Casio Exilim EX-S600 Digital Camera Review

We began our round of testing by analyzing the color reproduction of the Casio Exilim EX-S600, shooting pictures of the GretagMacbeth color chart, which the imaging industry uses as a standardized testing tool for measuring color reproduction. After taking the pictures, we uploaded them into Imatest imaging software. This program did the analyzing for us and output a few helpful charts to show just how accurate the S600’s colors are. Below is a chart modified by Imatest, which shows the original color of the GretagMacbeth chart in the inner vertical rectangle and the camera’s version of that color in the outer square. The inner square shows the computer-corrected ideal.

Imatest also output a chart for those of us who have a hard time telling the quantitative difference between the colors in the rectangles and the squares. In the graph below, the ideal colors of the vertical rectangles are depicted as circles. Colors from the Casio S600 are squares. A line connecting a circle and a square represents the amount of error the camera made when reproducing that tone.

The Casio Exilim EX-S600 had a lot of trouble with the cooler tones, although many of the colors are just a bit off. These results earned the camera a 6.7 overall color score and an 8.96 mean color error. The S600 over-saturated colors by 8 percent, which is common in, and expected of, compact digital cameras.

Still Life Scene
Below is a shot of our compellingly lush still life scene as captured by the Casio Exilim EX-S600, enjoy. 

This digital camera is equipped with a 1/2.5-inch CCD that accommodates 6 megapixels. To test the sensor’s effectiveness, we took several pictures of an industry standard 12233 resolution chart at various focal lengths and apertures. We uploaded the pictures into Imatest imaging software, which determined the optimal focal length and aperture for getting the sharpest results, along with the line widths per picture height (lw/ph) that the camera can read horizontally and vertically across the frame. Other common tests for analog cameras express the results as line pairs per picture height (lp/ph). Because this measurement doesn’t allow us to standardize scores for the various sizes of digital imaging sensors, we use the lw/ph unit.

 

The Casio Exilim EX-S600’s best results came from a shot taken with a xx focal length and an aperture of f/xx. Vertically, the S600 resolved 1203 lw/ph and under-sharpened by 2.01 percent. Horizontally, the camera read 1730 lw/ph and under sharpened by 1.59 percent. These numbers are a little below average for a 6 megapixel model, giving the S600 an overall resolution score of 3.99.

 

The Casio EX-S600 is one of those ultra slim compact cameras that will attract an automatically-oriented audience. With such a following, this camera should theoretically have accurate and solid automatic features. We tested its noise levels in the automatic ISO setting, and were a bit disappointed. The camera produced the same relatively high amount of noise that it produces around ISO 300 in manual mode, giving the S600 an unsatisfactory 2.1 overall automatic ISO noise score.

 

We tested the noise levels at each manual ISO setting of this compact Casio Exilim. Noise levels at even the ISO 50 setting were higher than those on comparable cameras. The noise increased slightly for the ISO 100 setting and a touch more for ISO 200, then jumped significantly at ISO 400. Below is a chart showing these results, with the ISO settings on the horizontal axis and the noise levels on the vertical.

These results averaged out to a decent manual ISO noise score of 5.18. Users should avoid the automatic ISO setting on the Casio S600 and opt for the less noisy manual setting.

 

As the Casio Exilim EX S600 lacks a manual mode with which to slow the shutter speed, we tested it in both auto and night scene modes by photographing the GretagMacbeth color chart in diminishing light levels: 60, 30, 15, and 5 lux. The light from 2 soft lamps produces about 60 lux. A single 40-watt bulb makes about 30 lux. 15 and 5 lux are very dark and hardly used in photography, but testing at these levels lets us know the limits of an image sensor.

 

Results from both the auto and night scene modes were disappointing. The auto mode only slows the shutter speed to an eighth of a second, so its pictures were very dark and unusable. While the night scene mode slows shutter speed to 4 seconds, the anti-shake is disabled in this mode, so, while the shutter is open longer, the image is blurrier. The following images are from the S600’s night scene mode.

 

These results are almost unusable as well. Even when the self-timer was used, the  Casio S600 had a hard time focusing in low light, but overall illumination was better in images taken with the camera’s night scene mode. The illumination decreases with dimmer lighting, of course, but that is to be expected. What is surprising is the terribly blurry look. The abundance of noise and lackluster illumination doesn’t help either. Basically, don’t use the Casio Exilim EX-S600 in low light: you’ll get shots that are either blurry or very dark.

Low Light Tests
60 Lux	30 Lux
15 Lux	5 Lux

 

The Casio Exilim EX-S600 took a while to get up and go. It took 3.7 seconds to start up and take an unfocused first shot; focusing adds another half second to the start-up time. Beware of awakening the S600, and have it ready long before any action begins.

 

We used a SanDisk 128MB SD card, not a high-speed model, for testing. Without a designated burst mode, the S600 took a pedestrian 1.85 seconds in between shots.  However, it kept up its slow pace for 21 shots and could have gone longer with a larger memory card.

 

There is some shutter lag with this model, but it’s not nearly as long as the lag on other ultra slim digital cameras. The Casio S600 took 0.13 seconds, from the moment the shutter release button was pressed, to capture the shot. When the flash was enabled, it took a longer 0.4 seconds.

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