Pentax Optio WS80
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1
Casio EX-Z450
Nikon Coolpix S640
Canon PowerShot S90
Canon PowerShot G11
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7
Canon EOS 7D
Canon PowerShot SX20 IS
Samsung Pro815 Announced
Samsung Pro815 is unveiled. The Samsung Pro815 is an 8 megapixel digital camera with a 15x Schneider-KREUZNACH optical zoom lens equivalent to 28-420mm on a 35mm camera and a massive 3.5” TFT LCD screen and an electronic viewfinder. The Pro815 comes with the world’s largest-capacity 1900mAh, 7.4V lithium-ion battery which enables shooting of up to 500 frames on a full charge. In addition the Samsung Pro815 has a 1.44 inch LCD on the top of the camera to enable waist-level shooting. High speed mode ensures steady shooting even in tele-zoom, as the Pro815 automatically increases the sensitivity up to a maximum of ISO 800. Three rings surrounding the lens control manual zoom, manual focusing and EV compensation, providing you with direct control of manual operations on the Pro815. Price and availability of the Samsung Pro815 to be announced.
Samsung Press Release
Samsung Camera releases the best-in-class 8 mega-pixel digital camera - Pro815
Samsung Camera has announced that the company will release the world’s longest (15X) optical zoom 8 megapixel high-end digital camera (model name: Pro815), targeting enthusiast photographers, later this year. The Pro815, offers unrivalled features and performance and is beyond comparison to other cameras in the same class. This marks the pinnacle of Samsung Camera’s product range for 2005.
The Pro815 is equipped with a 15X optical zoom with a focal length of 28-420mm(35mm equivalent), this means you can shoot from wide angle to telephoto with one lens. Normally it is not possible to incorporate both 28mm wide-angle and 420mm tele-zoom capabilities in an average high-end camera, since they generally, only come with a 7-8X zoom. With SLR systems, different lenses need to be switched to shoot wide-angle and ultra high zoom pictures, this means carrying lots of equipment, missing some shots due to lens changeover and buying multiple lenses. The Pro815 has four low-dispersion glass lenses specially manufactured to minimize chromatic aberration that can occur when wide-angle and ultra high zoom are supported at the same time. In addition, it employs 2 aspherical lenses for the correction of spherical aberration and lateral colours for the entire zoom range from wide to tele. This world-renowned Schneider-KREUZNACH lens offers outstanding reliability. This lens combined with the high-sensitivity CCD means the Pro815 provides the best image quality possible in its class.
Another feature of the Pro815 is that it has the world’s largest 3.5” TFT LCD used in a digital camera. Conventional high-end or SLR cameras use a relatively small 1.8-2.0” LCD and the screen does not show the shot at the point of taking the picture for SLR. With the Pro815, anybody can easily take a picture and view images through its large LCD, the large LCD is also a real benefit for better composition. By using Transmissive with Micro Reflective(TMR) technology, it can be displayed at bright condition outdoors.
This, coupled with the 16.7million true colours supported means you can share your images with other people because the viewing angle is wide and the colours are well reproduced. There is also an electronic viewfinder. The Pro815 comes with the world’s largest-capacity 1900mAh, 7.4V lithium-ion battery included. A large-capacity battery is a must because this camera encourages you to take more pictures. On a full charge this battery can enable shooting of up to 500 frames (based on CIPA standard), before further charging is required.
Another great feature of the Pro815 is waist-level shooting, enabled by its top LCD. The 1.44” wide colour TFT LCD of the Pro815 displays a preview screen in real time, allowing the waist-level shooting style often adopted by professional photographers. This LCD position enables high-level shooting as well as taking pictures from various angles. The top LCD can also be used as a status LCD to display shooting data. Since the required information is available on the LCD at all times, you can shoot a subject or choose a desired function more quickly.
The High speed mode provided by the Pro815 ensures steady shooting even in tele-zoom. The camera has a highsensitivity 2/3” CCD and a large high-performance lens. When High speed mode is selected, the Pro815 automatically increases the sensitivity up to max ISO 800, depending on the surrounding exposure and focal length.
