Casio EX-S770 Minneapolis MN

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Originally published at Internet.com

The new Casio Exilim EX-S770 continues the tradition of Exilim cameras, packing a 3X zoom into a body that is something less than 2 cm (3/4 inch) thick when the camera is Off.

Besides being thin, the Casio EX-S770 is also quite elegant and available in a wide range of colours. In the case of this version, most of the camera is covered in a deep blue-black metal while the top and sides are finished in a mid-grey plastic with a metallic finish.

Although narrow, the top of the EX-S770 supports a surprising number of buttons — a total of six — starting with the long 2-stage shutter release button on the right. To its left is the main power switch, one of three buttons on top of the camera, which, by default, can be used to turn it On.

Still moving left, the (Rec) button, can be used to start the camera directly in the recording mode, or switch back to the recording mode from the playback mode.

Positioned immediately next to the Rec button is the (Playback) button, which operates the same way as the Rec button. Set by default to power up the EX-S770 directly into the playback mode, it, along with the Rec button, can be configured to either turn it On and Off, or be disabled so that all it does is change mode.

Two other buttons are aligned between the playback button, and the small LED that glows green to indicate the camera is On, amber when the flash is charging, and red when charging is complete.

The Casio EX-S770 is equipped with 2.8-inch wide LCD screen that is composed of 230,400 pixels (960 x 240 pixels). The monitor serves for previewing/viewing images — there is no optical viewfinder — and is capable of showing images in a variety of formats: 4:3, 3:2, and 16:9.

DISP calls up the Display menu, which contains options to configure the monitor, and the user interface for both the Recording and Playback modes. The Display menu is composed of four sections: * Layout serves to select the screen layout. When the camera is set to the recording mode, the first option is to select the way information is superimposed on the monitor: * Panel stacks the icons representing the current camera settings in a column on the right side of the screen, called the Operation Panel. Moreover, using the up/down directions of the 4-way Control button on the back of the camera, each of the listed settings (image size, flash, mode, focus mode, self-timer, anti-shake, sensitivity, white balance, exposure compensation, time and date) can be changed. * Normal places the icons around the periphery of the screen, as the de-facto standard.
While when the camera is set to the playback mode, only two options are presented: * Normal: presents the image in 4:3 format. * Wide: presents the image in 16:9 format. * Info. contains three options which decide the level of information shown in both the recording and playback modes: * Show: displays camera settings along with other information. * +Histogram displays the camera settings along with a real-time histogram. * Hide turns off all information. * Brightness serves to adjust the brightness of the LCD. Five settings are available: Auto, lets the camera decide the brightness of the monitor based on the brightness of the ambient light. The other settings, +2, +1, 0, and -1 simply set the brightness to the desired level. * Type serves to select the quality of the monitor's screen image: * Dynamic increases contrast. * Vivid increases screen brightness a bit. * Real configures the monitor image to be as close as possible to the recorded image. * Night makes the image clearer at night. * Power Saving minimizes power consumption to increase battery life.

The other button, DATA, is new feature. The button calls up the data mode which serves to view documents that have been loaded into the camera using a utility program, Casio Data Transport, that is included with the EX-S770. The utility installs as if it was a printer, and transferring documents to the camera is done by opening the document in its parent program and printing to the Casio Data Transport utility. The utility then creates a high-resolution JPEG of the document which is transferred to the camera's memory card.

With documents of any type (text, graphic such as maps, of even web pages, etc.) loaded into the camera, the 4-direction control can be used to move from one document to another, while the zoom button makes it possible to read or view it, with sufficient magnification, as clearly as if it was printed. Moreover, the documents can be printed — it is after all a high-resolution JPEG — when the camera is connected to a suitable printer.

The other external controls of the EX-S770 are clustered on the right side of the monitor, on the back of the camera. At the top, in the right corner, a small round button with a red dot at its centre marks the Movie Recording button, and serves to start and stop movie recording. It cannot be used to turn On the camera.

Five movie image quality settings are available, the selection being made in the Recording menu (see the Characteristics section of the review for more detail about the Rec. menu): HQ: Applies a low compression and has a frame size of 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second. HQ Wide: Also applies a low compression but has a frame size of 704 x 384 pixels at 30 frames per second. Normal: Is more compressed but has a frame size of 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second. Normal Wide: Is also more compressed and has a frame size of 704 x 384 pixels at 30 frames per second. LP: Uses a strong compression with a frame size of 320 x 240 pixels. Images are recorded at 15 frames per second.

