Customer Reviews

Samsung Digimax S730 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Advance Shake Reduction Optical Zoom (Black)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

After a month of wrestling with trying to get a problem-free Samsung S730, I have really mixed feelings about this camera, but I like the one I have. The problem is, there are pronounced manufacturing irregularities that cause one camera to perform differently from another camera of this same model. You can literally line up 6 Samsung S730 cameras with the exact same settings, side by side, in the exact same environment -- and find that the picture/video tint, brightness, focus, sharpness, clarity, saturation, & most likely the internally preset ISO is consistently DIFFERENT for each & every one of them. I know, because I searched local stores looking for one that took pictures like the first one I had that got fried, & eventually ran 6 of them through about a dozen identical tests, side by side. After making a large number of returns of single cameras, for the following issues.

The most common anomalies I've found that differ among the SAME Models within the Samsung S Series are:

1) A pervasive yellow/gold tint appearing throughout the picture & .AVI video files that is noticeable in the LCD display, and visible in the downloaded .jpg pictures. It is hard to adjust this gold tint out while keeping the other colors in your picture true. This issue is present in some models, and, happily absent in others. You can literally hold 2 cameras of the same model powered on side by side, with the exact same settings, & immediatley see the difference in the tint. And it occurs in the .JPG pictures & .AVI videos when viewed side by side as well. I noticed this gold tint issue in the two Samsung S630's I tried as well. One had a great picture & one was yellowed out.

2) Video Sensor Issues. In several Samsung S730 cameras I tested, I found 1 to 3 "bright spots" that turned up in the video output - but not in the pictures. Unless you made a picture, from the video (which is a neat feature). I don't know what causes them, & Samsung tech support was absolutely clueless, but some of the cameras have permanent "bright spots" in the video, some fairly faint, some quite bright & visible by eye in the LCD. Some cameras don't have them at all.
One S730 camera I got had 1 bright spot when I bought it, & by the end of 10 days - it had developed 2 more. Samsung CS warned me that if these appear, it is likely to get worse over time & apparently it can, & they told me to take it back.
I suggest testing your camera by recording a short video against a very dark background while moving it in small circles (4" away from the carpet in a dimly lit room works great). Watch for permanent bright spots in the .AVI clip that don't move when environment does.

3) Electrical Problems in Video Mode. Two Samsung S730's I tried froze in Video Mode, where the suddenly turned white, turned to snow (like television snow) with diagonal lines running through it, became inoperable, record corrupt unusable .AVI files, & I had to take the batteries out to turn it off. One camera had a great picture, but it froze like this half the time in video mode, creating unusable files, & I had to take it back.
The Kodak SD card I used in one of these cameras became unsuable - & I am wondering if it was just coincidence, or shorted out by the camera's electrical issue as one store employee suggested. Very strange.

4) Chromatic Aberrations... Fringing, halo effects, noise issues, & image over-processing (often seen in conjunction with the annoying yellow tint) present in some models - & happily absent in others, while some have a tint that leans more toward blue. Why...?? God only knows. Upgrading to the Samsung S850 resulted in these same issues.

5) Sound Quality Differences. Some cameras sounded crystal clear, some sounded muffled, & some recorded a great deal of crackling if I raised my voice during a video recording, while some did not. And, many S730 cameras recorded louder than others in side by side tests.

I have seen similar problems in the Samsung S Series turning up across reviews for the Samsung NV Series.

I am convinced that this is NOT a problem of certain consumers errantly slamming a great camera among the Samsung S Series... This is a problem with inconsistency in the manufacturing at Samsung. You are not imagining things, this problem is real. And if you got a bad camera, you'll be ticked. And if you get a good one, you'll be happy. It really is a dice toss. If you want to try one out & see how it goes, I suggest doing so locally vs. buying by mail, to spend gas rather than postage & time on possible returns.

