Product Reviews

If you think manufacturers had become tired of adding more and more pixels to their digital cameras then you'd be wrong. The latest digital compact from Casio packs in a whopping 12.1 million to capture images at a poster print resolution of 4000 x 3000 pixels. Along with a CCD chip overflowing with pixels, the Casio boasts a 3x optical zoom lens and 2.8in LCD screen for composing and reviewing shots.

The feature list is very impressive and there are enough built-in options and features to keep the most demanding users happy. The automatic modes are still in attendance to keep the snappers happy but if you like a bit of manual control you'll be pleasantly surprised by the level of functionality. You can set the aperture and shutter speeds manually and though there's a decent range of choices for the shutter you only get two options for the aperture: f2.8 or f8. You also get to choose from three metering modes: multi, centre weighted and spot.

The CCD incorporates an image stabiliser so that it's easier to take shots in low light conditions as the camera intelligently accounts for shaky hands and other movement. There's also a face recognition mode to improve focus and exposure on shots of people. The EX-Z1200 has a decent selection of pre-defined scene

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modes to help you get the best images from a variety of situations and you can create your own scenes should you use a particular setting often enough to warrant it.

The menu is a bit disjointed with some of the controls accessed by navigating the on-screen display and the rest through a more traditional menu button. It's by no means the clearest operating system on a camera and it needs some work before it can be classed as user friendly. Otherwise the camera is a solid performer with responsive controls and a bright and sharp LCD screen. The face recognition modes can slow the focus and picture taking process down slightly but it is an effective way of making sure you always get the best result.

Image quality is very impressive with strong and accurate colour reproduction. We found skin tones to be a touch over-warm but it does give a healthy glow to portraiture shots. With so many pixels on the CCD, noise is an inevitable issue and the EX-Z1200 did display some noise and purple fringing. However, we did expect the problem to be worse and results could hardly be described as overly noisy. If you're looking for SLR-type quality, then it might be best to look elsewhere.

The range of control that the EX-Z1200 offers really lets you get creative with your photography whilst retaining the simplicity of a point and shoot camera. The 12.1 megapixel CCD produces not only very large images but also ones that are of a very good standard. There's a lot to be impressed about and if the menu system was a bit more carefully thought out, it would make the camera even better. Not only is this a stylish camera, it's got great functionality and image quality as well. If you need as many pixels as man can cram onto a CCD but still want control and decent image quality in a compact form factor then you should certainly consider the Exilim EX-Z-1200.