Employing an exclusive low-noise processing algorithm, the Pro815 ensures superb image quality with low noise, even at ISO 800. In addition, in High speed mode, a faster shutter speed enables sharp shooting of fast moving targets.
The Pro815 achieves the fastest response times in its class. Its startup and shot-to-shot speeds have been reduced to 1.0 second and 1.3 second respectively, and it delivers a fast AF speed of lower than 1.0 second even in tele-zoom mode by utilizing a passive AF sensor. The shutter release lag of 0.05 seconds lets you capture those shots without fail.
The Pro815 includes high-speed continuous shooting at 2.5 frames/sec, normal continuous shooting that lets you shoot while viewing an image taken on the LCD, and ultra high speed continuous shooting that allows you to shoot up to ten 1Megapixel-sized images per second. As it has high-speed USB 2.0 connectivity, images taken can be transferred to a PC quickly.
The Pro815 offers comprehensive manual photography features that should meet all the needs of aspiring photographers. Manual exposure(Aperture/Shutter/Manual) and manual focus control features are included as standard. Three rings surrounding the lens controls manual zoom, manual focusing and EV compensation, provide you with direct control of manual operations. The dual jog system, which is used to control aperture and shutter speed, also delivers precision in manual operation. The camera has various focusing modes including AF Lock, Continuous AF and Select Area AF. Its direct manual focusing feature lets you switch to manual focusing from AF instantly by turning the manual focus ring. In addition, bracketed shooting is allowed for exposure, focus and white
balance. In particular, white balance is available in Preset, Custom and Colour Temperature Adjust modes. This lets you express colours exactly as you want. Contrast and saturation can also be controlled for creative expression in the depth of colour required. The camera supports Adobe RGB color space as well as an 8 MP non-compressed RAW file, making it the perfect choice for enthusiast image output.
The Display mode of the Pro815, which utilizes a large 3.5” LCD, extends its application potential even further. In contrast to the normal 9-thumbnail screen, the Pro815 has a 25-thumbnail display, allowing you to search for a desired picture more quickly. The camera also offers histogram display for checking and adjusting an exposure, and grid display for easier image composition.
In particular, the exclusive features are Review Shot mode, that lets you set the optimal image composition while viewing an image just taken, together with the technical details: and a display mode that allows you just to display an image in the centre of the screen, and place the icons and other screen information at the edges of the screen. The Pro815 is equipped with a high-powered built in flash to let you obtain a perfectly exposed picture even in dark environments. The Pro815 not only has a powerful flash that allows shooting at up to 7.7m(wide settings) but can also compensate a flash light by +_2EV depending on the surrounding exposure environment.
Not content with delivering a truly all round still picture experience the Pro815 supports video recording to VGA screen size with stereo sound.
A rich and varied set of accessories enhances the Pro815 offer even further. First, a lens hood, essential for outdoor photography, is included and can be reversed to make it easier to carry
when the camera is not being used. A lens adapter for general-purpose filter mounting and lens cap for lens protection are also included. The optional external flash(SEF-42A) is a large-capacity flash that follows Guide No. 42, and its angle can be adjusted for creative use of flash lighting. In addition, an optional external remote control can also be purchased. The external remote control can be operated to the side of the camera as well as with the front. A luxury case can also be purchased separately.
The launch of the new Pro815 is a brilliant achievement from Samsung Camera, based on the technology it has refined through compact digital camera development. The launch of the Pro815 by Samsung Camera will add a truly aspirational camera for enthusiasts to its already strong compact camera product lines.
Pentax Optio WS80 Review
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 Review
Casio EX-Z450 Review
Nikon Coolpix S640 Review
Canon PowerShot S90 Review
Pentax K-x
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1
Ricoh CX2
#101 Salvador
For a few days nobody is writing any new input to the 815 blog, personally, I I lost my interest in that camera, and I know for sure I'm not going to buy it, but I'm still curious to know if other people is sharing the same feeling; in other words, is deceived and is going to buy another camera instead.
Shoul it be consequence of having tested it, as I did? or just bored of waiting for a good sample or review?
