Casio Exilim EX-G1 Digital Camera Review

The Casio Exilim EX-G1 is both beauty and the beast: it's a small, thin camera that can fit into a pocket, but also one that can shoot in extreme conditions. But while this camera can take a lickin', but keep on clickin', we were not that impressed with the quality of the images it captures.

The EX-G1 is a small camera, at just 0.78 inches thick. It fits well into the hand, with a small raised ridge on the front giving something to hold onto. And the camera certainly feels tough, as it can cope with water to a depth of 33 feet, temperatures down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit and being dropped from up to 6 feet.

On the back of the camera is a 2.5-inch LCD screen that we found to be clear and bright. The lens of the EX-G1 is a 3x zoom, which is somewhat shorter than many other compact cameras: you aren't going to be able to get close to the action at a football match with this.

Performance (read in-depth performance coverage at DigitalCameraInfo.com)
We found that the EX-G1 had lackluster performance in many of our tests: we found that the images were rather soft and fuzzy, especially at the edges of the frame. The images did have reasonable color, though; most of the colors on our test chart were accurately captured. The colors did look rather under-saturated, though; most looked like they were captured on a rather gloomy day. This can be fixed easily in an image editing program, but we do prefer to see more natural colors. The images were not noisy, though: even at the higher ISO settings, the noise remained low and didn't interfere with the image quality. This camera offers a maximum ISO sensitivity of 3200, which is higher than most compact cameras, which either max out at 1600 or only offer ISO 3200 at a reduced resolution. This higher sensitivity is especially useful for shooting in the gloomy underwater depths.

We were also less than impressed with the quality of the video that the Casio EX-G1 captured: we saw gloomy colors and blurry, muddy looking movement in our tests. The maximum resolution that this camera captures video at is 848 by 480 pixels, which puts it purely into standard definition territory; this camera can't capture high def video. One nice touch on the video side of things is the YouTube mode, which captures video at a resolution of 640 by 480 and stores the video in a special folder. When you run the included Windows software, this processes the video and uploads it to YouTube.

Comparisons (read in-depth comparison coverage at DigitalCameraInfo.com)
There are a wide range of waterproof cameras available now, and the EX-G1 is similar to many of them. The Canon D10 and Olympus Stylus Tough 8000 are both as water, temperature and drop-proof as the Canon, and both are also close in price. Both also take better photos, but neither camera looks as good as the EX-G1. So, it's a question of how much image quality matters; if you can live with the soft images of the EX-G1, it is much smaller and more stylish than the others. If image quality is more important than looks, go with the Canon or the Olympus.

Another camera to consider is the Fuji Z33WP, which is much cheaper. This is not as tough, though; it can only withstand water to 13 feet and drops from 4 feet. This might be adequate if you are just looking for a beach camera, and the Z33WP is well priced at about $140.

For a more in-depth review, visit the Casio EX-G1 Review at our partner DigitalCameraInfo.com