Casio Exilim EX-V7

Opinion: This camera wasn´t so bad at all. Pics were good at base ISO, even at higher ISOs just acceptable.
The sliding lens cover is useful for switching on and off the camera. I love this design and because of this I bought a Sony TX9 later.

Movie mode was good at its time, VGA with decent quality and zoom, however no stabilisation, but good stereo sound. Some editing programs have problems with the files(MOV).

Opinion: Like the last reviewer, I'm posting after substantial usage and a few thousand images. I mostly agree with the "concise review" done by Simon back in 2007, but have a few differing or additional comments.

The camera has a concise, sturdy feel, but it does not deal well with impact. Mine dropped over the side of a coffee table onto a carpeted floor, and it began showing the "lens error 2" message whenever it starts, and whenever it returns from the "play" to "take" function. The message displays for two or three seconds, so once it appears, forget taking any quick, spur-of-the moment shots. It also kills battery life, because it prolongs the illumination of the LCD.

The susceptibility to impact is my biggest gripe, and a google search shows that this issue has been of concern to lots of owners. My other "con" would be image quality. It definitely performs best at its widest aperture, which is not my normal inclination. Also, unlike what was reported in Simon's review, I found the output to be oversharpened. Most images are not visually sharp, but applying even minimal additional sharpening in any editing program produces a lot of unacceptable artifacts.

These gripes out of the way, I've found the camera otherwise to be pretty good at what it does for what it is. The specs show only a 38mm wide end, and I assume that is mathematically correct, but the view seems wider. Simon also criticized the image quality at ASA 1600, but there is no 1600 setting available on mine. It tops at 800.

This camera's big plus is that it is eminently "pocketable," and it operated pretty quickly before the "lens error" issues arose. It's heavy for its size, but I like that. The 7x zoom was about the most one could get in a camera of this size when it came out, and I've found that to be a huge plus compared to 3x and 4x. Colors are very good. The menu system is usable for someone with experience, and its inclusion of a full set of "MSAP" options makes it more versatile than most cameras of its ilk (or did when this one was new). The "best shot" modes work well. Also, the H264 MP4 videos are very good. There is a lot less focus wandering and searching than I've experienced with the video modes of other digital still cameras. That's been a pleasant surprise.

I'm in the market again because of the "lens error" issue, and as things have developed, and looking at current offerings, I think the Panasonic ZS/TZ series probably best fit the usage for which this camera was purchased.

Opinion: After one year of use, I post my opinion

Pros:

- smart design.
- very pocketable
- lots of functions
- great video mode
- long life battery
- 7x zoom lens
- periscopic lens well protected from dust
- fast and reliable focusing

Cons

Rather heavy for it's size
Poor macro mode
image stabilization quite inefficient
Still pictures are too soft an colors are not always
natural.

Conclusion: I'm very satisfiet with this camera

Opinion: This camera packs a heck up a lot of features. Suprisingly I have not taken a ton of photos with it, but lots of videos.

The advantage of this camera is you take it with you everywhere. Goes in your pocket, even inside a case.

The Bestshot presets are great, for both movies and photos. Also, the ISO is reasonable and does not gain up to 1600 unless you want it to. Pretty much stays at ISO 400 & less using the presets.

I actually like the computer cradle for the majority of use, but it sucks a little to have to travel with it.

It will record 840 x 480 widescreen video. At lower resolutions it provides a 33.6X true optical zoom for photos! Beat that!

Heck of a camera for about $175, and much better than a fabulous camera you have to leave at home because its too big to put in your pocket.

Opinion: I owned this camera for a couple of months.
Pictures quality is very poor, colors are totally disappointing (this seems to be a problem of most CASIO cameras). I ended up using it for filming rather than photographing. I bought this camera only because of the zoom, which compared to classical 3x is much more enjoiable. Yet at high usage (7x) is really bad performing, both for pictures and even worse for films.
It is a bit over-weighted and over-sized, still fits in pocket without any problem.

