We'd already seen
prototypes of Casio's crazy 60fps 6 megapixel prosumer camera / camcorder hybrid, but the company is making it official at CES -- say hello to the EX-F1. There's been a couple changes spec-wise since we got our
hands on one of these bad boys at IFA: while the 60fps burst still shooting and 300fps VGA video modes remain, video's been bumped to H.264 and there are several more shooting options, including 30fps 1080i / 720p and 1200fps at a tiny 336x96 resolution. Of course, all these tweaks pale beside the biggest change of them all -- Casio's now actually willing to take your $999 and ship one to you. Check out a couple more beauty shots after the break.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
usedHONDA @ Jan 6th 2008 7:06PM
This looks pretty good. Will this 6MP beat the Nikon D40? Probably not. Will it be a good deal anyway? Certainly!
Joe_Templeman @ Jan 6th 2008 7:15PM
Amazing FPS but you cant call it a "prosumer" camera if its not a digital SLR
Putting a high price tag on it doesn't make it prosumer
Jeremy K. @ Jan 6th 2008 7:55PM
It's not DSLR? 'guess that explains the price.
michael @ Jan 6th 2008 8:11PM
Huh? Since when?
You know, I, too, would argue that this is not a real pro camera.
But also SLRs are not automatically pro cameras. Neither are small-sensor-cameras (which others, for all the wrong reasons, tend to call point-and-shoot-cameras) automatically not pro cameras (Canon G9, Ricoh GR digital one and two, Lumix LX1 and LX2 and some others, I'm looking in your direction). Moreover, there are cameras that are not SLRs, but that are nevertheless considered (and always have been) pro tools. (Rangefinders anyone? Like the Leica M8?)
But you are right about one thing: the "prosumer" category is a very strange category. I wouldn’t want to call myself a prosumer, even if I may very well own what some might very well try to sell to me as a prosumer camera (GRD II). Even though I do not earn any money with my camera. It’s just a hobby. Maybe I would be ready to call myself an enthusiast. Clearly, some term is needed to describe the difference between point-and-shoots and so called prosumer cameras. Well, I know it when I see it, so I guess I might not need any fancy labels.
kempcross @ Jan 6th 2008 8:28PM
Who said it wasn't a DSLR? Just because it's a fixed-lens means it can't be "prosumer"? That is simply false.
kempcross @ Jan 6th 2008 8:31PM
What ^^Michael^^ said, nice comment.
roflercopterer @ Jan 6th 2008 9:02PM
Prosumer term was around before DSLRs
Joe Templeman @ Jan 6th 2008 9:18PM
OK, maybe "not a DSLR" was a bad reason for saying it wasnt prosumer, but I still believe its not a prosumer camera.
To me, most of the cameras you listed *are* prosumer cameras, but I do not beleive this is. Things like the Leica's are prosumer because they house fantastic quality lenses, the ricoh for similar reasons, but this seems to be a total gimmick.
Personally its neither here nor there. If you want a decent camcorder, you buy a decent camcorder. If you want a decent camera, you buy a decent camera!
michael @ Jan 6th 2008 10:20PM
Yeah, it looks a lot like a goofy camera with not really much of a market to go for.
On the other hand, super-zooms also found their market. And to me at least, those cameras also seemed very goofy. I can see those people buying super-zooms also buying a camera like this. (Hm. If they have some spare money. Quite some.)
But the specs aren’t that bad. And Casio always produced cameras with a decent handling (that are also very well built). Not the best when it comes to things like manual control, but certainly also not the worst. To me, Casio cameras never really felt like the real deal when it comes to cameras. They always had this slightly odd and different approach to digital cameras (it may very well be that this is just something I’m making up, because until less than four or so years ago I only knew them for their watches and calculators).
Nevertheless, if those 6 MP are useable at high iso speeds (6 MP seem to be just perfect for that.) and with f2.7 at 7.3 mm (BTW. what’s the 35 mm equivalent to that?) and f4.6 at telephoto this could turn out to be a decent low light shooter. And if you then also like making movies or even high-speed movies, this is your camera.
Eugenia Loli-Queru @ Jan 6th 2008 7:26PM
No image stabilization, no conversion lenses, not enough background blur (essentially the same as in my HV20 camcorder). Not that great.
xiux @ Jan 6th 2008 7:29PM
wait, 60fps FULL resolution?? for how long? at what quality? im wondering if memory cards can keep up with the speed...
marc @ Jan 6th 2008 8:29PM
video is 30fps...why would u need a still to shoot at 60fps unless you want to see a golf ball bend at impact? Seriously? Please to explain.
thx!
Darren Tilley @ Jan 6th 2008 8:42PM
Umm.. you do realise that most, if not all, televised sports are broadcast at 60fps. In fact, due to interlacing, all DV camcorders record at 60fps by default. Only progressive scan cameras shoot at anything slower than that.
Now if you are referring to the 1200fps mode, then yes, there are some of us who would really like to be able to shoot our own super slow motion videos. Every camera doesn't have to be made to please the lowest common denominator.
silentreformation @ Jan 6th 2008 9:30PM
DV cameras aren't 60fps. An interlace is only half an image, you would see black lines all over it. They are 60 fields per second if that's what you mean, but that is a lot different than a true 60fps camera, which would be what HDTVs with 120hz try to emulate.
coolant8 @ Jan 6th 2008 8:48PM
Neither here nor there for me ,if i want a HD videocam,i'd get one does 1080p @ 24 fps, if i want a camera with 6mp, i get it at $60...
Zandr @ Jan 7th 2008 12:09AM
This is *really* cool, and I'll probably get one as soon as the street price starts to come down off the MSRP peg. There are a lot of things done right here.
The high frame rate at full resolution (60fps for 1s = 60 frame buffer) and 'pre-trigger' (the shutter release *stops* the camera and saves shots up to that point) are great, and the slow-mo movies (300fps at SDTV-ish resolution) For a small sensor camera, 6MP is a good tradeoff between noise and resolution, and with f/2.7 at 36mm equivalent, it's relatively fast. It has some other entertaining features, too, like 1/40000 shutter speeds.
The apparent lack of image stabilization is the one thing that bothers me. I'd like a wider zoom, but 36-432mm equivalent is par for the course in SuperZooms.
Patrick @ Jan 7th 2008 1:12PM
Oh, I didn't know it has "pre-trigger". That feature was on my first digital camera (from the 90s) which saved several pictures right up to the shutter button press. Great feature, unfortunately not found on most cameras that I know of. (That camera was a Casio) My current main camera also has that feature, only for movie mode, so I can sit and wait for something to happen, and then it starts recording 5 seconds before shutter button press. (also a Casio) Both current camera and first camera also have more "manual controls" and useful special features than other cameras I've had. I think if this one second 60fps buffer for pre-trigger is true, that would be great for capturing "the moment". So would 15fps, but this way we have perfectly smooth video for one second once we all have 4k displays sitting around. Again, this camera is for users of slow motion, especially with the 300fps unlimited VGA. (with good inter-frame compression!)
One important question though: Anyone know about the shutter responsiveness, startup times, etc. If it was operationally fast, that would be really nice. In fact, that could be the deal breaker.
Zandr @ Jan 7th 2008 2:17PM
No info on timing, and startup times certainly matter. I'd argue that the pretrigger makes shutter responsiveness moot, though.
It appears the frame rate is adjustable, there are references in the specs to 60fps, 5fps (which gives you 12 seconds of buffer) and 7fps flash photography.