The review of Samsung digital imaging WB1000

A hero dreaming to be DSLR

Prologue

The Samsung digital imaging divided from Samsung techwin and doing strategic marketing has released 13 premium digital cameras in the market on the first half of 2009. I expect the company as the only camera optical company in Korea to be a great company as much as other makers producing DSLR, and I hope this will be loved by customers all over the world as a Made In Korea.

The WB1000 is the highest level of product among the lineup of Samsung. The WB1000 has adopts the Schneider lens which is one of the world’s top 3 lens, 12M pixels image sensor, 24mm wide angle, full manual function allowing free shots, and AMOLED clearing out the weakness of LCD. Besides, with the smart dial and analog dashboard on the top, it gives classical feeling. On top of that, the WB1000 has a lot of functions, and let’s find out them through this review.

　

　

Package

 

The WB1000 adopts the white box. This box design gives a neat image to users, so users will have a good feeling about the camera. Of course, this is not only for Samsung product, but also other various package designs, I guess. Let’s take a look at the package with unboxing and see the WB1000 more.

It’s the box design. You can see the text printed in English, and on the black ground, it tells the main specification with a orange color on the left and right side. As a compact camera, the box is also compact.

Opening the box, you can see booklet like a user manual, and then you can see the WB1000 on the left, and accessories on the right.

They are items in the box. There are camera, AV cable, battery, adaptor, charge cable, hand strap, program CD, product manual, and warranty. I couldn’t see something special in the package, but I could see the thought of Samsung imaging for world wide users by looking at the text in English.

 

 

