A point-and-shoot that remembers your friends (how nice)
Twelve megapixels in a digital point-and-shoot camera. “Do we really need that many?” you may ask. The basic answer to that question is no!
The megapixel count still seems to dominate discussions about digital cameras. Most people think that the higher the megapixels, the better the picture quality. Casio has obviously cashed in on this trend with the release of its 12.1 megapixel, Exilim Z1200. Lucky for them, they have produced a well-made camera that manages to take good quality images at large sizes.
The Z1200 feels quite sturdy in the hand and has a feel of strength and weight inside its compact body. The external controls can be a bit awkward and small, but no more than other compacts. A good menu makes accessing the new features such as face detect and image stabilisation a breeze.
Face detection has been around for a little while now, but the Z1200 takes it a step further. Face recognition allows the camera to remember the faces of people you know, find them in a crowd and adjust the focus and exposure that best suits them. Voila: friends in focus, strangers not. Aperture priority, shutter priority and manual exposure modes allow for good control, although the poor range of ISO settings lets it down.
The Z1200 captures large, sharp images if you give it time to work. For posed photographs and landscapes it works a treat, but it can get frustrating to use if you try and catch an action shot or photograph something in a hurry. With the slow focus and zoom you will most likely miss what you were trying to shoot.
Although not ideal for sport photography or the enthusiast, the Exilim Z1200 gives great results. . . as long as you’re not in a hurry.