Casio Exilim EX-S600 reviewed
By Ryan Block 
posted Mar 22nd 2006 2:57PM
posted Mar 22nd 2006 2:57PM
[Via DP Blog]
posted Mar 22nd 2006 2:57PM
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i bought the previous version (exilim EX-S500) before i took this "around the world" trip. it has been great. you can't beat it for ease of use, quality photos, and taking up minimal space in a pocket or pack. it's also turned out to be fairly sturdy (or i was just lucky). i dropped it a couple of times, and it never missed a beat. overall, i'm really happy with it.
This guy loves Casio's stuff. He's got a lot to say about it.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/casio/exs600.htm
I also have an EX-S500 (not the 600 reviewed) and I have had some minor image quality problems in low-light situations, but all-in-all it is a great camera for its small size, overall image quality for a snapshot camera, and truly excellent battery life (which I hear was even improved in the 600). And I echo frank's comments about its sturdiness--I take mine with me when I go hiking so it is has seen its fair share of bumps & drops but has held up remarkably well.
High praise for this line. My ES-X500 is perfect for nearly everything - except macro video. When I try to make videos of my HOWTO's on my Nokia 770 blog, It focuses in "macro" but then takes itself OUT of macro mode when you hit "video record"
As a point-and-shoot and occasional video recorder, it's a trooper and oh-so-tiny!
I also have the EX-S500 and I've had no problems with it. It's honestly been a great camera.
Another very satisfied EX-S500 user here... the thing is just awesome. Picture quality may not be up to dSLR standards, but I wouldn't expect that (as many reviewers seem to) from a pocket-size camera? I would classify its pictures as "above average."
Glad everyone likes another camera that casio makes. But lets try to give some feedback about THIS camera. When I look at a review for a new dell computer, I really dont care about how last years model performed.
I'll make it and even 6 good reviews for the ex-s500. I use it as a secondary camera, I have a canon that takes fantastic pitures. But the s500 is great I take it out all the time, being able to slip it into my pocket makes it very verstile and I'll agree that its quite sturdy for a device of its size.
After using it in person I found the picture button to be squishy poor feeling, and the battery door on the bottom is right where I put my thumb, causing a risk of opening if I hold it tightly when I take a picture.
Being able to take pictures WHILE taking videos is cool.
I picked up the Casio EXz750, their 7.2mp alternative. I've used Canon powershot for the last 6 years and I can't express (in words - I could maybe with a hammer) how much I hate Casio products.
The camera has an annoying lens-jam fault - when nothing is jamming - causing you to do things like - ride the Star Ferry TWICE in Hong Kong just so you can get the frigging photos.
It also has AWFUL pic quality - I've sometimes taken to snapping 6 or 8 photos of the same thing hoping at least one will come out right - and invariably sometimes NONE come out.
After reading the current article I'll never buy Casio again. It's too much money to blow on something that can't perform it's only function.
#7... The EX-S600 is a fairly new evolution of the S500 so the comments above are somewhat on point. Professional reviews of the S600 are hard to find too.
I just bought the S600 for $278 shipped from Buy.com. So far I love it. As someone said above, this isn't a DSLR but an ULTRA Compact point and shooter. I am very happy so far. Picture quality is better than I expected based on horror story reviews for the 500. In my admitedly limited experience with the camera I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
As for cons, the LCD could have better resolution. A friend just bought a Panasonic FX-9 and the screen on that is just beautiful.
As an aside, I can't remember getting more positive comments on a piece of tech. People love the form factor. Also, since it is so small I can keep it with me all the time, capturing things I wouldn't have thought to bring a camera for.
I bought the S600 recently I think on Ebay since they didn't have it available in the US yet and it's really THE camera I've ever wanted. I'm really picky too and don't have any complains about image quality except that the flash can be a little too bright indoors sometimes (but maybe there's a way of taking care of that).
The size of the camera was really important to me since I used to have a heavier camera and didn't like how I could always feel its weight whenever I carried it in my coat. This camera I always forget that I even have it on me! And the screen in the back is so big! I love it.
