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106 of 110 found the following review helpful:
 1000fps, HD video, AND 9 megapixel stills!!!Oct 26, 2008
By Elizabeth Matzelle
"ImperfectSense"
I purchased this camera from Best Buy on Thursday, and have shot over 30GB worth of photos and videos with it in just 4 days.
The highlights: This camera has every shooting mode under the sun. It will shoot 9 megapixel stills, up to 7 megapixel stills at the incredibly fast rate of 40fps, HD 720p video, and slow motion video ranging from 30-1000fps. It also has a 20x zoom (although I find the zoom to be only slightly longer than my Canon S3 IS "12x zoom", but the wide angle is much wider).
The camera is very easy to setup and use, although I am still trying to figure out some of the more advanced features (like the ability for the camera to automatically take photos when an object enters the frame).
Image quality is pretty good, about the same as my Canon S3 IS. It does much deeper blues and reds than the Canon, and doesn't have as bad chromatic aberration, but it's greens are a little too blue for my taste, and the off-whites need some more yellow. Noise isn't as high as I expected, but do realize this is not a DSLR, it's a small lens and a small sensor.
Lighting seems to be key with this camera. In direct sunlight, it takes amazing photos and videos, but in low-light, the high speed videos begin to suffer. I haven't had any that I took under normal lighting conditions come out unusable, but a few that I took in a very dim office nearly are.
My only complaints are minor, but here they are:
When shooting video, even with continuous AF off, it will still occasionally try to refocus, I find this very annoying
I cannot seem to find the settings to turn on move-in CS (motion-sensor triggers the camera)
While the latest firmware drastically improved write speeds for video, shooting single stills seems to take a long time to write to my class 6 memory card
I really don't like the proprietary USB connection, it is very difficult to find the right angle to get it to plug in because it's so narrow
Pleasant surprises:
Unlike the S3 IS, it remembers your photo and video settings very well, and if you set photos to manual focus and then want to take a video, the video will "pick up" that setting as well
The big 3" screen on the back is beautiful, with the Canon I mostly used the viewfinder, not so with the Casio
Startup time is faster than I expected based on other reviews, from power on to first shot isn't noticeably longer than the S3 IS
The flash is very bright and VERY fast, up to 5fps
Editing videos on the camera is ridiculously easy, hands down the best video editing GUI I've seen on a camera, makes it very easy to just keep the part of the video you want
Build quality is very good, I especially like the rubberized grip, it's much more secure than the Canon, and easier to hold despite it's heavier weight
I'll post a further review after I've spent some more time with it, and hopefully a few of my little quibbles will be fixed in upcoming firmware.
33 of 35 found the following review helpful:
 DecentApr 21, 2009
By Christopher Mcintyre
This thing is like a beefed up point-and-shoot. Don't expect the quality of a DSLR. If you do, you will be disappointed.
Pros:
Very nice HD quality (if you have good lighting).
Great outdoor photos.
Great high speed photos (if you have good lighting).
Cons:
Bad pictures in low light or indoors.
Bad video indoors.
Goes through batteries very very quickly.
One really frustrating thing is that you could have a really bright screen on the viewfinder, but when you go to take the picture, all the light just goes away. The picture gets really dark. My old casio (pocket point-and-shoot) used to have a best shot selection that corrected this, but I can't find it on this camera.
If you want to take pictures of you kid playing soccer, this is a great camera. Set the high speed and get all the action.
If you want to shoot in low light, or indoors, look for a DSLR.
If you do get this camera, get 8 rechargeable batteries so you always have four charged and ready.
26 of 27 found the following review helpful:
This Mini Monster's Ready for ACTIONJan 19, 2009
By whitney fierce
Let me just start by saying, aside from the amazing array of features on this camera, it's tons of fun. The SLO-MO is my personal favorite, well, that and the burst mode. While it does have brilliant stills, the video is amazing to shoot with. I love the 30-210 fps mode because it shows the drastic difference between regular speed (which is brilliant already) to slow motion, which really seems like you're entering a wrinkle in time, seriously.
Yesterday I went to a gymnastics meet, and wow, did it blow my mind. Being able to look back and see the girls hurdling down toward the vault at normals speed (which sincerely looks like fast forwarding) and then click right over to 210 mid-shot for some mid air hang time. I can't even believe how gorgeous it is. I'm pretty sure I'm a cinematographer right now, and I won't stop!!
