Casio Exilim

This is the smallest camera on the market to have an LCD screen. Its 2megapixel CCD gives images of up to 1,600 x 1,200, with 640 x 480 and 1,024 x 768 also included as image options.

Given its size, it's comfortable to hold and use. All the buttons are well positioned, but we found the miniature joystick a little too small and awkward to manoeuvre.

The lack of optical zoom is no surprise and, while this is to the detriment of the images, there's no way you could fit one in to the chassis.

There is a digital zoom, however. The Exilim runs off Multimedia Cards (MMCs), and a 16MB card is supplied. It also supports Secure Digital (SD) cards.

To access images you have to use the unobtrusive docking station. This is disappointing as it means you'd have to carry it with you to share the images on the move. That said, it does work without the power cable plugged in.

On testing, XP recognised the camera, and images could be instantly accessed via USB in Windows Explorer.

The Exilim fell short of our high hopes here, though. Images were grainy and colour saturation was decent, if nothing special, but we had hoped for more.

However, it's not possible to fit a decent CCD sensor into such a small device, so our disappointment was inevitable.

Software supplied was a proprietary handler and manipulator, neither of which was of any note. If you want to edit your images, you'd be wise to invest in an image-editing suite.

The Exilim is a very easy-to-use miniature camera with reasonable images and an almost justifiable price.

SPECS

• 1,600 x 1,200 max resolution
• 4x digital zoom
• 36mm focal length (35mm equiv)
• Red eye, auto, on, off flash modes
• 1.6in TFT screen - 88 x 11.3 x 55mm (w x d x h)
• 88g ex battery and MMC card

DETAILS
Price: £299 (£254.47 ex VAT)

Dixons
Jessops