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Average rating:
4.37
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| Quick links: | Announcement | Forum |
| Announced: | Oct 24, 2005 |
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Average rating:
4.37
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Opinion: I bought this camera for my friend. I have compare this camera with a panasonic FX-9, and I think the video quaility of S600 is better than FX-9. I have also compare the image quality with my D100, and I think S600 image quality is good, consider its tiny size, and its reasonable value. If you are looking for a small camera, with good video quality, I recommand this one.
Opinion: I paid $329 on ebay for this from techtoysforless, though it's not officially released in the US, only Asia.
I was told I have a US warrantee.
All packaging is US on the outside, the main manual cover is english. As far as I can tell this thing is packaged as if to launch in the US, but just hasn't been done so.
It's superthin, but surprisingly heavy for it's size (I expected such because the battery is so much better than the S500 it's predecessor).
Well constructed. HUge display much brighter than the S500.
Features are amazing. Can record very high quality video 640x480 at slightly less than an hour/gigabyte. Really really nice. Can only do digital zoom while in video mode. Dedicated video button is very nice. In camera video editing is very cool too.
Video mode also has a mode where you can hit the shutter and the recorder goes back 5 seconds in time and starts the video there (by buffering the video in memory) So your video starts 5 seconds before the shutter press. VERY slick.
Best SHOT modes are absolutely idiot proof to use. You just hit the BS button and a whole bunch of photo icons pop up and if you navigate them, you have a caption at bottom showing you what they are.
Every mode you could need is on there, including this "Old picture mode" which lets' you photograph an older photograph, and it will correct the perspective distortion (if you aren't lined up perfect), let you crop or zoom in, and punches up faded colors. It's VERY slick. So easy. There's a mode for photographing documents, with appropriate exposure AND "virtual H and V lines on the screen which make lining up the document's text straight VERY easy. Multiple typical picture taking modes.
Slightly worse pic quality than Z750 (7 MP), which is thicker camera with bigger CCD (physically larger CCD)... but actually macro seems to work better, and it's even more responsive to the shutter when you press than the Z750 was (and the Z750 was great for this).
This is about the most idiot proof camera I've seen, given the amount of features that are on it. It's not the simplest camera, but once you show somebody how to do something on it, they can do it easily.
I think this is a great value, and if it's sturdy and survives well (I've only had it a day), I will give it my highest recommendation.
Problems: Minor annoyances:
The focus lock button is very sensitive and focus is noisy.
That noisiness is the one annoyance for me, but I got used to it fast and just stopped my habit of resting my index finger on the shutter (which triggers the focus).
SD card doesn't bounce out easy for some reason, sticks slightly.
I expected pic quality to be as high as Z750, but it's slightly worse, though still very good. Z750 with it's manual modes and LONG exposures possible, plus BIGGER CCD and optics, is capable of higher quality pics, especially if you use tripod and doing things like landscapes, etc. Manual controls on that camera are wild. But this camera's signiificantly thinner and "sexier", and much easier to use. And actually I paid much less than the going MSRP for it as far as I can tell.
Opinion: This camera fulfills the need for a camera that fits in your pocket that you can have
with you at times when you do not want to have a camera with you. It is fairly
intuitive to use.
Problems: No viewfinder. Hard for someone with big hands. I would not want it any smaller.
Opinion: First off, this company was great in terms of customer service!!!! (www.techtoysforless.com) Price was fantastic and I was able to get my camera within 2 days (mainly cause the are located near my work).
As for the camera and accessories..
The camera:
Pros:
It's amazing that it has soooo many features.
- I don't see much difference between this and the EX-750 or EX-Z120 (other than the MP's) feature wise
- Fast to turn on and off
- Lens maybe noisy, but I like to hear the lens moving when I push the zoom in/out. Kind of like listening to your car reving up when you have a stick shift.
- Image quality so far has been good. Granted it's not an SLR, but I knew what I was buying.
- the "consecutive shots" feature is great as long as you keep the res down. At 2 mp it shoots like a frame a second or faster. Higher res and quality it shoots slower, but I don't think i will be shooting that high on a regular basis (I don't like editting them down so I can send them to people)
- Size and weight are good. Heavier than it looks, but light enough that you will need the image stabilization feature.
- Programmability - turn sounds for functions on/off, configure your own "Best Shot" mode (fstop, ISO, shutter)
- So many features in it....it's going to take a while to learn and remember them
- Says it can shoot around 300 pics on a battery charge. I'll see how long it actually lasts at the various modes.
Overall, I think this will be a good camera. My friends love their EX-750's which seem to have nearly identical functions and the same lens. Only size and MP's are different (750 = 7.2 MP, S600 is only 6.x). Perhaps the CCD is smaller...don't know nor care. It is going to service my needs just fine.
Problems: Cons (these are more comments vs bad things)
- for the basic user who just wants to snap pics, this camera probably has way too many features. But it is simple to use and choose a setting for the type of picture you are taking (indoor, scenery, action, night, etc)
- it is really thin and small for my hand. Again, I knew what I was buying, so not a problem nor really a "con" but people should make sure they go to a store and pick one up and handle it a little. The S500 should be in stores if you can't find the S600.
I'll probably build myself a jig that can screw into the tripod mount that will make a bigger grip so if I know I will be shooting a lot then it will be easier to hold.
- a little hard to aim if you are zoomed in and trying to find it in the LCD.
- User guide is in PDF format (250+ pages). This doesn't make it too easily portable and accessible vs. a small, paper manual. There is a basic manual printed that comes with it but it doesn't talk about the modes and functions.
- Camera DOES NOT come with a memory card and only has 8mb internal memory (only a couple of pics, depending on resolution). Luckily I bought a kit which included a 1Gb card.
- Too many power buttons by default. There are 3 buttons with which you can power the camera on. This can be dangerous as two of them aren't that recessed and can be easily depressed if you put it in your pocket or the case. You can disable them in the menus though luckily.
- Have to use the cradle to charge it and connect via USB. Otherwise bring extra battery or bring a memory card reader with you.
- The 2.2" inch LCD looks good...but not as crisp as my old Sony camera I think.
- So many features that it will be hard to remember them or even remember they are there.
- All the software packages are kind of goofy, but at least they include movie editting software and image editting stuff. Not sure how good it all is.
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 | 22.3 megapixels 3.2" screen Full frame sensor |
