Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Samsung IT100: It is suitable for snap camera which you can carry around easily for quick shots

28mm 5x optical zoom Smart digital camera IT100

Samsung Digital Imaging is introducing a variety of products in 2009 more than ever. Since each one of them has its uniqueness, they’re satisfying various tastes of consumers. Unlike other brands some products of which are not imported, maybe because of exchange rate, every model is available, so you have a wide range of choice. Following today’s trend, it has wide angle lens, HD video, and perfect portrait system, competing with Japanese brand. Recently introduced IT100 is a smart digital camera with 5x optical zoom lens. Plus, it has its competitiveness in 12,200,000 pixels, many function, and HD video recording option.



Perfect Portrait, Dual IS, 28-140mm, HD movie

IT100’s special features are 12,200,000-pixel sensor, 28-140mm 5x optical zoom lens, luxurious stainless steel body design, HD movie, Perfect Portrait System, Dual IS (Optical+ Advanced DIS), etc. It contains Samsung’s Smart Auto and other various additional features. Unlike slim digital cameras like ST10ST50, it has H.264 format HD video function, which enables zooming while recording. When you accidentally delete photos, you can restore tem using recycle bin. Its color expression is also very good. It is suitable for snap camera which you can carry around easily for quick shots, and also as a sub-camera for DSLR users. and



Luxurious stainless steel body


The first impression is that is looks fancy thanks to its rich color and slimness. It is as slim as 22.5mm, which is slimmer than a competing model of another brand. Also, smooth looking stainless steel material looks strong masculine. The color comes in four types: Warm Gray, Navy Blue, Sliver, Tomato Red. The Navy Blue color that is given to Popconet looks strong and steady. But thanks to the hairline process and glossy-coating, it also looks soft enough.




It looks even slimmer because the borderlines on the front side are tapped. And there’s a thin area that assists your middle finger for better grip. Lens barrel which takes up half the front side is impressive. Flash and assist light are placed on each side, and some users might feel uncomfortable with flash depending on their usual grip.


Upper part is traditional style. There’re round shutter area with concentric circle lines, blue LED power button, stereo mike, and speaker with many little holes. Dark grey line on the middle adds sturdiness to its look. It turns on when you press the power button for more than 0.2 second, and it takes about a second until operating, which is pretty fast.



A panel that protects the backside makes it look stylish. Thanks to 3 inch monitor, it’s convenient to take shots. You can operate zoom button upward or downward. Especially, turning mode dial is very smooth. There’re 4-directional button with each option, central key, and Play and Fn key below that. Fn key is an option button which can set seven functions quickly. But it is inconvenient that you need to go into internal menu to set exposure, image size, AF domain, image editing, OIS, sound, ACB, etc.



IT100 uses a different connector from other models. There’s no separate terminal on each side, and you may manage charging, transfer, and output using the terminal at the bottom. Using this terminal, you can enjoy clearer image appreciation with Samsung HDTV of Anynet+ (CEC) technology.



You can use adapter or PC USB for charging. Since its connector is different, you cannot share it with other models. The battery is protected with battery cover switch, and SD/SDHC memory and battery are inserted inside that. The battery is once again protected by battery lock switch.



Fairly good battery capacity


It uses 3.7v 1050mAh battery. It differs in situation, but it can usually take up to 200-250 slides. If you use Smart Auto, the battery might get discharged faster. If you like to away to take photos or use both video and photos, it’s better to purchase one more battery. If you’re a regular user who only occasionally uses the camera daily, it’s good enough for you. In my case, once the battery was completely discharged after taking 20 video clips, five times of motion capture (150 slides), and 240 photos in 3 hours 20 sec.




3 inch 230,000-pixel TFT monitor


The monitor is big and clear 3 inch 230,000-pixel TFT LCD. It has good left/right and low-angle viewing angle, but if you tilt it more than 30° in low angle, there appears reversal. Color is expressed warmly. And it works well as a monitor for playing and recording, has little color noise inside and fast response time. On the other hand, the reflection rate of panel is too high, so sometimes it is inconvenient outdoors. If you tilt a shooting angle a bit, it could be hard to check the monitor. I wish it used something like PL50 which adapts multi-coating for high transmittance.





28mm Wide 5x optical zoom Samsung lens


5x optical zoom lens is the main face of IT100. Basically, the picture quality made with lights coming through the lens is extraordinary. Especially, image with distortion is the best strength of IT100, and central and peripheral area quality is also great. It has 28-140mm in 35mm film equivalence and 5x optical zoom feature. Compared to 35mm cameras, it is greater in expressing realistic scenery. Its F3.4-F5.8 lens brightness is somewhat low, so you’d better use DUAL IS when shooting indoors.



