Casio Exilim EX-S500

Opinion: I've had this workhorse for about 18 months now and wouldn't be without it. I also have an Olympus 8080WZ and it is an excellent camera also--but when you're traveling--walking, biking or whatever, this is the one. Excellent battery life. Nice charging stand. Smallest of any digital I've seen. Remember the Minox? That's kind of the feeling I get with this camera. Superb VF. Way cool.

Opinion: Was looking for a small camera, mostly for party usage, but good enough to bring along on vacation for the more simple vacation shots. This camera seems to be the perfect choice for that situation. Both indoor and outdoor shots are of pretty good quality, size-wise it's about as perfect as it gets as it fits into the pocket of your shirt and it's extremely fast and easy to use.

I would therefor highly recommend this camera to people in similar situations.

Opinion: I wouldn't consider myself to know an awful lot about cameras, but I know a little, and I know I like this camera. For the purposes of having a point and shoot camera that fits in your pocket and you can take it anywhere (day out or night out)it is excellent. I've found the picture quality to be fine, especially if you're planning to print of 6 x 4 prints, and even if you're just looking a them on your computer. I would highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a small, highly portable camera that's easy to use and takes great pictures.

Opinion: I have been a Pro Photographer for some time now, and image quality to me is at the top of my priority list. On occasion I like to carry around a point and shoot camera for simple ease of use, especially if on a vacation. Nothing bothers me more than walking around all day carrying a boat anchor around my neck...hence a nice easy to use point and shoot. I'll leave the boat anchor for professional purposes. I wanted to replace my older Konica point and shoot because of it's poor ability to capture sharp images in low light situation. This little gem from Casio does it better than any other point and shoot camera I have tested...and I have tested quite a few. I originally started out with a Coolpix S3...totally disappointed. Took it back. Nikon...you better stick with professional cameras. I won't get on here about how bad I feel that camera is.

First off, the Casio EX-S500 is really quality built...rock solid. Every part, buttons etc. are extremely well made. So many great features...ability to alter saturation, contrast, sharpness, and flash duration. And if you are into histograms, this baby has it. You can even program the L/R buttons for various functions. What I did is program them for EV shift, so while displaying the histogram on the screen, I can adjust the exposure with the L/R buttons until the histogram shows the correct values. Image quality is pretty good with this camera, but don't expect it to be tack sharp like a dSLR, but if you are mainly interested in 4x6's and perhaps up to 8x10's, this camera will do it well. Does it sound like I'm happy with it...YOU BET! By the way...if you are into doing movies...well let's say I was very impressed.

Opinion: Bought this to have a small point and shoot for the family. Cycle time with flash is amazing and it is really easy to use, sturdy and compact.

Opinion: TWO in ONE, Cam and Recorder.
Very small camera with very greater opportunities, the main advantage is certainly video record quality is the best.
Auto focus is great, also in the night.
VIDEO MODES:
( MODE HIGH :3841 Kbps, 29.969 fps, 640*480 (4:3), M4S2 = MS ISO MPEG4 V2, Audio 177 Kbps, 44100 Hz, 1 channels, 0x11 = IMA ADPCM) - 1GB SD = 33 min)

( MODE NORMAL :2000Kbps 29.969 fps, 640*480 (4:3) MS ISO MPEG4 V2, Audio 88 Kbps, 22050 Hz, 1 channels, 0x11 = IMA ADPCM) - 1GB SD = 1h 5min)

( MODE LP :725 Kbps, 14.985 fps, 320*240 (4:3), M4S2 = MS ISO MPEG4 V2, Audio 44 Kbps, 11025 Hz, 1 channels, 0x11 = IMA ADPCM) - 1GB SD = 3h 5min)

and a choice of preadjustments of scenes(33). Speed of work amazing. You never pass the moment. Because the camera will be always at you, in a pocket. Buy, will not regret.
some samples, dinamic scene:
pbase.com/serge_light

Opinion: My ratings are in absolute terms so if you are wondering why the picture quality is only a 3.5 it is because I consider top of the line D-slr to be a 5. Perhaps that is right way to look at things possibly the wrong way - I don't know.

I love everything about this camera and only picture quality is not perfect in my book.

Construction scores high in the how-in-the-hell-did-they-make-this-thing-this-durable-and-small department. The mostly metal construction is top notch. (on a side note this camera is made China and such construction wasn't possible there even a couple years ago.)

Features scorers high due to the how-in-the-hell-did-they-pack-so-much-in-such-a-small-package rationale. I didn't give it a 5.0 because things like aperature priority mode etc are not available. I do like the fact that you can configure the camera such that the left and right arrows are ISO controls.

Ease of use scores high due to two things: 1. it turns on INSTANTLY and is ready to take a picture. 2. It actually fits in my wallet. This means I ALWAYS have a good quality 5MP camera ready at moments notice. That is only possible because it is .6 inches thick at its THICKEST point (and because I have a big wallet)

I dinged it for value rating slightly because it is still a little pricey.

I tried unsuccesfully a few times to get a decent cameraphone (even a 2mp one) to provide me with decent pictures at moments notice. Now I have a REAL camera that I have on me all the time to do the same thing.

Man it is cool. It might be worth it to wait for the 6MP S600 but I don't think it will be that much better.

Opinion: Excellent images except under dark light conditions. Some examples can be found at my pbase.com/danpolley galleries.
Very easy to use.

Opinion: Wow, what a camera. This camera packs so much power into such a small package it's incredible. Outstanding feature set, very comfortable to handle, even in my large hands, and most importantly the image quality is fantastic. Nice saturated colors, crisp images. This is absolutely the perfect camera for traveling. You can also go to otterbox.com and order the model 1000 hard case. it fits perfectly and is waterproof!