Casio Exilim EX-S3

Casio’s Exilim series now has two distinct body
styles. There’s the compact (very compact)
zoom model we reviewed last issue, the Z3,
and there’s the even slimmer fixed focal length model
we’re looking at this month.
The Exilim EX-S3 really is astonishingly small and slim.
In this model, the lens is mounted at the very top righthand
corner of the camera. It’s a fixed focal length lens,
so you have to rely on digital zooming to get closer to
your subjects. It’s also a fixed focus optic. This isn’t the
downside you might imagine, since depth of field is not
a problem with the tiny focal lengths and imaging areas
of digital cameras. Everything that is further than a
metre or so away will come out perfectly sharp and, of
course, there’s no autofocus lag to contend with.
Nevertheless, at £300, the EX-S3 is only £50 cheaper
than the much more sophisticated Exilim EX-Z3. As well
as missing out on an optical zoom and autofocus, you
have to sacrifice a macro mode, too.

Simply perfect?

But while the basic specifications of the EX-S3 are just
that – basic – the rest of the camera simply oozes class.
The brushed metal finish is of a high standard, and on
the back there’s a huge 2-inch LCD for composing and
reviewing your shots.
The switchgear is smart and uncomplicated. On the
top there’s a power button and a shutter release; on the
back there’s is a four-way navipad with a positive action
and none of the vagueness that characterises cheaper
versions; and in the centre there’s a separate Set button.
Above the navipad there is a Play/Record switch for
swapping modes, and to the left a Menu button and
Display button. That’s all there is to it, and this makes
the Casio clean and uncluttered.
Start-up time is two seconds – and shutter lag is nonexistent.
You press the button, the camera beeps and
the shot’s taken. It’s quite a contrast to the clicking and
whirring of most digital cameras.
Image playback is really fast. Somehow, you expect it
to be slow given the huge size of the LCD and the
comparative simplicity of the camera, but images
appear on-screen nigh-on instantaneously. You can
zoom in, in order to examine this camera’s impressive
fine detail rendition, and press the Set button to pan
around the zoomed-in image.

Photographic controls

There’s no getting round this camera’s basic lack of
specs, though. With no optical zoom or macro mode, its
£300 price tag is bound to look pretty steep. But it does
at least offer the usual crop of controls, including EV
compensation, white balance and flash modes.
You access these via the camera’s menu system, and
pressing the Menu button on the back reveals that this
camera’s stylish design isn’t just confined to its exterior.
The menus themselves are practically works of art.
The lettering is large and legible, navigation is crisp,
logical and rapid, and the menus are transparent,
overlaying the scene the camera’s looking at rather than
obscuring it entirely.
It seems a bit of a shame that you have to use the
menus for every single option, but if you scroll down to
the bottom of the Record menu you’ll discover that you
can re-configure the navipad to offer direct access to
any of them – flash mode, EV compensation, white
balance and ISO. By default, the navipad activates
the digital zoom (press up/down) or the shooting mode
(press left/right).
The Casio’s shooting modes are interesting in
their own right. You can switch between the default
single-shot mode, movie mode and what’s now
becoming a Casio trademark – the Best Shot mode.
Many cameras offer scene modes with settings
optimised for specific subjects, but the EX-S3 offers
more in every way. First, there are the 15 Best
Shot modes to choose from, including the obvious
options like Portrait, Landscape and Night Scene
modes, plus others like Black and White, Sepia
and Retro. What’s more, you can set up and save
your own Best Shot configurations. Each Best Shot
option is illustrated with a thumbnail sample, a
description of what it does and any special
techniques you should use.
The Casio doesn’t really do anything different
from other cameras with scene modes, but it
presents them in a much more informative, exciting
and beginner-friendly way.

