Product Description

Samsung exemplifies technological determination and progressive ideals. From technology to business to the philanthropy, Samsung has become a world leader for which the possibilities are truly endless.PRODUCT FEATURES:8.1 mega pixels;5x optical zoom;2.5" TFT color LCD;ASR (advanced shake reduction);High sensitivity ISO 1600;Interval shooting.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23492 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Samsung
• Model: S850 Black
• Released on: 2007-02-12
• Dimensions: 1.00" h x 3.00" w x 4.00" l, .40 pounds
• Memory: 20MB
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• 8.0-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 16 x 22-inch prints
• 5x Advanced Shake Reduction optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD display
• Shutter speed to 1/2000 second; ISO equivalent to 1600
• Captures video in one of four resolutions, up to 20 fps at 800 x 600, encoded as AVI MPEG-4 video
• Stores images on SD memory cards (includes 45MB internal memory)

From the Manufacturer
Samsung Camera is pleased to introduce the Samsung S850 compact point-and-shoot digital camera. With an 8.0-megapixel image sensor, a host of advanced capabilities, and a 5x optical zoom lens, the S850 is the ideal camera for photographers seeking a compact, full-featured digital camera at an affordable price.

With shutter speeds that reach up to an effective 1/2000 second and an ISO equivalent of 1600, users will be able to take advantage of the S850's high image resolution in many demanding settings, including low light and while shooting fast-moving subjects. Samsung's proprietary ASR image stabilization system helps to reduce camera shake and image blur during longer exposures and in situations where holding the camera steady is impossible or a tripod is unavailable.

The S850 also offers Samsung's Intelligent Face Recognition Technology, which detects the subject's face and automatically adjusts autofocus and autoexposure to ensure the best possible image quality in portraits and other shots featuring people. The AF function instantaneously recognizes the faces of up to nine subjects and accurately focuses on them all. The AE function then takes over, setting the appropriate exposure to ensure the highest image quality.

Despite its diminutive proportions and affordable price, the S850 offers a wealth of advanced features more commonly found among DSLRs and other professional-level products. With aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual modes, continuous shooting and AEB, the Samsung S850 puts complete creative control right at the user's fingertips. Its revolutionary Wise MF feature enlarges the center portion of the image in shooting mode, enabling the user to quickly and easily focus on the exact object or spot of their choosing.

The S850 features several dedicated modes for common-yet-difficult shooting situations including Children (with a high shutter speed to freeze motion while avoiding blur), Backlight (to compensate for a rear-lit subject), and Portrait (to bring the subject into strong focus while deemphasizing the background). A dedicated hot key brings up the camera's Special Effect processing options, which include Photo Frame (users can choose one of several frames to border an image), Highlight (sharpens the foreground while softening the focus of the background), and Screen Splits (allows users to combine multiple images into a single file).

The S850's robust in-camera image effects include conversion to sepia tone and black and white. When enabled, Samsung's Wise Shot feature automatically takes two consecutive pictures in rapid succession--one with ASR enabled and one with the flash--and prompts the user to review both and select the preferred version of the picture. A built-in microphone allows a 10-second voice memo to be attached to any still image. In addition, images can be trimmed, resized, and rotated in the camera without the use of a PC. Slide Show automatically scrolls through photos and displays them on the bright and vivid 2.5-inch TFT LCD screen, which automatically detects environmental illumination and adjusts its brightness for optimal image viewing.

The S850's Movie mode enables users capture video in one of four resolutions, from 320 x 240 to 800 x 600, at up to 20 frames per second and encoded in AVI MPEG-4 format. Just as in still-picture mode, the S850's image stabilization system can be engaged to compensate for unwanted camera movement and subject blur, and movie clips can be reviewed and edited directly in the camera. In addition, the S850's Continuous Movie mode allows its operator to pause then resume filming of video clips without having to save the clips as individual files.

The included USB 2.0 cable, and CD-ROM containing Samsung's Digimax Master software (compatible with Windows 98/2000/ME/XP and Macintosh OS X 9.2 through 10.4) will get even beginning photographers up and shooting right out of the box.

The S850 contains 45MB of internal memory, and can accept Secure Digital (SD) flash memory cards up to 4GB, and over 1,300 images can fit on a 256MB card, depending on the selected image quality. Users can save images in one of eight resolutions, ranging from 640 x 480 pixels all the way up to 3264 x 2448 pixels.

Customer Reviews

Good image quality but other features need improvement
I am pretty much a point and shooter but I have owned 3 other digital cameras (Fuji and Canon) before this one. My most recent one was Canon A75 so my review is pretty much based on my prior experience with these cameras.

Pros:
- Good image quality overall. Auto focus works well most of the time.

