WB1000 having everything it needs

WB1000 having everything it needs

The line up of Samsung digital cameras have been various such as NV, WB, and PL series. With those various specification to satisfay customers, they are expanding their market share. It is obvious that the compact digital camera market is not made only by Canon, Nikkon, and Olympus. And the important thing is which maker releases more attractive products with good specification. For me, after releasing a book about DSLR, people ask a question which compact camera is good to buy to me. It’s so ironic. I got an easy answer for this question, because I could answer like people prefer Canon, but it’s expensive. Olympus has a good design, Fuji has a good performance in a reasonable price. However, this thing has changed lately. The camera of former brands is good, but I consider Samsung a lot recently, because Samsung has developed new products much and released them. I also can’t help focusing on the Samsung camera. However, I don’t praise it with no reason. Like I mentioned F value, usefulness, size, and Chromatizm from the previous model, I’m going to focus on the strong and weak points depending on my experiences.

The Samsung WB1000 which I’m going to introduce you today is a High end compact digital camera. At the end of last year, the first model WB500 of WB series was released. It got an attention from all over the world with 28mm wide angle lens and optical 10x zoom. And the WB1000 is also getting an attention with 24mm wide angle, F2.8, and optical 5x zoom. Let’s start the review from design to quality.

Let’s take a closer look at the WB1000

Image sensor	1/2.33" Effective pixels Approx. 12.2 mega-pixels CCD   (Total pixels Approx. 12.4 mega-pixels)
File format	Photo: JPEG, Video: MP4 (H.264), Audio: WAV
Image size	12M(4000 x 3000), 10M P(3984 x 2656), 9M W (3968 x 2232)  9M 1;1(2976 x 2976), 8M (3264 x 2448), 5M (2592 x 1944)  3M (2048 x 1536), 2M (1920 x 1080), 1M (1024 x 768)
Videos	1280 x 720, 1280 x 720, 640 x 480, 320 x 240  Frame Rate: 60 FPS, 30 FPS, 15 FPS  Stereo recording with volume control and mute in zooming
Lens	Schneider-KREUZNACH lens  f = 4.3 - 21.5 mm (35 mm film equivalent: 24 - 120 mm)
F-stop range	F2.8 (W) - F5.8 (T)
zoom	optical 5x
Focusing Range  Normal	Normal 40cm ~ infinity (wide), 80cm ~ infinity (tele)
Focusing Range  Macro	Macro 5cm ~ 40cm (wide), 50cm ~ 80cm (tele)
Focusing Type	TTL auto focus (Multi AF, Center AF, Selection AF, Manual Focus)
Shutter speed	Auto: 1/8 - 1/2,000 sec.  Program: 1 - 1/2,000 sec.  Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual: 16 - 1/2,000 sec.  Night: 8 - 1/2,000 sec.  Firework: 4 sec.
Exposure	±2EV (1/3EV steps)
ISO equivalent	Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Power source	Lithium-ion battery (SLB-11A, 1,130 mAh)
Dimensions	97 x 61 x 21 mm
Weight	160g (without battery and memory card)

Noticeable Specification!!

24mm wide angle, HD recording, F2.8, 160g of weight (Except battery and memory), smart dial

Especially, when it comes to the smart dial of the WB1000, it has adopted the rotational dial used for medium range of DSLR camera, so users can quickly adjust iris, shutter speed, and exposure, and it’s a quite charming function.

I think you might decide if this camera is enough to be a sub camera of DSLR, after reviewing.

Design & Appearance

General Feeing

Before I got this camera, by looking at a photo, I though it’s as thick as the WB500. However, I was surprised at the small box, and again at the real size. It’s small in a word. When reminding of a high end camera, we think of good grip and performance rather than portability, and I also did. Anyway, the portability of the WB1000 is great. I’ll show you the real size at the size comparison part.

FRONT

The camera I’m reviewing is black. But it’s not whole black. You know the 90% cacao chocolate, right? It’s like it. It’s coated with high glossy material, and rubber has been used for grip for stability and luxurious feeling.

