“I’m taking a self shot with looking at myself.” Dual LCD Samsung ST600

After a dramatic improvement of camera technology, the performance of cameras becomes similar especially among compact digital cameras. That’s why unique functions and convenience are more important these days. Samsung adopted Dual LCD for the first time in the world with the ST550, and it made self shots easier. The following model ST600 has been released, so let’s take a look.

The 1.8” LCD in the front can be activated by pushing the F.LCD button or tapping the LCD. When it’s not used, nothing is displayed in the front, so it doesn’t affect anything on the camera design.

Shooting with the front LCD can be made by pushing the shutter or smiling shutter. It also supports a few interesting functions such as couple shot taking shots when the camera detects 2 faces in the LCD an children mode which displays funny animation on the LCD to get attention of children’s eyes.

▣ Each part

The slanted shutter button allows users to push it more comfortably.

1. Playback button 2. Shutter/Zoom button 3. Flash 4. POWER button

5. Front LCD button 6. Speaker 7. AF-assist light/timer lamp 8. USB, A/V port

9. HDMI port 10. Battery 11. Memory card 12. Tripod mount

The slanted button was better to push and for shutter blur than other shutters. The front LCD button next to the power button allows users to control the front LCD. It has AF assist light helping set the accurate AF. Micro SD is supported. It has 760mA battery, but it was a little insufficient. I think a sub battery is necessary.

It has 1.15M pixels 3.5” wide touch screen LCD (800x480) having good touch feeling.

The ST600 is very small not much different from a mobile phone.

▣ Performance

The ST600 has 27-135mm angle (on 35mm). It supports 5x zoom and 27mm wide angle. Therefore, it can be used for various purposes.

It has 14M pixels 4320x3240 resolutions. It also supports 4320x2880 wide mode. The quality is divided into superfine, fine, and normal. It could take 478 shots with 4 GB memory in the superfine quality and record 720p movie for 52 minutes.

The higher pixel doesn’t mean a battery quality, so Samsung supports 14M pixels. However, the improved image processor shows better quality and description.

I couldn’t help being surprised at the result of ISO test. It showed very good result in ISO 400 and 800. From ISO 1600, the color noise was dramatically increased and detail was harmed in the previous model. However, the ST600 showed surprising result in ISO 1600. I thought ISO 3200 could be used for web sites.

The above picture cropped the dark and bright area in ISO 3200. In ISO 3200, it kept the details, and despite the rough pixels, there was no color noise, so good for web sites after resized.

However, when in Auto mode, ISO 800 was the limit. It would be more convenient if ISO range should be adjustable even in Auto mode in the next model.

The ST600 supports 9 styles. Soft wasn’t useful, and Vivid was a little softer than the previous model. Forest made a picture green like using a green filter. Retro and Cool mode made a picture have red and blue feel. Calm made a picture calm. It also had Classic, Negative, and Custom modes.

The skin compensation was adjustable from 1 to 3 levels. It kept the details and made a skin white.

The ST600 supports 6 kinds of special effects such as Miniature making a toy world, Vignetting making a unique atmosphere, Fish eye 1/2 distorting the object, Sketch mode making a picture a pencil sketch, and Defog mode. Defog mode makes a clear image, but didn’t make much difference.

Style and effect can be applied before and after shooting. In addition, it allows user to set exposure, brightness, saturation, red eye elimination, and ACB, and they are simple and good, so would be very useful for those who are not used to image program.

▣ Sample

▣ Conclusion

I liked the image processing the most in the ST600. The better description and less noise in high ISO make this camera more useful. The front LCD helps users take a self shot easily. The AF is also good. The OIS could effectively reduce the hand blur.

The battery performance was unsatisfactory. I felt the battery was insufficient when shooting. I think an additional battery would be necessary. I liked the image compensation and effects. The edited pictures in the sample images were edited by the function in the ST600. However, the Photo Style function was a little insufficient compared to previous cameras.

This camera would be very good for those who enjoy self shots and snap shots with the small and slim body, front LCD, great quality, and convenience. Thank you.