Salvador
12:45 am - Monday, November 7, 2005
#102 Alexander
Some of the current camera owners enjoy it, some not. The main complains are lack of image stabilization and image noise - as it have been expected before. The first Russian Pro815 user told that he has been told by Samsung people at the conference that the camera used Sony CCD matrix. If so, the in-camera algorithms are the reason of such a noise. So, one should set less in-camera sharpness or shoot in RAW. But the lack of IS is not curable without camera redesign.
It seems that dpreview is going to have a review of the camera - they have compared it with FZ30 in FZ30 test.
3:28 pm - Monday, November 7, 2005
#103 Mikey
Would be nice if the Pro815 noise problems were entirely due to software, but I would not be too sure. You have to have some REALLY bad algorithms to INTRODUCE noise into the picture. Usually poor noise reduction will result in loss of detail, like say the Panasonic FZ30, which produces much cleaner pictures if shooting RAW and cleaning up noise in post-processing.
Just because they use a relatively clean Sony CCD does not mean that the picture will automatically be as clean as that produced by the other cameras using the same CCD. A CCD is an analog device, so the analog circuitry around it can introduce noise. So don't automatically rely on RAW just because the camera uses a CCD known to be relatively clean in other cameras.
3:09 pm - Tuesday, November 8, 2005
#104 John
Got Pro 815 last week. Intial observations:
Focussing: AF very hesitant. It seems confused with a variety of subjects. I have even experienced the camera confirming focus, yet the image is unsharp. Could be a faulty unit?
RAW files take an age to write to the card, rendering the camera unusable in the meantime.
Chromatic aberration: Lots of it!
ISO 400 Noisy..very noisy!
Here are some samples:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samsungpro815
1:13 pm - Tuesday, November 15, 2005
#105 Ross
Come on guys, get a grip on life.
Im still looking for Image Stablisation on my F4. If my memory serves me correct i managed for 30 years without it.
Noise when shooting in the dark - is it REALLY such a big issue? In Australia this is a 1200 dollar camera. You can remove noise with photoshop if you know what your doing, and if you want to shoot in the dark with no noise then spend TEN TIMES the money and buy a different camera.
You guys have been spoilt by the digital revolution....
9:35 am - Saturday, January 7, 2006
#106 nick in japan
Ross, time to test a pro-level Nikon digital! Your wonderful lenses will slip right on! I love my F4 too, but soon, Nikon will not support repair for them!
The Pro815 is not a quality camera, lottsa better choices, for sure.
I got "Spoilt" about 3 years ago, it's your time now Ross, you wont regret it. You dont have to trade the F4 in, use it from time to time, it deserves, at least, that!
10:29 am - Saturday, January 21, 2006
#107 Ross
Nick,
Im sorry mate, I just don’t see it. I know everyone scoffs at the idea of a good camera from a “white goods” manufacturer. But this is post digital revolution. NONE of the old values hold true. Are Nikon digitals really that good? Not the ones I have looked at! The only real advantage is the use of Nikon lenses. Apart from that Nikon are just another manufacturer with a nice impressive label on the front.
Many years ago when I took up the hobby an old pro told me “work on composition. Use a cheap old camera, and learn how to take good photographs with it. The same holds true today. I take better pictures with a cheap2Mp pocket digital than I do with my Olympus E10.
1:41 pm - Saturday, January 21, 2006
#108 Salvador Frigola
Hi folks,
Upon my experience, I must say I agree 100% with Ross, I think more or less what he says about Nikon, referred to nearly all the "Prestigious branded" cameras coming from the film times and manufacturing digicams now.
I think the only diferent ones are the Foveon based Sigmas (SD-9, SD-10).
Who tested them (and I did) will agree with me that are
"SOMETHING DIFFERENT" despite their problems, but all the others, from the cheap point-and-shoot to the most expensive ones, have similar pixel poor resolution problems that the film cameras didn't have.
Obviously the higher photosites number the smaller is the lack of resolution, but I think the digital photography will not achieve a higher degree of progress untill they are not able to produce and use a
well-working-non-interpolating-sensor.
