Review 3 of 4
Price Paid:
$289.00
from BH photo video Summary: Samsung did a great marketing splash in American Photo magazine, so much so that I actually bought one of these NOT based on any research or due diligence. However, I am not disappointed. It is small, light, unobtrusive, and it looks really COOL. It has many great features, some take getting used to (like the soft touch horizontal and vertical row buttons), and most are pretty standard features that you expect from a decent P/S camera. It is relatively quick on the draw, very dead on with its exposure, even in dim lighting, which is where many point and shoots tend to fail in exposure metering. Movie mode is limited to the size of your SD card and how much battery life is left, which is nicer than most cameras which tend to limit you to 3 minutes per session. Video quality is actually quite good, even though only 640 x 480 resolution. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the camera, and it stays in my briefcase or in my breast pocket 99 percent of the time.
Don't get this camera if you are looking for the ultimate capability camera in a cool package, but if you're looking for a cool camera that is very capable, this is it.
Strengths: Small, light, powers up quickly, better than average lag time.
High ISO (1000), has image stabilization, pretty limitless video (limited by the remaining space on your SD card).
Playback button allows you to view your photos and video without actually having to power on the camera.
Noise levels are surprisingly good through ISO 400, workable in photoshop at ISO 800 with noise ninja plugin, and challenging to fix at ISO 1000, but still can be done.
Focuses quickly and consistently, very few out of focus pictures (much fewer actually than my Canon 1D Mk II-hard to believe)
Flash is a bit weak, but not bad, at least the flash exposure is very consistently good.
Nice big LCD screen.
It is what it is, a hip stylish camera with enough substance to justify buying it for its cool looks.
LOOKS SO COOL.
LOOKS REALLY COOL.
LOOKS REALLY, REALLY COOL. Weaknesses: Unpredictable battery life, when its time, it simply shuts down, very annoying. I carry 2 spares, and a separate battery charger, but the way the camera shuts down on extremely short notice drives me nuts.
Contrast and color saturation is a bit over the top, particularly at the higher ISO's.
Image stabilization is practically non existent, you might as well just bump the ISO setting and live with the contrast and color shifts, and noise and edit a lot in photo shop.
The playback button is easy to accidentally turn on because of the soft touch logic buttons when its banging around in the briefcase or jostling in my pockets, which doesn't help the battery life of the camera-keep this camera in a camera case when not in use unless you enjoy really unpredictable battery life.
The camera beep has to be turned off manually in the menu every time you turn the darn thing on, it doesn't save this setting-really annoying when shooting pictures at a church event like weddings.
It is what it is, a hip stylish camera with enough substance to justify buying it for its cool looks, but just barely enough substance.
Similar Products Used: Casio Exilim 600
Canon SD 600
Canon SD 700 Customer Service: Not Applicable at this time.
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