Samsung L201 camera?

[Snadger]

Just bought one of the above and it's nice to see it's made of metal. 10.2 Mega pixel as well. I'm looking forward to using it, but just wondered does any other grape use one of these and are they any good?

[RedThorn]

lol Snadger.... bit late now ain't it?

Got an older 5.1 MP Samsung and am pretty happy with it...

[Snadger]

lol Snadger.... bit late now ain't it?

Got an older 5.1 MP Samsung and am pretty happy with it...

Aesops fables........the tortoise and the hare!

[stephenwithap]

FeaturesISO Speeds : 800, 800, 1600, 1600, 400, 400, 200, 200, 100, 100, Auto, Auto, 80, 80
Digital Zoom : 5x
Optical Zoom : 3x
Camera Resolution : 10.2 Megapixels
What's HotPetite design, manual shooting modes, speedy shot to shot time
What's NotIncredibly over-sharpened pictures, shutter speed a touch sluggish
The Final WordSamsung's L201 is fairly solid overall but is let down by its horribly over-sharpened pictures. For small prints it's fine, but at larger magnifications this really becomes an issue. While Samsung’s L201 camera looks like a pretty basic unit it does have a few tricks up its sleeve. This 10.2-megapixel camera sports a manual shooting mode in addition to a few of the bells and whistles we’ve come to expect. However its images are horribly over-sharpened which really hurts the overall performance.

We simply couldn’t get over how strongly sharpened the shots were. Edges were far too crisp, with noticeable sharpening artefacts. In our standardised Imatest testing the L201 received the highest over-sharpening score we’ve ever seen. Even turning in-camera sharpening to the lowest setting didn’t alleviate the issue much; it did lower the over-sharpening score but it was still far higher than it should be. As with many camera issues this will probably not affect novice users making standard 4x6in prints but it becomes extremely prominent at larger print sizes.

Colour balance was fairly typical for a mid-range compact, with a strongly saturated tone. This was most noticeable in reds, greens and yellows but the whole spectrum definitely tended towards vividness. In our indoor chart shots everything also looked a touch paler than it should even when using the custom white balance mode.

Noise was pretty standard too. Everything up to ISO 400 performs fine with only minor grain evident when zoomed in. However at ISO 800 there is a fairly sharp jump in speckling and as such we wouldn’t recommend increasing the sensitivity beyond 400.

While the images have a few issues, overall speed was pretty decent. The L201’s shot-to-shot time was particularly impressive at one second. Meanwhile the start-up time and burst modes were slightly more average at 2.1 seconds and two frames per second, and the shutter speed was somewhat sluggish at 0.1 seconds.

As mentioned earlier, the feature set is a little more robust than usual, with a full manual mode that allows you to adjust both shutter speed and aperture. For the less enthusiastic photographer, however, there are also both program and full auto modes. We were a little disappointed by the omission of optical image stabilisation (only digital is included) but on a camera with a 3x zoom lens this isn’t a huge problem. Other features include face detection, auto contrast balancing and some nice colour, sharpness, contrast and saturation modes.

The L201’s design is a little weird. From the front it looks like an ordinary boxy silver unit, but the edges are all gloss white, making for a strange combination. It is quite petite and should be perfect for pockets and small bags. We found the function wheel was pretty fiddly and difficult to adjust without changing our grip; however, all the other controls are intuitive and well placed.

found this review hope it helps

[Snadger]

FeaturesISO Speeds : 800, 800, 1600, 1600, 400, 400, 200, 200, 100, 100, Auto, Auto, 80, 80
Digital Zoom : 5x
Optical Zoom : 3x
Camera Resolution : 10.2 Megapixels
What's HotPetite design, manual shooting modes, speedy shot to shot time
What's NotIncredibly over-sharpened pictures, shutter speed a touch sluggish
The Final WordSamsung's L201 is fairly solid overall but is let down by its horribly over-sharpened pictures. For small prints it's fine, but at larger magnifications this really becomes an issue. While Samsung’s L201 camera looks like a pretty basic unit it does have a few tricks up its sleeve. This 10.2-megapixel camera sports a manual shooting mode in addition to a few of the bells and whistles we’ve come to expect. However its images are horribly over-sharpened which really hurts the overall performance.

