Reviews
Casio
Exilim EX-P600
Best 6-megapixel compact we've tested
I'll say it
right up front: the Casio EX-P600 ($599 list, $549 street) is
the best 6-megapixel compact we've tested to date. It looks fabulous
and has everything you could possibly want in a small digital
camera at a fair price. What's not to like?
Not
much. The deeper you go into this camera's feature set, the more
you find that makes you smile. On the surface you have a very
appealing, classy-looking unit made of contrasting silver, gray,
and chromed segments. From every angle, it's a high-tech jewel.
Subtle beveling makes it seem even smaller than it is, slipping
easily into a jacket pocket or purse. In the hand, it feels solid
as it displays your good taste to the world. P900 owners can expect
lots of ooohs and aaahs from friends ÷ it's that pretty.
Start taking
some pictures, though, and you'll find this beauty is no light
weight. It fires up in under two seconds, captures images at a
screaming fast three frames per second. When you are looking for
a particular image in-camera, you can scroll through hundreds
in seconds; it plays back as fast as a multi-thousand dollar pro
camera. Performance overall is superb and completely unexpected
in a compact model, blowing away all competitors without breaking
a sweat. If speed is your thing but don't fancy hauling around
a hulking D-SLR, you need to look at this camera.
Image quality
is very good to excellent for this class of camera. The small
imager does impose some limitations that result is a little chromatic
aberrations and noise, but Casio has managed to keep these inevitabilities
tamed. Results are consistently crisp outdoors, with a slight
softness in some indoor shots. There is no low-light focus assist
lamp, but the P900 is the first Exilim to offer a standard flash
sync port, so external strobes can make indoor sessions much more
professional looking. Flesh tones were particularly well rendered
without the oversaturation that's so commonly found these days
on consumer digital cameras. An array of bracketing options are
on tap for those who want to be absolutely sure they get the best
shot, including focus, exposure, white balance, and even special
effects. You can also manually tweak ISO sensitivity, sharpness,
saturation, contrast, focus, and metering modes if you're into
such things.
Not comfortable
with all that photo-jargon? No worries. This camera can even teach
you some important basics on the fly. In either aperture or shutter
priority mode, a click brings up a nicely illustrated comparison
of a sample shot taken at extreme settings. You can immediately
grasp the effect of, say, depth-of-field and how it will affect
your composition. It's the best help system I've seem on any camera.
You don't even have to trun the camera on its side to display
a portrait-oriented photo;; the camera auto-rotates them for you,
both inside the camera and on your computer. Why doesn't every
other consumer camera do this?
As
if all the above were not enough, the EX-P900 is fully buzzword-enabled:
PIM II color management, PictBridge, Epson DirectPrint, and good
ol' DPOF printing are at your disposal. The internal software
is incredibly sophisticated, with a world calendar to set your
home or destination city and the ability to play back images taken
on a particular day, if you like. For fun, there's an image roulette
function that spins through all your images and selects one at
random. Sounds goofy but it's actually kind of fun.
The camera
sports 9MB of internal flash memory for storing your favorite
images. You can choose to make these hidden or visible to all
for whatever reasons you may have. There's a standard SD slot
but the camera does not ship with a card. Don't skimp here; buy
the high-speed 512MB card this camera deserves and you'll never
regret it.
I've saved
my favorite feature for last. Casio has developed an information
overlay in shooting mode that's clearly inspired by science fiction
movies. The EX Finder is enabled with a click of the display button,
whereupon your image is graphically overlaid with a chronometer-like
circle that graphically shows you depth of focus, surrounded by
a live histogram, graphics displaying exposure compensation, shutter
speed, aperture, macro status, flash mode, and a focus reticle.
It is unutterably cool and truly useful, too. This flashy feature
will sell them truckloads of cameras. The EX Finder is the icing
on an already tasty and nutritious cake this reviewer finds completely
irresistible.
÷Edison
Carter
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