Casio EX-FH20 Review

The F20's zoom lens provides 20x magnification up to an equivalent of 520mm, while still offering a nice 26mm equivalent wide angle field of view. This is an all-glass, multi-coated lens constructed of 14 elements in 11 groups (including aspherical lens) with a maximum aperture of F2.8 - F4.5. The camera also offers a 4x digital zoom option as well as a 108x HD zoom setting (fixed image size of 640x480). This lens offers a large barrel with a two controls mounted onto it, the Macro focus mode and AEL (Auto Exposure Lock) buttons.

The contrast detection autofocus system has options for Spot AF, Free AF, or Tracking. Focus mode include Auto, Macro, Super Macro, and Manual. The F20 also offers an AF-assist Illuminator to aid the AF system when shooting in low light conditions.

The auto focus working range at wide angle is:

• Auto: 1.31 ft. (40cm) to infinity
• Macro: 4.72 inches - 1.64 ft. (12cm - 50cm)
• Super Macro: 0.39 - 4.72 inches (1cm - 12cm)
• Manual: 4.72 inches (12cm) to infinity

The built-in flash has modes for Auto, Off, On, and Red Eye reduction. The working range using ISO Auto is from approx. 1.31 - 23 ft. (0.4 - 7.0m) Wide or 4.3 - 14.4 ft. (1.3 to 4.4m) Telephoto. On the right you can see the manual flash pop-up button.

Controls on the grip: At the top you can see the shutter release with the main zoom controls mounted around it. They also act as the Index and Magnify options in playback mode. Next is the Power on/off button. To the left is the Mode dial with positions for Flash Continuous (max. 5fps), High-Speed Continuous (max. 40fps @ 7M), Normal Single exposure mode, High-Speed movie, and HD/STD movie mode. You can also see the built-in speaker as well as the Play and Record mode buttons. When the Mode dial is set to Single exposure, you then select the preferred exposure mode via the function shortcut menu that is explained on the Next page.

The EVF (Electronic ViewFinder) is simple a tiny 0.2-inch LCD screen mounted in a magnified eye piece. This unit offers 201K pixels of resolution and can display all of the same exposure info and menus as the main LCD on the back. It offers a rubber eye cup as well as a dioptric adjustment for those who wear glasses. Controls mounted around the EVF include the EVF/LCD button which switched between the displays as well as at the Play and Record mode buttons. Depending on the menu setting, these buttons can power the camera on when pressed.

On the back is a large 3.0-inch, wide-format LCD monitor with 230K pixels of resolution. This monitor offers 100% frame coverage and can be used to frame or review images as well as davigate the menu screens.

Controls on the back:

The DISPlay button controls the amount of overlay information on the screen for either display, while the Menu button calls up and dismisses the menu system. Next we have the BS or Best Shot Selector button which allows you to choose from 18 pre-programed Best Shot modes or you can create you own with the Register function. The 4-way controller is used to navigate menu screens or select images for playback. Pressing 'Down' to jump to the Flash option or delete an image during Playback.

On the left hand side of the camera are the I/O ports. At the Top is the DC 9V in port.



Next is the USB/AV port handles both the USB 2.0 (High-speed) connectivity to your PC/Mac or PictBridge compatible printer as well as the standard RCA type video output (NTSC or PAL modes).

The F20 has ~31.9 megabytes of internal memory for saving images and movie clips. It supports use of SD, SDHC, MMC, and MMC Plus memory cards via the expansion slot on the right side (shown above). Image data can be copied to/from internal memory and a flash card via the Playback menu. Shown here with a speedy SanDisk Extreme III 4GB SDHC card.

Still Image Storage

Movie Storage

The EX-F20 is powered by 4 AA-size batteries, and Casio includes a set of Alkaline cells. They claim you can capture up to 230 shots or 2 hours and 10 minutes of continuous movie recording (limited by memory of course) using Alkaline type batteries. We highly recommend the use of high-capacity NiHM cells, and Casio claims with these you can capture up to 440 shots or 4 hours and 20 minutes of continuous movie recording.

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