Home > Consumer Reviews > Casio Exilim EX-S10BK 10MP 3x Zoom 2.7-Inch LCD Screen Digital Camera (Black)

This camera is a bit of a missed opportunity. I've owned two previous Casio Exilim Card-series cameras in this same line. With each iteration, the camera gets better, and this one is no exception with respect to size, which is a big deal. The whole point of this camera is how small and therefore useable it is--you can take it to parties etc. It's smaller and more detailed than ever, and that's two steps forward.

However, Casio has inexplicably changed two things for the worst with this latest one. For one thing, it took away the cradle charger/downloader. No idea why they'd do that. It was a very convenient and stylish way to store the camera, and you could keep the battery in. Now you have to take it out and put it in the travel charger which is hanging on a wall plug--inconvenient and unsightly. Worse, you have to reset the time etc. on the camera every time now. For those of us who care about time and dates, this is a real pain.

The other step back, a worse one, is that once you choose a Best Shot mode and shut off the camera, you lose that default and it goes back to full auto. WHY?? The whole point of a tiny camera like this for many of us who keep coming back to this line is that we can fit it in our pocket and take it to parties at night. There, you need the Party or Nighttime scene mode. But every time you now shut off the camera and turn it back on, you have to go back to the scenes and find the mode again! WHY? Totally kills the moments, and it's a big step back. At least add an easy software option for those of us that want the camera to stay in a certain mode until we change it, like Sony has. This is a disappointing change in this line.

Seriously, go to Target and give it a test-run. As soon as you try the auto-shutter feature you'll be sold. If you set the auto-shutter to smile, it will wait until the subject smiles to take the picture. It's the best when using it on uncooperative children. No more waiting for them to smile and being a second too late. Also, the continuous shutter mode worked to get pictures of my mother who can never seem to keep her eyes open. It is an excellent point-and-shoot camera with 36 presets to get the right picture. It even has a pre-set for self-portraits where you're holding the camera backwards! In addition, it is one of the few cameras with a functional video mode. While it is a great point-and-shoot, it has easily-navigable menus to take control over every aspect of a picture, giving you the advantages of an SLR for the perfect shot, every time. It's light and compact design is great for touring or to simply slip into your pocket and take it with you around town. It is simply an amazing camera that takes high quality pictures. No regrets.

a lot of people would probably want to compare this camera to the coolpix, but this is so much better. i love this camera. it starts up in less than 2 seconds and you can take about a pic a second so its great for events... its super responsive to button presses. there is no delay and switching between modes is instantaneous. the flash charges almost instantaneously too. best shot is the bomb. i wish i could throw out modes though. some of them are utterly useless and fill up the screen. flower mode is great for close-ups. i wish there was a "macro" mode so i didn't have to go to "flower" mode. it also looks awesome. they even paid attention to the way the battery cover locks in place. this camera is perfect in almost every way except for.... battery life. yes you will have to charge it every night if you do a lot of movie-taking, which is primarily what i bought this camera for. the movies are pretty decent quality. very sharp, and suitable for youtube. just not very big... go with the black one or the red one and you won't be disappointed. best $214 i ever spent on a camera.

Just bought the worlds thinnest camera* (* as of jan 8th!) and am really pleased. I use a camera just to put in my pocket and take pictures of people and things I see that I like, so this camera is perfect. Its very, very slim and small. My choice was between a leica and this - but I think if your going to get a leica, you should go SLR - if its just a simple camera to carry round, this is ideal.
I was not sure about casio as a brand but when I took some pictures I was impressed.
The pictures I've taken so far came out really nice, clear, bright and good quality when I transferred to my computer. The LCD is huge for the size of the camera.
Drawbacks I would say are that you cannot fool around with this camera - if does not feel THAT sturdy but its fine for normal use. note to self: do not take out when consuming more than 4 units of alcohol! :) Also, low lighting pictures dont look fantastic on the LCD (a little grainy, but when on a p.c they look fine!)
Set up was very easy and very simple to get used to! Highly recommend!

Pros:
- Very small, fits in shirt pocket; a camera that you can everywhere always
- Sturdy construction, due to metal frame
- Very fast start-up and autofocus speed; real snapshot camera
- Good Monitor
- Side-bar type menu for adjustment of the 8 most often used menu items (flash, picture size, face recognition etc.)
- Very good picture quality; does not overachieve, but for normal use (blogs, 5x7 printouts, photobooks) it is more than adequate; very nice color rendition; very decent grain at low ISO settings (up until 400); don't expect Ansel Adams like photos, but for every day use the quality is very good
- Looks very stylish

Could be better:
- Very small buttons; if your in the habit of biting your fingernails, bring a pen ...
- Lens distortion; it does not look very good when straight vertical lines on the edges (like telephone poles or trees) are somewhat bent to the center at the upper part; does not play a big role when photographing people, but with landscapes and architecture, you better know what to expect
- Face recognition works slow and only when face is not angled; not big deal, but my Fujifilm F100fd does a far more better job ...

Cons:
- The so called "Handbook"; this is a joke - it is fairly thick, but only because they cramped a gazillion exotic languages in it. It is written for the total newbie and does not have any useful information for advanced shooters in it; I would like to have known what the numerous Best Shot programs do, like setting sharpness, color balance, shutter speed and so on; this information is given as two liner in the BS menu in camera, but not with much detail. So you need to guess how the pictures will come out when using the BS function.
And even if you are a novice, it lets you in the dark on so many aspects of this camera. You almost need to possess the knowledge of a pro to compensate for the lack of information in the handbook ...

Other observations:
- It was mentioned in a few reviews, that the camera looses all settings when turned off. That is not true - in the REC menu, at the "memory" tab, you can tell the camera which settings to keep when shut off. I really understand that people did not find this information - it is not mentioned in the handbook (see above ...) and if you are not a little bit experienced in handling digital cameras (this is my 15th since 1999 ...), you will not find this function easily.
- The AUTO program limits the automatic ISO setting to 200. Which is a good thing, because in higher ISO settings, the pictures show considerable noise. The Landscape Best Shot setting does the same, the Night BS setting allows ISO 1600. Would have been nice to find that kind of information in the handbook, instead by analyzing photos by my own ...
- Battery life is not great - as can be expected when the battery is as tiny as a book of matches. About 200 pictures is my average, which is acceptable for me.


So, to sum it up:
A very stylish, small, yet sturdy camera you can carry with you all the time, that makes good pictures and is especially suited for snapshots.
I use it predominantly for taking pictures for my blogs, and it is great for this.