SAMSUNG007: Knocking love. Samsung Digital Imaging ST550(TL225)

Knocking love. Samsung Digital Imaging ST550(TL225)

There was some actor telling ‘Love always comes back’ However, it has to be ‘Love is knocking’ now. It’s because of the ST550(TL225) from Samsung Digital Imaging.

The first product from the Samsung digital imaging at the second half of 2009 is the ST550(TL225) surprising the world.

Like the intro images, this has various functions, but easy to use. It has 99.8 X 59.8 X 18.6mm of slim size, 12.2M pixels 1/2.33” (7.79mm)CCD, and 124.2mm focus length on 35mm equivalent through 27mm wide Schneider optical 4.6x lens. And with the digital 5x zoom, up to 23x zoom is possible.

The special function of this product is connected to Love. Today, a lot of friends become lovers, the lovers get married, and they get a child with the name of love. Some of them become a single mom or single daddy.

Like there’s always difficulty in love, there’s a lot of sad things in raising children, but it’s really sad when I want to take a picture of them with hoping to see me, they look at the other side.

Like DSLR cameras and most compact digital cameras, the LCD is located on the back of the lens, so sometimes it wasn’t useful when I really need it. Like I mentioned, when I hope the child to see me. That’s why, the ST550(TL225) has the front display in front of the lens.

This auxiliary screen does various and fun things. Getting an idea from the feature of children concentrating on peculiar thing or noise, they’ve made the child mode, so through the funny animation, they could focus on the camera and it’s possible to take their pretty faces. For those who have different tastes, you can download more animation from www.samsung.com/us and www.samsungcamera.com

On top of that, this provides counter showing remaining time when using the self timer, function information displaying flash and macro option, and shutter information displaying preparation image on a half shutter. We could see from the sound before, but now lovers can take better self shots with looking at the LCD.

Even better thing is that since the ST550(TL225) has the smart gyro sensor gauging the direction of moving and acceleration, you can just tap the front display to turn it on or off.

The button of the ST550(TL225) is simple. Power, shutter, zoom, play buttons are all. This simplicity was possible thanks to the 3.5” LCD on the back.

Most other LCDs in digital cameras are for looking. However, the LCD of the ST550(TL225) is different. The 1.152M pixels 3.5” (8.9cm) LCD includes 1,152K resolution touch sensor cell and 320x240 resolution touch film.

This touch LCD has haptic functions and haptic effects, and it makes us feel different touch feeling through the gyro sensor I mentioned.

Most functions in the ST550(TL225) has been optimized, so auto mode which easy shots, smart auto mode automatically recognizing scene and setting the optimized one, scene mode selecting proper scene, program mode using various options, dual IS mode preventing hand blur twice and, video recording mode recording 720p HD videos with H264 codec.

One of the most important things as a digital camera is the convenience. Especially, the convenience which users can take a shot as they see is the important factor to choose a camera., and the smart auto function is an always advancing mode.

The ST550(TL225) has new additional functions such as sunset, blue sky, natural green, and self shot on the present 16 auto functions.

3x3 guideline has been set on the program mode in the picture, and this is the basic screen when using the ST550(TL225). On the left top, there’s a mode mark, and touching this mark, you can go back to the mode selection screen. On the side, present setting is displayed with icons and the number of shots available of ‘Micro SD’ or ‘Micro SDHC’ memory and remaining battery are shown.

Under the mode mark, available flash, focus, timer, and aux/main display setting icons are located, and on the right side, motion recognition and menu icons are located.

On the bottom, available ‘detailed shot option bar’ is located, and by touching them, you can activate or deactivate them. If you want to adjust exposure, touch the ‘detailed shot option bar’, adjust the value by pushing the icons, and touch the OK button.

The front display is called the same name on the menu. Other than tapping the LCD, there are some settings.

First of all, touching the front display setting on the bottom, it shows this screen, so you can turn the front display on or off. And function information showing flash and macro option or shutter information displaying the preparation image on the half shutter can be displayed. When it comes to the main display, icons and guideline can be set.

The ST550(TL225) supports the beauty shot, frame guide, and scene mode which supports optimized shots on various scenes. There are 2 scenes you need to concentrate on. They are child mode and night mode.

The child mode will be loved by parents of children, and on the front display, funny animation is displayed and catch their eyes.

When it comes to children, the flash option should not be used, because the light is not good for them. And this child mode doesn’t activate the flash or can be set as a flash mode preventing the red-eye effect.

Different from normal night scene mode, the night mode of the ST550(TL225) has the LT (Long time) option. By adjusting the iris and shutter speed, you can take a good picture under the low light condition, and you need to take the tripod in the night.

The ST550(TL225) supports basic central AF and multi division AF. And one touch shot and smart touch AF are also supported. Like the picture, when it comes to the one touch shot, once setting the focus by touching the object and touching it for a long time, the picture is taken. When it come s to the smart touch AF, when changing the composition after setting the focus, the focus region moves to the location of the moved objects.

Therefore, if you want to take a fast shot in the center of the object, the one touch shot, or if you want to take a shot with different composition, you need to select the smart touch AF.

The face recognition is the most important function in a camera. This face recognition has been improved a lot. It could recognize up to 10 faces and register up to 5 faces, and the smart face recognition register are the most frequently taken 14 faces according to their ranks. I mean the 14^th has been taken 5 times, but if there’s someone who was taken 6 times, the former 14^th is gone.

The my star registers frequently faces and sets exposure and focus firstly. Touching the star icon from the face recognition option and taking 5 pictures of the person you want to register, then he/she is registered.

When playing images, up to 6 faces can be registered on the face recognition list, and you can change the ranks and delete. This function can only be used when using the micro SD or micro SDHD memory.

Shot is important, but recently, people have interests in the image compensation. This product also has strong functions of this. Before looking at it, let’s find out the motion recognition and gesture using the smart gesture UI.

The motion recognition function using the smart gesture UI allows you to enter the mode by tilting the camera while holding the motion recognition button. When using the camera, back and forth, it goes to the video mode, back, program mode, and side, it goes to the smart auto mode.

When it comes to play mode, tilting the camera to left / right, you can see images flow like a gem in a barrel, and you can directly go into bookmark of each image, protection and slideshow.

The gesture of the Smart gesture UI does things by simple actions. You can see the next/previous file by pushing the left/right of the screen, delete a file by drawing X, rotate it by drawing a circle, and magnify it by drawing lines.

With these convenient functions, the ST550(TL225) supports more accurate file searching. Especially, other than file or date, it’s possible to search files by color and face, and bookmark function is also supported.

Not only rotation of image and adjustment of size, but also 9 types of photo style change, change of color information, elegant changing color more brightly, noise, brightness, contrast, chroma, and ACB compensating light and darkness allows users to compensate images.

The ST550(TL225) also focuses on the retouching of portrait such as skin compensation with 3 levels, red-eye elimination, snow effect, mosaic, and outfocusing. You can’t apply this function to cats or dogs.

The ST550(TL225) from Samsung Digital imaging maximizes the convenience with a compact size by the smart gesture UI, and 3.5” touch LCD. And the front display is small, but enough to deliver love to children, lover, family, and myself.

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