Casio Exilim EX-Z33 review

The movie mode shoots VGA-quality video, but it looked good in our tests, and is suitable for online sharing. You don't get use of the zoom lens while recording, however. Like most cameras in its class, the EX-Z33's continuous-shooting option uses the settings from the first shot -- including focus -- for all successive pictures.

Slow coach
Shooting performance is the weakest aspect of the EX-Z33. It takes 2.5 seconds to power on and capture the first shot. Then you'll wait nearly 3 seconds to take another shot, and 3.3 seconds if you're using the flash. The shutter lag is worse, though. In bright conditions, it's 0.8 seconds from pressing the shutter to capture. In dim conditions, that goes up to 1 second. Continuous shooting is pretty good, however, at 1.2 frames per second.

We were expecting the photo quality of this camera to be much worse than it is, given its price. Instead, the EX-Z33 actually takes very good photos at and below ISO 200. There's visible noise at all but the lowest ISO if you closely examine your photos, but it doesn't become much of an issue until ISO 400, at which point some yellow blotching is evident. The mix of noise and reduction is good enough to keep most fine detail, though. It isn't until ISO 800 and above that subjects get really soft and smeary and the yellowing becomes more noticeable. Your best bet is to stay at ISO 400 and below, so you'll either need to have plenty of light or use the flash.

Although it's not a wide-angle lens, there's visible barrel distortion at the camera's widest position. At just 3x, the long end of the zoom doesn't display any pincushion distortion. There was noticeable purple fringing in high-contrast areas on some of our test shots, but it's within a normal range for this class of camera.

Colours are pleasing and natural-looking, if not terribly accurate. The white balance is quite good, too. Photos were occasionally underexposed, but that's easily remedied by either adjusting the settings prior to shooting, using one of the best-shot modes, or utilising basic photo-editing software.

Shooting speed
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Time to first shot

Typical shot-to-shot time (flash)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Shutter lag (dim)

Shutter lag (typical)

Canon PowerShot A480

1.8 

5.6 

2.7 

0.6 

0.6 

Casio Exilim EX-Z33

2.5 

3.3 

2.9 

1 

0.8 

Pentax Optio E70

2.4 

4.2 

3.3 

1.2 

0.6 

Olympus FE-3010

2.5 

8.7 

7.3 

1.2 

0.9 

Nikon Coolpix S220

2.2 

3.3 

3 

1.3 

0.8 

Conclusion
The score we've given the Casio Exilim EX-Z33 doesn't really tell the whole story. Overall, it's a very good camera for the money. It's an attractive, uncomplicated, ultra-compact device that takes a decent snapshot. You just have to remember not to move until the camera captures your photo -- and the same goes for your subjects.

Additional editing by Charles Kloet