Samsung Digimax L55W Review at Index Digicam

#1 Ginny

I am trying to find a review of the Samsung L55W Digital Camera. Unfortunately, I do not speak or understand Hungarian so cannot read the review mentioned in Index Digicam.

Can anyone help please?

10:00 pm - Saturday, November 19, 2005

#2 Heidrun

Hello Ginny,
I cold not wait any more for the Ricoh Caplio R3 so I bought the Samsung L55W yesterday. So far I am very happy with the camery though I don't know everything it does yet. Nevertheless I took several photos to test.
So if you have any specific question I will try to answer but: I am no professional photographer!
Best regards
Heidrun

10:19 pm - Wednesday, November 23, 2005

#3 Gordon

Hello Heidrun,
As Ginny says, its difficult to find a review of the L55w. I have a few questions that you might be able to answer:-

what is the image quality like?

there is some debate about whether its only the LCD thats wide screen and not the CCD. Are you able to confirm if its a true widescreen camera, cable of shooting actual widescreen format pictures?

do you have any gripes with the L55w?

2:49 pm - Tuesday, November 29, 2005

#4 Heidrun

Hello Gordon,
on the other photoblog concerning Ricoh Caplio R3 (which I wanted to buy first) we talked a bit about L55w, too. There is Gary who assumed, that the pics of the l55w are a bit cropped at the bottom and top but have additional pixels at the sides. I think they are real 16:9 photos.
The image qualitiy is very good!
For I am no Photograph-guru but only a person who uses the camera in daily life I could only show you the German Samsung site in additional or, which I did for everyone interested in the Digimax l55w, show you a few of my samples in the net.
Hope, both links work and it may help you.
http://www.samsungcameras.de/product/pro_view.asp?pro_uid=512&cat_uid=10
http://public.fotki.com/blauzinn/

9:18 pm - Tuesday, November 29, 2005

#5 Ginny

Hello Heidrun,

I have seen your photos on the R3 blog and am very impressed with the colours and the portrait shot is excellent. Thank you for showing them.

Does it mention in your manual as to how long it takes for the battery to get recharged???? I used to have a camcorder and I remember that the battery had to be completely used up before attempting to charge it again. It was said that if you did not do this, you would not be getting the full usage when next using the camera because the camera would only charge up to a certain level and this would be the level of usage where you started the recharge Am not explaining myself very well, hope you can understand what I am trying to say. The question is the same though, does it say in the manual if you must only recharge the battery when it has completely run-down?
- and of course, does it say how long the recharge takes? Many thanks

11:41 am - Wednesday, November 30, 2005

#6 Heidrun

Hi Ginny!
Recharging needs two hours (the manual says 150 minutes) and as I bought the camera I asked at the shop the same question you asked. They told me you can charge at any time and there is no "memory effect" by charging like there was in older models. As I used my new camera often and in cold temperatures I had to recharge after 5 days. That's when one of 3 lines of the battery status disappeared, maybe I had much more time left, but I did not want to run totally empty..

8:12 pm - Wednesday, November 30, 2005

#7 Ginny

Hi again Heidrun

Many thanks or your prompt reply and the info - this is much appreciated. I hope to buy an L55W very soon. It seems to be a very good camera.

Cheers

Ginny

8:33 pm - Wednesday, November 30, 2005

#8 GARY POGODA

Heidrun, is the manual on CD? If so, do you have a way to post it?

9:32 pm - Wednesday, November 30, 2005

#9 Heidrun

Hi Gary,
sorry - the manual is a book, more than 130 pages..
Though my english one is here and I don't need it that does not help you much..
Heidrun

1:56 pm - Thursday, December 1, 2005

#10 Ginny

Hello Heidrun

I am a little peturbed to see that the Manual is a book of 130 pages. Do these pages all refer to the instructions for the camera - that is in English - or do the pages cover a number of instructions in different languages???? It would be horrendous to have to wade through that many pages to gain knowledge of using the L55W.

