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Casio Exilim EX-H15 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £199
inc VAT

Casio’s Exilim EX-H15 is a practical compact travel zoom camera thanks to its impressive battery life and good picture quality. It’s not as feature rich as some of its competitors, but it’s nevertheless a very capable camera.

Specifications

1/2.3in 14.1-megapixel sensor, 10.0x zoom (24-240mm equivalent), 206g

http://www.lambda-tek.com/

The 14 megapixel Exilim EX-H15 is the latest in a long line of compact travel zoom cameras from Casio and it boasts some impressive features. However, at just under £200, it faces a lot of competition from established competitors including Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-TZ10, Samsung’s WB650 and Canon’s PowerShot SX210 IS.

It’s part of the company’s H series of ‘high speed, high zoom’ cameras and sits in between the EX-FH100 and EX-H5 which we recently reviewed. The EX-H15 is available in four colours – silver, black, pink and brown – which all have the same chrome accenting. We’ve got the pink version here, which we have to say is not to our personal tastes.

The H15 includes Casio’s new Exilim Engine 5.0 processor, which promises to improve the camera’s operational performance by 30 per cent. The 10x optical zoom lens gives you flexibility for a wide range of photographic scenarios and ranges from 24 to 240mm in 35mm equivalent focal lengths.

Casio Exilim EX-H15

Despite the EX-H15’s impressive operational speed, its headline feature is actually the lofty 1,000 shot battery life. We filled a couple of 4GB SDHC cards with images taken on the EX-H15 and there were no signs of it running out of juice, meaning there’s no need to worry if you’ve gone on holiday and forgotten the charger!

This battery does add some bulk to the H15, but at 29mm thick, it’s no more cumbersome than its competitors with similar focal ranges and is still pocketable. It tips the scales at 206g with both battery and SD card installed, giving it a robust feeling. The small hand grip also helps make the camera easier to hold, giving you something positive to hang onto – a lot of compacts these days do away with protrusions in favour of sleeker lines, which often makes them more delicate to hold.

The buttons on the back are large and well-spaced, giving the user access to most of the important controls without having to adjust their grip on the camera. Shooting modes are accessed via the BS – or Best Shot – button, and there are more than 40 scene, subject and art filter modes to choose from. These automatically optimise the camera for the type of photographs you’re trying to take, but there’s very little in the way of manual controls. There is a dedicated video recording button, though.

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Basic Specifications

Rating ****
CCD effective megapixels 14.1 megapixels
CCD size 1/2.3in
Viewfinder none
Viewfinder magnification, coverage N/A
LCD screen size 3.0in
LCD screen resolution 460,800 pixels
Articulated screen No
Live view Yes
Optical zoom 10.0x
Zoom 35mm equivalent 24-240mm
Image stabilisation optical, sensor shift
Maximum image resolution 4320×3240
Maximum movie resolution 1280×720
Movie frame rate at max quality 30fps
File formats JPEG, AVI (Motion JPEG), WAV (audio/voice recording)

Physical

Memory slot SDHC
Mermory supplied 73.8MB internal
Battery type 3.7V 1,950mAh Li-ion
Battery Life (tested) 1,000 shots
Connectivity USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
Body material plastic
Lens mount N/A
Focal length multiplier N/A
Kit lens model name N/A
Accessories USB and AV cables
Weight 206g
Size 62x103x29mm

Buying Information

Warranty 1 year parts and labour
Price £199
Supplier http://www.lambda-tek.com/
Details www.casio.co.uk

Camera Controls

Exposure modes auto, premium auto, 42 scene modes
Shutter speed 4 to 1/2000
Aperture range f/3.2 to f/7.5
ISO range (at full resolution) 64 to 3200
Exposure compensation +/- 2EV
White balance auto, 6 presets, manual
Additional image controls make up mode, vivid landscape, mist removal
Manual focus Yes
Closest macro focus 7cm
Auto-focus modes multi, intelligent, spot, tracking
Metering modes multi-pattern, centre-weighted, centre
Flash auto, forced, soft flash, red-eye reduction
Drive modes single, continuous, high-speed burst (10fps/4fps), flash burst (3fps), self-timer

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