Samsung Digimax S700

...I have owned a Samsung Digimax 800 for some years now, which has been a good (if somewhat limited) and reliable camera.

The build quality of the new camera is excellent. It feels solid, sturdy and is easy to grip. The battery compartment door feels well constructed and should hopefully last the lifetime of the camera.

One of the deciding purchasing factors for me was the size of the camera and how it felt when holding ...
...digital camera) recently took the Samsung out for a spin and reported that it was one of the better (read larger) models he has tried. He still complained that the controls were too small, but better than many he had seen.

On a plus side, this camera benefits from a standard tripod mount, which is useful if you are trying to eliminate camera shake from your photographs and if, like my father, while struggling to navigate and use its ... more

Overview

I recently purchased this camera as it was on half price offer at a well known electrical retailer. I have owned a Samsung Digimax 800 for some years now, which has been a good (if somewhat limited) and reliable camera.

The build quality of the new camera is excellent. It feels solid, sturdy and is easy to grip. The battery compartment door feels well constructed and should hopefully last the lifetime of the camera.

One of the deciding purchasing factors for me was the size of the camera and how it felt when holding it, as if getting ready to take a photograph. Would it feel natural when lining up to take a shot (like when using the older style, pre-digital cameras) or would I have my forearms and elbows touching in an attempt to stabilise the camera prior to hitting the shutter button?

In my opinion, many other cameras on the market are just too small. I am by no stretch of the imagination a large bloke, standing 5' 8" in my stockings (special treat - it being a Saturday evening) and I have hands relative in size to the rest of my body. I have often heard criticism on the increasing miniaturisation of cameras (plus phones and other devices) that seem to have been designed with the average 10 year old in mind.

Said criticism is often prevalent (but not confined to) people of a certain age who have finally been forced to admit they now require glasses to read the paper and the generations upward from them, who find it difficult to locate the controls on many smaller items and once located, virtually impossible to use them, their manual dexterity no longer being what it once was.

In my opinion, this camera sits on the limit of what is an acceptable size. Personally, I would like it more if it were a tad on the larger side. My 82 year old father (who has been considering a digital camera) recently took the Samsung out for a spin and reported that it was one of the better (read larger) models he has tried. He still complained that the controls were too small, but better than many he had seen.

On a plus side, this camera benefits from a standard tripod mount, which is useful if you are trying to eliminate camera shake from your photographs and if, like my father, while struggling to navigate and use its controls. On some of the cameras I looked at, the tripod mount was of the "mini" table-top tripod variety which would have meant purchasing either an adapter (if one is available) or a new tripod.

Instruction Manual and Software

PC connection requirements: USB 1.1, USB 2.0 preferred

The instruction manual is clear and comprehensive. It gives detailed instructions (aided by pictures) on how to find and use the numerous features incorporated into this camera, many of will not be used by the average "point and click" style of photographer, who will probably set the camera to auto mode and rely upon safety in numbers. The manual is also included on the accompanying CD ROM, should you wish to view a copy on your PC.

The Digimax Master v1.0.18 software (included on the CD ROM) allows you to download images from the camera, organise them on your PC, then view, edit/amend and save them. It also has a facility for editing video. All of the standard image manipulation features are present. You can rotate, crop, enlarge/decrease, add text to or retouch images, as well as being able to use artistic effects, such as emboss, engrave or oil paint. Other features include the ability to frame a photograph, adjust lightness/darkness, reduce redeye and send a picture by email.

One feature I particularly liked with this software is that when an image is displayed in thumbnail view, the exposure time, F number and a symbol if the flash is on are displayed. This is particularly useful for post mortems when using the camera in manual mode, as by taking multiple pictures of the same subject with different settings, you start to get a feel for which settings work best under specific conditions.

Having been using the software for 4 months now, I have had a chance to evaluate its robustness and compare its feature set to other, more advanced packages. The software is not actually written by Samsung, but another company called STOIK Imaging Ltd, who specialise in imaging.

It will come as no surprise then, that so far running version v1.0.18 I have had no issues. All of the functions I have used (and they are many) have worked well, with no crashes or system lockups under Windows XP Service Pack 2 with the latest updates from Microsoft. The feature set is amazingly good, considering this software is bundled with the camera and will be more than capable of meeting the average users needs.

Features

Should you wish to delve under the hood, there are a plethora of advanced features, many of which I have yet to investigate. The camera can be used to shot video, to automatically take a predetermined number of shots in succession or even as a Dictaphone, as it has an integrated speaker.

In manual mode, you can adjust the exposure time and F number to suite the conditions, rather than let the camera work them out for itself. I tried this one clear evening recently. I setup the camera on a tripod with a view to taking pictures of the moon. On auto mode the pictures were just too dark, so I dived head first into the manual and started to tweak the cameras exposure times. Sure enough, after a little bit of trail and error, the pictures became better until the only limiting factor was not the camera, but my dirty windows!

The optical and digital zoom work via a rocker style switch located at the rear of the camera, in the top right corner. The optical zoom provides x3 magnification and the digital zoom gives an additional 5x. When using the optical zoom, images remain clear and crisp, even when enlarging using the Digimax Master software. However, when employing the digital zoom there is a noticeable degradation in image quality, which I understand to be a wide-spread criticism of the technology, rather than anything specific to this camera.

