Casio Exilim EXFH20 9.1 MP Digital Camera with

Everything that I need and want for my camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this camera because my daughter is a golfer. I use high speed function for her training to see her swing. 20X Zoom is very handy when she is playing in the tournament. HD Recording when she is receiving her award.

Camera itself is very sturdy and very high quality built. Make sure that you buy a good camera bag to go with it because the screen is so big, it is easy to get scratched. It is a little heavy; however, I would recommend for any parent who have kids that play any kind of sport. “YOU WILL LOVE THIS CAMERA.”

Amorn Thothong

Great camera with amazing features!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I just bought this camera last week and I think it is great. It’s very easy to use and to figure out all of the settings with a minimal learning period. The menus are setup very well. HS does require a lot of light. Regular stills indoors can turn out great if you play around with the settings. I took a bunch indoors in very low light with the flash off and they turned out great. You just need to get out automatic mode. Battery life could be better. Invest in some rechargeables and you’ll be fine. A Very well built camera with some great features that no one else has.

Decent
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
This thing is like a beefed up point-and-shoot. Don’t expect the quality of a DSLR. If you do, you will be disappointed.

Pros:

Very nice HD quality (if you have good lighting).

Great outdoor photos.

Great high speed photos (if you have good lighting).

Cons:

Bad pictures in low light or indoors.

Bad video indoors.

Goes through batteries very very quickly.

One really frustrating thing is that you could have a really bright screen on the viewfinder, but when you go to take the picture, all the light just goes away. The picture gets really dark. My old casio (pocket point-and-shoot) used to have a best shot selection that corrected this, but I can’t find it on this camera.

If you want to take pictures of you kid playing soccer, this is a great camera. Set the high speed and get all the action.

If you want to shoot in low light, or indoors, look for a DSLR.

If you do get this camera, get 8 rechargeable batteries so you always have four charged and ready.

Works great – maybe
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Purchased this camera after considerable review, as it seemed to be an inexpensive way to take high-speed video. I have only used it a few times, but it appeared to work really well. I have used it at 210 frames a second and at 480. Both speeds appeared to work well. I have not tried the 1000 setting, as it was not necessary for what I wanted to do. My problem is that I have yet been able to view the video out side of the camera to see how it would look on a larger screen. I am not sure if it is my mistake or a problem with the camera, but I cannot get any card reader to “see” the SDHC card. They either will not read it at all or give me an error message telling me that the card is not properly formatted. I am still working on that one.

I have been unable to use the USB cable that comes with the camera to download to the computer either. That appears to be a physical problem with the outlet on the camera. I am sending it back to Casio to see if they can fix it. Technical support did not help, but when they realized they could not the directed me to the repair website. That was easy to navigate and like many other sites they provide the mailing label and material to be included. We will see what happens. Except for the inability to check the final step, the camera appears to work well on high-speed video outside with good lighting. With any high-speed camera, the higher the speed the less resolution and the more light needed.

eXenlente Producto
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Esta camara supera las expectativas, la grabacion de video en alta definicion (HD) la cumple correctamente, el unico detalle es que se debe disponer de una memoria SD de 8 GBytes al menos, para obtener apenas un poco mas de 30 minutos de video, por lo demas el zoom optico, te permitira obtener detalles unicos, tan cercanos y con perfecto enfoque¡¡¡¡, como por ejemplo el labrado y tallado de una moneda de 25 centavos de $. Ademas de funcion de Alta velocidad rinde tributo a lo que el fabricante expone, ellos lo llaman detalles no vistos al ojo humano, es increible como simplemte lanzar un pelota de beisball, involucra tantos detalles que al observarlos en velocidad normal nos quedamos sin palabras de esa imagenes.

Les puedo comentar que los modos de fotografias, por ejemplo retrato, paisaje, nocturno ayudan enormemente para obtener fotografias estupendas. La recomiendo a la camara, lo complicado es el manual para llegar a comprender tantos detalles, porque ella (la camara exilin) es capaz de darnos muchas gratas sopresas.

