SAMSUNG WB650 Review

24mm Ultra Wide angle

Shooting Anywhere, Samsung WB650

Have you ever walked around rural areas? It provides us with new feelings when we are weary. When taking beautiful scenes in my camera, I was so happy.

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A camera is not necessary for a walk, but in order to take the moment, we used to carry a camera. Then, which camera is appropriate? DSLR allows the best quality, but it’s heavy. Slim camera is light and small, but the quality isn’t enough. That’s why it’s not easy to select a camera to carry. However, from now on, it’s over, because we have the almighty WB650.

Changes for the world market

The WB650 is the following model of the WB550 which supported 24mm ultra wide angle 10x optical zoom lens for the first time in the world. The WB650 has been upgraded in several features such as optical 15x zoom from 10x, Smart Auto 2.0 from 1.0, and Smart Auto for movie recording. Moreover, it also supports GPS and AMOLED. That makes it a new ‘hot’ camera.

Looking at the wide world, 24-360mm Schneider Lens

The WB650 has 24-360mm (on 35mm) optical 15x zoom Schneider lens supporting from 24mm wide angle to 360 telephoto angle. This lens allows users various expressions on one subject. Therefore, users don’t need an additional lens any more. Portable all in one camera? It is the WB650.

     24mm Wide angle        VS    360mm Telephoto angle

max. wide                                   6.3x    

 

15x

24mm                                      15x

 

24mm high class wide angle

The WB650 allows users to take group pictures in a narrow space with its 24mm wide angle and wider shots than other cameras. It also gives perspective for more spectacle pictures. The reduction of lens distortion is also great, so there’s no distortion like fish eye view even in 24mm angle. In 28mm, compared with other compact digital cameras distorting subjects a lot, it surprised me of the outstanding reduction of distortion and the quality of surroundings.

High angle

Low angle

Self shots using 24mm wide angle

 

Highlight of the wide angle lens. If you want to take a big face, don’t worry about it! By using fish eye effect, you can really enjoy it. It can also easily take self shots with its wide angle.

2 types of fish eye effect

24~360mm

360mm telephoto angle

The AOV started from 24mm ends at 360mm. In this angle, users can enjoy out focused pictures when taking portrait shots. In order to take a subject in a long distance, users can just use the zoom function. There was not much noise when zooming, and it took approximately 5 sec to move to maximum telephoto angle from maximum wide angle. Considering the angle, it has a quite compact body, and the length of the lens is a little increased in maximum telephoto angle.

 

The AF speed in telephoto angle is also face. The image quality is not as great as in maximum white angle, but with the fast AF speed and angle, it’s very useful.

<Out-focusing using telephoto angle>

OIS for handshake

The F value in maximum aperture opening is F3.2-5.8 and it’s normal as a high zooming lens. To be honest, it’s not that good, because it takes a blurry pictures easily under the low light condition. However, it can be solved by OIS and Dual IS.

360mm O.I.S off

360mm O.I.S on

OIS is Optical Image Stabilization and it allows users to take clear pictures by effectively reacting user’s handshake. In Digital Image Stabilization, movement of subjects can be regarded as hand blur, but the OIS moves according to the movement of user’s hand, and it’s also useful for video recording. OIS is activated when pressing half-shutter, and users can actually see the effect.

Dual IS under the low light condition

If OIS isn’t enough to fix hand blur in a dark café, or for night scenery, Dual IS which is combination of DIS and OIS can be used. Dual IS takes shots at a high speed and noise reduction is made at twice. Comparing two pictures before and after Dual IS, you can see the less noise even in ISO 800. It also keeps the skin color well. I think this can easily take shots in a dark café.

High quality 3cm Macro Function

The shortest shot distance is 3cm in wide angle and 1m in telephoto angle. Considering the 5cm of the WB550, it gets a lot better and the great quality makes the lens of the WB650 better. However, please keep that lens might be shaded for wide angle shots in your mind.

GPS

Together with it for travel with GPS

There are some cameras supporting GPS function, but the WB650 is the only camera which can actually be used. It’s because the WB650 supports map view menu which allows users to confirm the location of users and pictures taken on the map by pushing a button. Now, users don’t need to worry about getting lost even for the first time. Let’s go into the new world by using the GPS.

GPS has a high receiving rate outdoors. In downtown with skyscrapers, it was lower due to those buildings and it couldn’t get signals in the basement or inside the building. The camera automatically recognizes the map when the map file is copied in a memory card. Samsung provides about 40 maps of the world.

Map view interface

There are 17 levels for zooming of map view. It is adjustable by using a zoom lever and subway and downtown are displayed as an icon and it can also be used as a map, not just a camera.

Map view zoom in/out

 

Map view menu shows up to 3 pictures and the location of pictures are also only 3 places. That’s why it’s not easy to follow the path of the travel. However, you don’t need to worry about it, because map view in Intelli-Studio 2.0 can easily check it.

Checking the path through Map View

Map view of Intelli-Studio 2.0 supports the menu checking the path, so it’s even more convenient than checking it with a camera. View is provided in a various ways such as map, topography, and satellite and users can use it by looking at a mark.

GPS signal status can be checked by the icon on the left top. Especially, the yellow icon means that the camera remembers the recent location when it’s impossible to receive signals. The remembering time can be set in the GPS menu setting as 15 sec, 3 min, 10 min, and 60 min.

