Casio unveils new touchscreen compact

New Casio camera
Casio's European website, showing the new camera

Casio has announced a new touchscreen compact camera to slot into its Exilim range.

The EX-ZS15 is the first compact from Casio to feature a touchscreen, and with a low European retail price of €159, it is also one of the most affordable currently available on the market.

The Casio Exilim EX-SZ15 features a 7.6cm (3 inch) touch screen that can be activated via a symbol on the screen itself. Recording and playback functions are operated almost exclusively using the screen, with scrolling menus and colour coded symbols. Touch shutter is also possible.

Other specifications on board the camera include a 14.1 million effective pixels CCD sensor and 5x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom.

Fitted with a 26mm wide-angle lens, it is also capable of video recording in 720p HD quality.

Face-detection functionality has also been included, which has the capability of both recording individual faces or entire groups, and then automatically applying the best possible setting.

A rechargeable battery comes with the camera, which has been tested to reach 170 shots from one charge.

Casio manufactures a range of compact cameras, including the rugged G series range, the hi-zoom H range and the high-speed ZR range.

The camera is available in three colours: silver, red and black. We are yet to receive any UK information about the new camera, so pricing information is unavailable at present - we will update when we find out more.

Amy Davies

Amy has been writing about cameras, photography and associated tech since 2009. Amy was once part of the photography testing team for Future Publishing working across TechRadar, Digital Camera, PhotoPlus, N Photo and Photography Week. For her photography, she has won awards and has been exhibited. She often partakes in unusual projects - including one intense year where she used a different camera every single day. Amy is currently the Features Editor at Amateur Photographer magazine, and in her increasingly little spare time works across a number of high-profile publications including Wired, Stuff, Digital Camera World, Expert Reviews, and just a little off-tangent, PetsRadar.