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Average rating:
3.90
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Casio Exilim EX-S8808.1 megapixels | 2.8" screen | 38 – 114 mm (3×)
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Average rating:
3.90
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Opinion: My Casio EXILIM EX-S600D "DivX-Edition" got nicked (stolen) in Holland and therefore I had to buy a replacement. I considered buying the EX-S770 D "DivX-Edition", but this is only available in Germany (like the EX-S600D was) and it seems like Casio can not keep up with demand as it is not always available from amazon.de.
So I decided to go ahead and buy the EX-S880 (there is no DivX version yet). The EX-S880 records movies in H.264 (the same MPEG4 video format as Macintosh Apple QuickTime) and this is as good or better compression as the DivX® format / XviD format. But unlike DivX & XviD which now play on nearly all current DVD players, H.264 does not. Also when I e-mail some movies to my friends who do not have a Mac, they need to download & install QuickTime on their PC's.
The EX-S880 has a separate little button for activating the video and you can shoot photos while filming, I don’t like having to access a menu to switch the camera from photo mode to video mode. There is however one thing which I do not like, it is not possible to use the optical zoom while videoing (Maybe because the mechanical zooming noise would be picked up by the microphone in quiet situations), only digital zooming is possible and this produces a small drop in video quality. It is possible to first zoom in using the optical zoom and then start videoing.
Besides making videos in normal black & white with sound, you can select “Silent” movie which produces Charlie Chaplin style movies, I find this quite amusing as everything is speeded up a little, funny when you film people walking past. The photo quality is more than acceptable for me and I really like the option to us the Time Stamp on the photos to show the Date & time (if you want both) when printed or reviewing on screen (but note, this will not work when digital zoom is activated). When you select less that the full resolution of 8.1 Mega Pixels, for example 3.0MP it will maintain the 3.0MP also during digital zoom until an indicated limit is reached, then quality will reduce with subsequent digital zooming.
Don't drop it on its corners, even slightly, or the crappy plastic will break!
Problems: Firmware needed to update from version 1.0 to 1.1 to improve the white balance for movies, but this was a very simple procedure.
There is no "Super Macro" like for example the Pentax Optio A20 which I used for macro comparison.
Although I have never used YouTube, when you select this movie setting, the quality is not so nice. Then I took a look at a few short movies on the YouTube internet site and the quality was around the same and often worse, so I do not know if it is possible to have really good video quality on this site.
As it is possible to select different movie formats, I think that it is a pity that you can not select to record in DivX® format.
Pity the camera can not record movies till the memory card is full and then stop, it records to maximum 10 minutes and then stops (actually I did not check, but this is what it says in the user manual).
I had to download the user manual as the one supplied was just a summary of the main features with no great detail.
Then the 4-way button for selecting the pre-set photo & movie styles often irritates me. Unless you pay attention and press exactly for UP, it will go Left. My wife has a Nokia 6300 mobile phone with a similar style menu navigation button & this problem never occurs.
Due to its design, if you slightly drop it on its corner, the plastic surrounding will crack or a piece will break off. Pity Casio did not design the total case in aluminum. Unfortunately some sand got into mine while at the beach and now it will not work, lens error.
Opinion: my S770 died (went into the washing machine)... I loved it so much that I got this one...
Is as good as the S770....
-The wide screen video with mpeg4 compression Rocks.
-The capability of taking pictures while recording is awesome.
-Have to Love the Zoom while video!!
Problems: - It seems to take longer from Off to shoot. (compared to the s770)
- I hate the Cradle... (is needed to charge and download pics if you don't have a card reader)
-YOu tube mode seems to be useless... Since video taken in NON youtube mode looks better in youtube.com than the one taken in youtube mode.
*I will update this review with video comparison.. ..
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Reviews and specs
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Galleries
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Challenges
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 | 22.3 megapixels 3.2" screen Full frame sensor |