Ive had the camera for about a month (friend of mine picked it up in china for me) and i absolutely love it. Everywhere I go I get complemented on it, "oh wow, it sooo small" or "wow, ive never seen an orange digicam" or "such a big screen on such a small camera."
As for using it, couldnt be easier. I take it everywhere, and havent had any problems with image quality. Only thing I might say is that after you take the 1st shot with flash it DOES take about 3 seconds to take another shot. Having said that, I love the camera!
Ive had the S600 for over 3 weeks and can tell you its a fantastic feature rich ultra- compact pocket camera with the best battery life ever seen in this class of credit card sized camera (300 shots per charge) and mine still reads fully charged after 3 weeks of use! Its possible CNET review may have been predicated on indoor shots (and looking at the pics in their review thats what it may be skewed upon. Obviously outdoor pictures always are more crisp and sharper than indoor shots, and the S600 takes excellent outdoor shots IMHO. I have taken quite a few indoor shots with and without the flash and although I wish the flash were more powerful, the pics are certainly not as bad as CNETs results. I would say CNET is perhaps jaded on the camera by making this statement: Unfortunately, those assets are outweighed by its limited 3X zoom range and mediocre photo quality. Limited zoom range because its 3x opticalon one of the worlds smallest cameras? Are not 80% of digital cameras 3x optical zoom or less?
I own the s100, 3 mp, and it's a wonderful little point and shoot - I was pleasantly surprised, after reading so many comments on how mediocre it was. Granted, indoor photos are not wonderful, due to the lighting, and they go grainy - but outside ones work very well. They seem like great little cameras. It survived getting soaked in the ocean and lugged everywhere.
And yes, the "ooh that's so small!" comments you get whenever pulling one out are nice too.
I own an EX-S100 and just bought an EX-S600 last week to replace it for a vacation I'm currently on. I've been extremely satisfied with both. In fact, a friend just bought the EX-500 a few weeks back based on my recommendation and loves it.
Is it going to take dSLR-quality photos? No. But that's not the target audience. It's a great point-and-shoot camera that fits nicely on your belt or slipped into your pocket. I can't praise the cam enough.
i've had this for a few months now and I have zero complaints. Picture quality has been great, startup time and between shot delays are unnoticable. CNET is full of crap.
Have had my EX-S600 for a couple of months. it is the best small camera for the following reasons:
1.beautiful design and thin size
2.great quality pictures
3. An incredible 60 minutes of very clear video with a 1GB card
4.Amazing battery life
5.large display
6. Easy to use
7. Very durable
There might be other larger cameras that might do some things better, but this is all around the greatest small camera out there. And the best feature is that because it is so small I always carry it with me, and how many times do you miss a shot of something great because your camera was too big to carry? And one hour worth of clear video is incredible. This is my fourth Casio, and they just keep getting better with smaller size, larger display, more megapixels, and now long and clear video. It is the best!
If any of the design fanatic crowd that gathers here had compared the images of this (and any other Casio's) piece(s) of crap to the images delivered by almost any other sub-compact digital camera from Canon, Kodak, Sony (except the T-series), Panny, etc. no one would say, that this camera takes great pictures, especially NOT the S-series.
Casio should produce calculators and Ex-Words for Japan, but not cameras.
i love this camera. i use it every day. i got it for christmas and only had to charge it about 5 times. battery life is awesome. You can double the battery life by using the 'high sensitivity' BS mode instead of using flash.
every pic on my site uses the exilim ex-s600
http://www.4pp13.com
though almost all pics are resized and recompressed (using iphoto) cuz each pic on the ex-s600 is 1.5megs (at highest rez)
engadget, u forgot to mention the tivo-like mpeg4 recording functions. this camera will start recording 8 seconds before you hit the record button and you can set it to record 8 seconds further after you stop the recorder.
i take it to basketball games to record movies. all i have to do is hit the shutter after the ball goes in the net and i capture the whole thing
Excellent comments guys, i really appreciate everyone's input. I owned the ex-s100 and i dropped it in ocean water (accident) and now looking for a replacement. I loved the s100 so much that i am only considering casio again. So glad there are so many positive comments on the 600, i am deff going to be buying it.
