Hands-on with the ironically skinny Casio Exilim EX-S10

It's ironic that Casio has named this latest Exilim point-and-shoot the EX-S10, because every gramme of excess weight has been trimmed from its waif-like frame. It's a 10-megapixel camera with YouTube mode, and it's so slim we're worried we'll lose it if we turn it sideways.

It's always seemed rather cheeky that the Exilim range of compacts should include the word Card in the name -- they're thin, but they're not that thin. But the EX-S10 measures a svelte 15mm deep, making it the camera of choice for the skinny-bejeaned Skins generation to fire up a YouTube video of Tamara copping off with Sebastian at the yoof club. Predictably this diminutive frame has some cost: there's no image stabilisation, for a start, and it has a fairly uninspiring 36-108mm focal length, equivalent to a 35mm camera.

So why are we Cravers -- well known for eschewing superficiality wherever we encounter it -- so interested in this skinny puppy? Aside from looking great -- which it unquestionably does, in red, blue, silver and black all-metal frames -- it also boasts a large 69mm (2.7-inch) screen. YouTube mode has become more than a shiny bumper sticker for the Exilim range with a dedicated record button on the back of the camera. This allows for instantaneous one-touch video rather than sifting through menus.

The EX-S10 also crams in the varied feature set that has always impressed us about Casio's cameras. Face detection records familiar faces and prioritises, while the auto shutter feature can wait for movement to stop before firing. In playback mode images can be colour corrected, resized, cropped and even have their white balance adjusted.

The Casio Exilim EX-S10 is available now for around £180. We'll be donning our tightest jeans for a review very soon. -Rich Trenholm

Update: Read our full Casio Exilim EX-S10 review.