Jeska Innes takes Samsung’s powerful compact to the seaside
Giving the brand new Samsung WB550 a run for its money in the backyard just didn’t feel right. Its ultra-wide 24mm lens is just begging for gorgeous scenery. So off to the beach we went. I wore my bathing suit and the Samsung wore a canvas case. At this point I should probably point out that the WB550 is not a waterproof camera, and that we would not be frolicking in the waves together.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
I’d already heard plenty about the WB550 before our special day. It has a lot of oomph for a pocket-sized camera and is getting noticed for this feature, rather than its fairly standard appearance. It’s hard to stand out in the crowded compact camera market, but the Samsung really does. Aside from the generous 24mm lens, it also boasts a 10x optical zoom, which is impressive for a point-and-shoot. It means the WB550 is a really versatile little camera, allowing you to, well, fit lots of stuff in your pictures or zoom in and shoot things in the far distance.
As we strolled hand in wrist strap along the sun-kissed shore, it was time to really test the Samsung out. Manual mode was first up. It was immediately noticeable that there was a lack of on-screen feedback. For example, when changing shutter and aperture settings, the LCD doesn’t lighten or darken to reflect the changes until you press the shutter release half way. There’s also no exposure meter on the screen. Amateurs may feel this makes it all a bit of a guessing game. Still, with much fiddling around, I managed to get a few decent snaps of a one-legged seagull that kindly offered its modelling services. Image quality was best below ISO400; after that point things started to get noisy.
FANCY-FREE
Automatic mode was a lot more enjoyable. No longer having to worry about individual settings, I was able to click with abandon and really make the most of that ultra-wide-angle lens. Rangitoto, one of Auckland’s dormant (for now) volcanoes, was a logical test shot. There was no need to move back and back through the sand into the car park to fit the whole beast in the frame, which was pretty cool. Focusing time was reasonably quick, and the ‘smart auto’ feature does quite a good job of identifying scenes; for example, the camera automatically jumped into macro mode for the ‘arty’ picture I took of an abandoned toy car sticking out of the sand.
SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT
The Samsung WB550 offers a lot of control. Face detection, smile shot, blink detection and beauty shot capabilities are all on board. These automatic features mean it really is quite hard to take bad photos. The smile detection proved to be quite enthusiastic; I had no idea one-legged seagulls smiled so much.
High-definition video recording and HDMI connectivity also come packed into the camera. It would have been nice if there were an HDMI cable included in the box, but its absence isn’t the end of the world. It’s fair to say this Samsung is loaded with functionality and does everything you’d expect at this price point. Safely home and dry, I uploaded the day’s images and was delighted with the bright and vivid results.
SAMSUNG WB550 – SPECS
Manufacturer: Samsung
Model: WB550
Effective Pixels: 12.2 million
Lens: Schneider 4.2-42mm (35mm equivalent 24-240mm)
Viewfinder: None
Monitor: 3.0-inch TFT LCD,
230,000 dots
Aperture: f3.3- f5.8
ISO: Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Shooting Modes: Auto, smart auto, program, manual, dual IS, scene selection, movie
Media: SD, SDHC, 21MB internal memory
File Format: JPEG, Exif 2.21, DPOF 1.1, MPEG-4
Flash: Auto, red-eye reduction, fill-in flash, slow sync, red-eye
Interface: USB
Battery: Rechargeable SLB-10A
Dimensions: 105 x 61.4 x 36.5mm
Weight: 225g without battery and card
CONTACT
PROS
- Feature packed
- Ultra-wide-angle lens
- Generous zoom
CONS
- Lack of on-screen feedback
Design 16
Performance 16
Features 17
Image Quality 17
Value for money 17
TOTAL 83/100
This article if from D-Photo issue 31.
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