Casio Exilim EXZ50 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom
By: Casio Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 33
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 On: 2007-06-12
After 700 pictures this cameras electronics failed while on vacation in Europe. After returning to the US, I contacted Casio and sent it in for service. Repair was more than I paid for the camera...thus I am looking for something not made in China. Good luck.
 On: 2007-02-17
I have been exceptionally successful taking some beautiful outdoor shots with this camera. Well-lit indoor shots also turn out well, but Ive had some trouble getting darker photos to look good. I dont know whether the flash is weaker than other comparable cameras, but I feel as if the indoor photos some of my friends take are more impressive than mine. As nice as it is to have all of the available pre-set "scenes", I dont feel that the night settings work without a tripod to hold the camera absolutely still.
The sound recorded by this camera is of understandably-mediocre quality, and the same can probably be said for the video. One other potential issue: the documentation that comes with the camera is pretty poor, so you may feel the need to look online for instructions on how to use more advanced features (especially if you havent had another modern digital camera). All told, the camera was probably a bit overpriced when I bought it 1-1/2 years ago, but its been fun. Ive taken ~1200 pictures with it (although not nearly all of them were good), and I expect to take thousands more.
 On: 2006-12-14
CASIO IS EXTREMELY HESITANT TO PROVIDE WARRANTY SERVICE. CAMERA WAS MAILED IN OCT 25 FOR WARRANTY SERVICE. PLAYED TELEPHONE TAG WITH SERVICE DEPARTMENT FOR 8 WEEKS AND FINALY GOT WORD THAT CAMERA WAS ACCCEPTED FOR WARRANTY SERVICE AND WAS BEING TURNED OVER TO MAINTENANCE AND I "SHOULD" RECEIVE CAMERA IN APPROX TEN DAYS. THE KEY WORD BEING "SHOULD". I AM NOT GETTING ALL EXCITED JUST YET. . AS MUCH AS I LIKE THE CAMERA I DEFINTELY WOULD NOT BUY ANOTHER CASIO JUST BECAUSE OF THE BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE ASPECT.
 On: 2006-11-15
I purchased this camera after deciding to upgrade from my 3.2 megapixel sony cybershot. I was an inexperienced digicam buyer, as the first one had been a gift, and thought it best to purchase at a photography store. While in the store, I noticed the excess of noise on the LCD screen, which I had never experienced with my Sony. I, nonetheless, purchased it anyway after the test photos I snapped appeared to be clear on the LCD screen. I used the camera the next day at the aquarium and was very displeased to see that the majority of my photos were grainy, and those which had acceptable quality were only the photos that I had snapped at close range.
I kept the camera figuring that I was not accustomed to the features and was therefore using the incorrect settings to get the picture quality I wanted but, at every setting, I got the same result. Even the pictures taken at "fine" setting were grainy. The cameras performance was abysmal in low-light situations, something that my 3.2mp Sony always seemed to adjust wonderfully to. Almost every low light photo Ive taken with this camera has been soft and blurry. Amazingly, the photos taken in situations where all lights were turned off using only flash assist were pretty clearly defined.
In the end, I found that I got the best results (and print quality) when I took very large photos at ISO 50 and then resized them to be smaller on my PC. Shrunken photos were actually very useable.
There are some pros to this camera, despite its many shortcomings:
1. It is very compact. I loved having a camera that fit nicely into my pockets or purse for those situations when I wanted to get a shot here or there but did not want to have a bulky camera in tow.
2. The battery life is amazing. There were days when I snapped literally hundreds of photos before losing power. The change from the 50 photo battery life of my Sony was a nice improvement.
3. The quality of the video mode is better than I expected, and the videos are already in web format which makes them easier for sharing.
4. The camera dock not only makes uploading photos to your computer a dream, but saves you money on batteries.
My overall opinion: If you are looking for a camera to just have fun with, maybe share a few pics on the web, then this is great.
If you are looking for a camera to shoot important events, vacations, parties, etc, dont get this one.
On: 2006-11-02
I was upgrading from a tiny 3.1 megapixel, credit card size, and liked the idea of a camera with a docking station. It takes minutes to download 50 ++ pictures. It is very, very easy to use. I have taken this small camera everywhere; Italy, Switzerland and France, and my own backyard. This camera has made me a better photographer(see images). It has performed perfectly for me and the only assesory Ive purchased is a bigger memory card (1 gig) for $29.00. It is so small, I keep it in my purse most of the time.
