Casio EXILIM Hi-ZOOM EX-V8

I bought this to replace my old EX-Z750. I first tried the Lumix DMC-TZ3 but was really disappointed with it so decided to try the V8.

The feature set on the V8 blows my mind, but what's _really_ impressive is the quality. Don't expect it to perform like a digital SLR or an HD video recorder, expect instead to be amazed at how well it can take photos and record video while still fitting comfortably in your pocket.

Some highlights:
* The sound recording is amazing--it records stereo and captures a remarkable dynamic and tonal range.
* Optical zoom works while recording video
* 7X optical zoom with little noticeable distortion
* Long exposures no longer have the severe red-shift of old Exilims
* Video is recorded in Mac-compatible format (no special converters requied)

A few drawbacks:
* Low-light video has lots of compression artifacts
* As with all compacts, flash is harsh.

If what you need is a camera that you can use to capture the moment, this it because it fits in your pocket, performs well under an incredible range of conditions, and provides remarkable fidelity for the package. It's unlikely you'll win any awards, but you'll find you capture more.

This will not be the best camera. Nor will it be the best video cam. If you had a Casio Z750 or 850, the pictures are not as good. They are more grainy. It also seems that the video was a bit smoother on the V7 than on the V8, but both are better than the video on the Z750 or 850s.

That being said, this is the best overall camera that money can buy right now. By that I mean, if you want one pocket camera, that's small and will fit in your jeans, and can take decent photos and good video, this is it. DSLRs are generally useless. The reason is you won't bother bringing them. You will carry this camera around.

It's the only camera this small that lets you take a great deal of good quality video (on a 4GB card, about 1.2 hrs in wide screen 840x480ish (DVDish quality), and 3.25hrs in 640x480 normal mode) while zooming optically (at 7X no less) with stereo sound). You will likely end up videoing as much or more than you photograph with this tiny guy.

The only real let down is the battery life. It's good for about 2hrs of DVDish video recording, where the z850 was good for about 3.25hrs of VGA video recording. However, the 850 did not autofocus while videoing (it had a fixed pan position), and the 850 didn't let you actually zoom (just digital zoom), so it makes sense that the V8 doesn't have as much juice; it does more. That being said, I would take the 750/850 on a week long trip, and be good with a single charge. The V8, while better with battery life than the V7, requires that I bring the charger.

Build quality is still up in the air. The 750/850 was a tank. I dropped them on cobble stones several times, and even had their lenses mushed out of whack (and just smacked them back in place); they just kept on working. This seems to be tank-like too, but who knows until you have the inevitable drop. All in all, this is the first cam that has come out in a while that has actually replaced my Casio 850; it's now my goto camera.

I have set the camera settings to +2 saturation, +2 contrast, +2 Portrait (noise reduction), and +2 Dynamic (limits over/under exposure) and that seems to help with the photos. Even still, this camera produces way more noise than the 750, and more than the 850 as well. The colors indoors/darker places are not as rich as other larger cameras.

On the other hand, the 7X zoom works great. Now it's not DSLR great. But it is great for a tiny freak'n camera that fits in your pocket, and greater still for a tiny vid cam.

Image stabilization. It sucks compared to a big camera. But for a camera this small and this crammed with features it's not bad. Anyone that had a 750 (with no stabilization) will enjoy it and find it adds benefit. Anyone coming from a huge DSLR will find it crappy.

So overall, it's an issue of compromises. Is this camera perfect? Heck no! Does this camera have any one feature that other cameras can't top? Nope. That being said, I think Casio made great choices in what to include and compromise on (with the exception of the stupid dock; for crying out loud, everyone hates it in every version of the Exilim and they should just use a small USB connector). Yea, it would be great if it did everything well, but we live in the real world, and engineering realities only allow so much today.

And so, if you had to have just one cam, and you want it to take both photos and videos, and you want a cam that you would actually take with you and use, as of today, this is the "it" camera...at least for me.

I had read reviews on the EX-V7 saying the antishake was not perfected. I had hoped the V8 would have the fixes. From my experience, it has!

Very easy to use and, for my non-professional eye, does a great job with both stills and videos.

My only minor complaint is that I get more red eye with this camera than I did with my previous EX-Z4. But with software fix available, it is not a concern for me.

I bought it based on Ken Rockwell's recommendation. It seemed too good to be true: 7x zoom, no protruding lens, vibration reduction, innovative video modes in a pocket-sized package. Alas, it was (too good to be true that is). Bottom line, the still images indoors were not up to snuff. Outdoor images were fine; indoors white balance was randomly disastrous and pictures were grainy often with poor focus. I had to return it and go for a more traditional product--the Canon digital elph SD750 since most of my reason to get this was for candid indoor people shots. I'm much happier with my follow-up purchase despite the loss of zoom range.

One reason I wanted this camera was to have the use of the wide range (7X)optical zoom to shoot movie clips. I gave the camera a pretty good test on a recent trip to Hawaii, and I found, surprisingly, that that feature was more useful for snapshots than movies. The stills came out quite good; always in focus and well exposed. But the movies, while better than with previous Casios, were somewhat disappointing. For one thing, the anti-shake stabilization that they tout was not very useful; in fact, it may have produced a jerkier picture when panning than when it was turned off. It may however, have helped on long zoom still shots.

Secondly, the movies default to Quicktime format for playback. Even with the latest version, while the resolution was good, the picture tended to tear when the camera was panned, at least on the Windows computers I tried it on. This didn't happen if I opened the clip in Windows Media Player, but that was a nuisance, and the picture was darker than it should have been.

Overall, because of the quality of the stills, the long zoom range, and the fact that the lens stays within the camera at all times, I did like the camera. If the problem with the tearing could be addressed, I would like it even better.