Casio Exilim EX-S3 3MP Digital Camera and Docking Station

by Casio

Product Details

Product Manual [14kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 0.4 x 3.5 x 2.2 inches ; 3 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00008PVXB
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,685 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 3, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Casio Exilim EX-S3 digital camera packs a 3.2-megapixel CCD sensor and a large 2.0-inch LCD screen into a body that's only a half-inch thick. Its high-speed startup minimizes the time until the camera is ready to shoot after being turned on and a 0.01 release time lag records the image virtually as soon as you press the shutter release button.

Optics and Resolution
The Exilim EX-S3's 3.2-megapixel CCD image sensor yields a maximum image size of 2048 x 1536 pixels, for print enlargements up to 11 x 14 inches. While the Exilim EX-S3 doesn't have an optical zoom feature, you can get closer to your subject with the 4x digital zoom.

Storage and Transfer
In addition to its 10 MB of built-in memory, the Exilim EX-S3 also supports use of thin, compact Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMedia (MMC) memory cards (not included). An easy operation copies images between a memory card and built-in memory. Images can be downloaded to either a Mac or PC via USB connectivity, which means it can be connected to any USB-based Windows Me/2000/XP and Mac OS 8.6 or later computer without installing any software.

Movie Mode
The Exilim EX-S3 captures 320 x 240 resolution video clips (with no sound) at 12 frames per second up to 30 seconds in length. The QuickTime Motion JPEG format offers a limited resolution, which is great for capturing a short movie that can be e-mailed to friends and family, but is no replacement for a true camcorder.

More Features
The Best Shot Mode provides optimum camera setups in an instant. Simply select the sample scene that is similar to the image you want to record, and the camera's exposure compensation, white balance, and other settings are configured accordingly.

With the included cradle, you can connect to your PC or Mac and transfer images easily via USB. The PhotoLoader software automatically transfers all JPEG and AVI files in image memory to the computer. You can also start a slideshow of images currently in the camera's memory.

Other features include:

• Built-in flash with auto, on, off, and red-eye reduction modes.
• Calendar screen provides visual diary of images to help you quickly search and locate the image you want.
• Direct print ability to select Epson printers without the need of transferring images to PC.

Power, Size, and Contents
The camera is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery (included). It measures 3.5 x 2.4 x 0.5 inches and weighs 2.5 ounces. This package includes the Exilim EX-S3 digital camera, battery, AC adapter, dock, USB cable, hand strap, and CD-ROM with imaging software and USB drivers for Windows and Mac.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Camera for the Average Joe!, May 7, 2003

By 

Geoffrey S. Duncan (DALLAS, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Casio Exilim EX-S3 3MP Digital Camera and Docking Station (Electronics)

I was the owner of an EX-S2 and upgraded to the new EX-S3. This camera is simply the easiest digital camera to use for the non-professional photographer. Sure you other cameras out there can take better pictures, but for those of use who aren't Ansel Adams this is the one you want to buy. The 3.2MP quality is more than enough for the portrait shots and candid shots we all love to take. No mess with disposable cameras, developing, etc. Simply point and click and capture that special moment. I personally wanted a camera that I could carry with me everywhere without bulky attachments, or cases, something you could keep in your pocket or in briefcase or glovebox for instant pictures. Life is fun, share your spontaneous moments! The SD card is a great plus, it's durable case is lightweight (Less heavy than the EX-S3 which seems sturdier) but still durable. The LCD screen is lighter too, now made with high-impact plastic instead of glass. Battery life is great and recharging/downloading is a snap! The coupling shot works great and with a 256MB card, you can store over 2100 pictures in Economy mode or 200 in Fine Large Format mode. I highly recommend!

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect take-with-you camera but w/ quality problems, January 11, 2004

By 

Beeeil (Unionville, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Casio Exilim EX-S3 3MP Digital Camera and Docking Station (Electronics)

If you even know me for just one day, you'd know that I love taking pictures. I have 2 other digicams (Olympus D450 and Canon S30, plus the Verizon vx6000 camera phone) and 7 or so film cameras. Having kids, I needed a camera that I will *always* have with me, regardless of the ocassion or what I'm wearing. I was very excited when the S3 became available and snapped up this camera about 8 months ago. 8,000 pictures later, I'm confident that I can give it a pretty much fair assessment.