La recomiendo ampliamente, muy rapida foto tras foto, calidad de imagen exelente, duracion de baterias recargables de 2500 mili Amperes, unas 220 fotografias a maxima resolucion ( 9 Mpixels).

Si deseas mas detalles…comunicate a mi correo.

High Speed Insight
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I bought this camera for the high speed function. The high speed works fine, but as the fps increases, the picture size elongates horizontally and shrinks vertically. How many high speed things do I want to view from chest-height to knee-height?? Not very practical. Now I have to return it for a camera with high speed that will actually capture within a normal viewing parameter. Check the aspect ratio of the high speed prior to purchasing to be sure this is what you want… definitely not what I was looking for.

Great camera for action shots
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This camera completely lived up to my expectations. I have captured great action shots that I would never have been able to get without this camera.

1000fps, HD video, AND 9 megapixel stills!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased this camera from Best Buy on Thursday, and have shot over 30GB worth of photos and videos with it in just 4 days.

The highlights: This camera has every shooting mode under the sun. It will shoot 9 megapixel stills, up to 7 megapixel stills at the incredibly fast rate of 40fps, HD 720p video, and slow motion video ranging from 30-1000fps. It also has a 20x zoom (although I find the zoom to be only slightly longer than my Canon S3 IS “12x zoom”, but the wide angle is much wider).

The camera is very easy to setup and use, although I am still trying to figure out some of the more advanced features (like the ability for the camera to automatically take photos when an object enters the frame).

Image quality is pretty good, about the same as my Canon S3 IS. It does much deeper blues and reds than the Canon, and doesn’t have as bad chromatic aberration, but it’s greens are a little too blue for my taste, and the off-whites need some more yellow. Noise isn’t as high as I expected, but do realize this is not a DSLR, it’s a small lens and a small sensor.

Lighting seems to be key with this camera. In direct sunlight, it takes amazing photos and videos, but in low-light, the high speed videos begin to suffer. I haven’t had any that I took under normal lighting conditions come out unusable, but a few that I took in a very dim office nearly are.

My only complaints are minor, but here they are:

When shooting video, even with continuous AF off, it will still occasionally try to refocus, I find this very annoying

I cannot seem to find the settings to turn on move-in CS (motion-sensor triggers the camera)

While the latest firmware drastically improved write speeds for video, shooting single stills seems to take a long time to write to my class 6 memory card

I really don’t like the proprietary USB connection, it is very difficult to find the right angle to get it to plug in because it’s so narrow

Pleasant surprises:

Unlike the S3 IS, it remembers your photo and video settings very well, and if you set photos to manual focus and then want to take a video, the video will “pick up” that setting as well

The big 3″ screen on the back is beautiful, with the Canon I mostly used the viewfinder, not so with the Casio

Startup time is faster than I expected based on other reviews, from power on to first shot isn’t noticeably longer than the S3 IS

The flash is very bright and VERY fast, up to 5fps

Editing videos on the camera is ridiculously easy, hands down the best video editing GUI I’ve seen on a camera, makes it very easy to just keep the part of the video you want

Build quality is very good, I especially like the rubberized grip, it’s much more secure than the Canon, and easier to hold despite it’s heavier weight

I’ll post a further review after I’ve spent some more time with it, and hopefully a few of my little quibbles will be fixed in upcoming firmware.

CSP
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I haven’t really tested this camera for all its features. But, it does feel good in hand and does not look cheap. I have my doubts about battery life and I really had hard time finding a suitable case/bag for this camera. I did not like the one offered by Casio.

what I expected
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought this camera for videoing the golf swing and it performs as I expected it would. The high speed isn’t as clear as you see on tv but then the camera doesn’t cost $30,000 either! The stills are excellent and the high speed still feature is very fun with the pace of watching and taking photos of grand children.

