Casio Exilim · on sale spring 2011
The Casio Exilim EX-ZR100: a $300 pocket zoom built around 40 frames a second
We found no other regional name for it; Casio America's press release and the reviews we read all use EX-ZR100.1345
In January 2011 Casio called the ZR100 its flagship: a 24–300 mm zoom with a very fast burst mode and slow-motion video. Reviewers liked the speed and the low-ISO pictures, and disliked the HDR Art effect and the menus.
- Launched
- January 2011
- Sensor
- 12.1 MP CMOS
- Lens
- 24–300 mm, 12.5×
- Card
- SD, SDHC, SDXC
- Battery
- NP-130
Casio Exilim EX-ZR100 specs: sensor, lens, battery, memory card and cable
Launched in January 2011 at $299.99, the Casio Exilim EX-ZR100 is a 12.1 MP CMOS compact with a 24–300 mm (35 mm equivalent) 12.5× zoom lens. Inside: it takes SD, SDHC and SDXC cards and runs on the NP-130 battery. Sources
- Sensor
- CMOS, 1/2.3", 12.1 MP source
- Lens
- 24–300 mm equivalent, 12.5× zoom source
- Memory card
- SD, SDHC, SDXC source
- Battery
- NP-130 source
- USB / A/V cable
- See our Casio cable page
Meet the camera
It is a pocket zoom with an angular, brushed-metal body,34 roughly the size of a smartphone but thicker because of the retracting lens: PhotographyBLOG gives 104.8 by 59.1 by 28.6 millimetres and about 205 grams with battery and card.5 Casio announced it at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on 5 January 2011 and called it the new flagship of the Exilim line.1 The press release set a US price of $299.99 and a March 2011 ship date;1 Trusted Reviews quoted a UK list price of £300, and PhotographyBLOG, in October 2011, said it could already be found for about £179.35
Casio also confirmed US availability of the ZR10, announced at the Photokina trade show in 2010, at $249.99.1 PhotographyBLOG called the ZR100 a close cousin of the ZR10 and noted its zoom was 12.5x against 7x.5 For the earlier Exilims in our archive see the EX-Z1000 and the EX-Z75, which are CCD cameras from a different era.
Why this one was interesting
Speed, not just zoom
Casio's press release said a dual-core EXILIM Engine HS processor drove the camera, giving a shot-to-shot time it called industry-leading at 0.37 seconds, 40 shots per second at 10 megapixels for up to 30 frames, and a pre-record shutter that starts saving frames when you half-press the button.1 Reviewed.com tested the slower burst mode that keeps full 12-megapixel resolution and found it slightly beat its advertised 10 frames per second, with three runs at 10.89, 10.0 and 9.97.4 It added that Casio's high-speed cameras were marketed in golf magazines, and that the 240 fps video mode is well suited to studying a swing.4
Slow motion in a point-and-shoot
Besides 1080p at 30 frames per second, the ZR100 records slow-motion clips at 240, 480 and 1,000 frames per second, at frame sizes down to 224 by 64 pixels.15 PhotographyBLOG also noted a recessed High Speed continuous-shooting button on the top plate, and a video setting that switches between 30 and 240 frames per second while filming.5
The lens
Imaging Resource called the 24 mm wide end generous, and Casio's Multi Frame SR Zoom combines several shots to double the optical range to an equivalent 25x.21 It also offered aperture- and shutter-priority and full manual exposure on a body this size, which Reviewed.com called a good deal of manual control for a point-and-shoot.4
What it left out
The ZR100 had no GPS, which PhotographyBLOG said might otherwise have put it in the running against Panasonic's TZ20 as a travel zoom, and Reviewed.com added that Panasonic's ZS10 (the same camera as the TZ20) offered GPS and a touchscreen, a longer 16x zoom and 14.1 megapixels.54 Reviewed.com also noted the Casio had no true colour modes, only colour casts.4
The dark: its weak point
This is where reviewers disagreed on emphasis rather than on the facts. Trusted Reviews said the sensor did a good job in low light but that beyond ISO 400 there was a significant dip in quality, sharpness and colour depth; ISO 800 lost most fine detail but stayed usable, and ISO 3200 showed only a slight smattering of colour noise.3 PhotographyBLOG found little difference between ISO 800 and ISO 1600 and called the camera pretty impressive from a steady surface, with detail noticeably softer at 3200 but still usable.5 Reviewed.com measured noise under 1 percent across the range and said that is mostly the result of heavy noise reduction, so detail is lost instead: its average was 0.81 percent at 60 lux and 0.78 percent at 3,000 lux.4
The built-in flash was weak: Reviewed.com could not get it to light anything beyond about ten feet at ISO 100, and Trusted Reviews said a finger can partly cover it when you hold the camera, though Reviewed.com found the index finger usually stays clear.43 The free sample photos we found are almost all daylight shots, so this page shows no low-light strip.
