Casio Exilim EX-S600 Easy Digital Camera Review

Casio’s ultra slim S500 was very popular, so it only makes sense that the manufacturer would follow it up with a slim, more powerful digital camera. The result is the Casio Exilim EX-S600, which has 6 megapixels in a 0.6-inch thick body. The camera is most distinguishable by its looks. It’s small, extremely thin, and 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 and will be sold to the masses for $399 in March.

Despite the small 3.5 x 2.3 x 0.6-inch measurements, the camera is still quite durable. It has a stainless steel body and a 3x zoom lens that extends outward when the camera is powered up. The controls are nicely positioned and the S600 is easy to handle, even with its tiny frame. It fits effortlessly into a pocket. The Casio S600’s body doesn’t have any ports on it; instead, there is one jack that connects it to a camera dock, which in turn can enable connection with 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 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 actually 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 email-friendly 320 x 240 pixels. Both shoot at 30 frames per second, so video will look smooth. The Casio EX-S600 even has a Past Movie mode that records the action five seconds before the shutter release button is pressed, so you’ll never miss the surprised look on your birthday girl’s face. The digital image stabilization, 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. 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 in this regard.

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 the camera just can’t seem to 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 an 8.3 MB of internal memory. That’s enough to capture about 3 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.

Casio Exilim EX-S600 - THE BOTTOM LINE.... Rating:

Likes

- 0.6 inches thick - Stylish stainless steel body - High ISOs in movie mode - Past Movie Mode function - Digital image stabilization - 300-shot battery life

Dislikes

- Compromised image quality - Low-resolution LCD - No manual controls - Limited included software - Only 8.3 MB of internal memory

Casio Exilim EX-S500 Rating:	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T9 Rating:	Fujifilm FinePix V10 Rating:	Canon PowerShot SD450 Rating:	Nikon Coolpix S3 Rating:
Better	Better	Better	Better	Better
- $349 price - Comes in white and gray colors, as well as orange	- Closer 0.4 inch macro mode - 30-1/1000 shutter speeds - Aperture and shutter priority modes - Manual functionality - More powerful flash reaches 16.4 ft - Flash intensity compensation available - 80-640 manual ISO in still recording	- $349 price - 38-130 mm Fujinon 3.4x optical zoom lens - 3 inch LCD - 4-1/2000 shutter speeds - Video games - 64-1600 ISO	- Optical viewfinder - Fast Frame Rate movie mode: 60 fps - My Colors mode - Marketed by Maria Sharapova - 115,000 pixels on LCD	- Non-extending lens - Face priority auto focus mode - $379 price - 110,000 pixels on LCD
Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal
- Same 38-114 mm 3x optical zoom lens - 4 oz weight - 1/2.5 inch CCD - 1/8-1/2000 shutter speed - +/- 2 EV exposure compensation - Stainless steel construction - 640 x 480 movie mode at 30 fps - PictBridge compatible - 8.3 MB internal memory - Anti shake mode	- 6 megapixels - 38-114 mm 3x optical zoom lens - 1/2.5 inch CCD - Durable metal construction	- 1/2.5 inch CCD - Same +/- 2 exposure compensation scale	- $399 price - 3x optical zoom lens - 1/2.5 inch CCD - Stainless steel body - 640 x 480-pixel movies at 30 fps - PictBridge compatible	- 3x optical zoom lens - 4 oz weight - 6 megapixels on 1/2.5 inch CCD
Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse
- 5 megapixels - 0.8 inches thick - 2.2 inch LCD - 7 point auto focus system - 31 scene modes - 200-shot battery life	- $449 price tag - 3.6 x 2.2 x 0.8-inch thicker measurements - Heavier 4.9 oz frame - 2.5 inch LCD screen - 5 point AF system - 10 scene modes - No manual white balance mode	- 5.1 megapixels - 0.9 inches thick - 6 scene modes	- 0.85 inches thick - 5 megapixels - 2.5 inch LCD screen - 8 scene modes	- Movies recorded at 15 fps only - 0.8 inches thick - 2.5 inch LCD screen - 16 scene modes - Weak flash only reaches to 8.2 ft - 2-1/350 shutter speeds