Casio EXILIM EX-H10

Photo answers review

Photo answers rating

Face recognition, focus modes and automatic scene selection are fast becoming the norm on compacts, so it’s the inclusion of a high-capacity battery that really sets the Casio EXILIM EX-H10 apart from the crowd.
This sleek looking compact feels well built and packs in some impressive features. On the back you’ll find a large 3in LCD screen that’s clear and bright. While inside there are all the features you’d expect but also HD video, CCD-Shift Image Stabilisation and a high-capacity battery that can last for up to 1000 shots. The EX-H10 is an automatic compact featuring 38 scene modes for shooting the most common subjects. There’s also an impressive wide-angle 10x zoom offering the 35mm equivalent focal length of 24-240mm – providing flexibility in a portable compact body.

Best Shot
The EX-H10 features 38 pre-set ‘Best Shot’ shooting modes, including Portrait, Landscape, Sports and even a perspective correction mode for business cards and documents. One mode that really stands out is Make-up. It looks for skin tones in portraits and applies smoothing automatically, avoiding the requirement for retouching later. At full strength smoothing can be excessive, but at standard strength or lower results are surprisingly good. For the deviant in you there’s even a YouTube mode that produces video files at the correct size and resolution for YouTube. If you know how to convert video files it’s probably worth shooting at full HD, but if not this mode will make getting your funny and/or family videos online that little bit easier.

Ease of use
Most compacts are designed for ease of use and the EX-H10 is no exception. The camera is very much designed for automatic shooting but you can change ISO, white balance and add exposure compensation manually – these will always revert back to auto when the camera is switched off. This is slightly annoying if you want to shoot at a specific ISO and have to keep changing, but on the flipside the EX-H10 does seem to always pick the lowest ISO setting it can in automatic mode, so you can’t complain.

Image quality
Image quality from the EX-H10 is what you’d expect from a compact around the £200 mark. Images at ISO 64-100 are very good, but quality quickly drops at higher ISO settings where JPEG processing drastically softens images. That said, you couldn’t fail to obtain good quality 7x5in prints from the camera, and that’s what most people aim to print to with image files from compact cameras.

Verdict
The EX-H10 covers the main bases you’d expect from a compact camera, with some extra features thrown in for good measure. Image quality is where this compact falls down most, but so long as you shoot at lower ISO settings you’ll have no problems. Overall this is a compact that takes care of everything for you, so if that’s what you’re looking for you’ll certainly find it here.

Specification
Street price: £200   
Effective resolution: 12.1MP
Sensor type & size: 1/2.3in & 6.16x4.62mm
Zoom: 10x optical & 4x digital
35mm focal length: 24-240mm
Exposure modes: Program AE, 38 Best Shot modes
Metering modes: Multi-pattern, centre-weighted, spot by imaging element
ISO range: 64-3200   
Card type: SDHC, SD, Eye-Fi Wireless card compatible
LCD monitor size: 3in           
Autofocus: Contrast Detection Auto Focus (Spot, Multi, or Tracking)
RAW shooting: No
Face Detection: Yes       
Built-in stabilisation: Yes
Weight/size (wxhxd): 164g/102.5x62.0x24.3mm