- the AF assist lamp and flash are powerful making low-light images come out very clear and, somehow, both the subject and background are balanced. I can see the background that is like 10 foot behind the subject clearly. Canon was very poor in this area. The Canon's AF lamp was very weak and almost useless. Canon's flash was also bad and pictures with flash often had subjects very bright but background dark.

- 5X and 8MP work as advertised.

Cons:
- battery life is not so good. I initially used a pair of old (but still good) 2300mAh Sony. It lasted only a few hours of testing. I probably took about 40-50 shots and 10 video clips. The video mode drained more battery and would report that the batteries were dead and shut down after a few seconds of taking video. The batteries however still had a lot of juice in it and I could still take a lot of pictures. I switched to a brand new pair of 2500mAh Energizers and the video mode then lasted a lot longer. So, make sure you get good batteries and bring spares with you.

- microphone strength is poor.

- when switched to video mode, it has a pre-zoom of 1.5X or so. This is bad because it forced me to have to step away from the subject (usually my children) and make the sound even weaker.

- performance is below average. Camera turns on quick enough. There is a noticeable shutter lag but still acceptable once you get used to it. However, flash charging time is very slow - about 3 secs or so.

- burst mode is useless because it's very slow. no difference than taking consecutive shots manually.

- ASR mode is slow. It takes 1 sec from press shutter to LCD black out to shutter sound play, then another 1.5 to 2 sec for post processing. I don't consider it useless as most other reviewers say. It works. I had some better pictures using ASR when the subjects are far and in shade or low light. In an indoor situation, it is better going with flash. Also, because of the shutter lag and slow shutter speed, ASR is not good with moving subjects (but I think Image Stabilizer in other manufacturers can't handle this either).

-The size is bigger than expected. "1 inch thick" is misleading. The slimest part of the camera is 1 inch! The side that you hold the camera is about 1.3 inch thick and beware that the len is thick. If you're concerned about the size, check out the 3D image at Samsung website first.

Goods and Bads for VIDEO mode:
- Now the MPEG4 feature, which is the feature that got me to buy this camera. Because of the compression advantage, I could use normal SD card (non-high-speed) to record highest resolution video fine. The video quality was somewhat a mixed feeling and I need to do furthur research on this. I used DivX Codec and Windows Media Player to play this, did not try the attached software. I didn't expect the media player to make a difference. The avi file was actually indicating it's Xvid but I wasn't able to use Xvid codec to play it for some reason. When played at its native resolution, the videos look OK. When enlarged to 2X or full screen, the compression artifects become very visible and the video look pretty bad i.e. moving subjects will have clear noise around the edges, low light videos will have noise all over. Sure I understand the fact that the quality is lower when I enlarge it. My point is the noise I get when I enlarge a M-JPEG video or a DivX movie is far less disturbing than what I get from this camera.
320x160 mode is useless as it's small and you always have to enlarge the video when viewed. 640x320 is acceptable when viewed at its native resolution.

- I tried to play some 640x320 files with my MPEG4-capable DVD player on my 21inch TV and the videos look decent enough. The fast moving subjects look a little jerky sometimes but not bad and the noise is much less noticeable.

- I found 20fps very useful for saving storage as the quality is good enough for slow moving subjects (most other cameras only support 15fps or 10fps for slow mode).

- Optical zoom works in video mode. Sound is mute only while the len is moving.

Nice camera
I am using this camera for 1 month, I have to say that it is bigger and heavier than it seems on the pictures. But when I use and learn more about, I definitely like it. You have full control on every setting with really impressive video recording quality. Good battery life and user friendly menus. The only defect I found is, if you zoom during recording a video, the sound fades away. One of my friend has NV10, and its same. I think this is related with the software of Samsung camera. Whatever, you got a nice camera for a good price.

Disappointed
I bought this camera mainly for its MPEG-4 movie capability. Because of it's performance in this area I am greatly disappointed. I've had other cheap cameras from the likes of Aiptek and they are more or less on par in video performance with this Samsung. Given that the Samsung costs twice as much I expected more, not DVD quality mind you but video that would be acceptable on youtube.com. What you wind up with is grainy, poorly compressed video with hardly any sound at all, even in the best lighting conditions. I did all my tests at 640x480 and at that resolution the video was complete crap. If this video was scaled down it looked better but that's a small consolation.

As a still camera its performance was much better. The 5x zoom is more than most inexpensive digital cameras, its autofocus was quite good, even the digital zoom worked acceptably well and the color quality was also pretty good. One thing you should disregard in considering this model is the anti-shake feature. As Samsung implemented it, it's nearly useless. Anti-shake is available only in one special mode and the camera takes forever to capture an image in this mode. In contrast, Canon has a similar feature that is available in most shooting modes and it doesn't affect the image capture time.

All in all, it's a decent budget still camera but nearly worthless for video (like most still cameras). At $200 I'd say your money would be better spent on a Canon digital camera.