Sony W-1 , Panasonic DMC-FZ30, and feeling sick for not having bought a SD10 --buah...buah..
http://community.webshots.com/user/sfrigola2
SALVADOR
4:12 pm - Saturday, January 21, 2006
#109 nick in japan
Ross.. Please look at the tests done with the Nikon D2Hs, or the image results from the Canon 10/20Ds. I personally use the Canons, the Nikons amaze me. I started out with Canon, because of the lenses I have, I'm staying with them, but I may try out a Nikon in the future, just for use with my 300 2.8 ED AF. Nikon has perfected their CMOS sensor, lottsa pros are VERY happy, as well as Canon users. Good shooting mate!!
Semper Fi
11:30 pm - Saturday, January 21, 2006
#110 Ross
As much as I applaud the defence of Nikon, I note s degree of panic and desperation in the comments. It’s the same panic and desperation I saw in typewriter salesmen when then encountered the PC for the first time. The analogy is quite striking. The inial reaction was “the PC will never replace the typewriter”. Then it was “we can build a better PC”. Then it became “we give up”.
Nikon are currently at the “we can build better” stage. I heard they tried to sell out to Sony last year, so maybe they are getting close to the “lets give up”! (Just as I write this Konika Minolta announced they had given up)!!!!!
Allow me to make two points.
Firstly, if Nikon had made a 16 Mp full size CCD DSLR 2 years ago I would have had faith in their ability to survive. They didn’t.. Today the entire range of Nikon digitals are outmatched by cheaper competitors. Do Nikon make a large screen, 8Mp long zoom camera for AUD1300? No!!!
Secondly, the measuring guides and selection criteria we used to determine quality in the analog days are worthless in the digital era. It’s a different world, and its restarted with as level playing field.
I owned my share of good Nikons. EM, FE, F501, F50, F4. Its like having owned a steam engine 100 years ago. I don’t see myself buying a stream engine, or a Nikon again.
6:41 am - Sunday, January 22, 2006
#111 Ross
as a quick addition to my piece. when will Nikon offer anti shake and ultrasonic mirror cleaning. Or is that too advanced for them?
7:38 am - Sunday, January 22, 2006
#112 nick in japan
Sorry you are so full of resentment, venting your frustrations reflect other problems.
Maybe those 2 antiques you are using are part of the problem, maybe not!
8:32 am - Sunday, January 22, 2006
#113 Ross
Nick,
i am not full of resentment, however I am sometimes saddened to see photographers chase technology at the expense of learning how to take good photographs. Before the digital revolution I used to laugh at the guys carrying Leicas and Contax, because 9 times out of 10 they took DREADFUL photos. They honestly thought that they could buy their way to perfection. Now the same goons chase megapixels and spout about noise.
9:31 am - Sunday, January 22, 2006
#114 nick in japan
We Goons are very upset that manufacturers have not provided the basic quality of an image free of noise in compact and medium priced consumer cameras, we deserve better! In todays market place you get what you pay for. When you need detail in the shadows and want all the tonal levels that you can, it cannot be accomplished with the lower quality sensors, read that as CCDs. Nikon perfected the CMOS sensor of 4mp , and got rich from pros that used it with satisfaction. Your degree of quality appears to be at a different level than most photographers, and that is OK! I am happy that you are happy with your pictures! That is the bottom line!
Most of us believe that quality yeilds quality, one of my favorite lenses is the Canon 50mm 1.8 at one end of the spectrum and , also, the 180mm macro at the other, cost wise. I admire them equally.
It's not the tool, its how you use it, BUT, it has to have a degree of quality to begin with.
9:52 am - Sunday, January 22, 2006
#115 Ross
Hi Nick,
I am an engineer, working in the IT field,. I probably know more about what happens inside a DSLR than the average guy in the street. I know why you don’t get basic quality on a DSLR. Here are 3 reasons:
Removable lenses are a disaster for a CCD. They carry electrostatic charges, and attract dust. You have to clean them. For this reason they have a plastic cover. This causes all sorts of problems with reflected light, and refractions. Fix the lens on the body, take the cover away, and you remove the problem. Olympus worked this out as early as my E10! And yet people still bitch about any camera that doesn’t have removable lenses. I looked at an old D1 the other day. The CCD was shot, scratched to hell.