I was thinking about the lack of any reviews of this model. Really I suppose the main purpose for a "point and shoot" person who is not technically capable of delving into the more intricate settings for taking photos, is for an experienced reviewer to highlight any flaws or "cons" with the camera. The manufacturer's spec gives details of the features in the camera and any prospective purchaser can read and judge if the camera fulfills what their needs are. However, it is any "annoying" elements that people need to know about and then they can decide whether these are something that are of no great consequence to them and if so, go ahead and purchase.
You seem to be happy with your new camera and I hope to get one myself. Am I correct in thinking you are completely satisfied with your camera up to now??? I agree with what Gary said about the picture you took showing the Icicles - this is quite superb.

Cheers

Ginny

4:37 pm - Friday, December 2, 2005

#11 Greg

Hi Heidrun,

Appreciate your comments on the L55W. I was wondering what you thought of the auto focus speed at various distance and lighting situations. Also, Any comments on trying to catch moving targets, such as you would have during a sports game?

Thanks,

Greg

6:56 pm - Saturday, December 3, 2005

#12 Heidrun

Hello Ginny,
sorry to say, but the manual is really that thick. All pages of instructions in english. My German one is the same size.. and you are right, I did not try everything the camera is able to do yet. But til now I am still happy with the L55w as you thought. I said it before in the Ricoh blog that OIS would be fine, some photos are blurry when I could not hold the camera. That can happen when the light gets lower and you don't want to use the flash. Or in Makro mode. You should use a tripod(?) then.

To Greg,
I'm sorry i can't answer your questions yet. I haven't tried to catch a moving object yet but will try during the next days! And to my opinion the auto focus is quick. But that is subjective and I can't give you seconds or halfseconds.. sorry..

4:44 pm - Sunday, December 4, 2005

#13 Ginny

Hello again Heidrun

Am going to take the plunge on Monday and buy a Samsung L55W. For my purpose, the wider-than-normal rear screen outweighs having zoom of over 7.0. If, at any time in the future, I need a more powerful zoom, I could always treat myself to a tiny light camcorder with a 20 Optical Zoom !!!!!!!
Are you still happy with your L55W ?????

Cheers

Ginny

7:54 pm - Saturday, December 10, 2005

#14 Heidrun

Hi Ginny,
waiting for your opinion and maybe our exchange after you bought your l55w.
Yes, I am still really happy with mine.
If you're interested then we could exchange our email adresses somehow so we don't have to post everything in public
Cheers
Heidrun

2:31 pm - Sunday, December 11, 2005

#15 Ginny

Hello Heidrun

Exchanging emails is a good idea. Maybe when Mark G comes on with his review of the R3, I will contact him then and ask him what the procedure is. Am quite excited at the thought of getting the L55W but not looking forward to wading through the Manual. I suppose initially, take one step at a time - it will be a slow process because I find manuals boring and can be a dope at times. Fortunately, I have a technically minded Sister and there are some really helpful contributors on the R3 site who always seems willing to help.

I will be in touch soon.

Cheers

Ginny

2:49 pm - Sunday, December 11, 2005

#16 GARY POGODA

Since there are no L55W reviews to speak of, I for one, would hope
that you will continue to publicly post your experiences.

Unless they get too personal.

8:46 pm - Sunday, December 11, 2005

#17 Heidrun

Congrats Ginny to your new L55W! What about the manual - did you learn it by heart yet?
lol - I still have not tried out everything yet! Are your photos nice, do you like the camera and its results?
I am really looking forward to hear or see something about your first impressions..

Cheers
Heidrun

8:45 pm - Thursday, December 15, 2005

#18 Ginny

Hello again Heidrun

Have I read the manual yet ???? I WISH. You have no idea how inexperienced I am with cameras. I used to have a small Fuji, which I loved but which got damaged and ruined by water !!!. However, it was set to the "middle" grade setting and never altered in all the three years that I owned it and I was always completely satisfied with the photos - however, generally, these were only displayed in on-line folders and never printed out. "Noise", ISO, Anti-Shake etc are all alien words to me !!!!!
My younger sister came round yesterday, we were having a day out and a Xmas lunch and before we set off, she installed the camera's software etc and fitted the battery and wrist strap - do you get the idea of just how useless I am - or is it a case of me being idle and letting someone else help me out?? Whatever, I most certainly do intend to read this manual but first of all, I have to prepare for visitors this weekend. My son, daughter-in-law and small grandson, Charlie [5] are due here and so I am so busy. However, I hope to take some pictures over the next few days and will keep you posted.

