Summer Party: Casio Digital Camera

A must-have for summer - a camera. Now, not too long ago the craze for moms was to buy huge, bulky SLR cameras to take professional grade photos of the kiddos. I have one and a lot of my friends have them. And I do love it! But, I discovered it was too big and clunky to take everywhere and capture all the moments. So I turned to Casio for a solution - and they suggested the Casio EX-S12.

I had the opportunity to try the Casio EX-S12 for myself. This is one of those products where I say - Oh.My.Goodness. It is absolutely tiny, so it might be easy to overlook when shopping in a store. It's only 3.7" wide x 2.1" high and .6" thin. But the features and capabilities are amazing.

First off, it takes 12.1 megapixel images and has a 3X zoom. The screen is MASSIVE - 2.7-inch wide LCD, so the quality of the pictures is astounding. It really captures amazing details on the flowers in my yard, like this Passion Vine. That's a better quality than my big, beautiful, chunky Canon. The Casio EX-S12 also captures videos at 1280 x 720 pixels.


One AMAZING feature is called Dynamic Photo. I never heard of this before. But you can shoot image, either still or moving, and insert it into a DIFFERENT background! So you can send your child to the moon or yourself to Hawaii with just a click of a button! This is awesome for some fun photography, greeting cards and e-mails! You can see how it works at www.exilim.com/dp/. I did try to do it, but I personally am getting an error. But Casio gave me their number on Wednesday to call and walk me through it! I will let you know what I was doing wrong!

Something that I know a few of my girlfriends will like is the Make-Up feature. It smooths skin and softens facial shadows so that everyone will look their best. A must-have for all of your Mother's Day photos, as you can select among 12 levels of "skin beauty".

The EX-S12 also features high-speed burst shooting capabilities. I know there have been plenty of times I missed AWESOME photos, because my other camera says "Busy. Please Wait." AUGH! NO! I have a toddler and preschooler! Who can WAIT! Those perfect opportunities just hit. Take the dang picture. The Casio just doesn't let me down, though.

One problem I have when shooting my boys at the beach with any other camera is shadows and a washed out look. That's why I buzzed the intuitive Aurora photo program the other day, so that I could fix my photos. But with Casio's lighting function, it can make photo editing for this purpose obsolete. That's because it compensates for shadows and darkness, without washing out an image.

Also, it has a tracking auto focus. Insane! So if you are trying to shot a moving object, it will focus on it. If the object leaves the frame - the camera knows. And when it reenters the frame, it is recognized by the camera and it autofocuses on it. Honestly, this camera has a brain!

Good to know:
The Casio EX-S12 comes in pink, green, black and silver! So you can show your individuality off when choosing a camera!

It retails for $249.99.

You need a memory card to really enjoy the camera. Without it, you can only shoot around 8 photos.

Overall:
It took me a little while to learn how to use the functions. The camera is not a simple point-and-shoot. It's a clever little device with lots of options to help you take the best picture possible. But you have to learn how to use these options for maximum performance. Thankfully it comes with an instruction manual, CD guide and quick-use guide. Plus I learned how to do some functions online, too.

WIN - SUMMER BLOCK PARTY

Casio is giving one Summer Winner an EX-S12.! Read how to enter below and put your entry(ies) into the form!

Visit Casio and tell me what other item you love!
Remember, put your answer into the Google Docs Form.

EXTRA ENTRIES:
To receive these extra opportunities for entries, you must fulfill the first REQUIRED entry. But for extra entries, you can:

• Add the Mom Buzz to your Twitter and Tweet the contest. Leave the Twitterlink.
• Blog about the contest - add a link to the Mom Buzz and the Sponsor
• Add the Mom Buzz button to your site OR add the Mom Buzz to your blog roll.
• Add the Summer Party button to your site.

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Contest Ends May 30. Please read complete rules.

For more chances to win, visit:
Life in a House of Blue
Look What Mom Found
As They Grow Up

This is solely the opinion of the Mom Buzz. Other people may have different experiences with the product.Thank you Casio for providing a product for review.