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Samsung Digimax
i6 - Digital Camera Review |
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Samsung have
this to say about the camera: "The worlds
first digital camera with PMP will let your spirits soar! With the Digimax
i6 PMP, you are always in a movie theatre. Enjoy the big-screen performance
- in the palm of your hand! Take your music with you with the high quality
MP3 function. Have extra fun by enjoying a slide show of your life in
pictures and sound. The unique, stylish design of the Digimax i6 will
make taking every shot a real pleasure." You can find more information on their website.
The Samsung Digimax i6, has several unique and interesting features, of which I'll explain below: PMP / Portable Media Player: The Samsung Digimax i6 with a high resolution 2.5" screen, built in speaker and headphone socket, is well suited as a compact and portable media player - the digital camera supports XVID video recording and playback. The XVID video format is a high compression video format that allows a good length video to fit in a small amount of memory, for example a 60 minutes video at 320x240 resolution and 30fps would take around 260mb - meaning you should be able to fit nearly 2 hours on a 512mb card assuming nothing else is on the memory card. The Samsung comes with XVID video codec software for playback on the PC, plus XVID codec encoding software called Samsung Digimax Convertor that will allow you to convert the majority of video files into a suitable XVID video for playback on the Digimax i6. Converting a 60 minute file on a 1.5ghz "Centrino" laptop took around 30 minutes. After converting the file, you will need to copy the file to folder called PMP on your memory card. You can fast forward or rewind at 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, or 32x. Converted files can be played back in Windows Media Player, and unfortunately for Apple users, Samsung Digimax Convertor is only available for Windows 2000 / XP computers. If the video source is in widescreen you can crop it or stretch it to fit the full screen of the Digimax i6. Battery life: I was able to play videos for 2 hours and 10 minutes and then the battery went flat - if you need to watch videos for longer than this then you'll need to either plug the camera into the charger or buy a second battery. MP3 Player: The MP3 player is very easy to setup and use, simply copy your MP3s to a folder called MP3 on your memory card. Battery life: I was able to play MP3s repeated for around 3 hours and 50 minutes - this is with the screen off which automatically switches itself off when you're not pressing any buttons. You can take 3 megapixel photos while listening to MP3s, however as soon as you exit the MP3 mode or enter the MP3 player's menu, MP3 playing will stop. The Camera: a visual tour: (Photos of the camera taken with the Panasonic Lumix FZ3)
Size Comparison: Compared to a Pentax 35mm film camera - a medium/compact sized 35mm film camera.
Specifications / Features:
Box Contents:
Average box contents - There is no memory card provided with the camera, instead the camera has 45mb of internal memory - this is better than a lot of other cameras, however you should invest in a much larger memory card. Some kind of case would be very useful. There is an optical docking station available for the camera. Battery usage: Battery life seemed good, using the provided battery I was able to take around 120 photos. MP3 playback ran for around 3 hours and 50 minutes. Video playback lasted for 2 hours and 10 minutes. If you need longer than this then I would recommend you buy a second battery. Camera
Operation and Options: The
M button on the back of the camera lets you select the camera mode, in
"Still/Movie/PMP" mode pressing it switches between the modes,
in "Full" mode pressing it brings up a menu that lets you choose
the mode you want (this is shown below right). Photo mode / menu:
In photo mode the menu options allow you to change mode (Auto, Program, Movie, Nightscene and the other scene modes), however, you can access these options by pressing the M button (when the camera is set to "Full mode") shown above right. It seems as though Samsung haven't decided which menu system works the best and have left that choice up to you. Unfortunately it makes using the camera very confusing as you aren't sure how or where the options are. In full mode you can choose between Program, Auto, Video, MP3, PMP, but you can't choose audio recording, instead you access this by pressing the up direction on the 4-way controller twice! Effect Menu / +/- Menu Options:
The E button brings up the effect menu where you can alter colour, highlight areas, take multi-frame shots, or frame images with a cartoon frame. The +/- button is where you can find RGB, ISO, White Balance and Exposure compensation options - these options aren't available in AUTO mode. Setup Menu / Playback
Mode / Menu:
Screen / LCD display in play mode: (shown above, right) The screen resolution with 230,000 pixels is very good and pictures look clear on it. The screen is clear and the text and menus are easy to read. The screen is slightly reflective, but blacks are good. Playback mode: Playback mode: Scrolling through the photos is quick. Zooming in is very quick and magnifies the image up to 11x. Zooming out shows 9 images at a time as thumbnails. Again the menu system is somewhat confusing, pressing menu will allow you to resize and rotate photos, while the E button allows you to alter the colour of the image, or fix red-eye. MP3 / PMP
Screens:
