Casio Exilim EX-S3

Opinion: I bought this camera years ago, and it's still with me and going strong. Very handy for quick photos, and the quality is still miles above mobile phone cameras with similar amounts of pixels.
I recently bought me a decent SD card and rediscovered the option of included mp3 player. I use it when travelling somewhere, I don't have to bring a camera and an mp3 player. Other good thing is that from a quality point of view in the first place it's a camera, and the mp3 players is only an addition. The included speaker is nice for movies (strangely not available on many modern cameras), but doesn't work with the mp3 player.
Small but sharp display. I had one dead pixel but it's not bothering me.

It's very small, sleek, and solid as a rock (metal!). At the time, I chose this one not because of the many options, but because it was the only one for a reasonable price that didn't feel like a big plastic toy. Most of the latest exilims still are as sleek, but the buttons and overall feel seem a bit weaker than at this model.

Opinion: Less IS more. Quick: snapshot fast. No lag whatsoever. Why do all the others waste time autofocusing? Less IS more.

Image quality, both optical quality and color, rendition is vastly improved over the original S1 model (which I adored, and lost). Where sometimes S1's pics had obvious weaknesses, the S3's are highly acceptable. Good sharpness, much better (but not exceptional) color.

The histogram is handy. Controls are easily understood and operated (unlike those on a certain high end camera made by another "C" manufacturer). My only gripe: flash shots have a strong (but editable) blue cast.

Opinion: Pros:
- Great design. Very sleek. Large LCD is an attention grabber.
- Portability. Very light and thin. The actual size is not as small as you'd think. But the lightness of the camera and it's thinness makes this maybe the most portable camera. You can just put it in your front shirt pocket and not feel like anything's in there.
- Lots of cool functions. The best shot mode is awesome. It allows you to make your own settings, and use it at ease. ISO levels are pretty decent too, considering it's such a small cam.
- I thought that the quality of the pics were very good. I'm merely a beginniner, so this may not mean much, but I really thought this cam took some nice pictures, and I didn't even set it at the highest resolution. Perhaps, if you are really into photography, you may notice, but if you are, you probably would want to go with the SLR's anyway.

Cons:
- Too small? Well, this is actualy a good thing, but because it's so portable, it's really easy to lose. I actually lost my first Ex-3 on my frist week, then bought another one, only to lose it again! Luckliy, i found it the second time around, but it just shows u, how easy it is to misplace it.
- Lack of a good case. First, it doesn't come with a case. You have to buy it. But even the ones that are out in the market, are not that great IMO. The cases make the camera bulkier, kind of beating the purpose of having this cam.
- No Zoom. Yes, there's digital zoom, but like everyoneelse in this site has mentioned, is practically useless. You mind as well just take the picture normally, then zoom it up in photoshop. It'll give you pretty much the same effect. I found zoom to be quite a necessary feature in photography, after i played aroudn with my friend's zoomable camera.
- No burst mode. yes, it's really fast and easy to turn it on and take a picture, but u still have to hold the cam steady for like a second or two, before it actually takes the picture. Like if you wanted to take a pic someone who didn't want to (hehe), u surprise them and take a pic, but by the time the cam actually takes the pic, they'll have their hand on their face. So it's not 'instant', as I thought it would be. I think for it to be instant, it needs 'burst mode'. Comparable Kyocera cam has this.
- The recharger/USB port is cumbersome. It's nice when u have it at home, but if you were travelling, you'd have to carry that whole cradle with u, just so u can recharge ur batteries.

Conclusion:
Suffice it to say, I bought the cam again for the second time, after I lost it the first time. This should tell you how much I like the cam. It's really the most portable cam out there, outside of those 1 mega pixel spy cams, and its features and sleek look, make it a true winner. But for my next cam, I'm going to make sure that it has zoom capability and burst mode.

Opinion: Very fast camera, within two seconds you can grab it, switch on, take picture, switch off and put it back.
And it is very very small and has a large LCD.
But..the image quality suffers a lot from this tiny size.
The distortion is severe, I took pictures of paintings and they get a funny wave form.
Also there is a lot of vignetting, dark corners and dark spots especially noticable in skies.
Because of that I think it is a somewhat expensive gadget.

Opinion: Great little pocket camera, very fast, easy to carry, perfect for point-and-
shoot conditions. Great ooh-ahh effect from friends too!

Opinion: Verry good camera. Verry fast, don't miss a shot.
Don't expect superb quality for this type of camera. It's not so good as my Nikkon Coolpix 5000 for example but the Casio is much lighter so you can take the camera easy in your pocket. For all the speed of the new processor is impressive! I'am verry happy with it.
Minus: digital zoom is useless due to poor image quality.
Plus: Fast, light, verry low power consumption, easy to use.

Opinion: Very Neat Camera with some very FUN features. There are so many things you can do. Like Changing the back ground, taking split screen pictures, and others.

The small size is a big plus for me. Im usually on the go when i take pictures. PLUS Biggest LCD for its size

Im glad they have zoom on the 3.0mp
THe 2.0mp model didnt have optical zoom.
(personally Digital Zoom is almost worthless)

Opinion: This an amazing little point & shoot. Instant response with zero
shutter lag. SO refreshing from the other digital consumer's
dreadful responsiveness. 4X6 Kodak new digital software chemical
prints outstanding. Best Shot custom settings let you tailor to
your tastes for warmer color balance, high saturation, saturation,
enhanced greens, etc. Hyperfocal works well, made a +1 custom
closeup lens with press-on rubber washer for really great shots less
than 3 ft. Also taped small piece of Roscoe 1/2 CTO (#3408) gel
to warm up flash. Result: wonderful skin tones. S3 does
exceptional fill-flash shots. Hint: create Best Shot portrait setting
with ISO80 instead of default flash ISO 160. Cures color noise
complaints. Explore all the options for Best Shots! Shoot only
full high quality, forget introducting compression artifact with this
gem. It deserves more. BTW, 1.5X digital zoom works well, just
not any higher. So you can get less wide-angle distortion faces
shots. Give this little guy a chance! It blows away people when
they see quality prints made from thoughtful, technically smart
shot images. EXCASE1 and 2 added NP-20 and 2 spare 128 Lexar
SD and you've got 210 full resolution shots in TINY package.

Opinion: For a camera with a fixed-focus lens, the S3 produces acceptably sharp images. It's very quick and responsive, taking less than a second from being switched on to start shooting. Considering how big the LCD is for a camera this size, the battery life is surprisingly good.

There's no optical zoom although there's a 4x digital one. Like all digital zooms this one is best left switched off. There's no macro either, and the lack of a tripod socket makes night shots and self-portraits quite impossible.

All in all the S3 is a fine camera for those times when you just want to travel light. It's great for snapshots and to carry around just about everywhere all day.