Casio Exilim EX-V8 8MP Digital Camera with 7x Anti-Shake Optical Zoom
By: Casio Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 20
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 On: 2008-05-31
I bought this camera as a pocket camera for when I dont want to carry my DSLR. It does just about everything and some surprises rather well. I really like the 7x zoom and the fact that the lens doesnt extend. It also takes great movies.
On: 2008-05-30
This is a very nice little camera. I like it overall, but is has some problems. Things that I like are the way the cover slides over, Olympus Stylus style. It provides much better protection for the lens than the flimsy little eyelids on most cameras. The lack of a protruding lens makes it more rugged, I think. The display is big. It has very a manual mode and shutter priority and aperture priority, movies, and best shot.
But the things I dont like are these. The manual mode isnt much good, because it still automatically adjusts the sensitivity (ISO). Yes, you can dive into a menu and make it hold, but that resets when you turn the camera off. The little mode dial moves very easily, and it is often the case that it moves with me just handling the camera. It doesnt focus very close. (That is undoubtedly a consequence of not having a protruding lens.)
 On: 2008-05-26
I bought the camera while I was on vacation in Chicago. It came with a small defect, where some photos went out "burned" on the right side. As is was not common and I didnt have time to return it, I didnt do anything. After 1 month it started to have a "lens problem" where it didnt take any pictures at all.
On: 2008-05-23
I bought this Casio to go along my new Nikon dSLR and I was not disappointed at all by the movie capability of this little gem. Between the anti-shake feature and the stereo sound, you get great movies from this little box. For the pictures, compared to the dSLR, it cant hold its own of course, but its small size means its always with me and thus there are some shots that I have made with it that I couldnt have made with my Nikon... Also, its macro mode is pretty good and underrated IMO. Overall, an excellent value for the price..
 On: 2008-05-20
I review both for functionality and for accessibility.
This small point and shoot ( and other similar Casios, probably, from their instruction manuals ) are almost fully accessible to people with photosensitive / motion sensitive epilepsy. In ordinary usage, with the sole exception of using the self timer, there is no blinking, flashing icons, animations or other seizure inducing bad interface implementation. This is in sharp distinction, say, to the Canon Powershot SD-950 which is a nightmare. ( I purchased one for a friend and I spent a week playing with it ). The Canon has blinking or animations and motion that make it totally unusable to sensitive epileptics. In particle, the red "shake warning" icon that vibrates insanely at low light levels and the various animations of the four way selector icon displayed on the rear LCD display.
Comment:
Whether a piece of equipment blinks or not is critical to people with epilepsy. That is why I review equipment and write reviews. IF blinking cannot be disabled, then the item may be unusable to epileptics. For example, I tolerate absolutely no blinking, flashing or animations and I, personally, cannot use anything that does this.
This Casio camera has a status light that does blink almost all of the time. You can cover it and avoid this annoyance. There is no way, however, of disabling it. Because it can be covered up so that it cannot be seen, I ignore it in my review. Other than this light, and the extremely annoying blinking autofocus illumination light blinking during timer operation ( which cannot be disabled and makes timer operation unusable for epileptics ), the camera seems to be totally usable. ( For example, I spent $750 on a Fuji camera and it was almost accessible. However, when I switched to Raw mode it started displaying blinking random squares on the LCD display during i/o and I started having seizures to the point that I threw the camera away. Accessibility is important. I do not think that it is right that people like me have to lose many, many tens of thousands of dollars trying to find something that they can use. Hopefully, some people will not lose their money as I repeatedly have. Accessibility is the great exception and never the rule. )
I would rate the Casio a 4, however the first one that I purchased was defective ( it had a red pixel stuck at very annoying maximum brightness on the LCD display) Rather than Casio/Computer Brain just sending me a new replacement, it is off to Casio repair for God knows how long. What a RIPOFF. So, I had to purchase a second one to use. As I said, what a RIPOFF. This is brand new; I purchased a new camera and I dont want some used, reconditioned RIPOFF model. Thanks for nothing. You do this you; get a bad review.
Annoyances and hassles and inaccessibility:
1) Casio is too cheap to include an SD memory card. CHEAP. ( I realize that supplying a 32MB card like some manufactures do is futile as it is used one time until the purchaser gets a 1-4GB card. Casio, how about including a 512MB - 1 GB card. It cant cost you more than a buck or two? Instead, I had to go to Radio Shack and get ripped off of $40 so I could use the camera. )
2) The pictures, especially indoors are of not very high quality. Grainy, poor color in details, etc.
