Casio Exilim EX-S600 Digital Camera Review
By Emily Raymond
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
January 26, 2006
Casio’s ultra-slim S500 was very popular, so it only makes sense that the manufacturer would follow it up with the slim, more powerful 6-megapixel Exilim EX-S600. The 0.6-inch thick camera comes in three flashy colors: silver, orange, and blue. It improves upon its predecessor by adding a Digital Image Stabilization mode, another megapixel, and a better Movie mode. The camera was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2006 and had an initial retail price of $399.
Despite its thin body, the Casio is quite durable. It has a stainless steel body and a 3x zoom lens that extends outward when the camera is powered up. Pocket-sized cameras like this won't have much more zoom than that. The Fuji V10, for example, has 3.4x zoom and throws a few video games in for $349. The controls are nicely positioned and the S600 is easy to handle, even with its tiny frame. The Casio S600’s body doesn’t have any ports; instead, there is one jack that connects it to a camera dock, which in turn can enable connection to a TV or computer. There is a large 2.7-inch LCD screen on the S600’s back, but its resolution isn’t very good at 85,000 pixels. The Fuji V10 has 230,000 pixels on its 3-inch LCD, the Nikon S3 has 110,000 pixels on its 2.5-inch LCD, and the Canon SD450 has 115,000 pixels on its 2.5-inch LCD.
The Casio S600 has 34 Scene modes, including basics like Portrait and more unique modes like Old Photo. This Scene mode restores the color of old photos when you snap shots of them (yes, when you snap photos of photos, for those of you still trying to digitize your analog collection). The Scene modes can be changed by pushing the humorously abbreviated BS button, which stands for Best Shot. The Scene mode menu appears and users can scroll through scenes; each has a text title, explanation of what it’s used for, and an example photo. This is a great feature for first-timers. The S600 also has space for 999 custom presets, which is definitely a record. It’s nice that users can save their own exposure settings and flip to that preset mode and use it again later, but who wants to scroll through 999 of those?
This model is also equipped with a decent Movie mode that shoots in full 640 x 480 pixel resolution or a more e-mail-friendly 320 x 240 pixels. Both shoot at 30 frames per second (fps), so video will look smooth. The Casio EX-S600 even has a Past Movie mode that records the action 5 seconds before the shutter release button is pressed, so you’ll never miss a moment. The Digital Image Stabilization mode, which Casio calls its Anti-Shake DSP, is available only in the Movie mode. Also available are the ISO 800 and 1600 settings that are automatically used in conjunction with the Stabilization mode. These keep the video bright even in dim lighting.
The still recording modes could use those extra ISO settings, but they are not available. The camera uses a truncated 50-400 ISO range, so shooting with the scene modes in low light is difficult. The Sony T9 has ISO settings up to 640 and the Fuji V10 up to 1600, so the Casio isn't at the top of the field in this category. There is a Night Scene mode, but pictures in poor lighting either were underexposed or blurry. Also take note of the Casio S600’s image quality; it is definitely more typical of its ultra slim siblings than a higher-end camera.
The Casio Exilim EX-S600 has a nice body, but lacks the brains to be a really good digital camera. It has 6 megapixels on its CCD, but it just doesn't take good pictures in anything but bright light. The camera comes with a skinny lithium-ion battery that has a life of 300 shots and 8.3 MB of internal memory. That’s enough to capture about three pictures, so you’ll want to purchase an additional SD memory card. So if you prefer beauty over brains, remember that the skinny Casio Exilim S600 will retail for $399.
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