Casio Exilim EX-Z3 

Ever thought that a camera could make a lifestyle statement? Fish out the new Exilim from your handbag, and you’ll have everyone running to get their hands on it. So small that it slips into your pocket. And light such that the pocket doesn’t sag.

Plus it’s up and running in the blink of an eye, so much so that it prides on being the camera with the fastest response time. 

The new Z3 is a powerful 3 megapixel, 3x optical zoom digicam though it lacks the MP3 player in the first Exilim model. The camera has 21 preset scenes for different situations. Whether it’s a simple shot or complicated conditions, simply set the scene and click. If you’re honeymooning, the neat Coupling Shot feature in the camera lets you take a picture of your blushing bride, and then using that as reference, she can take your picture at that spot. The camera then joins the two pictures together to make it seem as if both of you were together at the spot. You can also shoot short 30-sec AVI movies with audio. You can even use the zoom while shooting a movie, which is cool. Its 2” TFT LCD is pleasantly big for a camera this small. There are other interesting little features too like an alarm clock and a calendar. Pictures are stored in the 10 MB internal memory, or you can add an external SD or MultiMedia card. The camera comes with a dock that can be used to download pictures from it via USB, recharge its battery, and as an animated photo frame on your table. The lithium battery recharges within an hour and can last for up to 25 shots. Overall, an amazingly slim and light digicam though a bit costly.

Casio Exilim Ex-Z3 Price: Rs 33,995. Contact: Casio India, New Delhi. Tel: 26534537-44. 

Shruti Pareek