Hi, there!
I love night shots. Setting my camera to Manual and playing with light and movement. Night photography is always challenging for both photographer and camera.
Here are a set of photos I took in my last visit to the theme park.
[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/20ㅣf/2.8 ㅣISO 400ㅣ4.3mm]
[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/15ㅣf/2.8 ㅣISO 200ㅣ4.3mm]
[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/6ㅣf/2.8 ㅣISO 200ㅣ4.3mm]
[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 2.000ㅣf/2.8 ㅣISO 100ㅣ4.3mm]
24mm ultra wide angle lens high end digital camera, Samsung WB1000
The last product of Samsung digital imaging in the first half of 2009
After Samsung techwin has changed the name to Samsung digital imaging, they have been so aggressive in the market. From low price products with simple functions to high end camera, Samsung digital imaging has released 10 products, and finishing the first half of the 2009 with the WB1000. Let’s take a look at the high end digital camera WB1000 having 24mm wide angle.
SPEC.
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) |
Display | 3.0" 518,400pixels AMOLED |
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. |
Storage | Internal 76MB, SD/SDHC card (up to 8GB guaranteed) |
ISO equivalent | Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 |
Power source | Lithium-ion battery (SLB-11A, 1,130mAh) |
Dimensions | 97 x 61 x 21 mm |
Weight | 160g (without battery and memory card) |
F value is a little low, but the size of the image sensor is too small as a high end digital camera. But 24mm wide angle is a good choice for travel or snap shots, and the slimness can be an advantage.
Appearance of the product
Looking at the WB1000, it’s like that.
The WB1000 supports SD/SDHC memory and includes 1130mAh SLB-11A. Up to 8GB SD/SDHC memory is possible, and the SLB-11A doesn’t go long, due to the AMOLED. If you have a plan to go travel with this camera, I recommend you take a spare battery.
The analog dashboard from Epson R-D1 looks well with the WB1000. I asked a question to people for the analog dashboard, and most of them said they like it. You can see the dashboard later.
USB port is like the picture. Personally, I’m using the i100 from Samsung, and that camera has selected the different USB. I hope there’s more consistency like the same USB port.
The package of the WB1000 includes these items. You can do these things as below.
Generally, this can be used like this.
But like this, you can connect this to a portable device or computer. This is convenient showing the extension of the USB cable.
Analog Dashboard
Schneider zoom lens in the WB1000
The lens of the WB1000 is Schneider-KREUZNACH lens 4.3-21.5mm (On 135 format 24-120mm) F2.8-5.8 optical 5x zoom lens. The Schneider lens was a famous optics company with Leica and Carl Zeiss, but not in the digital camera market. Like the Panasonic produces lens approved by the Leica and Sony produces lens approved by the Carl Zeiss, the Samsung also products the Schneider approved lens.
They don’t produce small DSLR lens yet, but after NX, they will be able to produce the Schneider lens for NX.
The lens has changeable iris. It was not easy to measure exact value, but here’s the approximate value.
On 135 format 24~28mm : F2.8
On 135 format 28~35mm : F3.7
On 135 format 35~42mm : F4
On 135 format 42~50mm : F4.2
On 135 format 50~60mm : F4.7
On 135 format 60~80mm : F5
On 135 format 80~120mm : F5.8
This is the change of iris value. For your reference, there could be some error on these values, because the controller isn’t that accurate.
24mm & 120mm
As you can see from the specification, the range is 24mm~120mm. Here is the difference of feeling as a picture.
It’s 5x zoom, but you can see it’s zooming more, and the 24mm has very wide angle. Of course, the zoom of this camera is not as high as the WB500 or WB550, but considering the better F value, you need to judge what you really want high zoom or bright iris.
Better Vividness than LCD, 3 inch AMOLED
Now, the best display is 920K 3 inch LCD. This has been adapted to Nikon D3 or other numerous cameras. However, the 3 inch AMOLED of the WB1000 shows much better vividness and visibility.
It’s not easy to distinguish the visibility form this video (3 inch LCD of the D3 is better than I expected), but people who have seen the screen tell the AMOLED of the WB1000 is better.
