Connor's precious first steps captured on video!

We have a video camera... I actually won it when I was still pregnant with Connor and I almost went into early labor I was so incredibly excited about it... Its probley only seen the light of day possibly once or twice. I'm sorry when you have a child that moves incredibly fast and seems to magically stop doing whatever it was you wanted to video tape the moment you get the video camera out and ready.. its nearly impossible to use one.

I do however have a digital camera strapped to me at all times and up till now was always a bit disappointed at how dark the indoor videos came out so again I rarely end up taking the videos I'd love to capture.

The Casio Exlim EZ-Z80 is my new companion in capturing both videos and pictures of Connor on a daily basis. I actually captured the video of Connor trying to walk just a few days ago in minimual light and it came out really great.

Some very neat features of the Casio Exlim EZ-Z80 is its facial reconition and smile recognition capabilities. When the facial recognition is turned on it will automatically focus on any faces in the picture you can even set it to give priority to previously recorded family members. I have yet to test this feature as I usually am only taking pictures of Connor but the facial recognition is super helpful when attempting to focus a wiggly baby in the middle of the picture. The smile recognition ability allows you to set the shutter to automatically take the picture when your subject smiles. I honestly was a bit apprehensive of this feature but it works... I am still totally baffled by it or how it knows.. but it works! If your into taking pictures of yourself (or in my case pictures of myself with Connor) its incredibly helpful as it allows you to hold the camera with one hand and the baby in the other and not have to worry about pushing any extra buttons.

The Casio Exlim EZ-Z80 is the perfect camera for beginners but it will allow more veteran uses to tweak the settings. Personally I prefer it set in easy mode with auto flash so the camera automatically decides if it needs to use a flash or not, I spend enough time dealing with computers I honestly do not want to spend my off time fighting with a camera as well. The easy mode gives you just the basic function options of the camera which I find quick, easy, and especially helpful with a child who is usually crawling at full speed in the opposite direction so any pictures you want to take must be taken as fast as humanly possible.

If your looking to do videos nothing can be easier, just hit the record button and tada your taking movies. No need to flip between diffrent camera modes or turn any dials like some of the older digital cameras I have used all there is is one simple little red button at the top right corner of the back of the camera.. press it once to record.. press it again to stop recording. If your not looking to edit the videos you can then just use the included software to upload them directly to you tube from the camera itself if you'd like! Perfect if your in a hurry to get that special video off to the grandparents pronto.

If you would like to see the full stats of the Casio Exlim EZ-Z80 check out its website here. You can also see more examples of the pictures we have taken thus far with it by browsing Connor's birthday bash. All of the personal pictures shown of Connor on the blog from the birthday bash till now have been taken with the Exlim.

I have to say I really love the fact that it comes in multiple colors too! I personally have a blue one, but it comes in pink, hot pink, black, silver and green. How cool is that?

The Casio Exlim EZ-Z80 is available on Amazon!