28mm wide angle, Samsung Digital Imaging ‘PL70’

Here is a user review about Samsung PL55 digital camera.

People who like taking shots find a good place to take shots when walking down the street. What if they fail to get a full angle, just because it’s too narrow? They will probably give up taking shots or get incomplete shots.

Recently, Samsung Digital Imaging (www.samsungcamera.com) has released the PL70 providing wider angle shots.  By supporting 28mm wide angle, it can get wider scenery from the same position and also has 12.2M pixels, 720p HD video recording, and 3” TFT LCD. Let’s take a look at the functions of the PL70.

28mm Wide angle shots

The PL70 supports 28mm wide angle on 35mm. Compared with other compact digital cameras supporting 35mm angle, it can take wider scenery from the same position. As you can see from the below 2 pictures, the whole part of the machine was taken with 28mm angle, but some part wasn’t taken with 35mm angle. For group pictures, 28mm is far better.

Simple and elegant body

The PL70 is a suit designed by a famous designer. The whole aluminum body has glossless dark gray color for simplicity and there are horizontal hairlines on the front for elegance. Besides, glossy black lines surrounded on the outline of the body add a point on the design. The smooth combination of dark gray and black colors is impressive.

Unlike the other previous PL series, it has a rubber on the grip part. Holding the PL70 actually, a middle finger is firmly fixed on the rubber. Considering the slippery body of compact digital cameras, it’s very useful.

 

12.2M high pixels

The PL70 has high pixels. Among the compact digital cameras from Samsung Digital Imaging, most of them have 12.2M pixels. When it comes to pixels, the PL70 has almost the highest pixels. It allows up to 4000x3000 resolution shots, so there’s no problem to develop it to A1 size. 3968×2232 and 1920×1080 resolutions can be watched through Digital TV. Besides, using 1024x768, you can save the storage and easily transfer them through emails.

Optical 5x zoom Samsung lens

The PL70 has a 5x optical zoom Samsung lens. You can take shots with 5x zoom without moving much. Using it with digital 5x zoom together, you can get up to 25x zoom. On the upper side of the lens, ‘SAMSUNG LENS’ is printed. For the PL series, Samsung lenses have been adopted and they are getting better. For those who want a reasonable price, cameras having a Samsung lens might be a good choice.

 

3” 230K TFT LCD

Compared that the PL series had a LCD smaller than 3”, the PL70 has the biggest LCD among all the PL series. The 3” LCD provides a cool display compared with smaller LCDs, when reviewing pictures. The LCD filling the back can be a good design point.

720p HD video recording and HDMI

720p HD video recording is one of the greatest features. It supports up to 1280x720/30fps video recording for 20 minutes, so both high quality pictures and videos can be covered by the PL70. By connecting it to a digital TV through HDMI port, you can watch high quality videos without any quality degradation. By connecting to a Samsung device supporting Anynet+, you can play and move by using the remote controller, so it’s more convenient. However, the HDMI cable is not included as an accessory, so you have to buy it separately.

 

 

Dual IS

You can be free from hand blur by setting the dial to Dual IS. Dual IS incredibly reduces hand blur by both OIS using mechanical movement of the CCD and DIS retouching images,

 

 

Smart Auto helps anyone take shots easily. Considering users’ level, compact digital cameras have to be used by anyone from beginners to professionals. Using Smart Auto of the PL70, you can just push the shutter to get an optimized picture, because the camera automatically recognizes the scene. It recognizes 11 different scenes such as Night scenery, Backlight, Macro, Portrait, Scenery, and so on. Compared to the ST550 supporting 15 scene modes, it’s a little insufficient, but with 11 scene modes, you can take great pictures.

 

 

Environmental friendly intelligent LCD

Like other IT devices such as laptop computers try to reduce power consumption, the PL70 has environmental friendly technology. The Intelligent LCD of the PL70 senses the brightness around and reduces the brightness when it’s dark, so battery consumption decreases. If it’s bright, it allows more visibility by increasing the brightness.

 

 

ISO 3200

The PL70 supports ISO 3200. Compared with the other PL series supporting ISO 1600, the PL70 is a higher model. Like the other PL series, there’s no noise in 80, 100, and 200. In ISO 400 and 800, there’s a little noise, but considering that it reduces other distortion, it’s good for shots. In 1600 and 3200, there’s a lot of noise and color distortion, so for normal situations, they are not recommended.

 

Face Recognition

Those who buy a compact digital camera mostly like self shots. Therefore, Face Recognition function is very convenient and useful. Face Recognition of the PL70 is quite good. It rarely failed to recognize faces.

 

Self Guide will be used for self shots a lot. Once the PL70 recognizes a face, it makes a beep sound, and the face gets to the center, it makes more frequent beep sounds, so more accurate self shot can be made. As a more advanced function of Self Guide, Smile shot recognizes smile on faces and automatically takes a shot.

 

 

More accurate, more vivid

No matter how much experienced the photographers are, they can’t control the blink of eyes. If it detects blink, it automatically takes one more shot. It means that if you get blink from one shot, the other shot will be fine. Once registering your lover by using Smart Face Recognition, the PL70 will focus on your lover, even though there are someone else with your lover.

 

Beauty Shot

It’s another useful function with Face Recognition. It makes your skin smoothly and flawless without any editing tool like Photoshop. You can set the intensity of brightness and compensation to 3 different levels.

