Casio's Skinny Cam

Into the ever-shrinking world of digital cameras comes a new breed of slim and practical supermodels from Casio. The $350 Exilim EX-M1 weighs 4 ounces; it measures about 2.25 inches high by 3.5 inches wide by 0.5 inches thick. The EX-M1's 1.2-megapixel image resolution, low by today's exacting standards, is good enough to handle Internet-bound photos or 3-by-5-inch prints. I looked at a shipping version of the EX-M1.

My indoor and outdoor shots appeared bright and colorful on both the camera's LCD and my desktop monitor. But as you might expect with a 1.2-megapixel model, some edges weren't as sharp and smooth as they could have been, and some blues and reds looked drab.

Unlike the similarly sized $130 Logitech Pocket Digital (which has a 0.3-megapixel resolution), the EX-M1 has a built-in flash, LCD, 4X digital zoom, video-capture mode, and Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard slot (though media isn't included). The unit even doubles as an MP3 player; earphones and an audio control strip are bundled.

Unfortunately, the memory card reader couldn't read the MP3s on a couple of my SanDisk SD cards. (Casio has created a downloadable firmware patch to correct this problem.) The EX-M1 does pack 12MB of internal memory--scant space for an MP3 collection, but enough to store 24 photos in 1280 by 960 mode, 75 photos in 640 by 480 mode, or 15 in 1600 by 1200 mode at the normal compression setting.

Another snag: The power button and the shutter button are situated too close together on the EX-M1's top right edge; as a result, instead of pressing the shutter button to take a picture, you might inadvertently turn the camera off.

You can transfer photos from the Exilim to a PC via the included USB cradle (which doubles as a battery charger) or by using a memory card and reader. If you don't need this model's MP3 player and audio recording capability, opt for the less expensive ($300) version, the Exilim EX-S1.

Shutterbugs who can settle for average-looking snapshots will appreciate the EX-M1's sleek and portable size, along with its handy imaging and audio features. For the same price as either Exilim, however, you can get a (larger) camera with two or more times the resolution, such as the popular 2-megapixel Canon PowerShot S200 Digital Elph.

SUMMARY

Casio Exilim EX-M1 Fashionably thin but pricey minicamera comes with some useful perks, including an LCD and a memory card slot. List: $350