Non-stop fun

There are other surprises that demonstrate an
inventiveness and sheer fun-factor that makes this a
fascinating camera. If you press the Display button in
Record mode, it toggles the LCD on and off, as you’d
expect. Press it again, though, and it displays a live
histogram showing the tonal distribution of the
scene in front of the camera. You can use it to see if
the shadows or highlights will fall outside the CCD’s
dynamic range and get ‘clipped’ – and adjust the EV
compensation accordingly.
Buried in the Best Shot options, there’s a Coupling
mode that lets you get both you and your
companion in a shot by shooting the left side (with
them in), and then the right (where you stand while
your companion takes the shot). Even more useful is
a Pre Shot mode, where you can shoot the scene as
you want it composed, then hand the camera to
someone else while you go and stand in front of it.
Not content with offering 2-second and 10-
second self-timer delays, Casio has incorporated a
triple self-timer that takes three consecutive selftimer
shots. You can use this, for example, when
you want to take a series of group shots without
having to go back to the camera to reset the self
timer for each one.
The Casio has other clever features, including a
flipping display for showing photos to people facing
you, a calendar display where dates are marked
with thumbnail images of shots taken on that day,
and a world clock and alarm.
More to the point, the Exilim EX-S3’s shots are
well exposed, saturated and sharp. The lack of a
zoom and a macro mode is undoubtedly a limitation,
but not a great one for most people’s snapshot
needs. However, although this is an excellent little
camera, you’re still left thinking that the Exilim EX-Z3
offers versatility for only £50 more.

Casio Exilim EX-Z57

Casio’s Exilim range boasts
some rather nice superslim
snapshot cameras.
This is the third incarnation in the
5-megapixel Z series range and
has a generous 2.7-inch screen.
The Z57 includes all the other
trademark Casio features, such as
Direct On record and playback
buttons and a wide selection of
Best Shot modes. These are
equivalent to the scene modes on
other cameras, but have a lot more
polish. Certain modes speak for
themselves – Sundown, Natural
Green, Night Scene – while others
do rather more. Collection mode
offers a superimposed outline to
help you compose your shots;
Business mode corrects the
perspective errors you get if you
don’t photograph items from a
perfectly perpendicular angle; the
Coupling Shot and Pre Shot modes
let you combine snaps of yourself
and a companion or pre-compose
a shot for a passer-by to shoot.
You can also confi gure and save
your own Best Shot settings. For
example, you might set up a mode
for high-contrast, high-saturation
shots with extra colour, or another
with the focus fi xed and a high ISO
for sports shots.

Instant photography?

The Z57’s focusing system
warrants a closer look. It can be set
to automatically move into macro
mode for close-up subjects and,
even more usefully, it has a Pan
Focus option. This fi xes the focus
at a pre-defi ned distance, so if you
want to grab a shot the camera
won’t wait to focus but instead use
this catch-all focus point. Compact
digital cameras have such a large
depth of fi eld that the results are
generally perfectly acceptable.
Even if you do wait for the Z57
to focus, it’s still quicker than
average, and can lock on to a
subject in less than half a second,
except in gloomy conditions and
with the zoom at full range. This
makes the Z57 feel exceptionally
responsive, and the lack of focus
lag at critical moments makes it a
far better snapshot camera than
many of its rivals.
The build quality is another big
selling point. The aluminium body
feels strong and is well fi nished.
The quick start-up time – around a
second – is another plus factor.
That giant LCD display will be a bit
of a talking point too. The problem
here, though, is that it has only
115,000 pixels, a resolution you’d
expect in a 1.5-inch display, but
not one of this size. This means the
pixel pitch – and hence the detail
rendition – is quite coarse, negating
the value of that extra screen size.
This is a very smart camera to
use, with a logical control structure.
The menus are big, clear and easy
to navigate, and the Best Shot
modes are presented superbly,
each with a sample image and a
concise explanation of what the
mode does and when to use it.
However, there’s a danger this
fancy presentation can distract you
from one of the Z57’s few
annoyances. How many button
presses will it take to fi nd the Best
Shot mode you want in the list of
23? That’s a lot of button pressing.
And are you really going to use
that alarm function with
customisable wake-up photo? Or
generate a web album for
exporting to your computer? Or
customise your start-up screen,
operational sounds and favourite
photos for internal storage?
You can also display saved
images using a calendar screen
with sample thumbnails for each
date on which you took pictures.
To do this, though, you’d better
invest in a hefty SD card, because
the camera comes with a measly
9.3MB internal memory – enough
for just four Fine quality shots.
The Casio has its strong points,
of course. It can display a live
histogram during shooting, and if
you confi gure the left/right
navipad keys to operate the EV
compensation, it’s simple to fi t the
scene’s tonal range into that of the
sensor’s by tweaking the exposure
to prevent the highlights being
clipped. To be perfectly honest, if
all cameras were this easy to
adjust, fewer people would bother
with manual modes or fancy
metering patterns.
Picture quality
From a distance images look sharp,
colourful and clear, but as the ISO
increases the tiny sensor produces
plenty of noise; at ISO 400 it’s
almost unuseable. The in-camera
sharpening/noise reduction system
attempts to limit this noise, but
while outlines stand out well, fi ne,
textural detail tends to blur into a
featureless mush. This happens at
all ISOs, so even the super-smooth
look to ISO 100 shots hides some
compromises. Snappers won’t
notice, but if you want to blow
your shots up to A4 or like fi ddling
around in Photoshop, you will.
Fair’s fair, though, and this is
essentially a snapshot camera. You
may decide its size, ease of use and
charm outweigh its average image
quality. But at this price, it has
some tough competition.