The next button is a vertical rocker switch that controls the 3X optical zoom, the wide end being reached by pressing it down towards , and to reach the telephoto end of the zoom range.

With the EX-S770 in Playback mode, the same control serves to see screens of 12 thumbnails of the captured photos in an Index view when the button is pressed towards ; or when pressed twice, a calendar view that presents images according to the date on which they were shot. Pressing the control to the side allows zooming into an image under review up to 8X.

Below the Zoom control, the MENU button displays the 3-part Recording menu, or the 2-part Playback menu (see the Characteristics and Interface and Software sections of the review for lists of the EX-S770's menus).

The 4-direction Control button is next, and its primary function is to navigate the various menus, or review images when the camera is set to the playback mode. A button, unlabelled, at the centre of the 4-direction control is called the SET button and serves to confirm choices made in the menus, clearing the menus off the screen when pressed. The same button also allows access to changing any of the options when the display is set to the Operation Panel view (see above).

In addition, two of the directions of the 4-direction control support other functions:

The up direction controls the focus modes, cycling from one mode to the next with each press of the button: * AF: the default Auto Focus setting. * Macro: allows the camera to focus from 15 to 50 cm (5.9 to 19.7 inches) when the zoom is at the wide angle end. * Pan Focus: sets the lens to its hyperfocal (fixed focus) to provide the greatest depth of field. * Infinity: sets the focus at infinity to ensure a sharp image of distant subjects. * Manual Focus: makes it possible to manually adjust focus using the left/right arrow buttons, placing the subject at the centre of a large yellow rectangle that is superimposed on the monitor. When the right/left arrows are used to adjust the focus, the camera magnifies the yellow area so it fills the screen, making it easier to focus, while a distance scale is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

The down direction serves to select the flash modes when the EX-S770 is set to the Recording mode: Auto Flash, Forced Off, Forced On, Soft Flash, or Red-eye Reduction.

It also serves to delete images, either the one currently under review or all images, when the camera is in Playback.

The other two directions of the 4-direction Control, left and right, have no pre-assigned functions in the recording mode. However, they can be assigned a function using one of the options of the Recording mode menu (see the menu section of the Characteristics section of the review for a list of the functions that can be assigned).

The Best Shot button, unfortunately abbreviated to BS, is the last control on the EX-S770's back.

The Best Shot modes are what are generally referred to as Scene modes on other cameras. Thirty-one still image scene modes are offered with, in addition, a personalized Best Shot mode that can be stored. Moreover, two movie modes are also offered, as is a sound recording mode, for a total of 35. Modes can be selected from a screen as shown at left, or when the zoom control is pressed, each mode is presented on the screen with a typical photo and a short description of what the particular mode does: Portrait Splashing Water Monochrome Scenery Sundown Retro (sepia) Portrait with Scenery Night Scene Twilight Children Night Scene Portrait Old Photo Sports Fireworks Business Card and Docs Candlelight Portrait Food White Board Party Text Silent (still) Pet Collection Silent (movie) Flower eBay Short movie Natural Green Backlight Past Movie Autumn Leaves Anti-Shake Audio Recording Soft Flowing Water High Sensitivity Register User Scene

Of all these modes, a few can be highlighted as being out of the ordinary: * Anti-Shake boosts the sensitivity to prevent a too low shutter speed from causing camera shake that could ruin the image. The Anti-Shake option is also available in the Recording menu, but requires the use of Auto ISO. * High Sensitivity pushes sensitivity to 800 ISO, twice what is available to the user otherwise, to capture an image in low light. The image is processed for noise immediately post capture, but noise remains obvious. * Old Photo allows capturing the image of an old, faded photograph and then processed the image to improve it. The results can be quite impressive. * Business Cards and Documents is designed to capture an image of a business card or a printed document. The camera automatically corrects for any perspective distortion, processing the image so it looks as though it was photographed perfectly head-on, a process called Keystone correction. This mode also yields impressive results that could be used to OCR the image.

Similarly, the fact that by default three of the top-mounted buttons can start the camera, means that grasping the camera to pick it up often leads the camera unexpectedly turning on; a situation that, at least for us, required the changing the default settings. Furthermore, the large size of the monitor also means that the left direction of the 4-direction control is more difficult to use, particularly if the user has big hands.

Nevertheless, the EX-S770 is well-crafted, and can actually be slid into a pocket without a second thought. However, a word of advice to the wise: back pockets should be avoided...