Casio EX-Z550 review

Looks can be deceiving…

Professionals in the search for a compact suited to everyday snaps should look elsewhere: this is strictly one for undemanding point-and-shooters. Casio’s EX-Z550 seems like a viable option for camera buyers on paper. It has a wide-angle lens of 26mm and 14 megapixels at a fairly low price point of £150.

However, disappointment is inevitable, because as soon as you upload your images to expectantly flick through your digitally captured memories of the day, the poor image quality becomes apparent. Viewing the pictures at their actual size just adds to the argument that more megapixels doesn’t mean improved quality, and can actually cause increased noise. However, if all you want is the average 5” x 7” printouts to fill your photo albums, then it will suffice.

This Casio is left wanting in the detail department, though, as images are often soft in appearance. Even Macro mode falls flat with muted detail and tonal gradation. Even outdoors in bright conditions, the Z550 struggles. Chromatic aberration makes an appearance, as blue fringing lurks around the edges of trees in our test shots. Another troublesome effect of sunny weather is that the 2.7-inch LCD screen needs you to cup your hand in a vain attempt to view and compose shots.

Indoors, the situation doesn’t improve. Portraits are lacklustre in colour and detail, with a distinct lack of sharpness. Colour temperature leans towards the warm end of the spectrum in Auto mode, and demands attention from the Saturation tool during post-processing. Incidentally, there is a Portrait mode which takes a few seconds ‘processing the makeup effect’, after you press the shutter release. Images taken with this mode look as if they are coated with a plastic veneer. Skin tones are smoothed out and give people an angelic glow, which will be an acquired taste.

This isn’t the only scene mode. There is a plethora of options awaiting the user at the touch of the Best Shot (BS) button next to the LCD. From Party and Pet to Autumn Leaves and Soft Flowing Water, many of these are gratuitous and serve to give your images hyperreal effects that often resembles bad editing. There are also art filters galore that are fun to experiment with. Oil Painting is one of the most successful, giving your pictures a Monet-esque feel, but Crayon and Watercolour are abysmal. No one wants the vibrancy of their photos drained and replaced with unsightly pastels, and whoever designed the Crayon effect is yet to master colouring in-between the lines.

The one thing that is unique about this compact is that it comes with a Dynamic Photo tool. The user takes one image with the subject and one without, and then this function will remove the background and enable you to position it on a new scene. This spot of in-camera editing isn’t perfect, especially when the subject is white in colour, but it’s a friendly gesture to those who do not own photo-editing software. There is also the option to upload images to YouTube or post them on a blog using pre-loaded software, which will appeal to the modern user.

There are no manual modes and the only alterations the user can make are the ISO and white balance settings. However, this could be a good thing for someone who wants a simple-to-use snapper. There are dedicated buttons, including Movie mode, Delete, Menu and Playback, which are all clearly labelled and well laid out to the right of the LCD. For £150, the Casio Z550 is a pocket-friendly 20mm thick and comes in a range of colours, making it well suited for fashion-conscious shooters. In terms of image quality though, it is worth scouting for alternatives.