LOOKING TO BE THE NEXT YOU Tube star? The 8.l-megapixel Casio Exilim EX-S880 can record good-quality movies optimized for You Tube and upload them directly to the site. Unfortunately, image quality on still shots leaves a lot to be desired, especially when compared with competing cameras, like the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T70, the EX-S880 simply doesn't cut it, despite its cool movie-recording features. Casio been producing slim creditcard-size cameras for a while now, and the company has gained a reputation for building some of the smallest point-and-Shooters on the market. The EX-S880, weighing in at svelte 5.1 ounces with battery and SD card, and measuring 2.3 by 3.7 by .7 inches (HWD), is certainly no exception. Despite its small size, the camera feels well built and solid, and you can easily hold it with two hands when shooting.

The camera's bright 2.8-inch LCD screen is surrounded by a bevy of buttons. On the bottom right is a dial that enables menu access. Next to the LCD is a "BS" button, for accessing Best Shot mode (probably not your first guess), which offers more than 35 preset scene modes. This mode is helpful for shooters who don't have the patience or knowledge to fiddle with manual setŽtings, although, with so many choices, it can be overwhelming.

The EX-S880 also has an interesting data storage feature. You can load e-mail messages, Web pages, and documents to your SD card and, using the included software, convert these files into JPEGs. Then, by pressing the camera's data button, you can access these files on the camera's LCD. While I guess it doesn't hurt to have this ability, it's only marginally useful, since I had a hard time readŽing a text file even when zoomed in all the way.

Aside from impressive video capabilities, the EX-S880 packs in a 38mm to 114mm (35mm equivalent) lens with 3X optical zoom, as well as face detection and image stabilization. Face detection, which can be set to "normal" or "family first"-a useful feature that gives priority to faces that are stored in the camera's memory, worked well. Image stabilization also performed well, keeping blur to a minimum.

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Performance was a mixed bag. On our resolution test, the EX-S880 averaged only 1,675 lines, which is far below the norm for an 8MP camera. On the other hand, the boot and recycle times were quite impressive-2.7 and 2.8 seconds, respectively. Shutter lag was minimal. Fringing was minor, but still noticeable on some images, particularly in shots of tree branches. The main issue I had when using the flash indoors was that it just wasn't consistent. Images were either underexposed or overexposed. Video resolution is the EX-S880's saving grace. With a maximum resolution of 848-by-480, the camera shoots crisp, clear video. Overall, the EX-S880 has a generous feature set, and its video-recording capabilities are impressive. But the quality of still shots is unacceptable.