Opinion: I had reservations in getting this camera coz of the infamous "stabilizer unavailable" problem and the red eye but finally gave in when the price really went down.

Mine was black and is "made in japan" if that means anything... So far no problems after 2 months of use.

The greatest feature is the 7x optical zoom which you could use while shooting movies. This isn't just a competent digicam folks, it's also a very good camcorder replacement and will render your MiniDV obsolete. You can also shoot videos in total darkness coz it has a very bright LED. The stereo microphones offer little separation but the sound is surprisingly very good. The h.264 compression yields small files. Very clean with no artifacts in UHQ mode.

Now turn the dial and it reverts back into a digicam with aperture and shutter priority modes. AF speed is top notch as with any casio. It tends to get blurry at the long end of the zoom but that's to be expected. I've also got a Canon SD750 and this Casio consistently churns out better pix than the canon.

My only complaint is the red eye and macro. The former has been corrected on the V8, the latter has not. Casios don't let you get very close on macro, "only" 10 cm, not a deal breaker but I want 2 inch super macros at full tele like on my old minolta heheheh

Opinion: Very disappointed with the camera. Quality of mediocre image, little flash and many red eyes. Fragile framework that does not overcome small blow. Guarantee does not take charge. 6 months of use for 300$. Quality of acceptable video if manual controls are used. Battery of long duration and that loads completely in only 2 hours. It includes neither case nor card of memory(report). It warms up on having used her if you record video camera focuses constant.

The manufacturer does not take charge of the guarantee, for what I will not return to buy any Casio's product. A pity.

Read well the opinions of other users. The brightness the photos is improvable, the flash is not sufficient to illuminate correctly a room and the stabilizer is not obvious (uselessly).

Opinion: I was searching for a pocket camera with manual controls. Fuji F31fd was sold out and I don´t wanted this xD-cards.

So I found the Casio EX-V7. It has a slim body without extending lens, S, A and M mode and is small and handy. I paid 170 € for it, I think that was ok.

The camera has a nice on and off switch which covers the lens. AF is quick enough.

IQ is good at lower ISOs. Don´t expect too much. You can tweak the in-camera settings.

M, A and S mode work good.
Overall I´m satisfied with this camera. Surely there are better compact cameras and a DSLR beats it in the ground, but it´s pocketable and I can carry it always with me. Compared to other cameras with non-extending lens Pentax Optio W10 and Kodak V705 this ones are better in terms of IQ but don´t offer manual controls.

You can use playback without switching the camera on via the lens cover(and also edit them).

Opinion: Here is my opinion after using the V7 for about 4 months now, taken about 4500 photos and videos with it.

BRIEFLY: Used purely as a digital camera, the V7 has excellent features for an ultracompact. However, image quality is less than spectacular. Pictures have excellent color to my eyes but most pictures tend to be a little soft especially on close examination (I think due to excessive noise reduction). It doesn't help that the lens is on the slow side, the CCD-shift anti-shake mechanism is marginally effective, and high ISO performance is just average for ultracompacts (i.e., noisy at 800 and generally unusable at 1600 unless the picture is zoomed out to 25% or less).

The strongest suit of the V7 is its video capability in an ultracompact form. Key video features are: high quality widescreen 848x480 mode; optical zoom while recording; stereo; H.264 format for extended recording capacity without sacrificing quality; Past Movie record mode. If you'd like a camera that can do double duty as a camcorder, the V7 is a great choice. If you're only looking for a camera, the V7 is pretty good for an ultracompact although there are some cameras out there that would yield sharper and less noisy images (including from Casio's own lineup) .