The use of standard 35mm lenses on a DSLR isn’t too good an idea either. The lens is now far closer to the CCD. Sixty years of optical development work to ensure that the full spectrum of light on the entire image is in perfect alignment and focus, goes out the window. Ever noticed the fringing on a DSLR? Or the brightness falling off towards the edges? Of course the lens manufacturers didn’t tell anyone this in the early days, because they wanted to keep selling lenses. Now they offer DSLR specific lenses. But people keep telling me they can get good results using any old 35mm lens, then blame the camera for the fringing.
Meanwhile manufactures are busy convincing us that “more megapixels” is better. It isn’t. Image quality depends upon the size of the output file. The more the megabytes, the better the quality, because there is less “loss” compression used to generate the output. But that’s harder to say to a potential buyer in a camera shop, so we keep upping the Mp count. The compression algorithms are required cos the manufacturers don’t like adding the extra RAM needed to hold the image in processing. But a 50% increase in the size of the CCD means a doubling in the number of Mp, and output file. So the manufacturers use even more aggressive compression algorithms. Ever looked at the output file of a #### 6Mp and 8Mp camera and noticed that they are the same? Then noticed that the image quality is the same? That’s because the first stage algorithm compresses the data (and thus the quality) down to the same size. What you are losing is quality.
10:19 am - Sunday, January 22, 2006
#116 Ross
but you are right, i dont have very high technical standards in my photography. But Im happy.
10:23 am - Sunday, January 22, 2006
#117 Jan
I thought that this was a forum about:
Samsung Pro815 Announced ?????????
So, please stick to the subject please...
10:25 am - Sunday, January 22, 2006
#118 nick in japan
The 815 has been announced and discussed, probably nothing more to say about it. Sure is an interesting thread tho, Ross is a wealth of information! Whatta education!!
Ross, Fringing was a problem with the F-828, they really screwed up bigtime when they made RGB sensors for everyone else and kept that wierd RGBE sensor. I know how to control it but fringing is much more evident in high contrast shots.
I agree with you, intregal lens is the future,and Nikon proved your point about pixel count... There is actually a site for images taken at ASA 3200 from the Nikon CMOS sensor... AWESOME!!
10:44 am - Sunday, January 22, 2006
#119 GARY POGODA
I do not think the problem is the size of the RAM needed for buffering
higher megapixel images, as much as it is the speed of the camera's
internal processor, hence the usual crawl speeds when shooting TIFF
or RAW.
BTW, I think much of this discussion is related to the Pro815. Samsung
did the right thing by making it a fixed lens system, but they screwed up
by cramming a couple too many megapixels onto its 2/3" CCD (at least
they should have used a slightly more aggressive noise reduction), and
according to Ross, the Pro815's biggest flaw, its lack of IS, might not be
a deal breaker.
If you still think this is nothing more than unrelated babble, it could have
been much worse. At least this is (semi) intelligent unrelated babble.
1:57 pm - Sunday, January 22, 2006
#120 nick in japan
Gary... I didn't know you cared!! It could have been ALOT worse!!!!
20D has Normal and PTP, do you really think it will work??? Transfer at original pixel count?
2:07 pm - Sunday, January 22, 2006
#121 Ross
Sorry to drift off the topic of the announcement of the new Samsung Jan, maybe I should just scan in the company brochure and post that!
I agree Gary, the internal processing is a major part of the problem. My 4 megapixel E10 delivers 12 Mb of data from the CCD at 10 bits. The final output in JPEG is 2.3Mp That’s a lot of compression.
But what the general public don’t know is that there is compression within the process. There are a series of image manipulation routines to match colours (CCDs in the raw state are highly sensitive to red, but less so to blue for instance. To speed things up (and avoid having tp put a lot of “holding area” RAM in the camera) the image is compressed in the analog to digital stage, and then uncompressed in the final stage.
