Casio Exilim EX-S770

The Casio Exilim EX-S770 is one of the slimmest digital cameras you will find. It measures just over 17mm wide. Therefore you will have no problem slipping the Exilim EX-S770 into a pocket. The camera is available in three colours silver, blue and red. It has seven megapixels and a 3x optical zoom lens. Amongst the contents of the box you will find a rechargeable battery and a cradle. The cradle is used for recharging the battery, connecting the camera to a television, computer and compatible printer. In terms of features I found the camera easy to use. This is a fairly standard point and shoot camera, although it does have a data function that I have not seen on other digital cameras. In order to use the data function you need to connect the camera to a computer. You can then upload documents from the computer to the Exilim EX-S770. The documents are stored as Jpeg files. Buttons and controls are kept to a minimum. This does mean that you will have to use the menu system from time to time. The menu system has a straightforward layout. It is divided into three sections. These are recording, quality and set up. Under recording you will find settings such as self timer and focusing. Within quality are more advanced features such as white balance and ISO. Under setup are items like date and time and the language the camera shows the menu in. The Exilim EX-S770 has a larger than standard LCD screen. This is 2.8" in size. Part of the screen is used to display key options from the menu. I think this adds to the ease of use of the camera. Another noteworthy feature is the quality of the screen. I found it much easier to see in bright sunlight than almost all other brands. This could be a big plus point. As with other Casio digital cameras this camera has a very comprehensive set of pre-programmed scene modes. These are used to help you take the best possible shots. Casio refers to them as Best Shot settings. Typical Best Shot modes are portrait, landscape and night scene. By selecting a scene mode the camera will recognise the type of photo you are about to take. It will then use what it considers to be the optimum settings for the photograph. Movie mode is also quite advanced. You can take a still photo while a movie is being recorded without switching out of movie mode. Beware there is a short break in recording the movie while the photo is being captured. There is also a special movie mode where the camera is continuously shooting a movie. When you press the shutter button to start recording the camera will retain just the last five seconds of the footage it has recorded. The idea behind this is that if an event is about to start, but you are not sure exactly when the camera can be recording ready so that you don't miss the very start.