I’m not a professional about display, so I can’t tell the difference between LCD and AMPLED, but I could see the color of AMOLED is better.
Smart Control Dial
One more advantage of the WB1000 is the smart control dial. The wheel dial representing the middle and high level camera interface has some inconvenience, but thanks to the wheel dial, some weakness is concealed a lot.
Samsung also hasn’t got a good grade on the interface, but through the smart control dial, they show the better interface than Canon. Not only through rotating the wheel, but also 8-way multi selector, the convenience becomes better. Besides, the OK button in the center of the multi selector is connected to the smart control dial very well.
I could see the Samsung has considered the interface much. However, other interfaces are still not intuitive, so I’m not satisfied with it. The video clip shows that this is controlling various functions through the Smart Control Dial.
D3's LCD
WB1000's AMOLED
Menu selection
Picture review
Exposure setting
Noise test
I executed the noise test of the WB1000 this time. I saw the noise level from the image of right eyes and neck.
This can’t be compared to the D5000 which is a popularized DSLR camera at all, but considering the 1/2.33 inch small image sensor, it’s good on ISO 400, okay for web on ISO 800, and a lot of noise from ISO 1600.
The color change from ISO 1600 is not because of the noise, but it was taken under fluorescent light with relatively high shutter speed. I didn’t append the image of ISO 3200, because the ISO 3200 reduces image size automatically, so it’s impossible to compare.
Photo Style
Various makers support various color setting mode such as Kodak’s Custom look, Fuji’s Film Simulation, Canon’s Picture Style, and Nikon’s Picture Control, and Samsung named it Photo Style. Personally, I like classic the most, and used largely vivid and normal for scenery. You can see the difference of color from the image above.
Video function of the WB1000
The WB1000 supports up to 720p. But on 720p, up to 30 fps is supported. When it comes to 320x240, it supports up to 60fps. These 2 links below show 720p HD video and 320x240 60fps video.
As you know, while zooming, voice recording stops. Instead, while recording zooming is possible. I don’t know if the quality is good or not, but it’s good. The first image of the video can be captured, but I don’t recommend this, because the quality is not that good.
As a fun function, the successive shot is possible. After pausing, you can resume recording. As a result, it is recorded as one file.
1) Video recording mode selection
2) After setting the focus with half shutter, and shot starts with the full shutter.
3) Hoping to pause to record, push the OK button
4) Resume by pushing the OK button
5) Hoping to stop recording, finishing with the full shutter
You can record it like this. You can see the result from the third link. The Photo style can also be applied to videos. Other 3 video samples show the result of Negative, Classic, and Vivid.
Other functions WB1000 has
Recent contrast AF cameras support a face recognition function. When setting a focus, face is recognized preferentially, and this includes a self shot function, smile shot, and blink detection function.
When it comes to the self shot, the camera makes beep sound to show the camera is ready when the camera is ready to take a self shot. Therefore, the photographer can take a shot after getting the feedback. When it comes to the smile shot, you don’t need to push the shutter when the person smiles. I assume the camera detects the shape of mouth or the position of eyes. The blink detection function takes one more shot when people blink while taking a shot. The photographer doesn’t need to check it and the camera automatically does it to help the photographer get a good picture.
1280HD
320 60fps
Selective Record
Photo Style - Negative
Photo Style - Classic
Photo Style - Vivid
Sample picture
This part is not a sample picture by theme, but the pictures will be separated by wide angle or not. Outdoor pictures were mostly taken with vivid, and indoor pictures were with Normal. Certainly, it’s resized not compensated and with P mode.
The 24mm angle gives cool feeling. It’s quite wide. Because the ratio is 4:3, scenery wasn’t that cool, but I couldn’t see the distortion much around. I think they have considered much to fix the surrounding distortion.
FOV not 24mm
Like the picture with 24mm, they were taken with no compensation and resized on P mode.
Due to the relatively small image sensor, the depth is quite good. To take the pictures of this level by the D3, it sets to minimum iris, but the WB1000 can secure good depth with F5.6~7.1. For me who take portrait or sport pictures with expensive DSLR, these pictures with this depth were quite new.