Cheers

Ginny

9:20 pm - Thursday, December 15, 2005

#19 GARY POGODA

Ginny, maybe you should buy the "underwater" casing for the L55W.

12:34 am - Friday, December 16, 2005

#20 Ginny

That is a brilliant idea Gary or I could in future not be so stupid as to put the camera in the front pocket of a padded water carrier bag that had a 3/4 litre of chilled water inside the main compartment !!! Then get to the beach in Mallorca, go to get a "swig" only to find the said bottle empty, the water carrier bag and camera soaked and even water sloshing around in the bottom of the padded rucksack that the water carrier had been put in. It was a very hot day as well BUT thank goodness for Insurance.
Cheers
Ginny

9:38 am - Friday, December 16, 2005

#21 Heidrun

Hello Ginny,
now that the most important things are fixed (battery inside and !wrist strap!) there is nothing to hold you away from taking photoes.
Put the "Automatic-mode" and flash on and then:
Pictures of Charlie helping preparing the dinner, the meal itself, the happy faces of son, daughter-in-law and whoever there might be after the delicious meal and -last but not least, the smoke over the heads of the cigar-smoking people at candlelight by night.
I can't wait to see these great pics of yours.
Please don't forget to hide the L55W before washing up because - well you know..

Today there was a football (soccer) tournament at my son's school and I took some videos. We watched them on TV later on and they came out pretty good. Full-screen and good sound.
This evening I tried to take a photo of the full moon, but it was cloudy and stormy, one cannot see the moon exactly. nevertheless I like the pic. You might want to have a look at my fotki album.
And, btw, I haven't heard a lot of those words about cameras before either..

Cheers Heidrun

9:58 pm - Friday, December 16, 2005

#22 Carl-Johan

Hi, everyone.
I'm interested in the L55W and have some questions to anyone who knows, like Ginny or Heidrun:
Does it have manual focus and how big are the noiseproplems in bright/low light? How well does the autofocus work in low light situationes? Overall picture quality?

Thanks in advance!

12:37 am - Thursday, December 29, 2005

#23 Squire

The manual for the L55W camera says that you shouldn't use a card reader to transfer images to a camera. This is a huge problem when you want to share photos with a friend, but not have to install software on their computer. Is this a real problem? What happens if you do? Does anyone know anything about this?

11:49 pm - Monday, January 2, 2006

#24 Tori

Guys,
Finally some tangible experience with the L55W. Here are my few questions:
1. How powerful is the flash?
2. In movie mode (640x480, 30fps), how many MB are used per minute of movie?
3. How long does it take from Off to first image taken?
4. Is there a noticable shutter lag (delai between pressing the button and taking the image)?

I'd me very gratefull for your sharing your experience, in particular concerning the flash.

Thanks and a happy new year with the L55W,

Tori

9:03 pm - Tuesday, January 3, 2006

#25 Tori

Hi everyone,

I have another question - can you use the zoom of the L55W when shooting video?

Thanks,

Tori

10:01 pm - Friday, January 6, 2006

#26 Heidrun

Hi everyone and happy new year!
What a pity that no-one answers to the questions because I am definately not the right person to give you qualified answers though I own the L55W.
The manual says that you can take a Video 640x480,30fps about one and a half minute using the internal cache about 24MB.
The delay between pressing the shutter button and the taken picture depends on wheter you use flash or not. There's no big delay without flash in good light. there is a 2-3 sec. delay when you use the flash and the autofocus has to work.

I don't know if I could help a bit but I am still very happy with my camera and shot a lot of photos since I bought it end of November.

I'd also like to read more about other owners of a L55W to see what their experiences are?!!

