Tour
The FH100 is a good-looking silver camera with black accents. It measures a compact 4.1 x 2.4 x 1.1 inch (105 x 63 x 30mm) and weighs about 8 oz. (227g). The camera front has an autofocus assist/self-timer indicator lamp above and to the side of the lens, and the flash inset behind the grip, which is unusually well designed and substantial for a small camera.
The camera design has a nice silver and black appearance.
Back
There is a separate, red movie record button located on the back of the camera, a welcome convenience, since it means you can jump right into movie shooting without fiddling with a mode dial or menu. A toggle switch around that utton lets you choose between standard video recording and the high-speed mode. In addition to serving as a navigation device, two functions are accessed via the circular controller: pressing up changes the on-screen display mode, pressing down accesses image deletion during playback, and flash control while shooting.
Buttons are well positioned for easy access.
Sides The door on the left side of the camera protects the HDMI and AV/USB ports.
USB and HDMI reside within
Plain and simple
Top
he mode dial on the right side rotates to access, Best Shot (otherwise known as preset scene modes), program mode, aperture-priority, shutter priority and manual exposure control. The zoom lens is controlled via a switch surrounding the shutter. The button behind the shutter switches beyond regular and high-speed still photography. Further left are the power switch and stereo microphones.
The curved camera body fits well in the hand.
Bottom The camera bottom is home to the battery and memory compartment and the tripod socket, as expected, and also the oddly positioned speaker.
Surprise - the speaker is down here.
Hardware
Viewfinder
Sorry, viewfinder fans: if you want to line up a shot, it's the LCD or nothing.
LCD
The LCD specs are nothing special, but it's a good-looking display.
The LCD screen spec is pretty ordinary, at 3 inches and 230,000-dot resolution, but it's unusually bright, clear and attractive. When shooting, there are three display options: the full info display (as shown below), complete with a live histogram, a view with just the basic settings information, and a clean screen.
Flash
The flash is small but positioned nicely.
The flash is very small and not particularly powerful, though it is well positioned off to the side of the lens, which should minimize red-eye in portraits taken in dark environments.
Lens
The lens is an impressive 10x zoom in a small camera body, with a 24-240mm equivalent range and maximum aperture of f/3.2-f/5.7.
Jacks, Ports & Plugs
AV/USB and HDMI ports are provided.
The FH100 offers uses a single port for both standard video and USB data connectivity, and an HDMI port for displaying both video and stills on an HDTV set.
Battery
The battery and SD card share a compartment.
The Lithium ion rechargeable battery hasn't been rated for longevity yet.
Memory
The FH100 accepts SD and SDHC memory cards. There are also 89.5 megabytes of built-in memory.
Design & Layout
Design & Appearance
The FH100 is a bit of a stealth camera: to look at it, you'd never know it boasts a long zoom and the power to slow time itself via high-speed still and video capture. The silver with contrasting black sections on the front and top is a bit more interesting than the run-of-the-mill solid silver construction, and the body has nicely contoured curves.
Size & Handling
We were pleased with the shape and feel of the FH100.
The camera measures 4.1 x 2.4 x 1.1 inch (105 x 63 x 30mm) and weighs about 8 oz. (227g), making a good size for jacket pockets if not tight jeans.
We really liked the right hand grip on the FH100. Many compact models stick with flat surfaces here, with nothing to help hold the camera securely. In this case, though, there's a distinct bulge on the right side, with a smoothly curved on ramp, that felt great in the hand.
The buttons and dials feel like high-quality components, with solid feedback as you manipulate them. And the positioning is local and easy to use, providing fast access to the most important controls and settings. The only control that might take some getting used to is the top button that switches between high-speed and regular-speed still recording -- it lights up when the camera's in high-speed mode, but we kept forgetting it was on. Then again, we only spent a brief time with the FH100, and expect glancing at this button would become second-nature before long.
Menu
The menu system is clearly legible and reasonably straightforward. Our only concern is the fact that the list of options is longer than a single page, meaning you'll need to scroll down the column to reveal the rest of your choices. At least you don't have to scroll all the way back up to change menu tabs, though: pressing the Menu button shortcuts you back to the top of the list.
The menus are easy to read, but require lots of scrolling.
Ease of Use
We didn't encounter any problems getting the camera to do what we wanted it to do. With the inclusion of a separate video recording button, another button to switch between high-speed and standard still mode, and a generally well designed menu system, we expect it will take only a quick pass through the user manual for most users to gain access to the features that make this a cool camera.
Modes
Auto Mode
The auto exposure moe is straightforward, locking out most user adjustments and basing camera settings strictly on lighting conditions, rather than the scene recognition approach being used by some manufacturers.