Any great sites you guys can recomend that i can buy it and shipped to Canada?!
I don't have a lot of faith in CNET. I don't own one of these cameras, but I've never heard anyone accuse one of these tiny Casio cameras of being slow to use (including the 500).
I have the S500. It looks great (I personally think it is currently the best looking ultracompact) , feels solid and is surprisingly rugged (my heart missed a beat when I dropped it a couple of weeks ago, as I did with my now broken EX-Z50). Battery life is excellent too.
Picture quality is OK for an ultracompact, and I LOVE the dedicated record button for movies. Casio's menu system is among the easiest and most intuitive ones I used.
My only gripe would be the under-powered flash and poor low light picture quality.
Tintin, I'm also in Canada and purchased the S600 from Henry's (www.henrys.com). Incidentally, it's also available at Futureshop and is currently on sale.
I have the orange ex-s600 from Casio now for 6 months and i think its just great, the battery life is out of this world, and i just took a trip to Florida and on a 1gb card i took 77 pictures and 45 minutes of video, and they all came out great, the inside shots are not as good as the outdoor ones, but still a good quality, were the outdoors are just great, the color from the ocean and sunsets were out of this world, and the size and color had people on the beach asking all kinds of questions. A very good purchase i made on E-Bay i made for 325.00.
great cool camera the ex-s600. i have a bulky fantastic digital camera for my serious work and this orange casio ex-s600 for fun. no complaints, have had it for 3 weeks, carry it everywhere with me. am a mac user and it came with a software component so the avi movie will play in quicktime. very satisfied with picture quality, usability, start up, lag, movie quality, best shot features, and its so freakin' awesome looking to boot. in canada, on sale now at henrys.com (all colours) and at future shop (only grey). want a fun, decent cool camera, this is it! looking forward to future casio products!
I am thinking of getting the s600, after spending a good month looking at various review sites and while no digital will ever be perfect (at the moment anyway) have come to the conclusion that you either love casio or hate them, but most of the sites give it the thumbs up, so I'M getting one for 199 inc a free case and 256mb card with 2 years warranty, can anyone tell me how many pics and video you can get on a 1gig card I presume you can adjust the quality to get more on the card but I mean at highist quality
Hey Denis i just got back from a trip to Florida and on a 1gb card i got 85 pictures and 50 minutes of video, not a techie so I didn't check my settings, all I know is I never changed anything since I bought the camera so I'm using the factory settings.
The pictures are great and the video is good, and its very easy to transfer both the pictures and video to your computer and to dvd's.
Thanks Craig
i really enjoy my ex-s600. the 1gig card holds half an hour of video(on the highest quality setting) or about 250 pictures (also on highest quality). The video looks really good on the highest quality setting; it takes better movies than my friends handheld digital camcorders.
I'm a college student and it's been great for me. A couple of pictures have come out imperfect, but most problems are my fault (not letting it focus properly, etc.); I'd recommend it any day.
Plus, battery life is awesome. I record lectures on it and turn off the display while doing so... I can easily record over 6 hours of lectures without having to recharge the battery. Haven't needed to use my spare battery yet.
i loved my camera when my uncle bought it for me... it`s been doing great until like the first time the lens got jammed but then i fixed it and i thought it wasn`t anything serious and now my camera`s lens are really jammed, i can`t do anything about it!
any suggestions?
I've gotta say, i really like this camera. I recently bought one on ebay for $70 because the screen was cracked (which actually doesnt limit picture taking too much, because i can still see about 80% of the picture Im taking). I love how you can get up close to flowers and take great close pics from across the room, or even across campus (in college).
As for Matthias about 12 comments up, i have a kodak, and it absolutely sucks. For one thing, its 3.2 mp, and theres no options. In fact, the only good thing (and its not even that great) is the kodak software for the computer.
I really love my camera... and its a pretty blue color too. I have really small hands, and this camera is great for me!!
I bought the S600 but can't seem to get the date stamp feature to work when printing pictures. Anyone have this problem?
My Casio exilim has a Lens Jam error. Anyone know how to fix it??!
dearphilly@yahoo.com
Try Master Tim's Casio Camera Sales and Service