The 8.1-megapixel Casio Exilim EX-Z9 surprised me. In my experience, Casio's point-and-shoot cameras have suffered from poor image quality. My opinion was reinforced most recently by the EX-S880, a slim and sleek camera that took dull and dark pictures. I was expecting more of the same from the $150 (street) EX-Z9, but much to my delight, picture quality was improved. The new model has a decent feature set, including easy YouTube video uploads, an innovative interface, a 2.6-inch LCD, 3X optical zoom, and 23 Best Shot modes. Combine that with a few stylistic options—it's available in four colors (pink, black, silver, and orange)—and the EX-Z9 stands out.

Casio excels in compact design. The EX-Z9 continues this trend, weighing a hair less than the 5.1-ounce EX-S880, at 4.9 ounces with battery and SD card. A snap to slide into a jeans pocket, the EX-Z9 is much smaller than our current Editors' Choice for entry-level cameras, the Canon PowerShot A590 IS. I do have a few gripes about the controls, though. First, the power button is so tiny that it I needed to use my fingernail to press it. On the other hand, the shutter button is rather large, and I found during testing that I wasn't able to depress it fully unless my finger was exactly in the middle—smaller would have been better here. I also don't like the fact that there is no dial or dedicated button for changing modes, a convenience most competing cameras offer. The only way to change modes on this camera is to hit the unfortunately named BS button (Best Shot) and choose a particular scene.

The bright 2.6-inch, 16:9 widescreen LCD is a plus. Even in direct sunlight, I had no problems viewing images, which is rare. I also like the sidebar that appears at the right of the screen and offers access to common settings such as image size, flash, and white balance. Unlike the Canon A590 IS, the EX-Z9 doesn't offer any manual settings, but the Canon's advanced features are an exception to the rule for entry-level cams.

The menu system could be improved: There's very little description of the settings, which should be a no-brainer feature on a beginner camera. The sidebar does have icons to illustrate settings, but the Fuji FinePix J10 offers more on-screen assistance.

Simple video is a strong suit here: This camera lets you seamlessly upload your footage to YouTube. With the included software, you can title your video and upload it directly to YouTube without ever visiting the site, although you do have to connect the camera to your computer to do so. Unlike the EX-S880, which can record movies in MPEG-4 H.264, you can record only in AVI format. And while this is what most other cameras offer, I wish Casio had retained the H.264 capability in this model, since it takes up less storage space. Nonetheless, I found video to be crisp and clear and very smooth, even when viewed on YouTube.

Aside from its skills in video, the EX-Z9 packs in a 6.2mm-to-18.6mm lens (35mm equivalent: 37.5mm to 112.5mm) with 3X optical zoom, as well as face detection and image stabilization. Face detection, which can be set to "quality" or "speed," giving priority to either image quality or maximizing shutter speed, worked quite well, especially in speed mode. Image stabilization also performed well, keeping blur to a minimum.

During lab testing, the EX-Z9 impressed me with its better-than-average picture quality. Daylight shots were bright and vivid, and I saw near-perfect color consistency. On the other hand, flash shots were nothing special; many were overexposed and too bright. ISO settings go up to 1600, but with anything higher than 400 the noise became distracting.

On our resolution test, the EX-Z9 averaged 1,850 lines, which is fairly typical for 8MP cameras. Boot and recycle times both were a little above average, at 3.7 and 3.0 seconds, respectively.

The Casio Exilim EX-Z9 has a generous feature set, and its video-recording capabilities are impressive. Unlike some other Casio point and shooters, the EX-Z9 produced terrific daylight shots. It's not quite on a par with the Canon PowerShot A590 IS, which has superior image quality and features, but it bests the Fuji FinePix J10 in terms of image quality. If you're looking for a cheap, super-slim entry-level camera with exceptional video recording, the EX-Z9 delivers.

Benchmark Test Results
Check out the Casio Exilim EX-Z9's test scores.

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