ZR Dials

Casio ZR Mode Dials Compared

This chart shows all the variations in Mode Dials for ZR100 up to ZR5500 hopefully in the time order in which they first appeared.

As the features evolve, so do the Icon sets on the dials. It is still a work in progress.

Year by year the features on the dial change but will be in the camera somewhere, either as a dedicated button or in Best Shots or back on the dial again.

Notes on explaining the icons here.

Find user manuals in all languages from https://world.casio.com/manual/dc/
Some English manuals not found above may be found from http://support.casio.com/en/manual/manuallist.php?cid=001

Camera	Mode Dial	Year First Seen	Icons
ZR100		2011	Auto = Program Mode Premium Auto Pro Best Shot Sweep Panorama Best Selection	Manual Mode Shutter Priority Mode Aperture Priority Mode HDR Modified High Dynamic Range
ZR200 ZR300 ZR310 ZR320		2012	Auto = Program Mode Premium Auto Pro Best Shot Sweep Panorama Multi SR Zoom	Manual Mode Shutter Priority Mode Aperture Priority Mode HDR Modified High Dynamic Range
ZR1000		2012	Program Mode Premium Auto Pro Best Shot High Dynamic Range Art Mode	Multi SR Zoom Custom Mode Manual Mode Shutter Priority Mode Aperture Priority Mode
ZR400 ZR410 ZR700 ZR710 ZR750		2013	Program Mode Premium Auto Pro Best Shot Focus Control Art Mode	Multi SR Zoom Triple Shot Manual Mode Shutter Priority Mode Aperture Priority Mode
ZR500 ZR510 ZR800 ZR850 ZR1100 ZR1200 ZR1300 ZR1500 ZR1600 ZR2000 ZR3000 ZR3500		2013	Program Mode Premium Auto Pro Best Shot Art Mode Multi SR Zoom	Time Lapse Triple Shot Manual Mode Shutter Priority Mode Aperture Priority Mode
ZR1700 ZR1750 ZR2100 ZR3100 ZR3600		2016	Program Mode Premium Auto Pro Best Shot Art Mode Art Selfie	Time Lapse Multi SR Zoom Manual Mode Shutter Priority Mode Aperture Priority Mode
ZR4000 ZR5000 ZR5500		2016	Program Mode Premium Auto Pro Best Shot Wide View Art Mode	Art Selfie Time Lapse Manual Mode Shutter Priority Mode Aperture Priority Mode
ZR1800 ZR3200 ZR3700		2017	Program Mode Premium Auto Pro Best Shot Slow Motion Clip Art Mode	Time Lapse Multi SR Zoom Manual Mode Shutter Priority Mode Aperture Priority Mode
ZR4100 ZR5100		2017	Program Mode Premium Auto Pro Best Shot Art Makeup Art Mode	Slow Motion Clip Wide View Manual Mode Shutter Priority Mode Aperture Priority Mode

