Features:
- 12.2 Megapixels resolution
- 3x Optical Zoom – 6.3 ~ 18.9mm (35-105mm 35mm equivalent)
- 5x Digital Zoom
- f3.0-5.6 Aperture
- Ultra-slim body ~16.6mm in width
- 2.7-inch LCD display (QVGA 230,000 TFT)
- Digital Image Stabilization (DIS)
- High Sensitivity of up to ISO 3200
- Perfect Portrait System
- Smart Auto
- Advanced Movie Mode
Price: Php12,000 - PhP15,000
The Samsung ST50 has a slick brushed aluminum front and a good solid feel with neat precise lines. It is perfectly pocketable, measuring 94.2 x 55.7 x 16.6mm; small, but perfectly formed. It features a 3x zoom lens, 35-105mm (35mm equiv.), which does have a fair degree of barrel distortion at the wide end, but that is typical for this type of camera.
The back is dominated by the 2.7-inch 230,000 dot screen.
The main controls sit to the right of the screen, consisting of the common arrangement of a four-way controller around a central ok button, which accesses the main shortcuts (display, flash, self timer and macro). A slider enable user to switch between still and video modes.
The top gives the fairly normal arrangement of a shutter button encircled by the zoom ring that controls the 3x zoom lens. The elegant Power and Smart button on the top is backlit in blue.
The camera takes a microSD/SDHC in the bottom, sharing the same compartment as the battery. The battery is interesting as the camera doesn't come with a battery charger. Instead, charging takes place within the camera itself.
There is only one connector on the ST50 and this single port handles both connecting the camera to your PC and charging the battery. A USB cable is supplied, as well as a mains plug into which you can insert the cable to handle charging. It certainly saves the hassle of removing batteries and carrying round a separate charger.
The same connector will also work as the AV out, with a supplied composite cable to hook-up to TV. It lacks the flair of the HD steps taken by rivals to give a high-definition connection. That said, the video capture on the ST50 has a top resolution of 800 x 592, a step behind the more common 720p HD resolution that similar sized rival devices are packing.
Essentially, there are two modes on the ST50: programmable and Smart. The Smart mode will scan the scene and select the best settings based on what it can see.
Unlike most other cameras, the user can't dive in and select a shooting mode, like Landscape for example, the only mode that can directly engage is macro, which works well enough. When Smart has scanned the scene, an icon in the top right of the screen displays the mode selected.
This doesn't always correspond to the scene, so it is a little hit and miss, for example, giving landscape instead of portrait. This is a bit of a failing, because if you are looking for great portrait style shot with a blurred background, it is fiendishly difficult to achieve. However, for general shooting out and about, it will be fine.
There are many more options through the menus, including the obligatory face detection, smile shot, blink detection and beauty shot as found in some of Samsung's mobile phone cameras. These may go some way to getting a better portrait shot. Beauty shot can give some comical results, the intensity could be altered – but it should be used with caution.
There’s also exposure compensation control, ISO, white balance, metering, auto bracketing, and focus zone controls, amongst others.
One of the headline features hiding in the menu is Frame Guide. The Frame Guide allows the user to frame a shot, take a snap and then the edges of this picture are superimposed over the current view. This means one can hand the camera to someone else and they can align it with your original framing shot, and take a picture.
However, focusing is not so good. The ST50 sometimes struggles to focus on the scene, especially at closer ranges, like 50cm, which would normally be fine. Image detail is pretty good - this is a 12.2-megapixel camera after all - but exposure seems to be an issue. The ST50 often edged towards under exposure, although high contrast scenes often resulted in purple fringing and loss of detail in highlights.
Colors aren't especially vibrant, but on the whole are well represented and colors could be edited within the camera, as well as shoot in a particular color profile, to give your image a particular hue, including negative, which can give some fun results.
ISO runs from the Auto setting up to 3200 (restricted to 3MP resolution). Noise isn't a problem up to ISO400, but beyond that it jumps in quickly. At least one can restrain the ISO to give you better control over the images.
The flash is reasonable, with some advanced controls available once Smart is disengage, however forever putting finger over it whilst gripping the camera.
Video capture, despite the lack of HD options, is pretty good, but the zoom-it cuts the audio capture, making for patchy playback. The mic is rather exposed, so suffers from environmental noise problems.
The battery life is also pretty good, although it is more difficult to gauge the exact performance of the battery because as soon as it is hooked up to your PC, it's charging again.
Links:
http://www.testfreaks.com
http://www.thinkcomputers.com
http://www.letsgodigital.com
http://www.samsung.com
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