BACK

Looking at the design of back, you can see the wide display. It has adopted the 7.6cm (3.0 inch) hVGA+AMOLED for the first time in the world. After only seeing LCD screens, the LED screen is much more vivid and deeper. Of course, it’s really good to review pictures, but the color is not exactly the same as in the computer. At the right size, various function buttons are located to go inside the internal interface. The smart dial which is one of the greatest things of the WB1000 can be seen here. Former buttons were circular shape, but they were pushed like cross type, so when I tried to change the setting, I had to push them one by one. The smart dial can adjust values by rotating the dial with pushing the function button. The back is so simple with the display screen and function button, so it’s very neat. The small picture at the right side is the front and back of the black model.

The WB1000 has high end level specification with analog emotion design. The dashboard which was shown in the NV9 first has been adopted for the WB series, and it seems they try to chase two hares. The information in the dashboard is not for convenience, but design point, I think. When turning it off, the needles point at one direction, but when turning it on, after 1~2 sec, the needles start to move, and display the battery and memory status.

 

 

 

Compact cameras have to catch 3 things such as performance, portability and design. This has 97x61x21mm(Except protruding part) of size and 160g (Except battery and memory card) of weight.

It’s a little larger than a name card, and looks very look in man’s hand. When it comes to the portability, it’s much better than the WB500, I guess.

 

Hardware function

 

1. Max. 24mm wide angle

The maximum wide angle among all compact cameras in the world is 24mm. if a camera supports 24mm wide angle, it can be a high level camera. Of course, the price is more expensive than other models. The WB500 had adopted 28mm angle earlier, and the WB1000 has also adopted 24mm early. The wide angle means you can take a wide shot in the same distance. And it also supports optical 5x zoom, so the angle is very useful. It also shows some surrounding distortion, so it can properly be used for scenery or portrait. It’s also strong in shake.

 

Thanks to the 24mm wide angle, it’s possible to take pictures without shake under no tripod and low shutter speed in the late evening. It has F2.8, so using the wide angle properly, despite insufficient light, the chance to get clear pictures is rather high. The picture was taken on iris mode (A mode) adjusting to low ISO. On auto mode, it automatically activates flash or increases ISO, so I recommend manual mode. Using the manual mode, a compact camera can get a good picture as much as DSLR.

2. Optical 5x zoom

The WB1000 supports optical 5x zoom from 24mm~120mm. Normally, compact cameras support 3x optical zoom, and some model focusing on zoom supports optical 10x zoom. The FOV from 24mm~120mm to those who weren’t satisfied with 3x optical zoom, Especially, it supports 12.2M pixels, so you have enough pixels even after taking tele angle shots with full size and cropping them. Below is the picture taken on max. wide angle and tele angle from the same place.

Some Canon users said 24-105mm FOV is really convenient, and now I know the meaning of it. I always have a tele angle lens and get used to it, so I didn’t have a change to experience 120mm angle. And after using this mode, I could feel the 120mm tele angle. Sometimes, it took some time to have a focus from high zoom cameras, but there’s no focus delay with the WB.

3. F2.8

Other competitive models support F2.8 or less. For high end cameras, the F vale is more important. However, the F5.6 at the tele angle is unsatisfactory. Any cameras can cause hand blur in the dark evening with the F5.6. Personally, because the WB500 supports F5.6 on maximum tele angle (10x zoom), I expected lower F value for 5x zoom, but I need to wait for the next model. In the near future, compact digital cameras supports fixed F2.8, right? Or we can expect it form the NX market having Samsung’s hybrid system.

4. hVGA AMOLED display

The WB1000 has adopted the AMOLED called a dream of display! Recently, multimedia devices start to adopt the AMOLED. In the compact digital camera market, Samsung has adopted this for the first time. Like you see from the picture, the color looks real. I have reviewed so many Samsung compact cameras, but this is the first time to see the clean and vivid screen. The AMOLED unlike former display doesn’t have backlight to make light, so it’s much slimmer, and no quality loss and afterimages even with fast moving videos. I could see the real value of this display when playing a video. It’s like a camcorder, and I felt that it’s like watching a digital TV. And as you can see from 3 pictures below, the AMOLED has a wide viewing angle, so you can enjoy clean and vivid screen from any angle.