Casio Exilim Pro EX-P505

The EX-P505 leaves the
starting blocks with an
unfortunate handicap – its
price tag. With a web price
of around £320, it’s locking
horns with 7-megapixel models
such as the Canon Digital Ixus
700, Pentax Optio 750Z and Nikon
Coolpix 7900.
to know that more megapixels
doesn’t necessarily translate into
better image quality. But when
a similarly specifi ed 5-megapixel
camera like the Nikon Coolpix
5200 can be picked up for as little
as £150, you can’t help thinking
someone’s got their sums wrong.
Unless of course the Casio is
harbouring something very special.
The EX-P505’s styled like a
prosumer camera, with the 5x
zoom lens housed along its entire
focal length, so you haven’t got
anything hanging out the front at
the long end. There’s nothing in the
way of button shortcuts for the likes
of ISO sensitivity, white balance
or even exposure compensation,
which suggests a common or
garden compact, despite the
racy looks. Having said that, its
looks do count in its favour – the
fi nish is black plastic, but smooth,
solid and delicately styled with a
courteously fashioned handgrip
that does wonders for balance with
one-handed shooting. The fold-out
2-inch LCD helps handling, but
the buttons and thumbpad don’t
deserve the same praise – they’re
shoddy and hardly refl ect a price
tag of £200, let alone £320.
Just a point and shoot?
The decent number of features on
offer belies the relative simplicity
of the EX-P505’s exterior. There
are Centre Spot, Multi Area and
Selectable Area focus options,
built-in neutral density fi lter for 2EV
stops, 1cm macro (which is tops),
the usual three metering options,
manual white balance, fl ash
exposure compensation, memory
presets, as well as compatibility
with the various printing
technologies – PictBridge, DPOF
and Print Image Matching.
In short, it’s got everything you’d
expect from a prosumer model
bar a Continuous Shooting mode,
dedicated auto-exposure lock and
RAW format. Scene modes are
under a confusingly labelled Best
Shot function on the Command
dial, and they’re accompanied
by descriptions and appropriate
images, with the same red border
accorded to the menu system.
There are a couple of unusual
settings for Movie mode – Short
Movie and Past Movie. Past Movie
comprises a continual fi ve-second
recording buffer that initiates as
soon as you select the mode. Once
the shutter’s pressed, you capture
everything until your second press,
as well as fi ve seconds before the
fi rst. Short Movie works in a similar
fashion, but instead it records
before and after the shutter’s
pressed for a maximum of eight
seconds. You’ve also got the ability
to scroll through a movie frame-byframe,
zoom in, capture particular
frames as still images and cut out
parts of a movie in-camera that you
don’t like. Movies are recorded as
memory-effi cient MPEG-4 fi les,
and deliver smooth motion, good
detail and fi ne colours at maximum
size and quality.
Speed is of the essence
A more legitimate boast for the
EX-P505 concerns its performance
– the 0.8-second start-up claim is
accurate. The 0.01-second claim
for shutter lag appears credible,
too – you can’t glean any sense of
pause at all.
Casio doesn’t mention the lag
from capture to ready – there’s a
black-out of 1.5 seconds before
it’s ready to roll again. This isn’t
unusual for a compact, but it’s
an issue that needs to be tackled.
And you’ve got to wait for the full
whack of processing and fi le fl ush
(around 2.5 seconds) before you
can access Playback mode. At least
with Review set to on, you get
your thumbnail immediately. Image
scrolling is instantaneous, as is image
magnifi cation and close-in scrolling.
With regards to image quality,
the lens presents the fi rst hiccup,
exhibiting noticeable barrel
distortion at the wide end. This isn’t
great considering we’re only talking
38mm – there are wider lenses
in the compact market with less
distortion problems.
This camera’s extremely prone
to fl are. Purple fringing (chromatic
aberration) is there, but thankfully
it’s a lot less intrusive than the
norm. At ISO 100 with default
sharpening, there’s more noise
present than there should be and
detail suffers because of it, but
there are worse performers out
there, too. At ISO 200 and ISO 400
things hot up in the noise stakes,
particularly with colour noise.
There isn’t a compact in the
market at the moment that doesn’t
exhibit some sort of problem when
you examine images close up, but
you’d be wise to wait for a price cut
before considering this camera: if
it was reduced to £200, its speed
could make it a player…

