Casio EX-S10
£220.00
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The Casio EX-S10 combines stylish slim design with the high-end features and functionality that consumers demand from the modern compact. With the lens retracted this is a super-slimline model that, when launched, Casio claimed was the thinnest camera available. It will slip easily into most pockets, and the style credentials are boosted by its availability in a range of different colours.
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The Casio EX-S10 uses a newly developed CCD sensor that has allowed Casio to pack in a respectable 10.1MP resolution into such a small body. There’s also a large 2.7in LCD screen with bright display and a wide viewing angle. The screen covers most of the back of the camera, alongside the command buttons. Functions are easy to access although metering mode and white balance can only be set via the main menu. The left and right key of the D-pad can be customized to a setting of your choice – a real bonus although we’d have liked to customize all four keys for maximum ease of use.
There are a range of shooting modes, plus 36 ‘Best Shot’ (BS) options and three ‘auto trigger’ modes: Blur, Panning and Smile, where the camera detects motion and takes the picture for you. We found the Blur detection most useful. Panning and Smile were a bit hit and miss – even with trigger sensitivity set to high.
The more experienced snapper will be disappointed that this model doesn’t have any manual control over aperture or shutter values. Continuous shooting to 4fps is possible, but only in high speed mode which drops resolution to a measly 2MP.
This model houses a x3 optical zoom which covers an equivalent focal range of 36-108mm – a little disappointing at the wide end. At lower ISO settings image quality is good, with bold colours, sharp edges and no noise. At ISO 200, edge softness becomes evident, and finer details are lost, and by the time we reach ISO 1600, noise is decidedly heavy, particularly in shadow areas.
For a lightweight unobtrusive camera, they don’t come much slimmer than the EX-S10, the design is smart too. There are plenty of features and resolution, good auto focus, a decent ISO sensitivity range and a large LCD screen. We couldn’t help thinking though that some of the features (auto detect and continuous shooting at 2MP for instance) are a little gimmicky, and the image quality over 400 ISO leaves a lot to be desired.
Resolution 10.1 Megapixels
Sensor 1/2.3in CCD
Lens 3x optical zoom, 36-108mm
File type JPEG, DCF standard, DPOF compliant
Metering Multi pattern / Centre Weighted / Spot
Shooting modes Best Shot (BS)/Auto/Youtube/FR/Movie/Still/Still with Audio
Focusing 15cm - infinity
AF mode Spot/Multi/Tracking (contrast detect) Manual/Infinity/Macro/Pan
Anti Shake image stabilisation
Continuous shooting 4fps
Shutter speed 4 seconds – 1/2000sec
ISO range 50 - 1600
Memory card SD / SDHC / MMC / MMC+
Monitor 2.7in TFT LCD 230k dots
Weight/Dimensions (WxHxD) 113g/ 94.2x54.6x15.0mm