3) A lot of barrel lens distortion. I photographed a brick wall and later I thought it was an arch. Slightly sarcastic but still very obvious distortion.
4) Manual modes are almost a joke. There are only a couple of physical apertures plus a neutral density filter to "similulate" actually changing the aperture. ( basically f4 or out the door )
5) You really have to use it on a tripod for lower light levels because of the very poor high ISO ( 400 ) performance. The tripod socket is at the opposite side of the camera from the shutter release button. You have to push pretty hard and everything VIBRATES badly. Therefore using a tripod is almost useless. There is no provision for any sort of remote shutter release. ( if it had a mini-USB connector, it would be nice to have a mini-USB shutter release )
6) To use a tripod, therefore, you have to use the self timer. THIS IS IMPLEMENTED EXTREMELY POORLY! When you push the shutter release, the autofocus light on the front of the camera BLINKS BRIGHTLY once a second ( and then much faster just before taking the picture ). I have unpleasant seizures from this so that I have to absolutely avoid using the self timer. ( BTW, other reviews have commented on the stupidity of using this very bright light for this purpose so I am not alone. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. ( and dangerous to people with epilepsy, to say the least )
7) The camera does not have the typical mini-USB connector found on other small cameras. Instead, Casio supplies a proprietary docking station. The problem with this is that you have to bring the large docking station with you to charge the camera or to upload photographs. Now you need a camera bag rather than a shirt pocket. STUPID.
8) The almost worthless camera strap ( wrist strap ) attaches to the right side of the camera ( and to the right wrist ). It is not really long enough to conveniently manipulate the camera. Also, since most people are right handed, do you really want the camera swinging from your right wrist as you use your right hand to open doors, etc? Wrist strap should be for the left wrist. STUPID, again.
9) Large, too large to bring with you, user manual. It is large because it is in 19 languages, each requiring a couple of dozen pages. The REAL manual is a PDF file.
Conclusions:
1) Accessible to people with epilepsy provided you never use the self timer.
2) Fair photograph quality
3) Various stupid human factors.
4) Iffy quality ( at least for my defective unit ) and subferior service.
Hence 3 stars. Were it not for the self timer and 4) it would get 4 stars.
At least I can use it with the above restraints and never get clobbered. That is truly remarkable. It is fun to use, too!
On: 2008-04-14
I have had this camera for about 3 weeks now. I was looking for a camera with good quality widescreen DVD resolution video with optical zoom and decent pictures. This camera really excels in the video area. The widescreen DVD quality video is excellent and having 7x zoom with absolutely no mechanical zoom noise is great. The zoom control slides and acivates either a slow or very fast zoom. The 2 grades of zooming is very useful and helps this camera to be a real camcorder replacement. The ergonomics of the zoom control are not the best, though. I do wish the lens was a bit more wide angle, as at 38mm fully zoomed out is narrower view than I would like. Using the electronic image stabilization during videoing aggravates this issue as the field of view is narrowed further to allow for stabilization.
Image quality on this camera is good, but not great. The CCD shift image stabilization really helps when taking high zoom pictures. I have noticed that at all full 7x zoom pictures are noticeably softer than no zoom pics. I have though been very happy to capture pics that I would never have managed with a 3x zoom camera.
My biggest problems with this camera are as follows:
- Movies are stored in apple .mov format that does not play back well on older windows PCs. All three of my 2-3 year old PCs cannot play back the movies using the quicktime player, they are jerky and the sound stutters. I found that the free VLC media player software plays the video great, but the sound is a screeching mess. The only workaround I have found is to use the free RADtools software to convert the videos to DIVX or XVID format. The videos then play fine on all of my PCs, but this conversion process takes several minutes per minute of video. If you only have newer macs of windows PCs then you are probably fine, but sharing the full resolution video files with others is an issue. The videos upload fine to flickr, and this is what I have been using to share them with others, though flickr reduces the resolution a bit.