Casio Exilim EX-Z3

Yes, the Casio really is that small. Laughably so.
If you’ve not encountered an Exilim model
before, simply removing it from the
packaging will bring a smile to your face. It’s the size of
a credit card and, while it’s obviously not as thin as a
credit card, it’s still thin enough (well under an inch) to
leave you wondering how Casio has done it.
It’s all the more remarkable given that this camera
seems to have all the features you’d expect in
an ‘ordinary’ 3-megapixel model, including a 3x
optical zoom. This emerges from the body in a threesection
expanding tube as you power up. But, in
case you’re thinking this sounds like it might be a
slow and sluggish process, it’s not. From pressing the
power switch to seeing an image on the LCD takes
just two seconds.

Big on the inside?

On a camera this tiny you might be expecting the LCD
to be something the size of a postage stamp, but this is
where the Casio springs its next surprise: it’s a massive
2-inch screen that dominates the back of the camera
and displays super-sized, super-clear images. It’s even
got a ‘flip’ function that lets you show pictures the right
way up to people facing you.
Indeed, your first half hour with this camera is likely
to be spent marvelling not just at its size but its build
quality too. Its all-metal finish feels of the highest
standard, and the controls are excellent. You really do
feel like you’re getting your money’s worth with this
camera. It’s very nearly as impressive as the Pentax
Optio S, reviewed on page 38. Indeed, the two cameras
are surprisingly similar…
Both use a 3x Pentax zoom (which unfolds in those
three sections we mentioned), both are super-slim
credit card-sized designs and both have a 3.2-megapixel
CCD. They’re similar even in terms of control layout.
This is one area where the Casio left us slightly
worried: the power button is right alongside the shutter
release on the top plate. How often would we turn the
camera off by mistake, instead of firing the shutter? Not
once, as it happened, because the two buttons have
quite different profiles.
The Z3 has an optical viewfinder for those who don’t
want to use the LCD, but you might have to look hard to
spot it. It’s positively microscopic and, while it is usable,
it’s likely to prove more of a talking point than a
practical aid. The tiny viewfinder’s not a big problem on
this camera, not least because the quoted battery life is
good and you’re likely to use the LCD to compose your
shots all the time.

So where’s the catch?

A camera this small surely has to have a weak point
somewhere. Well, you can keep looking if you like, but
we didn’t find it. Shutter lag? Remarkably little. The
only fault we can find with the Casio is that if you stab
at the shutter release it will take a shot straightaway
without – as far as we can tell – stopping to focus. This
led to a few blurry indoor test shots until we settled on
waiting for autofocus confirmation before pressing the
shutter release fully.
The autofocus system is so quick that’s hardly a
major hardship, after all – about half a second, we
reckon, for the average shot. It’s a little bit longer for
shots taken with the telephoto lens, but the same
applies to other digital cameras.
How about zooming speed? Very fast indeed, from
handful of intermediate settings but, again, that’s
pretty typical for rival cameras.

In your hand

What’s especially impressive about the Exilim EX-Z3
is that, despite its size, it really is very good to use.
Your fingers slide neatly over the embossed ‘Exilim’
badge on the front, while your thumb lies neatly
over the navipad, ready to reach for the zoom
buttons above.
The navipad is especially good. Not only is it firm
enough that you’re not going to press it accidentally
as you hold the camera, it uses a separate, central
OK button so that you don’t get the vague, errorprone
actions of combined thumbpads.
It’s the perfect go-everywhere camera. It’ll fit in
any pocket or bag, it’s ready for action in just a
couple of seconds and it’s foolproof to operate. You
can apply EV compensation via the menus, and you
can even study a live histogram as you compose
your shots to see if your highlights or shadows are
clipped, but most of the time you don’t need to
because the Exilim’s exposure system is pretty much
bang on. You point, you shoot, and 99 times out of
100 the Exilim does a perfect job.
It’s impossible to fault the image playback,
too. Cheaper cameras are often a bit slow to
replay stored images, but the Z3 rattles through
them as fast as you can press the navigation
buttons. Zooming in is a bit tedious because
you have to keep pressing the zoom button,
and the same applies to panning around images
when you are zoomed in, but that’s hardly a
major drawback.
Even the menus have that extra touch of class,
and the larger-than-usual LCD makes them much
easier to read and navigate that those of many
rival cameras. And it’s here that the Casio springs
another surprise, with its excellent Best Shot
mode. This is essentially a collection of Scene
modes, but with a difference. Here, each ‘scene’ is
illustrated with a sample thumbnail image, the
name and a brief description of what it does and
when to use it. There are no fewer than 21 Best
Shot modes, covering a range of subjects from
portraits to fireworks.

