Pair this Samsung camera with an Android handset

Below URL is an article about SH100.

http://asia.cnet.com/crave/pair-this-samsung-camera-with-an-android-handset-62113573.htm

Discover the hidden 1.8” Dual LCD Samsung ST100

Mirrorless and hybrid cameras are becoming the leading cameras in the market today. But, DSLR cameras still have value, as well as compact digital cameras are also doing okay in the market.

When it comes to Samsung, they have released cameras such as NX series (Mirrorless), GX series (DSLR), and compact digital cameras (ST/WB series), and today I’m going to take a look at the ST100 which is a compact digital camera.

▲ Appearance / Design

It comes in 2 colors purple and black, and has a shiny body. It is 100x60x20mm and weighs 135g. (Not including the battery and memory card)

The lens is the famous Schneider 6.3-31.5mm (35-175mm on 35mm equivalent) of focal length and F3.6-4.8. It’s an inner zoom type and supports 5x digital zoom.

It’s a dual LCD camera with a 1.8” LCD on the front. It’s a specialized camera for self shots. For your information, it supports couple/jump/smile shot modes which are taken automatically.

On the back, it has the 3.5” wide touch screen LCD like previous models.

The sides are finished in a smooth curved line and on the right side, there’s a strap ring.

On the top, it has F.LCD/Power/Shutter/Zoom/Play buttons, and the F.LCD button is to activate the front LCD. For your information, by tapping the front LCD, the front LCD can be turned on as well.

On the bottom, it has a battery/memory card chamber, recharge/data cable connection port, and tripod connection port. The battery is 3.7V 740mAh Li-Ion and MicroSD is used as the memory card.

In design, it’s like a normal digital camera, but it’s more specialized for self shots with the dual LCD.

▲ UI/Menu

The basic UI and menu are the same as the previous cameras.

All of the functions are operated by touch and by selecting the left upper side, the screen mode can be selected. Through the mode button, the menu such as size/filter/ISO/color can be set.

The menu is also very similar to other ST series. The menu also changes with the shooting mode.

The mode can change to Smart Auto/Movie/Program mode by rotating the motion recognition button located on the right center.

The overall menu and UI lay outs are the same as the previous ST series and all the menus are operated by touch. (Or motion recognition)

▲ Screen Size

The Samsung ST100 has a 1/2.3” CCD and 14.48M pixels (14.2M effective pixels). 3 kinds of screen ratio modes are supported and the general 4:3 ratio supports 6 sizes such as1M/3M/5M/8M/12M/14M.

It also supports 16:9 2M/10M and DSLR 3:2 12M.

It supports 5x zoom and the pictures below are the maximum wide angle and maximum telephoto angle images.

Maximum wide angle photo (Upper) by the ST100

Maximum telephoto angle photo (Lower) by the ST100

▲ Center / Corner quality and ISO

Compared with the center quality, the corner quality is a little insufficient.

<Center/Corner quality of the Samsung ST100>

From ISO 400, I started to notice noise. Other digital cameras normally have noise from ISO 400.

<Images of the ST100 by different ISO>

The quality is not that great, but like a normal digital camera.

▲ Additional functions

Samsung ST series supports various additional functions, and these functions allows a lot of ease of use for users. Face recognition also worked well.

<Face Recognition function of the ST100>

Scene mode consists of various modes such as Beauty Shot/Frame Guide/Night Scenery/Portrait/Macro/Text/Backlight. According to the current scene, users can select the proper scene mode.

Sometimes, it’s a little too difficult to choose the appropriate scene, and because ISO/Shutter speed/Aperture is fixed in the different modes I had to experiment a bit to get what I wanted.

<Scene modes of the Samsung ST100 – Night Scenery (Left) vs Firework (Right)>

Smart Filter is my favorite function. It consists of Miniature, Vignetting, Fish eye 1 & 2, Defog, and Sketch. The Functions gave me pictures a lot of personality.

