14 DAY TRIAL // Apparently, Casio's prototype in late August was not just some idea thought up by crazy engineers as the company has just come out with a CES press release announcing the new lineup of Exilim digital cameras.
As expected, the most impressive model in the lineup is the aforementioned prototype, which now has a name, EXILIM Pro EX-F1, and is touted as having the world's fastest burst shooting performance.
According to the press release, "this model incorporates a high speed CMOS sensor and a high speed LSI processor. With this model, Casio has achieved an ultra-high speed 60 frames per second (fps) burst rate for still images, together with 1,200 fps high speed movie recording that captures movement faster than the eye can see for ultra-slow motion replay."
However, the 1,200 fps speed can only be achieved with a 336 ? 96 resolution. This doesn't mean that the performance is not incredible as the Pro EX-F1 can record 300 frames per second at a resolution of 512 x 384, certainly not something you come across with regular still and video cameras.
In case you don't remember from the previous article, we're talking about a bridge-type camera powered by a CMOS sensor measuring 1/1.8 inches and with 6 megapixels. Notice the relatively large sensor size paired with only 6MP, a blasphemy in today's 12MP world. But there's a catch, the bigger the sensor size and the fewer photodiodes the better the image quality will be. Moreover, the CMOS sensor will be "shiftable" to compensate for unwanted camera movement. It will also have a lens with 12x optical zoom.
The EX-F1's availability is slated for March 2008. According to dpreview, Casio recommends a price of around $999.99.
Additionally, Casio also announced four new point and shoot models, the EXILIM Card EX-S10, EXILIM Zoom EX-Z80, EXILIM Zoom EX-Z200 and EX-Z10. Let's take them one by one to see their key features.
The EXILIM Card EX-S10 is touted as the world's smallest and thinnest 10.1 megapixel model. According to the press release, the camera's stylish body, measuring 3.71" wide, 2.15" high and .59" thin (.54" at the thinnest part) houses a 3x optical zoom lens and the 2.7-inch LCD with a 230,160 dot resolution. Moreover, it uses the H.264 standard to compress video files. The camera comes in four colors, red, blue, silver, and black.
The EXILIM Zoom EX-Z80 has a 8.1 megapixel CCD coupled with a 3x optical zoom lens and does not stand out from the crowd with any particular feature, despite the face detection technology and the H.264 video codec. It is available in six body colors, pale pink, vivid pink, green, blue, black, and silver, and as Casio puts it, the company has sought to create both functionality and design that are "easier" and "more fun." So there you have it, an easy to use and funny camera.
Last, but not least, we have the EXILIM Zoom EX-Z200 and EX-Z100, two 10.1 megapixel models featuring a wide-angle 28 mm lens with 4X optical zoom. The 28mm lens is quite impressive as it gives users true wide-angle capabilities that will be valued when facing jaw-dropping vistas.
The only difference between the two is the CCD-shifting image stabilization technology found in the EX-Z200. Other than that, they are identical. Additional features include the 2.7 inch LCD for composing and reviewing images and the H.264 video codec.
All in all, Casio's new models come with a pretty solid feature set that will certainly appeal to users.