Pocket perfection?

There are only two areas where, reluctantly, we
have to knock off a couple of marks. It’s unlucky for
the Casio that it’s being reviewed in the same issue
as the Pentax Optio S, a camera with which it has
similarities that are surely more than skin deep. The
Pentax feels ever so slightly better finished, and
produces more saturated shots with slightly superior
sharpness. We’d be tempted by the Pentax for its
image quality, even though the Exilim has that huge
LCD and terrific Best Shot mode

Casio Exilim EX-P600

Casio’s digital camera range splits into
the beginner-orientated QV range and
the more sophisticated Exilim series.
The existing Exilim models boast sleek design, but
now they’ve been joined by an altogether
different kind of camera. The EX-P600 introduces
one of the latest 6MP CCDs, and incorporates
serious photographic control.
As well as program AE exposure and Casio’s
trademark Best Shot (scene) modes, you now get
aperture priority, shutter priority and manual
modes. A hybrid AF system boosts response
times, a selection of continuous shooting modes
offers versatility, and the auto-exposure
bracketing function found on other cameras is
extended here into completely new territory.
Casio’s known as an electronics rather than a
photographic manufacturer, of course, and the
company makes no bones about the fact that the
lens is made by Canon. It’s a 4x zoom with an
equivalent focal range of 32-132mm. One
advantage of the Canon lens, incidentally, is that
quite beyond any optical advantages there might
be from the prestigious label, there’s a practical
benefi t, too; the Casio can accept a trio of Canon
conversion lenses, including a wide-angle adaptor,
telephoto adaptor and close-up lens.
Casio’s also keen to promote the EX-P600’s
speed and responsiveness. To achieve this it uses
a sophisticated hybrid AF system. A pair of
external ‘phase-difference’ sensors offers the
speed, while a conventional internal contrastdetection
system provides accuracy. The camera
chooses the appropriate system according to the
conditions – you don’t get to choose which AF
system is used, so you have to take it on trust that
the camera picks the best.
There are three AF point options: a simple
‘spot’ option focuses on whatever’s in the centre
of the frame; the default multi-point option
checks points across the frame and focuses on the
nearest; while you can also use ‘free’ focusing to
focus anywhere in the frame. Or you can just use
the manual focus option, though as with all digital
displays, the Casio’s isn’t really sharp enough for
really precise adjustments.
The AF system is indeed fast. Over a range of
shots, the average delay seemed to be half a
second or less, and it didn’t increase substantially
for telephoto shots. In fact, the EX-P600 feels half
way towards the responses of a digital SLR. It’s
worth pointing out, though, that the camera is
quoted as having a shutter response time of
0.01sec, which doesn’t include the AF time.

Killer features?

The EX-Finder is a hint that the EX-P600’s features
are designed as much for bar-room bragging as
serious photographic use. It aims to represent
camera settings – like focus distance, shutter
speed and aperture graphically – as dials and
scales, overlaid on the image display, but the
effect is just utterly overpowering. It’s hard to
make sense of all this information and compose a
shot at the same time. There’s a similar tendency
towards overkill in the Casio’s auto-bracketing
functions. These come in two sets: those which
adjust the camera settings, and those which
adjust the image processing.
Camera bracketing options include autoexposure
(as you’d expect), focus (useful for
processing (‘multi’) bracketing options
include saturation, sharpening and colour
fi lters, to name but three.
Are you actually going to use these things?
Apart from the exposure and focus
bracketing, these are processing adjustments.
And the provision of so many, sooner or later,
will draw your attention to the fact that the
Casio has no RAW mode (RAW mode would
enable you to do all these things later,
without quality loss, on your computer).
Apart from JPEGs, at three quality settings,
the only other option is TIFF fi les. These are
much larger (larger even than RAW images,
typically), and a distant second-best.

