Casio Exilim EX-S770 Digital Camera Review

Model Design / Appearance (8.0)
The Casio S770 has a stainless steel body that is very slim. Its main design function is to be portable, and it succeeds with its flat surfaces and 0.7-inch thickness. The S770 is also meant to be trendy. It is sold in three colors: silver, blazing red, and graphite blue. Overall, the appearance of this model is outstanding.

Size / Portability (8.75) 
As mentioned in the previous section, the Casio S770 measures only 0.7 inches thick. It is 3.7 inches in length and 2.4 inches tall. It weighs 4.5 oz and that is barely enough weight to notice when it has fallen out of a pocket. The metal casing looks sturdy, but the screen and lens are perhaps the most vulnerable components. The camera is quite portable because of its tiny measurements and flat surfaces. You won’t need a special case to carry it around since it will comfortably fit in just about any pocket.

Handling Ability (5.0)
This digital camera is very portable, but it isn’t the most comfortable to handle for long periods of time. It is just fine for snapping a picture here or there, but it will cause hand cramping and possibly broken fingernails after a few hours shooting at a wedding, for instance. There aren’t any handling features on the front, and the only minor detail on the front is a bump near the top right side that curves slightly outward to create an ever-so-subtle grip for the thumb. Overall, the Casio S770 isn’t built for extended photo shoots.

Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size (5.25)
In general, the Casio S770’s buttons are undersized and crammed too tightly. On the top of the camera is a very small power button with a larger shutter release button next to it. There are also some designated buttons with icons and text that are engraved and hard to view in full daylight. On the back of the camera is a circular button in the top right corner that is not labeled with text but has a red dot in its center. This is the movie recording button and can be used at any time no matter what shooting mode is currently selected. The zoom control is to its left and looks like a vertical rectangular button with an engraved line in the center to divide the halves. This control isn’t comfortable, and it requires quite a push to activate it. The Menu and BS buttons on the camera are incredibly small and placed too close to the multi-selector that is also small.

Menu (7.75)
The Casio S770 is equipped with a menu system similar to those found on other Exilim digital cameras. This menu has the advantage of being on a large 2.8-inch wide screen though, so the font is large and very readable.

When the Display button is pushed in the shooting modes, users can choose to align the shooting information as a “panel” along the right side of the screen. When this is done, it not only looks more organized but acts as a sort of menu. Users can scroll up and down this panel and change the image size, flash mode, auto focus mode, self-timer, anti-shake mode, ISO, white balance, exposure compensation, and display time.

The longer route is to select all these through the regular menu that is accessed by the miniscule Menu button above the multi-selector. A menu appears with three tabs across the top – Recording, Quality, and Setup – and a page indicator at the bottom (eg. 1/3). The following options are from the recording portion of the menu.

Recording
Continuous	Normal Speed, High Speed, Flash Continuous, Zoom Continuous, Off
Self-Timer	10 sec, 2 sec, x 3, Off
Anti-Shake	Auto, Off
AF Area	Spot, Multi
AF Assist Light	On, Off
Digital Zoom	On, Off
L/R Key	Metering, EV Shift, White Balance, ISO, Self-Timer, Off
Quick Shutter	On, Off
Audio Snap	On, Off
Grid	On, Off
Review	On, Off
Icon Help	On, Off
Memory	Best Shot, Flash, Focus, White Balance, ISO, AF Area, Metering, Self-Timer, Flash Intensity, Digital Zoom, MF Position, Zoom Position (all with On and Off options)

Scrolling to the tab in the center brings the Quality menu. 

Quality
Size	7M, 3:2, HDTV, 5M, 3M, 2M, VGA
Still Image Quality	Fine, Normal, Economy
Movie Quality	HQ, HQ Wide, Normal, Normal Wide, LP
EV Shift	-2, -1.7, -1.3, -1, -0.7, -0.3, 0, +0.3, +0.7, +1, +1.3, +1.7, +2
White Balance	Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Fluorescent N, Fluorescent D, Tungsten, Manual
ISO	Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400
Metering	Multi, Center Weighted, Spot
Filter	Off, B/W, Sepia, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink, Purple
Sharpness	+2, +1, 0, -1, -2
Saturation	+2, +1, 0, -1, -2
Contrast	+2, +1, 0, -1, -2
Flash Intensity	+2, +1, 0, -1, -2
Flash Assist	Auto, Off

There are live views when choosing the exposure compensation, white balance, and color filters. It is probably easier to access some of these options from the display menu, though, rather than scrolling through pages of menus in this system. The third tab shows the Setup menu.

Setup
Sounds	Startup, Half Shutter, Shutter, Operation (all with Sounds 1-5 and Off options), Operation Volume (0-7 levels), Playback Volume (0-7 levels)
Startup	On (choose photo or Exilim logo), Off
File No.	Continue, Reset
World Time	Home, World (set time zone from map)
Time Stamp	Date, Date & Time, Off
Adjust	(set date and time)
Date Style	YY/MM/DD, DD/MM/YY, MM/DD/YY
Language	English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean
Data View	Page View, List View
Sleep	30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, Off
Auto Power Off	2 min, 5 min
Rec/Play	Power On, Power On/Off, Disable
USB	Mass Storage (USB Direct Print), PTP (PictBridge)
Video Out	NTSC 4:3, NTSC 16:9, PAL 4:3, PAL 16:9
Format	Format, Cancel
Reset	Reset, Cancel

This menu has countless ways to tweak and display the date, among other things. It is easy to navigate through the menus using the multi-selector. In the first two menus, users can push the left side of the selector to navigate to a previous menu page. This isn’t the case in some of the options of the setup menu, but a push of the Menu button itself will bring users back to the main setup page. Overall, the menu is very readable and easy to navigate, but the scores of pages are a disadvantage. The best bet is to change settings like image size and white balance through the display’s “panel” menu, and only access the standard menu system when absolutely necessary.

Ease of Use (7.25)
The target audience of this Exilim digital camera is people who don’t care much for the traditional aesthetics of photography (namely, image quality) but want to snap a few pictures to show off and relive the memories. Users of this camera will not need previous photographic experience because the S770 is so easy to use. It is essentially a point-and-shoot camera that has neatly organized menus and properly labeled buttons (although they are small). Users may at first be confused by the dual record buttons for still and video shooting but will grow fond of the setup in no time at all.