According to John Clough, President of Casio, Inc., "The EX-S500, which is available in fashionable white, orange and gray colors incorporates Casio’s heralded EXILIM Engine along with advanced MPEG4 quality movie capabilities and anti-blur technology - all in a digital camera that’s barely the size of a credit card."
The Exilim EX-S500 relies on a 1/2.5-inch 5 MP CCD and 3x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 38-114mm in 35mm format) to capture still images and video clips. The camera includes 8.3MB of internal memory and can accept additional SD cards up to 1GB. The slight body includes a large 2.2" TFT LCD screen for viewing, but is only composed of 84,960 pixels. Marketed as a hybrid imager, the EX-S500 can record MPEG-4 video at VGA (640 x 480) quality, shooting at a rate of 30 frames per second. When a 1GB SD memory card is used, the S500 can capture up to 1 hr and 20 minutes of continuous video with monaural audio in "Normal" mode.
"In a market where manufacturers are selling disposable camcorders because of their portable travel appeal, the S500 is the perfect icon for permanent multi-functionality exhibiting a re-useable "best of class technology" as an affordable business, leisure and fashion accessory," said Clough.
In line with all other Exilim models, the EX-S500 relies on an Exilim Engine Image processor to increase performance speeds while reducing power consumption; the included rechargeable lithium ion battery is advertised as attaining roughly 200 shots per charge. According to Casio, the Exilim Engine processing module also effectively reduces start-up and shot to shot times by to 1 second, while shutter lag is dropped to just .008 seconds after the shutter is depressed. The updated Exilim Engine in the EX-S500 also includes an Anti-Shake Digital Signal Processor that is designed to reduce the blurring caused by hand motion and camera shake
The 8.1MP gets a little help from the Exilim Enging 2.0 and the Anti-Shake DSP technologies. There is a 2.6 inch viewing screen and a 3x optical zoom.
Another compact camera on the market, what can this offer over other cameras? This tiny compact camera comes packed with 10.1 Megapixels. That’s twice the MP most people’s camera have. It has a wide screen 2.6 inch LCD. A cool perk is there four different colors to choose from:black, silver, blue, and pink. It has a very solid feel with its aluminum body. The zoom is controlled by a switch that encircles the shutter button. It has a 3x extending zoom. It has the standard antishake lens, Best Shot button, and thin body with all Casio cameras. The retail price on this camera is $269.99 making it the cheapest 10MP camera out.
Body This camera is a follow up to the previous EX-Z1000, the first 10.1 megapixel compact camera. It now has a smaller body as well as has a bigger and brighter LCD. The Z1000 retailed at $399.99 and now the Z1050 is retailed at $269.00 The body is made of aluminum. The back has a nice thumb grip with 8 dots to help hold your grip while you use your index finger for the shutter and zoom. Casio’s bodies are known to be silm and stylish. This camera follows suit. It is 3.6 x 2.3 x 0.95 inches and is 0.81 inches at its thinnest point. It weights only 4.4 ounces without the battery.
Display The LCD is a 2.6 inch 14:9 formatted LCD. It is called the “Super Bright” LCD because it automatically increase the brightness depending on how much light it reads is around it. The LCD has a very limited viewing angle. Looking at it other then directly onward gives a washed out look. The extra wide screen leave room for a menu bar on the side while you are taking pictures. This menu bar lets you quickly change settings such as the flash, photo size, focus type, and etc.
Zoom This is a unique camera for Casio using the zoom ring, Casio uses mostly two buttons on the back for zoom. This zoom ring was found on the z1000 as well. The zoom on this camera is a 3x 7.9-23.7mm optical zoom which is a 38-114mm equivalent. The maximum aperture is F/2.8 at 38mm and F/5.1 at 114mm. One perk of having a 10MP camera is the use of digital zoom. When you take a picture the zoom bar shows a green arrow where the optical zoom ends, then it shows a red bar where lossless digital zoom ends. That means if you select to take a picture at 5MP it will take a 10MP photo and crop it down to what you see in the screen giving you a lossless digital zoom. After the red bar it will simply do a normal digital zoom which crops the current picture and reduces its quality. You are only able utilize this lossless digital zoom if you take a 5MP picture or smaller.
Features As with all Casio’s they feature the Best Shot Feature. This is a button located on the back labeled BS. There are 36 Best Shot scene modes from portrait, scenery, food, to some fun ones like retro and monochrome, as well as some occasionally useful ones such as business cards, and whiteboards. These best shots help beginners automatically setup options for their shots.
There are various other options on this camera. The focus system has and Multi, Spot, and Auto Tracking focus. The Auto Tracking system will identify the subject of the camera then continue to identify it as you move the camera around or as the subject moves until you take the picture. The ISO can be set from 80-800 ISO. 1600 ISO can be reach if the High Sensitivity Best Shot is selected. The shutter has a default range of ½ to 1/1000th of a second. It can be set to 2 seconds if the Fireworks mode is selected and from 4-1/1000th if the Night Scene mode is selected. The Aperture is as large as f/2.8 to f/5.1 and as small as f/8. It also has the standard antishake for Casio cameras. It can also do a maximum of 7 shots per second in continuous shooting mode but only at 2MP.
Connectivity Normal Casio cameras all come with a docking station which is required to connect your camera to your computer or to charge the camera. Even it’s predecessor the Z1000 had a cradle. Instead the Z1050 has a separate battery charger. You have to open the camera, take out the battery, charge the battery, then put the battery back in. This is quite tedious. What is nice though it uses a usb cable to copy pictures to a computer, too bad it wont charge the camera too.
Overall if you’re looking for a cheap 10MP camera the Casio Ex-Z1050. Other then that it’s just a standard Casio camera. The 10 MP is a plus since it gives you lossless digital zoom for pictures taken at 5MP and under. Printing at 8x10 you only need a 2MP camera to print at 150 DPI. A good picture would be printed at 300 DPI and you only need 7.2MP
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