Monday, February 21, 2011

Find the hidden 1.8” ! Dual LCD Samsung ST100

Following is an ST100 review.
Mirrorless and hybrid cameras becomes the majority in the camera market, but DSLR cameras still have their own share, and compact digital cameras are also doing okay in the market.


When it comes to Samsung, they have kept 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 such as purple and black, and has a shiny style body. It has 100x60x20mm of size and 135g of weight. (Except the battery and memory card)



The lens is the famous Schneider having 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 having the 1.8” LCD on the front. Especially for woman users, it’s a specialized camera for self shots. For your information, it supports couple/jump/smile shot modes which are automatic modes.










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.










On the bottom, it has the 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 for the memory.















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









UI/Menu





The basic UI and menu are from the previous cameras.










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










The menu is also very similar to other ST series. Menu also varies by the shooting mode.










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










The overall menu and UI 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 the 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 below pictures 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, the noise began to come. Other digital cameras normally have noise from ISO 400.








<Images of the ST100 by different ISO>






In the quality, it’s 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 convenience 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 mode, so it takes totally different pictures.








<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, and the feeling is really good.








<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 having the 1.8” dual LCD from Samsung. It appeared to appeal to woman users as a specialized digital camera in self shots with its compact size. Especially, the Smart Filter allowed users very unique pictures, so I like it very much.





Below are the resized sample shots without compensation. Thank you.































Here is the link to the source: http://www.segadget.com/entry/624

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