A camera that makes you look good?

The Daily Mail reports:

A camera which can instantly transform your appearance to one of airbrushed perfection has gone on sale.

The Casio Exilim EX-S12 features a 'make-up mode' which uses simple technical tricks to smooth skin, enhance cheekbones and illuminate eyes.

When the camera detects a face in a picture, the make-up mode adjusts the focus and exposure, then automatically illuminates the person's face and alters the background colour, eradicating unseemly glare.

To create the appearance of flawless skin and hide imperfections, the £200 [about US $322] camera then softens shadows and shiny patches caused by sunlight and harsh white light.

The changes to your appearance can be as minor or dramatic as you wish because the make-up setting has 12 levels. The lowest of these adds a minimal air-brushing effect and the highest transforms your appearance.

To add to its appeal, it is small and light enough to fit easily into a handbag – making it perfect for taking to parties and allowing you to look your best in the photos even if that wasn't case on the night.

Other functions include a smile-detection feature which means you can be sure that everyone in the frame is beaming when the picture is taken.

Its makers claim you can also say goodbye to those blurred and out-of-focus pictures as the face-detection function recognises individual faces and group shots and automatically applies the best of 41 different pre-settings.

It also has an auto-shutter function which determines the perfect moment to take a photo, delaying the shot until the photographer's hand is steady or the person being pictured stops moving.

There's more at the link, including paired photographs showing how the camera 'touches up' the shot to produce its special effects.

It sounds like a great idea . . . but I hope it doesn't 'improve' the picture to such an extent that one becomes unrecognizable!

(Mandatory disclaimer: no, I'm not sponsored by Casio, and I get no return in cash or in kind for mentioning this product on my blog - I'm just intrigued by its technology.)

Peter