OK , say it : What the netherworld ? What ’s with all theCasio EX - F1 beloved ? It ’s because this camera is the most underrated contraption to hit the market place in at least a year — the camera devil ’s eq of a jungle gym , with slow - mo , crack slow - mo , high-pitched - speed still , and coincident HD video and full - resolve still shooting , to name a few of its unequalled talent . If you ’re a nature lover , an explosion fan , a blender lover , a party goer , a preferent owner , a parent , grandparent , godparent , secret broker or all - around creepy stalker case , it will rock your little tiny world . It ’s not unflawed , but bloody if it ’s not a beautiful and one - of - a - form invention .
You ’ve already watch theslow - Missouri tomato blend , and you ’ve seen the slowly - moDIY backyard Discovery Channel . You get it , it can do slow - mo . But there are other features that stand to be demo’d on video , so take a spirit :
Let ’s recap incisively what talents the camera has that have not , in any meaningful combination , been see before in a consumer - level camera :
• Slow - mo video recording shot at 300 , 600 and 1200 frames per 2nd
• degenerate - slowly - truehearted shot from 30fps to 300 and back to 30 — I call this the “ she take the air in the room ” modality , because it ’s what they do in cheesy 80s movies to indicate the protagonist ’s lovemaking interest
• High - speed 6 - megapixel shots at 60fps
• Strobe shooting of still at 7 frames per second with standard flash ; 60fps with light-emitting diode news bulletin
• Full - resolution still shooting while enchant HD video
• fly ball - in and pilot - out automobile modes , which capture still shots at 60fps when the guinea pig enroll or exit the bod
https://gizmodo.com/casio-exilim-ex-f1-tomato-violence-at-300-600-and-120-381363
EX - F1 as Camcorder
As a camcorder , it covers a lot of bases . In HD mode , it can shoot 60 “ fields ” at 1920×1080 — that ’s code for 1080i — and 30 “ skeletal frame ” at 1280×720 , all the while letting you take a total of 20 6 - megapixel still shots . SinceDavid Pogue ’s critical review ran , Casio published firmware 1.02 that fixes a major charge : When shooting video , you now can actively use the 12x optical soar lens system .
https://gizmodo.com/pogue-reviews-casios-1-200fps-exifilm-pro-ex-f1-verdic-377129
We ’ve covered the dull - motion camera already quite a bit , but let me be clear : it shoots 300 , 600 or 1200 fps and encodes them on the fly to an H.264 file at 30 physical body per second . So 1 second gear of shooting equals 10 seconds of footage . This cause some challenge , like foresightful periods of lag between action mechanism , but there ’s a very easy in - photographic camera editing tool that blue-pencil all unnecessary footage . You ca n’t expend the zoom in mellow - stop number modality , but trust me , there ’s no time to zoom when you ’re dart like that .
As you saw in the video above , there ’s also a mood for going from standard - def 30fps to slow up - mo 300fps and then back again , what I call the “ she walked into the room ” fashion . It ’s pretty coolheaded , and probably more useful than just standard slow - Missouri .
Also , to recap : when shooting at 300fps , you get “ stock ” video resolution of 512×384 . At 600fps , it knock off to a tolerable widescreen , 432×192 . But when you tear in 1200fps , you terminate up with a bizarre 336×96 , really recollective and slender . There ’s also a major loss of lightness when switch over from standard to slow - molybdenum , and then each subsequent startle . 1200fps is only good alfresco on a very sunny twenty-four hours , but even 300fps is no good in any kind of dull light . It makes sense , of course , but you need to consider it , specially if you ’re into experimental amateur porn filming .
Auto - nidus is seemly for still shooting , but I sometimes found for slow - Show Me State video that it was simpler just to go manual . If you start recording slow - mo video out of focusing , there ’s very little Bob Hope that it will focus during your shot .
One other frustration I experienced was that videos from time to time came out unconnected or unreadable . I hope the 1.02 firmware update has a fix for that — I can only assume it ’s a known and fixable trouble , albeit an annoying one .
EX - F1 as Still photographic camera
To be clear , this camera is the anti - DSLR . It ’s as digital as you could get , so you have to have a bun in the oven some photographic shortcomings . But the tradeoffs are sensible , with still pick that are not uncommitted anywhere else .
you could fool full - resolution 6 - megapixel hush at up to 60fps , to ensure that you get a decent photo of a tight - move subject . I preferred to utilise something more like 7fps or 15fps with PET and nipper , since they ’re not that tight , and you have no theme how teasing it can be to flip through 60 or more identical - look shots .
As with deadening - mo television , you do lose the higher f - stop setting when you plant it for 60 , as everything would just be sales pitch mordant . What you do get , though , to even up , is a strobe flash . Though Pogue guess it was too explosive , I thought it works well when you need it . As you could see from the screenshot above , you could apply a literal flash up to 7fps , and then you have to trade to a mellower light-emitting diode light , which ca n’t illuminate everything , but is better than nothing . We think to subjugate this tv camera to some further in - the - deep club shot courtesy of Gawker video guy Nick McGlynn ( shown here help me certify flash - strobe light fashion ):
The coolest easy - to - young lady still options are the fly - in and wing - out modal value : You check your stab on an object like a birds nest or hummingbird feeder , press the shutter and hold back until the critter arrives . The tv camera shoot continuously at 60fps , but only begin saving when it detect the move , show you with a solid solidifying of 60 still for you to opt the best ones .
The other modality does the inverse . You aim it at a critter that is not move , and when it starts to move , and exit the inning , the camera lay aside the shot , so you get a spectacular action jibe of its departure .
As I hinted , low-pitched - igniter shot is n’t great , and the lilliputian , observational CCD CMOS in the photographic camera is specially noisy . ISO 1600 is a rainbow of nastiness , and should only be used as a last resort hotel :
Shadows are even pretty noisy at low ISO options — here ’s 800 :
Annoyances aside , I found the EX - F1 to live up to our Bestmodo status because of its versatility and originality . It ’s skillful and rugged , too , capable of withstanding being discard into the strain ( what good is sluggish - mo if you ca n’t move tight ? ) . It had a squeamish long bombardment lifetime , too : I blast for six days directly — gathering pot of video and gross ton of rapid flaming full - resolving power stills — before the electric battery drop dead .
Update : Some of you ask about memory capability , and even though I was shoot with an 8 GB SDHC card , the hard limitation is 4 GB of video recording . For stills , the polisher can hold 60 shot . Here ’s the details , from Casio :
The limit would be 4 GB of transcription . So at 1080i you are expect at about 40 minutes . Now if you had a 8 GB circuit board you could [ stop and ] then take another 40 second picture , but the data file system tally 4 GB and has to intercept memorialize . [ For stills ] you could take 60 shot before the buffer store is full . So you’re able to do 60fps for 1 second or 30 fps for 2 moment , 20 Federal Protective Service for 3 second , etc .
So finally there ’s just this pocket-sized issue of the $ 1000 price tag : Is it worth it ? My reply is this : if you ’re looking for a great video camera that also takes decorous stills , then yes , it ’s worth it . But if you ’re expect for the sodding still television camera , it ’s a far yell . But you might omit it when you go on safari , or to a baseball game , or when you ’re illumine off firework , or when your favourite are doing goofy shit , or when … Okay , maybe it is worth it , no matter what your purposes . [ Product Page ]
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