GPS signal available                      GPS signal unavailable

signal unavailable within the effective time    GPS signal off         

 

GPS and Battery consumption

In order to test the GPS, I walked around Naksan part. It took 2 hours and I took 200 pictures. Considering that the camera takes 240 pictures without GPS function, the GPS function doesn’t spend much battery. However, just turning on the GPS keeps consuming the battery, so you’d better to turn it off unless you use the GPS a lot.

AMOLED & Design

Compact, but Perfect

The overall design is so simple. The silver line around the camera cover is elegant. Its compact size and weight allow users to carry it without a burden and the proper grip helps users use 15x optical zoom lens more stably. The grip looks inconvenient, but actually holding it, the grip is so satisfactory. I highly evaluate the GPS, wide range of lens, and various functions in the compact camera.

Except the GPS on the top, the WB650 and WB600 have the same design. They are two-egg twins. One more difference is the AMOLED of the WB650 and intelligent LCD of the WB600.

24-360mm optical 15x zoom lens is located on the right front and flash and assist light/Self timer lamp are located on the left. Users with large hands can hide the flash, so have to be careful when holding the camera. Mono speaker is located on the front below.

Stereo microphone, GPS power switch, power button, mode dial, shutter, and zoom lever are located on the top. From the silver line, the inclined top to the front and back looks elegant. Mode dial is located on the almost the same height, but it’s convenient to control, because the dial is exposed to the inclined part. Uniquely designed shutter button has great shutter feeling. Because of exposed GPS power switch, it’s convenient to turn it on or off depending on the situation.

On the side of the grip, HDMI and USB port for recharge, AV output and data transfer are located. HDMI cable Anynet+(CEC) has to be used for HDMI output and when connecting it to HDTV, recording moves can be watched and on the other side, the logo ‘15X OPTICAL ZOOM’ is located.

Battery allowing 240 pictures

The battery is a Li-Ion Samsung SLB-11A. The SLB-11A has 3.8V 1130mAh and allows to take 240 pictures and 100 minutes of movie. Using it for a long time, it’s heated around the battery chamber, but it doesn’t affect camera work. And activating the GPS function, the battery is consumed more quickly, so you’d better turn the GPS on when it’s needed. The battery chamber is located on the bottom and the battery is locked with the cover and safety latch. It can be recharged by using USB cable or AC adapter. And when it comes to AC adapter, it takes 190 minutes to fully recharge.

MMC/SD/SDHC can be sued and up to 2GB for SD and up to 8GB for SD are allowed. Memory slot is located in the battery chamber.

On the side of the battery chamber, tripod mount is located and the mount is made of metal.

Self Illuminating! 3” 920K pixels AMOLED

Enjoy fun to shoot and to watch

AMOLED has been selected for the screen. Compared to normal LCD, AMOLED has 1000x faster response time, incomparably higher color expression, and contrast ratio, so it’s an optimized display to watch. Because it’s self illuminating, contrast ration doesn’t change by brightness or angle. Especially, it worked very well under the daylight. The WB650 has 3” VGA 920K AMOLED, so it allows users to have fun to shoot and watch at the same time.

 

Menu                            FN Menu

Mode dial control

 

The interface in the display is the same as other Samsung cameras. The well arranged menu is so simple that it can easily be controlled without reading a manual.

Basic information

Guideline and Histogram

All shooting information

Guideline and histogram can be displayed and it can be very useful to set the composition and exposure.

On the back, beside the display, various buttons are located. The arrangement of the button is movie recording, menu, 4 direction, play, and Fn/Delete button from the top and each icon is embossed. The special thing is the separated recording button. When pushing it, regardless of the current mode, movie recording starts with the setting of video recording mode.

Convenient Intelli-Studio 2.0

Thumbnail

Smart Album

Map view

The WB650 has built-in editing software called Intelli-Studio 2.0. This can be installed by connecting the camera to a computer via USB cable and even beginners can easily be accustomed to the simple interface.

Photo edit

Video edit

Share

On the left side of the editing screen, correction tools are located and on the lower side, small thumbnails are displayed. Clicking a video, it’s played in the thumbnail and double-clicking or pushing the play button, it’s played in the large window. Not only editing, but also Smart Album, Sharing, and Map view mode for GPS installed camera like the WB650 are supported.

Control & Functions

Full manual operation

The WB650 supports P, S, A, M mode which allow users to set aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and colors. That’s why users can project their feeling in their pictures. It’s good as a learning tool for beginners and as a expression tool for professionals.

Shutter speed and aperture can be adjusted by pushing Fn button and every time the setting changes, brightness on the screen changes in real time. Compared to other cameras only changed when the shutter is pushed, it’s a really comfortable manual shooting mode. However, a lot of button controls are needed for manual shooting. Shutter speed can be set from 1/2000 to 16 sec, aperture is from F3.2-F11.6 (12 levels) in wide angle, and F5.8-F12.0 (7 levels) in telephoto angle.

F4.4 Maximum Opening          F12.5 Minimum Opening

F5.8 Maximum Opening          F12 Minimum Opening

Closing the aperture as tight as possible, the image quality gets worse. The background becomes more vivid, but the quality of subjects gets lower, so looking at the results, it can appear the focus is set well when it’s not. Outdoors, with the minimum aperture, sharp light split can be experienced, so for light split and quality, users don’t need to close the aperture so much.

3 metering

It supports spot, center-weighted, and multi metering. When using spot or center-weighted metering, it’s easier to set the exposure in the place with big different exposure.

Various AF