Here, I evaluate the following:
1. Photo strengths
2. Photo weaknesses
3. Photo neutral points
4. Video strengths vs. other digital cameras
5. Video weaknesses vs. other digital cameras
6. Video strengths when compared to camcorders
7. Video weaknesses when compared to camcorders

Sample photos (just snapshots by a newbie)
http://picasaweb.google.com/creadvty/CasioExilimEXV7SamplePicturesUnedited

PHOTO STRENGTHS
1. 7x continuous zoom. Ultracompacts and even some compacts typically offer up to 3x optical zoom and many can zoom only in fixed zoom intervals. The V7 has 7x zoom and can zoom to practically any focal length between the wide and telephoto lengths (the zoom has no fixed intervals)

2. Excellent colors. With no adjustments, the V7 colors are accurate and realistic. When saturation is increased, colors look vivid without being oversaturated.

3. White balance. Auto white balance is usually spot on. For extremely warm or cool light sources, the manual white balance can compensate for a very wide range (even yellow street lights can be made to appear white).

4. Autofocus - fast and accurate except in very dim conditions.

5. Continuous shooting until memory runs out (not limited to a fixed maximum number of shots). Although the V7's anti-shake has little effect on blur, you can use continuous shooting to increase the likelihood of getting a sharp shot.

6. Full manual mode. Unlike most ultracompacts, the V7 allows full manual adjustments:
a. Shutter - 1/800 to 60 seconds - mostly 1/3 EV apart (except for longer exposures)
b. Aperture - From F3.4 (at wide) to F13 (tele). At any given focal length, three apertures are available. There is a 1 EV difference between the first two and an approximate 2 EV difference between the 2nd and 3rd aperture setting. However, the aperture settings are implemented through ND filters - there will be no change in depth of field.
c. ISO - from 64 to 1600. 1600 is available only through the High Sensitivity scene setting.
d. Exposure compensation - -2 to +2 EV, 1/3 EV increments.
e. white balance
f. flash intensity: -2 to +2 EV, 1 EV increments.
g. manual focus: while adjusting focus in manual focus mode, the middle part of the screen zooms to about 3x to assist in accurate focusing.
h. color filters: b/w, sepia, red, green, blue, yellow, pink, purple.
In addition, the camera settings can be adjusted for dynamic range, contrast, sharpness, saturation, portrait refiner (for smoother skin tones), flash compensation (which is very useful in my opinion).

7. focus tracking - You can focus on the subject and the camera will maintain focus on the subject even if he/she/it moves (as long as they don't move too much).

8. 33 pre-set scene modes, plus up to 66 custom modes

9. live RGB histogram.

10. low profile, non protruding lens - you can take it with you anywhere (except perhaps somewhere wet).

11. bright LCD screen

12. can use SDHC cards (SD cards are limited to 4GB)

PHOTO WEAKNESSES
1. Strong noise reduction - results in soft-looking details. This is important if you plan to blow up pictures. Otherwise, for viewing on a computer screen, it's not noticeable.

2. Slightly less detail than top-selling ultracompacts. Again, this is relevant primarily if you plan to blow up pictures.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CasioEXV7/page3.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd700is/page3.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonSD800is/page4.asp

3. Minimum macro distance somewhat long. I understand that this is a consequence of the long zoom in a compact camera.

4. Aperture settings - somewhat slow lens (F3.4-5.3); large increments between aperture settings; no change in depth of field.

PHOTO - NEUTRAL POINTS:
1. CCD-shift anti-shake - yes, the camera has it to compensate for hand shake (you can even hear the camera buzzing like a fly when it works) but in practice it doesn't seem to help much. Does seem to help at long focal lengths although images are still soft. Not as effective as the OIS in most cameras.

2. Menu - On one hand it is very responsive, simple to use, and easy to see (because of the bright LCD). On the other hand, some important functions (like focus) require a lot of button presses. (The latter point is offset somewhat by a customizable key function and custom best shot modes.)

3. Battery life - The V7 lasts about a day of photo and video. You may want to have a spare battery. I've used cheap 3rd-party batteries and charger with no problems.

