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New Ceramic Lensed Exilim Ex-S100
stuart miles writes "pocket-lint has managed to be the first to review the new ex-s100 3mega pixel from Casio that uses a ceramic lens rather than the standard glass version.
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I don't understand this either:
"The bad:
Only 3.2 megapixels, no SD card in the box"
No SD card in the box is a GOOD thing, who uses wimpy 8-16MB cards that come with the camera? SInce the Casio Exilim line has builtin memory (10-20MB), there is no sense in including small SD card.
Yeah, ceremics can be transperent. It's harder for cermics to be, however, seeing as it's just a bunch of (transparent?) granules smushed together under high heat.
Optical quality (and price) general go as the following:
Cermics
Amorphous Solid (glass)
Single Crystal
The more "regular" the structure (the less interface bounderies and material gradients) the better the optical qualities are.
I don't see how they were the first, when Steve's Digicam's has a review for this exact model dated two weeks ago. It's a much better and more thorough review as well, IMHO.
1024 x 768 is only 0.8 MP, not 3 MP.
3 MP is more like 2048 x 1536.
The image noise is probably more due to the ludicrously small CCD unit (4.54 x 3.42 mm) that Casio are using. As a comparison the 2.8 MP Nikon D1H uses a largish CCD of 23.7 x 15.5 mm and I know which one would give better photos, lenses notwithstanding.
The ceramic lens would impact the sharpness of the photo more.
If I point out that you are incorrect, making me a foe does not make you any more correct.
There's a much better review at Steves Digicams
Might want to check that one out too.
Do not anger the worm.
might be nice to actually link to the review?
0 0.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/ex-s1
In a nutshell, the transparent ceramic lens can be thinner and lighter than a glass lens because it has a higher refractice index (bends light more). It's also stronger, they say. Nifty, just what you need to make a smaller camera. Of course, if you put that tiny lens in front of lousy electronics, you get a lousy camera. As another post mentioned, the review said there was a lot of noise, which sounds like a lousy camera to me.
See what I've been reading.
August 02, 2004, TOKYO, JAPAN - Using its proprietary optical technology, CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD. has developed the world's first lens using transparent ceramics. This breakthrough will make it possible to create zoom lenses for cameras with greatly reduced profiles.
There are soom cool pictures of the lenses as well as some text and graphics that explain what is going on pretty well.
http://www.busyweather.com/
Now I can take pictures of Mt. St. Helens' glowing rocks! Before, my camera lens kept melting. With this new ceramic heat-resistant lens, my time on the volcano is only limited by the durability of my asbestos suit!
Just would like to point out how silly all of this ceramic vs. glass business is, since glass is considered a ceramic! And, "ceramics" encompasses quite a lot of materials. You really have to take announcements like this with a grain of salt, and realize that while it may be better, it is also a gimmick when they say something like new "ceramic" lens! Oh yeah, and I'm a ceramic engineer...