Friday, December 11, 2009

Easy PL55 from Samsung Digital Imaging

Here is a user review about Samsung PL55 digital camera.


Comfort shot of 12.2M pixels with Smart Auto



Easy usage is a very common concept in advertisements of a lot of digital devices. In order to get an attention from customers, the easy usage has to come first, and then we can talk about special functions and other things. Even though it has a lot of the best technology or functions, if it’s difficult to use, it’s not qualified as a commercial product for ordinary people. Recently, people have interests in DSLR for professionals. However, looking around, there are a lot of people having more interest in convenient usage than its quality. They might be our brother, sister, or parents. For these people, Samsung Digital Imaging has released the PL55. Let’s take a look at the main and convenient functions on by one.





Combination of black and silver


Through the combination of black and white, the overall design is simple, but the aluminum material around the lens provides elegant feeling. Horizontal hairlines on the aluminum prevent scratches and give more cyber feeling. The chocolate color plastic surrounding the lens is a little unique. It seems like a black opaque glass or porcelain. Generally, stylish cameras have an inner zoom lens, because it’s hard to design color and shape with a protruding lens. The chocolate color outline smoothens the difference between the lens and the body and adds style to its design.




The material consisting of the body with aluminum covering the front is made of silver plastic. It’s coated with glossy material to prevent damages and fingerprints and fits well with the aluminum. The side of the body is filled with strong black plastic and it adds a design point on the simple silver body.


 



 


 


12.2M pixels Samsung lens


The PL55 has a 12.2M pixels Samsung lens. Considering that Schneider lens is installed for expensive cameras while Samsung lens for low price cameras, the PL55 is a product focusing more on the price. It allows users high quality pictures at a reasonable price, so it might be especially good for those who can’t afford expensive one. Because the PL55 has a CCD more than 10M pixels, so it’s useful to make a poster or print out pictures. The PL55 has a 7.79mm(1/2.3”) CCD, so compared to the PL10 having a 1/2.5” CCD, it’s a little improved. It’s similar or slightly better than other competing cameras from other makers.



 





 


Protruding optical 5x zoom


The PL55 has a protruding lens supporting optical 5x zoom. Recently, there’s some product having more than optical 10x zoom, so you might think the zoom function of the PL55 is not good enough, but compared to other products in the same level, it’s quite good. It’s hard to tell the superiority between inner and protruding type, but the protruding lens has more stability than the inner zoom lens when taking shots. Additionally, it supports digital 5x zoom, so it means by using both optical and digital zoom together, up to 25x zoom shots can be made.



 





 


2.7” (6.86cm) 230K pixels TFT LCD


Following a film camera, an LCD of a digital camera takes the spot of the view finder. Not only that, but also it plays a lot of roles such as reviewing pictures, setting, and multimedia, so the size of the LCD and the quality gets bigger and better. The LCD also takes a large part in the camera price, so by looking at the size of the LCD, we are almost able to know the price. The PL55 has a 2.7” 230K pixels LCD. The size is the same as the PL10 and smaller than the PL70(3” LCD),



 




 


Environment friendly intelligent LCD


One of the important technologies of digital devices is a power saving function. The PL series has adopted the intelligent LCD technology and the PL55 has it also. The intelligent LCD automatically changes the brightness of the LCD depending on the brightness of surroundings by sensing it. It can save the battery without manually changing the brightness.



 





 


Convenient Smart Auto


The PL55 has adopted convenient interfaces. Among them, Smart Auto is the most impressive. For beginners, it provides 11 scene modes in order to take various pictures. By setting the mode dial to Smart, the camera automatically recognizes the situation, so all you need to is to push the shutter to get an optimized photo. With Smart Auto, you can easily learn how to use a digital camera.



 







 


Beauty Shot


If you don’t think you need a DSLR, it’s because you use a digital camera for fun such as self shots. However, if you find some flaws in your face, it’s not fun anymore. In order to prevent this, the PL55 supports the Beauty Shot function. It allows you to have your clean and white face like a baby.



 


            




 


Face Recognition


Because we can’t see our faces when taking a self shot, we just need to take a shot in a ball park. If you don’t have any know-how, you might need some help from somebody. Face Recognition of the PL55 is useful at this moment. Exposure and focus determine the quality and if you turn on Face Recognition, it automatically sets focus on faces and adjusts exposure to helps get the best results. Furthermore, Self Guide makes beep sounds when it recognizes a face and automatically takes a shot when recognizing a smile.



 




 


Ask someone to take a shot as the way you want, Frame Guide


Frame Guide helps ask someone to take a shot. When asking someone to take a shot, you might get unpleasing results. At this moment, Frame Guide is very useful. After you take a shot with your composition, then ask others to take like this. They will be able to take a shot as the way you want.




 




 


10cm Macro shot


The PL55 supports up to 10cm Macro shot. In the past, 10cm Macro shot was great, but not anymore, because nowadays, a lot of high grade cameras support 3-5cm Macro shot. If you like to take Macro shots, you’d better select a higher product.




 


ISO3200


Like most other compact digital cameras, the PL55 supports ISO 3200. There’s not much noise in 80 to 400, but from 800, it starts getting noise and colors become bluish. In 1600, noise and distortion get bigger and in 3200, it’s not a picture anymore. ISO might be useful and important for professionals when the light is insufficient. However, considering the target customers, ISO 3200 doesn’t mean much.




 


Digital Image Stabilization


Raising your hands in the air, you will see how much they tremble. Therefore, these hands make it difficult to take a shot. That’s why digital cameras need image stabilization function such as digital and optical. Optical helps reduce hand blur by moving the CCD mechanically and preventing the blur. On the other hand, digital compensates taken pictures, so it’s just slightly better than nothing. Unfortunately, the PL55 only supports Digital Image Stabilization.



 




 





 


640x480 resolution Video recording


The PL55 can record a 640x480 resolution video with 30 fps. UCCs in sharing sites are generally less than 5 minutes. Considering that, we can make a UCC by using a digital camera. And 2-3 minutes are enough to take a cute dog or a cat. 2-3 minutes of Full HD movie might need a high specification of a computer, so according to its usage, the video function of the PL55 can be very useful.



 





 


Photo Help Guide


The PL55 has Photo Help Guide for beginners. If you have a trouble while taking a shot, you can learn how to use the camera by looking at the guide. It’s not only with a text explanation, but also with a guide which you can follow, so it’s more practical. Considering so many situations with a digital camera, this guide will be a great assistant.



 



















 


Easy PL55 from Samsung Digital Imaging



 


Comfort shot of 12.2M pixels with Smart Auto



 




 


A camera is a complicated device. Of course, a lot of recent digital devices have complicated functions and performance, but there are people who have a hard time to use them. Smart Auto, Beauty Shot, and Face Recognition of the PL55 are easy functions to reduce their difficulty. Photo Help Guide makes it even easier to use it. It has some insufficient functions compared to high grade cameras, but will be a good compact camera for those who want a good result at a reasonable price and for beginners.



 


For more information, please click: http://www.segadget.com/entry/526


 


 

No comments: