Rating: 
Summary: Good for some but not, unfortunately, for me
Review: I picked up this little camera from Amazon a couple of weeks ago. Read all the documentation (even the extensive PDF manual available online) and played with all the features the camera had to offer.
I bought it to replace my ancient (8 years old now) .8 Megapixel Olympus D-300L. A venerable camera but no longer up to the caliber demanded of today's high resolution monitors.
PROS:
I was surprised and impressed with the quality of the AVI clips that this camera took, lighting was good and the images were smooth. Sound was OK but, given the tiny microphone and the fact that this is just an "extra" for a digital camera, quite passable.
Also, the dock and ease of transferring images were great too.
Its size was great, fit in a breast pocket with no trouble at all and it was relatively quick to power up.
CONS:
In spite of its video abilities, I found the camera's images lacking, especially in lower light conditions (read anytime you are indoors). With or without flash, the images were not substantially superior than those taken with my older Olympus. I was very surprised to find, in situations where I had taken still shots and then video clips, that the videos were very nice and the stills were terrible.
As for colors, blacks were not very pristine, taking on a rather mottled appearance of browns and grays. There were interesting artifacts that appeared when light was reflecting off of a modestly shiny surface (say a black leather jacket or someone's forehead under a light) that took on almost a sparkling aspect.
Recycle time for the flash was frustratingly long too, 'though from other reviews I have read I suspect this may be common to all of these more compact cameras.
Indoor pictures taken with a tripod and really long exposures seem to fare better, and outdoor shots were not as bad as indoor. But I didn't get such a small camera in order to lug around steadying apparatus in order to take pictures at parties :(
In the end, I returned the camera. I'm still in search of a very small camera that takes adequate pictures. I recognize that I won't be able to get the quality of an SLR in such a small package, but my expectations were greater than this little camera was able to satisfy. I'm now looking at Konica Minolta's Dimage X50 (or Xg or Xt) as an alternative.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice!
Review: I read a lot of camera reviews before purchasing the Exilim EX-Z40. The reasons I chose this model are: Speed, display screen size, camera size and battery life. My experience so far has been very good. The day I got my camera, I stowed it away in the front pocket of my casual shirt, (I could have fit two or three Exilims in there), and went to a t-ball game. I snapped over 70 pictures in aboout 90 minutes. The camera powers up fast (less than two seconds), and with outdoor light, photos can be taken one right after the other. This allowed me to take two or three shots of a subject, and keep the shot I like. Another positive is the overall ergonomics of this camera. It looks cool, and just feels good in your hand. All the controls are well placed, and the power on/off button is recessed, so as not to have the camera accidentally turned on in your bag or pocket. The two inch display is nice, especially when using the on-screen menu. The print size on the menu seems large because the menu is so big. The downside of the large display is that Casio did not increase the resolution while expanding the display. At around 85,000 pixels, the display is lacking the detail that will allow you to decide on the spot which pictures are good and which are great. Sorting the bad from the good will have to be saved for the computer. I was impressed with the quality of the photos I took with this camera, especially action shots. I had feared that this camera would not take good action shots, however, I was wrong. When I got home and ran the slide show on my PC, I was thrilled at the quality of the photos. Some of them looked so real, I thought I was looking out a window, and not at my computer screen. This camera definately produces photo quality images. Another good surprise I had was the fact that of the ten or so indoor shots I took of people, not one of them had any hint of red eye. Since almost all small digicams have problems with red eye, I assumed that would be the case, but so far, no red whatsoever - and I wasn't using the red eye reduction feature either! I hope this holds true in the future. One thing about the indoor shots though - they were a bit grainy. The docking cradle that comes with this camera is light, compact, simple to operate, and very functional. After shooting all day, simply place your camera on the cradle, and with the press of only one button, you are watching the slide show of all your photos scroll by on your camera display or on your computer screen. It really is that easy. The cradle also charges the battery, and can send photos directly to your printer. The negative on the cradle is that there is no AV output. If you don't plan on viewing your photos on the TV, then it's no big deal. The battery life on this camera is excellent as stated by Casio. The full printed operating manual does not come with the camera. You can read it on the provided CD ROM, or print the 180 page manually from the CD. The only other negative I have is the fact that there is no review after capture with the display off, only with the display on. Many cameras in this class have the review-after-capture feature, which allows the camera to be operated with the display off (battery saving) and when a photo is taken, it is displayed on the screen for two or three seconds, and then the display goes off again. This is a nice feature that I wish this camera had. Maybe it does, and I haven't found it yet. Like many shoppers out there, I compared this camera to the Canon Elph before purchasing. The Elph may have a slight edge on picture quality, but not much. It does have an AV output. The battery life will not come near to the Casio's, and the Canon has a goofy rubber cover over the AV and USB ports on the side of the camera. This cover seems very flimsy, and is not secured well to the camera. The Canon has good speed, but I'm not sure if it's as fast as the Casio. The Canon can be pruchased a bit cheaper, but doesn't come with the cool cradle. Either choice will do you well. Overall, this little camera is a lot of fun, and will provide excellent photos for anyone who wants a pocketable, go-anywhere camera.