Specification

Image Sensor	Type	1/2.33″ (1.09cm) CCD
	Effective Pixel	Approx. 12.2 Mega-pixels
	Total Pixel	Approx. 12.4 Mega-pixels
Lens	Focal Length	Schneider-KREUZNACH f = 4.3 ~ 21.5mm (35mm film equivalent : 24~120 mm)
	F No.	F2.8(W) ~ F5.8(T)
	Digital Zoom	Still Image mode : 1.0X ~ 5.0X Play mode : 1.0X ~ 12.5X (depends on image size)
Image Stabilization	Image Stabilization	Dual IS (OIS + DIS) * OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), DIS (Digital Image Stabilization)
Display	Type	AMOLED
	Feature	3.0" (7.62cm), hVGA+(518,400 dots)
Viewfinder	Viewfinder	N/A
Focusing	Type	TTL Auto Focus (Center AF, Multi AF, Selection AF, Manual Focus)
	Range	Normal : 40cm ~ Infinity (Wide), 80cm ~ Infinity (Tele) Macro : 5cm~40cm (Wide), 50cm ~ 80cm (Tele) Auto Macro : 5cm~Infinity (Wide), 50cm~ Infinity (Tele) Manual : 5cm ~ Infinity (Wide), 50cm ~ Infinity (Tele)
Shutter Speed	Shutter Speed	Auto : 1/8 ~ 1/2000 sec. Program : 1 ~ 1/2000 sec. A/S/M : 16 ~ 1/2,000 sec. Night : 8 ~ 1/2,000 sec. Fireworks : 4 sec.
Exposure	Control	Program AE, Shutter Priority AE, Aperture Priority AE, Manual Exposure
	Metering	Multi, Spot, Center-weighted
	Compensation	±2EV (1/3EV steps)
	ISO Equivalent	Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200(Up to 3M Size)
Flash	Modes	Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, Fill-in flash, Slow sync, Flash Off, Red-eye fix
	Range	Wide : 0.3m ~ 5.2m, Tele : 0.5m ~ 2.5m (ISO AUTO) * Flash EVC : ±1EV (1/2 steps)
	Recharging Time	Approx. 5 sec.
Sharpness	Sharpness	5 steps
White Balance	White Balance	Auto WB, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent_H, Fluorescent_L, Tungsten, Custom, K * WB Fine-tuning
Still Image	Shooting	Mode Dial : Smart Auto, Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, User, Dual IS, Scene, Movie Scene: Beauty Shot, Frame Guide, Night, Portrait, Children, Landscape, Close-up, Text, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Firework, Beach & Snow Continuous : Single, Continuous, Motion Capture, AEB Self timer : Off, 10 sec., 2 sec., Double(10 sec., 2 sec.), Motion Timer, Remote Controller
	Effect	Photo Style Selector : Normal, Soft, Vivid, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, Classic, Negative, Custom RGB
	Edit	Resize, Rotate, Photo Style Selector, Image Adjust * Photo Style Selector : Normal, Soft, Vivid, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, Classic, Negative, Custom RGB * Image Adjust : Off, ACB, Red-eye Fix, Face Retouch, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Add Noise
Image Play	Image Play	Single image, Thumbnails, Multi Slide show, Movie Clip, Smart Album
Voice Recording	Voice Recording	Voice Recording (max. 10 hours) Voice Memo in Still Image (max. 10 sec.) With Stereo Recording
Date Imprinting	Date Imprinting	Date&Time, Date, Off (user selectable)
Movie Clip	Recording	Movie Size : 1280×720 High Quality, 1280×720 Standard Quality, 640×480, 320×240 * Frame rate : 60 fps at a selected size(320x240), 30 fps, 15 fps * Format : H.264 (Max. Recording time : 20min.) * Streo recording with volume control, mute during zoom operation * 5X Optical Zoom at 1280×720 (f = 24 ~ 120 mm), 3.4X Optical Zoom at 640×480, 320×240 (f = 35 ~ 120 mm) * Voice(On/Off), OIS(On/Off)
	Effect	Photo Style Selector : Normal, Soft, Vivid, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, Classic, Negative, Custom RGB
	Edit	Pause during recording, Still Image Capture, Time Trimming
Storage	Media	Internal memory: Approx. 76MB External memory: SD Card(up to 4GB guaranteed) MMC plus(up to 2GB guaranteed,4bit 20MHz) SDHC (up to 8GB guaranteed)
	File Format	Still Image : JPEG (DCF), EXIF 2.21, DPOF 1.1, PictBridge 1.0 Movie Clip : MP4(H.264) Audio : WAV
	Image Size	12M : 4000×3000 pixels, 10MP : 3984×2656 pixels 9MW : 3968×2232 pixels 9M 1:1 : 2976×2976 pixels 8M : 3264×2448 pixels 5M : 2592×1944 pixels 3M : 2048×1536 pixels 2MW : 1920×1080 pixels 1M : 1024×768 pixels
Interface	Digital output connector	USB 2.0
	Audio	Microphone : Stereo Internal Speaker : Mono
	Video Out	AV : NTSC, PAL (user selectable) HDMI 1.2 : NTSC, PAL (user selectable)
	DC power input	4.4V
	Cradle	N/A
Power Source	Power Source	Rechargeable battery : SLB-11A (1,130mAh) Connector Type : 34pin Adaptor : SAC-48, USB/Charging Cable : CB34U05, AV Cable : SCC-AV34 Cradle : SCC-HD2
Physical Specification	Dimensions (WxHxD)	97 × 61 × 21mm
	Weight	160g (except for a battery)
	Operating Temperature	0 ~ 40°C
	Operating Humidity	5 ~ 85%
Software	Software	Samsung Master, Quick Time Player 7.5, Adobe Reader
System Requirement	For Windows	PC with processor better than PentiumⅢ 500MHz (PentiumⅢ 800MHz recommended) Windows 2000/XP/Vista 250MB of available hard-disk space (Over 1GB recommend) Minimum 256MB RAM (Over 512MB recommended) USB port CD-ROM drive 1024×768 pixels, 16-bit color display compatible monitor(24-bit color display recommended) Microsoft DirectX 9.0C or later
	For Macintosh	Power Mac G3 or later Mac OS 10.3 or higher Minimum 256MB RAM 110MB of available hard-disk space USB port CD-ROM drive
System requirements for 720P H.264 Movie	For Windows	Intel Pentium 4, 3.2GHz or higher / AMD Athlin 64FX, 2.6GHz or higher Windows XP service pack2 / Vista Minimum 512MB RAM (1GB and above recommended) 64MB or greater video card (nVIDIA Geforce 7600GT or higher / ATI X1600 series or higher recommended)
	For Macintosh	1.8GHz Power Mac G5 or 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo or faster Macintosh computer At least 256MB of RAM 64MB or greater video card

Design

This is the front of the WB1000. Internal flash is on the right top, remote control sensor is on the left top, and on the left there’s a rubber hand grip to provide better grip. And the Schneider 24mm ultra wide lens is hidden.

From the right top, shot mode dial is located. It’s like a manual shot such as a DSLR, and with the various shot modes, you can take a shot in good situations. The shutter buttons is running smoothly, but the power button is not very good to control. And you can see the analog type dashboard showing the completion of design. On the left, there’s a internal microphone and speaker.

On the bottom, there’s a memory/battery port. On the center, USB/AV port is located. Because there’s also a tripod socket, you can enjoy group pictures with your family using the tripod during picnic.

For more information, please click http://www.segadget.com/entry/458