In my experience (and I almost feel like I should go to work for Consumer Reports after systematically testing & comparing so many Samsung cameras in dozens of "controlled experiments"...) -- taking the camera back & trying again with the same model, if that's what you really want to use, has been the only way to remedy the problem. I cannot stress this enough to you. And what a way to tick off a store with repeated returns. WM is NOT a happy camper, but I DID finally find 2 Samsung S730's I liked at KM. Because of the strange technical issues I've seen, I kept TWO of these S730s, in case something happens to one of them. It became a challenge to me, I had a VISA card to work with, & I didn't quit until I beat the issue.

The reason I kept trying & really fought for it, is because this camera is *A Webmaster's Dream*... I would subtitle the S730 as "The MySpace Camera". It's Settings & Editing Features make it the perfect camera for creative, artistic people taking pics & videos to post or send to friends by the Internet.

I admit, I bought a Canon Powershot A570IS that can beat the tar out of this camera for outdoor photo quality... I'm sure it would make nice prints. But short of an actual cam corder - NOTHING I've ever used takes a better VIDEO than the Samsung S730 - IF you can get one that is working properly.

I've been taking BEAUTIFUL outdoor Videos of a lake, wildlife, & its surrounding greenery. It's videos of my cat are second to NONE. My videos have been sharp, crisp, clear, realistic, with low video noise...almost cam corder picture quality. It does not "pixellate" (turn into little squares) when it views rippling lake waters like the Canon. It records sharp imagery out past the Optical & on into the Digital Zoom. And the Mic is nice outdoors. It does NOT record high winds that play back sounding like a Hurricane, with an over-sensitive mic, recording every little microscopic creak of the plastic casing - like my Canon does... The Canon has NO "OFF" setting for the Sound - & this Samsung DOES. The Samsung even can create Audio Files, without Video. Using Tungsten / Blue simultaneously, my indoor lighting Videos turn out beautiful. I will NOT use this Canon for Video... For Video -- the Samsung S730 is THE way to go. I wish my web cam were this good.

Besides taking nice videos to post to your web space, the in-camera photo editing can do things that other cameras just don't do. After you take your pictures, using the E (Effects) Button you can adjust the picture color, brightness, contrast, saturation, RGB, (but not sharpness, darn it) after the shot. It will allow you to adjust your overall picture size. And you can zoom into your pics with the T Button to easily crop out images. You can turn "almost-good" shots into usable pics by changing them into Sepia or B&W, & create wonderfully bizzare nature shots using the Negative filter (see Customer Photos for mine). And it saves all your originals, without overwriting the files. You can even create composite pictures & collages, add various frames, funny images, blank cartoon balloons to add text to, & even create your own Start-Up pic. You can capture pictures that are absolutely *to die for* from it's most excellent video... It sounds complicated, but it's a breeze to use. The in-camera editing is amazingly creative, lots more fun to play with than my photo editor, & it has several buried cool features that aren't listed in the manual.

Thank goodness the camera's interface is intuitive & user friendly, because the printed manual that comes with it is vague & nearly useless. It basically shows you pictures, draws diagram lines, & tells you "you have this feature" - & offers very little information about how to use them. DOWNLOAD & read the manual from the website instead. Their PDF file will give you much more information about the capabilities of the camera.

My cat detests camera flash, & as a result, he works against me to trash every picture I try to take. But with THIS camera, I can leave the flash off, raise the ISO to 1000, perhaps open the A/E one notch, go Macro, & take very unique pet pictures indoors. There will be some noise in very dim lighting, but this camera can take really neat low light pictures where other cameras fear to go... I can do great things with this camera indoors, in a dim apt., without Flash. And capture shots I could never get any other way. I primarily use mine Program Mode, which allows me keep my hands on ALL of the Controls at all times. I can do the same in Video, though I wish I could adjust the ISO speed, Saturation, Brightness, or Contrast in Video Mode -- but it can't be done. And many Samsung S730 cameras I tried took great low light video, & many did not. Again, it is a dice toss. But when it's great, it ROCKS...