Rating: 
Summary: Forget features, the pics are always bad
Review: I read the reviews, and I still was optimistic about this camera, other people said that it doesn't take good pics, and I just figured I get the 4mp, a big memory card, and just shoot with the highest resolution. But the problem is that no matter how much resolution you take there will always be soooo much noise in the picture!
This is my third digicam of this style (I've lost all of them) and I gotta tell you the other 2 brands just take better pictures.
Rating:
Summary: old camera; new software; not as good as my 3 yr old cannon
Review: I was surprised that $400 and 3 years hasn't done anything new. I have a 3 year old Cannon S200 that is as good as this camera. I suspect that this camera is functionally equivalent to the old Ex-Z4U. That camera is at least a year old now and this one seems to be the same model with the movie feature enabled.
There must be a better camera out there.
Rating:
Summary: It looks small, but it does things big!
Review: I've just recently received the Casio Exilim EX-Z4 camera. I had a chance to play around with its functions...so far so good....It was so easy to toggle its menu and display items. Captures images very well in various light levels. However, the pix. display is a tad bit distorted even though it is shown on the unit's large 2" LCD screen...which by the way takes up almost 2/3 of the back side of the unit. I think this is a great starter camera with many functions that are more than useful for the non-professionals. If you want a user-friendly point and shoot with a more than decent lens aperature then this is a camera for you! Despite its price tag being pretty unattractive right now, I'm pretty sure you are getting what you paid for.
Overall, I am very delighted that Casio put this model onto their market...I was just about to pick up the EX-Z4U.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Little Camara!
Review: If your looking for a good, pocket type camara with a lot of features, look no more. This camara is great. I love the quality and the awesome size. The battery is great, it lasts for 360 shots! The controls are great to, and the LCD is huge. Its bigger than most camara LCDs. Is shoots great movies(for a digital camara) and it can also has a recording voice feature. I love all the shots i've taken, they are alot better than my previous camara(Konica Minolta XG). The camara has a good grip for such a compact camara. You can put it in your pocket and take it anywhere. If your looking for a small, take it anywhere camara, with good photo quality and long battery life this is the camara for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Great camera until you use it.
Review: Initially my thinking was how could you go wrong with this camera. The size, battery life, screen size, docking station, etc. are all exceptional for the money. I read the customer reviews. Most were positive. Sharper Image was selling the camera and it looked good in person. I went to the Casio website and looked at their sample 4 MP pictures. They looked great, so I made the purchase.
The camera arrived. I anxiously opened the box and started playing around with it. It is a bit more complicated than I bargained for. I have played with most of the options and I spoke with Casio's technical support. Despite these attempts I continue to get grainy photos. I have owned a Kodak DX3900 3.1 Megapixel and the photos were half the file size and crystal clear.
The bottom line is this camera does everything great except take pictures.
Rating:
Summary: Compact, fast but poor picture quality
Review: Pros: compact, great battery life, quick start-up, quick release, ease of use, solid built.
Cons: With outdoor lighting pictures are fine but a bit noisy (electronic clouded picture), therefore not crisp, solids look cloudy. This noise is much more pronounced in indoor or low light pictures even when using the flash; enough to make me wish I hadn't bought this. My old 2meg Canon A20 and Nikon 2100 takes better, crisper pictures. This shows up in the LCD display and also on the computer monitor and printed pictures. I wanted a compact camera with a quick shutter release. This camera meets this but I am quite disappointed with the picture quality. The 4 megapixel doesn't help. This is my 3rd digital camera.
Rating:
Summary: Great styling, okay picture quality
Review: The Exilim EX-Z40 is a small wonder to look at and hold ... and to actually use. It's arguably the best-looking digital camera on the market today. One look at it and you'll want to buy one. The matching cradle is also just as "cute." Picture-quality-wise, it's good, but not as good as Canon's offerings. There's a certain softness to the pictures it takes, and you cannot adjust the sharpness level like you can on many (admittedly larger) cameras. The 2" LCD is just totally wonderful, but does put on some drain on the dimunitive battery. All in all, a pretty good package if a bit expensive. It's definitely something you can impress a lot of people with.
Rating:
Summary: Nice and small, easy handling, picture quality not good
Review: There were definitely a number of things I liked about the camera - size, docking station, ease of use (even without thick user's guide). But the quality of the pictures (couldn't figure out how to get sharp, focused pictures) plus the long lag time when taking a picture had me return the camera to the dealership. Too bad.
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