Photo Review Reviews section

Samsung i85

8 Rating

A well-built slimline digicam with multimedia capabilities and a large internal memory.Samsung’s i85 digicam is more than just an 8.2-megapixel camera with a 5x optical zoom lens. Inside its slim, stainless steel body are a camcorder, voice recorder, text viewer and multimedia player. There’s also a World Tour Guide that provides images and travel information covering 2,600 regions in 30 countries. To store all this information – and the pictures and movie clips recorded with the camera – 190MB of internal memory is provided, along with an SD/SDHC/MMC card slot.

Samsung S1050

8.5 Rating

An affordably-priced high-resolution digicam with a 5x optical zoom and large LCD.Samsung’s S1050 almost qualifies as a slimline digicam but its protruding lens makes it too large to be truly pocketable. Featuring a 10.1-megapixel CCD imager and 5x optical zoom lens it has a large LCD monitor (but no viewfinder) and many features that will appeal to budding photographers, although it will probably be used mainly as a point-and-shoot camera.

Pentax K10D

9 Rating

A feature-rich, high-resolution DSLR for serious photographers with some innovative and useful functions.A relatively late entrant into the 10-megapixel DSLR category, the new Pentax K10D offers a number of advantages over its competitors, starting with its more robust, body, which has dust and weatherproof sealing. The plastic case is solidly mounted on a metal chassis, which gives added weight to the camera itself. Balance is excellent and the camera-plus-lens is comfortable to hold and operate. Built-in image stabilisation and dust removal on start-up are based on CCD-shift technology.

Samsung 50-200mm f/4-5.6 ED OIS Lens

8 Rating

A standard telephoto zoom lens for NX series interchangeable lens cameras.The 50-200mm f/4-5.6 ED OIS lens offered as the second kit zoom lens with the Samsung NX10 is typical of many 50-200mm kit zooms. Just over 10 cm in length and weighing 417 grams without end caps and hood, it is built mainly from black polycarbonate and has a solid, stainless steel mounting plate with eight electronic contact points.

Samsung 20-50mm f/3.5-5.6 ED i-Function Lens

8 Rating

An affordable, mid-range zoom lens for Samsung’s NX mirrorless cameras.Samsung’s 20-50mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens has been designed to be small and light and features a retractable design similar to the 14-42mm kit lens provided by Olympus with its PEN-series cameras. However, it’s just over 30 grams lighter. Compared to standard kit lenses, it is narrower by 2 mm at wide angle and by 5 mm at the tele end. But it lacks built-in stabilisation.

Samsung 30mm f/2 ‘Pancake’ Lens

8.5 Rating

A fast, lightweight prime standard lens for the NX series of interchangeable-lens cameras.The 30mm f/2 ‘pancake’ lens offered with the NX10 body is the only prime lens in the NX series so far. However, it’s scheduled to be followed by a 20mm f/2.8 ‘pancake’ later this year and a 60mm f/2.8 macro lens may be added some time during Q4 1020 or Q1 2011. Only 21.5 mm long and with a diameter of 61.5 mm, this lens weighs roughly 85 grams and covers a focal length equivalent to 46.2mm (in 35mm format).

Samsung 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS Lens

8 Rating

The standard kit zoom lens for NX series interchangeable lens cameras.Samsung’s 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS covers the typical focal length range of a standard kit lens. Built to a price, it nevertheless offers desirable features like built-in optical stabilisation and comes with a clip-on, petal-shaped lens hood (which some manufacturers omit). It’s also surprisingly small for a camera with an APS-C sized sensor, at just over half the weight of similar lenses supplied with APS-C DSLRs.

Samsung WB2000

8.5 Rating

A slim, lightweight digicam with a 5x zoom lens, advanced controls, raw file support and Full HD video recording.Unveiled at the PMA International show in February, Samsung’s WB2000 is targeted at photographers who want a slimline digicam with a full suite of controls, a high-quality monitor and Full HD video capability. Boasting a 10.2-megapixel backside-illuminated (BSI) CMOS image sensor and 5x optical zoom lens it is one of the few models of its type with raw file capture and provides a wider range of advanced functions than most competing models.

Samsung NX11

8.5 Rating

A modest upgrade to the NX10 with a redesigned grip and support for i-Function lenses.Samsung’s mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera line-up now consists of four models: the original NX10, the NX5, NX100 and the new NX11. The NX11features a re-designed hand grip and adds a new panoramic shooting mode plus 1:1 and 16:9 aspect ratios for still capture and support for the company’s i-Function lenses (introduced with the NX100). The sensor, viewfinder and LCD monitor are unchanged since the NX10.

Samsung NX100

8 Rating

The latest ‘mirrorless’ camera from Samsung is styled like a compact digicam but has a much larger sensor and supports 720p HD movie recording.Styled like a compact digicam – and only a little larger – Samsung’s NX100 is quite different from the SLR-like NX10 the company released earlier this year. It sports an APS-C size sensor with an effective resolution of 14.6 megapixels and introduces a new series of lenses. A high-resolution 3-inch AMOLED screen covers much of the rear panel – but if you want a viewfinder, it’s an add-on accessory.