The new, rugged Casio Exilim G1

Casio announced their first ever rugged camera (about time!) today. Their new Exilim G1 (not to be confused with the ancient Canon G1 or Micro Four Thirds Panasonic G1) is supposedly the slimmest rugged camera in the market yet doesn’t compromise build quality. In fact, the Exilim G1 is just as durable, or more durable, than competing cameras – it’s dustproof, waterproof to 3 meters/10 feet, shockproof to 2.13 meters/7 feet and freezeproof to 14 degrees/0 Celcius. Other than that, the camera’s feature set is the usual compact camera affair: 12 megapixels of resolution, a 3X internal lens that covers 38-114 mm (with a slow aperture range of f3.9 – f5.4), 2.5 inch LCD, point-and-shoot operation and WVGA movie mode with sound. The Casio Exilim G1 will start selling next month for $300, just in time for freezing cold temperatures in the Northern hemisphere, or summer downunder (depending on where you’re from).

In other news, Casio has also updated two of their super-high speed compact cameras announced earlier this year: the Exilim FH20 super-zoom and Exilim FC100 ultra-compact will be replaced by the Exilim FH25 and Exilim FC150 respectively. The only major change between the new models today and their predecessors announced earlier this year is the imaging sensor. Casio is popping in their latest 10 megapixel backlit CMOS sensor into the successors of both cameras; other features and the famous 40 FPS burst mode will remain the same.

Related articles:

• Olympus Stylus Tough 6010 announced
• Sony announces their first rugged camera and new compact super-zoom
• Olympus rolls out new ultra-zoom and rugged cameras
• Casio’s new cameras for Fall 2009
• Casio shows off 4 new cameras; backlit CMOS compact super-zoom