The Casio Exilim EX-FC100 takes the impressive speed of the EX-F1 and EX-FH20 and squeezes it into a much smaller, $330 package. It shoots nine-megapixel images, or six-megapixel photos at 30fps. It can also record slow motion video at 1000fps (224x64 resolution), 420fps (224x168) 30-210fps (480x360) as well as 30fps HD video at 1280x720.

The strength of the EX-FC100 is obviously in its extreme speed. In other features it was noticeably lacking, including its pedestrian LCD, cramped controls, and illogical menu system. However, many of these small problems pale beside the ability to photograph up to 30 images in a second, which is ideal for capturing split-second action.

The high-speed videos, on the other hand, verge on the gimmicky, especially in the 1000fps mode. The problem with these super slow-motion videos is that at the 1000fps and 420fps settings they require a huge amount of light to turn out properly, and even if they do, the resulting file is so small and heavily compressed as to be almost useless. However, at the 210fps speed, you can actually pull some useful footage out of the camera.

One of the intriguing capabilities of the EX-FC100 is constantly pre-buffering photographs. When you hit the shutter button, the photos buffered in the last second or so are saved, and then a few more taken. That way you never miss a key shot because you hesitated a split-second before pressing the shutter.

Performance (read in-depth performance coverage at DigitalCameraInfo.com)

We ran the Casio EX-FC100 through an extensive battery of lab tests and found that its color accuracy was low, and it especially struggled with yellows and blues. The noise levels were very good at low ISO, but ramped up considerably at ISO 1600. In our resolution test it scored poorly, even though it had low distortion, because overall the images weren't very sharp. Another disappointment was that under our testing situations, the EX-FC100's stabilization system offered no improvement to image quality.

In video testing (in high-def mode), the EX-FC100 had very good color accuracy, but once again had major problems with sharpness.

Comparisons (read in-depth comparisons at DigitalCameraInfo.com)

We pitted the Casio EX-FC100 against the Canon PowerShot SD970 IS, the Sony Cyber-shot T900 and the Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR. While the Casio hands down beat all these for speed, they each had other advantages. The Canon offered significantly higher image qualty, and had a much more refined and usable interface system. The Sony T900 is a much slimmer camera, with excellent color accuracy and image stabilization, but it had issues with sharpness and lens distortion. The Fuji is an interesting camera that can halve its 12-megapixel resolution, and shoot in a mode designed to lower image noise, or one to boost dynamic range. All of these cameras out-performed the Casio in our lab testing, but none of them can live up to the speed that the EX-FC100 offers. If you're a stickler for image quality, perhaps consider one of the other cameras, but if you crave speed, the Casio is unparalleled.