*UPDATED REVIEW* Just got it and it doesn’t work – Casio EX-FH20 digital camera 1000 fps
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I just got a brand new Casio EX-FH20 digital camera, loaded the batteries that came with the camera and tried to turn it on, but unfortunately it wouldn’t work. I will have to return it. Didn’t think this purchase would cost me any additional money, but now I will have to ship it back.

You have just learned that nothing is perfect. I got now second Casio Exilim EX-FH20, which works fine, although the outside package as well as the Casio package was also damaged as someone from UPS wanted to take a peek inside of my package. I called UPS but they don’t keep records of opened or damaged packages, unless the item inside is damaged. Fortunately, my Casio was not damaged so I didn’t have to mail it back to the store second time!

*UPDATED REVIEW*

EX-FH20 9.1 MP Does take better video than other Exilim casio cameras,like for example EX-Z1050 10.1 MP. However, EX-FH20 9.1 MP doesn’t take better quality pictures than EX-Z1050 10.1 MP.

Details of pictures taken with EX-FH20 9.1 MP are slightly less detailed than other Casio cameras with high number of Mega Pixels, which are much smaller and compact. This I find strange, as 1 pixel difference (9.1 MP and 10.1MP)between these two cameras is not that much, but the difference in quality of detail in picture is quite big. That is, the compact 10.1MP takes much better detailed pictures than 9.1 MP.

To sum up. I give it 4 stars, -1 for the not so good quality pictures, which lose details that could be seen on pictures taken with EX-Z1050 10.1 MP (much smaller and compact camera). I give it 4 stars for better video quality and of course for the 1000fps, although you need plenty of light to see anything on slow motion videos.

Sunlight is the best or rather required for taking slow motion video, or lots of artificial light.

High speed photgraphy at a fraction of the cost
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
While at the World of Archery in Las Vegas, a publisher showed me this camera. We had been discussing high speed photography and its use in tuning archery equipment. Former U.S. Olympic coach, Lloyd Brown is well known for his work in the field.The average user who isn’t able to drop about $6k for equipment will find the Casio Exilim EX-FH20 incredibly cost effective. Casio is introducing several other high speed video cameras, but I felt that this model met my immediate needs. With a rate of 1000 frames per sec and a shutter speed of 1/50,000th of a second and decent resolution, it is a great introduction to high speed filming. Coaching hurdling or any sport can be assisted through its’ use. Compact and easy to use. Not just your average point & shoot. I’ve been a pro-photographer since 1969 and welcome the addition of this versatle camera to my gadget bag. I don’t thing you will be disappointed. Check out Casio’s site for updated models and info to help pick the right one for your needs.

High Speed Video at a Great Price
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great deal for high speed video. The next step up in performance will cost you $20K more. Great for beginner HSV. Still photos are decent. On par with cameras in that class. Lens has a long and useful range. Vibration reduction is not obvious compare to Nikon 18-200mm VR. LCD is big and nice. Controls are easy. Video quality is good to very good. With exception of 1000fps. Is seems to compress alot of data so the picture quality is medium to poor. 1000fps is also not quite fast enough for some high speed activities like catching bullets or popcorn popping.

THE camera for sports analysis
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have been filming my golf swing since since 2004 with a standard Canon 30fps camera, and while it gave me great results for so long, it was time to upgrade when this model came out.

Yes, golf is my game, and this camera fits the bill perfectly. While it’s not a very good still camera (my 3 year old 5meg Canon is much better), there is no other option for high speed recording.

The Casio takes pictures at 480×360 at 210 fps, which is the typical resolution I record at. Once in a while I mess around with 1000fps (like taking a nice close-up of the ball… fantastic for sand shots), but in reality, 210fps is what you want. You need a fair amount of light to record at 210fps, as you MUST have your shutter speed faster than that (for obvious reasons). The Fh-20 forces a minimum shutter speed based on your frame rate. If I recall correctly, 1/250 is required for 210fps.

I very much recommend the Fh-20 over the fc100, because you can manually adjust the shutter speed, while the FC-100 takes it’s best guess. You can also adjust the ISO with the FH-20. So in lower light conditions, you can jack up the ISO (while getting a grainier picture), but keep the shutter speed at a fast enough speed to get a decent picture.