- When playing the movies back using the included camera dock video connection to my TV (standard composite A/V cables), the video does not play at DVD quality. I would guess the 848x480 videos are actually being displayed on my TV at half resolution, maybe 424x240. I find this unacceptable, especially considering the above problem with PC viewing. The dock should have come with a component cable connection and actually play the videos in 480p full DVD resolution.
I bought the black version of this camera (only available at beast buy) and it was at the time on sale for one seventy nine on closeout. If you want to see samples of images and videos see user michaelandanna on flickr, photos tagged with "EX-V8"
 On: 2008-04-07
There is no doubt the EX-V8 an incredible camera and Im happy to see such great reviews for it. I think a lot of people overlook it because they crave those huge manly zoom lenses with "authentic-sounding" labels emblazoned on them like Schneider, Leica, Zeiss, etc. Maybe its not cool to have a camera with a wimpy looking flat front?
I have owned a Casio EX-Z750 which I reviewed here a few years ago and have loved it. Casio has been in the digital camera business for a long time and they make rock-solid cameras that take excellent pictures. I cant count the times I didnt want to lug my DSLR or I felt it attracted too much attention but yet I needed something that would produce a decent photograph and the Z750 was perfect. A few weeks ago I was at a Renaissance Faire with my Z750 and wished I had two features the camera lacked ... a more powerful zoom, and Image Stabilization like my DSLR. The first one that I could seriously consider is the brand-new Panasonic DMC-TZ5. With a 10x zoom and IS it seems like an excellent camera, but when I went to look at one I was disappointed how big it is, and thats before the huge lens is zoomed all the way. I reviewed every other camera and found just one that had a decent zoom, IS, and the other features I wanted and was small enough to take everywhere and that was the V8. As soon as I picked one up I was convinced.
Like many Casio cameras this thing feel like it is carved from a solid brick of aluminum (its not). Mine is called "black" though it really is a very rich gunmetal gray. Every button feels solid and works with a reassuring click. Despite having a 7X lens the overall size is almost identical to my Z750, which is accomplished by having the entire lens built into the camera body. The LCD screen is the same size but even sharper and brighter than my previous camera. Let me spend a little more time on the lens because it is one of the major reasons I bought the camera.
To me there are two ways to take pictures ... either with a DSLR with a great lens in which you carefully compose your photograph and manually set the camera to capture exactly the essence of the moment; or with a pocket point-and-shoot camera in which you want to draw as little attention to yourself so you can capture your subject in their most candid moments. The V8 excels at this because there is no whirring zoom lens that thrusts out toward your subject. It is hard to be natural when a lens is zooming in on you. With the V8 you can zoom in very discretely without alarming your subject. The design of the on/off switch adds to this by simply sliding the lens cover to one side to turn it on. This also offers far more protection to the lens than those flimsy metal leafs that most cameras use. I have seen more of those get smashed than I can count. The V8s door has enough resistance that under most conditions it wont accidentally slide open in your pocket. Another feature that adds to the ability to zoom in on a subject without making them anxious is the placement of the zoom lever. Instead of the obvious place around the shutter release like many cameras, it is operated by sliding a small bar on the back of the camera with your thumb. It feels much more natural to me. Here is a short summary:
PROS: rock solid construction; fully internal 7X zoom lens; 4-way Image Stabilization; amazing wide-format movie mode with superb compression; stereo sound with video; excellent LCD screen; amazing range of features and controls
CONS: I prefer a lens that zooms just a little wider
If you like capturing candid "people" photos that are as natural as possible the V8 may be one of the most ideal cameras ever made. Heres a summary of why:
1. It looks like an extremely simple fixed lens point-and-shoot camera yet you can unobtrusively zoom in for very nice candid shots.
2. The dark grey case does not call attention to itself.
3. The very effective anti-shake means you dont have to have a lot of light to make a good picture.
4. The rear-mounted zoom slider doesnt reveal to the subject that you are zooming in and out.
5. When the electronic sounds are turned off, there is absolutely no whirring zoom and focus sounds like on almost every other camera. This camera is absolutely silent. You could take candids at a funeral and not disturb anyone.
6. If you did need to use flash, lets say at a cocktail party, you can set it to a very low power that gives you enough light without blinding your subject.
