The 
($499) isn't just another digital camera. Rather, it's Casio's attempt at making a convergence device, putting a camera and camcorder into one compact device. On the camera side there's a 5 Megapixel CCD, 5X optical zoom lens, rotating LCD display, manual controls, and plenty of scene modes. On the camcorder side you'll find a high quality VGA movie mode, a zoom lens that can be used during filming, and stereo sound recording.
The last device like this that I reviewed was the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-M1, and I wasn't thrilled with it. Has Casio done a better job? Find out now in our review!
What's in the Box?
The Exilim EX-P505 has an average bundle. Inside the box, you'll find:
The 5.0 effective Megapixel Casio Exilim EX-P505 digital camera
NP-40 rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Battery charger
Lens cap w/retaining strap
Lens hood
Wrist strap
USB cable
A/V cable
CD-ROM featuring Casio Photo Loader and Photo Hands, Lead Movie Wizard SE VCD, and drivers
Printed basic manual plus full manual on
CD-ROM
Casio is one of those camera manufacturers who dont include a memory card with their camera. Instead, they build some memory right into the camera. Unfortunately Casio gives you an absurdly low amount of built-in memory -- just 7.5MB. Yes, you read that right.
That holds just THREE photos at the highest quality setting. So consider a larger memory card to be a required purchase. I'd recommend a 256MB or larger Secure Digital (SD) memory card to start with. Casio doesn't say that a high speed memory card is required for the fancy movie mode, so it looks like you can save your money on this.
Battery life on the P505 is above average. The camera uses the same NP-40 lithium ion rechargeable battery as several other Casio cameras. This battery has 4.6 WH of energy, which is decent. That translates in to 220 shots per charge using the CIPA battery life standard. Compare that with 500 shots per charge on the upcoming Canon Power Shot S2 and 160 shots on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-M1.
My usual complaints about proprietary batteries like the one used by the EX-P505 apply here. They're expensive ($45 a pop), and you can't put in a set of alkalizes to get you through the rest of the day like you could with an AA-based camera.
When it's time to charge the battery, just pop it into the included external charger. This is my favorite type of charger -- it plugs directly into the wall with no power cable (remember that cameras sold outside of the U.S. may have a different charger). It takes about two hours to fully charge the battery.
The P505 includes Casio's PhotoLoader and Photohands software. PhotoLoader is used to download and view stills and movies from your camera. The Mac version is not OS X native, but works in Classic mode. Photohands is for Windows only, and is used for retouching and printing images.
Ulead Movie Wizard SE VCD (say that three times fast) is a Windows-only product for editing the videos produced by the P505 and then burning them to a VideoCD (VCD). Mac users are left out in the cold in this department. In fact I don't even think it's possible to edit these videos on a Mac... at least as far as I can tell. More on this subject later.
Casio has been imitating Olympus in the manual area in recent years. They include a skimpy "'basic manual" in the box, leaving the full manual on CD-ROM. My question is: if you're going to print a basic manual, why not print the whole thing and do the right thing for your customers? The quality of the manuals themselves is about average for a digital camera (read: not great).
Look and Feel
First impressions are important when reviewing products. My impression when I picked up the EX-P505 was "wow, this thing feels really cheap". And I still feel that way. This is one of the most plastic-feeling cameras I've seen in some time. Maybe it's just because the camera is made of plastic and is therefore light, but I wasn't filled with confidence in the P505's build quality after using it.
The camera is small but easy to hold thanks to a decent-sized right hand grip. The important controls are all easy to reach and operate. The official dimensions of the camera are 98.5 x 55.5 x 73.5 mm / 3.9 x 2.2 x 2.9 inches (W x H x D, excluding protrusions) and it weighs 215 grams / 7.6 ounces empty. That's a heck of a lot smaller and lighter than both the Canon Power Shot S2 and especially the Sony DSC-M1.
That's enough of that; let's move on to the tour portion of the review now!
The Exilim EX-P505 features an F3.3-3.6, 5X optical zoom lens. That's a pretty slow maximum aperture range, which may be a problem when there's not enough light in the room (since the camera will have to use a slower shutter speed). The focal range of this lens is 6.3 - 31.5 mm, which is equivalent to 38 - 190 mm. While the lens barrel is threaded, I don't know the measurements and Casio doesn't mention any support for conversion lenses or filters.
One thing worth mentioning is that the lens is completely self-contained. That means that it never extends out of the body, which will make a difference when we talk about the movie mode later in the review.
Directly above the lens is the camera's pop-up flash. This flash has a working range of 0.4 - 3.0 meters (about average), though Casio doesn't say whether that's at wide-angle or telephoto or both. You cannot attach an external flash to the P505.