Samsung SL620 12.2 MP Digital Camera with 5x Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0 inch LCD (Black)

Had this for 2 weeks now, here is my experience, June 17, 2009

By 

B. Kline “B. Kline” (Palo Alto, CA, USA) –

  

I got this camera because it was on sale, a good bargain for a 12 MP camera. I have a Samsung 52″ LCD HD TV that I am so happy about and love a lot. The price was much less than the competition from Sony or Mitsubishi on the TV I felt like I got a real value and thought I would trust Samsung again because I knew what they are capable of.

The SL620 is a nice form factor, fits in my pocket and comes out ready for action quickly. It has the 12.2 Megapixels and 5x zoom, really astonishing technical achievements in a great package.

There are some things that I do not like about this camera that might have been deal breakers had I known about it before my purchase.

I really do not like the proprietary USB port and cable. Every time I go to hook this up to charge it or download the mini-hdmi (what it looks like) connector does not want to connect. It is hard to see whether it is up or down because it is so small. This is really irritating, and I am sure would be expensive if I ever lost or damaged the cable. A big thumbs down for that. I have gotten used to a standard mini-USB cable, but Samsung uses this one port for download, charging, and displaying to TV as well which probably saves money and parts – for them, but it does nothing to make the camera easier or better to use.

Second thing is that I love the on-screen help, but when you flick between modes the text is on the screen not even fast enough to read – very frustrating. You have to keep clicking away and back to read the help screens? Maybe there is a setting to adjust this, but learning the camera becomes harder, and when they do not implement the help well, it is worse than no help at all because it is just a distraction.

Next is the viewfinder. I have found that I have to be very conservative, ie. move back and try to give extra margin around my subject to shoot because what I see on the viewfinder is not necessarily the picture I end up with. I have not really analyzed this to find out exactly where the picture is or how it changes with modes, but one needs to see on the viewscreen exactly what the picture is, otherwise the viewscreen is useless too.

The pictures are so huge that taking the picture seems to take a while before the camera comes back. The “snappiness” of the response leaves a bit to be desired.

I also do not like the way the zoom is implemented as a vertical rocker switch up near the top of the trigger. Your thumb wants to move right and left if you hold the camera like a normal human being, and making it go up and down really makes the zoom clumsy to use, and makes the camera more likely to shake.

As I said, I like the form factor, the detail is wonderful, the size and shape are great. The picture quality is very good. The screen help idea is great, and the text that comes up when you change modes is a good idea, but as I said you can hardly read it before it goes away leaving it just as hard to tell what mode you are in as the cameras that have no such help.

I have to say I am disappointed overall in the design details of this camera, though all the parts are there and the picture is nice and very detailed an the zoom power is very good.

The video is sharp and clear and very nice. I cannot say for sure but I think the image is stabilized in the video.

I would recommend this camera for those who want all the features of a 12 MP 5x optical zoom for an inexpensive price and do not mind overlooking some … what I think of anyway … as bad design judgements. With proper tweaking this camera could have been so much much better.

I wonder if Samsung can make a firmware upgrade or something to fix some of my gripes … though I have never heard of a f/w upgrade for a camera.

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