Bottom line: Picture quality is important but its not everything ... I ran side-by side test shots with my Z750, which I thought made excellent photographs. The V8 was consistently superior in every way, especially the dynamic range. With the sole exception of the reds being a little too orange, the V8 is in the league of the very best point-and-shoots made. When considering a camera of this type, size is a major factor, as is ruggedness. Perhaps most important is "am I going to be able to capture a once-in-a-lifetime memory and share it with family and friends?" Remember, a point-and-shoot should be just that, not a replacement for a high-quality DSLR.
Any digital camera is a sophisticated piece of electronics and should be given reasonable care which means getting a good carrying case, not tossing it in a pocket or purse with your keys. Regardless of brand, buy from a reputable dealer and despite anything you believe a digital camera is one of the best reasons to pay the extra 20 bucks for a performance protection plan.
On: 2008-04-05
I got the idea to get this over at Ken Rockwells site. Man, this is a great little camera. Its easy to carry. I use a soft little bag that came with a PC mouse, and it all fits in a shirt pocket without scratching anything. The zoom feature is very good. The camera comes with a handy stand for recharging. The big LDC screen makes aiming easy and Ive taken some great shots of traffic. I thought the pictures would be blurred, but they are excellent, moving at highway speeds. Its just a fun little camera that takes fantastic pictures.
On: 2008-03-11
Love the camera, it responds to buttons and input fast, feels very solid. Doesnt work perfectly in low light conditions, but this is a trade off because the camera itself is so small and the zoom so crazily large. The screens perfect, theres no need for a viewfinder because its always visible, and the battery life is top-notch. Id buy it again.
On: 2008-02-27
Very good for a compact camera. The menus take a little getting used to but if you use the camera often this setback disappears. The zoom is the best! Definitely better than on the Olympus I had previously. It should be called Hi-Zoom Zoom!
On: 2008-02-27
I received this camera yesterday and it was everything I expected and more! The quality of the pictures are excellent for a mid-range camera and the electronics are first rate. It is obvious that the Casio engineers put a lot of time and thought into the design. The "Best Shot" feature encodes a great deal of knowledge about how to set up the camera for various kinds of shot (e.g., If you want to take a portrait shot of someone and you want the foreground to be in sharp focus but the background to be a little blurred, this camera will adjust itself to give you exactly that).
I gave this product a 5 star rating because of the camera (which after all, is what I bought). Nevertheless I need to report two negative experiences with this purchase - one dealing with the software that came with the camera and one with the purchasing experience through Amazon).
The software gets the lowest possible rating. In sharp contrast to the care and professionalism of the cameras design, the software looks like it was thrown together over a weekend by a couple of amateurs. After hours of working with the software I have been unable to get it to upload movies to my computer. I generally get the message, "Bloken file" (thats not a typo .. it actually says "Bloken"). If the software developers didnt even bother to proofread their error messages, I was left wondering just how much care and testing went into the development of the code. Im guessing that Casio outsourced the software development. Nevertheless, its their name on the box so they should have made some effort towards quality assurance.
Finally, I am not entirely happy with the service that Amazon provided. When I bought the camera Amazon suggested that I might also want to buy, "1 Deluxe Accessory Kit with Soft Leather Case + Two (2) Spare NP-50 Li-ion Batteries for Casio Exilim EX-V7 & EX-V8 Digital Cameras." The batteries are indeed, intended for the camera but not the case. The case is physically too small to hold the camera. Nevertheless, the batteries were the main reason I purchased this accessory so Ill probably use the tiny case to hold loose change in the car. Upon reflection, I suspect the case is supposed to hold the batteries but given the above product description, a customer can be forgiven for thinking he was getting a camera case. Amazon needs to have a word with the company that supplied this accessory (Cameta Camera).
Overall (in spite of the software and the accessory problems) I am very happy with this purchase.
On: 2008-01-28
I find this camera very easy to use. The major selling points for me were the 7X zoom and the fact that the lens did not project from the camera.
On: 2008-01-19
I absolutely LOVE this camera. There are so many different things that it can do. The camera combines manual and automatic features to let you play around and get the shot that you want. The best shot modes are helpful and when I play around some more with the camera, I will post another review. So far so good!