Making a scene

The complexity of this camera does start to
get a little distracting after a while. Of course,
you can leave it set to fully-automatic mode
and pick up these extra technical snippets as
you gain experience. The EX-P600 is fi ne for
beginners, including as it does not just a
foolproof point-and-shoot full auto mode, but
26 different scene modes, too.
Casio calls these Best Shot modes, and it’s
turned them into something of an art form.
Other makers simply list their scene modes
on a menu, but Casio gives each one a
full-screen display, with a thumbnail
representation of the type of subject it’s
designed for and a short text description of
what it does. Many more advanced
photographers won’t have much time for
scene modes, considering that they only do
automatically what you can (and should?) do
yourself – things like saturation and contrast
levels, focusing modes, sharpening levels and
more. Even diehard photographers, though,
can’t fail to be impressed by the presentation
and explanation built into these Best Shot
modes. You can even create your own,
choosing one of your own pictures for the
thumbnail representation and a combination
of settings from the camera’s own menus.
You have to be impressed by the Casio’s
continuous shooting options. It can take shots
at around 1.7fps, which is only average, but it
can sustain it for as long as there’s space left
on your memory card. This mode is
supplemented by a special high-speed mode
which can shoot six images in two seconds at
full resolution – it makes 8MP ‘prosumer’
models look positively asthmatic.
There’s a Multi-Speed option that takes 25
shots at 15fps. These are then assembled into
a single 1,600 x 1,200 pixel image. It might
be okay for certain kinds of motion analysis,
but this is where the Casio seems to slip back
into novelty items again.
The movie mode is slightly lacklustre, too.
Admittedly you don’t buy a still camera to
shoot movies, but it’s still nice to have on
hand for those odd occasions when you
need it. And the resolution of 320 x 240 is
now a bit on the weak side for cameras in
this price bracket.
There’s more to a good camera that
features, though. Handling, design and
photographic results are just as important. So
far we’ve talked principally about features, but
only because with this camera there’s a heck
of a lot to cover.

Design downer

However, while its feature list is impressive,
the same doesn’t really apply to the camera
itself. It’s compact for a camera of this type,
which is good, but the design looks messy and
untidy. The controls all provide a high-quality
feel, but apart from the mode dial and
navigational controller, the rest of the buttons
seem to be spread all over the camera simply
where there’s space.
Possibly the worst example is the EX-Key
button. Pressing this calls up an on-screen
menu for adjusting the white balance, ISO,
metering pattern and focus pattern. These
are well designed and easy to navigate, but the
button’s placed on the left-hand edge of the
camera, right at the bottom. You have to keep
looking where it is, and shifting your grip to
press it.
It’s not all bad by any means, though. You
can apply EV compensation simply by pressing
Left or Right on the navigational controller. You
can even view a ‘live’ image histogram with
curves for each RGB channel, though this
means activating the over-the-top EX-Finder.
The start-up time is good. At around two
seconds, it’s beaten by some of the latest
snapshot compacts, but it’s usefully quicker
than most high-end digital cameras. The startup
speed, snappy AF and speedy continuous
shooting mode do produce a very responsivefeeling
package.
It could do with a faster zooming action,
though. And while there are nine (by our
count) intermediate zoom settings, nudging
from one to the next requires a fairly deft fl ick
of the zoom switch.

Picture perfect?

But what’s the picture quality like? Does the
6-megapixel CCD produce visibly superior
results to those of high-end 5-megapixel
cameras? The differences are small, meaning
that overall picture quality is still going to
be the biggest factor in choosing the best
camera. The Casio’s colour reproduction is
especially good, as is its dynamic range in
contrasty conditions. However, dull lighting
can produce very fl at-looking images that
will need some manipulation in your imageeditor
later or re-shooting with a higher
contrast setting.
Perhaps one of the Casio’s biggest
drawbacks, though, is the lack of a RAW mode.
This means that you’re always going to be at
the mercy of the camera’s internal processing
system, while all its rivals offer a RAW mode
that enables you adjust saturation, sharpness,
white balance and digital exposure
compensation on your computer. Of all the
bells and whistles Casio’s added to the EX-P600
to appeal to professional users, that’s the one
that should have been top of the list.
If you want to impress your mates, the Casio
is fantastic. It’s got some interesting and
innovative photographic tools, too, and the
quality of its results is very high. However, it’s
not especially cheap, costing as much on the
high street as the Nikon CoolPix 5400, Canon
PowerShot G5 and Olympus C-5060 – all of
which are rather better cameras.