Icon	Notes (most notes in the context of later models)
or	Automatic mode where the camera chooses both aperture and shutter speed as well as ISO (if set to Auto ISO) in order to get correct exposure. The metered exposure can be varied by Exposure Compensation, usually by twisting the rear dial.
	Aperture priority mode where the user sets the aperture and the camera determines correct shutter speed and ISO if set to Auto ISO. As most cameras do not have an actual aperture control but instead insert a Neutral Density filter, then the idea of controlling aperture for depth of field or diffraction purposes is irrelevant. In my opinion a useless feature on these pocket cameras.
	Shutter Priority mode where the user sets the shutter speed and the camera sets the correct aperture and/or ISO to get the correct exposure. S mode defaults to Auto ISO to get better control of the exposure as the "aperture" has only two different settings.
	Manual mode where the user sets both aperture and shutter speed as well as ISO, there is no Auto ISO in manual mode.
	Custom Best Shots. The ZR1000 alone had this arrangement where the user defined Best Shots were separated from the Best Shot area. There are only 12 custom shots available as opposed to 999 for other bodies.
	Premium Auto Pro, also seen called Super P mode. This is equivalent to iAuto seen on many other brands. The camera tries to guess what is in the scene being shot and applies a hopefully appropriate Best Shot. If it cannot guess then it defaults back to plain P mode. The screen tells you what it is choosing.
	Best Shot, use Set to select and the zoom lever to go between thumbnails and larger with simple explanations. On all models except the ZR1000 the user defined Best Shots are added to the end of the Best Shot list. Up to 999 user setups could be added.
	Time Lapse. The camera takes a number of shots at a specified time apart for a specified time period. The screen warns of total time to finish. The manual fails to tell of the available settings. The intervals are 1/10, 1/2, 1s, 2s, 3s, 5s 10s, 30s and the total time can be 3, 5 ,10, 15, 20, 30, 60 minutes and Off (Off goes until battery flat or card full or stopped with shutter button). In my camera TL is buried in the Best Shots and has the same timing options. The result is a video of those time lapsed images.
	High Dynamic Range takes a high speed burst with different exposure settings and combines them to get a better result when faced with seriously bright and dark areas in the same frame. Three levels can be set ranging from OK to awful. This feature is in Best Shots on many models. The Record Menu item of Lighting delivers a really mild HDR effect.
	Uses an HDR image and then applies chosen artistic effects to it, results vary from pleasing to terrible. This feature may be in Best Shots on some cameras and be in ART. Some of the art effects can be adjusted.
	Sweep Panorama, now in Best Shots on most cameras. Can be adjusted to sweep Left or Right, or turned to Portrait orientation and again sweep left or right. In portrait the results are better due to more pixels top to bottom of the resulting image. On later cameras this is in Best Shots and seems to have become a video file as the old method of sweep to make a stills panorama often failed and needed to be retried a few times. It seems to be able to allow enough time and shots to do a full 180 degree rotation. For much higher resolution then best to take multiple generously overlapped shots and stitch with something like Microsoft ICE or Affinity Photo.
	Best Selection, later moved to Best Shots, but disappeared on latest cameras. The camera shoots a burst and it selects the best one based on face sharpness and smiles. The rest of the burst is deleted. Weird but it works.
	Triple Shot, takes 3 shots for the one shutter press. Starts recording at half press, and when shutter is fully pressed it saves the one just before shutter full press, the one at full press and the one after full press.
	Wide View. Novelty mode where you set the part of the image that is of interest, then shoot and the camera saves the part, the whole wide view and also makes a video clip of the part zooming out to the wide view.
	Multi SR Zoom. SR stands for Super Resolution. Takes a multi image burst and stacks the images in-camera to give better results, especially for extended tele use. The stacking reduces noise and improves resolution. This feature within Best Shots on some models. Can be used at any focal length as well as extended tele, image frame shrinks a little bit due to the auto alignment needs of stacking.
	Art mode allows mild to extreme modifications to the image, it varies in the different cameras,with the latest including HDR Art as one of the Art settings instead of keeping that separate. My ZR5100 lists these as possibles to apply to the image: HDR Art, Toy Camera, Soft Focus, Light Tone, Pop, Sepia, Monochrome, Miniature, Fisheye, Sparkling Shot, Crystal Ball, Art Shot Bracketing (HDR Art + Toy Camera + Monochrome + Crystal Ball) from one shot.
	Selfie Art. Can apply make-up settings to this image to get various skin adjustments and also variations like Elegant, Foggy, Fairy, Nostalgic, Vivid.
	Make-up Art. New and expanded for selfie users. Select from HDR, Vivid, Blurred Background, Elegant, Foggy, Fairy, Nostalgic. Also various make-up adjustments such as: Smooth Skin, Skin Tone, Face Brightness, Sculpt.
	Slow Motion novelty video clip. Set slow motion time of Short Normal or Long. Set Timing for Pre-Action, Action, Post-Action. A small diagram shows how the video clip will be configured. Start using the Red button, it ends when it times out. Short is 7 secs clip, Normal is 9 sec, and Long is 11 sec. The clip has a bit of normal speed, the middle being slow motion then ends with a bit of normal speed.

Last changes 14 Dec 2020, some typo fixes and minor text changes.