Casio Exilim Card EX-S500

The Tests December 1, 2005

Introduction • Features • Body & Design • Buttons & Controls • Menus Specifications • The Tests • Conclusion • Image Samples

A Note Before Reading The Test Results All compact cameras reviewed personally by DigitalDingus are subject to a "grid shot", giving the reader the best possible performance of the camera. Since the tests consist of only black lines on a white sheet of paper, you will not see many of the characteristics shown unless the camera is used in similar environments where straight lines and angles are prevalent. Therefore, depending on the uses of the camera user, the tests will have a sliding-scale of importance. Grid Reference Numbers If you look at the center of the grid, you will see numbers. These numbers reference how many squares are on the entire testing grid. The total number of squares on the grid is 320 (20 width x 16 height), however you will not see all of these squares due to the type of test. EX-S500 Wide Test The Exilim Card EX-S500 was shot at its widest angle capability, with no zooming. One of the first noticeable results is the overall "roundness" of the lens (or lack of it in this case). The lower right-side of the grid you will notice the lens is not entirely and perfectly round. On the left side of the grid, 6 squares can be seen extending out from center, but on the right side, squares #156 & #176 are cut off somewhat. Color fringing (i.e., Chromium Aberration) of the colors green and purple can be seen more pronounced on the four corners, which is typical due to the wide focal length. The following are four 100% crops from each of the extreme corners of the grid test: EX-S500 Telephoto Test The Telephoto test of the EX-S500 consisted of shooting on the grid from full extension of the camera. Notice there is a more consistent shape of the grid versus the wide angle grid test. In the following four crops of each of the four corners of the full extension zoom of the EX-S500, you can see the upper two parts almost almost fit together seamlessly, as well as the lower two crops. On the right side of the lens (the upper and lower-right parts) you can see red fringing. Casio Exilim Card EX-S500 Test Summary The Casio EX-S500 performed rather well with the tests overall. About the only concern I would mention is the wide angle test and the lower right issue of being out of proportion. In just about every shooting situation, you will not notice this distortion. The only time you will come across some situations, is shooting panoramics. Stitching together several wide angle images will be a little difficult due to the lower right of the lens being slightly out of shape. Considering this is a compact camera, I don't regard this as a major problem. If I was to shoot a $1000 DSLR and a $300 50mm f/1.4 lens, rest assured I would be making some frowns with my eyebrows. The telephoto tests did pretty good in my opinion. I did observe some OOF (Out Of Focus) issues on the extreme corners in the uppper left and right corners. Because the OOF areas were quite small at 100% image size, I'm not too concerned. As noted above, you can see the telephoto test demonstrated how evenly the lens straightens out. If we had tests come out which showed the lens being just as uneven as the wide angle tests, we'd have a problem, and I would have to mark the camera down for it. However, this did not happen, which shows the inherent problems with wide angle miniature lenses on compact cameras.

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