Incidentally, do you know that CCDs were originally developed as the “third” guidance system (terrain recognition) for Cruise missiles? The other two systems being inertia navigation and GPS.
12:03 am - Monday, January 23, 2006
#122 nick in japan
From my feedback info from a Canadian user, Salvador's entries (#100) reflect the same opinions. Slow processing and screen black-out were frustrating.
Samsung seems to be on the right track, but like most others, skimp in some areas, producing , just a so-so camera that is hard to brag about, to say the least!
12:28 am - Monday, January 23, 2006
#123 Ross
I agree Nick,
but until nikon/Canon start building what i really want (fixed good quality lens, huge buffer, full size CCD/CMOS, bloody big battery, large monitor screen, very high quality imaging) I am going to buy cheap and dirty cameras.
lets face it, putting a videocam battery in a camera body is not rocket science. Large (good) LCD screens are on every PDA, and have been for years. the fixed lens argument has been known for 10 years. I am not going ot get milked of my money by these comedians. when they get it right I will buy their expensive cameras. at the moment they are wallowing in the mud with no name manufacturers. I hope Nikon read this, cos im not the only guy thinking like this....
12:41 am - Monday, January 23, 2006
#124 nick in japan
No battery pack needed on the 20D, also I opted for the sensor due to the fact that I shoot lottsa telephoto stuff and the 1.6x factor is great with "Bigma"
The Sigma doesnt get taken off reducing the dust possibility.
I suggest you read some reviews on the 20D, you may be enlightened.
Your creative skills are going to waste, lottsa great shots out there passing by, the tools we decide use reflect our appreciation of life.... life is just a memory.
12:57 am - Monday, January 23, 2006
#125 Ross
Let me get this right:
I can buy a AUD2000 Canon camera, buy the add on BP-511 / BP-511A / BP-512 / BP-514 battery pack for a further AUD500, buy a $1000 Sigma lens and superglue it onto the mount, and if i look REALLY REALLY REALLY hard I might see a little less noise at ISO800.
Boy, I have been missing something.....
3:43 am - Monday, January 23, 2006
#126 nick in japan
Too much glue sniffing , Ross. The 20D comes with a battery that will allow 3000 images, no battery pack needed!
Lottsa Great lenses available, I recommend the 170-500 Sigma, and a 12mm spacer so you can get closer ( You'll lose infinity tho, but it sure is nice for shots of about 5-60 ft.) also recommend the 50mm 1.8, a GREAT lens used by alot of pros!
As an engineer, you probably will need to superglue a lens in place rather than putting up with all those electrostatic dust particles that are always busy scratching up sensors!
There is no noise at ASA 800!
Good luck Mate! Good shooting for you!
Gomenasai if haven't been able to help!
Sayonara!
4:11 am - Monday, January 23, 2006
#127 Ross
3000 images. Surely you mean 300?
even so, that is pretty impressive. The PRO815 is good for 500 shots.
The Samsung has a 7.4V 1900 mA Li battery.
the Canon 20 has a 7.4V 1390 mA Li Battery
But even if i leave off the AUD500 battery pack, the PRO814 is 40% of the cost. Im almost AUD2000 better off - enough for a trip to Yokahama in April!
5:01 am - Monday, January 23, 2006
#128 nick in japan
Gomen a poo-poo, I meant 1000 shots, 700 @ 1/2 with flash!
They dont sell Samsung products here in Iwakuni, you would be able to get your's repaired, maybe in Tokyo, maybe.
6:09 am - Monday, January 23, 2006
#129 Andrey
Is there anyone, who tride to make photos of insects, spiders and small objects by this camera
8:11 am - Tuesday, March 13, 2007
#130 Canon EOS owner
Hi Andrey! I already have tired to make pictures about similar small objects in the manual mode. I have to say, that I am pleased with the result.
10:13 am - Wednesday, April 4, 2007
#131 Canon EOS owner
Just one more sentence. If you are in the basic status as photographer, you can learn very good things at digital photography source!
10:17 am - Wednesday, April 4, 2007