Photo Help Guide

Photo Help Guide gives you some instruction of problems which might occur such as setting focus, blurry shots, adjusting colors, and so on. You will easily learn the solution by following the question with some practice.

 

 

12.2M pixels picture and 720p HD movie recording

 

Samsung Digital Imaging ‘PL70’

 

 

The PL70 can take wider areas in a screen through the 28mm wide angle. Especially, in narrow streets or indoors, it’s more useful. Besides, 12.2M pixels and 5x optical zoom allow high quality images, and 720p HD movie recording and HDMI are the own feature of the PL70. Through these high specifications and various functions, the PL70 will be an interesting and charming compact digital camera for a lot of users.

 

 

For more information, please click: http://www.segadget.com/entry/528

 

 

 

DSC: SAMSUNG PL55 REVIEW

Here is a user review about Samsung PL55 digital camera.

No matter how the performance of the camera is great, unless users know much about cameras, it might just waste money. (Some of my friends who don’t know anything about cameras wanted me to recommend a DSLR. However, after my recommendation, I’m so sorry that they just take a shot in P mode.) I think it’s very important to know yourself and the usage of the camera, but some are just want to buy an expensive and high grade model.

If you are not a professional and not used to cameras, it’s better to buy a camera easy to use, I think. (You don’t need to spend a lot of money to buy an expensive camera for the first time. I recommend that you try to know a camera and then upgrade cameras.) The PL55 which I’m reviewing is a very easy camera to use, so it’s very good for beginners and those who enjoy cameras just for fun. (It includes Smart Auto and other functions making it easy to control.)

Unlike the ST550(TL225) and ST1000(CL65), it doesn’t support unique functions, but the price and performance ratio was really good. Let’s take a look with the review.

It has 97 x 59 x 24.5 mm of size and 139g of size like other normal compact cameras. (Because it’s a popularized mode, it’s a little bit thick. However, compared to slim cameras, it has better grip, so it’s not just weakness, I think. It’s good to carry around and use all the time.)

Like you see in the picture, the design of the body is neat and simple. Even though it has no elegant feeling, it’s not like a cheap something. The simple body is impressive. (The design point by hairlines on the front was impressive.)

It’s the front of the body and 5x optical zoom protruding type lens is located. 35-175mm of FOV is a little insufficient for wide angle, but not for standard and telephoto angles. It also supports 3.5-5.5 of aperture. (Like other previous products, the booting time was quite satisfactory. The lens cap is also automatically open for more convenience.) @ It supports 12.2M pixels and optical 5x zoom unlike other models in the same range supporting 3x optical zoom. I’m satisfied with the specification.

At the Lower part of the lens, a built-in microphone is located for voice recording and video recording. Self Timer lamp and Flash assist light are located on the upper side. It also has a built-in flash to help shooting at night and indoors.

It’s the top of the product and a power button is located on the center.(Because of the status LED, you can easily check the status.) On the side, a speaker is located with a shutter button. (It has a shutter supporting half shutter and having a big difference between the half and full shutter, so I could easily take a shot.)

It’s the back of the body and 230K pixels 2.7”(6.86cm) TFT LCD is located. @ Intelligent LCD: It’s an LCD automatically adjusting the brightness of the LCD by sensing the amount of light around. It can save up the battery and allow the best visibility.

By supporting Mode dial, you can easily set the camera depending on the situation. (It’s much faster than using a cross button.) On the lower part, Fn button for various functions is located. @ It has been designed to be controlled by a thumb without a problem.

It’s the left side of the body and a strap ring is located to hang a strap or necklace and on the upper side, universal 20 pin port is located. (You can transfer data easily by connecting to a PC. Unlike other digital camera using an adapter, it can also be charged with USB. It’s an advantage of the PL55.)

It’s the bottom of the body and a mount hole for a tripod is located and on the left side, battery/ SD card slot is located. (It supports up to 8GB SDHC. There will be no inconvenience caused by the storage.)

As a small and palm sized product, it’s a little thick, but with the similar size to other mobile phones or premium MP3P, so there will be no inconvenience to carry it, I think.

@ A battery, USB cable, Hand strap, S/W CD, and Manual are included. A memory card and a case are not included.

We’ve checked the design and feature of the product. Let’s take a look at the functions supported.

It’s the main screen and various shot information is displayed on the screen. (On the left top, mode is displayed and on the left and right side, various settings are shown.) When recording a video, separate menu is displayed and with the Fn button, you can use each function more quickly without using Menu button. (The booting time was so fast and the menu selection by Fn button was so simple. I’m fully satisfied with its speed.)

The biggest difference of the PL55 from the ES series is the mode dial. (When it comes to the ES series which have no mode dial, I needed to push the Menu button when selecting a mode. However, you can change the mode by using the Mode dial with the PL55.) It’s very impressive that it supports various modes such as Smart Auto, Auto, Program, DIS, Beauty Shot, and Movie modes.

Not by entering the setting menu, you can set frequently used functions buy by using the button on the back. Shot information displayed on the LCD can be hid and by using the cross button, Self timer, Flash, and Macro can easily be set.

Unlike other high grade products, it doesn’t support OIS, but DIS can reduce hand blur. By supporting Scene mode, you can get optimized results depending on the situation. (However, it will not very useful, because it supports Smart Auto, I suppose.)

For more information, please click: http://www.segadget.com/entry/527