Casio EXILIM Z1200 Digital Camera Review

We asked how many pixels do you really need in the news recently and the answer from the camera companies was, as many as we can stuff in. So here's the Exilim Z1200 from Casio featuring 12Mp, packed into a compact body.

Specifications

• Sensor: 1/1.7in. CCD - 12.39 Million pixels
• Image size: 4000 x 3000 pixels
• Lens: 37-111mm f/2.8/5.5 (3x zoom)
• Focus: Auto, Manual, Tracking
• Macro mode: 6cm
• ISO Range: 50, 100, 200, 400, ISO800 with Anti-shake or ISO1600 in High Sensitivity Best Shot mode
• Shutter speed: 1/2-1/2000sec normal, 4-1/2000sec night mode
• Flash range: 4m
• Metering: Multi Pattern/CW/Spot
• Monitor: 2.8in. colour TFT LCD (230k pixels)
• Movie mode: 840x480 with sound
• Storage: 11.4Mb internal, SD/MMC cards
• Batteries: Lithium-ion battery (1300mAh)
• Video output: via charging dock
• Size/Weight: 93x59x22mm - 152g
• Transfer: USB 2.0

Currently the only real competitor to the Casio in the 12Mp compact stakes is going to be the Panasonic DMC-FX100 which features a 28mm wide angle lens as well as the high resolution but costs £50 more. The Z1200 will set you back around £239.

Modes and features
There's a bit of a check list here and it's full of ticks. Let's see, unfeasibly large pixel count, face recognition, image stabilisation, focus tracking, scene modes, program modes, range of metering options, soft flash, live histogram - yep, all present and correct. What's particularly nice about the Z1200 is that it looks very simple to operate, yet it has loads of advanced features packed in and more tricky modes hidden just beneath the surface. It all starts with a 3x optical zoom, which isn't exactly spoiling you, but the beauty of having a 12Mp resolution is that it can be cropped and still leave a decent sized picture.

Besides the tiny, recessed on/off button there are three other buttons on the top of the camera. What they do is very simple. There's a playback button and a camera button next to each other - they simply swap whichever mode you are in to the other one. There's also a display button which allows the LCD screen brightness to be increased or made more vivid, the live histogram to be turned on and whether the shooting details appear scattered about the screen in a traditional fashion, or are arranged on a panel. I tend to avoid this as it eats into the picture from the side.

Where all the action takes place is around the back of the camera, with the menu and best shot buttons next to the 2.8in. LCD screen. You might think that the best shot button is some kind of best from three type picture process, but actually, it's the scene mode control. There are over 30 to choose from which is a handsome array, and includes some innovative ones like auction and collection, ID card, portrait with scenery and autumn leaves as well as the usual suspects. Selecting a mode removes a number of functions like focussing options and sticks the ISO into auto mode, although a trip into the menu can change that back to your preferred setting. What's interesting is that the standard ISO range is just 50-400, but the Anti-Shake system and Auto ISO will use up to ISO800, and the High Sensitivity mode will use up to ISO1600 as well.

Down into the menu system, there are all kinds of options, including the other shooting modes. Here manual, shutter and aperture priority modes can be selected, though AP only has a choice of f/2.8 or f/8 at the wide angle end. When the zoom shifts into the telephoto mode, the aperture decreases to f/5.4. There are also other advanced features like turning the face recognition on or off, activating focus tracking or selecting from zone, spot or centre-weighted metering. The focussing can be set to normal, or a high speed version or continuous. A couple of the more intriguing options are to use the portrait refiner, which softens skin textures like the portrait mode, and the dynamic range expander, which enable a wider range of tones to be captured.

Build and handling
Well, once prices get over £200 then the quality of digicams increases significantly, and it's pleasing to report that's the case with the Z1200. With a black matt finish to the metal-alloy, gunmetal grey top strip and buttons plus joypad finished with a concentric metal effect, it looks classy enough, though it's a little more chunky than you might be expecting. Not a bad thing, more Beyonce than Kylie, that's all. The zoom rocker has a high quality finish and works solidly, the lens housing is all metal, and the memory card and battery can be accessed easily enough.

Flash options
The power of the flash is fairly limited with a range of 4m, though this will get everyone in a standard portrait picture. There are the usual options including red-eye removal and there's also soft-flash, which is fill-flash with a friendly name. In the menu system the strength of the flash can also be tweaked.

Performance
The one that is apparent when handling the camera is that it is set up initially for the beginner to use. The best shot button make selecting the scene quick and easy, and to get at the advanced functions you have to start hunting through the menus. One of the first things to do is select which functions retain their memory from turning the camera off. I mention this because the default ISO setting is Auto, which is annoying until it gets changed to 100 and the memory function is set to retain this.

