a hero draming to be dslr
DESCRIPTION
The WB1000(TL320) is the compact camera of the highest level by Samsung imaging, and can appeal to users who want sub digital camera of DSLR and full manual function with a compact size.TRANSCRIPT
Link: http://www.samsungimaging.net/a-hero-dreaming-to-be-dslr/
A hero dreaming to be DSLR
Prologue
The Samsung digital imaging divided from Samsung techwin and doing strategic marketing has released 13 premium digital cameras in the market on the first half of 2009. I expect the company as the only camera optical company in Korea to be a great company as much as other makers producing DSLR, and I hope this will be loved by customers all over the world as a Made In Korea.
The WB1000(TL320) is the highest level of product among the lineup of Samsung. The WB1000(TL320) has adopts the Schneider lens which is one of the world’s top 3
lens, 12M pixels image sensor, 24mm wide angle, full manual function allowing free shots, and AMOLED clearing out the weakness of LCD. Besides, with the smart dial and analog dashboard on the top, it gives classical feeling. On top of that, the WB1000(TL320) has a lot of functions, and let’s find out them through this review.
Package
The WB1000(TL320) adopts the white box. This box design gives a neat image to users, so users will have a good feeling about the camera. Of course, this is not only for Samsung product, but also other various package designs, I guess. Let’s take a look at the package with unboxing and see the WB1000(TL320) more.
It’s the box design. You can see the text printed in English, and on the black ground, it tells the main specification with a orange color on the left and right side. As a compact camera, the box is also compact.
Opening the box, you can see booklet like a user manual, and then you can see the WB1000(TL320) on the left, and accessories on the right.
They are items in the box. There are camera, AV cable, battery, adaptor, charge cable, hand strap, program CD, product manual, and warranty. I couldn’t see something special in the package, but I could see the thought of Samsung imaging for world wide users by looking at the text in English.
Design
This is the front of the WB1000(TL320). Internal flash is on the right top, remote control sensor is on the left top, and on the left there’s a rubber hand grip to provide better grip. And the Schneider 24mm ultra wide lens is hidden.
From the right top, shot mode dial is located. It’s like a manual shot such as a DSLR, and with the various shot modes, you can take a shot in good situations. The shutter buttons is running smoothly, but the power button is not very good to control. And you can see the analog type dashboard showing the completion of design. On the left, there’s a internal microphone and speaker.
On the bottom, there’s a memory/battery port. On the center, USB/AV port is located. Because there’s also a tripod socket, you can enjoy group pictures with your family using the tripod during picnic.
On the left and right side, there’s nothing special. On the right, hand grip is located, and a hand strap hole is located between the back and side.
It’s the back of the WB1000(TL320). The 3 inch AMOLED is one of the best things of this product. This gets over the weakness of LCD, so it’s very convenient to take a shot and review with wide viewing angle and less afterimage. With zoom in/out, scale up/down, menu button, and convenient smart dial, you can enjoy the convenient and interesting control. Below the smart auto button, play and delete buttons are located.
Feature
The WB1000(TL320) has adopted the AMOLED for the first time as a digital camera. The AMOLED gives a solution for the weakness of LCD such as afterimages and viewing angle, and the HVGA+518 4M pixels 3 inch big AMOLED is very good to review pictures.
The WB1000(TL320) has adopted the world first 24mm ultra wide Schneider lens as a high end compact camera. Comparing other products in the same range, it’s a remarkable feature. The ultra wide angle lens is good enough to take more various expression and wider scenery. The FOV of the lens is F2.8-5.8. If you have some insufficiency of wide angle, the 24mm ultra wide angle lens would be a big help for that.
This adopts the 12.2M pixels CCD, and 4000×3000 pixels image can print out A1 size without any problem. Especially, the strength of high pixels is that there’s no much loss, when cropping for a certain part of a picture. Also the WB1000(TL320) expresses sharp images, so it will give fun to users enjoying macro pictures.
SMART DIAL
The smart dial makes it possible to take a convenient and fast shot. Once used to it, you can quickly control it. On the M mode, you can adjust iris, shutter speed, flash control, shot information, shot mode, timer, and remote control. It’s similar to a quick control of DSLR.
MODE DIAL
For the shot mode dial, A [Iris], S [Shutter], and M [Manual] are perfectly supported like DSLR. With the full manual function, more creative pictures can be taken. It also supports P [Program], USER, AUTO, DUAL IS, SCENE, SMART AUTO, AUTO, and Video, so you can conveniently take a picture you want.
DASHBOARD
For the dashboard on the top, there are analog type dashboards for classical feeling as a digital product. You can see the status of battery and memory with the red pin. This allows users to feel both touching and seeing together.
DUAL IS
Dual IS function which is combination of DIS and OIS helps take pictures without shake at the place with less light. You can see the blur on the above picture without DIS, better picture with DIS, and much better picture with Dual IS function. But it automatically makes ISO 800, so it increases noise.
