3,000 SHOTS WITH AN EXILIM PRO-600 - FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Author's Rating:

Pros: Small size, light weight, 6 megapixels, lots of features, interface, Wide/Tele adaptors.

Cons: Indifferent build quality, poor cable cover - will look worn fast with heavy use.

The Bottom Line: 
This camera packs a lot in a very small package, and has excellent Canon lenses, too.

Author's Review
I bought an Exilim Pro-600 in late July, and took it to France with me on vacation for three weeks. I did a lot of research before I bought it, and handled most competitive cameras. Small size and light weight were critical for me, plus 6 megapixels (for use in design work), x4 optical zoom, and an easy-to-use interface. The camera was about $515, Tubes $30, the Tele Converter $99 (all from J&R in NYC), the Wide Converter $149. The very attractive Casio EX-P600 leather camera case was about $35. Total cost of the complete outfit, including a 512 MB memory card, a spare battery and a UV filter, was over $1,000.

Unfortunately, my brand new outfit was ripped off on my return from my checked luggage by United Airlines security personnel at Heathrow (BE WARNED!), so I only had it for 3 weeks.

BUT...I did shoot over 5,000 images, of which I retained about 3,000 on my Powerbook - I threw the rest away. (I didn't lose a single image I wanted.) Overall, I was very impressed by the Casio - my second digital, the previous digital camera being a Canon Elph (2.1 Megapixel). Before that, mainly Leicas and Olympuses.

WIDE & TELE CONVERTORS The outfit also included a Wide Converter and a Tele Converter, giving a 35mm equivalent range of about 20 - 200 mm. Like the camera lens, both were Canon glass. In truth, on this trip, I found I hardly used the regular lens. The Wide Convertor's only problem was noticeable barrel distortion at the widest setting - sometimes it mattered, sometimes not. The Tele Convertor vignettes just a little below the optical zoom line, so you can only zoom with it to a very limited extent, mainly non-optical. Having said that, I got great shots with both lenses.

Both these lenses are also very handle-able - you can hold the camera by the lens barrels - and are still pretty light and small, even carrying both convertors with tubes attached, and the camera body. The Tele is great for sneak candid shots. Changing is a little fiddly, and requires you to remove (and not lose) a trim ring, but I'm used to screw Leicas. You can't use the camera flash with these lenses (you get a bloody great big shadow). You can fit a skylight filter onto the tube front (i.e. without the convertor lens attached), but not in front of the lenses.

MEMORY CARD & BATTERY I had a 512 MB card, which on the biggest setting (i.e. 6 megapixels) at Fine would store 170 - 210 images. If I buy another Casio, I'd get the 1GB card if I could afford it. I also had a spare battery - battery life was good for most of an active day shooting, but you get little warning before it dies, so I do think a spare is essential. Charging seemed to take a couple of hours.

INTERFACE & SHOOTING I loved the user interface on this camera - graphic, clear, and very easy to use. Also the big view screen is a major plus. I used exposure bracketing a LOT, loved that, too, but be warned, it uses up card space fast at the 5-exposure setting (there's also a 3-bracket setting). There was very litle lag.

The fast shoot feature gave me great candid portraits I don't think I could have got any other way, in the wonderful soft light of Touraine. I shot a lot in dim churches and got generally good results, tho' I did notice noise at the 200 ASA setting. I got some very sharp night shots of floodlit chateaux, simply by bracing against walls for 8-10 sec exposures. The screen with the graph is cool looking and impressive, but really not that useful - it's a little too cluttered.

QUALITY CONCERNS Downside? Body quality is unimpressive - "Pro" is really just a marketing label. True pro equipment needs to be tougher than this. I lost the flimsy port cover within a week, and after 3 weeks was seeing wear to the body finish. I also had occasional hang-ups that required restarting the camera. I couldn't figure out why. I did update to the 1.1 firmware - a download from the Casio site, and easy to do.

If anyone in England is offered a cheap Exilim Pro-600 outfit (including two lenses, two tubes and a very nice EX-P600 leather case), camera body with the number EX-P600-7976768357, please let me know. It's stolen. (United Airlines don't give a darn, and Thiefrow Airport deny any responsibility.)