Viewfinder
The Casio S10 does not have an optical viewfinder on its tiny body, but does have a 2.7-inch LCD that it uses to display a live view. The LCD has good resolution, and its refresh rate is smooth enough to capture people walking without blurring. Anything faster than a power-walk gets a little blurry, but this is typical on compact digital camera LCD screens. You can change the display information on the live view by pushing the top of the multi-selector, which is also labeled “disp” for “display.” Pushing this hides the file information, shows basic information, and shows full shooting info with a live exposure histogram. Overall, the LCD’s view shows good contrast and resolution.
LCD Screen
The Casio Exilim EX-S10 has a 2.7-inch Super Clear LCD screen. The “Super Clear” designation is an upgrade from last year’s model, and the S10 has much wider viewing angles and seems to repel fingerprints. The screen hardly catches any glare and shows great contrast, except when viewed from very extreme angles.
The LCD has 230,160 pixels and provides a smooth view of images. The size of the screen is not 4:3-formatted, so when standard images are viewed in the Playback mode black vertical bars appear on the sides. In the Live View mode, there is a “panel display” on the right side that acts as a Function menu.
The brightness of the LCD can be adjusted in the Setup menu to Auto 2, Auto 1, +2, +1, and 0. The Auto 2 function automatically brightens the LCD in bright lighting, while the Auto 1 function is a more subtle brightening meant to save battery power.
Overall, the S10’s 2.7-inch LCD screen looks good and works well. You might have to get used to the strange format, though.
Flash
The camera’s built-in flash is located closer to the left of the front than the right, where the lens is located. Despite its off-axis placement, the rectangular flash doesn't appear to be too off-centered in images. Granted, this is primitive testing on the convention show floor. From those pictures, though, the Casio S10’s flash looks decent.
It looks good for portraits within about six feet as long as the Flash mode is set to Soft flash. Other Flash modes include Auto, Off, On, and Red-Eye Reduction, all found in the panel Function menu. All of the modes fire a tiny preflash, but the one on the Red-Eye Reduction mode is more pronounced and adds about 1.5 seconds to the shutter lag. The lag is annoying, but the alternative is to have red eyes. One of the pictures I snapped of the Casio rep had garish red eyes; it was shot with the standard Flash mode.
The standard Flash modes aren’t very quick. It takes about seven seconds for the camera to reboot between shots taken using the flash. There is, however, a flash Continuous mode that allows three frames to be shot in a second with a less powerful flash. The continuous flash light can reach 1.31 to 5.9 feet with the lens zoomed out and only 3.28 feet when zoomed in. This is so weak that it will hardly be useful for photographing anything except your own hand flying across the frame.
The standard flash isn’t much more powerful. It can reach from 0.66 to 9.12 feet zoomed wide and 1.31 to 4.92 feet zoomed to telephoto. Most slim digital camera flashes can light up more. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T100, for instance, can reach 12 feet zoomed wide and 9 feet in telephoto. The S10’s flash power can be adjusted on a +/- 2 scale in the menu, but it doesn’t reach farther than 9.12 feet. The Casio S10’s flash just isn’t its best asset.
Zoom Lens
The Casio Exilim EX-S10 has a 3x optical zoom lens that extends outward from its slim body in three segments. This digital camera has a 6.3 to 18.9mm range that is equivalent to an unimpressive 36 to 108mm in the 35mm format.
Other slim digital cameras have internal lenses, instead sacrificing other features, like a larger aperture. The Sony T100, for example, has a 5x internal lens but a max aperture of f/3.5 in its 0.88-inch body. The Nikon S51c has a 3x internal optical zoom lens and f/3.3 aperture in its 0.8-inch body. The Casio S10’s external lens keeps a nice wide aperture of f/2.8 when zoomed out and f/5.3 when zoomed in.
Casio’s lens is constructed from six lenses in five groups and includes one aspherical lens. The glass is protected by two pieces of plastic that are about as thick as flower petals. These close over the glass automatically when the camera is turned off.
The zoom control surrounds the shutter release button and has a sharp knob on the front that supposedly makes it easier to turn. I suppose it does make it easier to turn than a smooth ring, but you’ll sacrifice your finger in the process. The knob has sharp edges that nearly puncture you. If you’re not thick-skinned, don’t even try to zoom. The control isn’t very sensitive; it allows you to stop at only six focal lengths throughout the 3x range.
When the zoom ring is pushed, a horizontal bar graphic appears on the bottom of the LCD screen. The lens moves smoothly when zooming in and then stops at the 3x optical max. If you push the ring again, you can delve into the digital zoom realm to 3.6x. Pushing yet again activates the full digital zoom – and horrible pixilation that comes with it – up to a combined 12x (4x digital zoom + 3x optical zoom). Zooming out is another story. The lens seems to breathe and backpedal a little bit before settling on a focal length.
Most digital cameras – including the Nikon S51c and Sony T100 – now have optical image stabilization. A few years ago, this was a rare feature. Unfortunately, the Casio Exilim S10 does not have optical image stabilization. It has digital image stabilization, or what Casio calls “ASR” for “advanced shake reduction.” The digital image stabilization system isn’t as effective at minimizing blur as optical systems.
Overall, the Casio S10’s 3x optical zoom lens isn’t its strongest component. Its control ring isn’t very sensitive and it hurts to even zoom a little. The 3x range isn’t very impressive, either.