Conclusion
Good function, but unsatisfactory small image sensor
The strong points were all written in the first part. Especially, the smart dial control shows Samsung could make a good interface. I don’t know it’s because of the AMOLED, but the battery time is not very long. It’s not enough for travel. So optical view finder should have been added. After seeing a picture with a view finder and checking it at home, then the battery consumption will be much less.
And the small image sensor is insufficient for noise reduction. Besides, it was even harder because of 12M pixels. To expect the expression and noise reduction of the GX-20, the image sensor is too small. It should have been 1/1.7” as a high end digital camera, I think.
I’m a mania of Samsung. I used the i1000 before and my brother used the i8 before.
As the last product in the first half of 2009, I hope the WB1000 will be good in the market even at the high price.
Prologue
I used the WB1000 for a long time. Most of all, I like the WB1000 providing setting for good picture in various situations, and it’s even precious to me. This is the first review posting for me. I’d like to help you who are looking for a stylish digital camera,
1. Features
Having everything for great pictures!
1. A/S/M mode making pictures free
2. 24mm ultra wide angle lens
3. Incomparable hVGA AMOLED screen
4. Analog Dashboard
5. Great interface, Smart dial
Plus,
I. Smart mode taking pictures you want
II. Customizing like DSLR
III. HD quality HD video
2. SPEC
| Image Sensor | Type | 1/2.33″ (1.09cm) CCD |
| Effective Pixel | Approx. 12.2 Mega-pixels | |
| Total Pixel | Approx. 12.4 Mega-pixels | |
| Lens | Focal Length | Schneider-KREUZNACH f = 4.3 ~ 21.5mm (35mm film equivalent : 24~120 mm) |
| F No. | F2.8(W) ~ F5.8(T) | |
| Digital Zoom | Still Image mode : 1.0X ~ 5.0X Play mode : 1.0X ~ 12.5X (depends on image size) | |
| Image Stabilization | Image Stabilization | Dual IS (OIS + DIS) * OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), DIS (Digital Image Stabilization) |
| Display | Type | AMOLED |
| Feature | 3.0" (7.62cm), hVGA+(518,400 dots) | |
| Viewfinder | Viewfinder | N/A |
| Focusing | Type | TTL Auto Focus (Center AF, Multi AF, Selection AF, Manual Focus) |
| Range | Normal : 40cm ~ Infinity (Wide), 80cm ~ Infinity (Tele) Macro : 5cm~40cm (Wide), 50cm ~ 80cm (Tele) Auto Macro : 5cm~Infinity (Wide), 50cm~ Infinity (Tele) Manual : 5cm ~ Infinity (Wide), 50cm ~ Infinity (Tele) | |
| Shutter Speed | Shutter Speed | Auto : 1/8 ~ 1/2000 sec. Program : 1 ~ 1/2000 sec. A/S/M : 16 ~ 1/2,000 sec. Night : 8 ~ 1/2,000 sec. Fireworks : 4 sec. |
| Exposure | Control | Program AE, Shutter Priority AE, Aperture Priority AE, Manual Exposure |
| Metering | Multi, Spot, Center-weighted | |
| Compensation | ±2EV (1/3EV steps) | |
| ISO Equivalent | Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200(Up to 3M Size) | |
| Flash | Modes | Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, Fill-in flash, Slow sync, Flash Off, Red-eye fix |
| Range | Wide : 0.3m ~ 5.2m, Tele : 0.5m ~ 2.5m (ISO AUTO) * Flash EVC : ±1EV (1/2 steps) | |
| Recharging Time | Approx. 5 sec. | |
| Sharpness | Sharpness | 5 steps |
| White Balance | White Balance | Auto WB, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent_H, Fluorescent_L, Tungsten, Custom, K * WB Fine-tuning |
| Still Image | Shooting | Mode Dial : Smart Auto, Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, User, Dual IS, Scene, Movie Scene: Beauty Shot, Frame Guide, Night, Portrait, Children, Landscape, Close-up, Text, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Firework, Beach & Snow Continuous : Single, Continuous, Motion Capture, AEB Self timer : Off, 10 sec., 2 sec., Double(10 sec., 2 sec.), Motion Timer, Remote Controller |
| Effect | Photo Style Selector : Normal, Soft, Vivid, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, Classic, Negative, Custom RGB | |