Heidrun

10:31 pm - Friday, January 6, 2006

#27 Ginny

Hi again Heidrun and Hello Tori

So sorry that as an owner of the L55W, I am not in a position to answer any questions yet. I adore my camera but at the moment, I am still in a learning situation with it and am not in anyway competent with using it. In fact, Heidrun, I will shortly be asking you some questions. I can say it has a nice feel to it, looks good, the screen really delivers but all these are not as important as the quality of the few pics I have taken, mostly in Portugal over Xmas. When I transfer these to my computer, I want them to go into my Microsoft Digital Image Software and I suspect at present, they may want to be stored in the software that came with the CD with the camera ???? My sister, who is much more au fait with such matters, is calling on Tuesday morning and hopefully is going to suss this out for me. So, once again, apologies for not at present being able to answer any questions but hope to do so soon.

In the meantime, Happy New Year and Snapping - all I wish is that I had a neighbour like Gary or one of the others who are always so helpful on the R3 site - I am sure an hour long tutorial would set me right.

Cheers

10:08 am - Saturday, January 7, 2006

#28 athiel

I tested the l55w in a shop and it seems.
It seems that there is no AF in the video modus.
Is this correct?
If so it would impossible to start a movie in a normal situation and ending it with a close up!

5:33 am - Saturday, January 14, 2006

#29 Heidrun

Hi athiel,
why should this movie be impossible? You don't need AF to take a video. Or do you mean that you can't use the flash during movie mode? That would be correct. But the L55W makes quite good videos in low light.
Heidrun

4:54 pm - Saturday, January 14, 2006

#30 Peter UK

For Heidrun or anyone with a Samsung L55W,
Have you made any copies of your movies to DVD DISC for archive and been able to play these DISCS on a DVD player to the TV.
I ask as the L55W records in MPEG 4 and not sure if many dvd players can read that format??Is the output from camera USB to PC MPEG 4? or already converted to a "normal" file type?
I guess you could replay the movie through the AV cable supplied from cam to a DVD recorder to burn a DVD DISC for storage as presumeably the AV output is already converted to a normal analogue signal but maybe this method could lose a bit of the quality???
If you have to convert the MPEG4 movie file to the normal (MPEG2??)format how can you do this simply.I have ROXY DVD Software on my PC.
Look forward to any informed advice.

7:48 pm - Saturday, January 14, 2006

#31 Mario

The same site which gave us the first review of the R3 also has the L55W. Not a very comprehensive review but the L55W would appear to provide acceptable shots at least up to iso 200.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?head=63&page=5298

I like the wide shot and zoom of the bridge.

Decent zoom, compact, acceptable photo quality (though they really seem to bag it.. guess they forgot to compare to the R3 *g*) wide angle and mpeg4 movies. hmmm
We could have the current champion here..

12:07 pm - Sunday, January 15, 2006

#32 GARY POGODA

Mario, better take off those rose-colored glasses and read the review
again. The ISO 50, 100, and 200 were terribly noisy, and then things
got really bad.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?head=63&page=5304

As for noise, the L55W is no better than the R3. As for build quality,
LCD, and movie mode, the L55W is definitely better than the R3.

1:11 pm - Sunday, January 15, 2006

#33 GARY POGODA

I was trying to provide a direct link to page 5 of the review, where it
shows the full res crops, but it didn't work, so you'll have to go there
manually.

1:18 pm - Sunday, January 15, 2006

#34 Mario

This is so painful.
From what I've seen of the Xacti C6 photos, they look ok to me. And I like its video.
Then there's the HD1. Maybe I'll wait for that. Or maybe go into stasis for 5 years until a decent pocket camera comes out.

5:28 pm - Sunday, January 15, 2006

#35 athiel

hi Heidrun,
my Problem is:
It seems that the video has a fixed focus during recording a video.
So if I start recording with a closeup of a face and walk backward during recording, i need a change of the focus! (otherwise the movie gets blurred.

Nice to hear that the l5w makes good videos in low light.

10:08 am - Monday, January 16, 2006

#36 gufoe

Hi all,

I'm an owner of the L55W and IMHO the L55W makes a good work. I wrote a small notice concerning the ISO-problem mentioned in the review at TrustedReviews. You can read it there: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1001&message=16693769

I also loaded up some images: http://service.gmx.net/mc/6ZqO0yRqvXt69PRr6mN2flnrZn5SU4

There you can download it with fullsize.