<Smart Filter of the ST100 – Miniature Filter>

<Smart Filter of the ST100 – Vignetting Filter>

<Smart Filter of the ST100 – Fish eye 1 (left) and Fish eye 2 (Right) Filter>

<Smart Filter of the ST100 – Sketch Filter>

We’ve looked at the ST100 with the 1.8” dual LCD from Samsung. This cameras great for the Myspace style photos with it’s front LCD. So for the ladies and gents that like to take great self shots for their personal blogs and post this is a great camera to look at. And damn it makes you look good. Especially the Smart Filters, allowing each picture to really feel unique.

Below are the resized sample shots without any alterations. Thank you.

[Review] Sensible self shot digital camera, ST600

Sensible self shot digital camera, ST600 - Unboxing

These days called Digital revolution, various new instruments have been released, and there’s a strong wind of change in the digital camera market. DSLR camera considered for professionals are popular as much as compact digital cameras and hybrid cameras equipped with manual functions also get attention from a lot of users.

Especially, looking at smart phones equipped with a good camera over millions of pixels, I think the digital camera market is like a battle field. In this strong competition, there’s a unique camera supporting Full touch and front LCD, so I’d like to review it.

It’s the ST600 from Samsung.

　

Let’s take a look at the unboxing photos. The ST600 consists of body, adapter, battery and cable for data transfer and recharge. Unlike other Samsung cameras, it uses Micro SD memory.

　

It’s the smooth body of the ST600. Different from previous cameras, it has the high glossy body. It comes with black, gold, and pink, and I reviewed the pink one. Like you see in the picture, there’s a flash, lens, and AF assist light on the front.

　

On the top, various buttons are located for shooting.

　

•Play button •Shutter(Zoom lever) •Microphone •Power button •Front display •Speaker

　

On the back, it’s so neat, and thanks to the 3.5” full touch LCD, this great neat design could be made.

　

　

On the bottom, there’s a cover for battery and memory camera and tripod hole.

　

　

Lastly, on the side of the product, USB and HDMI ports are located. Because it’s not used that often, it’s covered.

　

　

Why don’t we put in the battery and memory camera? Let me put in the battery SLB-07 for the ST600.

　

　

　

Let me insert the memory camera. You should push the battery until you hear the click sound, and because of the small size, you should be careful of the battery.

　

　

Let me turn it on. The 3.5” LCD looks very big to me.

　

　

The large LCD of the ST600 is useful when reviewing and shooting, I think. I will explain how to use the buttons on the LCD later. Please wait.

　

　

The front LCD can be turned on by tapping the LCD on the front or pushing the LCD button on the top. It’s very impressive.

　

　

With the front LCD, you can take a self shot like this.

　

　

Let me finish the unboxing of the ST600 here, and let’s take a look at the specification and feature of the ST600.

　

The ST600 has a similar specification to previous IT100 and WB650. Especially, the menu and screen follow the previous Samsung cameras, so people can easily get used to it.

　

However, there are some special features for the ST600, and these followings will be handled with more details in the review.

• 3.5” full touch LCD

• 1.8” Front LCD

• 27mm wide angle & 5x zoom lens

• Stylish design

Sensible self shot digital camera, ST600 - Review

When it comes to the ST600, due to the full touch LCD, I felt like using a smart phone rather than a digital camera, and I think if you are familiar with recent smart phones such as iPhone or Galaxy S, you will be able to easily get accustomed to the ST600. In that, I will show you a movie clip for you to see the touch UI well.

　

　

1. ST600 - Camera Mode Review (1)

　

　

It’s the clip for shooting screen. The ST600 supports various shooting modes like other Samsung cameras, and if you want easy shooting, you can just select Smart Auto or Smart Scene Detection (Movie). For your information, the ST600 supports 7 different shooting modes as below.

　

• Smart Auto: Optimizing the camera setting by the situation and subject.

• Auto: Similar to Smart Auto, but providing more various settings.

• Program: Half auto mode allowing users to adjust various camera settings.

• Scene: Allowing users to set various situations such as beauty, night scenery, sunrise/sunset, and macro.