Image Quality

Up until July of this year I have been used to my old Digimax 800, so called as the image resolution 800 Kilopixels or 0.8 of a Megapixel. This was fine for most "snaps", but when photographing anything with any depth the low resolution became evident. The background would appear grainy and resembled a poor quality back drop in an old film.

For the duration of my holiday this year I managed to acquire a 4 Megapixel Casio. On reviewing the pictures I was amazed at what a difference there was between these images and the ones taken by my old camera. They were sharp and crisp and upon successive enlargements in software, maintained their clarity much longer than those taken with my old lower resolution camera.

To a lesser degree, the same is true when comparing the 7.2 Megapixel Samsung to the 4 Megapixel Casio. However, under low-light conditions the Samsung wins hands down. The pictures taken in auto mode, often using the flash, were far superior to the Casio bar none. Although I have not compared the specifications of Casio, I believe this to be due to the Samsungs shutter speed range of 8 - 1/1,500.

LCD Display

The display at 2.5 inches is of good size and quality. However, as with all digital cameras that do not include a view finder, lining up a subject on anything other than an overcast day becomes problematic. If you've ever stood by and watched some poor soul go through this process, you will know what I mean. The unfortunate typically stands with arms stretched out front, extending and retracting them while simultaneously making adjustments on the vertical axis, with head tilted back, knees slightly bent and one eye closed, as if performing some type of digital camera related Tai-Chi.

Personally, I would rather pay a little more not to have to endure this form of public humiliation and opt for a camera with a separate viewfinder. However, at the time of purchase, models that included a viewfinder incurred a rather hefty premium. This put them outside of my budget at the time. I suppose an investment in a baseball cap with an extended peak would not only enable you to site your photographic victim with ease, but also keep you lager cool too.

Memory

The camera is equipped with a miserly 20MB of on-board memory, which means at higher resolutions you will be looking for a suitable recipient upon which to download your pictures after 3 - 5 shots. A low amount of memory is common on many digital cameras, even with cameras in higher price ranges.

As I waited patiently to purchase this camera, I observed a lady in the grips of a shrewd salesperson. Upon purchasing a digital camera, she was then sold 2 additional memory cards and a case. These 3 additional purchases exceeded the price she paid for the camera.

The aforementioned lady need only have paid one fifth of what she paid for identical memory cards if she had performed a little research prior to purchase and bought these on-line. Perhaps hers was an impulse purchase and upon recognising this, the salesperson jumped in for the kill.

As with many other industries, one thing is clear; manufacturers and retailers make a good margin on selling accessories (or should that be necessities?) for certain products. Forewarned is forearmed. This camera will take a 2GB SD memory module, which at high resolution will equate to around 275 - 300 pictures.

Battery Consumption

If you have ever owned a large dog or run a powerful car, you will be familiar with the word "appetite". Both of the above require constant feeding to keep them happy and this camera is no different. It will consume alkaline batteries like I consume beer. It just can't get enough of them, especially if you are partial to the odd bit of flashing (and let's face it, who isn't?).

Don't expect to take more than around 10 pictures before you camera mysteriously turns itself off. I am told that this is often seen as a fault by novice digital camera users and apparently represents a large percentage of returns. The fact is that alkaline batteries (often supplied with the product) are just not up to the job. Put plainly, they are not fit for purpose. Alkaline batteries are unable to supply the large amounts of current required by these devices, as this was not what they were designed to do. At least they die quickly…

There is a type of battery, however, that will muster its crucifix and break-out the silver bullets in an attempt to stave of these digital vampires. Enter Dr Von Helsing, AKA Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries. These slayers of vampires are designed to be used in high current drain applications and will put up a courageous fight.

As an experiment, I took as many pictures as possible one evening using the Nickel-Metal Hydrides. It being dark and with the camera set in auto mode, the flash was on by default. I managed 53 photographs before the 2500ma rated Von Helsings finally succumbed. That's a five-fold increase over their Alkaline counterparts. For a charger and four of these brave little soldiers, expect to pay around £20.

There is a pod (or cradle) listed for this camera in the CD ROM version of the handbook that allows a simultaneous data and in-situ on-board battery connection to a charger. This is a much neater solution than having to cart around a full-size battery charger and keep having to pop the batteries in and out.

However, after making many telephone calls to the retailer, Samsung and some distributors, I was told that it is not available as an accessory in this country. What a pity. I had such a pod with the borrowed Casio I mentioned earlier in this article and it really did make life that much easier. Pop the camera on the pod and it begins to recharge and has a data connection to your PC immediately - no messing around with batteries or plugging in cables.

Conclusion

I like this camera, especially as I bought it new for half price. It suits my needs perfectly. There are advanced features which I may never use, but should I wish to learn more about real photography, I am comforted by the fact that they are there. The image quality is very good for my needs (mostly snaps with some occasional attempts at "proper pictures") and after our initial "getting to know you period" I am starting to feel more adept at using some of its more advanced features.

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