| Edit | Resize, Rotate, Photo Style Selector, Image Adjust * Photo Style Selector : Normal, Soft, Vivid, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, Classic, Negative, Custom RGB * Image Adjust : Off, ACB, Red-eye Fix, Face Retouch, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Add Noise | |
| Image Play | Image Play | Single image, Thumbnails, Multi Slide show, Movie Clip, Smart Album |
| Voice Recording | Voice Recording | Voice Recording (max. 10 hours) Voice Memo in Still Image (max. 10 sec.) With Stereo Recording |
| Date Imprinting | Date Imprinting | Date&Time, Date, Off (user selectable) |
| Movie Clip | Recording | Movie Size : 1280×720 High Quality, 1280×720 Standard Quality, 640×480, 320×240 * Frame rate : 60 fps at a selected size(320x240), 30 fps, 15 fps * Format : H.264 (Max. Recording time : 20min.) * Streo recording with volume control, mute during zoom operation * 5X Optical Zoom at 1280×720 (f = 24 ~ 120 mm), 3.4X Optical Zoom at 640×480, 320×240 (f = 35 ~ 120 mm) * Voice(On/Off), OIS(On/Off) |
| Effect | Photo Style Selector : Normal, Soft, Vivid, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, Classic, Negative, Custom RGB | |
| Edit | Pause during recording, Still Image Capture, Time Trimming | |
| Storage | Media | Internal memory: Approx. 76MB External memory: SD Card(up to 4GB guaranteed) MMC plus(up to 2GB guaranteed,4bit 20MHz) SDHC (up to 8GB guaranteed) |
| File Format | Still Image : JPEG (DCF), EXIF 2.21, DPOF 1.1, PictBridge 1.0 Movie Clip : MP4(H.264) Audio : WAV | |
| Image Size | 12M : 4000×3000 pixels, 10MP : 3984×2656 pixels 9MW : 3968×2232 pixels 9M 1:1 : 2976×2976 pixels 8M : 3264×2448 pixels 5M : 2592×1944 pixels 3M : 2048×1536 pixels 2MW : 1920×1080 pixels 1M : 1024×768 pixels | |
| Interface | Digital output connector | USB 2.0 |
| Audio | Microphone : Stereo Internal Speaker : Mono | |
| Video Out | AV : NTSC, PAL (user selectable) HDMI 1.2 : NTSC, PAL (user selectable) | |
| DC power input | 4.4V | |
| Cradle | N/A | |
| Power Source | Power Source | Rechargeable battery : SLB-11A (1,130mAh) Connector Type : 34pin Adaptor : SAC-48, USB/Charging Cable : CB34U05, AV Cable : SCC-AV34 Cradle : SCC-HD2 |
| Physical Specification | Dimensions (WxHxD) | 97 × 61 × 21mm |
| Weight | 160g (except for a battery) | |
| Operating Temperature | 0 ~ 40°C | |
| Operating Humidity | 5 ~ 85% | |
| Software | Software | Samsung Master, Quick Time Player 7.5, Adobe Reader |
| System Requirement | For Windows | PC with processor better than PentiumⅢ 500MHz (PentiumⅢ 800MHz recommended) Windows 2000/XP/Vista 250MB of available hard-disk space (Over 1GB recommend) Minimum 256MB RAM (Over 512MB recommended) USB port CD-ROM drive 1024×768 pixels, 16-bit color display compatible monitor(24-bit color display recommended) Microsoft DirectX 9.0C or later |
| For Macintosh | Power Mac G3 or later Mac OS 10.3 or higher Minimum 256MB RAM 110MB of available hard-disk space USB port CD-ROM drive | |
| System requirements for 720P H.264 Movie | For Windows | Intel Pentium 4, 3.2GHz or higher / AMD Athlin 64FX, 2.6GHz or higher Windows XP service pack2 / Vista Minimum 512MB RAM (1GB and above recommended) 64MB or greater video card (nVIDIA Geforce 7600GT or higher / ATI X1600 series or higher recommended) |
| For Macintosh | 1.8GHz Power Mac G5 or 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo or faster Macintosh computer At least 256MB of RAM 64MB or greater video card |
3. Why WB1000 / Main function
Lens
The most important thing of digital cameras is the lens performance. The WB1000 has F2.8[W]-5.8[T], and has great image quality using the Schneider lens. Especially, the 24mm ultra wide angle is suitable to get all angles when taking pictures. When taking a traveling picture, there’s no cut for building or scenery, and it’s also good for portrait shots.
