Samsung Digimax i5 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)

by Samsung

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 16 x 10 x 4.5 inches ; 3.5 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000B898PO
• Item model number: 120552
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,354 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 14, 2005

Product Description

Color: Silver

mfr: Samsung <li>Image resolution up to 2592 x 1944<li>5x digital zoom<li>Stainless steel super-thin body<li>Improved SF (Safety Flash) function enhances image clarity and color in places without sufficient light<li>High-quality MPEG4 video up to 30fps<li>Auto-macro f L 10.5 W 4.0 H 6.0

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great little camera, September 22, 2005

By 

Chikara Ishiguro "Chikara Ishiguro" (CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samsung Digimax i5 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Black) (Electronics)

We (my wife and I) have also the Nikon D70 dSLR camera, but since I don't like to carry anything that can't fit into my pocket, I merely use it on daily basis. My new ultra-compact i5 camera solve this issue beautifully.

To select among the ultra-compact cameras, I read web reviews and looked closely at a few other cameras from Casio, Sony, and Panasonic/Lumix in the shop. No camera seemed to be perfect, but the Samsung i5 seems to be the best price/performance for my daily needs. So far I'm pretty exiting with this great little camera, and I'm happy that I made this choice.

The most important factor to me is image quality. Some of the snapshot I did with the new Safety Flash mode convinced me that this is the camera for me. At this mode the flash is not active. Instead a long exposure is operated with a digital hand-motion stabilizer. The results are sharp and clear photos even at low illuminating rooms such as our living room in the afternoon (sorry did not find way to add images here).

Video clip capture is another aspect that this camera is excel with. it takes great videos, at 30fps, VGA size.
Unlike many other cameras at this level, it allows to zoom in and out while videoing.

I'm using the camera for several weeks now, mainly in family and social events, and I'm happy with the picture quality and absolutely love the small compact size of the camera, allowing me to have it with me at all time (I also have a camera phone, but it not satisfactory as a camera). The large (2.5") LCD screen is fantastic: bright and sharp.

This is my first non-Japanese camera... and I must admit I'm impressed with this Samsung (Korean) product and highly recommend the i5 to anyone who wish to have good camera with him in his pocket.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Camera Great Price, November 10, 2005

By 

Jake Jake "JMR" (Germantown, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Samsung Digimax i5 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Black) (Electronics)

Right off the bat you know you've got a good deal when you open to box to find:

1. A nice carrying case that fits the camera perfectly.
2. A cradle that can be used optionally, the USB and Power cable can each independently be attached to the camera! Great for traveling around, leave the cradle behind.
3. A WHOPPING 50 MB of internal storage, W O W!!!!!!!!!! When your memory card runs out you still get a decent amount of pictures before having to put in a new card.
4. Software that acts as a OCR scanner to transfer text pictures into text documents, great for research, students, or when you just want to email someone a newpaper/magazine article.

My last camera was the Canon SD300 and I decided to upgrade to this camera for it's higher mega pixel, bigger LCD, better video recording, and internal zooming lens.

Design:
Easier to use and more intuitive than the Canon interface. Why? Well there is a round menu pad that your thumb rests on in the back to control various functions like flash, timer, etc. But there is another column of buttons to the immediate left that controls 1. Playback 2. Switching between video/camera mode 3. Deleting a picture. It's very fast and easy to go into playback mode or switch betwen video and camera mode. Just press the button with your thumb without even looking at the camera!

My old Canon you had to move a slider switch which took the camera out of shooting mode. And to switch to video mode it was the center position of the slide switch so you had to always look and double check the slider was in the middle. The older Canons had a rotating switch which was even worse, because they had like 8 different functions on them and you really make to make sure you put it in the right mode. In my opinion that's terrible, this is a point and shoot camera, the design of the user interface should allow the user to quickly snap pictures, put the camera in different modes without having to double check all the time. With the Samsung i5, you can switch modes review pictures in a completely dark room since you know where all the buttons are, AWESOME, A++ for DESIGN. Oh, and the delete picture gets it's own button, no confusion or error when deleting a picture. My old canon had it on the round menu pad, sometimes I didn't press it correctly and I invoked another function by mistake. Glad I don't have to deal with that anymore.

Picture quality:
First I think the Canon SD300 may have a slight edge. In low light settings the colors seem a bit more natural. But I think the Canons in general have the best image quality. If they are a 10 then this would be a 9. So, I would rate this Samsung as very good. Both Samsung and Canon seem to put the default settings of their cameras to have the images soft. Nikon seems to go the other route and sets their defaults to sharp. I prefer sharp so I set my camera to sharp and it's great. I love it and I have no problems with the image quality of this camera. The safety flash is a good idea but the images look a little grainy, I still prefer the old way to hold the camera real still and take pictures without flash indoors.

Real Life Performance:
This is where theory meets reality. And this is where this camera shines.
1. Ok, internal zooming lens, so what? I'll tell you. The idea behind point and shoot cameras are that you take them everywhere, in your pocket. You have it so you can quickly snap a picture of events that unfold in your life like the fish that got away, your child taking his/her first steps, or even an alien abduction in progress. Since the lens is internal you can keep the camera on and ready to snap pictures and still put it away in your pocket. You can't do that with most other camers since they have that darn lens sticking out!
2. 50 MB internal memory. Chances are if the moment that you're taking pictures of is really critical that's when you'll run out of memory space on your card. So instead of fumbling around like a fool with other cameras you can keep taking pictures with this one knowing you've got 50MB of storage in reserve.
3. Again, design and layout of the camera is great for fast switching of modes and reviewing pictures on the go. I like that I can concentrate on taking the picture instead of being preoccupied with looking down at my camera wondering what mode it's in etc.


Overall impressions:
I'm very happy with my purchase, I use the video recording function all the time. You definetly have to buy a spare battery because you will take video. I bought 2 off brand batteries, they were dirt cheap, but not as good as the OEMS, but did I mention they were dirt cheap! The spare battery fits perfectly in the belt loop of the provided case. Good luck with your camera purchase!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great piece of kit - Full marks for Samsung, December 27, 2005

By 

MF - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samsung Digimax i5 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver) (Electronics)

I chose this camera over the Canon Ixus range, the Sony cybershots, the Nikon S1 and S3, the Fuji Z1 and the Olympus range.
Reason - Saw most of the cameras in various shops (all great pieces of electronics) however the samsung was well priced and had one or two slightly better features in the price range and above.

Size - Perfect (small)
Build - Solid, robust
Picture quality - Very good
Video - 30fps. Awesome, I thought I wouldn't use it but it is very handy. Quality looks great.
Useability - Very good, I have fat fingers from sports yet still find the buttons and keypad easy to navigate.
LCD - Large, about 230,000 pixels. Twice the resolution of the other cameras (see for yourself). The screen looks great and the refresh rate is fast so the sceen appears smooth when you move it. Compared to the fuji Z1, though very nice and well price, there is a noticable lag in the Fuji's screen.

conclusion

The camera feels sturdy in your hand, and starts up very quickly for quick shots. It's given me great shots so far at parties, social events and everyday life and has a large selection of modes and features if you ever wanted to use them. Personally auto works well for me since all I want to do is take great pictures easily and quickly...but isn't that the point of compact cameras!? I feel 'average' people are getting too technical and moving away from the primary purpose of a camera!

In one sentence:
A great camera in all aspects, will not disappoint.

2115|R1OC11B40QFW1Z;2115|R3SG1UU47JFKVB;2115|R2KLVPO6E7OFBZ;