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- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 48 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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43 out of 46 people found this review helpful
3.0 stars
"Great Pics and new features compared to z750 but Broken Video"
Pros: Sharp Pictures, Continuous Mode With Flash, Strong Flash, Quick Refresh and Startup Time, Super Bright LCD, Exceptional Battery Life, Video Light, Great Manual Modes, Nice Best Shot Modes
Cons: Terrible Video Quality
Summary: I have owned the Casio Z55, Z750, and purchased the Z850 as an upgrade to my Z750.
Picture quality and features have been improved compared to the Z750 which was a great camera in its own right. The HUGE negative is that the video quality is horrendous.
Before someone responds that I "shouldn't expect perfect quality in a compact camera" I'll stop you there. The quality on the Z750 video was great in both HQ and NQ modes at 640x480. The Z850 quality is WAY WORSE than on the Z750 and other similar cameras being sold today.
There are 2 huge problems with video. First, there is a terrible issue with image noise in HQ mode that doesn't exist in NQ mode. This could be fixed via firmware but no word yet from Casio on that. Second, and way more annoying is an aliasing issue that does not exist on the Z750. Aliasing, or stairstepping is very apparent on anything that should look like a straight line on a video. It looks terrible in stills but is even more distracting when in motion. This happens with Image Stabilization on and off. Could also be fixed with firmware but again no word from Casio. If video is important to you, wait to purchase this cam until Casio fixes the problem or purchase the Z750 as it's still a great camera.
If you don't care about video this is the best compact camera you can find by far. My rating would be a 10 if video was the same quality as the Z750 but until Casio fixes the video issue, my rating must be lowered a lot because this flaw is inexcusable as I use my cameras for video a lot and there's no reason the video on an "upgraded" camera should be way worse than its predecessor.
- 5 replies to this review
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Hi,
Recently I had purchased Casio EX-S600 camera and I was so impressed with some of cool features in it. But it was making noise while setting a focus and it was taking little extra time set focus once you press shutter button. So I have to return it back and now I am thinking to buy this camera EX-Z850. Before making final decision I want to check either following features are available in this camera also as they are there in EX-S600:
- Do we have option to record small voice clip after we take photo?
- Can we shut off the display screen when we take photo with viewfinder to save battery life in case of emergency?
- Can I take photos while recording video?
- Can we change the setting to display the photo for ?n? second before camera is ready to take next shot?
- Does it record the few seconds movie in buffer and if u like it, you can record it on SD card?
If you can - would u pl help me to get answers to these questions.
Thanks
@shish daga -
I've used the Casio 750 which turned out to be an excellent camera. I purchased the 850 after losing my old one. I had the same problems with the terrible video quality and found a new firmware upgrade from Casio. Seems to be a huge difference now that I upgraded. Check it out at http://world.casio.com/qv/download/en/ex_z850_firmup/
I used the 1.10 version, not the "B" version. -
I agree about the video problem. I find the NQ mode gives me great video compared to my older Sony W5, but it's all relative. This is still the best digital camera I've ever owned. I did a real-world compare to the comparable FujiFilm, Sony, Samsung, and Canon, and the Casio beat all but the Sony T9 on every level. Problem with the T9 was lens was frequently covered up by my fingers.
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This is posted on July 14, 2006. Has Casio made any improvements in video quality in the Exilim EX-Z850 ?
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how much worse is it compared to the 750? i saw a video of the 850 http://www.kenrockwell.com/casio/images/exz850/CIMG0630.mov and i think it looks pretty good!
