Physical Tour

Front

The Exilim EX-Z85 has a relatively nondescript face. On the right is the lens, which takes up most of the front, and is surrounded by a moat of chromed plastic. Above and to the left of the lens is the small pill of a flash. At approximately 7 o'clock from the lens is the microphone. 

It's a fairly standard layout for the front of a camera

Back

The LCD on the Z85 is 2.7-inch, 114,960 pixels, and takes up most of the rear of the camera. The bottom right has two buttons: Menu and BS (standing for Best Shot, but what we'd ordinarily call scene modes). Above that is the navigation setup, with a set button in the middle. Rather than a four-way pad as many cameras use, the EX-Z85 has a solid ring, which functions identically to more common four-button designs. Pressing up on the ring changes display information, and down accesses the flash settings (or deletes a file in playback). Left and right can be customized to manage metering, white balance, ISO or self timer. Above that are the buttons for switching between shooting and playback. Finally, in the top right corner, beyond the thumb rest, is the movie record button.

The buttons are small, but not ludicrously small

Sides*
*The left side is completely and utterly bare, while the right houses the USB/AV out near the top and the wristband eyelet about half way down.

It's like a delicious pink Oreo, except not as delicious. And made of plastic. **

*There's the port. Or is it starboard?
*

Top

In keeping with the generally predictable design of this camera, the top houses the on/off button, zoom control ring and shutter button. On the rear right of the top is a small processing light that blinks seductively when the memory card is being accessed.

The shutter button is large and well placed

Bottom

The Z85's nethers house a tripod mount, speaker and battery/memory card receptacle. The mount is on the far left, and looks to be made of low quality plastic. The speaker cover is a two rows of three dots each, and beyond that is the door for accessing the battery and memory card. Or at least we assume it is. It was glued shut at the Photokina show, so we had no access to it.

The tripod mount felt cheap and fragile

 

Components

Viewfinder

The EX-Z85 has no viewfinder.
LCD Screen
The LCD for the Z85 is small, and relatively low resolution, but the space is used well. It's 2.6 inches across with 114,960-pixel resolution, which isn't particularly impressive. However, the colors seemed to be quite bright, and solarization was minimal. Because the camera is so small, a larger LCD would have cramped the camera's back, and necessitated even smaller controls. With a camera this size, 2.6 inches is adequate.

The LCD is quite low resolution, but works well enough for its purpose****
Flash
The Exilim's flash is small, and placed centrally on the top front of the camera. In our brief, entirely un-scientific testing of firing it while watching it intently, it only produced spots in our eyes for about a second. This is on the low side, but these cheap pocket-sized cameras often have underpowered flashes.

**

The flash is small, and not particularly powerful

******Lens**
The EX-S65s lens offers a 3x optical zoom, with an aperture range of f/3.1 wide to f/5.9 telephoto. The focal range equivalent in 35m photography is 38 to 114mm.

The lens is a standard affair, with a 3x optical zoom

Connections
The Z85 has a single out port, used for micro USB, and located on the top of the right side of the camera. It's protected by a rubber cover that is held in place by a sprung hinge, which exerts a surprising amount of force. This cover is unlikely to open accidentally.

The only out port
Battery
Apparently, the EX-Z85 uses a rechargeable Li-ion battery and is rated for approximately 300 images. Unfortunately, the access door was glued shut on the model we handled, so we cannot confirm this. 

We think the battery and memory are under here somewhere...**Memory**

The Casio Exilim EX-Z85 can accept SD, SDHC and MMC for memory cards. Unfortunately, once again we were not able to access the memory card slot due to the security measure in place on the model we were using. SD and SDHC cards are incredibly common and affordable.

Design / Layout

Model Design / Appearance
The Casio Z85's look is relatively generic, and squeezed into quite a small form factor. The layout of large lens in the front with a small flash, and the rear with a directional pad and some mode buttons is standard. On the plus size, just about anyone will be able to grab this camera and shoot with it, as it's such a straightforward layout. The body feels light yet sturdy, it's petite without feeling cramped, and the models' colors, clearly a key selling point, are undeniably vivid.

