Photo gallery: Casio Exilim EX-S500True to the Casio Exilim series, the S500 measures just 13.7mm at its thinnest point, making it a close contender to the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7. This 5-megapixel ultracompact with 3x optical zoom features an anti-shake digital signal processor (DSP) that minimises shaky hands or moving objects. Along with blur-free photos, the unit hosts a series of user-friendly features that make general handling visually appealing without compromising on performance.
Design
Hopping onto the bandwagon of ultracompact credit card-sized digital cameras is the Exilim EX-S500. Encased in stainless steel, the unit gives an overall sturdy feel despite its sleek profile. Weighing at 115g (without battery and accessories) and measuring 90 x 59 x 16.1mm, the S500 manages to pack in a 2.2-inch LCD while still maintaining the minimalist look.
Available in burnt orange or shotgun grey, the S500 is bound to be a head turner. The squarish buttons on the back of the camera give us a rather boxy feeling. The unit can be turned on via the power button embedded at the top or we can preset the playback and record buttons to serve that function as well.
The S500 has a dedicated movie recording button similar to the one on Canon's PowerShot S2 IS -- allowing MPEG-4 movies to be recorded at any point of time provided the camera is powered on. Like the PowerShot S2, the Casio's S500 also has the ability to record stills within video.
The accompanying descriptions for each dial on the back of the camera appear hardly visible when the unit is tilted at certain angles. This does not materialise into a major problem, but at some point during our tests, we were wondering what the function of the Down button was.
The four-direction controls which are nearly flushed with the body of the camera may cause some inconveniences for users with larger thumbs. Otherwise, the buttons are responsive without any noticeable lag when navigating through the menus.
Features
The S500 features anti-shake capabilities which digitally manipulate the image captured in order to reduce blurring of photos. We would appreciate an option to manually turn on the anti-shake function as the unit comes only with Auto or Off selection.
The camera accepts Secure Digital (SD) cards and is MultiMediaCard (MMC) compatible with an additional onboard memory capacity of 8.3MB. Digital video enthusiasts will love the S500's high-quality MPEG-4 recording. With a 1GB SD memory card, up to one hour of videos can be taken in Normal mode.
The rear of the camera sports the bare essential controls giving it an overall roomy feel. Everything else other than the flash/delete, display and Best Shot scene modes can be accessed only via the camera's menu. There is a choice of selecting either focus, exposure, white balance, ISO or self-timer settings as a shortcut using the left and right directional buttons.
Like its older brethren in the Exilim series, the EX-P505, and Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-M1, the S500 starts recording 5 seconds before the shutter is depressed if the Past Movie under Best Shot is activated. It helps us anticipate fast-moving objects, like a race car zooming past the chequered flag.
 Doing away with wordy descrptions, the scene modes come with a graphical interface. |
 A calendar preview of the first picture taken on any day. |
The graphical display of Best Shot scene modes gives a good representation of when each should be used. Aimed at making snapshot photography a more enjoyable experience, the S500 also comes with a calendar display with a preview of the first picture taken for that particular day during playback. It may not have serious uses, but it definitely helps the user recall which day that important photo was taken.
Performance
The camera's startup and shutdown clocked at slightly below 2 seconds individually. The autofocus took about 3 seconds in between shots with the flash turned on. However, the unit performed much better -- less than 2 seconds -- when the flash was forced off. We managed to take approximately 150 shots alternating between flash on and off with the usual playback and deleting of pictures, leaving us with 1/3 the battery life. This was not too bad considering there's no viewfinder and the LCD had to be on the whole time.
What we didn't like about the AF system was the raspy sound it generated during autofocusing. The frame would freeze when the shutter was half-depressed for slightly over a second- - not long, but a noticeable wait if one decides to suddenly change the subject in focus.
We brought the S500 out of our labs to run some tests and we found the camera to generally produce clear and sharp images. There was no noticeable purple fringing in our pictures at high magnification. With the auto settings, the colour of our shots taken indoors turned out to be consistent with what we took. We also snapped close-ups of flora using the macro option and were pleased with the vibrant colours.
With the anti-shake digital signal processor, our pictures taken at night turned out slightly clearer than without. The best night photos, however, were still taken using a tripod and the self-timer function.
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