24mm wide angle lens can take famous buildings without cutting.
(Especially, if you consider trip to Europe, you should select a digital camera having wide angle such as the WB1000.
AMOLED
Different from other digital cameras, the WB1000 has adopted the AMOLED for the first time. The AMOLEDS shows incomparably great color and clean image, so it’s called ‘Display of dream’. From any angle, there’s no difference of light and darkness, and under the sunlight, you can see the screen, so it’s the best screen.
AMOLED screen showing a vivid picture under the sunglight. Everyone will like this.
Manual shot mode A/S/M
It’s the representative function of the WB1000, using the smart dial, you can adjust iris and shutter speed to take pictures. You can freely adjust out focusing and exposure, so you can get pictures you want. It’s useful for those who want to learn pictures with manual shot function like DSLR and want to have a sub camera.
Picture taken In the dark place on the shutter speed mode with exact exposure
Smart Dial
Setting shots by rotating a dial is another advantage of the WB1000. Almost all settings can be done by rotating the dial such as shutter speed, iris, white balance, and focus region. When setting the M mode using iris and shutter speed as a fully manual set, the convenience of the smart dial is more outstanding. Easy and fast setting is possible, so it helps take good pictures.
Fast setting by using the smart dial is so effective.
Great high ISO noise reduction (High ISO test)
Even though it’s a 12.2M pixels camera, the WB1000 has relatively stable high ISO noise. The noise reduction as an advantage of Samsung cameras gets better with the WB1000. There’s no noise from ISO80~400, and ISO 800 shows great quality. There’s some noise on ISO 1600, but not as much as other cameras, and it’s good enough to upload on the web site after resizing.
High ISO picture gallery
ISO 800, there’s no noise.
ISO1600, it’s surprising that it takes the detail as it is.
ISO1600, the atmosphere is rather cool.
ISO1600, this can be the best of all compact cameras in the high ISO shot.
ISO1600, it also has great color expression.
HD video recording function
The video quality of the WB1000 using H.264 codec is as great as some handy camcorder. This can take an HD video for 20 minutes at 30 fps, and by adopting the H.264 format, it can record the best quality video with a small capacity. When recoding, if you are zooming, the sound is not recorded, but it’s good enough to take life with high quality videos.
4. Sample pictures / Gallery
-The market in Venezia-
-The texture is quite good..-
-Image quality in tele angle is great.-
-Rialto Bridge..-
-Calle Noris street..-
-Basilica San Marco..-
-Palazzo Ducale..-
-Laughing, bread..-
-Beautiful Gondola..-
-Notre-Dame.. The flowers in the park near..-
(All pictures were not compensated, but resized.)
5. Design
Sensible and stylish design
The appearance of the WB1000 is outstanding with metallic and luxurious design. Adding the rubber grip on the front, this looks better. On the whole, the color and design are mixed well.
Rubber grip showing luxurious design and stable grip
Analog dashboard (Finishing the design of the WB1000)
The dashboard showing the status of memory and battery is the second face of the WB1000. As a unique design, I saw people were so wondering when they saw this.
Neat design finishing...
By putting the smart dial, buttons were minimized at the back. The neat whole composition is noticeable.
Wonderful quality AMOLED and rotating Smart dial
Precious digital camera WB1000 for digital camera mania
Epilogue
The WB1000 will be a great gift looking for a high performance and good design camera. The general resolution of the camera is really good, and there’s rarely chromatism on the lens. 12.2M pixels shows the real value for high ISO pictures, and the screen of AMOLED deserves to be loved by digital camera mania. Except the weakness stopping voice recording while zooming, the HD video recording function is much more useful than any other cameras. And the manual shot function is good for beginners and users who want to know more about pictures.
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.
