Casio Exilim EX-P505 Digital Camera Review

Viewfinder (0.0)
There is no optical viewfinder; the only viewing option is the LCD screen. The 2-inch screen isn’t the greatest viewing option. It is accurate, which is probably the most important aspect of a viewfinder. However, it doesn’t have great resolution and solarizes easily.

LCD Screen (6.5)
The Casio Exilim EX-P505’s liquid crystal display has its pros and cons. It is 2 inches on the diagonal, so it provides a nicely sized view. Some compact digital cameras are now offering larger 2.5-inch or even 2.7-inch screens, but those cannot fold out from the camera body and swivel like the one on the P505. In classic camcorder style, the Exilim P505 lets users fold its LCD out and rotate it to retain visibility when shooting at extreme angles or when composing a self-portrait.

Now for the cons: the screen has poor resolution and doesn’t have a good angle of view. Many cameras offer 115,000 pixels on their 2-inch screens, but the Casio P505 has only 84,960 pixels of resolution. This makes the view intensely pixillated – when it can be viewed at all. The actual screen itself solarizes very easily, so it is hard to see text or pictures of anything unless it is being viewed from directly head-on. Sure, photographers can fold and rotate the LCD monitor to view it more easily. But this digital camera monitor will need constant readjustment.

Flash (7.0)
Sporting a pop-up flash, the P505 has only four flash modes: automatic, on, off, and red-eye reduction. The flash itself cannot be forced out; only by pressing the flash mode button behind the flash, then pushing the shutter release button halfway down can users get it to pop up. Unfortunately, this process takes a few seconds; any picture that needs a flash will have to wait on the flash mechanism (and shutter lag of course). The flash needs a recharge time of a few seconds to 12 seconds, depending on the battery power, number of pictures just taken with the flash, and how closely together they were shot. But even a few seconds is too long for some photographers and will lead to many lost opportunities.

There is however a flash intensity option in the recording menu that lets users choose whole increments between the +2 and -2 range. The flash compensation function adds a substantial degree of versatility to the P505, enabling users to shape the electronic illumination to create the look and feel they envision. Further, the included flash unit on the P505 is very effective; sometimes it even blows out spots in pictures. According to Casio, the pop-up flash is effective from 1.3 to 9.8 feet, so the flash intensity option will be a welcome one to many users.

Lens (7.25)
One of the better features of this digital camera is its 5x optical zoom lens. Departing from the sea of 3x optical zoom cameras, the Casio EX-P505 uses 10 lenses in 8 groups with a few aspherical elements to construct its 6.3-31.5mm zoom lens. This is equivalent to a 38-190mm lens in 35mm format. The lens has a maximum aperture of f/3.3 in wide mode and f/3.6 in telephoto mode. It is admirable that the lens doesn’t lose much as it zooms, but an f/2.8 aperture would be helpful in low light situations. This Exilim includes 8x digital zoom, but it only further distorts images and is barely worth mentioning. The optical zoom lens functions in the movie modes, which makes it a step above most other compact digital cameras. The zoom mechanism is very responsive to the users’ touch, so users won’t over-zoom or under-zoom.