Samsung i5 Digital Camera Review

Out of the box

Despite its small size, the Samsung i5 is a solid camera and feels great in the hand. The large 2.5" LCD screen is huge, especially when you consider that the entire camera is only 3.53"(w) x 2.35"(h). The camera comes with a compact docking station designed to stay connected to your PC. When you place the Samsung i5 on its base, it automatically allows you to transfer your photos and videos to your PC, while simultaneously charging the camera. The docking base also has a connector for connecting The two cables that Samsung includes with the camera, the USB and the AV cable can be connected directly to the camera for those times when you don't want to take the docking station with you

MB of internal memory

Unlike most manufacturers who typically supply a paltry 16MB memory card, the Samsung i5 comes standard with 50MB of internal memory - enough to hold twenty 5.0 megapixel images (superfine mode), 39 in Fine mode, 57 in normal, or up to 3 minutes, 38 seconds of full-frame 640x480 MPEG-4 video. The advantage of having internal memory is that you'll always have it with you - assuming you don't leave the camera behind. The camera also has a standard SD memory expansion slot, which accepts a larger memory card. SD memory cards are available in sizes of 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, and even 2GB.

Layout and Design

The Samsung i5 has an overall height and width that are not much greater than a business card, which makes toting the camera around a pleasure. In fact, pop the camera into the included pouch (which has a built-in belt loop) and you'll truly forget you're armed and ready to go.

Although the camera has plenty of scene modes, options, and overrides, Samsung has simplified the design by limiting the number of external controls. The i5 is housed in a stainless steel case and as mentioned earlier, comes in silver, black and red. The front of the camera features just a sliding lens cover, which hides and protects the lens, flash, and AF assist light when the camera is off.

Feature

SCENE MODES:

The Samsung i5 has a good selection of scene modes to satisfy most shooting situations. The only mode Samsung has overlooked, and one I've never seen left out of a camera is a "sports" mode. A sports mode would force the camera to use a higher shutter speed in order to help "freeze" faster action. Since the i5 lacks a sports mode or any way to manually increase the shutter speed, the i5 is probably not the camera if you take lots of sports photos.

THE MACRO MODE:

The Samsung i5 offers an excellent macro mode, actually three macro modes. Auto Macro mode works automatically and allows the camera to focus as close as 2" (5cm) from the subject when the camera is at wide-angle or as close as 20" at telephoto. If you switch the camera to Super Macro mode, the camera can then focus on subjects as close as 0.39" from the lens. Super Macro Mode is superb for capturing the finest details of subjects, even the smaller objects such as coins, jewelry, stamps, etc. Standard Macro mode is similar to Auto Macro mode in that the camera can focus as close as 2" from the lens . Unlike Auto Macro mode which automatically focuses from 2" to infinity, Standard Macro mode focuses from 2" to 20". While on the same subject, Super Macro mode is used in the .39" to 2 " RANGE.

Conclusion

There is a lot to like about the Samsung i5 and a few things not to like. Camera performance was satisfactory in most lighting conditions, but the performance was only average. the startup was fairly quick at 2 seconds but shot to shot times were very slow Even in continuous shooting mode the best I could achieve was 1.5 seconds between shots and in this mode, the screen goes completely dark while the camera captures frame after frame. Since you can't see exactly what the camera captures after you press the shutter button, continuous shooting mode is luckier than something else. In single-shot mode, it took about 2.5 seconds for the camera before it is ready to capture another image. Shutter lag was almost a full second, quite a slow time compared to other newer cameras in this class.

Now for the good news. Stainless steel body, compact and sleek design, internal 3x optical zoom, overall layout and feel, docking station, rechargeable battery, 50MB internal memory, lens/flash cover camera, a large 2.5" TFT color LCD screen, an easy to navigate the menu system and a MPEG-4 video mode The camera also has a superb super macro mode which should be considered if you often take pictures of small objects (think eBay auctions). Long exposures (night mode) seem to be one of the strengths of the Samsung i5. A 12-second exposure taken in a dimly lit room gave bright, crisp, clean results. was very unexpected, especially since the camera does not have a tripod - a necessity when shooting long exposures. To work around the lack of a tripod, use a bean bag or table with the self-timer to keep the camera steady when of the shot.

The camera's large 2.5" TFT SCREEN was bright inside and out, although the LCD wasn't as noticeable when trying to frame scenes at night. The camera slides into the base of the camera. dock with a front-facing LCD screen, making it a convenient way to do an informal slideshow or connect the docking station to a big-screen TV for slideshows that

make a pocket camera that balances features and image quality, has very good slow shutter (night) performance, and is fun to use, then the Samsung i5 is a camera to consider.