Samsung Digital Camera... .

David333

grahawk wrote: »

I've seen a basket of these in Tesco for a similar price. Not sure if it's any good - some reviews suggest the pictures are excessively oversharped.

Some of Samsungs cameras are good.

As to what to look for - ignore digital zoom, you can get 4 or 5x optical zooms for a similar price, 8, 10 or 12 megapixels gets rather meaningless - the key is the optics and the sensor. The sensor is small and trying to fit such a huge number of megapixels into it does cause problems. The best thing to look for is to do a google search for reviews - there are some sites that do extensive reviews which help a lot.

I have the Canon A560 and I like it though you can get slimmer cameras.

Thank for your help. I shall google reviews and try to look at optics and the sensor: one question, what do optics and sensor mean...? For example, what are the key points on this page? http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/detail/spec.do?group=cameracamcorder&type=digitalcameras&subtype=lseries&model_cd=EC-L210ZBBA/GB&fullspec=F Sorry for my ignorance; I know nothing about this type of thing...

Marty_J

Optics means the camera's lens. A better lens means better photos. I would put more faith in Canon's lenses than Samsung's.

The sensor is the chip inside the camera that converts light to electric signals. That camera has a 1/2.33" CCD sensor. Compact cameras have pretty small sensors, and the more megapixels they squeeze onto it, the more heat they generate, and the more noise you'll see in images, especially at higher ISO numbers.

I think the best advice is to visit a camera store and try them out. A camera isn't much use, no matter how good its photos, if you don't like using it.

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Optics - quality of the lens.
The sensor is the the thing that collects the light information for the lens. Sensor size, if you can find it, is given in a very archaic form. The Samsung has a sensor size of something like 1/2.3 inches which is fairly typical but it is questionable if it it is sensible to cram 10 megapixels into such as size. Some cameras have larger sensors - 1/1.8 or 1/1.6 (which helps with quality) and many are 1/2.6.

In the past you could get a 5 megapixel camera with a 1/1.8 sensor which produce very good quality pictures. But while manufacturers have been increasing megapixels they have actually kept sensor size the same or smaller. When you cram all these pixels into a tiny area you get interference between pixels which shows as "noise" especially at lower light levels. They try to correct things in the camera software and are usually only partially successful.

For point and shoot in decent light most cameras will do a fairly decent job.

David333

I see... . So lens is pretty much associated with the camera make (and presumably the more expensive ranges will have a better lens), whilst the sensor is the CCD number. If 1/2.33" isn't great, what would you say is a good size sensor for my price range...? I can't seem to find the sensor size for that Canon... .

David333

grahawk wrote: »

Optics - quality of the lens.
The sensor is the the thing that collects the light information for the lens. Sensor size, if you can find it, is given in a very archaic form. The Samsung has a sensor size of something like 1/2.3 inches which is fairly typical but it is questionable if it it is sensible to cram 10 megapixels into such as size. Some cameras have larger sensors - 1/1.8 or 1/1.6 (which helps with quality) and many are 1/2.6.

In the past you could get a 5 megapixel camera with a 1/1.8 sensor which produce very good quality pictures. But while manufacturers have been increasing megapixels they have actually kept sensor size the same or smaller. When you cram all these pixels into a tiny area you get interference between pixels which shows as "noise" especially at lower light levels. They try to correct things in the camera software and are usually only partially successful.

For point and shoot in decent light most cameras will do a fairly decent job.

Thanks! So I'm comparing sensor size (if I can find it) to the megapixels... . 1/2.3 with 8 megapixels would potentially be better than 1/2.3 with 10 for example... . I reckon my holiday pictures are going to be incredible once I finally understand all this!

Marty_J

All compact cameras will have a very similar sensor size, so it's not necessarily the size that matters. The Canon has a 1/2.5" CCD sensor. It's the number of megapixels they try to squeeze onto it that can have a detrimental affect.

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_Camera/PowerShot/PowerShot_A560/index.asp?specs=1

David333

Marty_J wrote: »

All compact cameras will have a very similar sensor size, so it's not necessarily the size that matters. The Canon has a 1/2.5" CCD sensor. It's the number of megapixels they try to squeeze onto it that can have a detrimental affect.

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_Camera/PowerShot/PowerShot_A560/index.asp?specs=1

Mmm...I see... . To be honest I'm beginning to understand that the Canon is a better camera in terms of specification: it just looks quite clunky, quite bulky for carrying away with me; compared to the cool, sleek Samsung anyway. That's a really vain reason for choosing a camera isn't it...?

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The Canon has a 1/2.5 sensor which is very similar in size but at least it doesn't try to pack so many pixels in. At your price range you probably won't get anything larger than 1/2.33. Some cameras are fine with such a size, some produce noise even in good light where the ISO setting is low - hence the need to check reviews.

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David333 wrote: »

Thanks! So I'm comparing sensor size (if I can find it) to the megapixels... . 1/2.3 with 8 megapixels would potentially be better than 1/2.3 with 10 for example... . I reckon my holiday pictures are going to be incredible once I finally understand all this!

Quite possibly but not necessarily - it all depends on the camera. The best pictures I've seen from a digital compact were from a 5.1 megapixel camera.

Here's a site that shows a 6 megapixel camera outshining higher megapixel cameras - the "sensitivity" pictures are particularly impressive.

http://6mpixel.org/en/?page_id=8

And yes the Canon is a bit bulky.

David333

"But let's have a nice round of applause for the simple combination AC adapter/charger Samsung has included. It plugs into the wall and sends AC power to the Samsung L210 via the included USB cable to power the camera directly or just charge the battery. You don't even have to use the adapter: the Samsung L210 will charge from most any computer's standard USB port" ;-)