On: 2007-12-30
Im very pleased with this camera. I started out looking for a new camcorder to replace my bulky old 8mm model. What I soon realized was that the camcorders hadnt gotten much smaller, and I probably would only have it with me for planned filming occasions. So I changed my strategy, and looked far and wide for a compact digital camera that took decent pictures AND allowed you to zoom when shooting a video. Videos without zoom are kinda limited, and most of the manufacturers disable the analog zoom while filming. Along comes Casio, who not only allow the zoom during video, but give you a 7X Analog zoom. What a combination! So, Ive been snapping pictures and shooting vids like crazy, and Im really impressed. The stereo sound on the videos is unbelievably good, and I can fit 90 mins of high quality video on my 4GB SD card! So, you CAN have it all, but its not perfect. Theres a fair amount of barrel distortion on close up shots, the autofocus has a decent amount of lag when zooming in during video, and of course, theres the stupid dock. Come on, Casio, put a mini-USB connector on there! Even so, Im giving it 5 stars because the combination of functionality that this camera offers IS perfect!
On: 2007-12-29
I bought it based on Ken Rockwells recommendation. It seemed too good to be true: 7x zoom, no protruding lens, vibration reduction, innovative video modes in a pocket-sized package. Alas, it was (too good to be true that is). Bottom line, the still images indoors were not up to snuff. Outdoor images were fine; indoors white balance was randomly disastrous and pictures were grainy often with poor focus. I had to return it and go for a more traditional product--the Canon digital elph SD750 since most of my reason to get this was for candid indoor people shots. Im much happier with my follow-up purchase despite the loss of zoom range.
On: 2007-12-29
Im very pleased with this camera. I started out looking for a new camcorder to replace my bulky old 8mm model. What I soon realized was that the camcorders hadnt gotten much smaller, and I probably would only have it with me for planned filming occasions. So I changed my strategy, and looked far and wide for a compact digital camera that took decent pictures AND allowed you to zoom when shooting a video. Videos without zoom are kinda limited, and most of the manufacturers disable the analog zoom while filming. Along comes Casio, who not only allow the zoom during video, but give you a 7X Analog zoom. What a combination! So, Ive been snapping pictures and shooting vids like crazy, and Im really impressed. The stereo sound on the videos is unbelievably good, and I can fit 90 mins of high quality video on my 4GB SD card! So, you CAN have it all, but its not perfect. Theres a fair amount of barrel distortion on close up shots, the autofocus has a decent amount of lag when zooming in during video, and of course, theres the stupid dock. Come on, Casio, put a mini-USB connector on there! Even so, Im giving it 5 stars because the combination of functionality that this camera offers IS perfect!
On: 2007-12-29
If youre a dad like me that enjoys taking pictures and video of the family, this camera may just be for you. In the past, I carried a digital camera and a camcorder. It was a hassle at times, and I tended to leave one behind in the interest of mobility. But the Casio Exilim V8 fixed that for me. It is a very nice point and shoot camera with very capable video added to the mix. If you are a camera or video connoisseur, then stick with two separate devices. However, the Exilim V8 enables you to take pictures for moms scrapbook or video for the DVD to send to the grandparents. Low light performance is a tad weak, but still quality. And it all fits into your pocket.
To sum this device up, it provided what I needed: compact, convenient, easy, quality, and multi-use.
If you can afford it, i would recommend highly getting a high speed SD card like the SanDisk 2 GB SDSDX3-2048-901 Extreme III SD Memory Card (Retail Package). The camera really makes excellent use of the card and will record about 44 minutes of high quality video. With slower cards, the video is limited to shorter duration video at high quality or you have to rachet down the video quality to let the card keep up.
On: 2007-12-27
This will not be the best camera. Nor will it be the best video cam. If you had a Casio Z750 or 850, the pictures are not as good. They are more grainy. It also seems that the video was a bit smoother on the V7 than on the V8, but both are better than the video on the Z750 or 850s.
That being said, this is the best overall camera that money can buy right now. By that I mean, if you want one pocket camera, thats small and will fit in your jeans, and can take decent photos and good video, this is it. DSLRs are generally useless. The reason is you wont bother bringing them. You will carry this camera around.
Its the only camera this small that lets you take a great deal of good quality video (on a 4GB card, about 1.2 hrs in wide screen 840x480ish (DVDish quality), and 3.25hrs in 640x480 normal mode) while zooming optically (at 7X no less) with stereo sound). You will likely end up videoing as much or more than you photograph with this tiny guy.