The L55W is a nice combination of many features. Concerning the widescreen-mode I think, that the L55W has no sensor with widescreen format. The sensor has a standard 4/3-format and in widescreen-mode, the images are cropped above and below and were resized in the x-direction from about 2500 pixels to 2900 pixels. So the 16/9-format is a little kind of a fake, but there is one advantage in comparision to crop the image afterwards on the PC: The exposure will be calculated for 16/9 format during taking a shot. The pixels above and below have no influence for it.

The main disadvantage of the L55W is the small sensor size (1/2,5"), which leads to some noise. So the developer of the L55W programmed a (I think) permanent noise reduction, which helps to get good images with ISO 50-100, but with the antipode of a reduction of details. But it is tolerable, I think (just take a look on my images).

If anyone has a question to the L55W, just ask, maybe I can help you.

Regards, gufoe

5:49 pm - Monday, January 16, 2006

#37 Edgar

I'm thinking of getting this digital camera myself, but I'm also concerned of the quality of the photos. I've been impressed so far ith the quality that I've seen from examples, but then why does the reviewer on the website say that the quality isn't good? Also, how is the video quality? It'd be great if someone could post a quick video using the camera, because I really want to see the quality of it. If anyone can help, that'd be great. I'm thinking of buying this camera soon, I just want to be sure I'll be satisfied and won't be making a mistake by buying it. Thanks!

10:14 pm - Monday, January 16, 2006

#38 Peter UK

Hi Gufoe,
Re. the Samsung L55W do you have an answer to posting No.30 above regarding making a dvd copy of movies from the cam for archive with respect to MPEG4 output/MPEG2 dvd format??
Regards Peter UK

11:29 pm - Monday, January 16, 2006

#39 gufoe

@ Edgar:
Concerning the image quality I think, the images from the L55W are looking rather as 4MP than as 5MP images, because if you look at 100% fullsize images, fine details are missing, if you compare it with images from "good" digital-cameras. But "real" 4 MP are enough for me. The problem with noise, which was mentioned in the TrustedReview article, is not a problem (therefore check my images Camera_ISO50...Camera_ISO400).
The quality of the videos is good (in my opinion), the sound-quality is really perfect! During video record it is possible to use a digital-zoom up to 2x, optical zoom is not possible. I'll will try to make a short test-video and upload it tomorrow.

@ Peter UK:
The videos are named as ".mp4". I just made a test-DVD with one mp4-video from the L55W with the use of Nero Vision Express (the mp4-video could be imported as video-source). Everything was totally easy. Then I tested it in my DVD-player and it works fine . I will try to bring one test-mp4-video from my L55W tomorrow.

Regards, gufoe

12:22 am - Tuesday, January 17, 2006

#40 squire

Hi Gufoe,
Thanks for being so willing to help. I was wondering if you transferred image or video files via a card reader (see post 23)and if so, were there any problems? Thanks.

3:11 am - Tuesday, January 17, 2006

#41 athiel

Hi Gufoe,
thanx great informations and pictures.
Can you tell me something about my question 28 and 35.

The fixed focus problem during videorecording.
I would buy the l55w, if it has an autofocus during videorecording.

8:26 am - Tuesday, January 17, 2006

#42 gufoe

Hi squire,

it is absolutely no problem to read out the SD-Card from the L55W in a standard card-reader. The behaviour and folder-structure on the SD-Card is the same like with many other cameras. But what do you exactly mean? Do you want transfer images to the card (post 23 -> why?) or read them from the card?

11:29 am - Tuesday, January 17, 2006

#43 gufoe

Hi athiel,

unfortunately I found no possibiliy to turn on an automatic focus during video recording. When you start record the L55W firstly focus on the center and then it starts recording. Thereafter no focus adjustment can be seen. If it would be active, then you would hear some noise of the focus which would lead to a bad audio recording. I think this is the reason why the L55W developer leaved out this feature.

I added two samll mp4-videos to my web-folder. Sorry for the boring content - the 1st is only a pan shot in my office room; the 2nd shows one bottle label during I change the distance between the camera and the object. There you can see, that the focus stays the same.
At the moment we have foul weather, so I can not make a beautiful video-shot of my surrounding landscape.

