Following is a review of Samsung WP10 waterproof camera.
03_Shooting
35-175mm Optical 5x zoom for both Scenery and Macro
The WP10(AQ100) has 35-175mm optical 5x inner zoom lens and it’s great for not only landscape, but also telephoto zooming shots. It is also very good to take Macro shot. However, it’s not as wide as other ultra wide angle cameras.
Max. wide. Optical 3x zoom Max. tele. DIS
Zooming takes approximately 3 seconds from wide to telephoto angle. And digital 5x zoom also takes about 3 seconds. However, when selecting DIS (Digital Image Stabilization), digital zoom can’t be applied. It has F3.6(W)-4.8(T). It’s a rather dark lens, but it’s a common thing of the inner zoom lens cameras. Therefore, users need to understand higher ISO and degraded quality in low light condition.
Max. wide.
Optical zoom 3x
Max. tele.
According to the specification, Macro is 5cm, but it’s also possible with the distance shorter than 5cm. Telephoto Macro is 80cm, and it’s not as great. Using DIS, users can get more stable and vivid pictures, and in Smart Auto mode, if a subject gets closer, it’s recognized as Auto Macro mode.
Max. wide. Close-up Max. wide. Close-up, DIS
Max. tele. Close-up Max. tele. Close-up, DIS
1280×720p(30fps) Movie recording
WP10(AQ100) supports 1280×720p(30fps) H.264(MPEG4.AVC) format HD quality movie recording. In Movie mode, Smart Scene Recognition function can be applied. According to the shooting environment, it expresses the scene with more various colors by recognizing Landscape, Natural Green, Blue Sky, and Sunset.
Zooming takes also 3 seconds in movie mode like still image. Voice recording can be turned on or off while zooming.
By applying Vignetting and Fish eye filter in Smart Filter, users can take more fun movies and DIS is supported. However, when Smart Filter is applied, the quality looks a little lower.
Fish-eye
Vignetting
DIS off
DIS on
DIS off
DIS on
It also supports 640×480 and 320×240 size, and when selecting 320×240 (Suitable for web site), 60fps can be used and like Still image mode, 7 different white balance modes and 10 kinds of photo style can be set.
Motion Capture
Motion Capture is a function to take 5 shots within 1 sec and it takes 30 shots. The size is fixed to 1024×768, so the picture quality is not as high, but by using the images as a GIF animation or something, users can get interesting results. Normal continuous shot mode for the best quality is also supported, but the shooting speed is quite slow.
Motion Capture
Motion Capture
Continuous Shooting
Exposure correction / AEB
AEB function takes 3 shots continuously with different exposure, and users can select appropriate exposure among them. Shutter speed is quite slow and photos are not displayed in the screen, I recommend using a tripod. The WP10(AQ100) takes rather brighter images, so in a bright place, you’d better set the exposure to -0.3, I think.
Exposure correction
-0.7EV 0EV 0.7EV
-1.7EV 0EV
AEB
When it’s difficult to set the exposure, take shots with standard (0.0EV), over(+1/2EV), and under(-1/2EV) exposure.
For Flash mode 6 modes are included such as off, red-eye elimination, slow sync, forced flash, and red-eye reduction. In Smart Auto, Smart Auto flash icon is shown up.
Normal Forced Flash
Slow Sync
DIS reducing hand shake
In order to minimize hand shake when taking still images, Digital Image Stabilization(DIS) is supported. Setting DIS, Digital zoom is not possible to use and if it’s darker than Fluorescent light, warning sign comes up. When taking shots where there’s no warning mark, more vivid and higher quality pictures can be taken. It might take more time to save pictures due to digital image processing eliminating noise twice after taking shots.
DIS off DIS on
DIS off DIS on
04_12.2M & Color
1/2.33” 12.2M pixels sensor
Compact cameras at the first half of this year had 12-14M pixels sensors. Moreover, they had slim bodies with SMART function and high zoom. The WP10(AQ100) has a slim body with 5x optical inner zoom lens to follow other cameras. Looking at the image quality, there was no quality degradation in surroundings. When using optical 3x zoom, there was a little quality degradation in surroundings. Maximum telephoto shooting detail is also similar.
Max. Wide angle
Optical 3x zoom
Max. Telephoto angle
Various Photo Styles
11 Photo Style modes to enjoy various colors are supported such as Normal, Soft, Vivid, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, Classic, Negative, Custom RGB, and Defog. Users can also adjust RGB manually.
Normal Soft Vivid
Forest Retro Cool
Calm Classic Negative
Defog Custom RGB
Because it supports various colors, it’s also very interesting to find colors you want. In Retro mode, brown tone is accented and in Defog mode, contrast becomes stronger to show more vivid colors under strong light, but the detail in shadow gets worse.
Normal Soft Vivid
Forest Retro Cool
Calm Classic Negative
Defog Custom RGB (+R) Custom RGB (+G)
White balance
The WP10(AQ100) supports 7 kinds of White Balance settings. Auto mode shows good colors by detecting quite accurate color of light. The color is also warm with a little reddish feeling. Custom White balance is supported, and it gauges the type of light by pushing the shutter and it’s kind of blue.
Quality in ISO 3200 with less noise
The WP10(AQ100) also has good quality in high ISO like other Samsung cameras. It shows images vividly and high image quality in high ISO by smoothing the pixels. Therefore, from ISO 800 or more, images are rather smooth than vivid.
The image quality of the WP10(AQ100) is smooth and calm, but not that sharp. However, for web images, it has an advantage in image quality in high ISO. Like I mentioned, it has various functions and good performance with Smart functions. It’s also meaningful as the first waterproof camera from Samsung. Not only its functions and performance, but also the design is also great and competitive.
-Epilogue
Trend setter item for users
Now, customers keep changing. They don’t buy a product, because they need it. It’s an old school story. Even though they like a brand, if the product is not as great or characteristic, customers leave the brand. Nowadays, customers enjoy variety. When purchasing an item they need, they tend to buy both expensive one and cheap one. A patchwork is being made while consuming. There were some patchworks in consuming, but they were just to show others.
However, now it’s different. They really don’t care others, but just buy an item for their life style or because they need it. They enjoy buying something to love themselves. If there’s a good product or they find a good product in the market, they just buy it. They don’t stop buying an item, because they already have one of them. The WP10(AQ100) matches the trend of those customers, doesn’t it?
The WP10(AQ100) is an enough camera to become a trend. It’s a great camera in performance and price compared to other cameras. It also supports 1280×720p(30fps) H.264 MP4, HQ quality video recording. Waterproof function, the mechanical finishing, and the design are great enough as a trend. The WP10(AQ100) with small, trendy body.
-I’m looking forward to the choice of customers in 2010.
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. For any further questions, or feedback, please visit POPCONET
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