Difference in angle



Zoom



Widest angle closest shot 2x optical closest shot Maximum zoom closest shot


Macro can be as close as 5cm in wide angle. The more you use zoom, the farther the Macro effect becomes, and it gets a little closer at the maximum zoom. Close-up shot with multi-AF is pretty good at capturing subject in short distance. Since there’s no extra AF domain movement function, lets’ make good use of Multi-AF when you take close-up shots.




Outstanding clarity, image with no distortion




IT100 shows the best clarity in medium angle. Its capability to restrain distortion at wide angle is extraordinary. It seems like the distortion at peripheral area is edited a little with some software because the detailed image becomes smudged a bit and the distortion shows as it is in videos. But compared to other models in same level, it has better system of producing images without distortion when shooting in flat scenery circumstances. No distortion tends to be preferred.




Good AF speed, but AF success rate needs to be improved.


AF speed is pretty good, being able to capture indoor, outdoor, and in zoom within 0.5 sec. It becomes a little slower in close-up or maximum zoom, but there’s not much difference. Zooming speed from widest angle to maximum angle is about 2 seconds, and it operates smoothly. But it showed AF failure from time to time. I’m not sure whether it’s because it is developmental sample product, not an official product on sale. I was confused in landscape where there’s weak contrast or in zoom, because sometimes it showed red box. When AF is successful, the focus is accurate, so users must check if it was successful through monitor. AF seems to be required for improvement.



Dual IS, OIS+ Advance DIS


It supports Dual IS which applies both optical and digital functions. OIS is lens revision type, and Advanced DIS is 2-step noise revision after high-speed shot. Compared to the former type, it keeps saturation well, and image saving time is shortened. Personally, I’d like to give higher credit on Advanced DIS than OIS. It shows a little increase in sensitivity but it creates stable images under any circumstance. Besides, there’s not much noise occurs.



Maximum zoom- P mode/ Maximum zoom –Dual IS mode


OIS detects shakes optically and revises it by lens. Using OIS, HD video can also be expressed smoothly. Since it is not that high-powered, there’s no obvious difference between OIS on and off. But when you record video clips, you’ll see how useful it is.





Supporting 1280×720p HD video


One of its strengths compared to other same-level models is HD video. It takes H.264(MP4 file) format, and it can be recorded up to 26 minutes in 2GB when taken in the best quality of 1280×720p(Fine). In SDHC in 8GB, it can be up to 1 hour and 41 minutes. HD video in Standard quality which is below the best quality can be recorded up to 1 hour and 54 minutes, which is not much different in capacity from the best quality. In 640×480(30fps), it can be recorded 3 hours and 17 minutes, and in 320×240(60fps) 6 hours 42 minutes. Also, if you separately purchase Samsung’s cradle, you can connect it to HDMI terminal of HDTV and enjoy the clear images on large screen at home.


You can record up to 20 minutes in one shooting. 640×480 size has weakness in that the angle is narrow since it had to cut off left/right side of the screen. Also, zooming while recording is available, but it’s better not to use it too frequently. If you zoom maximally while recording in wide angle with its right focus, the focus gets blur, and the sound isn’t recorded while zooming. So it’s better to set the zoom before you start.






One of the strengths of IT100 HD video is that it can apply options like white balance, color mode, side light, etc. Thanks to that, videos also can be recorded in special quality. Also, you can pause and re-shoot after that using OK button during shooting. Sound is recorded a little weakly, so it cannot record distant sound effect. Color is expressed very warmly. The exposure tends to change radically according to subjects, and contrast is quite strong, so gradation is somewhat weak. But the noise is low and it expresses great detail.






‘SMART AUTO’mode that automatically detects 11 scenes

You can easily select Smart Auto mode using mode dial. Then you leave everything to the camera. Only option you can select in Smart Auto mode is image size. You may set flash on/off and timer using 4-directional buttons. There’re only two options for flash, either ‘Smart Auto’ or ‘off.’



Text mode is used for text shot, white mode for very bright background shot, and tripod for night scene shot with tripod. It shoots under low-sensitivity (ISO160) and long time shutter moves up to 8 seconds. It shows good performance in scenery, portrait, night scene, backlight, night portrait, macro, etc.



Smart Auto mode expresses color and saturation strongly. The color that shows the biggest difference is red. When you take a portrait shot, you’ll clearly see the difference in face tone. It’s not limited to portraits. It is same as in landscape shots. It sets the shutter speed as 1/15 sec so you can take night portrait shots without tripod. If you have a tripod, you can get brighter and more natural photo using slow syncro flash in P mode.




 




This review represents the sole opinion of their individual authors and POPCONET and don’t express the opinion of Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd., Samsungimaging.net or the opinion of any affiliates unless specifically marked as such.
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