Here's a nice hidden feature of this camera... If you turn it on, press the E Button, go to Image Adjust, select Saturation, point the camera at the area you're going to photograph or film, & press OK - even WITHOUT adjusting the bar at the bottom (though you can, if you need to) - this camera will READ the lighting in your environment, & properly adjust it's brightness & color, before you take your picture. If you change environments, you can do this again, & the camera will readjust to the new setting. Nowhere in their information will you read this, but this is how it works, & it's amazing. No other camera I've tried can do this.

One thing that hooked me on this camera is that, unlike other cameras, the Samsung S730 serves as a terriffic digital "Brag Book". : D You can put together a special "Album" SD Card containing your favorite pics, turn on Display Mode by pressing the Play Mode Button (WITHOUT having to use the Power Button to turn the camera on first, unnecessarily extending the lense, which I love!) - & immediately review & show your pics & videos to friends. The playback quality for Video is beautiful, like television. In Display Mode, if you press Menu, & choose Slide Show - you can play pictures back with or without Samsung's internal music, at timed Intervals, with different display Effects. And under Playback in the Display Mode Menu, you can Protect certain pictures from deletion, copy images from inside the Camera's 16MB Internal Memory over to your SD Card (so you don't have to get out the USB cable), Print your photos, & more. Again, this is a great camera for the artistic mindset, & it's a Webmaster's delight.

The Bottom Line... If you can find a Samsung S730 Camera without the issues listed above - you will have a really fun to use camera, that takes sharp, crisp photos & videos, and quickly helps you get your files ready to upload to the Web or email to friends. It was worth ticking off the WM & the KM, & wasting a tank of gas with repeated returns, to get a Samsung S730 that is in good working order. It was a tough challenge, but eventually, I won.

So if you see one reviewer saying their camera is great - & another saying oh no, it's terrible - realize that they're both probably right about what they each have in their hands. There are *widely varying manufacturing irregularities* among the Samsung S730 cameras, as well as the Samsung S630 - so much so, that if you bought a half dozen of them & tested them all at one time using identical settings as I did - you might as well be looking at 6 different cameras.

I hope that my compulsive ransacking of dept. store stock for cameras these past 6 weeks might be of use to another buyer!! : D

If anyone posts questions under Comments, I will check back & try to tackle them.

ADDENDUM: Batteries!!!

DO *NOT* USE ALKALINE AA BATTERIES IN THIS CAMERA - UNLESS you are out in the wildnerness - & absolutely Desperate. Samsung put Alkalines in the box, because they were too cheap to give you NiMH batteries for this price.

Since Samsung built a DC 3.3V power port in the side of the camera - BUT they ridiculously Manufacture NO Power Adapter for it - you will need a charger & rechargeable batteries at 2500 mAH or HIGHER. You'll definitely need the charger, because you cannot charge batteries IN this camera by USB.

As the manual will tell you - you HAVE to use Rechargeable AA Batteries at *2500 mAH* Battery Capacity - OR HIGHER. *I cannot stress this enough.* I don't know how many reviews I've read bashing these cameras - JUST because they die with the Alkalines they're packaged with in 10 minutes...

I use 2650mAH Duracell NiMH Rechargeable Batteries - powered up by a Duracell 1 Hr. Charger - & they take pictures & videos ALL DAY. With plenty of On time left over for fiddling around with all of the camera settings, as I like to do. If I only take a handfull of pics at a time, two 2650mAH AA's will literally power this camera FOR DAYS........

Oddly enough, these 2650mAH Duracells last *5 times longer* than the LiON block style battery in the Samsung L73 I tested (...which also had a bad video freeze-up issue.)