THE ROLE: The role for this camera for me is to be always available for group and family shots, indoors or outdoors. With it's size and speed, it fits that role perfectly. It's inexpensive enough that it's almost disposable, in a sense that if I lose it I would definately miss the pictures in it more than the camera itself.

PORTABILITY: The reason I bought this camera is the convenience. As you know, It's very small. I carry it everywhere, including at home. You never know when the baby is going to do something cute! In that front the S3 is excellent. Very portable and always available.

IMAGE QUALITY: Get real. With a tiny fixed focus, fixed focal-length lens, I didn't expect the S3 to have the same image quality as the $1000 Canon 300D DSLR or even my Canon S30. However, I was pleasently surprised. The image quality, especially for what I use it for, is excellent. For family, friends group shots, it's more than just okay. 8x10 enlargements is no problem. As I found it, fix focus can acually be a benefit (speed, huge depth-of-field). Having a video mode is essential for me, but read in pro/con section about the video.

PRODUCT QUALITY: However, there are some serious quality problems witht this camera. First of all, over the length of 6 months, the lens got dirty internally, and small grey spots shows up in the same location of every picture. I could shake the camera and got the dust to move around, but I couldn't get rid of it. Then, the flash stops firing reliabily. Then, the case turns yellow in the front, where I rest my middle finger when holding the camera. Not wanting to part with it, I hesitantly sent it back to Casio. EIGHT LONG WEEKS and many phone calls later, I finally got the camera back. The dust is gone, the flash problem is fixed, and they even replaced the camera case. But the amount of time it took was no excuse - I missed the entire holiday season (Thanksgiving, Christmas) on this camera (I had others cameras to work with). So when I said that I've had it for 8 months, it's actually 6 months, plus 2 in the shop.

Pros:
- The size is great
- Image quality is excellent for a fix-lens, fix-focal-length camera
- Fast (start-up, shotting, navigating through pictures)
- Conversation piece
- The most excellent www.exilim.jp site, especially the Exilim Avenue web magazine (in Japanese language)
- Movie mode which Casio eliminated in ther Z4U and S20U models. But see cons.
- Spare battery is cheap on eBay for about seven bucks each. I have 4 spares but rarely use it because the battery life is excellent (much better than my Canon S30)
- Inexpensive

Cons:
- My camera lens got dirty internally. Until I sent it back to Casio, it had small grey spots in each picture and was very annoying.
- Over time, the camera case tarnished and turns yellow
- Repair services, if you ever needed, is SLLOOW. Took them 8 weeks to fix my camera
- No true thumbnail view of every picture (only calendar-view)
- Casio-branded cases not widely available in the US
- The video quality is quite low compare to the other digicams. The Motion JPEG artifacts is more apparent than with my Canon S30. However, once you convert it from AVI (MJPEG) to MPG (MPEG-1) with VirtualDub, the quality dramatically improves. It became VCD / NTSC quality and the JPEG artifacts actually went away. Most amazing.

Overall, it's an excellent camera that I still carry with me daily. However, I would only recommend this as being your secondary, almost-disposable, take-along camera considering its shortcomings. I'm personally looking forward to the next batchs of Canon cameras in 2004 to add another one to my collection.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice, March 5, 2004

By 

Sankwon Lew (Edgewater, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Casio Exilim EX-S3 3MP Digital Camera and Docking Station (Electronics)

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 beginner, 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 first 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 camera.

- 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 around 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 you still have to hold the camera steady for like a second or two, before it actually takes the picture. For example, if you wanted to take a picture of someone who didn't want to (hehe), you would probably take a picture of them on a surprise, but by the time the camera actually takes the picture, they'll have their hands 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 camera again for the second time, after I lost it the first time. This should tell you how much I like the camera. It's really the most portable camera 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.