Casio Exilim Pro EX-FH20 review

The Casio Exilim Pro EX-FH20 is a 9-megapixel superzoom that doesn't hang about: its selling point is its blisteringly fast speed. But after its even faster predecessor -- the record-breaking 1,200fps F1 -- proved to be more gimmicky than useful, we're determined to see past the impressive numbers and see what the camera has to offer. The FH20 is available online now for around £420.

Design
Much smaller than the F1, the FH20 is now a more portable superzoom size. It's not tiny, but it will fit in a smallish bag. It has a comfy contoured grip, with a rubberised textured area for the palm that's chunky enough to hold one-handed. AA batteries are stored in the handgrip. One small niggle with the design is that the sliding hatch covering the memory card slot is under your right palm, and tends to open while shooting.

The Casio Exilim EX-FH20 is a more compact and practical successor to the high-speed EX-F1

Sadly, it's lost the F1's neat scroll wheel, but at least the controls are uncluttered. There are only three buttons on the back, next to the circular clickpad. These call up the menu, toggle display options, and select Casio's 'best shot' scene modes. Most of the shooting options are adjusted by an onscreen sidebar, which is controlled by the clickpad.

Above the enormous 76mm (3-inch) screen, there's an electronic viewfinder, with a button that toggles between screen and EVF. Two buttons switch between playback and shooting, although for us one button would do.

The FH20 sports a giant 76mm (3-inch) screen, and unintimidating controls despite its power

Features
The FH20's biggest selling point is its speed. The camera's 40 frames per second (fps) continuous shooting speed is emblazoned on the side of the lens. The camera will take up to 40 pictures in a single burst: 40 shots in 1 second at 40fps, 40 shots in 3 seconds at 15fps, 40 in 7 seconds at 5fps and so on.

You are asked to save each batch after shooting them, with the option to save all of the pictures or scroll through at speed to pick just the shots you want. In playback mode, these pictures are grouped together in batches allowing you to skip through the large numbers of pictures. As well as looking through each image normally, you can skip at extra speed, which creates a fun animated effect. Casio has clearly put a great deal of thought into easily managing the large number of files this camera can shoot.

The FH20 is a superzoom, sporting a large 20x optical zoom and 26mm wide-angle lens

Video is even faster than still capture. If you're prepared to drop the resolution down, you can get a maximum 1,000fps. Even at standard 30fps, the FH20 shoots 720p high definition video.