Sure, youll need a larger camera for telephoto, and wide angle but for the size, this packs a punch.
BUY IT! You will not be dissapointed.
On: 2006-04-02
Its a great camera that will beat any 5MP in the Market; except maybe Sony Cybershot. But I only paid $175.00 for it. I think its worth the price.
On: 2006-03-20
Im very pleased with this camera. Had a lot of features, the res. is excelent and is very small and light.
On: 2006-03-08
Although Im not the best photogragher...this camera is amazing to use and produces very clear vivid digital pictures and is a pleasure to use. The compact look makes for easy traveling convenience. I love it!
On: 2006-02-28
I bought this camera in 2005 and liked it so much that I purchased an additional camera for my husband for his business. I like the larger screen, it was easy to learn to use and the pictures come out great. My only complaint is that if its dark its hard to see the screen when taking the picture. You do have to use a docking station but if we travel we can both bring our cameras and just one docking station.Make sure you buy a Sandisk digital card for storage- 256 should be fine holds 80-100 pictures. Overall I am thrilled with the camera.
On: 2006-01-15
This product is GREAT! Samlll size but all the features of a larger camera, and the price at Amazon can not be BEAT!
No wonder NIkon announced they are no londer making "film cameras", this was a gift for my daughter who wanted a small camera, I did the techincal review and this is the "camera".
Every family should own at least one!
Things just keep getting better.
A Best Buy here at Amazon, only regret they did not carry the camera in other colors, such as some other retailers did.
On: 2005-12-20
I just returned the camera after 2 weeks of trying to get the settings to make the picture quality better. In daylight the quality is OK at best, but under low light conditions it was terrible. Im really down on Casio after this experience, but the reviews on the other models give me some hope. I am looking at the Pentax model now.
The size and options are great on this, but that did not compensate for the dismal picture quality.
On: 2005-11-10
This camera has almost same feature that EX-Z57 has with a difference of LCD size. Price? slight cheaper than Z57.
The comact size of this camera is good for carry and the cradle and software are convenience for saving files to computer. It organizes your picture files with web based files. So, as like other casio model, if you burn picture CD, anyone can browse your pictures with internet explorer without any other software.
So far, it looks good but it has severe problem on picture quality. I can not believed that it has 5 mega pixcel.
Pictures have taken in bright place or under the sun light are so so. However, pictures taken at inside under normal living light are horrible. The noise of pictures from this camera just like as from 30$ valued Webcam.
Someone may say " Hey guy, its just a compact camera. What do you expect". Indeed, I didnt expect good quality too. However, it is worse than that. Over ISO 200, it is impossible to get normal picture.
I decided to return it because it also had bad pixcels on CCD.
Thanks bad pixcels. Otherwise I had to loose some money for returning of this crap.
I strongly dont recommend to buy this camera and EX-Z57. Maybe, other compact camera, such as F10, Fx8 or Optio-SV may be a better choice with similar price.
better choice than this.
On: 2005-11-02
Tons of features, good battery life, slim but very functional packaging. The only downside I have found so far is that the instruction manual doesnt provide much information on the myriad of features - disapointing to have all the bells and whistles and not have the supporting information to go with them. All in all though, this camera is simply wonderful and has met all my performance expectations and needs.
On: 2005-11-02
I love this camera. Easy to use and understand. Has a long battery life. Very little lag time between pictures. Its a great little camera. I have one and just purchased one for my granddaughter. Very fast shipping. Ordered it Sunday evening, and had it Tues. afternoon.
On: 2005-10-23
I was especially excited about receiving this camera. I had looked for a digital camera for some time and loved the compact size and large screen that this one provided. I had it for about 8 months when I went on my honeymoon in Hawaii. I had not used it for that amount of consecutive time prior to this trip but of course was taking many shots of the scenery. The camera started malfunctioning and locking up and not saving the picture that it locked up on. This of course happened at very inopportune times and had to be reset many times as well, sometimes effectively and sometimes not. I would say buyer be scared, especially if you are planning to use it a lot for one type of important event. It probably was worth spending more money and getting a better name brand. The size of the lcd screen is great, however the quality of the pictures could be better. Although you can change the picture quality size, a size for normal pictures that you would get is not included such as 4x6 and 8x10. It does have a 5x7 size though.