The advanced stuff like anti-shake works reasonably well, getting shots at 1/8sec, but the face recognition is a little unsure of what constitutes someone's mug at times. The tracking focus works, to a degree. If following something that is moving and you try to keep it in the middle of the frame then it works well enough, as the lateral tracking is okay. However, keeping the camera still and watching the object move within the frame is less successful, particularly if the subject moves vertically in the frame where there is a far greater tendency to lose track of where it is. Focussing itself though, is pretty fast and accurate.

Startup time is reasonable at just under 4secs - though there's a quick start mode that uses the internal memory that's quicker. There's no burst mode which is a surprise, even given that the camera is dealing with 12Mp images. Predictably this means that in the 10sec shooting test the camera managed a lamentable one shot. At the end of the 10secs it was just about ready to shoot the next image, but even so, this is bottom of the league in this department. There is a continuous shooting mode, but this drops the resolution right down to 3Mp, so doesn't count for this test.

Now, before we get to image quality, a quick point about the LCD. This is nice and bright, with plenty of pixels for definition, but with red colours and portraits its sometimes very hard to tell whether a shot - in playback - is in focus or not. The reds tend to run together and pictures can look soft. So, to the images then, and the good news is that there is plenty of detail in images, as there should be with 12Mp. I don't think they are super-sharp and the detail tends to disappear off in backgrounds, but you can certainly shoot 12Mp images, and crop them to 6Mp and still have a very good shot. The results are good then and the various scene modes will make the camera easy to use for beginners.

The blues are slightly lighter than the test card, with red and green primaries being neutral. The blue-green combo is cyan and the orange colours arefairly muted.

Good result in awful weather with minimal fringing and lots of detail in the foreground. The background lacks definition though.

Two versions of the portrait test. This is in AP mode and is very finely detailed showing every flaw. The colour is good and the burnt bits on the nose are rendered well.

This is using the Best Shot Portrait mode and the difference is significant, with much lighter skin and far less surface texture to the skin.

Soft flash was used to light this dalmation, which results in the picture descending into darkness, but it has given a blue-eye effect.

A low light, ISO400 mode shot was possible at 1/8sec, but there is lots of noise, very little detail and lens distortion is evident.

 

Noise tests
Some noise evident at ISO50 in the shadow areas, but the picture is clear and packed with detail so this looks very good. There's more mottling in the ISO100 shot, possibly more than a number of other cameras, but nothing really to worry about. At ISO200 the mottling starts to have random colour in it and noticeably, the image is softer, being the equivalent of ISO400 on most cameras. At ISO400 the noise is more apparent but the processing now is struggling to keep it under control, with the result that the solid colour areas look mushy and the red petals and yellow centre have lost significant amounts of detail. The colour has also changed and is weaker, which is a result seen in some compacts at ISO800 or 1600.

ISO50 test.

ISO100 test.

ISO200 test.

ISO400 test.

 

Verdict
With a very large pixel count noise was always going to be an issue, and the good news is that it's kept under control up to ISO200, but at ISO400 it really isn't very good and is worse than compacts with a lower resolution. At the ISO50 and 100 settings though, the extra detail is significant and really makes the image look incredibly detailed. While there are issues with the LCD not being overly accurate, and there's no burst mode shooting, the basic operation of the camera, with low ISOs, is fine and it produces very nice images that are high enough res that they can be cropped. The physical build quality is excellent, but I did notice that the front panel warms up if the camera is used for any length of time. There are a surprising number of advanced functions built into the camera, and it's a surprise to see the standard PASM modes there for the user to tinker with. However, as the scene modes usually invoke some processing functions, it is these, considering how easily accessible they are, that will be called upon more. The Z1200 has two main features then. They are high quality and high resolution, and if those are the two main items on your camera requirement list, then it's a good purchase, if not quite an all-rounder for general use.

Plus points:
Massive 12Mp resolution
Excellent build quality
Large LCD screen
Very easy to use
Highly detailed images at low ISOs
Plenty of scene modes
PASM program modes
Face recognition
Focus tracking
Good auto-focus
Big battery

Minus points:
Limited ISO range
Face recognition hit and miss
Focus tracking can wander
Modest optical zoom
Heats up
No burst mode

FEATURES:

HANDLING:

PERFORMANCE:

OVERALL:

The Casio EXILIM Z1200 costs around £239 and can be bought from the ePHOTOzine shop here.