The first time I saw a Casio S600 I was amazed at its size. A tiny, slim little thing which still had a zoom, good quality picture taking and even the ability to record videos, all in a tiny, modern and very cool little package! Now I'm not usually one too get excited over things such as digital cameras - Gucci bags, yes, shoes, possibly, but a camera? Usually a disposable will do me, but once I saw this one I couldn't go back, I just had to have it!
The Technical Part ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Being not very up on all things technical, I did the next best thing (ok, silly thing) and bought the camera there and then. Well, to be fair I did go out looking for a camera, it wasn't like I had two hundred of them at home and this was just another one to add to my collection! But if you are thinking about purchasing a camera, I'm sure most people will actually want to know what it does, so here goes, I'll put it all into English afterwards for all you people
out there like me who wouldn't have a clue otherwise…
2.2 inch LCD screen - this is quite a small size screen but to be fair the camera itself is tiny. I find the screen a perfect size to be able to see clearly what you are doing.
6 mega-pixel CCD - Basically, the more pixels you have the better. I've looked around a few sites and 6 mega-pixels seem to be about the average for a digital camera, some are slightly higher, but there are a lot out there with less. If you are just after some good photographs and won't be blowing them up huge you will have no problems what so ever!
16.1mm thickness - This part speaks for itself! The camera is so slim that it easily fits in your pocket, and lightweight as well
Super Life Battery - this is an easy one and just means it has an extra long battery life, with you being able to take up to 300 pictures per charge, (or nearly two hours worth of video recording) - that's lot of pictures, I've never ran out of battery whilst using the camera as of yet, so it must be good!
Anti shake digital signal processor - this is a brilliant little function which basically means that blurry is almost total wiped out when taking pictures of moving objects. It's one of my favourite parts of the camera, yet at the time of selling wasn't even mentioned to me!
The camera also has a 3 X optical zoom.
The range ~*~*~*~*~*~
There is a wide range of Casio S600s around, in a variety of lovely colours, memory sizes and in packages including cases, extra memory and so on. I selected a sleek silver little number which I love. The camera is also available in a reddish-orange colour which is gorgeous as well, and blue.
Casio have recently updated this camera to a 7 mega-pixel version, as far as I'm aware the main difference is it being 1 mega-pixel better in photo quality than the S600. This does mean however that the price has recently dropped for the version I'm reviewing which has got to be good!
Price ~*~*~*~
The cheapest I could find this camera stocked for was from cameras2u.com, for just £138.00 which I think is an excellent deal. I paid around £220 for mine almost a year ago. The newer 7 mega-pixel version is currently being sold for around the £250 mark.
Ebay is always a good site to check out before making your final purchase, there are currently a few sellers stocking these camera, cheapest I could find there was £120 (including postage) buy it now. Looking at the auction prices, they are tending to go for about the same. Always be careful when buying off ebay, check that products are brand new with warranty, from the UK and include all accessories that would be included if bought from a store. Personally I'd rather pay the extra ten pounds to buy from an online store for peace of mind.
The verdict… ~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I highly recommend this camera! It still looks stylish to me now, a year after purchasing it, and I'm still as happy with it as the day I bought it. Being my clumsy self, I have dropped the poor camera countless amounts of times, often with the zoom lens out, but this hasn't caused any problems at all (not that I'd advise doing it!) and it's still in perfect working order.
Transferring pictures on to the computer is extremely easy and fast. The view finder on the camera is also in my opinion excellent, particularly for such a small, slim line camera.
The quality of the pictures is good - I understand that serious photographers will be after higher quality pictures and therefore this probably wouldn't be the best option for them. When you zoom in on pictures once loaded on the computer, things do get quite bitty relatively soon. However if your just after a sturdy, stylish and slim line camera for general use I think this would be perfect for you!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
(+) Ultra-compact dimensions, fun automatic tools, good performance for the asking price (-) Cluttered menu layout, camera buttons are scarce, specs are almost identical to the Samsung ES15
Advantages: Big screen, great battery length, fast transfer, excellent photo quality and build Disadvantages: No optical view-finder. Specific type battery.
alexscott 10.05.2006 (11.05.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Casio EXILIM CARD EX-S600
Advantages: Big screen, great battery length, fast transfer, excellent photo quality and build Disadvantages: No optical view-finder. Specific type battery.
alexscott 10.05.2006 (11.05.2006)
·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Casio EXILIM CARD EX-S600
Advantages: Great pictures, slim line design, easy to use menu system, excellent battery Disadvantages: Recharging becomes a pain with docking station, optical lens can brake in pocket
anthony_newman 18.10.2006 (18.10.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Casio EXILIM CARD EX-S600
Jan 16th, 2007
exceptional by (2%):
very helpful by (98%):