MP3 playback: This shows a background image of your choice - there are two default backgrounds provided or you can use your own photo or image if you want. The screen switches off automatically after a while. PMP video playback: The screen at 2.5" is a good size, however, if you play wide-screen videos then the image becomes quite small. The built in speaker is quite loud, or you can use the earphones provided. Optical / Electronic Viewfinder: There is no optical viewfinder Picture Size / Quality: The camera takes the following size pictures, and the following number will fit in the built in memory:
As shown in the table above, higher quality images take a large amount of memory, so a high capacity memory card is definitely recommended. You can fit quite a good number of 6mp Fine images on the built in memory, however if you want to store MP3s or videos you will definitely need a larger card. A large memory card is relatively cheap, and highly recommended, I would recommend at a bare minimum a 256mb memory card, and preferably a 512mb memory card, especially considering the relatively low prices - the larger the memory card, the more photos you will be able to take. If you intend to use the PMP or MP3 features of this digital camera then you would be best with a 1GB or 2GB memory card. If you are likely to be away from a computer for a long time (such as when going on holiday) then the largest memory card you can afford would definitely be worth investing in. This camera takes only secure digital memory. Listed below are links to memory cards that will work with the Samsung Digimax i6: Find the latest
prices for SD memory cards at Amazon.co.uk: 256mb: £6.59,
512mb: £10.55,
1gb (1000mb): £23.40,
2gb (2000mb): £49.95
Speed: The camera's switch on time is fairly quick but could be quicker, and takes around 2 seconds to switch on and become ready to take a photo. Focusing is quick at around 0.4 seconds - shutter response is a bit slow at around 0.2 seconds. Shot to shot time is around 2 seconds, with flash on this slows down to around 3 seconds between shots. Playback mode is quick, and its easy to zoom in on your last shot and check for blur with the zoom control. Moving from picture to picture is quick but you can also get an overview of 9 shots at a time if you zoom out one more notch. Moving around the different menu options is rapid. Continuous shooting is a bit sluggish taking 1.1 second or more for each shot (slower than 1fps) and the screen switches off meaning you can't see what you are taking photos of. Ease of use: Using the camera is fairly straightforward, simply switch it on and start taking photos, however, when you want to use some of the more advanced features of the camera it quickly becomes much more complicated, mainly due to the complicated menu system(s), and some of the hidden functions (such as the +/- button and audio recording). Once you get used to switching between the modes and find all the options the camera becomes slightly easier to use, and it is fairly easy to use the more basic functions of the camera - for example it's easy to switch the the MP3 or PMP mode and use those parts of the camera. Using the Advanced Shake Reduction system is also somewhat of a learning curve as best results are acheived in fairly limited lighting conditions. Ergonomics and Buttons: (Feel, placement, labels, etc.) The camera feels solid, with a robust metal body. The stylish curve of the body helps give your thumb something to grip onto, as does the front handgrip. The zoom control is fairly easy to use, however I personally prefer horizontal controls that you press left or right rather than the vertical control fround on the Digimax i6. Unfortunately there is no built in tripod mount, so the camera comes with an external tripod mount that connects to the camera. The strap loop is very stylishly and cleverly built into the hand grip. The camera labels are fairly clear although the +/- button was fairly cryptic. I would have prefered if the M (mode) button was replaced with something easier to use, such as a mode switch as found on the Canon Digital IXUS Wireless. The buttons and controls are all positioned so that the camera can be operated with one hand.
Image Quality: Here are some real world sample photos taken in various settings, such as Inside, Outside, Macro, to demonstrate the quality of pictures taken and also show different features of the camera. Larger versions of these photos, plus more photos are available in the Samsung Digimax i6 Sample Photo Gallery! Inside:
Inside: The camera has good colour - It took a good "Heather and Flower" photo - there is very little red-eye in the photo, although there is quite noticable redeye in the group photo. The colour is very richly saturated and detail is quite good. It has a decent flash, and copes well with group photos, and on AUTO ISO, the ISO setting was kept fairly low in these photos. The camera did a good job at focusing most of the time even in low-light. ISO Noise Test: Noise is generally a bad thing - it removes detail, and gives a grainy effect over the image. With digital cameras noise can be a real problem as digital camera noise is often made out of blue, red or green dots. As the ISO setting increases, pictures tend to have more noise. Noise is most noticeable in dark areas of photos. The camera has an Automatic mode for ISO levels, and manual ISO settings (ISO: 50, 100, 200, 400). Below you'll find the noise test image, plus actual pixel crops from the image taken at different ISO settings, compared with the 5 megapixel, Canon Digital IXUS Wireless.