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The little wins
Pre-record burst
Casio said the pre-record shutter begins pre-recording images when the shutter button is pressed halfway.1 PhotographyBLOG described the same feature.5
Instant shutter
PhotographyBLOG found that a full press took the picture at once, with no wait while the screen froze, and the screen refreshed for the next shot almost immediately.5
Good video sharpness
Reviewed.com measured 700 line widths per picture height in 1080p video, well above what most compacts achieved in its tests, though the fast frame-rate modes lose detail.4
How it drew the picture
Trusted Reviews scored image quality 9 (its page lists scores without a stated scale), calling ISO 100–400 crisp and clean with decent colour.3 PhotographyBLOG gave 3.5 out of 5, finding colour bold and bright, files slightly soft at default sharpening, purple fringing in high-contrast edges and difficulty avoiding blur at long focal lengths handheld.5 Reviewed.com thought the camera oversharpened in places, with heavy blue-green fringing visible in its wide-angle lab test but hard to see at 100 percent, and with distortion corrected almost completely in the camera.4 Its average colour error was about 3.5, which it called nothing spectacular.4 The images below were taken with this camera.
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Photos taken with this camera, from Wikimedia Commons, credited under each picture. Only a limited number of free photos exist, so this is a small sample.
Where it let you down
The menu was the loudest complaint. Trusted Reviews called it clunky, with options tucked away, and Reviewed.com said it exits after every change, forcing repeated trips.34 The mode dial turns by accident, Reviewed.com said.4 The HDR Art mode drew the strongest language: Trusted Reviews called its results hideous, overworked gimmicks, while PhotographyBLOG wrote that they look like a cross between hyper-real HDR and an Etch-a-Sketch and are best used in moderation; Trusted Reviews said standard HDR can work very well in some circumstances, PhotographyBLOG called it distinctly more realistic, and PhotographyBLOG noted that either HDR mode drops the maximum resolution to 10 megapixels.35
The fast modes cost quality. Trusted Reviews found the 10-megapixel burst frames heavily compressed, at about a fifth of the file size of ordinary 12-megapixel shots, with the camera taking a long time to clear its buffer afterwards.3 Reviewed.com said the 1,000 fps video is too dark to be of much use, while 240 fps keeps usable detail.4 Stabilisation was a letdown in Reviewed.com's lab: a gain of just 4 percent in sharp images; it recommended using the burst instead.4 Start-up took two to three seconds, according to PhotographyBLOG, and Trusted Reviews found the extended lens a touch loose.53
What the reviewers said in 2011
| Outlet | Date | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Trusted Reviews | 24 Feb 2011 | Value 9, design 8, features 9, image quality 9, performance 9. A step forward for Casio; worth a place on a £300 shortlist despite clunky menus and the HDR Art gimmick.3 |
| Reviewed.com | 22 Aug 2011 | No overall score on the page we read. A worthy leader for Casio's 2011 high-speed line; better stills exist at the price, but not with this speed.4 |
| PhotographyBLOG | 12 Oct 2011 | Design 4, features 4, ease of use 4, image quality 3.5, value 3.5 out of 5; Recommended badge. Well built, fairly priced, faster than expected for its class.5 |
Reviewed.com compared it with the Panasonic ZS10 and the Sony TX9: it called the ZR100 the pick for speed, the ZS10 stronger on colour accuracy and the TX9 the one for day-to-day snapshots.4
The timeline
- 5 January 2011Casio announces the ZR100 in Las Vegas at $299.99.1
- February 2011Trusted Reviews publishes its review (24 February).3
- March 2011Planned US availability.12
- 22 August 2011Reviewed.com publishes its review.4
- 12 October 2011PhotographyBLOG publishes its review; UK street price about £179.5
Should you buy one now?
Buy one if you want a pocket camera with a real 24–300 mm range and a fast burst for children, pets or a golf swing, and you can live with a clumsy menu and ordinary night shots. It launched at $299.99;1 what it sells for now is a question for the sold listings, not for us. Before you bid, check these:
- The name. Search the Casio Exilim EX-ZR100. The ZR10 is the cheaper 7x model.5
- The battery. It uses an NP-130 with its own BC-130L charger;24 a fresh one is on Amazon ↗.
- The card. It takes SD, SDHC and SDXC cards; Reviewed.com said it cannot use Eye-Fi cards.24 See our memory card guide.
- The cable. Reviewed.com describes a proprietary combined AV/USB port that is easy to damage if the plug is forced in; check the port and keep the cable.4
- The lens. Trusted Reviews found it a touch loose when extended;3 check it zooms cleanly and the glass is free of scratches.
- The seller's photos. Ask for pictures of the screen and flash window, and confirm the burst button works.
If you are wondering why cameras like this are being hunted down again, we tell that story once, in Pictures that never left the card.
See recent sold prices on eBay ↗Shop on eBay ↗NP-130 battery ↗
Sources
- Imaging Resource, “Casio ZR100: Speedy long-zoom compact” by Mike Tomkins (5 Jan 2011; reprints Casio America's press release of the same day)
- Imaging Resource, Casio EX-ZR100 overview and basic specifications (posted 5 Jan 2011; MSRP $300, availability March 2011)
- Trusted Reviews (What Digital Camera test), Casio EXILIM ZR100 review by Mike Lowe (24 Feb 2011)
- Reviewed.com, Casio EX-ZR100 Digital Camera Review by TJ Donegan (22 Aug 2011)
- PhotographyBLOG, Casio EX-ZR100 Review by Gavin Stoker (12 Oct 2011)
Sample photographs are credited under each one, all via Wikimedia Commons. Links to eBay and Amazon are affiliate links.