Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55
Review Date: February 14th 2005
|
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 5M file quality setting, which gives an average image size of around 2Mb.
Noise
There are 4 ISO settings available on the Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55 which you can select at any time. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
ISO 50 (100% crop) |
ISO 100 (100% crop) |
 |
 |
ISO 200 (100% crop) |
ISO 400 (100% crop) |
 |
 |
The noise levels look fine at ISO 50 and 100 but noise is starting to appear at ISO 200. The Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55's slowest speed of ISO 400 is very noisy and not really a viable option. A slightly below-par performance by the Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55's 5 megapixel CCD sensor.
Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images at the default setting of 0 are definitely on the soft side, with post-processing revealing quite a lot of extra detail.
Original 100% Crop |
Sharpened 100% Crop |
 |
 |
 |
 |
File Quality
The Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55 has 3 different image quality settings available with Fine being the best option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
|
Fine (2,190Kb) |
Normal (1,735Kb) |
 |
 |
|
Economy (1,249Kb) |
|
 |
|
Chromatic Aberrations
The Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55 dealt well with chromatic aberrations, with limited purple fringing that only occurred in very high-contrast situations, such as the roof structure and bright white sky in the examples below. When they did appear, the effect was at the edges of the frame, rather than in the middle.
|
Example 1 |
Example 2 |
 |
 |
Macro
The Fuji Finepix E510 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 6cms away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
|
Macro Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
 |
|
Flash
The flash options on the Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55 are Auto, Flash On, Flash Off and Red Eye Reduction. These shots of a white wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
|
Flash Off - Wide Angle (35mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (35mm) |
 |
 |
|
Flash Off - Telephoto (105mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (105mm) |
 |
 |
And here are some shots of yours truly. The Flash On caused a small amount of redeye, which almost disappeared when the camera was set to the Red-eye Reduction flash mode.
|
Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
 |
 |
|
Flash - Red Eye Reduction |
Flash - Red Eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
 |
 |
Night Shot
The Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55 maximum shutter speed is 4 seconds (only available in the Night scene mode) which is OK for night photography. The following example was taken using a shutter speed of 1 second with an aperture of f/2.6 at ISO 50. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
|
Night Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
 |
 |
Overall Image Quality
The Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55 produced an above average set of test images. The 5 megapixel photos were soft out of the camera at the default setting of 0 and benefit from further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can increase the sharpening setting on the camera. Noise is fine at ISOs 50 and 100 but is apparent at ISO 200, with the fastest setting of ISO 400 being very noisy and therefore something of a last resort. The Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55 dealt quite well with chromatic aberrations, which only appeared in the form of some visible but not too intrusive purple fringing in high-contrast scenes. Macro performance was good, allowing you get as close as 6 cms away from your subject. The built-in flash was fine with with good exposure and minimum redeye. Night-shots are somewhat limited due to the 4 second maximum shutter speed (available only in Night mode). Overall a satisfying performance in terms of image quality from the Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55.
|
PhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55 have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.