Casio Exilim Z1080 10-megapixel compact digital camera with large display

We've been pretty impressed by the consistency and quality of Casio's Exilim range, which has recently been updated with the release of the 10.1-megapixel Z1080. It mimics the rather minimalist design of much of the rest of the family, which is no bad thing, with a small array of effectively laid out controls and a back that's dominated by the 2.6-inch, 479 x 240-pixel LCD display.

There's no viewfinder, so you'll control everything through this screen, but we were particularly impressed by its clarity, colour accuracy and refresh rate. In both bright and low light environments you can still pick out essential details, although the viewing angle isn't particularly generous so you'll need to be face-on to see these benefits.

Accompanying the screen is a simple directional pad and two menu controls which give you access to the wealth of features on offer. We've seen many of these before on previous models in the range, but headline features that stand out on this model include the YouTube video function and some effective face detection/recognition technology.

The former isn't quite as exciting as it sounds; simply a way to automatically create video clips in the correct format for uploading to YouTube and store them in a dedicated folder for easy access. The face detection is an interesting touch, allowing you to not only detect faces but recognise and prioritise certain subjects in a group, automatically adjusting for sharpness and light conditions to help create the best picture.

With these features adding to the already expansive controls available in much of the range, the menu structure can often appear rather weighty, and it may take some time to scroll to the necessary menu or sub-menu to adjust appropriate settings. This is countered somewhat by the side-mounted control interface view on the LCD display, offering quick access to the most important features, such as the flash, focus, face detection and ISO settings.

You can also configure the left/right controls to custom settings, which expands the usability further. Beginners or those averse to manually tweaking settings shouldn't be put off, either, as there are 41 environment or ‘Best Shot' modes here, varying from the YouTube setting to specifics such as ‘autumn leaves', ‘retro' and ‘candlelight' that accompany more conventional 'night', 'sports' and 'portrait' modes.

Verbose menus aside, the Exilim Z1080 really is very easy to pick up and use. Controls are well oriented and the swivel zoom around the shutter button means you can perform quick adjustments with one hand. Unfortunately this is one area that didn't particularly impress. Despite housing an impressively large lens within the slimline casing, the 3x optical limit isn't particularly ground-breaking and doesn't offer much adaptability.

When it comes to performance we were very impressed overall. Colours were accurately represented, pictures were sharp and a maximum ISO of 6400 means you can get the most from night shots with the proper provisions. The environment presets generally behaved very well, although we did think the macro mode was overly sensitive when it came to distance and camera stability.

We haven't talked too much about the extra features here since many are included across the range, but to summarise, Exilim offers an excellent degree of control and adaptability. You'll find a calendar view for logging photos, movie editing to quickly clip and cut video content to save space, anti-shake technology and continuous shooting that snaps about one picture per second at the maximum 10.1-megapixel resolution, and almost ten times this at the lower 2-megapixel setting.(itreviews.co.uk)