New Casio Cameras Feature YouTube Mode

In recent weeks, Casio has introduced four digital cameras with a YouTube video capture mode. Casio claims they have a unique agreement with Google's YouTube to be the sole provider of this feature, at least through the 2007 holiday shopping season. The YouTube mode lets you capture video clips on Casio Exilim cameras in MPEG-4 H.264 format, at 640 x 480 resolution and up to 30 frames per second. The cameras also include a PC software tool that promises to make uploading your video clips from the camera to YouTube (through your PC) easy.

In a few weeks, I'll have a review of the Casio Exilim EX-277 ($199) digicam with YouTube mode in my Mobile Computing column for PC World. In the meantime, you can see two videos I shot last week while on vacation in Maine: one was captured in bright daylight, the other under a full moon. The clips, below, should give you a sense of the quality you'll get with the Exilim/YouTube combination (keep in mind YouTube clips aren't known for their great clarity).

Comments

[chuck]

Although I'm not sure I'd buy a camera just for its ability to produce videos uploadable to YouTube, I'm probably not in the intended market Casio is aiming for. The quality of the sample videos is surprisingly good, at least comparable to many of the better-shot examples I've seen on YouTube, and the advantages of software for easier uploading are indeed appealing. Depending on the results of your upcoming review of the camera, I might just have to reconsider my position!