Again, DO NOT USE ANY TYPE OF ALKALINE AA BATTERIES IN THESE S Series CAMERAS!!!!! : Q Unless you are in the middle of the Desert, forgot to pack your extra Rechargeables, spot a convenience store, that's not a mirage, need just *FIVE* 3MP pictures, & you're Desperate!!

I recently got this Samsung to replace an aging 1st-generation Nikon Coolpix 990 (3.43 megapixel, circa '99 or so). I got it before the price drop, so with a 2GB card was about $170. I'm not going to repeat the notes from other reviewers. However, some items:

1) It's not ultra-light weight, but you can still carry it around in a shirt pocket or jeans pocket in a pinch. So, it won't be burdensome to carry around for quick pics of the kids at picnics and stuff like that.

2) It feels solidly made, but don't sit on it or drop it. The old Coolpix is darn near indestructible but also about 3x as big and heavy.

3) The picture quality is very clear and generally free of blur. It has some image stabilization built in and seems pretty good for a camera of this size and cost.

4) It has ISO 1000 support, which is good for faster action or low-light situations. However, this is entirely subjective and unscientific but I don't think it's actually as good as old-fashioned ISO 1000 film in my trusty Pentax ZX50 35MM SLR. So, it's better than most small digicams, but not as good as 35MM (that's non-digital for you youngin's) of the same level.

5) With ISO 1000 support, you would think that the default flash setting upon power-on would be "no flash." The advantage of a no-flash setting is that, if you don't in fact need it, you can take pictures faster. Red-eye reduction and regular flashes both introduce a 1/4 to 1/5 second delay. That's enough to miss a moment, especially if you have little kids running around. However, this camera powers on with red-eye reduction on. So, if you want it off you have to turn it off, which is annoying and again, can make you -just- miss a shot.

6) The little keypad to fire up the menu, turn off flash, etc. is too small. I am constantly mis-hitting it and turning off/on some other feature i don't care about.

7) The battery life! Ugh. It is very annoying. Actually, I don't think the problem is with battery life per se. it seems to be on par with other cameras i've used. However, the battery meter lies. It says the battery has plenty of juice left, and then it suddenly starts beeping at you with a low battery warning and shuts off. This is a message to ALL makers of digital cameras. EVERY MANUFACTURER SUCKS in this regard. I own four digital cameras from four different makers. They all have abrupt shut-off at low battery. They all tell you the battery is low, and then you take 'em out and put them in a flashlight or other device and they're still OK (if not full strength). It disappoints me that 8 years later the makers still are idiots about this. If they can't get the meter feature right, perhaps put in a timer, "Hours since batteries replaced" or something like that. Anyway, for this and every camera here is the upshot: ALWAYS carry a spare set of batteries with you. NEVER trust the meter. And I suggest going further and just automatically replacing the batteries every other time you use the camera. Just do it preemptively until these mfr's get a clue.

Cheers,
Eric

Well I must say it; I am quite pleased with this camera. After shopping around, I found that this is probably the best camera for the money I was willing to spend. I originally was going to purchase the S630 but after seeing that the S730 does video at 30fps, I changed my mind. I felt that for the extra $20 or so is worth it. I also had a $25 dollar gift card but still, even if I didn't have that I still probably would have spent the money. At first, I was skeptical seeing how I was getting such a high res (7.2MP) camera for such a cheap price. I was worried the pictures would be blurry or the shutter speed wouldn't be that great but I was so wrong. Not only does the Auto setting work great but it also has a (ASR) feature. This is great for taking steady shots at a concert or moving. I was surprised how good it took pictures; it took almost freeze frame shots while moving in my car out the left driver side window. Some of the things I love about it are the video capabilities w/audio and the high quality pictures as well as shake reduction. I'm also extremely happy with the fact that it has a manual adjustment feature. With this, you can set the cameras shutter speed as well as a number of other things. I was able to take some cool looking night photographs setting it at an 8second shutter. There are also some editing features you can use to edit the pictures while they are still in the camera, fun stuff. The only negatives I found are how when taking a video the audio isn't the greatest but it's still pretty good. Sometimes the audio has a slight popping sound every so often but it's only a minor annoyance and isn't a big deal even for me and I'm very picky. The other issue with the audio is how the camera cuts it out when zooming in and zooming out. I have a feeling this is because of the sound the lens makes when zooming in and out so that it doesn't get put in with the audio on the video. Another small problem was when I first started using the camera I put the Duracell batteries that they gave me in and it was already at 2 notches within a few mins of playing with it. I was kinda put off at first but I said lets try my NiMH batteries since the camera has an Alkaline and NiMH setting. Those worked way better. 2650NiMH batteries seem to out power the Alkalines I was using. I have a feeling though that if I tried those Energizer e2 batteries they would probably work even better. Still the rechargables lasted a whole day of playing with the camera taking images with flash, zooming in and out, recording 30min worth of video and such. Anyway, here's a list of Pros and Cons.

