Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Those oldies but goodies reminds me of you”—Little Caesar & the Romans
The Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 was a six-megapixel digital camera that was originally introduced in 2008 and had a 7.2 x 5.3mm CMOS sensor. It had an EXILIM Optical 7.3 – 87.6mm f/2.7-4.6 (36 – 432mm equivalent) lens that was comprised of 12 elements in nine groups, including an aspherical element. In Macro mode the lens would focus as close at two-inches (five cm.) These days, because of its 12x optical zoom, the Exilim Pro EX-F1 would probably be classified as a superzoom camera.
The camera could also capture HD video (1920 x 1080) and users could select a recording speed of 300 fps, 600 fps or 1,200 fps. There was even a YouTube mode that let you record compressed video that along with software Casio provided would let you upload videos to YouTube in two steps.
The camera was amazingly capable for those days, incorporating contrast detect auto-focus, Face Detection, a 60 frame per second burst mode and even a High Speed Flash feature that lets you shoot up to seven frames per second using flash for up to 20 frames. It even has a sensor shift anti-shake mechanism.
At 2.8-inches, the 230,000 pixels LCD screen was certainly competitive and even a bit large for its day. A dials atop the camera let you select Aperture Priority, Shutter Speed priority or Manual exposure modes. The camera accepted SD cards and would let you shoot in RAW format using the DNG standard.
In addition to an Auto Bracketing mode, the Exilim Pro EX-F1 would let you do white balance or focus bracketing. The camera had 31.9 MB of internal memory along with an SD card slot. The camera had a list price of almost $1000. By comparison, a 12-megapixel Canon Digital Rebel XSi with kit lens launched the same year as the EX-F1 cost $899. In 2018 Casio stopped making digital cameras because demand was “being eroded by the popularity of smartphones.”
How I made this photograph: This image is an homage to the photography of Eva Rubenstein, I made this photograph when Mary and I were shopping for a new home in the Central Park district of Denver. This was before we decided to move to Daisy Hill.
The camera I used was the Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 with the zoom lens set at 36mm and shot in direct monochrome mode. The Shutter Speed Priority exposure was 1/60 sec at f/13 and ISO 400. It was platinum toned using PhotoKit 2.
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