Last year Casio's portable yet powerful Exilim Zoom EX-Z1000 became the world's first 10.1-megapixel compact camera, putting professional quality photography in the hands of the everyday user. The EX-Z1050 takes this a step further by making comparable technology even more affordable, in a smaller form factor shell available in a range of colours.
Utilising a similar design and control layout to much of the current Exilim range, the majority of the device is taken up by the impressive 2.6-inch LCD display on the back, complemented by a small array of buttons that manage to offer total control without overwhelming you with choice. A traditional flick-switch handles the 3x optical (4x digital) zoom and, thanks to the innovative tool layout on screen, the directional pad is more than adept at handling the rest.
As is now the norm for the Exilim range, you're given instant access to all of the most important settings via the control bar on the right side of the display. Simply use the control pad to scroll down through focus, ISO, white balance, quality settings and more to carry out quick adjustments with ease, eliminating the need to browse through menus away from the viewfinder before you snap a photo.
You'll find even more settings through the photo menus for further fine-tuning, and through the playback menu you can build slideshows, print layouts, view a calendar of time-stamped photos and edit your snaps or perform quick corrections on the move. If you'd rather not get involved in the more technical aspects of photo control, a dedicated 'best shot' button takes you to a well structured thumbnail display of common environments, such as sports, parties, pets, underwater and more traditional portrait, landscape and night scenes.
This makes the EX-Z1050 great for beginners by offering a further degree of control, something that's one of the biggest strengths of the Exilim range. The structured menus and intuitive presets combine with some effective anti-shake technology making for an extremely forgiving camera that'll do a great job in a range of environments. We saw consistently sharp and vibrant results in a number of different settings, all of which are well represented on the colourful, sharp and responsive LCD display.
It's impressive enough that Casio has crammed this much performance into such a portable device, but the fact that the price is in line with many of today's mid-range compacts makes it even more of an achievement.
Bearing in mind the target market of such a camera, which we would expect to consist of a mix of talented beginners and enthusiastic amateurs, there's very little to criticise about the EX-Z1050. Minor points such as the lack of direct charging (you need to carry a separate adaptor box to plug the battery into) or a carry case in the box aren't enough to detract from the excellent combination of performance and usability, and this camera should appeal to a wide range of photographers.
