Last August, I had a chance to review a digital camera from the Casio Exilim line, the EX-S12. It was an awesome little pocket camera with a ton of cool features. Casio sent me another camera from the Exilim line to try out for a bit, the Casio EX-S5. It functions much as the same as the EX-S12 but is almost half the price, so it’s great for those on a budget. There were a lot of things that I did like, and things that I didn’t. I’m going to outline the most important parts for me on this little camera.

Specs:
The EX-S5 is a sleek and sturdy 10.1 megapixel camera priced to travel with you everywhere. It features a youtube capture mode, bestshot mode, face detection, focus frames, and 3x optical zoom. You can visit Casio’s website to view all features and specifications.

Throughout this post are photos taken with the EX-S5. None of them have been edited, but I have added my logo for copyright purposes.

Pros:
Body and Style
I love the sleek look and feel of this camera. It comes in five different colors including black, gray, blue, pink, and purple. It is less than an inch thick at .7″ and is .5″ at it’s smallest point.

Easy Mode
Let’s face it, a lot of us aren’t camera guru’s and when it comes to digital cameras, we just point and shoot, hoping for a good picture. The EX-S5 has an easy mode which takes a lot of options away which can be confusing for some people, and makes it that much easier to point and shoot.

Video Mode
Taking videos on the EX-S5 is very simple. You don’t have to choose a different mode like you do on some cameras. You just press the record button on the top right hand side of the camera to begin filming, and the same button when you are done again.
You can also take pictures while you are recording, and are able to zoom in and out. The picture quality is really nice as well. To see a video done with this camera, check out my Waterpik Review.

Face Detection
I think it is safe to say that a lot of users will use their cameras to take pictures of people. With the face detection feature, the camera recognizes faces in the picture, focuses on them and your end result is beautiful pictures.

Sizing Options
There are seven different options when it comes to sizing. They include: 10m, 3:2, 16:9, 7m, 4m, 2m, and VGA. Obviously if you have your camera set on 10m, it is going to take less pictures, but you will be able to blow them up larger. If you are looking for a wall print, this is nice. Sometimes I like to choose 2m or VGA if I want to e-mail or upload a photo quickly without having to resize it in my editing program.

Best Shot
Like the EX-S12, this camera has tons of options when it comes to shooting the right picture. 23 options to be exact. You can choose from things like Portrait, Scenery, Food, Sundown, and Pets. The photograph below of the cupcake was taken on the food setting. Apart from the photo being a bit dark, (I like to shoot with the natural light), the detail on the cupcake is great and you can tell the camera really picked what it needed to.

Cons:
LCD Screen
The lcd screen on this camera is not very clear. The first few pictures and videos I took with this camera, I was unimpressed. The pictures looked dull and grainy on the screen. Once I plugged the camera into the computer, I couldn’t believe how nice and clear they were. So the lcd screen does NOT do the pictures justice on this camera.

Processing Time
Like the EX-S12, the processing time can be up to 5-6 seconds. I don’t have a lot of patience for this when I’m trying to shoot pictures of my kids. I like to have a quick turnaround time because you never know when you are going to miss that perfect opportunity to get a good shot.

Charging Unit
This was also something that I didn’t like on the other Exilim camera that I reviewed. While I appreciate that it came with a lithium battery, a definite plus in digital camera, charging it is a bit of a pain. You have to take the battery out of the camera, and plug it into a separate charger. The charging unit consists of the actual charger, and the cord which plugs into it. It seems like more to keep track of. I have had digital cameras in the past that have chargers that plug directly into the camera so you never have to take the battery out. I actually prefer that.

Memory Card
I think it would be a nice improvement for the camera to come with a nice sized memory card. This particular camera did not come with one. When you buy a camera for the first time, it’s frustrating to get it out of the box, charge the battery, and are ready to take pictures…..only you don’t have a memory card to hold anything! I like to have a 2 GB memory card with me, because it takes hundreds of pictures and about an hour and a half of video on this camera. So a nice improvement – including a memory card as part of the package deal.

Overall Impression
I think that the Casio Exilim EX-S5 would be a good option for a person looking for a reliable point and shoot camera that has a lot of features, but is easy to use. It takes nice pictures most of the time, is small and compact, and takes great video. At $129, it’s also easy on the pocket book.

Price: $129

Where to Buy: Retailers listed at Casio

The product reviewed in this article was a sample provided to me by Casio.  I was given the camera for a period of time for trial and review purposes and then returned back to the sponsor.  The views and opinions are my own and I was not compensated by this review.

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