Movie Mode
The FH100 supports standard-definition, high-definition (720p) and high-speed video, which produces super-slow-motion effects.
The high-speed video mode has four basic settings: the faster the speed, the lower the resolution. At the fastest 1000 frames per second speed, you're down to a silly 224 x 64 pixel resolution. At 420 fps, resolution is up to 224x168, and at 240fps it's 448 x 336, which is reasonably watchable. For our money, though, the most intriguing option is also the slowest: 120 frames per second at a standard-def 640 x 480 size. At that rate you're still getting extraordinary slow-motion capture of sports, wildlife and other fast-action scenes, at a screen-filling, practical size.
There are two additional high-speed movie modes, 30-240fps and 30-120fps. These modes let you switch with a button press from one speed to another. That might be marginally interesting if a dramatic moment popped up while you were shooting, but we're hard pressed to see much practical benefit.
Drive/Burst Mode
The FH100 steps up the maximum high-speed still shooting resolution from the 6 megapixel level of previous models up to 9 megapixels, even at a blistering 40 frames per second (though you are limited to 30 continuous shots at that speed). The other availble high-speed still choices are 30 fps, 15 fps, 10 fps, 7 fps, 5 fps, 3 fps and 1 fps.
Playback Mode
The on-screen display in playback mode is essentially the same as the record mode options: a display with detailed settings, including a histogram, a version with just the basic file information, and a clean-screen view with no overlays.
All the basic in-camera editing options are provided, including rotation, resizing and trimming. You can also adjust white balacne and brightness, and create a DPOF file for providing instructions to an outside printing service.
The slideshow function lets you choose whether to show all files sequentially, eliminate the high-speed images, or show stills or video only. There is also a selection of between-image transitions available for your amusement.
Custom Image Presets
The unfortunately named BS slot on the mode dial takes you to the Best Shot mode, which is Casio's term for preset scene modes. There are roughly 30 in all, including several that take advantage of the camera's high-speed still and video modes. These are indicated with appropriate icons on the mode selection screen. Unfortunately, the modes are indicated by photos without labels to identify them, which complicates the selection process. The solution is to press the Zoom control, which brings up a screen-by-screen text and picture summary of each mode, which can then be scrolled using the four-way controller. It isn't a perfect solution, but if you're a scene mode user, you'll probably learn which photo refers to which shooting mode reasonably quickly.
A few advanced modes are tucked into the options here. There an in-camera high dynamic range mode that combines two quickly-shot photos at different exposures to enhance dynamic range reproduction. Another high-speed mode combines two images to reduce blur. Yet another mode, called Multi Motion Image, composites multiple exposure of a single subject into a single image. The sample shot in the menu shows a snowboarder in sequential positions, but of course, there's a clear blue sky background in this image, which makes the compositing more successful than we'd expect in an ordinary shooiing situation.
Controls
Manual Controls
The FH100 offers manual aperture and shutter control, though the aperture settings are only a high-low toggle rather than a range of available settings. The shutter speed controls, on the other hand, are at standard increments across the full 1 second to 1/2000 second range.
Focus
You can set autofocus to auto, macro, infinity or manual mode. The autofocus area can be a single central spot, a freely chosen point on the screen, or you can use focus tracking for a moving subject.
ISO
The ISO range, settable for stills and video, is ISO 100-3200.
White Balance
In addition to auto white balance, the FH100 offers presets for daylight, overcast, shade, daylight white fluorescents, daylight fluorescents, and tungsten lighting. It's also possible to take a manual white balance reading.
Metering
Metering options are multi-pattern, center-weighted and spot. Exposure compensation is available in a ±2 EV range, in 1/3 EV increments.
Shutter Speed
When shooting in auto or aperture priority mode, shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/2000 second are available. In shutter priority or full manual mode, the longest exposure setting stretches to 30 seconds. When shooting in high-speed continuous mode, of course, the game changes dramatically: maximum shutter speed here is a breathtaking 1/40000 second.
Aperture
The aperture range at the widest angle setting is f/3.2 to f/7.5.
Image Stabilization
The FH100 uses sensor-shift image stabilization.
Picture Quality & Size Options
Maximum resolution for the FH100's CMOS sensor is 10.1 megapixels (3648 x 2736). There are plenty of additional options, though: 3:2 (3648 x 2432), 16:9 (3648 x 2048), 9M (3456 x 2592), 7M (3072 x 2304), 4M (2304 x 1728), 2M (1600 x 1200) and VGA (640 x 480). RAW shooting is also supported.
Picture Effects
There are no filters or odd effects available while shooting, beyond the multiple-image scene mode.
Conclusion
Meet the tester
Steve Morgenstern
Editor
Steve Morgenstern is a valued contributor to the Reviewed.com family of sites.
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