The only real let down is the battery life. Its good for about 2hrs of DVDish video recording, where the z850 was good for about 3.25hrs of VGA video recording. However, the 850 did not autofocus while videoing (it had a fixed pan position), and the 850 didnt let you actually zoom (just digital zoom), so it makes sense that the V8 doesnt have as much juice; it does more. That being said, I would take the 750/850 on a week long trip, and be good with a single charge. The V8, while better with battery life than the V7, requires that I bring the charger.
Build quality is still up in the air. The 750/850 was a tank. I dropped them on cobble stones several times, and even had their lenses mushed out of whack (and just smacked them back in place); they just kept on working. This seems to be tank-like too, but who knows until you have the inevitable drop. All in all, this is the first cam that has come out in a while that has actually replaced my Casio 850; its now my goto camera.
I have set the camera settings to +2 saturation, +2 contrast, +2 Portrait (noise reduction), and +2 Dynamic (limits over/under exposure) and that seems to help with the photos. Even still, this camera produces way more noise than the 750, and more than the 850 as well. The colors indoors/darker places are not as rich as other larger cameras.
On the other hand, the 7X zoom works great. Now its not DSLR great. But it is great for a tiny freakn camera that fits in your pocket, and greater still for a tiny vid cam.
Image stabilization. It sucks compared to a big camera. But for a camera this small and this crammed with features its not bad. Anyone that had a 750 (with no stabilization) will enjoy it and find it adds benefit. Anyone coming from a huge DSLR will find it crappy.
So overall, its an issue of compromises. Is this camera perfect? Heck no! Does this camera have any one feature that other cameras cant top? Nope. That being said, I think Casio made great choices in what to include and compromise on (with the exception of the stupid dock; for crying out loud, everyone hates it in every version of the Exilim and they should just use a small USB connector). Yea, it would be great if it did everything well, but we live in the real world, and engineering realities only allow so much today.
And so, if you had to have just one cam, and you want it to take both photos and videos, and you want a cam that you would actually take with you and use, as of today, this is the "it" camera...at least for me.
On: 2007-12-26
This will not be the best camera. Nor will it be the best video cam. If you had a Casio Z750 or 850, the pictures are not as good. They are more grainy. It also seems that the video was a bit smoother on the V7 than on the V8, but both are better than the video on the Z750 or 850s.
That being said, this is the best overall camera that money can buy right now. By that I mean, if you want one pocket camera, thats small and will fit in your jeans, and can take decent photos and good video, this is it. DSLRs are generally useless. The reason is you wont bother bringing them. You will carry this camera around.
Its the only camera this small that lets you take a great deal of good quality video (on a 4GB card, about 1.2 hrs in wide screen 840x480ish (DVDish quality), and 3.25hrs in 640x480 normal mode) while zooming optically (at 7X no less) with stereo sound). You will likely end up videoing as much or more than you photograph with this tiny guy.
The only real let down is the battery life. Its good for about 2hrs of DVDish video recording, where the z850 was good for about 3.25hrs of VGA video recording. However, the 850 did not autofocus while videoing (it had a fixed pan position), and the 850 didnt let you actually zoom (just digital zoom), so it makes sense that the V8 doesnt have as much juice; it does more. That being said, I would take the 750/850 on a week long trip, and be good with a single charge. The V8, while better with battery life than the V7, requires that I bring the charger.
Build quality is still up in the air. The 750/850 was a tank. I dropped them on cobble stones several times, and even had their lenses mushed out of whack (and just smacked them back in place); they just kept on working. This seems to be tank-like too, but who knows until you have the inevitable drop. All in all, this is the first cam that has come out in a while that has actually replaced my Casio 850; its now my goto camera.
I have set the camera settings to +2 saturation, +2 contrast, +2 Portrait (noise reduction), and +2 Dynamic (limits over/under exposure) and that seems to help with the photos. Even still, this camera produces way more noise than the 750, and more than the 850 as well. The colors indoors/darker places are not as rich as other larger cameras.
On the other hand, the 7X zoom works great. Now its not DSLR great. But it is great for a tiny freakn camera that fits in your pocket, and greater still for a tiny vid cam.
Image stabilization. It sucks compared to a big camera. But for a camera this small and this crammed with features its not bad. Anyone that had a 750 (with no stabilization) will enjoy it and find it adds benefit. Anyone coming from a huge DSLR will find it crappy.