In good lighting conditions, you’ll want the shutter speed at 1/2000 or faster. I generally keep it at 1/5000 during the summer in full sunlight. I’ve messed around with 1/20000, but there’s really no point.

You then record to a memory card, and you can then play back on the camera. For a golf swing, I generally don’t record more than 3 swings at a time, as it takes too long to fast forward through the swing. You can then trim the video to one swing, or get rid of the extra meaningless video. The Casio has pretty good playback ability on the camera itself, and the display is bright enough in full sunlight. I don’t even bring my laptop to the range anymore.

As far as swing analysis, I then copy the videos to my laptop later and can view them with analysis software. About the only limitation is that when you record in 210fps, you cannot play back at 210fps. Therefore your videos will ALWAYS be in slow motion.

The lens is pretty wide, so you can set the camera up very close to the subject and get it in frame. Great for those tight quarters at the driving range. Of course, the closer the camera, the more parallax error there is in the video (google it!!).

A couple of limitations with the camera: There’s a 4 gig file limit regardless of memory card size, which corresponds to about 11 minutes of 210fps high speed video in one take. IIRC, that’s = to 18 min of high def video. If your intent is to set it and forget it while at the range, that won’t work (beyond 11 minutes). It’s not a big deal, but something to consider.

Secondly, the still camera is pretty poor. I didn’t buy it for that, so I really don’t care. There’s a thread on [...] which discusses this more in detail and I had uploaded a picture of the same object with my canon vs casio, and you can clearly see the difference.

This camera also features high def mode and standard video. They seem to work pretty well, but I don’t have any experience with any other high def cameras to give a valid review on the quality.

Anyway, like I said, this is THE camera to get for sports analysis. You will NOT be disappointed.

Casio EX-FH20
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Camera arrived with a dead pixel right out of the box.Eats batteries like I eat cheeseburgers.If you have large hands this is not the camera for you. Very small and hard to hold.

the only camera you’ll need
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
all i wanted was a camera that can capture great shots of my son playing little league. THIS IS IT!!! great, clear pictures of the ball right before the bat makes contact, point of contact and then IMMEDIATELY after. the pictures are unbelievable. you can capture the image of the baseball as soon as it leaves the pitchers hands, capture a facial expression not seen with the naked eye. the camera really is fantastic and well worth the price. there is virtually no chance of being disappointed. also has 20x optical zoom…come on!!!!

Excellent camera for action
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I got this camera mostly for the high speed function. It does very well and I would recommend it to anyone that wants it for either it’s 20x optical zoom or the high speed function. It’s not a great camera, it’s bulky and uses 4 AA’s, but for high speed, it really does a great job for the money assuming you’re in daylight. Even with bright artificial lighting you’ll get about nothing in HS mode.

It is annoying that you can’t have zoom and the mic functioning at the same time while shooting video.

Better than I’d hoped!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve wanted a high speed camera for stop-action for some time. I read up on the 60 FPS Casio at $1000 and then found this one. At $320, it’s a screaming bargain.

Here are some of the good points, for a “normal” camera:

26mm-520mm lens. Covers everything.

AA batteries. Never have a dead camera.

Easy-to-use menus and controls. Very intuitive and easy to learn.

Feels good in the hands, and easy to carry.

Easy to remove and replace SD card and/or batteries.

Lens cap stays on with rough service.

But that’s not why I bought this thing…

40 FPS stills!!! 5 FPS FLASH stills for TEN pictures!!! Do you have ANY idea what that means for CANDID photos, let alone action shots?

1/40,000 sec. shutter in continuous mode, ISO 200 in bright sunlight. This camera will stop action better than ones costing twenty times as much.

In the three days I’ve owned it I’ve not even TRIED the video yet, I’m so taken with the high speed burst mode.