ISO Noise Test Photos - Flash is off. Samsung Digimax i6 on the left, Canon Digital IXUS Wireless on the right. The colour difference is due to automatic white balance.
The Samsung i6 appears to have lower noise at ISO50 and ISO100 although there isn't a huge difference. The Samsung i6 appears to use stronger noise reduction when compared to the 5 megapixel Canon Digital IXUS Wireless. ISO50 and ISO100 produce good results. ISO200 produces acceptable results, and ISO400 should probably be avoided. The Advanced Shake Reduction tends to take photos at ISO200 or there-abouts, and in this instance produced a slightly blurry shot due to me taking the photo handheld. ASR / Advanced Shake Reduction: The Samsung Digimax i6 features ASR / "Advanced Shake Reduction" - this is a software based blur reduction system, it is designed to enable low light shots without flash, with sharp results, and accurate colour. It works by combining a slow shutter photo (with full colour information) with a fast shutter photo (with sharp edges) in order to generate a natural coloured sharp photo. There are some limitations to this, in that the subject and camera have to remain quite still, unlike other anti-shake / image stabilisation systems, and the camera takes two photos which isn't as instant as just taking one photo. Samsung explain it on this page.
Examples: Flash on, Flash off, ASR - The photo using the flash appears the sharpest and most detailed with good colour and low noise, although the background is quite dark, and there is obvious flash reflection. The photo without the flash is blurry and dark, but the background wall can be seen. The photo using ASR produces a fairly sharp picture with good colour, both in the subject and in the background, although noise is quite high. Attempting to use ASR outside at night produces photos that were drastically underexposed, as the slowest shutter speed was 1 second - using night scene mode, the shutter speed was 16 seconds. It is a clever idea,
and works well in some situations, but I can see it's limitations compared
to other camera manufacturers methods which are: (software based) using
high ISO settings to enable higher shutter speeds and freeze subjects
(Olympus, Casio, Panasonic, Fuji etc), and (hardware based) using anti-shake
CCD / image stabilisation / vibration reduction lenses to combat camera
shake. The more "traditional" methods generally work to avoid
camera shake, whereas using the ASR version it is more difficult to avoid
the camera shaking - in fact the manual recommends the subject and camera
stays still. In some situations the ASR mode seems counter-active, as
it disables the flash, and occassionally seems to use slower shutter speeds
compared to the normal mode. I think it would be better labelled as a
"Natural light" mode rather than an anti-shake mode... as the
ASR mode works well in limited situations as it seems designed for indoor
use (the manual states that ASR doesn't activate if lighting is brighter
than "Flourescant lighting"), and can be confusing, and dissapointing
when it doesn't work (at night) or isn't available (in bright daylight). Outside:
Outside: The camera has rich, saturated colour wirh good contrast and fairly good detail. Some may find the colour saturation too high. Noise was low in ISO50 photos. The quality was set to maximum to minimise any jpeg artefacts. Zoom: This camera has a 3x optical zoom lens and a built in 5x digital zoom - in the case of this camera the digital zoom basically takes a smaller area of the photo and enlarges it using software blurring the image so that it is not pixellated. Generally it's best to avoid using digital zoom as it degrades the quality of the image and, often, better results can be obtained by using a photo package such as Adobe Photoshop. I've included examples below to show what the 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom is capable of.
Exposure The photos of the clock tower seem well exposed, with a lot of detail in the dark areas, however at the expense of detail in the clouds. This could be altered using exposure compensation. There is some slight purple fringing on some edges mainly on the wide-angle photo. Lens noise and zoom: The lens is practically silent in operation. There are seven steps between wide and telephoto zoom, this gives you fairly good control over how you frame your subject. Other Image
Quality issues: Purple fringing was difficult to detect in any normal
photos, although there was some in the wide angle clock tower photo. Macro:
The macro mode allows you to be 5 cm away from the subject - this is gets good close up shots, although detail seemed a little bit low, ideally it would have been good to see more detail. The super macro mode is very impressive, allowing you to be 1 cm away from the subject - this gives you excellent detail as you are very close to the subject! Custom white balance helps get better colours, and even at ISO149 noise is quite low. Video mode: The camera features a very good video mode - it records VGA videos at 30fps with sound as MPEG4 files - this means you can fit a decent length video onto your memory card. The video mode also features digital image stabilisation* and uniquely lets you use the optical zoom whilst recording. The video records sound on videos and then whenever you want to zoom in or out the sound is muted so that the camera doesn't record the noise of the lens moving. *Digital image stabilisation is not available when recording videos to internal memory. Conclusion
What I like:
What I don't like:
Additional Test Images are viewable in the Samsung Digimax i6 Sample Photo Gallery. |