Casio Exilim EX-Z29 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Purple)

Bought the previous model EX-Z9 with 8.1 megapixel in a cool orange metallic housing almost two years ago on a sale for $89.--for my wife. I was a bit sceptic about the CASIO brand for a camera, a CASIO for me is a watch... As a photo enthusiast for more than 30 years I owned Olympus, Nikon, Pentax, Minolta, Canon, Sony, Kodak and even a Polaroid camera. I figured, since when I switched from using 35mm cameras to digital, the life expectance of those is an average 2 years. Because they are so handy to be always carried around you drop them, you loose them, they got pickpocket in a crowd at a concert, wet up while I'm sailing or they just die the magic electronic or fine mechanic death. The very same CASIO EX-Z9 actually only lasted for four month.... it got stolen in a break in our apartment... Ok, back to the subject, in those 4 month we had this camera it impressed me compared to it's price, with the excellent quality of the pics it took, nice zoom, powerful little flash, easy to use menus, the sturdiness of the housing made more from metal than plastic, it's small size easily fitting in a shirt pocket, it came with a rechargeable lithium ion battery and travel charger and it's cool look (it wasn't pink...).As a replacement I got for my wife last year on a Amazon Gold Box Deal for the same $89.-- a Nikon Coolpix L20, 10 megapixel, at that time I couldn't find a CASIO in that price class and the Nikon was rated in more than a 100 reviews with an average 4 stars. It turned to be out bigger and heavier than the CASIO, didn't came with rechargeable batteries, has an all plastic housing and I noticed the picture output on crisp shots, specially with flash use was far higher with the CASIO in auto mode than with the Nikon.I myself own a bigger and more professional Canon PowerShot G10 and now put the Amazon Gold Box offer for $69.-- for the CASIO EX-Z29 despite it's pink in my shopping basket, so I have a nice little camera to carry around all the time...... just will have to hide it away from my wife....!

I have had this for close to a year ... I had an Elixim previously that I loved but this one has had problems from the start. The back screen will sometimes stay "white" ... can't see anything. So I turn it on and off until it appears ... it is a drag when you want that special shot! I've put up with it ... I love the colour :) ... and hoped it would correct with time.Today I was at a special function and wanted a picture of the guest speaker and me and the camera would not focus ... completely bleared. Eventually, it was okay ... but I had someone else take that picture with their camera. I deleted the picture in question ... hindsight I should have saved it to post for you. The back screen just started pulling the "white" screen again too last weekend when we were at a tulip festival ... couldn't get a shot with my Elixim! I wasn't very happy.I wish I'd sent this back at the beginning ... I know it is too late now, but I wanted to have my review show that this isn't a good camera! My sister bought a new Elixim ... different model and had to take it back to Future Shop for pretty much the same reason. She ended up with a Sony instead. Too bad ... I definitely will re-think my choice of camera after this.

This is my first digital camera, so I don't have any other to compare it to; but I have used film type off and on for many years, including some semi-pro SLR types my ex-lady owned. Right out of the box, using quick start/dummy settings, this one took some impressive pictures! I have yet to mess around with some of the more advanced manual and auto settings, but I can see already this camera is a great deal for the price. Picture quality and ease of use are outstanding! My only complaints so far; the buttons are a bit small, and I have had to back track through the menu a few times to make up for my thick fingers, and I can tell already the lens assembly is a bit delicate...watch your fingers when the camera is on! Also, I would recommend buying a case to go with; though this is a 'stick it in your pocket' size camera, it looks like the lens and LCD screen will not hold up to that sort of treatment in the long run.Casio Exilim EX-Z29 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Purple)

I bought this on sale from Amazon because it was cheap, and the reviews were good. After using it for two months, I have to say that I'm disappointed with the pictures. Colors just aren't vibrant, nor are they particularly accurate. The time between red-eye flash and real flash is way too long, and it's so bright that most subjects think it's the main flash and move before the picture snaps. I've had to retake so many pictures because of this. Videos are poor quality, very grainy and low frame rate. Like other cameras in its class, the battery has to be charged in a separate charger instead of simply plugging a power cord into the camera.On the plus side, it's easy to use. It has the usual presets which can be selected by scrolling through sample scenes. You just pick the scene that's similar to the one you're taking.I also have a Fuji Finepix J20 for comparison. Picture and video quality of the Exilim is markedly inferior to the Fuji. Although the Exilim is $50 cheaper, the savings isn't worth it. I'm giving this to the kids.