Picture quality:

I’m no camera junkie that nitpicks over every iota of corner distortion or what-have-you; if I take a picture of something interesting (race car sliding into a corner, snowboarder jumping a house, fireworks exploding, pretty girl flashing in public) and it makes the viewer go “WOW!” when printed at 13×19 or smaller, then I’m happy.

This camera does THAT better than any I’ve ever used.

Can’t think of a time I’ve been more satisfied with a consumer product.

1/25/2010 Update:

Tinkering with the various settings has resulted in even more respect for this camera. Night Mode Best Shot has given GREAT hand-held night pictures with no flash.

Playing with different Manual settings have given great fireworks shots, better even than the FIREWORKS Best Shot mode.

30-210 FPS Video mode is great outdoors.

40 FPS Still shooting on a tripod gives great recoil studies in my gun classes. When the skies clear I’m going to set the shutter at 1/40,000 of a second and try to catch a bullet coming from the barrel. I think I’ll be able to do it.

I’m going to buy the FH25 when it comes out as it has better low-light capabilities as well as a 30-120 FPS setting that will be very useful including indoors.

Way to go Casio!

Disappointing Slow Mo Res
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Well, I bought this for the high speed video, however, the image quality (resolution focus graininess etc) of slo-mo video is substandard. What they’re trying to do for this consumer-level camera is great, it’s just not ready for this consumer. I sent it back. Check the resolutions for filming carefully before you decide to buy. Hope Casio works this out in a couple years. When the image quality gets good, I will buy their product.

DISAPPOINTING PICTURE QUALITY
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
Very disappointed in picture quality. Color is off and excessive noise. This camera was purchased to replace a similar Olympus camera which took fantastic pictures. The best pictures I’ve taken with this camera with extensive manual tuning don’t compare to an average picture from the Olympus on full auto. The picture quality of this Casio is worse than any point and shoot I’ve owned including a Casio I purchased 5 years ago! Considered that I just got a bad one but found a technical review article which measured the same poor color and excessive noise as I see.

High speed is useful at 210fps but lacks resolution at higher speeds.

Wow, this thing is fun
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Okay, starting with some of the bad things…For slo-mo, you need a lot of light. It’s great for (outdoor) baseball, but not so great at an indoor pool. The slo-mo format is AVI. (I know, I know…If I wanted much higher res or higher frame rates, I’d need to spend a lot more money.) I’m not overwhelmed with the quality of the still photos, but then I have a dSLR for that. However, for the price, I haven’t seen anything like this camera! It’s so much fun. My sons and their teammates love to see their action in slo-mo. Even at just AVI quality, I have no complaints for the price of this camera. This thing is just too much fun as it is. There are some in-camera shooting modes (I guess they are modes of sort) that allow other time-based creativity, like the multi-image capture and some other “Best Shot” modes, but I got this specifically for the slo-mo and this camera fulfills that desire wonderfully at, I believe, a good price.

Do NOT use this camera for high-speed recording
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I bought this camera specifically for the high-speed capability.

As a general digital camera, it’s ok I suppose. The picture quality for stills is very nice, and it plays back really crisp on my 40″ LCD TV. However, as far as digital cameras go, it’s large and not easy to tuck away in a pocket or bookbag for travel.

I bought this camera specifically for high-speed capture of fast moving objects. And by fast, I’m talking 600 feet per second or more. So I needed something that was at least 1,000 fps. This camera advertised just that, 1,000. What they DON’T tell you however, and I couldn’t find in any ads or materials, even on Casio’s web site, is that the picture quality is HORRIBLE!!! Not only do you not get a full frame record (the actual recording is TINY, I’d guess 0.3mp), but the picture was completely unusable. Out of the 10 times we attempted to capture the object at distances from 6 feet to 50 feet (and varying angles and backgrounds), I was only barely able to make out ONE frame out of about 2,400,000 (seriously) where we could see ANYTHING, and even then it was a matter of 4 people standing around the above mentioned 40″ LCD trying to spot the blurry spec as a difference from the horribly granular background.

So… High speed recording…. HECK NO!

