Casio EXILIM Pro EX-F1 High-Speed Digital Camera Preview

Casio’s Exilim Pro EX-F1 was introduced at CES, in early January. Popular Mechanics magazine named it as one their top twenty products at that show. But PMA was our first chance to see it. And even though we posted the press release when it was announced, I didn’t really understand what the EX-F1 was about until I saw it in person at PMA. And it’s a very interesting camera, indeed.

Although the Exilim Pro EX-F1 looks like just another superzoom digital camera, it’s not. Casio didn’t want to simply add a new camera to one of the many digital camera categories available. They wanted to create their own niche. And they really did that with the Pro EX-F1.

The basic components of the Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 are an image-stabilized 6-megapixel CMOS imaging sensor, a high-speed LSI processor, and a 12x optical zoom lens. But what makes the Pro EX-F1 special is speed. The EX-F1 can capture full-resolution images at 60 frames-per-second for one second. It can also shoot up to 1200 frames, per-second in its high-speed movie mode and shoot high-def video at 60 frames-per-second. And if you’re an action photographer like me, you’ll know how cool this is: the EX-F1 can fire the flash for up to 20 frames at 7 frames-per-second. And for more crazy numbers, the EX-F1’s top shutter speed is 1/40,000 second. Note the comma in that number, please. That’s a ridiculously high shutter speed that could be used to freeze water drops, bullets in motion, etc.

Besides the main features and high-speed capabilities mentioned above, the Exilim Pro EX-F1 also has full manual exposure controls, three types of auto-bracketing (ISO, white balance, and AE bracketing), and Face Detection. There are also a couple more innovative features I think are worth pointing out. The EX-F1 has what Casio calls a Function ring. It looks like a manual zoom or focus ring on the lens. But it’s actually programmable and can be used for different functions, including focus, zoom, or adjusting the camera’s continuous shutter speed. Another interesting and useful feature is the Prerecord option in high-speed burst mode. As soon as you depress the shutter release halfway, the camera starts capturing images and storing them in the memory buffer. But it doesn’t save them to the memory card until you press the button all the way down. So if you’re set up to shoot and don’t press the shutter release down in time, as long as you were pre-focused, with the shutter release pressed halfway, you still have the photo. All you do is press the shutter release down immediately after the moment you wanted to catch. At that point the camera saves the images in the buffer to your memory card and you’ve got your photo. It’s like being able to take the picture after the moment happens!

So where does the Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 digital camera fit into the current camera universe? That’s a good question and I’m not sure I have the answer. When you can buy a 10-megapixel digital SLR kit with a lens for under $900, a $1000 superzoom seems like a hard sell, even if it does have supercamera abilities. That said, I can see this camera being used by small businesses, families, schools, Web sites, and people involved in youth sports. For many people, the compact superzoom body style is less intimidating than a full-size digital SLR. And the Exilim Pro EX-F1 may be one of the best all-purpose digital capture devices available right now. With the 60 FPS still capture rate and high-def video capability it really is an impressive do-it-all camera. And 6 megapixels is plenty of resolution for most people’s needs. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see what the image quality is like. But if it’s good, the camera should be capable of printing good 8×10s and smaller with no problem.

For those who’ve been waiting and speculating about Casio making a digital SLR, keep waiting. But the new Exilim Pro EX-F1 is a very interesting camera and one we’re anxious to test. It’s definitely a niche product. But if it works, and the price comes down a bit, there may be a market for it.

Related Content:
Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 Press Release
Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 PMA Video
Casio Digital Camera Reviews
Official Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 Web Page

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 1:23 pm and is filed under , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.