Y’know those popular kids in high school? The ones who get along with everyone, are easy on the eyes, fun to hang out with, good at everything without being exceptional in any one area, and don’t ever seem to run out of energy?
That’s Casio’s EX-H10. Aside from one ridiculously high-performing attribute, the EX-H10 isn’t really exceptional in any one arena; rather, this point-n-shoot is a collection of quality and smart features brought together in a relatively high-value, good looking — if stoutish — container.
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Obviously, one of the most notable features about this camera is its extreme zoom ability, from the film equivalent of 24mm to 240mm — an impressive range. And while it’s not uncommon to find a point-n-shoot that zooms in to the tight end of that range, it’s harder to find one that zooms out as wide as 24mm (arguably the more useful end of that range to casual photographers).
Packing that much lens comes at a slight price though, and the H-10 is a little on the portly side. Still, it’s not too heavy and its girth actually makes for a more stable shooting platform, a quality aided by a generous ridge on the camera’s face.
Under most conditions, picture quality is good to very good; images from the H10 are sharp, vivid and the camera seems to do well with higher contrast images, retrieving information from both bright and dark areas pleasingly well. The H10’s processor also does a good job of squelching noise, with images shot all the way up to 400 ISO impressively noise-free; ISO 800 starts to get spotty and like most point-n-shoots, images shot at anything beyond that end up being of questionable value.
The H10’s CCD Shift Stabilization vibration-reducing function performed well, doing an excellent job of negating the effects of hand-shake at shutter speeds of as low as 1/5 of a second.
Looking more closely, two problems the cam struggles with a little are a slightly pronounced chromatic aberration — the blue-purple fringing common to many digital cameras — and significant barrel distortion with the lens at its widest setting. But most casual shooters won’t notice these imperfections, and the overall effect remains very pleasing.
The H10 is capable of shooting video in 720p at 30 fps, merely average in a camera of this class. Still, video gets its own dedicated button and the H10 has a setting specifically for YouTube videos that sets the resolution to VGA (640×480) and stores the files in a separate folder, making it easier to locate them for upload; I found the former very welcome, the latter cosiderably less so.
As mentioned in the beginning of this review, the H10 has one feature in which its performance seems ridiculously exceptional: Casio seems to have taken a nuclear reactor, miniaturized it and stuffed it into the H-10, because battery longevity is unmatched — certainly by any camera I’ve ever shot with; in fact, I’m hard-pressed to remember any device that lasts as long between charges. The battery withstood a formidable two months of regular use before even beginning to waver, and surprised me further by lasting another two until finally throwing in the towel and asking to be recharged.
To this solid foundation, Casio has added a wealth of user-friendly features: One button on top of the camera electronically eliminates blemishes and smooths facial features for portraits, and another enhances blues and greens in outdoor shots — both of which result in marginally enhanced images; a “Best Shot” mode — which has the unfortunate acronym of “BS” — presents a dizzying array of shooting modes for every conceivable shooting situation (although I would have liked some indication on the screen telling me which mode I was using); the ability to partially customize the functions of the multi-function dial; and
What’s not to like about this camera? Not much. One problem is that it’s too easy to accidentally hit the power button; at best this leads to embarrassing moments (“is your camera’s lens extending, or are you just happy to see me?”) and at worst could damage or scratch the lens. Another is that the buttons on the camera’s back could be easier to press. It also lacks the more sophisticated control functions of some other cameras in its class, like manual control.
But that’s really it. For the more casual photographer wanting good-looking images and a slew of features in a sturdy, easy-to-use, fire-and-forget package, the image-creating ability, easygoing nature and battery prowess of the H10 shoot it to the top of the short list.