Which makes it nothing more than an average, if slightly overpriced, and fairly sizable 12mp digital camera.

So… I returned it.

This Mini Monster’s Ready for ACTION
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Let me just start by saying, aside from the amazing array of features on this camera, it’s tons of fun. The SLO-MO is my personal favorite, well, that and the burst mode. While it does have brilliant stills, the video is amazing to shoot with. I love the 30-210 fps mode because it shows the drastic difference between regular speed (which is brilliant already) to slow motion, which really seems like you’re entering a wrinkle in time, seriously.

Yesterday I went to a gymnastics meet, and wow, did it blow my mind. Being able to look back and see the girls hurdling down toward the vault at normals speed (which sincerely looks like fast forwarding) and then click right over to 210 mid-shot for some mid air hang time. I can’t even believe how gorgeous it is. I’m pretty sure I’m a cinematographer right now, and I won’t stop!!

I am actually using this camera for work, as I’m working on marketing, and even while it’s my job to hype it – I LOVE it just as a p&s camera and easy video, for my own personal use.

Very satisfied
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased the camera for the video high frame rates. I was pleasantly surprised the stills were very good, as well.

This camera is a huge value for the slow motion video capabilities it provides. Navigation through the controls is also reasonably intuitive. I particularly loved the timeline edit for captured videos. It was easy to cut up scenes right on the camera, especially for novices (at first, reading directions may be required, though).

Definitely recommended for its unique video capabilities at this price point (while still taking good stills in the 7-8 mega pixel range).

Just what I had been looking for!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I wanted this camera to take pics of my daughter’s basketball games, but my Nikon could not capture the “action” shots I wanted. To be fair though, I did not have a lens fast enough to capture the pics I wanted, and I did not want to spend a $1000+ to get one.

I saw a camera similar to this reviewed in the NYT by David Pogue, and was very interested since from his video demo it seemed like I could finally capture the pics that I wanted. After much research, and indecision I finally decided to bite the bullet. I received it Friday, I took it to my daughter’s practice this weekend, and WOW, I have pictures that I could never have taken before. I can capture the shot of when the ball is just leaving my daughter’s hand for a lay up, and she, the ball, and the basket are all in perfect focus caught just at that fraction of the second like you see in magazines. The 40 fps is amazing, and when you review the pics, it looks like those flip books that they use to sell at Disneyland. I like to take pics, but I am not the best photographer, with 40 (or 30,15, 10 whatever you want to set the fps at)even I can capture the shot I want.

The pics are sharp not DSLR sharp, but pretty darn good! Previously when I use to take pics, I would get blurred images, but now, I can see everything, its like that fraction of second captured.

The down side of this camera is that it can take a few seconds to write those 40 pictures to your card, and theoretically I could miss that next picture while waiting, but I have so many other pictures now that I CAN use, it doesn’t matter as much as I thought it might.

The high speed video, and slow mo work as promised, and are a lot of fun. I haven’t played a lot with it since I am more interested in the still side of the camera. What I have played with though is pretty amazing.

Some of the negative reviews that I have seen on the internet seem to slam the camera because there is a softness in the picture quality on some shots, but they seem to be comparing this camera to a DSLR which technically it isn’t. For what I want it for – action shots of kids (basketball and gymnastics), plus casual pictures this camera is GREAT!

This camera does eat through the batteries, so rechargables are my next purchase.

Before you spend a fortune, look at this camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Before you buy a $700 nikon or canon. Take a serious look at this camera. I have had several DSLR cameras that cost at least twice what this Casio cost and none of them took better pictures than the Casio EV-FH20. This is one fine camera, lots of zoom and you don’t have to fool around changing lenses and missing shots. All controls are handy and very user friendly. It uses regular alkaline (or NIMH re-chargeable) AA batteries so if they go dead on you it’s easy to find batteries in a hurry. The picture quality is excellent much better than my Nikon P90. I would reccomend this camera over any of the other cameras of this type and even some of the DSLRs.