DESIGN / APPLICATION
The design of the Exilim EX-ZR 400 is kept simple. The controls are self-explanatory, so you can start right away without studying the manual long. The operating buttons convince with chrome-like and partially held in brushed stainless steel finish. On the back next to the good sized screen (6.7 x 5 cm, or 3 inches) there is the master control panel, a round selector ring with SET button in the middle. This can be applied to almost all use. There are also buttons for Menu, image and clip playback and record button. Upstairs there is a dial, shutter release with some small zoom lever, on / off and speed CS button (max. 30 frames / second). The controls are big enough, you can not actually accidentally "slip away". The camera does not look spectacular, but makes a very solid impression processed.
Connections to the Exilim offers a USB and an HDMI port.
USE
The use is very simple: After some lengthy, lasting several hours to charge the battery, it can also go directly. The Exilim is already receptive to in a second, and it focuses in a split second, so all outstanding values. The device is easy to handle and with 200 grams of weight it has a decent weight, which is not too light and not too heavy, thereby valent feeling arises in her hand. The camera is according to the usual presets, by which the user is navigated, ready for use immediately. Rotary wheel are now following programs are available:
- Auto Program
- Iris AE
- Lock AE
- Manual exposure
- 3X recording
- Multi SR Zoom
- Art Shot
- Blurred background
- Best Shot
- Premium Auto Pro
Especially fun here Best Shot and Art Shot. The former has the following features:
HDR, High Speed Night Scene, widescreen, Slide Panorama, High Speed Best Selection screen (takes several images and select the image with the best facial expressions), offset correction, AF Continuous, High Speed Night Scene, High Speed Night Scene and Portrait, High Speed Anti Shake (corrects image blur and combines multiple shots into a single sharp image), snapshot, portrait, landscape, portrait and landscape, Child (Stressed skin color and a fast shutter speed), Sports, Portrait at candlelight, Paty (fast shutter speed), Pet (fast shutter speed), flowers (macro, High Saturation), Natural Green (Hard sharpness and high saturation), autumn leaves (Hard sharpness, high saturation), Gentle Stream (Slow shutter speed), Spirit shielded tungsten halogen water (Fast shutter speed), sunset (red filter, daylight white balance), fireworks (slow shutter speed Infinity focus), food, text, collection (macro mode), auction (small paintings), Prerecord (Movie) (current Prerecord Movie images) and For YouTube.
Art Shot offers these options:
HDR Art, Toy Camera (dark edges and altered tones), Soft focus (continuous blur for soft and romantic mood), Light Tone (attenuated contrast for airy refined pictures), Pop (increased saturation), Sepia, Monochrome, Miniature (partial blur for miniature world effect) and fisheye.
Play around with these options, really a lot of fun and gives in good use really great pictures. Just the kind shot options surprise here, particular emphasis would be widescreen and Slide Panorama at Best Shot, which really fantastic results can occur. Very good here is the intuitive user interface. This is generally emphasized over and over again is the camera instructions for optimum use.
Of course the camera also offers the usual manual settings, from Self-timer (10s, 2s, x3), white balance, focus, ISO (80-3200), color type, EV shift to flash. In the camera menu there are a variety of settings. So there are the following screen sizes to choose from:
- 16M (4608x3456)
- 3: 2 (4608x3072)
- 16: 9 (4608x2592)
- 10M (3648x2736)
- 5M (2560x1920)
- 3M (2048x1536)
- VGA (640x480)
Very nice is also the fact that you can even edit images after shooting. One has the possibility, lighting, white balance and brightness to change retrospectively. In addition, you can rotate images, trim and put in a new format. To this end, the camera automatically creates a new file whatsoever. A nice feature. In addition, there are even videos (in HD and STD as AVI video receivable) a small Movie Edit function, which allows only pure cut. Rather a gimmick, but nice that the feature is there.
Further technical details of the camera:
- 52 MB internal memory
- 12.5 × zoom, with 4-step digital zoom (24-300 mm)
- Aperture of f3.0 - f5.9
- Macro mode up to 1 cm close
- 3 inch TFT LCD display with 460,800 pixels
The image quality is of course when it comes to resolution not compete with DSLRs, but I was surprised when Canon EOS 550D users about the quality of the images for a compact digital camera. Those looking for an easy to use compact camera with many possibilities, is 400 very well served by the Casio Exilim EX-ZR.
