Casio Exilim EX-S10 Review

The Casio Exilim EX-S10 is one of the slimmest digital cameras on the market. It has 10 megapixels and a 3x optical zoom lens.

The Exilim EX-S10 is a true pocket camera. In fact it is one of the most compact models you will find. I found the camera easy to use and I was also impressed by the 2.7 inch LCD screen. You can also capture widescreen movies. In addition there is a special mode that makes it easy to upload videos to YouTube.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
The camera handles this contrasting scene well. Detail levels are very good in the light areas and the camera outperforms many of its rivals here. Some of the blue lines on the boats have a purple tinge and purple fringing is evident as well. This will only start to become noticeable if you start to make larger prints. I am also impressed by the overall sharpness of the photo.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
With the lens zoomed all the way out there is a loss of sharpness in the photo, especially towards the edges. This is a common problem with digital cameras when shooting more distant scenes and the Exilim EX-S10 is roughly average in terms of sharpness when the zoom is not being used.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
This is another test where the camera performs well. Again there is plenty of brightness in the shot. Sharpness does fall away towards the left hand side of the photo.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
I must admit to being surprised at just how good the Exilim EX-S10 is when it comes to this test. The levels of sharpness and also overall detail in the shot rank with some of the best cameras I have tested.

Outdoor Portrait
I am happy with all three of my portrait test shots. All the pictures are bright and clear. Perhaps with this outdoor shot I would liked to have seen a touch more warmth in the photo.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
In terms of range the Exilim EX-S10 does not have the strongest flash unit. Even so it is perfectly adequate for the job here. The photo is well lit and there is plenty of detail in the shot.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
This is one of the better results I have achieved using natural light. Again the Exilim EX-S10 manages to make the most of the light and produce a bright photo.

Colours
The colours produced by the Exilim EX-S10 have a natural look to them. They do not overpower the various scenes and aside from where blue lines pick up a purple tinge I like the colours.

Macro
If macro or close up photography is important to you then the Exilim EX-S10 is not the camera for you. The quality of the shot it produces is good, but the camera has to be 15cm away from the subject before it is able to focus. I have cropped the sample photo for display purposes.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
At higher ISO ratings the Exilim EX-S10 falls roughly inline with so many other cameras. Noise creeps in at ISO 400, but picture quality remains acceptable in the lighter areas. At ISO 1600 picture quality is really struggling.

Overall
There are three technical factors I look for during my tests; sharpness, brightness and colour. The Exilim EX-S10 does well on all counts. All in all I think my test photos were a success for such a small digital camera.

Shutter lag times without flash were average. A sing photo took 0.48 seconds and 5 took 14.5 seconds. With flash on a single photo was on the slow side at 1.82 seconds, while 5 photos took 16.76 seconds.

It took me 2.48 seconds to turn the camera on and snap a picture.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

As mentioned at the top of the review this is one of the slimmest cameras on the market. It is available in silver, blue, red, white and black. With a button placed in the top right hand corner on the back of the camera I did find it hard to place my thumb. This led to me pressing the picture review button occasionally when I was trying to take a photo.

94.2 x 54.6 x 15mm

113g

Lithium Ion Rechargeable - NP-60. Casio estimate you should be able to take in the region of 280 photos in between charges.

11 megabytes of storage have been built into the Exilim EX-S10. I was able to take six photos before the built in memory was full. The camera is compatible with SD and SDHC cards.

Click here to save money on SD cards..

Very Good. I find the menu system is easy to follow and the camera has very few buttons to get used to. You also have the option of displaying key menu options down the right hand side of the LCD screen. This helps to make them easy to access.

Size - LCD screen information - widescreen movies - bright photos

Control positioning on back of camera

Another super slim camera you could look at is the Fuji Finepix Z10 FD. It is cheaper than the Exilim EX-S10, but I must admit to preferring this Casio camera.

I am more impressed with the Casio Exilim EX-S10 than I thought I would be. The really slim cameras do not always offer quite the same picture quality as larger models, but in this case I would be happy to own this camera.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Casio Exilim EX-S10