Best regards, gufoe

11:45 am - Tuesday, January 17, 2006

#44 athiel

thanx a lot gufoe,
it seems, that it is a problem starting with a close up.
Nice office room
It seems that the clock is sharp at the end of the video.
May be I buy it t the end of the month.

Thanx again.

2:18 pm - Tuesday, January 17, 2006

#45 GARY POGODA

I am posting this comment at several PhotographyBLOG threads, the
ones where I have spent considerable time over the past few months.

As you know, I've been searching for a camera for my wife's birthday
coming at the end of January. I was looking for an ultra-compact with
a high zoom and minimal red-eye. Some of the cameras I considered
were the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1, the Samsung Digimax L55W, the
HP Photosmart R817, the Nikon Coolpix S4, and the Ricoh Caplio R3.

Unfortunately, all of these cameras were eliminated for one reason or
another, but mostly for their high image noise. It was only at CES that
a camera debuted which caught my eye, the Kodak EasyShare V570.

The V570 is a dual lens, dual CCD, ultra-compact. One lens is a fixed
23mm while the other is a 3x zoom (39 - 117mm), for a 5x total zoom
range. Both lenses are of the folded-optics variety. The V570 also has
two 1/2.5" 5 megapixel CCDs, which do not seem to be plagued by the
excessive noise of similar CCDs. Its in-camera red-eye removal is also
quite good.

If you are interested in reading more about the V570, or about its CCD
noise characteristics (as per a review of the V550 which uses the same
CCD), then check out the links in my comment #20 of the recent "Take
My Wife's Digital Camera" thread (written by yours truly).

http://www.photographyblog.com/index.php/weblog/comments/take_my_wifes_digital_camera/

The camera is not ordered yet, so any feedback you can offer would be
greatly appreciated. I would feel better if the camera had been reviewed
by our own Mark "The Noise Sleuth" Goldstein.

7:34 pm - Tuesday, January 17, 2006

#46 Tori

Thanks a lot Gufoe and the others for the information. I looked up the published photos and videos and I fully with the comments on posting 39.

I have an additional question before I order one - anyone tested a 2GB SD card with this camera? The specs guarantee 1GB, but since there are now quite affordable 2GB high speed cards (I saw on eBay 150X 2GB cards for less than $100) I'd rather order one of those.

8:29 pm - Wednesday, January 18, 2006

#47 gufoe

Hi Tori,

I've no informations if a 2GB-Card works. I think it will be the best to contact the support on http://www.samsungcamera.com/customer/cus_main.asp.

Regards, gufoe

8:55 pm - Wednesday, January 18, 2006

#48 Mattias

I´m about to buy a L55W. But there is one thing i would like to know first. Do you have any possibility to focus manual?

6:08 pm - Friday, January 20, 2006

#49 Squire

Hi Gufoe,
re posts 23, 40 and 42, my interest is being able to read images from a card onto a computer without having to load software on that computer. For example, if you are at a friend's house and take a bunch of pics of his kids, you would want to leave him a copy of those images before leaving. Thanks.

11:47 pm - Friday, January 20, 2006

#50 Edgar

Does anyone know if they sell these at any stores, like best buy, fry's electronics, circuit city, etc? I'd much rather buy one at a local store than online, but if not I guess I'll have to order online. Just asking to see if anyone knows. Hopefully someone does.

4:46 am - Saturday, January 21, 2006

#51 gufoe

@ Matthias:
Unfortunately there is no maunal focus option, but the auto-focus does his work very well (IMHO).

@ Edgar:
I bought my L55W at a german foto-shop called "Bilderfuerst". I read somewhere that the L55W is only distributed in some countries.

3:18 pm - Sunday, January 22, 2006

#52 Gunnar Westholm

Hello. Any coments on Samsung L55W Vs. Kodak V570? I can't decide witch one to go for!

2:08 pm - Tuesday, January 24, 2006

#53 GARY POGODA

I might have a few comments for you since I was considering buying
the L55W for awhile, and more recently the V570, which I came very
close to actually buying.