On: 2005-10-08
This is a slim, easy to carry and use camera. Memory, resolution and zoom is more than acceptable for casual user. Battery life is perfect. SD memory type fits the slot I have in my Toshiba Laptop, but I never had to take the SD memory-stick out because the docking station is a breeze to use.
Super Fast Startup and battery life are the main plus. Do not buy a digital camara that uses AA or AAA batteries, is a waste of money. You dont have to worry about this with the Casio Exilim.
On: 2005-09-02
Strengths: Excellent pictures with outside lighting
Weaknesses: Red Eye reduction doesnt seem to work at all. Night photos of fireworks didnt work well even when using that setting. Any pics you take inside with low lighting are very grainy. Nice size camera for a woman~~too small for a mans hands.
Summary: Ive had the camera for 8 months now and was very satisfied with any of the outside pictures or pictures that had a great deal of lighting around to compensate for the basic lack of a flash ~ the flash doesnt really help unless you are on top of the subject. Inside pics in dimly lit areas are very very grainy and I have tried every setting to improve them with absolutely no luck. The camera comes with different settings, but even when I put the camera on the firework setting all of the fireworks came out blurry. The size of the camera is great for a woman with small hands but is awkward for a mans larger hands. The casing is very flimsy and was dented when accidently dropped about 4 ft from the ground (height you would hold a camera at while taking a pic) while my husband was taking a pic of my daughter. The lens which protrudes while taking a pic would also no longer retract into the camera with this very small accident. BEWARE ~~ if you drop the camera plan on buying a new one. Casio charged me a FLAT FEE of $200 plus other small fees. Total charge to repair camera $220.43. I requested that the camera be sent back without repairs so they couldnt reuse my perfectly good lens or reuse the battery or any other good parts and there is a shipping fee to return the camera. By the way, a new camera from many dealers on-line costs somewhere between $229 and $259.
As stated earlier the camera works very well in good lighting situations ~~ poorly in dimly lit situations. The only reason that I would not consider purchasing this camera again is due to the unfortunate way that Casio sticks you with a super high repair bill.
On: 2005-08-15
I just bought this camera recently and it is incredible. It takes superior quality pictures inside and out, and is so small you can easily carry it in the smallest purse or your pocket. I love how it has the "BESTSHOT" feature where you can choose many preset photo option such as a coupling shot where you can combine two pictures into one and create twins and two headed people. Also, it has 3 settings for the quality of the pictures and even the "economy" setting takes incredible shots. I have gotten so many compliments on this camera its not even funny. people come up to me all the time and ask where i got that kind of money to buy an $800. camera and they are in shock when i tell them it was only about $300. or so. This camera is worth every single penny...dont even bother to compare to other cameras because im telling you now, this camera is the best youll ever find, anywhere!!
On: 2005-07-22
The Z50 has an instantaneous startup time and the docking station is kinda cool. Its pocket-sized with a nice size LCD, though not as big as the cybershot T1. The snapshot feature seems to work the best because it doesnt manipulate/distort the image as much as the "best shot" feature, an ironic name for such BS camera modes.
The categories for "best shot" are way too specific: Children, Fireworks, Flowers, Collection, Food, ect. I dont take enough picture of food to have a specific setting on my camera for that. The categories should have been like: indoor, outdoor, action, slow shutter-speed and stuff like that - keep it general. I find myself taking multiple pictures of the same thing in different camera modes because I dont know which ones will turn out crappy. Portraits and coupling shots are actually designed to blur the background, but the camera rarely distinguishes the foreground from the background correctly.
If you can find the right picture mode for your shots, the camera can be worth the price.
I probably wouldnt buy this camera again. But I wouldnt discourage others from trying it.
On: 2005-07-19
This camera is not only a piece of crap, but it is actually faulty. Mine, like Phil the Dude, also broke on me in the exact same circumstances, ie I turned it off after two months of use and it never started again. Unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to have the shop warranty and Casio refused to repair the camera, claiming that I had damaged it personally. I am now in battle with this terrible manufacturer to have my camera repaired under the twelve month warranty the camera was sold under.
