. The movie recording mode works quite well with good contrast and a relatively high resolution. There're quite a few features that I haven't yet figured out how to work, but so far, the EX-G1 hasn't disappoint! |
Amazing Weatherproof Camera
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| Review Date: January 7, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Matthew J. Stevens, |
I got this camera as a Christmas gift and I was worried about the lack of reviews that were available. Anyways I decided to get this camera and take my chances. I chose to get a weatherproof camera because my last point and shoot camera that had lasted me for 3 years broke as soon as I dropped it in the sand. I needed a camera that I could take with me while I do everything and that would not break as soon as some water was spilled on it. I just got back from my ski trip and it was about 5 degrees and snowing and they had the snow makers on as well. I took my camera out of my pocket and took a video while skiing down a slope, by the end of the slope the camera was COVERED in ice and snow. I thought it was going to freeze and probably break my camera. I tried to get the ice off then I put it back in my pocket. When I checked back up on my camera it was fine and worked perfectly well. It didn't even loose a single block of charge on the battery indicator. I was so proud of my camera's performance that I thought I would share it with other people that are thinking about buying this camera. So as far as the rugidness goes, this camera is great and well worth the money.
Quality: I use a Canon DSLR for 90% of my shooting, so for me I was really worried about the quality and the need to use flash once again. After putting all of the Christmas day photos up on my computer to be edited using Photoshop's Lightroom (one of the best and easiest tools to edit, and well worth the money) I could tell which photos were taken with the Casio ex-g1 and the canon xsi. However after some simple editing like red-eye and brightness and contrast the photos surprising look amazingly similar. Honestly for some of the photos I CANNOT tell which camera took the photo. The quality is good for what the camera does. If you are using the digital zoom you can bet your money the photo will not turn out well, but if you are using it for close up photos of family and friends or bright landscapes then you should be fine. I use this camera as my go anywhere do anything, fast camera when I just need a group shot of my friends or quick family photos taken. So for me the quality is really good.
Pros: Good quality shots, another amazing thing I forgot to mention was that this camera has about 1,000 different settings for a point and shoot you can truly control a lot of different things like a digital slr, the design is really cool as well it even has optional side protectors, extremly small and portable, thin, easy to use and understand menus, large and clear screen, quick start up time, many languages for menus, great weatherproofing
Cons: Time between photos is slightly long might also be due to my memory card speed, takes a mirco sd card which is really really small and easy to lose, you have to either use a key to open the battery compartment or use your fingernail but it is somewhat difficult to get used to
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Casio quality and durability
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| Review Date: January 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: GEORGES R. DEGIORGIO, Great Falls, MT, United States |
| I live in Montana and do a lot of outdoor photography. Kayaking in summer and skiing in winter calls for a durable, waterproof and compact camera. I have owned four Pentax Optios, WR33, W30 ,W60 and W80 and found each new model worse than the previous one; inferior optics and cheaply built. I have only kept the WR33. To replace the other three I chose a Casio Exilim EX G1 because I have never had a problem with my Casio GZ 1 cell phone or G-Shock watches, rugged and well designed. Since receiving the EX G1 in early December I have taken about 300 pictures outdoors and 100 indoors. The only problem is red eye reduction indoors due to the fact that the flash is located extremely close to the lens, but I still give the camera a well deserved 5 stars because of all its other features, after all it performs perfectly in freezing temperatures, can takes a beating (I've droped it twice and not even a scratch).It is also very small , Battery life is almost twice as long as my ex Pentax's was. Bought an extra Casio battery and an 8 gig micro flash card. |
Impressive.
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| Review Date: January 26, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Mr. V, OH |
First of all, after looking at pictures of the camera, I really liked how macho, black camera looked. Almost can be described as "military grade", and in same design league as Lamborghini Reventon.
When I received mine in the mail, I could not stop laughing, because that thing is so tiny. I don't mean small, I mean smaller than iPhone tiny. I don't care how big and scary you are, but if you holding your camera with two fingers, like a dirty napkin, that does not scream manly to me.
Lens is smaller than a fingernail.
After that initial impression things started to get better. Body is solid and sturdy. All latches and doors feel durable.
My other camera is Nikon D60 DSLR, and picture quality I will be comparing to that.
After spending a bit of time playing around with settings, I took some pictures indoors and outdoors, and I am incredibly impressed by picture quality. Outdoor shots are sharp and vibrant, indoor shots with flash are pretty decent, with very good color reproduction and almost perfect auto white balance. Indoor shots without flash, came out pretty good, after I manually lowered ISO and stabilized the camera. After importing pictures to Nikon Capture NX 2, and making quick adjustments, pictures look so good, you would never believe they came out of such tiny device.
Despite the fact that official specifications do not list any image stabilization, this camera has built in "anti shake" feature. I tried it with pictures and video and in both cases it did improve picture and video quality. I was able to make reasonably good shots in dark museum without flash.
Dedicated video capture button is awesome and you can take pictures while shooting video.
Overall, I'm very happy with it. It does not have adjustability that DSLR provides, but as a point and shoot goes, it does really good job at taking pictures with minimum involvement from the user.
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