Casio Exilim EX-S600

Front (7.5)
The EX-S600's lens dominates the front of the camera, with a brushed-metal flange surrounding the telescoping mount. The lens is at the far right of the camera, with a thin brushed metal bar projecting to the left. Our sample camera is orange, and the plain metal tone of the bar pops from the orange colored-metal.

The front has a very small microphone hole to the lower left of the lens and an autofocus assist light to the upper left of the lens. The flash is a small, stylishly-shaped slot to the left of the AF light. The Casio logo is printed in the upper left corner of the front, and an Exilim logo is raised at lower left.

Back (7.25)
The 2.2-inch LCD takes up most of the back of the EX-S600. The back isn't crowded, though, because there are only a few buttons, and they're small. Casio shoehorned a status light and three buttons into the narrow space above the LCD. From left to right, the items there are the status light, the Playback mode button, the Camera mode button, and, set a bit away from the others, the video shooting button.

The zoom buttons, one for wide and one for telephoto, are integrated into the wrist strap lug on the right side of the camera.

The four-way controller is a square pad with bumps for up, down, left and right navigation, and a center square "OK" button. Between the controller and the LCD, there are a Menu button and a "Best Shot" button, which is infelicitously labeled, "BS." These controls are low on the right side, leaving room for the user's thumb in the upper half of the back. The only feature between the controllers and the zoom buttons are three small holes for the speaker.

Left Side (8.5)
The left side of the camera has a single screw head and the seam between the front and back of the camera. As thin as the EX-S600 is, there isn't room on the side for jacks or other features.

Right Side (8.5)
The wrist strap lug pokes out from the otherwise plain right side of the EX-S600. The sides of the EX-S600 are completely rounded, and meet in a seam between the stainless steel front and back panels of the camera.

Top (7.0)
The top of the camera shows one of the racier design decisions made on the EX-S600, the subtly inclined top edge of the camera. A chrome strip rises from left to right, peaking at the shutter release. The power button is a small, nearly-flush bar just to the left of the shutter release.

Bottom (5.0)
The bottom of the EX-S600 features a chrome metal tripod bushing that looks sturdy and well made. Unfortunately, it's set nearly all the way to the left of the camera. The footprint of the EX-S600 is well less than half an inch wide, so it's going to be less stable on a tripod than other cameras.

The EX-S600's docking port is a bit to the left of center, and it provides USB connectivity, analog A/V connectivity, and power to recharge the battery. The right half of the bottom is taken up by a door that covers the battery and SD card slot.