 

5. Hardware and Software prevent shake at the same time

The WB1000 can compensate shake with 2 ways. The first thing is Optical Image Stabilization, and then the DIS (Digital Image stabilization) Samsung developed. So both mechanical and digital ways can be applied at the same time. This is called Dual IS (Dual Image Stabilization), and you can select this from the camera dial mode. It’s useful under the place with less light or in the night.

6. Upgraded Battery

There was a camera having a strong battery from NV series. That was the NV9, it has PMP functions, and it needs to be controlled any time as a convergence product, so it adopted 1050mAh high capacity battery. However, the WB1000 has 1130mAh battery. The NV100HD has a similar capacity battery, but due to strong heating, the battery efficiency wasn’t that good, but I could experience the strong battery time of the NV9. After 3 days of short sample recording, I got 2 third of battery, so I don’t think we need an additional battery.

With a computer, you can charge it by connecting to the USB port any time.

 

 

7. Smart dial mode

It’s the main feature of the WB1000. The smart dial on the back gives convenient control of manual mode, so it allows users to adjust iris, shutter speed, and exposure quickly. When it comes to DSLR, popularized models don’t have a dial on the back, but have cross type buttons. Middle range products support the dial on the back to adjust values. Compact digital cameras also support cross buttons, if they are popularized models. However, the WB1000 can adjust values by rotating it with a finger like the 8 picture below. For me, I frequently adjust exposure from the iris mode, and it’s really convenient. When adjusting the value through the touch screen from other models, it was almost impossible.

Circular type cross buttons supported from popularized compact cameras

Putting a finger on a projection and rotating it, it’s easy to rotate it without sliping.

8. HD video recording function

Key specification of High end camera! It’s HD video recording. Probably, you will be surprised when you watch the video with this camera after recording a video. The vividness of AMOLED is really what you haven’t experienced. Of course, we couldn’t feel the same thing from the computer. Video quality is similar to former HD video of Samsung cameras. The picture is the scene recording a video, and the cover of the book is as it is.

When recording an HD video with [1280x720HQ], 12 min 22 sec of recording is possible with 1GB memory. Compared to the WB500 only 8min 28sec, it’s 4 min longer. The price of SDHC memory is 17820 won for 8 GB, so the price would be reasonable.

 

 

Software function

1. Bulit –in Retouching function

Samsung cameras have built-in color retouching function. It’s called photo style and supports various preset such as normal, soft, vivid, forest, retro, cool, calm, and classic. For beginners who feel difficulty on photoshop, this will be very useful.

By directly adjusting the RGB value, you can express your color.

The picture was taken with classic mode. I used inside stand for light, and I think it’s a satisfactory black and white picture. The picture below is the scenery of Insadong. The feeling of Insatong fits well with black and white color.

Image Qulity

1. White balance

Let’s see the change of white balance mode. You can select 8 white balance options such as auto [AWB], sunlight, cloudy, fluorescent light H, fluorescent light L, light bulb, custom mode, and calvin adjustment. Users can select proper options and give the objects the original color feel.

Auto : Optimized light source is automatically set according to the light condition

Sunlight : Good for outdoor shot on a sunny day

Cloudy : Good on a cloudy day with shadow

Fluorescent light H : Good under Daylight fluorescent light or Daylight fluorescent light type 3 frequency light

Fluorescent light L : Good under various white fluorescent light

Light bulb : Good under Hallogen lamp or light bulb

Custom : User setting

2. ISO test

The picture was resized to 400 pixels, and for uploading on Cyworld, up to 1600 might be used. After checking with a big size, up to 400 it's stabilized, but from 800, there's some noise. I still don't think 3200 is needed. Of course, DSLR supports high ISO, but they have files enough to hold retouching. However, when it comes to compact cameras, the detail will be ruined, so ISO 3200 is useless, I think. Practal ISO is 800. On ISO 100,  you can get the images of DSLR level.