So overall, its an issue of compromises. Is this camera perfect? Heck no! Does this camera have any one feature that other cameras cant top? Nope. That being said, I think Casio made great choices in what to include and compromise on (with the exception of the stupid dock; for crying out loud, everyone hates it in every version of the Exilim and they should just use a small USB connector). Yea, it would be great if it did everything well, but we live in the real world, and engineering realities only allow so much today.
And so, if you had to have just one cam, and you want it to take both photos and videos, and you want a cam that you would actually take with you and use, as of today, this is the "it" camera...at least for me.
On: 2007-12-02
One reason I wanted this camera was to have the use of the wide range (7X)optical zoom to shoot movie clips. I gave the camera a pretty good test on a recent trip to Hawaii, and I found, surprisingly, that that feature was more useful for snapshots than movies. The stills came out quite good; always in focus and well exposed. But the movies, while better than with previous Casios, were somewhat disappointing. For one thing, the anti-shake stabilization that they tout was not very useful; in fact, it may have produced a jerkier picture when panning than when it was turned off. It may however, have helped on long zoom still shots.
Secondly, the movies default to Quicktime format for playback. Even with the latest version, while the resolution was good, the picture tended to tear when the camera was panned, at least on the Windows computers I tried it on. This didnt happen if I opened the clip in Windows Media Player, but that was a nuisance, and the picture was darker than it should have been.
Overall, because of the quality of the stills, the long zoom range, and the fact that the lens stays within the camera at all times, I did like the camera. If the problem with the tearing could be addressed, I would like it even better.
On: 2007-12-01
One reason I wanted this camera was to have the use of the wide range (7X)optical zoom to shoot movie clips. I gave the camera a pretty good test on a recent trip to Hawaii, and I found, surprisingly, that that feature was more useful for snapshots than movies. The stills came out quite good; always in focus and well exposed. But the movies, while better than with previous Casios, were somewhat disappointing. For one thing, the anti-shake stabilization that they tout was not very useful; in fact, it may have produced a jerkier picture when panning than when it was turned off. It may however, have helped on long zoom still shots.
Secondly, the movies default to Quicktime format for playback. Even with the latest version, while the resolution was good, the picture tended to tear when the camera was panned, at least on the Windows computers I tried it on. This didnt happen if I opened the clip in Windows Media Player, but that was a nuisance, and the picture was darker than it should have been.
Overall, because of the quality of the stills, the long zoom range, and the fact that the lens stays within the camera at all times, I did like the camera. If the problem with the tearing could be addressed, I would like it even better.
On: 2007-11-05
I had read reviews on the EX-V7 saying the antishake was not perfected. I had hoped the V8 would have the fixes. From my experience, it has!
Very easy to use and, for my non-professional eye, does a great job with both stills and videos.
My only minor complaint is that I get more red eye with this camera than I did with my previous EX-Z4. But with software fix available, it is not a concern for me.
On: 2007-11-01
Wow, amazing. Jam packed with "big" camera features--long exposure times, full manual mode, 7x zoom, etc. Long exposures no longer have the serious red shift of the older Exilims, and the sound recording is incredible for a camera this size.
Dont expect it to take photos like a high end digital slr, but whats amazing is how much this thing does really well.
On: 2007-10-31
I bought this to replace my old EX-Z750. I first tried the Lumix DMC-TZ3 but was really disappointed with it so decided to try the V8.
The feature set on the V8 blows my mind, but whats _really_ impressive is the quality. Dont expect it to perform like a digital SLR or an HD video recorder, expect instead to be amazed at how well it can take photos and record video while still fitting comfortably in your pocket.
Some highlights:
* The sound recording is amazing--it records stereo and captures a remarkable dynamic and tonal range.
* Optical zoom works while recording video
* 7X optical zoom with little noticeable distortion
* Long exposures no longer have the severe red-shift of old Exilims
* Video is recorded in Mac-compatible format (no special converters requied)
A few drawbacks:
* Low-light video has lots of compression artifacts
* As with all compacts, flash is harsh.
If what you need is a camera that you can use to capture the moment, this it because it fits in your pocket, performs well under an incredible range of conditions, and provides remarkable fidelity for the package. Its unlikely youll win any awards, but youll find you capture more.
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