On: 2005-06-29
I bought this camera and it broke 3 weeks later. Im so glad I spent 6 bucks on the warranty and got my money back. Now ill go out and buy a real camera. I was living in the dark ages and never bought a digital camera. I broke down on the morning that I was leaving for a weekend trip and headed around the corner to Radio Shack to zip in and oout with a new camera. This one SEEMED like it was exactly what I needed so I was satisfied at first. In and out in 10 minuted. I took it with me and was disgusted. Focus is terrible. God forbid you want to take an action picture or a picture with low light. All youll get is a blurry, grainy mess. Anyway, one day I simply hit the power button to turn the camera off, and it completely froze, for good. Nothing. Took it back to Radio Shack, got my money back, and Im gonna buy someting thats actually worth $300. Well, at least I got to use a camera that weekend for free. Dont buy this camera.
by: Anonymous On: 2005-06-09
Well, Ive been buying at Amazon for years and this is my first review. I had to speak up because its important.
Ive been considering the Casio Exilim EX-Zxx line for a couple of months. I did my due diliegence at all the usual places: Cnet, KenRockwell.com, DPreview, Steves-Digicams, PCMag, etc. I poured over user reviews. I bought the EX-Z50. My God, what a massive, massive dissapointment!!!!
Let me first say that I am no amateur with digicams or 35mm photography for that matter. Ive been an avid hobbyist for nearly 20 years. Ive been in the digital mix for 5 now. I shoot primarilly Nikon D70. Like another comment here, I was also looking for a super portable pocket-cam when not wanting to tote the big rig.
The GOOD: The EX-Z50 is fantastically cute, solid feeling, feature filled, and has good pricing. Its easy for my novice wife to pick the thing up and start using it with little instruction. The screen is excellent. The controls are above par. As Ken Rockwell mentions, the Exilim line seems to have been designed by real photogs with features such as easy White-Balance and intuitive menus. The unit starts up really quickly. The focus is relatively fast for a point-and-shoot. Shutter lag is very slight - excellent performance. Did I mention this thing is small and cute? Great design.
The BAD: And most importantly... the picture quality is beyond HORRIBLE!!!! Severe barreling at anything past 50% telephoto. Purple fringing all over the place. But my biggest gripe is the MASSIVE, MASSIVE, GRAININESS in nearly every single picture in every single setting. Imagine a cheap 110mm camera using ISO800 file all time. It is compleltely unacceptable at any ISO setting on the Casio. Perhaps Im spoiled by the stellar D70 performance. But this is downright bad. I am shocked. I implore Casio to take a hard look at their digicams before trying to pass them off in the public domain as good cameras. This is a serious emabrassment. I am returning my unit and reviewing others.
On: 2005-05-14
This camera rocks the house! Its small and takes great photos. The battery life is long. Its not complicated to use. Its not heavy. The pictures look good and are in focus! BUY THIS CAMERA!
On: 2005-04-26
There are fancier camperas with more features. There are slicker-looking cameras. They are all big. This camera can hide under a credit card yet it takes fabulous pix and even avi video. The software is even adequate for manipulating photos although an Adobe Photo package makes this camera come to life. Load it up with memory, crank the resolution and sharpness to max and go on a shooting spree with this camera. I used one for five days including video shoots, playback and lots of start/stop and the battery still shows a full charge. Its simply amazing for its size. Yes there are better cameras which cost more and are the size of a Nikon F3 but for a tiny camera, this one rocks.
On: 2005-04-21
I have never owned a better camera. I was delighted by the design and performance of the exilim. Only one issue, that of the birghtness of the screen in dark situations, pales in comparison to the speed, battery life and overall quality. I wanted a compact, high quality, functionally superior camera - the exilim is all that an more. I just love it.