I am actually using this camera for work, as I'm working on marketing, and even while it's my job to hype it - I LOVE it just as a p&s camera and easy video, for my own personal use.
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Just what I had been looking for!May 04, 2009
By Lost in Anaheim
I wanted this camera to take pics of my daughter's basketball games, but my Nikon could not capture the "action" shots I wanted. To be fair though, I did not have a lens fast enough to capture the pics I wanted, and I did not want to spend a $1000+ to get one.
I saw a camera similar to this reviewed in the NYT by David Pogue, and was very interested since from his video demo it seemed like I could finally capture the pics that I wanted. After much research, and indecision I finally decided to bite the bullet. I received it Friday, I took it to my daughter's practice this weekend, and WOW, I have pictures that I could never have taken before. I can capture the shot of when the ball is just leaving my daughter's hand for a lay up, and she, the ball, and the basket are all in perfect focus caught just at that fraction of the second like you see in magazines. The 40 fps is amazing, and when you review the pics, it looks like those flip books that they use to sell at Disneyland. I like to take pics, but I am not the best photographer, with 40 (or 30,15, 10 whatever you want to set the fps at)even I can capture the shot I want.
The pics are sharp not DSLR sharp, but pretty darn good! Previously when I use to take pics, I would get blurred images, but now, I can see everything, its like that fraction of second captured.
The down side of this camera is that it can take a few seconds to write those 40 pictures to your card, and theoretically I could miss that next picture while waiting, but I have so many other pictures now that I CAN use, it doesn't matter as much as I thought it might.
The high speed video, and slow mo work as promised, and are a lot of fun. I haven't played a lot with it since I am more interested in the still side of the camera. What I have played with though is pretty amazing.
Some of the negative reviews that I have seen on the internet seem to slam the camera because there is a softness in the picture quality on some shots, but they seem to be comparing this camera to a DSLR which technically it isn't. For what I want it for - action shots of kids (basketball and gymnastics), plus casual pictures this camera is GREAT!
This camera does eat through the batteries, so rechargables are my next purchase.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Better than I'd hoped!Jan 10, 2010
By John F. Ross
I've wanted a high speed camera for stop-action for some time. I read up on the 60 FPS Casio at $1000 and then found this one. At $320, it's a screaming bargain.
Here are some of the good points, for a "normal" camera:
26mm-520mm lens. Covers everything.
AA batteries. Never have a dead camera.
Easy-to-use menus and controls. Very intuitive and easy to learn.
Feels good in the hands, and easy to carry.
Easy to remove and replace SD card and/or batteries.
Lens cap stays on with rough service.
But that's not why I bought this thing...
40 FPS stills!!! 5 FPS FLASH stills for TEN pictures!!! Do you have ANY idea what that means for CANDID photos, let alone action shots?
1/40,000 sec. shutter in continuous mode, ISO 200 in bright sunlight. This camera will stop action better than ones costing twenty times as much.
In the three days I've owned it I've not even TRIED the video yet, I'm so taken with the high speed burst mode.
Picture quality:
I'm no camera junkie that nitpicks over every iota of corner distortion or what-have-you; if I take a picture of something interesting (race car sliding into a corner, snowboarder jumping a house, fireworks exploding, pretty girl flashing in public) and it makes the viewer go "WOW!" when printed at 13x19 or smaller, then I'm happy.
This camera does THAT better than any I've ever used.
Can't think of a time I've been more satisfied with a consumer product.
1/25/2010 Update:
Tinkering with the various settings has resulted in even more respect for this camera. Night Mode Best Shot has given GREAT hand-held night pictures with no flash.
Playing with different Manual settings have given great fireworks shots, better even than the FIREWORKS Best Shot mode.
30-210 FPS Video mode is great outdoors.
40 FPS Still shooting on a tripod gives great recoil studies in my gun classes. When the skies clear I'm going to set the shutter at 1/40,000 of a second and try to catch a bullet coming from the barrel. I think I'll be able to do it.
I'm going to buy the FH25 when it comes out as it has better low-light capabilities as well as a 30-120 FPS setting that will be very useful including indoors.
Way to go Casio!
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