5x OPTICAL / 5x DIGITAL ZOOM
With Optical 5x zoom and digital 5x zoom, 10x zooming shot is possible. Compared to other compact digital cameras supporting 3x optical zoom, you can feel the performance of 5x optical zoom with the WB1000(TL320). After optical zoom, it starts to apply the digital zoom, and unlike optical zoom using lens performance, it scales up with software, so the image quality is degraded. Of course, this is the same as other digital cameras.
SMART AUTO
The smart auto function includes 11 different situations, and it helps take optimized pictures. Sometimes using the manual mode dial, creative pictures can be taken. Using the smart auto function, stable shots are easily possible. The below picture was taken with the macro function of the smart auto.
The perfect portrait system tells theWB1000(TL320) is optimized for portrait. This supports 6 portrait functions such as face recognition, self shot, blink detection, red eye elimination, and smile shot. When it comes to the self camera, once an appropriate part of faces is taken, the speaker sounds to take a good self shot, and the smile shot detects the smile and automatically takes it. When blinking, it takes 2 consecutive pictures to reduce the failure with the blink detection. The beauty shot is the noticeable function of the WB1000(TL320). Among the portrait functions, the beauty shot is the most remarkable function. The beauty shot is to take a shot as if the image editing software such as the Adobe Photoshop is applied. It deletes flaw on the face and changes the color of faces to more splendid. This can be adjusted to 3 levels, and you can apply this both before/after shot.
FRAME GUIDE
The frame guide is used when asking someone to take a picture of you and your people. At this time, I want a certain frame, but people used take a picture with a composition that I didn’t like. At this moment, using the frame guide function, you can take a picture in the frame you want. Selecting the frame guide function and pushing the shutter, like the picture above, the frame remains, and when taking once more, you can take a picture with the same frame on the left and right.
SMART ALBUM
When reviewing, the WB1000(TL320) allows you to see them with various types. It has normal, 3, 9, 20 pictures, week, and color, and when sorting by color, pictures are sorted by the color which is used the most. It’s not a very important function, but gives some fun when reviewing pictures.
HD MOVIE
It supports 30fps 720P HD video recording. The WB1000(TL320) features H264 format, and as an advanced format compared to the MPEG4, this shows a great video function as much a digital camcorder.
The WB1000(TL320) supports various convenient video functions such as stereo recording, voice recording, optical 5x zoom, IS, and successive shot. It also supports an image capture function.
Comparison of the format
The video play of the WB1000(TL320)
Through the internal HDMI port, I could watch the full HD image without loss with the WB1000(TL320). By supporting the HDMI which is non-compressed Full Digital AV type, it provides incomparable high quality, and with the Anynet+ (CEC) function,
when connecting it to Samsung HDTV, through a TV remote controller, all functions of camera play can be conveniently used.
Test
I have tested the exposure, white balance, ISO, and Photo style. I introduced the hardware of the WB1000(TL320), and this test is for the understanding of the picture quality of the WB1000(TL320). All tests were under the fluorescent light indoors, and the tested pictures were only resized.
EXPOSURE VALU
For the exposure, it has 5 levels such as -2 / -1 / 0 / +1 / +2, and through the exposure function, you can take a picture you wanted in the situations of backlight or snow.
WHITE BALANCE
There are 8 white balances such as auto, sunlight, cloudy, fluorescent light H, white fluorescent light, light bulb, manual, and color temperature, but I only tested 7 of them. I didn’t test the manual and color temperature.
ISO
The WB1000(TL320) supports ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200, and as many of you are aware of, we raise the ISO when we need to secure a shutter speed indoors. The higher the ISO, the more noise we get, so many companies try to reduce the noise.
PHOTO STYLE
The WB1000(TL320) has 10 photo styles. When it comes to the Canon, it’s defined as Picture style. This is useful for those who want some characteristic pictures and are not used to retouching.
Epilogue
The WB1000(TL320) is the compact camera of the highest level by Samsung imaging, and can appeal to users who want sub digital camera of DSLR and full manual function with a compact size.
As a digital camera, analog dashboard on the top reminded me of old feeling, and the shot mode dial with full manual shot gives the feeling of DSLR for DSLR users. Also compact digital camera users would be satisfied with this camera if they want manual function with a compact size. Especially, the H264 forma HD video recording is a very strong function. And the smart dial which is one of the most important features of the WB1000(TL320) helps users take interesting shots by controlling the camera easily and quickly.
The WB1000(TL320) has a lot of advantages and interesting functions, but has some weakness. It’s a slow response time for buttons, no sound when zooming, and noise.
I take pictures with DSLR, compact digital camera, and cell phone camera, but for snap shots, I usually use a compact digital camera such as the WB1000(TL320).
The 8mm camcorder has already thrown away, and I have a DSLR supporting full HD video recording, but due to the volume and weight, it’s not easy to use. Former digital cameras supported a video recording, but the quality was not that good, but the WB1000(TL320) supports the HD video, so I’m really expecting it personally.
I’m looking forward to seeing the next step of the Samsung digital imaging which released 13 cameras already at the first half of this year. I can’t wait for their future as the only company producing a camera in Korea in the camera market. Lastly, I will be very happy with this good company for shots.
Sample