Size and Handling

The EX-Z85 is a tiny wee thing of a camera. It's 3.53 x 2.04 x 0.75 inches (8.9 x 5.2 x 1.9 cm) large, and 3.53 ounces (100g), so it's light, small and thin. It'll easily fit in a pocket or purse, and can be whipped out in a second. The buttons are necessarily small, but they don't feel cramped, though they are hard to differentiate by touch alone. The inclusion of a button devoted solely to movie recording is an interesting design choice. It's positioned in the upper right corner of the camera back, which is exactly where you rest your thumb. Be careful about filling your memory card with an intriguing movie of you getting all your friends to squeeze together and make kissy faces at the camera.

*

• The Z85 is small, but usable.
  

Menu
The menu system used by Casio for this camera is quite logically laid out. Unfortunately, it's a cumbersome system due to the lack of ability to progress through menus page by page, necessitating scrolling through three screens of settings to find the one you want sometimes. Occasionally, on some of the settings, there's no option to go back to the menu system. So, instead you have to go back to shooting mode, then press the Menu button, and scroll down to your chosen option.

However, this annoyance is offset by an on-screen quick menu, accessed by hitting the Set button. This menu is displayed constantly along the right side of the screen (though it can be disabled), and you can use it to change image size, flash settings, auto shutter, auto shutter sensitivity, face detection mode, burst speed, ISO setting, easy mode and time display. These are by far the most commonly changed settings, and it's nice to see them presented so easily for access.

If you feel particular about the way the menu looks, you can customize it to one of six colors: black, chocolate, cinnamon, rose, sky blue and olive.

 
Ease of Use

The Z85 is easy to use without treating you like an idiot. There's Best Shot mode (questionably titled BS), which will choose the best scene mode for you. If you're really new to digital cameras, there's Easy Mode. In Easy Mode, there are only three options, displayed in big icons: flash, self-timer and image size. The menus are clearly laid out and labeled, and the buttons are pretty much the standard for a point-and-shoot. Even a troglodyte should be able to use this camera without much trouble.

Modes

Auto Mode**
The Z85 offers various levels of automatic mode to make up for its lack of a manual setting. In addition to standard Auto, there's BS Mode (which chooses the best scene preset for the situation you're shooting in), and then there's Easy Mode, for those who really are new to cameras. This latter setting minimizes controls down to just three options: Flash, Timer and Image Size. While we would have to test the camera to see how well the auto mode deals with low light conditions and changing light sources, at first glance it seems pretty competent.

Movie Mode
The Exilim EX-Z85 movie mode can record in 848 x 480 (30 fps), 640 x 480 (30 fps) or 320 x 240 (15 fps). You can set the camera to constantly pre-cache images for movies in pre-record movie mode, so when you hit record, it actually starts 0.5 seconds before you press the button. That tiny little snippet of footage is the section when you're reaching up to hit the button as Billy falls off the trampoline. And now you can catch it.

From the recorded video you can export stills as either single image or nine-image-grid snapshots.

There's a dedicated YouTube mode, which will shoot your video at the appropriate resolution for YouTube (read:mediocre) and then has special software to upload it directly everyone's favorite video sharing site.

Drive / Burst Mode**
The EX-Z85 has three levels of drive/burst. Continuous shoots at 1.1 frames per second at maximum resolution and normal image quality. Hi-speed burst gets five frames per second, but at just 1600 x 1200 resolution, and during our brief hands-on, lasted for eight shot. Flash continuous can shoot three frames per second.

Playback Mode
During playback mode, some minor editing controls are available. They are: image rotation, resize, trimming, keystone correction, color restoration (image tints) and layout print. You can also tweak the white balance, adjust the dynamic range optimization and the brightness. Zooming out will take you to 12-image thumbnail mode, and zooming in will magnify the image up to 8x.

Custom Image Presets**

The panoply of included image presets includes (deep breath... ) Auto, portrait, portrait with scenery, pet, self portrait one person, self portrait two people, flower, food, fashion accessory, magazine, monochrome, retro, cross, pastel, night scene, night scene portrait, party, sports, children, fireworks, underwater, backlight, high sensitivity, auction, ID photo, whiteboard, pre-record movie, YouTube and voice recording. Most of these are fairly standard, self-explanatory, or not really of note. Two interesting modes, though, are cross and ID photo. The first is a filter that causes bright lights to diffract into cross shapes. The second takes your face from the image, and creates several different common photo-ID sizes with it.

