Surprisingly strong in digital cameras
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

Casio is an interesting company. It hasn't been around quite as long as some of the traditional Japanese conglomerates, such as NEC or Matsushita (Panasonic), but with a birthdate of 1957 (a predecessor business, Kashio Seisakujo, was actually already founded in 1946, named after founder Tadao Kashio), Casio Computer Co., Ltd. is no newcomer. You could say the company grew up with the transistor, and in some ways that still shows in its product lines. There are calculators, printers, watches, projectors, cash registers and so on. People in the US mostly identify Casio with wrist watches and perhaps digital cameras, but fact is Casio has an amazingly broad and diverse product lineup for a relatively small company (about US$5 billion in sales).

Digital photography enthusiasts know Casio as a provider of sleek, elegant, and beautifully styled and crafted cameras that are almost always at the forefront in terms of innovative features. With a Casio you generally get more than you expect, and while the name "Casio" may not carry the same cachet as some of the more traditional camera makers, Casio digicams both attract attention with their style as well as with their generally superb image quality.

At this point, Casio offers three lines of its "Exilim" digital cameras. They fall into the "Card," "Zoom," and "Pro" categories. The three groups are characterized by ultra-thin stylish design, large LCDs and extended battery life, and advanced photographic capabilities, respectively.

In late 2006, the Pro series seemed to disappear. However, Casio continued to cater to enthusiasts in various categories as evidenced by the availability of very affordable deepwater cases for most of the Zoom and Card cameras. In 2007, a new line of "hi-zoom" cameras appeared, and Casio extended the "zoom" series with cameras that offered ever-increasing resolution and the latest features.

In January of 2008, Casio the high-end EX-F1 with 12X optical zoom, 60 frame per second burst rate for still images, and up to an incredible 1200 frames per second hi-speed moviee mode. The company also introduced enhanced and slimmer versions of its 8 and 10 megapixel "Card" and "Zoom" cameras.