The same parts were cropped. Resized to 400, it's difficult to see the noise, so I just cropped certain parts. You can see the noise difference between 400 and 800.

Evaluating the quality, it can take great quality of images under the sunlight, but there’s quality degradation in the night if the ISO increases. Especially, when it comes to high ISO, color noise happens a lot even in the bright place, so the pictures are getting impure. No compact camera can show high ISO and low noise at the same time, so we can’t expect too much from the WB1000. For night shots, using a tripod with low ISO and high exposure, you will get better quality pictures. This is the same as DSLR, and sometimes we expect some functions difficult to get for DSLR from a compact camera. Anyway, I have to say a tripod is necessary for both DSLR and compact digital cameras. It’s hard to evaluate the WB camera through the noise by ISO.

Despite this weakness, let’s see how great the WB1000 shows in the next part.

I think people are wondering the DSLR concept of the WB1000. What is possible? Honestly, I’d like to handle this part the most. In conclusion, if you use it like DSLR, you can take a shot like DSLR. If you buy this camera, I recommend you to use this camera like DSLR. I used the camera with frequently used function for DSLR such as the adjustment of value under the iris mode, exposure and photometry control through the smart dial.

Smart dial mode [Exposure and White balance]

I had to push the Fn button to use the smart dial. And then I could adjust exposure, white balance, and photometry. It’s so simple to approach each value that the speed of adjustment was so fast. If this intuitive approach is difficult, especially supporting touch screen, it’s really inconvenient to adjust values. Normally, it’s adjusted by one level, but using the smart dial, it can adjust several levels, so it’s much faster.

 

 

Smart dial mode [Spot photometry]

Taking shots with various ratios

You can take a picture with various ratios which couldn’t be seen from DSLR. Of course, you can say after taking a picture with the largest size, we can crop it , but I think taking a picture with the original intention would be better.

These pictures were taken with 2976x2976 size. Limited square frame might give some unique feeling. Especially, taking a picture for essay, I think we can get a good picture.

Macro Test

The WB1000 supports 5cm macro shot. Compared to 1cm macro model, it’s a little distant, but I prepared to show you the way the macro shot is taken. For the first picture, I took it on manual mode to limit the ISO 100 under insufficient light, so I could take a clean candle picture. I think this shows enough function for those who review restaurants.

Taking a shot with light

I took a flower using a stand as a temporary light at home. I could confirm the detail of pile on ISO 100. Even with the temporary light the color feel is great.

Retouching is possible?

I didn’t use retouched picture for reviews, but this part is to handle pictures under the similar condition to DSLR, so I retouched original pictures. With the 12.2M pixels, I was satisfied with the retouching. I could see the distortion of wide angle under 24mm wide angle shot, and I made humans smooth by pushing the shutter when the focus is not exactly right. Using the wide angle properly, it will be very useful for portrait.

Finishing

Through this review, I could realize the convenience of compact cameras. Especially, I like 24mm wide angle and smart dial quickly changing setting values the most. And the smaller size , lighter weight compared to the WB500, and AMOLED display are the charming points of the WB1000. I already mentioned the various advantages here.

Taking about the weakness, I wasn’t satisfied that the noise on ISO 800 is not advanced. I hope the same feeling of the AMOLED can be felt in the computer. When recording a video, the recording is stopped while zooming, and I don’t like that either. Actually, when recoding a video, we will use zooming a lot, but stopping voice recording every time is so unsatisfactory. One more thing, when using the manual mode, I selected the macro mode, but after using the Fn button, the macro mode goes away, so I had to select the macro mode again. Except those things, this camera is so satisfactory, I guess. Especially, under the sunlight, this camera can get as great pictures as DSLR.

Strong point

1.     Very wide angle [24mm] as a compact camera

2.     Light weight [160g]

3.     HD video recording

4.     Strong battery [1130mAh]

5.     Convenient smart dial

Weak points

1.     Noise on the high ISo

2.     Voice recording cut when zooming

3.     After setting the macro mode, the macro mode goes away when using the Fn button

Recommendation

Blogger who visit restaurants, users who emphasize portability and performance, people looking for a sub camera of DSLR.