Who says a small camera has to have a small color LCD? Certainly not Casio. The Exilim EX-Z57 features a large 2.7-inch liquid crystal display for those who want an easy-to-view screen for picture taking and viewing. The EX-Z57's 5-megapixel CCD and 3X optical zoom lens delivers high resolution picture quality. Extra-long battery life of approximately 400 shots (CIPA standards) per battery charge assures that you can enjoy shooting and looking at your pictures over and over again without worrying about the battery life.

And it's fast - rapid startup enables shooting approximately 1.6 seconds after the power is turned on. The camera automatically selects fixed-focus Auto Pan Focus mode for instantaneous response when the shutter is depressed in one push. The shutter release time lag is only 0.01 seconds after the shutter is released (with flash off.) Even playback is fast with a picture to picture delay of just 0.1 seconds.

Like it's "siblings," the Exilim EX-Z50 with a 2.0-inch LCD and the EX-Z55 with a 2.5-inch LCD, the EX-Z57 is a super-slim and very compact camera that's built survive an active lifestyle thanks to a lightweight but highly durable aluminum body. And it's so easy to use with a fully automatic Snapshot mode or Best Shot modes for challenging lighting conditions or subjects. Noise Reduction produces "cleaner" looking night scenes and an Auto Macro function enables automatic switching between Normal and Closeup autofocus modes.

The EX-Z57's supplied docking cradle enables you to charge the high-capacity lithium-ion battery and transfer images to your computer by simply pressing the USB button. From there, the PhotoLoader software automatically transfers all JPEG and AVI files in image memory to the computer. Pressing the Photo button starts a slide show of images currently in camera memory. The camera can even be set up to display the desired images whenever it is placed on the cradle.

The EX-Z57 can store images in HTML format so they can be viewed easily by any modern web browser. You can record voice memos that can be played back in the camera thanks to its built-in speaker. Photostand mode lets you view a slide show of images with the camera on its cradle. The Calendar feature shows you thumbnails of photos on the day they were taken. World Time lets you select one of 162 cities in 32 time zones as your home or destination time zone. You can also store special photographs or photos you don't want others to see in the "Favorites folder".

In addition to its ~9.3 MB of built-in Flash Memory, it also supports the use of SD memory cards and MMC cards (not included). An easy operation copies images between a memory card and built-in memory. You can customize key operations to assign recording mode, exposure compensation, white balance, ISO sensitivity or self-timer functions to the left/right controller buttons. These settings may be changed by simply pressing the left or right control button.

Today's digital photographers want to be able to print their photos easily and with no worries about the colors coming out right. The EX-Z57 is PictBridge compatible, just plug it directly into any Pictbridge-enabled photo printer and makes prints without the need of a computer. For those using a computer, the images are industry standard ExifPrint (Exif 2.2) and PRINT Image Matching III compliant.

Exilim EX-Z57 Features:

• 5.0-Megapixel effective CCD imager
• High-quality, light-weight aluminum body
• Huge 2.7-inch TFT color LCD with 115,200 pixels
• Still Image: 2560x1920, 2560x1712(3:2), 2048x1536, 1600x1200, 1280x960, 640x480
• Audio recording, attached to images or audio-only
• Record movies at 320x240 (15fps w/sound), length limited only by available memory
• Pentax 3x optical zoom (35-105mm equiv)
• Less than two-second startup time
• Fast shot to shot time even when using the flash
• 7-point autofocus system with selectable AF modes: Multi or Spot AF
• Focus modes: Auto, Pan, Macro, Infinity, Manual focus, Focus lock
• New "Auto Macro" function which automatically switches to Macro mode
• Automatic 4 to 1/2000 sec. shutter speeds
• Built-in flash with Red Eye Reduction and Flash-assist function
• 4X playback zoom magnification
• USB 1.1 data transfer to PC or Mac computers
• Li-ion rechargeable battery and charging cradle included
• 9.3 Megabytes of internal memory
• Secure Digital/MMC card slot for memory expansion
• DPOF, ExifPrint (Exif 2.2), USB Direct-Print, and PictBridge compatible

The Casio EX-Z57 has a suggested retail of about $379.99 and is available now.

Physical Views

Casio EX-Z57 Specifications