• Dual IS: In order to prevent hand blur by adopting the OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and DIS(Digital Image Stabilization).

• Smart Scene Detection: Automatically adjusting the settings by the shooting situation for movie recording.

• Movie: Allowing users to adjust various settings for movie recording.

In each mode, various settings such as exposure, white balance, ISO, AF, and image quality are adjustable, and in a movie recording mode such as Movie, the size, frame, and lens effects are also adjustable.

　

2. ST600 - Camera Mode Review (2)

　

　

There are various things that differentiate the ST600 from other digital camera except the full touch LCD and front LCD. The one outstanding feature is its gyro sensor like a smart phone. This sensor allows users to use interesting gestures when shooting and reviewing pictures and the above movie clip shows the quick mode change which is one of the most interesting features.

The quick mode change is a function to change the mode by tilting the camera to up, down or left with having the quick mode button pushed. I thought it was not useful for digital cameras, but after using it for a while, now I think it’s quite interesting. Even my wife who was not interested in digital gadgets showed her interests in the gesture function of the ST600.

To be honest, if it was a function not useful, I wouldn’t mention it like this, but actually, it’s very good to change the mode quickly. However, I couldn’t change the mode to what I want, but I think it would be addressed by updating the firmware.

　

3. ST600 - View Mode Review (1)

　

　

The view mode of the ST600 also allows users some uniqueness, and it’s really like a smart phone. (Of course, the touch screen is not as smooth as smart phones, but great enough as a digital camera.)

Using the ST600, thanks to the intuitive UI, I could easily edit and play pictures without any trouble. Especially, the slideshow function supporting sound and detailed effects is powerful as much as a digital frame. On top of that, it supports the sorting function by date and color and 3D mode. By using the gyro sensor, I could really feel something in my hands.

　

4. ST600 - View Mode Review (2)

　

　

The front LCD which is unique thing of the ST600 is a great function for those who like self shots, and I was wondering that how they adopted this type of LCD on the glossy body. As you can see from the movie clip, when the front LCD is off, you can see nothing. It’s like a magic that something comes up out of nowhere by pushing the power button.

The front LCD works as the same way as the main LCD, so it reacts by the gyro sensor when taking and watching pictures. Please refer to the movie clip for more details.

Sample pictures of the ST600

Due to the short time for this review, I couldn’t take many shots with the ST600. Moreover, it was winter which is the worst season for shooting and the busiest season for work, so the sample shots are really insufficient. However, because this was the third Samsung camera, I could really experience the feeling and functions enough, and those who are used to Samsung cameras would be interested in the ST600, I think.

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/30sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-200

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/30sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-200

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/44sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-200

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/30sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-200

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/30sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-200

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/44sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-200

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/44sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-80

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/44sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-160

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/60sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-80

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/44sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-80

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/44sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-80

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/44sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-80

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/30sec | F/5.0 | 0.00 EV | 9.3mm | ISO-200

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/30sec | F/4.5 | 0.00 EV | 7.8mm | ISO-200

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/30sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-200

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/20sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-200

　

ST600 | Normal program | Pattern | 1/30sec | F/3.5 | 0.00 EV | 4.9mm | ISO-200

　

　

Sensible self shot digital camera, ST600 - Conclusion

Full Touch display, Front LCD, and Gyro sensor! These copyrights suitable for smart phones came up for a digital camera. It was in the ST600. I could feel these features with the ST600 for the time, and it was new, easy, and interesting to me.

Especially, by adopting the full touch, it was more convenient to change menus and adjust detailed settings. The touch was neither as smooth as a smart phone nor multi touch type, so it was a little unsatisfactory, but I thought it was acceptable, because the full touch interface itself was way more advanced type.

Let me summarize the strength and weakness.

Strength

-Large Full touch LCD screen

-Front LCD for more perfect self shots

-Fast and convenient gyro sensor gesture

-Intuitive and quick UI

-Cute design

Weakness

-Weak appearance (Material)

-Unsmooth touch screen

-Single touch type

-Unnecessary memory type change (Personally preferring SD memory)