On: 2005-03-24
I hate to sound like one of those grumpy guys who says "this camera is no better than the brand XX I bought 3 years ago" but its true! I REALLY wanted to like this camera for all its nifty features, but at the end of the day, picture quality was no better (and sometimes worse) than my old 3mp sony cybershot p7. Heres the scoop
Pros:
1. Great size/ body. Looks awesome and feels solid. Nice grip placement.
2. Menu system is the BEST I have ever seen. REally intuitive, easy to get to all the settings.
3. 23 shooting modes! And there is an example for each, you dont have to memorize what all the cryptic symbols mean
4. Start up is very fast. This is where the casio kicks butt over my old camera.
4. DECENT photo quality, but...
Cons:
1. ... Picture quality is simply not as good as my 3mp Sony. I tried every setting there is and took lots of comparison photos... day, night, macro, magnifying, using different sizes and enhancing them. Bottom line: more noise and less sharpness with the Casio. Its more megapixels, it should be sharper, no? I have no explanation.
2. LCD is big, but it is VERY grainy in low lighting conditions. Embarassing. My sony has a smaller screen, but its not snowing all the time.
For me, the picture quality is the deciding factor. For others, it might not matter... The Casio certainly takes VERY decent photos, and I cant see how anyone could give it a "poor" rating. But Ill stick with my beat up sony, thanks!
On: 2005-03-07
Today I bought this camera (z50) from compusa and going to return it tomorrow, I have Sony 1.1 MP but still it gives good pic quality compare to Casio z50 5.0 MP. I am completely unhappy with this camera,I dont know why they have made such camera, It seems QC dept forgot to test in low light (evening, night) mode, The LCD diplay is very noisy in low light mode.
If you buy this camera you must compare pic quality with Sony Cyber shot or Kodak easy share.
On: 2005-03-06
Ive used it a lot... I just can say that this is a great device... The quality of the pictures are very good... The size is perfect... I really recommend this camera.
On: 2005-02-21
Although I did not buy this camera from Amazon (found it cheaper elsewhere and paid for that in customer service) I felt compelled to write a review here since it will likely get the most exposure at this website.
I have had this camera for 2 weeks now and I am absolutely thrilled with it. I bought it originally for two features -- the 5MP resolution and the size of the item itself. The pictures are great and look like they would easily lend themselves to enlargement without a loss in clarity. The camera easily stows away in the pocket of your pants and its like it is not even there.
PROS - small size/portability; 5MP resolution with the ability to set resolution at 5, 4.28, 3, 1.875, 1.2, and 0.5 MP; movie mode which records movies as long as you have memory; voice recording as long as you have memory; picture/voice mode allows you to place a 30 second voice caption onto your pictures; ability to manually set f-stop, shutter speed, focus, whitebalance, electron volts; can zoom and crop images right on the camera; up and ready to take a picture in <2 seconds, 3x optical zoom, controls very intuitive, 2 inch LCD screen large and clear
CONS - images grainy in low light (what camera isnt?), SD card slightly difficult to remove from camera, voice recorder doesnt record clearly when input is very loud, 4x digital zoom does not keep image clarity very well
EXTRA SPECIAL PRO - battery life (I have taken over 200 pictures with flash on 70, two video clips of 1 and 5 minutes, and a voice clip of 10 minutes and the battery indicator hasnt budged off full)
I would highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a high resolution point and shoot portable digital camera. Its a winner.
On: 2005-01-28
Im more than satisfied with this camera, not only is it reasonably priced, it exceeds my expections, and here are the reasons why:
1. User Friendly - very easy to use, no complicated functionalities, outstanding point and click features. Easy to figure out because features are simple and convenient.
2. Photo Quality - photo quality is very impressive for what it is. Best Shot feature is very useful and zooming in and out is easy to do.
3. Battery life - this is perhaps the best feature because it is very long. I was able to take five 10 second long video clips and 45 still pictures in one event and the battery life was still in good standing.
4. View screen - is very clear, nice and wide which makes photo playback much easier and more fun.
6. Shutter reaction time - is about a second its easy to take candid photos.
7. Camera size - small and compact, easy to carry around in a small purse or pocket.
8 Download - very easy to download and picture quality is nice and clean.
Overall, I highly recommend this camera for those of you who like taking pictures of anything.
On: 2005-01-22
I chose this camera (after a rather intensive stint of web research) as a replacement for my bulky, sluggish Nikon Coolpix 775. Ive had it for a little over a month now and Im thrilled with it. Its fast - powers up and snaps in seconds. The pics are (to my eye) great quality; the intuitive interface and controls and "Best Shot" feature makes it easy to use right out of the box. The battery life is impressive as well; I used it for days snapping pics on a recent vacation without recharging it.The enormous LCD display makes it easy to review your pics before dloading them. The convenience of the cradle is one the Id originally underestimated, as well. All in all, a great shutterbuggin experience.
