Casio EXILIM EX-FH25 review

A bridge camera that thinks it’s a DSLR; well, almost

Here’s a bridge camera that, in some ways, offers more than a DSLR. For starters, the zoom lens has a 35mm equivalent range of 26-520mm (the digital zoom takes that to a whopping 1040mm) and can focus as close as 1cm. On top of that, the camera gives a full range of exposure modes, including manual, and shoots HD video, plus some interesting high-speed options.

So, an impressive package on paper but does it stack up in reality? Let’s find out.

The EX-FH25 is styled like a SLR but about two-thirds the size of one – which means it’s big by compact standards. The plastic body looks and feels good and can easily be used with one hand, thanks to a well-placed thumb rest. If you want to use two hands, the left one can cradle the lens, which has a grip that looks like a zoom ring but doesn’t actually move; zooming is done by a compact-style ring around the shutter button.

Other controls include a dial atop the camera with five settings indicated by slightly vague icons. There are also the usual buttons on the back of the camera, all of which are self-explanatory. Our only gripe is with the playback and record mode buttons – these are to the right of the viewfinder and slightly fiddly to operate with the right thumb.

Also on the camera back is a large and clear LCD which gives plenty of information about the camera’s settings (although these can be turned off to give an uncluttered screen). In addition, there’s an electronic viewfinder (EVF) which you switch on using a button to the left of it. The EVF is reasonable clear but not particularly bright, which becomes a problem in low light. A dioptre adjustment dial for the EVF is a nice touch.

The camera takes a while (almost four seconds) to power up after pressing the on/off button. Once up and running, though, things speed up. Focusing is quick and accurate, even in low light, and there’s even the option of manual focusing (controlled by the multi-selector switch). After taking a photograph, the preview appears almost immediately.

Like most compact cameras, the EX-FH25 has a range of flash modes, including automatic. However, this is slightly misleading because you have to activate the pop-up flash with a button before it will work. In autoflash mode the shutter won’t fire if the flash is required but has not been raised. Once up, the flash gives reasonable results, both in low light and as a fill-in, although at times its light is harsher than we’d like.

The EX-FH25 can be used in full auto, shutter priority or aperture priority, in addition to the typical scene modes, which will make it appeal to serious photographs. There’s also exposure compensation control, although that’s a fiddle to access via the onscreen menus, which is disappointing.

An interesting shooting mode is high-speed burst. This shoots as many as 30 images at up to 40 frames-per-second at a reduced resolution. Handy for capturing the decisive moment for, say, sports photography, although you need to practice to get decent results – at the highest capture rate it’s easy to end up with 30 near-identical images! In fact, it’s often better to set a lower rate; say, 10fps.

In a similar vein, the camera also allows high-speed video shooting at up to 1000fps, or as low as 120fps for slow-motion playback. There are also the usual standard and HD movie modes.

Image quality is good throughout the optical zoom range, with only slight distortion at the extremes of the zoom. At times, results are slightly soft but on the whole, they’re more than acceptable. As you’d expect, quality suffers when you head into digital zoom territory but, again, it’s relatively good.

Noise isn’t an issue at lower ISO settings and, even at ISO 400, images are pleasingly noise-free. Once over 800, as you’d expect, there’s a deterioration in quality but nothing untoward. Colour reproduction is good although strong highlights burn out sooner than we’d like.

In brief, then, the EX-FH25 offers many of the features of a DSLR with image quality that is good for a compact but below par for a DSLR. The zoom range, and high speed stills and video options are bonuses, though.