Control Options

Manual Control Options
The Z85 has a few minimal manual control options, which is surprising considering how basic a point and shoot it is. Unfortunately, there's no control over shutter speed or aperture, but there is a manual focus, exposure compensation and manual white balancing.

Focus
Auto Focus
The auto focus felt fast and accurate. You can choose from spot, multi or tracking auto focus behavior. In addition to normal auto focus, there was also macro focus, pan focus and infinity mode. Pan focus adjusts the focus to be ideal for taking quick panning shots.  Face detection can register up to 10 faces at a time, with priority given to faces that are added to the Family Priority. In this mode, you can set faces to be recognized as family members, which are then stored in the camera and used to set focus piority in the future. Of course, this means you have to organize their ranking as to who's the most important. I guess you'll find out who's Mom's favorite now....

In perhaps one of the silliest options we've ever seen, the focusing target can be changed to cute little icons. You can now shoot with a heart, cookie, flower, sparkle, butterfly or candle. And when the object you're aiming at isn't in focus, the icon is altered. So your heart is broken in two when the focus isn't right. Awwww...

Strangely for an otherwise highly simplified camera, the EX-Z85 has a manual focus mode, with the standard enlarged center focus assist. The focus it altered by pressing left and right on the directional pad. We're always pleased to find a little bit of extra manual control tucked away in a camera, for those users who are curious enough to try it out.

ISO
The Exilim EX-Z85 has an ISO range of 64-1600 plus auto. This is a decent range, and it's unusual to see the ISO go as low as 64. This means that in good light, you should be able to get some really clear photos.

White Balance
The Z85 has a pretty standard set of white balance settings, with the added bonus of a second fluorescent setting. This is nice to see, as fluorescent bulbs can actually have quite different light temperatures. The choices available are Auto WB, Daylight, Overcast, Shade, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Tungsten, and Manual WB.

Metering
The camera can meter via multi-pattern, center weighted or spot modes.

Shutter Speed
The Z85 has no options to control shutter speed, but has the potential to run between four and 1/2000 second. The low speed of four seconds is only achievable in night scene modes.

Aperture
Once again, the Z85 has no controls for aperture. It runs from f/3.1 to f/5.6 wide.

**Image Stabilization
**The Z85 doesn't have true image stabilization. Rather, it uses 'anti-blur' and 'anti-shake' technology. These just amounts to ramping up the ISO and shutter speeds when activated.

Picture Quality / Size Options
The camera shoots in 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 formats, ranging from 3456 x 2592 to 640 x 480.

Picture Effects Mode
There aren't many picture effects modes for the Z85, which is unusual in a point and shoot. You can add color overlays, or shoot in pastel mode, which is one of the ugliest filters we've seen. It emphasizes the edges, and strangely colors in the middle to create a downright unpleasant-looking image.

Auto Shutter

The camera can be set to various auto shutter modes, where it will take the picture as soon as certain conditions are met. There's anti-blur, which will take the image as soon as both the camera and the subject stop moving; panning, which will shoot when you match the speed of a moving object; and smile, which will capture the picture when your subject smiles. How sensitive these modes are is adjustable. You can set how precisely the parameters need to be met in order to fire. You can set it to three levels, with the lowest taking photos when the condition is barely met, and the highest recording only when the situation meets the precise requirements.

Conclusion

**

Conclusion**

The EX-Z85 is mostly a stock standard, affordable digital camera. It has a user interface that's exceedingly similar to most other point-and-shoots, one you'll be comfortable with almost instantly. It's very small, light, and it'll fit in your pocket without trouble. Considering it's only $180, it seems to be a pretty good deal. It might not have all the bells and whistles of a $500 Canon G10, but that's not necessarily what you want. It has a few nice manual controls, including manual focus, and a good range of white balance options. It even has some useful scene modes, like the ID Photo, which would be a boon for getting passport photos done on the cheap. Since we can't judge it's shooting quality yet, we will tentatively say, that for its price, the Casio Exilim EX-Z85 seems to be a pretty good deal. The EX-Z85 will be available in October in eight colors: brown, orange, silver, vivid pink, blue, pink, green and black, for a $179.99

Specs / Ratings

**Specs Table
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