Camera Review
Dover, NJ—Casio unveiled its first Hybrid GPS-enabled digital camera, the EX-H20G, which joins the company’s Exilim Hi-Zoom lineup.
Billed as the perfect travel camera, the EX-H20G offers precise location data for the geotagging of photos and videos and can geotag indoors. The EX-H20G also displays a user’s current location—as well as geotagged photos and videos—on a map that can be viewed on its 3.0-inch 460K LCD.
“Geotagging has increased in popularity, especially with the advent of photo-sharing websites and as consumers look to do more with their images,” said Toshi Iguchi, senior general manager, Digital Imaging, Casio America Inc. “With the new Exilim EX-H20G, Casio is taking the geotagging experience to a new level by incorporating exciting technologies which consumers can now leverage to make the process fun, easy and completely seamless. No matter where in the world you take an image, whether it is indoors or out, the EX-H20G will know exactly where it was taken.”
Casio’s Hybrid GPS system combines GPS with autonomic positioning, which is made possible by an internal motion sensor. This enables the EX-H20G to track a user’s last known satellite-acquired position against map data stored in its memory, even while the user is indoors. When the camera is powered off, the GPS system continues to search for satellite signals at 10-minute intervals.
The EX-H20G is also preloaded with information on 10,000 sightseeing photo spots around the globe. When in the vicinity of one of these spots, it automatically alerts users, identifying the locations as points of interest. And using the EX-H20G’s on-screen maps, users can plan their travels before departing as they can view destinations, points of interest and photo locations. While traveling, they can confirm their present location and utilize the EX‑H20G’s digital compass to determine the best route to their next destination. The camera contains world atlas data with detailed maps of more than 150 cities worldwide.
After returning home, users can manage and share their geotagged photos and videos using photo-sharing websites and software that offer geotagging functionality, such as Picasa, Panoramio, Google Earth, Flickr and iPhoto.
Other EX-H20G features include: a 24-240mm equivalent, 10x optical zoom lens that, when used with Casio’s single-frame SR zoom function, offers a 15x zoom range that maintains 14.1 megapixel quality; 720p HD video recording (30 fps) in the H.264 format for longer recording time; HDMI output; YouTube upload; and CCD-shift image stabilization to help reduce blur from hand movement.
The EX-H20G comes with Casio’s “premium auto” function; panorama photo mode for taking 360-degree photos; and auto-time adjustment, which automatically synchronizes the camera’s date and time with that of the user’s current time zone. In premium auto mode, the camera automatically analyzes the scene, including distinguishing night scenes and back lighting, as well as senses faces in the frame, the movement of the subject, and whether a tripod is being used—while simultaneously optimizing settings for exposure, ISO, sensitivity, focus location, photo blur correction, tonal range and color balance, and noise reduction.
For creative fun, the EX-H20G provides Casio’s dynamic photo function, which enables users to create “moving photos” on-camera by cutting moving subjects from the background in images taken with continuous shooting, and combining those images on a different still or moving image background. It’s also possible to make multiple characters move independently of each other against a background of moving images as long as 20 seconds.
The EX-H20G will be available November 2010 for $349.99. casiousa.com
Great cam!