Designtechnica Reviews the Casio EX-S500

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://reviews.designtechnica.com/review3228.html' target='_blank'>http://reviews.designtechnica.com/review3228.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Mindboggling. That’s the only way to describe the ultra-tiny new 5-megapixel digicam from Casio. I’ve handled the vast majority of compact 5MP models with large LCD screens but the Casio Exilim Card EX-S500 is even smaller than the competition. And while camera’s LCD is screen is not as large as say the Sony T series (2.2 versus 2.5 inches), the overall package is appealing—on paper. Unfortunately this camera is far from perfection personified but it is a tour de force of miniaturization. Now if they only spent as much time on photo quality…"</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/designtechnica-s500.gif" /><br /><br />A fairly damning review from Design Technica - what makes it worse is that this is the camera that I own. ;-) The size and aesthetic design of the S500 are top notch - it gets wows from people whenever I take it out. In decent lighting conditions, or subjects within range of it's flash, it takes decent pictures - much better than any other ultra-small camera that I looked at. In low lighting conditions, the noise is quite bad. I looked at a lot of different cameras, and all small sized cameras seemed to have small sensors. And the smaller the sensor, the greater the digital noise (in general). I was shocked to see that the review complained about the speed of picture taking - that's one of the things that I feel the S500 excels at.<br /><br />The review commented that it took a while to save the picture to the SD card, which could be caused by the type of SD card that was used. The shutter lag - how long it takes to snap the picture when you press the shutter - is very low. The 640 x 480 video clips look excellent - much better than any other still camera I've seen. Overall, the S500 is a nice camera with a lot going for it, but there are some compromises with image quality. I have yet to see a camera this size that takes truly excellent pictures, but am looking forward to the day one exists.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Jason, I thought you had another Casio?

I did praise the design, knowing what nice cameras Casio makes in terms of egronomics and usability, but when samples first came out I thought there were real problems even for snapshots. The camera had problems with noise, yes, but coupled with the so-so lens the quality is quite subpar for a modern camera. The original card camera had a better lens, but at the cost of speed; it was a f/4.0-5.6 design. I suppose they decided that a faster shutter speed that would prevent camera shake at the wide end would result in sharper photos most of the time.

That said since most people print 4x6s I suppose Casio thought they could get away with it, and they probably did.

[mcsouth]

I have had Canon digital cameras ever since I started using digital cameras - Pro70, S330, G1, G5, and currently an SD400. I have been very happy with the SD400 - a great pocketable camera loaded with great features, good battery life and good quality pictures (for me at least). The movie mode works great on it as well (I am using a Sandisk 1GB Ultra II SD card in it, as continuous video apprently relies on a fast card).

The only complaint I would tend to have is that there is limited manual controls, so every now and then, I find myself "testing" different scene modes in order to try and capture the shot I want, instead of simply adjusting the aperature and shutter speed like I did on my Nikon FE.

I can't say that I have compared this camera's output to any other compact camera - I did read a lot of online reviews (primarily at DPreview) before making my decision, and I will admit that my comfort level with Canon was a significant factor. The other was the manual viewfinder - as useless as it may be, it still allows me to take lots more photos after a low battery warning by shutting off the LCD. Most other compact cameras don't have an optical viewfinder, so when the battery no longer can power that hungry LCD, you're out of luck.

[Jason Dunn]

Jason, I thought you had another Casio?

I had a Z50, but ended up selling it and getting the S500 because it was almost 50% thinner.

[Phoenix]

The S500 looks like a slick little camera. Personally, I like the Z750 that I own. Great rez, great photos, great big screen, decent sized sensor (1/1.8"), great battery life, and really fast.

The S500 and the Z750 are the same size in height and width, but although the 750 is very slim, the S500 is even slimmer.

The only thing that keeps me from going any smaller in a PaS cam is that I won't go with a sensor smaller than what 's in my 750. Anything smaller than 1/1.8", and the photos really take a hit (as though they don't already to whatever extent with these little cameras).

The 750 received a great review from DPReview which I was pleased to read prior to buying it. I haven't regretted my purchase.


Five things I can't live without on a small PaS:

- 5+ MP
- 2.5" screen
- 1/1.8"+ sensor
- SD slot
- And let's not forget great photo quality (as good as could be on a pocketable cam).