casio z1000 | sample image
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Details at a glance
Megapixels: 10.1
Optical Zoom: 3x
Digital Zoom: 4x
LCD: 2.8 inches
Storage: SD/MMC
We clicked with
Image quality, huge number of pixels, styling, build quality, great control system
Shots in the dark
File sizes may put some people off, some scene modes a little garish, expensive
Links
More Casio information
www.casio.co.uk
Price Comparison:
Casio EX-Z1000
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It's small, it's silver, it has a huge screen on the back a 3X optical zoom and 10MP inside. You may recognise most of those words from the EXZ600 review. There's a good reason for that - these cameras are very similar.
Features
I already gave away the secret on this camera - it's like a higher resolution version of the Z600. The Z1000 has pretty much every feature that the Z600 has so rather than repeat it all here, it makes a lot of sense to read that review first. I'll just comment on a couple that caught my eye.
Non destructive zoom
Maybe more marketing hype than an actual feature - the Z1000 boasts what the ad boys call a “non destructive zoom”. Usually at ThinkCamera we advise you not to use digital zoom. Digital zoom simply magnifies the pixels on the LCD. It's exactly the same as enlarging the picture in your editor and is quite similar to holding a magnifying glass over it. Normally this gives pretty poor quality - used unwisely digital zoom can ruin your pictures.
However, the Casio Z1000 has 10 million pixels. That's a lot. The adverts say that you can use “non destructive zoom” to up the zoom level to about 17X. That's probably an exaggeration (most advertising is) but the digital zoom is more useful on the Z1000 than it is on say a 4MP compact.
There's also a neat trick buried in the “continuous zoom” menu setting. This takes two pictures: one with a digital zoom and one without. The screen splits into a dual display. One side shows the full image and you can move a selection square around this. The right hand side shows the selected area magnified. Hit the shutter and both pictures are taken. This can be great if you are considering using digital zoom to get a print ready picture but aren't sure if it will be OK or not - take both the digital zoomed image and the full resolution optical one.
Instant zoom
Another tricksy use of the digital zoom. Turn digital zoom on and set the “instant zoom” to your preferred ration (1.4X, 2X, 3X). Now when you have a picture framed in the LCD you can hit a single button and instantly zoom in. If you're a fan of digital zoom then this is a nice trick that can speed up your picture taking.
Handling
It's a Casio EXILIM camera - it's going to look good! Very slightly wider than the Z600 it is also a little bit “smoother”. Subtly rounded corners and a slightly matt brushed silver look rather than the bling of shiny silver make this a very attractive camera.
Amazingly the screen is even bigger than on the Z600. A whole 0.1 inches more. This isn't the great news it sounds since a new menu bar takes up the right hand quarter inch or so of the screen so that the viewing area is actually slightly smaller than the Z600. However, it's the lovely super bright screen that Casio are fitting to their premium cameras so there is no problem using it even in direct sunlight.
Whilst we are talking about the screen - I really like the new menu bar on the right hand side of it. Yes, it uses up some of my screen real estate but it gives instant access to just about everything I need. Image size, flash mode, autofocus, timer, anti shake, ISO, white balance and exposure compensation are all just a button press away. Coupled with the “BS” button (Casio's term for a scene mode selector) you may find that you hardly ever go into a menu to change something but still have control over your picture taking.
Image quality
It will come as no surprise that the Z1000 gives great pictures. Just like the Z600 they are punchy and full of colour. In some cases this can get a little out of hand. There are a couple of “landscape” modes - scenery and natural green. Both of these increase sharpening and pump up the saturation. For my taste these go too far - greens become over saturated and slightly sickly. You'll want to try some of the more extreme scene modes out before you use them for important shots - especially if you like your landscapes naturally coloured. Of course if you find the saturation too much then there are menu options to turn it down. It's also worth commenting on the “memory” feature here. Most options are reset when you power the camera off. However, there's a memory feature, which allows you to set your own preferences as the power on default.
At first glance the Z1000 exhibits more noise than the Z600. That's because a standard way to look at noise in an image is to blow it up to 100 or 200%. Since the Z1000 has almost twice as many pixels the resulting image may look noisier at 100% but will be less noisy at a given print size. In my testing, I made prints of well-exposed images at 400 ISO up to A3 size. As with most compact cameras, if you go looking for the noise then you will find it but it didn't spoilt the prints for me. Unlike the Z600, it's not possible to select ISO 800 on the Z1000 which is a shame but my guess is that the slightly higher noise levels would be too much at ISO 800.
Shooting
Again a very similar story to the Z600. Power up is decent at 0.9 seconds and with the flash turned off I managed 15 shots in 40 seconds - that's about 2.25 seconds shot to shot. That's a whole second slower than the Z600 though when you consider the amount of data in a 10MP picture it's not really surprising. Shutter lag is very low on the Z1000. Once you have the shot in focus then there's no appreciable delay in releasing the shutter. Of course that's without flash - with flash the response is much slower, partly because the camera makes several pre flashes to check metering etc.
Picture viewing again works really well The Casio EX-Z1000 pretty well keeps up with you as you scroll through the pictures. There are some DSLRs that aren't this fast at image review.
What's not to like
Sit down for a minute and think. Do you really need 10 million pixels? As you'll see form my review the EX-Z1000 is very very similar to the EX-Z600. It's a little slower shot to shot, slightly noisier at 100% (though NOT at comparable print sizes) but offers a couple of tweaks, better styling and 4 million more pixels. Street price for the Z1000 is around £225 - £250. I found one website selling the Z600 for £135. That's a big difference. (In fairness, the low price of the Z600 is because it has just been superseded by the Z700).
10 million pixels may mean better image quality but it also means bigger file sizes - fine jpegs are around 4.8 - 5MB rather than 3.8 - 4 MB on a 6MP. This of course means that you need more memory, a bigger hard drive and possibly a more powerful computer. If you only intend to make 6X4 prints then there are cheaper options on the market.
The zoom is also a little limited 38 - 114mm is about what you would expect in a tiny compact but it would be really nice if Casio could surprise us and break 200mm with their next model.
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I had the Casio EX-Z1000 on test at the same time as a number of other cameras. I have shot far more pictures with the Casio than with any of the other cameras because it's tiny enough to slip into a pocket and I knew that I could rely on it for quality pictures. If I was looking for a sleek compact that got me great results and had plenty of pixels then I would almost certainly buy the Z1000. However, I still think 10MP may be a step too far for many users. If you want a great looking compact, routinely crop your pictures (or use digital zoom) and are happy paying a premium for larger file sizes then it's unlikely you will do better than the EX-Z1000. Personally, I'd shop hard and get a bargain on the Z600 while it's still around.
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Camera specification
| Mega-pixels: | 10.0 |
Photo: | JPEG |
| Optical Zoom: | 3x |
RAW: | No |
| Digital Zoom: | 4x |
Aperture: | f/2.8-5.4 |
| LCD: | 2.8 inch |
Focal Length: | equiv. 38-114mm |
| Dimensions: | 92x 58.4x 22.4mm |
Shutter: | 4 sec to 1/2000 |
| Weight: | 139g |
Exposure: | ISO 50 to 3200 |
| Storage: | SD/MMC |
Movie: | 640X480@30fps |
| Int. Mem: | 8mb |
Battery: | Superlife |
| Interface: | USB 2.0, AV |
PictBridge: | Yes |