We simply couldn’t get over how strongly sharpened the shots were. Edges were far too crisp, with noticeable sharpening artefacts. In our standardised Imatest testing the L201 received the highest over-sharpening score we’ve ever seen. Even turning in-camera sharpening to the lowest setting didn’t alleviate the issue much; it did lower the over-sharpening score but it was still far higher than it should be. As with many camera issues this will probably not affect novice users making standard 4x6in prints but it becomes extremely prominent at larger print sizes.

Colour balance was fairly typical for a mid-range compact, with a strongly saturated tone. This was most noticeable in reds, greens and yellows but the whole spectrum definitely tended towards vividness. In our indoor chart shots everything also looked a touch paler than it should even when using the custom white balance mode.

Noise was pretty standard too. Everything up to ISO 400 performs fine with only minor grain evident when zoomed in. However at ISO 800 there is a fairly sharp jump in speckling and as such we wouldn’t recommend increasing the sensitivity beyond 400.

While the images have a few issues, overall speed was pretty decent. The L201’s shot-to-shot time was particularly impressive at one second. Meanwhile the start-up time and burst modes were slightly more average at 2.1 seconds and two frames per second, and the shutter speed was somewhat sluggish at 0.1 seconds.

As mentioned earlier, the feature set is a little more robust than usual, with a full manual mode that allows you to adjust both shutter speed and aperture. For the less enthusiastic photographer, however, there are also both program and full auto modes. We were a little disappointed by the omission of optical image stabilisation (only digital is included) but on a camera with a 3x zoom lens this isn’t a huge problem. Other features include face detection, auto contrast balancing and some nice colour, sharpness, contrast and saturation modes.

The L201’s design is a little weird. From the front it looks like an ordinary boxy silver unit, but the edges are all gloss white, making for a strange combination. It is quite petite and should be perfect for pockets and small bags. We found the function wheel was pretty fiddly and difficult to adjust without changing our grip; however, all the other controls are intuitive and well placed.

found this review hope it helps

Well...I did ask didn't I! Lol ....................Many thanks Stephen!

[stephenwithap]

sorry matey suppose i could have found a smaller review but hey ho lol
to be honest before i buy anything i tend to look at what has been written about it it can put you off sometimes coz some people can be piccy
at the end of the day i read them and make my own mind up as long as some one dont mention in review something against what i want to do then usually ok
personally i prefare the camera that looks like the old style with lens
the reason i dont like compacts is because on the ones ive used you can only look through screen on back and not view finder and when the sun is shinning you cant see the screen lol
if you find you dontlike this one and want another look up what digital camera site it goe with magazine and is pretty good
i used it before ibought my camera nd it does excactly what they said it would its a finepix s5600 it looks like the old slr cameras but is fixed lens so basically acts like a compact but looks like an old style camera
at the end of the day its what your using it for if its for family snap shots and allotment shots then its fine
if you want it to take more profesional shots for showing and magazines type thing then maybe something a little different
i find the finepix a good all rounder with out having to go up to the slr digitals at 400 plus
mainley coz wife wont let me lol

[Two_Sheds]

I've got a Samsung, it's good for what it is (but I'm hoping Santa brings me a d.SLR this year)

[Snadger]

Thanks again Stephen and Two Sheds!

I aint very good with cameras so I think I will leave it on Auto all the time!
I suppose a kids camera that would take half decent piccies would be best for me........only one button would suit me fine!

[zazen999]

Don't knock it...I've got a DSLR of 10m pixels, a film SLR - both of which have various lenses, some normal, some fun [lensbaby]....and probably another 5 cameras...and my absolute favourite is a toy camera from Japan bought off ebay for £8.

[stephenwithap]

zazen am i to take you are a budding photographer

[zazen999]

What do you mean budding???

I'm experimental, pinholes and large format cameras are my faves...the Holga is a dream and I've just found a flash unit that works with it so I don't even have to wait for full sunshine now...which is grand.

I'll take digital photos at a push...

[stephenwithap]

whoops sorry didnt mean to offend lol
its one of my favorite subjects i used to develop my own black and white photos
and have still got my enlarger
i have two main cameras at moment
a film one which is a nikon f50 which maz bought me 10yrs ago which havent used in a while
and a finepix s5600 digital which looks like slr but isnt
im saving up to get one of those
i have some pics posted on face book that i have done recently
i will try to post on here for you to look at
would be gratefull for some proper critasism of them
maz says thre brill but she would so has not to hurt my feelings but someone who is impartial would be better

[zazen999]

Better still....PM me your facebook page and we can comment on each other's photos!!!