The biggest negative for both cameras is their noise, since they both
have a tiny (1/2.5") 5 megapixel CCD; however, based on reviews of
the V570, the noise seems to be very well controlled. So, if noise is a
big issue, then the V570 is the clear choice; however, if you print only
4" x 6", or you do not mind doing computer post-processing, noise is
not such a big issue, and other factors come into play.

The L55W has a much more practical 4.8x (28 - 135mm) zoom range
than the V570's 23mm fixed plus 3x (39 - 117mm) zoom range. But if
you intend to do a lot of wide angle shots and/or panoramas, then the
V570's 23mm fixed lens with its built-in panorama photo-stitching is a
really nice feature. Also, if you like to use scene modes, the V570 has
tons of them, not to mention its built-in red-eye removal, which is very
effective at eliminating the red-eye which plagues most small cameras.

The L55W's wide-screen LCD is a really nice feature; however, if your
intended use is to shoot 16:9, the Panasonic LX1 is a better choice with
its 16:9 CCD, and without the overly processed images of the L55W.

If you are into camera docks, the V570 comes with a nice one, as well
as several optional camera/printer docks.

Both cameras are stylish ultra-compacts, but the V570 is the winner in
this category with is two folded-optics lenses and ultra-thin body. When
folded-optics first came out, its images appeared slightly cloudy due to
the addition of a prism in the light path; however, that no longer seems
to be an issue with these cameras.

So it really comes down to your intended use as to which camera is the
better choice. Hope that helps.

3:54 pm - Tuesday, January 24, 2006

#54 Edgar

I've decided I'm purchasing the Samsung Digimax L55W. I do not mind doing computer post-processing, and after all I do a lot of image editing on my computer, so I'm sure I won't have any problems with noise. Besides that, I also usually like my pictures not too small, but at the same time not big, so again, everything will be cool. I'm planning on buying it in a month or two, and I'll post my thoughts on it after I do. Thanks for all the help getting my questions answered,

Edgar

6:23 pm - Saturday, February 4, 2006

#55 GARY POGODA

It sounds like the L55W will be an excellent camera for you, as would
the Ricoh Caplio R3.

7:22 pm - Saturday, February 4, 2006

#56 kato

the L55W does NOT have manual controls, howevere.. that s definitely a problem!

10:02 pm - Friday, February 10, 2006

#57 Bazz in the UK

Can you use the OPTICAL zoom in whilst using movie mode in either of these cameras?

There seems to be a shortage of the L55w in the UK. From the Samsung site I guess it was released about Aug 05 - is it still being manufactured, has it been superseded?

10:01 am - Thursday, February 16, 2006

#58 Maggie

Hi Bazz

Cannot answer as to the Optical Zoom in movie mode but do know that the following company - which is excellent for customer service, does have the L55W in stock
http://www.bestcameras.co.uk and also Jessops feature this model in their current catalogue. I am delighted with mine.

10:32 am - Thursday, February 16, 2006

#59 Shing Kuo

Hi,

I have a L55W and very happy with it. The only problem I have is in video mode, there is a very noticeable echo when the music is very loud (e.g. in a dance club). My friend has a casio which does not have the problem in the same environment.

Anybody know if there is a driver update from Samson to fix the problem?

Thanks,

Shing

6:40 am - Wednesday, April 19, 2006

#60 Edgar

I just got my L55W about a month ago and I am pretty satisfied with it. Image Noise wasn't as much of a problem as I thought it would be, and it isn't as bad as everyone tries to make it out to seem. As for shooting movies with it, I really haven't tried yet. I've mainly been using it to take pictures, so I haven't really messed around with movie mode. I'll try it out and see if I can help you with your problem though.

Does it have anything to do with the sensitivity of the mic? Can you adjust the sensitivity at all? I don't know too much about the camera yet, but I guess I'll skim through the manual once more to see if there is anything on it. As for the driver update, I'm not sure. But like I said, I'll see if I can help.

5:41 pm - Saturday, April 22, 2006

#61 Josev

Shing noted an echo on the video. I too get some - it is quite bad and spoils the sound be it vocal or music. It sounds a bit like you're underwater. I'm wondering if it's to do with the MP4 compression as I never had problems with my other (Canon) camera which used .avi video.

6:08 pm - Wednesday, June 28, 2006