A downgraded version of the $999 EX-F1, the Casio Exilim EX-FC100 nevertheless manages to charm with a generous heap of features that brings some of the more expensive shooter’s best talents. In many ways, it offers one of the best cost-to-specs ratio among point-and-shoot units today.
Physically, the FC100 is a tad too big and heavy for a compact camera. to the point of tipping the scales at twice the weight of a few other digicams. Considering it’s already half the size of the EX-F1, though, while shipping with a good chunk of its attractive capabilities, the dimensions should be acceptable.
It sports a 2.7-inch LCD that, unfortunately, doesn’t offer the best resolution. Since little of the brightness and clarity has been sacrificed when you use it under sunlight, however, I’ll take it. Good call for Casio here – sacrifice a bit on resolution while making sure it offers great usability outdoors. Menus are beautifully streamlined, with nary a button-push wasted. I love the way they are laid out – very non-intimidating and easy to make sense of.
Features
The EX-FC100 offers a 9.1 megapixel resolution for still photos, along with 5X optical zoom. Image quality is fantastic, with beautiful and accurate colors. The shooting modes seem uncharacteristically limited, although it presented no problem when shooting without manually setting anything. Zoom works great in well-lighted shots – with a less bright environment, though, it doesn’t quite achieve the same fantastic quality.
Need to manage fast-action photography? Try the Slow button on top of the camera, which makes everything on the LCD show up in slow-motion. Even better, you can go the continuous shooting route, which allows the device to shoot up to 30 super-crisp 6.0 megapixel photos per second, with only a short couple seconds of processing time after each set.
HD video is another trait the FC100 inherited from its more expensive stablemate, allowing it to shoot 720p movies with relative ease. It even uses the digital zoom during filming, which allows for plenty of room to maneuver. On the downside, recorded sound comes up a bit low on volume (despite being accurate) and there’s no HDMI out for viewing your shot videos directly on a TV.
Fast action video? No problem, either, as this unit can capture clips of up to 1,000 fps. Of course, video quality suffers with faster frame rates (only the 420 fps and below clips looks usable, from our tests). You can use the same Slow button to create amusing slow-motion videos, the speed of which you can vary in a scale from 1 to 8.
Conclusion
At its price point, the Casio Exilim EX-FC100 is a high-end compact camera that brings a whole lot to the table. With fast shooting speeds, good-quality HD video, slo-mo features and fantastic image quality, it makes a good choice – provided that you can manage the size. While it doesn’t come near the size of a DSLR, it is pretty big for a point-and-shoot and might actually be a bother if you’re used to something smaller.
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