The Casio Exilim EX-P600 offers
an image quality that is nothing short of excellent when captured
in TIFF or at the Fine JPEG mode.
While the TIFF format captures an uncompressed image with a 17MB file size,
the Fine JPEG image format applies a compression that has a ratio of approximately
6:1. The Fine image format creates a smaller file size of around 3MB, and
does not soften edge detail, leaving the image almost as crisp as its uncompressed
version.
Aperture f3.2, shutter speed: 1/8 sec, 50 ISO.
Aperture f4, shutter speed: 1/320 sec,
50 ISO.
As with a number of recent cameras,
the EX-P600 is ready for use in short order. It takes approximately
2 seconds for the camera to be ready to shoot from the time the
On switch is pressed.
Moreover, it reacts to the shutter release very quickly — Casio promotes
the camera as having a shutter lag of 0.01 second — making it ideal
to capture action shots.
Furthermore, it offers a High-Speed
Continuous mode that tops out at 3 frames per second for
a burst of 6 frames; or a Normal Speed Continuous mode
that just keeps on taking photos one after the other until
the memory card is full.
The Casio EX-P600 is loaded with
features, and when using the camera, one of the most practical
is the 2-inch LCD screen, which makes it easy to frame shots
and see detail.
Similarly, the versatile Auto Bracketing capability is unusual. Not only
can bracketing be done for exposure, focus and white balance, it can also
be done for contrast, saturation, sharpness, and used with a portrait mode
that captures the image and 2 variations.
Aperture f4.6, shutter speed: 1/200
sec, 50 ISO.
Aperture: f4, shutter speed: 1/400 sec, 50 ISO.
Images from the EX-P600 show
good sharpness and no chromatic aberration.
Likewise, distortion is minimal at either end of the 4X zoom's range; a
small amount of barrel distortion at the wide end, and a trace of pincushion
at the telephoto end. And, although images have excellent edge to edge
sharpness, a slight amount of vignetting can be noticed in the corners
at the widest angle.
The EX-P600 is equipped with 2 AF
systems, one that uses contrast detection and the other that
uses a differential phase sensor near the lens. Used in combination,
these provide for a reliable AF system, and the camera rarely
has trouble achieving focus unless the ambient light is very
low (or the user's fingers accidentally cover the phase differential
sensor!). But under very low light however, the absence
of an AF assist light becomes noticeable as the camera can have
trouble focusing.
Flash photos with the EX-P600 are a bit of a
surprise. Not only does the camera provide a external flash connection,
its tiny built-in flash is relatively powerful and at 50 ISO
can easily light up to 2.5 meters (8.5 ft approx.) when the lens
is at the wide angle setting. Furthermore, its power can be increased
in the menu and its effect boosted by using Auto ISO which causes
the camera to increase the CCD sensitivity to 100 ISO.
Aperture: f3.4, shutter speed: 1/60 sec, 50 ISO.
Pushing past the 100 ISO mark however,
does cause an increase in noise, and this increased noise is
also noticeable when the camera is set to 200, and especially
400 ISO, and used outdoors.
The EX-P600 is a camera that can
be ideal for both a novice or a serious amateur photographer.
It offers a wide variety of Scene modes to help out beginners.
It also offers complete priority modes along with a full manual
mode that includes a maximum 60 second exposure and a Bulb mode
to satisfy the expectations of an advanced user.
Indeed, in our opinion, the Casio EX-P600 is the best digital camera Casio
has produced to date. And, at this point in time, the best 6-megapixel
compact camera that we have tried.
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Image Quality