Pros:
- 7.2MP Pictures
- 3x Optical Zoom / 5x Digital
- Manual Options
- 640x480/320x240 Videos @ 15 or 30fps w/audio
- SD Cards (up to 4GB) < I use a 2GB SD
- (ASR) Automatic Shake Reduction? <I think thats what its called
- NiMH options as well as other fun little features

Cons:
- Battery Life is Good with Alkalines to Great with NiMH
- Average Video Audio
- Uses Battery to power when connected to PC

Anyway, it's a pretty impressive camera for such a cheap price. It's almost comes close to the quality pictures that my dads 8MP Sony Cybershot DSC-F828 Camera takes and that thing was way more expensive that this one. If you have the money and do not want to spend over 200 for good pictures and want video with audio as well as other fun features this is your best bet.

My (very thoughtful) uncle gave me a Samsung Digimax S630 6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Advanced Shake Reduction Zoom (Black) and a 512MB card for my graduation, which took about 30 pictures, went through 4 batteries, and promptly died, not to be awoken again.

We took it back, and upgraded to this S730, which has given me comparatively very little trouble--and with a nicer picture quality. I'm not a photographer: I just want clear, crisp photos inside and outside that I can put on my blog, website, etc.

This camera takes startlingly good photos outdoors in good light--as good as or better than more expensive cameras. I can use any setting I like outdoors and it works beautifully. Indoors is more variable, depending on the lighting situation and the setting: it wants to flash, generally. I constantly have the flash off and as a result get interesting, slow-shutter-speed blurs of light. But if it gets the flash, the shutter, the colors just right: WHAM! Big, shiny, crisp pictures. Nice.

The enclosed instruction manual is far from comprehensive, and the website is a HORROR, so if you want to learn the various functions you just have to play around with it. Luckily they're easy and well-designed. There are lots of little things which make it nice: looking at pictures without opening the shutter, various effects, a handy delete button instead of a several-click process. The Manual setting is fun, as you can set your own shutter speeds and the like without too much difficulty. You can even connect directly from camera to printer with a USB port, if you're into that. But basically this camera takes good photos for uploading to flickr or the like.

My only disappointment is the much-lauded anti-shake-reduction. I am known for my shaky hands, but I can't tell much difference between photos with ASR on and those with it off, other then a much longer processing time.

Finally: yes, it eats batteries. With alkalines I went through a 36-pack in under a week. NiMH's do much better, though, especially high-capacity ones--and the good thing is it only needs two, so assuming you buy a four-pack you can be using two and charging two.

In short--I love my camera. :) A brilliant gift for a picture-taking novice.

I've had this camera for about a week and have taken around 100 pictures in that time, it's a solid performer keeping up with my quick shots fairly well.

I wasn't expecting a whole lot from such an inexpensive camera but I knew I wasn't purchasing an SLR. This camera takes pretty good pictures with little trouble.

