To help us provide you with free impartial advice, we may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more

Casio Exilim EX-FH100 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £257
inc VAT

Beautiful photos and videos, backed up by a wide range of features including a 40fps burst mode and slow-motion videos.

Specifications

1/2.3in 10.0-megapixel sensor, 10.0x zoom (24-240mm equivalent), 227g

http://www.amazon.co.uk

There’s no shortage of compact ultra-zoom cameras available, and if the price of this model puts you off it’s worth looking at the cheaper Casio EX-H5.

The Casio FH100’s 10x zoom lens is relatively modest but, at £225, this is no budget model. Fortunately, it has other tricks up its sleeve. Its fast CMOS sensor can capture 30 frames at up to 40fps. The camera took 20 seconds to save the pictures to memory card before it could repeat the trick, but even so, rivals cameras can’t hope to match this kind of performance. The fast sensor is also used to capture slow-motion video. Options vary from VGA capture at 120fps, playing back at 30fps for 1/4-speed slow motion, right up to 1,000fps capture, though only at a tiny 224×56 pixels.

Casio Exilim EX-FH100

Normal-speed video is in 720p HD, and looked sumptuously clean and detailed. The stereo soundtrack was rich and full-bodied, but it’s disappointing that the zoom and autofocus were fixed for the duration of clips.

Otherwise, this is an extremely capable compact camera. There’s a spacious 3in LCD, a mode dial with priority and manual exposure modes and an HDMI output. It can even capture in RAW mode, but strangely, only at ISO 100 or 200 and not at higher ISO speeds where it would be arguably more useful. The menu system could be friendlier, but the dedicated video-capture and continuous-shooting buttons are welcome.

Still image quality was as good as we’ve seen from a compact ultra-zoom camera. Details in brightly lit shots were impressively crisp throughout the zoom range, with balanced colours and barely any hint of noise. Quality was only passable at ISO 1600, but it still maintained a slight advantage over its direct competitors. Frustratingly, though, automatic settings refused to venture beyond ISO 400, so we had to intervene to avoid camera shake in dim lighting.

The FH100 isn’t cheap, but those who are tempted by its high-speed photography and video features won’t be disappointed.

Basic Specifications

Rating ****
CCD effective megapixels 10.0 megapixels
CCD size 1/2.3in
Viewfinder none
Viewfinder magnification, coverage N/A
LCD screen size 3.0in
LCD screen resolution 230,400 pixels
Articulated screen No
Live view Yes
Optical zoom 10.0x
Zoom 35mm equivalent 24-240mm
Image stabilisation optical, sensor shift
Maximum image resolution 3,648×2,736
Maximum movie resolution 1280×720
Movie frame rate at max quality 30fps
File formats JPEG, RAW; AVI (M-JPEG)

Physical

Memory slot SDHC
Mermory supplied 86MB
Battery type Li-ion
Battery Life (tested) 300 shots
Connectivity USB, AV, mini HDMI
HDMI output resolution 1080i
Body material aluminium
Lens mount N/A
Focal length multiplier N/A
Kit lens model name N/A
Accessories USB and AV cables
Weight 227g
Size 63x105x30mm

Buying Information

Warranty one-year RTB
Price £257
Supplier http://www.amazon.co.uk
Details www.exilim.co.uk

Camera Controls

Exposure modes program, shutter priority, aperture priority, manual
Shutter speed 30 to 1/2,000 seconds
Aperture range f/3.2 (wide), f/5.7 (tele)
ISO range (at full resolution) 100 to 3200
Exposure compensation +/-2 EV
White balance auto, 6 presets, manual
Additional image controls contrast, saturation, sharpness, colour filter
Manual focus Yes
Closest macro focus 7cm
Auto-focus modes multi, centre, spot, face detect, tracking
Metering modes multi, centre-weighted, centre, face detect
Flash auto, forced, suppressed, slow synchro
Drive modes single, continuous, self-timer