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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun to use, pocket able advanced compact camera, September 13, 2009
Samsung TL320 / WB1000 is Samsung advanced compact camera with full manual control for creative photography. There is two major selling point of TL320: 24-120mm f/2.8-5.8 lens, and 3 hVGA AMOLED screen. Today, Compact camera which has 24mm is considered rare because it is expensive for manufacturer to make. The lens also has decent maximum aperture. the 5 X zoom length is long enough for various shooting conditions.
LCD Screen
The 3 inches AMOLED LCD screen is very clear and nice to look at especially indoor. But when I use the camera outdoor, like other compact cameras, it still have problem under bright light condition. Glare and reflection obstruct your view, and it can be annoying when you are composing the picture . The LCD screen has 4:3 ratio instead of 3:2 ratio that we usually see in DSLR.
Sensor and Image resolution
One other thing that important to mention is the sensor and image size. The sensor size is 1/2.33 inch (1.09cm) CCD and 12 megapixel maximum resolution. The sensor size is considered small for advance compact camera. Competitors such as Canon S90 IS has 1/1.7 inch and Award winning Panasonic LX3 has 1/1.63 inch. AS a result, image in ISO 400 and above are not that clean. But to be fair, those competitors have a $100-150 higher price tag.
There are several aspect ratios we can choose. But to get full resolution (12 mp or 4000 X 3000) we need to shoot in four thirds (4:3) ratio. If you want to shoot in 3:2 ratio, you will get only 10 mp. and if you shoot in 16:9 ratio (wide screen), you will get 9 mp. Samsung suggests that 9 mp image is good to print up to A2 size and 12 mp is good up to A1 size.
Body and Handling
Samsung TL32 has a sleek, compact body. The lens is fully collapsible when camera is off. The size is relatively small compare to other advance compact cameras and it is very pocket-able.
Samsung also has rotating / round dial, which is use to navigate menu and changing aperture, shutter speed or other setting. I personally like it because I've used Canon EOS 40D and Canon G series before, and they have the same concept.
Build quality is relatively good. Its outer casing is made by metal which exudes confidence. However, the round dial (Samsung calls it smart dial) is a bit flimsy. Ironically, the tripod mount is made by plastic instead of metal. But it won't bother me because I won't use tripod when shooting with this camera 99% most of the time.
The body design is cool, especially the top part of the camera. It has two analog indicators of battery and memory card capacity. Some people might thing it is redundant, but I feel it is very informative. The color of the top plate is black, but in the body is primarily dark brown.
Operation and Auto Focus
Overall, this compact camera is very responsive. Start up time is about 1 second. Auto focus is fast. The whole camera operation is almost silent.There are three kinds of AF system you can choose: Full automatic, multiple focus points and user selector.
Changing basic settings of the camera such as AWB, ISO, photo style, face detection and exposure compensation are very easy and relatively fast. You only need to press Fn (Function) button, and then do the adjustments.
The camera also have macro focusing capability (focusing very close to fill small object to the frame). Unfortunately, the macro focusing is limited to 5 cm. So you can't get really close to the subject. It also affect depth of field. You can't really blur everything out of sight in macro mode. It is partly because of the limitation of macro focusing and also the because of the tiny sensor size.
Like other compact cameras, locking focus on fast moving subjects remain a challenge. If you are planning to shoot that kind of photography, I will suggest to get digital SLR camera instead of compact camera.
Image Quality and ISO Comparison
Samsung TL320 image quality is excellent in bright light and base ISO 80. The color is nice and the auto white balance is accurate. Shooting indoor, the camera does not disappoint. Thanks to the wide aperture of f/2.8 at the wide end and image stabilization which enable you to shoot in slower shutter speed.
Image quality up to ISO 400 is very good. At ISO 800, the camera starts to apply noise reduction software, as a result, the image becomes a bit soft. ISO 3200 is basically unacceptable because the appearance of noise is really apparent and the color of the image becomes dull.
Video Mode
Samsung TL320 is able to record 1280×720p high quality video with stereo sound. Depend on the size of the video, you can record at 15, 30 or 60 fps. In addition, you can choose photo style/filter to apply to your movie to convey the mood.
Competitors
Fujifilm Finepix F200EXR Price: $339- 12 mp camera that automatically process your images to reduce noise or increase dynamic range at the expense of image resolution. It also has a slightly bigger sensor 1/1.6, But it has slower lens (28-140mm f/3.3-5.1).
Panasonic Lumix LX3 Price: $499 - 10 mp camera that has very big aperture but short zoom lens (24-60mm f/2-2.8) The fast aperture and larger sensor (1/1.63) is making LX3 a better camera for low light situation. It also has a hot shoe to attach external flash or viewfinder. But LX3 is not pocketable because of the protuding lens. You can shoot in RAW mode as well.
Canon S90 IS Price: $425 - 10 mp camera that also have fast aperture in wide end (28-105mm f/2-4.9). It is not as wide as Samsung or Panasonic LX3. The design is as cool but simpler than Samsung. It is also pocket-able.
In Conclusion
Samsung TL320 / WB1000 is an interesting and fun to use digital compact camera. It is very light and pocketable, very easy to handle, has nice design and interface, produces very good image quality and has high quality LCD screen. It is also good for low light situation due to the fast aperture of f/2.8 in the wide-end and built-in image stabilization. It also cheaper than most competitors.
I recommend this camera for enthusiasts who like to to have a camera that is affordable, pocket-able, and has manual control plus wide lens for creative composition and control.
Subjective Rating - Relative to advanced compact camera
Image Quality : 4/5
Features : 3/5
Performance : 5/5
Body and Handling : 5/5
Value for Money : 5/5
Please check out my website for sample images, iso comparison and other reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Another 'meh', October 6, 2009
I pretty much agree with all of Irving's points below (except that I didn't bother with any of the software). I am primarily a DSLR user and wanted a more portable--but still very competent--option. Maybe I'm spoiled by the DSLR (although it is over four years old now), but I was unimpressed with the picture and video quality here. I really tried to like this camera, though. I could appreciate that it has some manual options (including manual focus), and sometimes the smart scene selection did an admirable job, especially with macro shots where flash was needed. But overall the system just feels kind of slow and clunky. i was excited by the possibility of HD video and the 12MP (more than my DSLR), but neither of these aspects ended up being worth much to me. This camera might be nice as far as point & shoots go (I'm not sure?), but it just didn't wow me.
Anyway, the camera I got turned out to be defective (no, I'm not factoring this into my rating). It worked pretty well for a couple of hours but then it just started freezing up every time I turned it on. The only way to remedy this was to take the battery out and then put it back in, then turn it on again. And usually after this it would immediately freeze again. It would get to a point where I was just trying to beat the thing to shutting it off normally before it would freeze again. I tried resetting camera settings, reformatting the SD card, taking the card out all together, removing the battery, recharging the battery, trying different shooting modes, etc. and nothing seems to fix it. So I'll be sending this thing back. I'm kind of glad for this, though, since I didn't really love it.
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10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great bang for your buck!, July 8, 2009
This camera is awesome! Has every feature & option anyone could ask for in a compact camera.
The quality is phenomenal and the 3" screen rivals most high-end computer monitors or televisions. It takes some effort to truly learn all the features this little camera has to offer, but well worth your time to learn.
For easy & light traveling, this camera is all that you need. Video option is unparalleled in a digital camera.
PROS: Excellent quality, wide range of manual features, extensive video recording w/voice, price.
CONS: Takes a little bit of effort to fully learn the capabilities.
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