The only thing that prevented me from posting 5 stars for this camera is that the body has a very light plastic feel, I read a review on here before I purchased with the same sentiments. It's a very cheap feel, I'll get over it but I also know that I don't want to drop this thing!

I had a Sony Cybershot 4 MP camera, but wanted a more portable digital camera. I bought this camera because it received good reviews and was affordable. I've used the camera to take low-light pictures, nature photos during the day, sunsets and pet pictures.

I like that this camera uses AA batteries, unlike many others this size. This is wonderful if you run out on travel, although alkaline don't last nearly as long as high-capacity NiMH rechargables.

The daylight pictures I have printed out on 8x10 glossy photo paper have often come out amazing. However, since the camera is small, the camera doesn't have a wide focal range (meaning if it focuses on someone's face, that person's friends a few feet in the background may be blurry). With practice, the pictures are amazing.

In low light, the camera often takes good pictures, but the red eye reduction doesn't work on pets. It works fairly well on people.

So far, the camera seems durable---I've used it in 19 degree, windy days in New Hampshire, and dropped it once (albeit in a camera case) with no incident.

Unfortunately, there is no manual focus control. This means taking pictures through windows or mesh screens is difficult, because the auto focus locks onto the window or screen instead.

Besides the point-and-shoot mode, there are a huge variety of picture taking modes. These include slow-sync flash (i.e. keep the background and foreground lit up), child pictures (fast moving), sunset, portrait, landscape, aperture and shutter control, as well as full manual control. You also can control the white balance. Unfortunately, if you need face detection, you'll need to look for the 8 MP model.

In addition, once you've taken the pictures, you can do a good amount of post-processing in the camera---filter colors, crop the picture and the likes. You can zoom in on the picture to confirm it is in focus.

Beyond that, you can add a 10-second audio annotation to each picture. This is invaluable when you go on trips. You can also make simple movies with or without sound.

To me, the camera is an amazing value in a point and shoot camera.

We have used this camera for the past month and found it to be a solid and practical digital camera. My daughter is the primary user and had made the most of the digital effects, but the rest of the family has gotten good use out of it with little training or reading of manuals. We recently shot some video of a fireworks show and were pleasantly suprised when the audio track was clear and understandable.

I am very happy with this camera,that I received last week, but there is one little problem that I ran into. It really eats up the battery life if using regular Alkaline batteries. The manual doesn't state this but I found out when speaking with customer support that one should really use rechargeable batteries. I am now in the process of seeing how long these will last. If one reads the manual you would think you could get over 200 pictures or so with a set of the Alkalines. I put in fresh batteries the day I received the camera and was on a second set the next day. Apparently the drainage was caused by keeping the camera on while exploring the various features and taking test photos. Otherwise, it takes great pictures and has lots of good camera features.

I owned one of those little Panasonics before this and it cost about a hundred bucks more. It was stolen so I was looking to get something else, and cheaper. I came across this camera and I have to say that for what it is and how cheap it is, it's fantastic!

It's taking better pictures so far, it's easier to operate, and in some ways can do more than the other camera could. The video feature is the one that I'm probably most excited about in terms of that because you can not only zoom with it, unlike the other camera, but it also saves them as AVI files. That means I can edit them on Windows Media Player as opposed to the others where it saves them all as Quicktime files.

It's taking clearer, more filmic pictures and the color's are fantastic! It's so damn simple to operate too. I think the way they saved money was by using a plastic case instead of a metal one and not having it run on lithium ion battery. However, get the blue Duracel batterys that are made for digital cameras and, voila, problem solved.

It's the perfect budget camera and will satisfy you needs thoroughly!

This camera is definitely the best value for your money! It has great image quality, tons of features and extras and a big bright screen... For the purpose of an on-the-go camera for travel and everyday use it's performed very well...
You will definitely want to get rechargeable batteries and a memory stick, which is a small investment if you consider how little you are paying for this camera... Also download the manual off the internet, it's a lot more comprehensive than the one it comes with...