I've had my EX-FS10 for a couple of weeks now and feel qualified to make an initial review of it.
The overall feature set is very impressive, considering its size and shape. The actual implementation of some features is a bit off though.
PRO's:
* Very small -smaller than I expected, and I was expecting small. I like to carry a camera with me 24/7 and insist on one that takes full motion video, etc. The small size, HD video features, and rapid shoot features of the FS10 make it perfect for me.
* The slow-motion features are VERY cool. I have been having a lot of fun, often with my young niece & nephew, videoing all kinds of simple things and watching their slo-mo details in playback. Granted, you lose resolution the slower you go but considering this feature isn't available at all in most (any?) other pocket cameras, I'm willing to accept this.
CON's:
* Images captured under even moderately low light conditions are very grainy and noisy. This is looking to be a big problem! You've got 9MP but when you look at them even a little bit closely you'll see a LOT of multi-color sensor noise/grain. Using the flash helps but I don't always want to use the flash. My MUCH older and cheaper digital cameras seem to do better in these same dark conditions! Perhaps I need to explore the custom settings some more BUT, per my next note, all of your custom settings seem to revert back to defaults every time you turn the camera off.
* The camera forgets all(?) of your custom settings when it is turned off and returns to default settings when turned back on. I think most of the problems I am reporting here could be minimized by tuning the camera's settings to my particular likings and personal shooting styles. But having to customize my settings, and remembering to even DO this, every time I turn the camera on is a MAJOR hassle. Example: I prefer to disable the flash/auto-flash and manage lighting myself, but every time I turn the camera back on, the flash will go off if the lighting conditions are even slightly darkish unless I remember to explicitly disable the flash again (and again and again).
* Auto-focus for video is sloppy. It goes in and out of focus even when videoing environments which are pretty much totally "at infinity". I have resorted to always manually focusing to infinity if my subject is more than about 4' away; perhaps I need to try some of the other auto-focusing schemes -unfortunately the fact that the camera forgets custom settings every time it is turned off makes the use of other focusing schemes or using fixed focus very inconvenient.
* Battery charging requires the battery to be removed and inserted into a separate charger. My other, older/simpler/cheaper cameras generally let me charge via the USB port -I would often simply leave these old cameras plugged in after downloading images to "top off" the battery. Having to pop the battery out is a total hassle! Also, the hardware associated with this battery access seems a bit flimsy to me...
* The cover over the USB port is poorly implemented. Rather than popping out the SD card, I prefer to download pix/vid from the camera via the USB port. Note first of all that the camera's jack is NOT the standard small USB port that you usually (always?) see -it is a slightly smaller version that I'd never seen before. I don't know if it is custom to the Casio brand or what -I hope not. The plastic cover over the camera's USB port is on a thin plastic leash but this leash is SOOO short that it is EXTREMELY difficult to hold the cover out of the way and get the USB cable plugged in. It is such a struggle to plug in the cable that I suspect/fear that it won't be long before the little plastic leash for the USB port cover breaks.
Over all I have mixed feelings about this camera. This is my first Casio camera. So far I am less than thrilled with some problems I've discovered. Under OPTIMAL conditions, the automated settings seem to work well and produce great pictures and HD video. If you deviate from OPTIMAL conditions at all, the automated settings produce mediocre results at best; and any custom settings are consistently forgotten between power-up's.
I'm HOPING that I'll either learn/discover some methods on this new camera to address my problems OR that a firmware upgrade will be released that fixes them. Fingers crossed.
***UPDATE*** Nov. 15, 2010 -The 4-digit part of the image name on my Casio Exilim camera has rolled over. I have apparently taken over 10,000 pix/vid's on it over the last 1 year, 8 months. That works out to an AVERAGE of 16+ pictures/videos EACH AND EVERY DAY. Unfortunately, despite all the constant use, I have decided that I really dislike this camera -it simply has too many ergonomic, design, and workflow problems. My frugality compels me to keep it until I wear it out; it has taken a beating (including being dropped) during my ownership and it still works just fine -I have to give it props for being sturdy.
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