4. exposure - In case you're wondering, images are well exposed, but this is something most digital cameras can do well anyway.

VIDEO STRENGTHS vs. OTHER DIGITAL CAMERAS
1. form factor - due to its low profile and its non protruding lens, you can take the V7 anywhere, which makes it more likely you'll catch interesting footage.
2. Past Movie record mode - This prerecording feature helps in catching footage of unpredictable events. Generally, this is a feature that is available only in professional-level products or in niche products.
3. high quality widescreen 848x480 mode, 30fps. I've compared it to a typical MiniDV camcorder and it's as good if not better. In low light conditions, the V7 is clearly superior to my (average) MiniDV camcorder.
4. optical zoom while recording, and it's silent;
5. decent quality stereo sound;
6. uses H.264 format for extended recording capacity without sacrificing quality. A 4GB SDHC card can hold 78 minutes of the highest quality widescreen video, which is longer than any MiniDV tape or mini DVD. (Note: because H.264 requires more CPU processing, video can appear choppy when viewed on slower computers. On my circa 2004 PC and G4 Mac, video occasionally appears a little choppy.
7. image stabilization - most digital cameras with video capability do not have image stabilization for video. The V7 does and works pretty well, even at full 7x zoom.

VIDEO WEAKNESSES - vs. OTHER DIGITAL CAMERAS
1. Focus in video mode is relatively slow. It can take about a second to focus. Note however, that this problem occurs in many other cameras as well. For example, the Panasonic TZ3 actually locks its focus (cannot change focus) once recording begins.
2. The white balance in video continually adjusts, changing the hue unless you use manual white balance. This problem is common to many cameras and camcorders.

V7 VIDEO CAPABILITIES vs. CAMCORDERS - STRENGTHS:
1. Form factor - you're much more likely to bring this with you than a camcorder, plus it's easier to handle at odd angles. Plus, for candid videos, it's much less conspicuous.
2. Quick to shoot - you're ready to shoot right away. Unless a camcorder uses solid state memory, it usually takes a few seconds to get ready to shoot.
3. Past Movie - see above
4. Way better photos. Currently no camcorder can take photos anywhere near as well as the V7.

V7 VIDEO CAPABILITIES vs. CAMCORDERS - WEAKNESSES:
1. Image stabilization - the electronic stabilization undoubtedly works and as noted above, works very well, but is not as good as the excellent image stabilization of some camcorders (such as Panasonic's Mega OIS).
2. No external microphone - no digital camera has an external microphone jack. This is one reason to take a camcorder with you instead. However, if you don't plan to use an external microphone, the V7's onboard mic does a fine job with both ambient sounds and speech.
3. Video resolution not as high as HD camcorders.

CONCLUSIONS:
Against other digital cameras, the V7 is pretty good, and has many features and manual controls. However, image quality is good but not great. In daylight, it performs just as well as top-selling cameras in this category (except perhaps for the anti-shake). In low light, it's possible to take good photos but the percentage of sharp photos will be low unless you use the simple mode with direct flash (which results in sharp photos with poor lighting technique).

If you want to take videos as well as photos, the V7 is a great choice. Against other digital cameras, it has a complete combination of video features that enables it to function as a camcorder substitute, a quality that is rare among digital cameras (usually digital cameras will have one or more 'fatal' defects as a camcorder substitute, such as no optical zoom during recording, mono sound, or short recording capacity).

Against camcorders, you do give up better image stabilization in camcorders and the possible use of an external microphone, and the V7 video resolution can't match that of an HD camcorder. However, these compromises are offset by the advantages of the V7 in terms of expanding the opportunities for capturing footage (due to its portability, its quick shooting time, and the past video feature) and its vastly superior photo capability against camcorders. Even if you only wish to take videos and not photos, the V7 is also a good choice because of its portability and readiness to shoot. My MiniDV camcorder is gathering dust. For videos, I've relied on the V7 almost exclusively (unless I need 2 video cameras).