On: 2005-01-03
I own a d-rebel, and I have owned an olympus 3000 before. I was looking for pocket size camera. This camera certainly has a nice solid constructions and is very portable. Also shoots movies which is only limited by the size of he memory. It allows for some manual control, in ISO setting and white balance. it also has some preset functions, where it adjusts contrast, saturation and exposure as well as flash assis for a particular shooting situation, although to set that involves going potentially 16 shooting modes. Other than that, ther eis no manual setting of aperture or shutter speed. Battery life is good. also macro function is good.
The big draw back is hepicture quality. The noise level is very high. The 5 MP rating is of limited utility, since the noise is so much, that large prints are out of question. at times it has difficulty with focousing. my 4 year old 3 mp olympus certainly takes better pictures. I feel that the portability of the camera does not compensate for the poo quality of the pictures, if you are at all serious about your pictures.
On: 2005-01-02
I bought this camera after much research and am glad to say that I havent regretted it for a second! I never write reviews, but since this camera has only one review so far, I thought Id put in my $0.02 to help spread the word.
------- WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR -------
Before this, I used a Nikon Coolpix 990 -- fantastic camera, but too bulky and heavy (took 4 AAs) to carry around daily. For my second camera, I wanted something very portable (i.e. small and light) with long battery life. I didnt necessarily need 5MP; that was just a bonus.
------- PROS -------
Where do I begin? The EXZ50 is very small, so its a cinch to carry around. So far, the battery life has been great. The start-up time is almost nil; no waiting for the camera to "boot up" once you turn it on. Even more importantly, it saves photos to the memory card very fast (my Nikon used to lag a bit) so you can take several photos in quick succession. The LCD is a good size, especially in relation to the camera. The controls are intuitive and user-friendly. Getting your photos to your PC is so easy: just put the camera in the docking station and hit the "USB" button! Tons of great features -- read about them on the site I mention at the end of this review [sorry, Amazon edited out the site]. Oh, and the pictures turn out great!
------- CONS -------
I do have a minor quibble in that the LCD display is a bit dark in low-light conditions. Maybe thats just a given, but on the Nikon, the display was bright even in low-light. It could be that I just havent figured out how to fix that. Also, the macro mode isnt as great as on the Nikon, but I knew that before purchasing and it was something I was willing to live with. Dont get me wrong, it isnt *bad* (the Casio manual says the range begins at 6cm), but I take a lot of close-up jewellery shots and for those, Ill continue to use my other camera. Again, the point of my getting this Casio was to have something to carry around daily.
------- THE COMPETITION -------
For a long time, Id been leaning toward getting a Canon (who seem to dominate the "tiny camera" field), but I read so much about the so-called "E18 error" that it scared me away (plus, I personally know people whove had memory card failures). I didnt go with Olympus because I read a lot about long lag-time and low battery life. Also, Olympus and Fuji use xD memory cards, which cost a bit more, and none that I looked at beat the slimness of the Casio. I already have a battery-sucking Nikon, so I skipped that brand. Ive never been a big fan of Sony, so the Cybershots were out (partly b/c of those proprietary memory sticks). I almost went with a Panasonic Lumix, but it was a bit too expensive compared to others. Nothing in the Minolta family jumped out at me, either. You can see I mainly considered companies who make cameras their main business. I know Casio isnt strictly photography, but this camera does have a Pentax lens.
[...]
Overall, Im thrilled with the Casio Exilim EX-Z50! There are tons of cameras out there, each with its pros and cons, so I know the choice is tough. Luckily, I feel I made the right one for me!
On: 2004-12-16
I got this camera after researching for a month what camera I thought was the best. This camera has so many features that I fell in love with. The size of it for starters is increadible. It takes such clear beautiful pictures. The docking cradle is an added bonus becuase it elimniates the hard work of downloading pictures. The camera is also light wieght and I was looking for a camera that I could fit in an evening bag. I look forward to taking this camera every with me. I definetly recommend this product to anyone looking to buy a camera.
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