Hi all,

-Some new comments on the highspeed movie recording, I've tested it, and the results are great.
There are a few things you should know though:

-The focus and exposure settings are locked during record, so a moving subject like a bird or other mammal may easily move out of the DOF area. Same for light/shadow; if you are set for a sunlit subject and it moves into shadow, it will get under exposed, and there's nothing you can do but to stop recording, and start again, set for the new exposure/focus conditions!

Movie examples here:

http://www.youtube.com/bagagerat -Look for any EX-F1 movie.


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A few first pictures for you. straight from the cam. I'me not here to praise the cam for the goodies; Nobody but Casio is helped with only stating that it's a great one ;-)

I'me used to the panasonic lumix FZ50 (keeping it, obviously). This lumix is still the best cam to control, provides the best image stabilization, and has the brightest lens. As such, this is a step back, and it does influence the verdict.

Once you know where to find your stuff in the menus, you'll be able to get there fast with the scroll wheel. Some experience with digicams might be required to 'learn the map'.

The onboard flash works well; it's well adjustable and bright. Hardly any need to go above iso200. In flash-burst mode though, it's quite weak, and only boosting up the iso to at least 400 makes it work. The led-flash can be used as a light for filming, but is a great aid too for manual focus in dark circumstances.

It's quite sad the display can't be flipped; In the year 2008 it shouldn't be necessary to lie down in the mud for shooting from low positions. The EVF is usable if u were glasses; Still no diopter adjustment for people with 'really' bad eyes.. ;-)

Just a few words on the movie feature; The high-speed recording is truly a great thing; It does however require daylight brightness to work well. The (F)HD image quality is outstanding. The man. focus doesn't seem to work while recording. Image stabilization doesn't really help a lot, so steady hand is a must. Recording in (F)HD crops not only the tops and bottom, but some of the sides as well, so you loose the wide angle. Shooting VGA works 4:3 full frame.

I like the macro, and especially the 'infinite' focus settings. That should be standard on all ultra-zooms!

Very good move from Casio to include a cable shutter release in the box; You're going to use it.

Well, that's a first, I'll be back for more pictures and text; Cheerio!

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What i like so far:

- Focus and wb bracketing modes

- The burstmodes work, and work well -Screen doesn't go black while shooting! :-)

more on the bursts: Apart from the actionmoment, it works pretty good for panning too; great increase of good pan amongst the many. Also works good for picking the shot with the best background

- image quality is good (sensor not stuffed with megapixels you aren't going to use anyway)

- Flash is powerful

- quick menu for essential settings (except flash intensity.. )

- Scroll wheel on the back allows for really fast scrolling/changing settings (there is a risk of hitting an arrow-button though)

- Battery life is good

- Useful scene ('best shot') modes and in-cam processing options like dynamic range expansion, and digital antishake / background blur using bursts.

- threaded front, so any 62mm screw-in filters/holders can be used

- Stereo mics and mic jack for external mic

- Minimum aperture f/15 at wide end, f/26.2 at tele is lovely narrow. -But only reachable by playing with shutter prio..
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What i don't like so far:

- Max iso200 in RAW mode

- kind of a 'control lag' where it takes a moment to switch from man focus magnification to normal; until that time you can't use the zoom

- While reviewing, at some point the zoom moves back (camera switches to snooze), and once you switch back to record, the zoom moves back to where it came from; this process takes a few seconds and can't be interrupted. Not to be the pessimist, but it could cost you the million dollar picture.

- Maximum f/4.6 at the tele end is on the narrow side

- Aperture prio for some reason can't reach the narrow end of itself, and s(h)ame for manual mode.. Selectable narrow-extremes are f/7.5 @ wide to f/13.1 @ tele. Play in shutter prio, and the cam can do f/15 @ wide to f/26.2 @ tele.

- Image stabilization isn't very good (but then again, and as for the zoom thing, i'me spoiled with that pana fz50 which provides optical stabi, and a mechanical linked zoomring.

- Recoring movie in (F)HD crops off all wideangle. -It's profit in telezoom though

- Autofocus is a bit slow, especially in lowlight (indoor) conditions

- Photos taken during movie record are of lower quality then the 'jpeg fine' photos. They'll also be too much wide angle because of the cropping thing
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-PLEASE NOTE I UPLOAD THESE PHOTOS FOR YOU TO DECIDE WETHER YOU LIKE THE CASIO EX-F1; YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO UPLOAD THEM ELSEWHERE ON THE NET, OR USE THEM IN ANY WAY. THANK YOU