Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 16 megapixel SuperFine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

The Samsung DV300F produced images of good quality during the review period. Noise doesn't become apparent until ISO 400, along with a slight softening of fine detail, with ISO 800 a little worse. The fastest settings of ISO 1600 and 3200 aren't really worth using at all as they suffer from too much smearing of detail.

Chromatic aberrations were well controlled, with some limited purple fringing effects appearing only in very high contrast situations. The 16 megapixel images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpen setting and require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera sharpening level.

Macro performance is good, allowing you to focus as close as 5cm away from the subject. Commendably barrel distortion is well controlled even at the 25mm wide-angle focal length. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and adequate overall exposure.

The anti-shake system works well when hand-holding the DV300F in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The maximum shutter speed of 16 seconds allows the camera to capture enough light for most after-dark situations.

Noise

There are 7 ISO settings available on the Samsung DV300F. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

ISO 80 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Samsung DV300F's 5x zoom lens provides a focal length of 25-125mm in 35mm terms, as demonstrated below.

25mm	125mm

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default sharpening setting. You can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default look.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Samsung DV300F has 3 different image quality settings available, with Superfine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

Superfine (6.24Mb) (100% Crop)	Fine (3.39Mb) (100% Crop)
Normal (2.33Mb) (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Samsung DV300F handled chromatic aberrations well during the review, with limited purple fringing mainly present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.

Chromatic 1 (100% Crop)	Chromatic 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Samsung DV300F offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 5cms away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro	100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Samsung DV300F are Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, Fill-in flash, Slow sync, Flash off, and Red eye fix.

Forced Off - Wide Angle (25mm)	Forced On - Wide Angle (25mm)
Forced Off - Telephoto (125mm)	Forced On - Telephoto (125mm)

Here are a couple of portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Auto setting or the Red Eye Fix option caused any amount of red-eye.

Auto	Auto (100% Crop)
Red eye fix	Red eye fix (100% Crop)

Photo Filters

The Samsung DV300F offers an extensive range of in-camera creative filters which are applied to the image as you take it.

Miniature	Vignetting
Ink Painting	Oil Painting
Cartoon	Cross Filter
Sketch	Soft Focus
Fish-eye	Old Film
Half Tone Dot	Classic
Retro	Zooming Shot

Live Panorama

The Samsung DV300F can create a 180 degree panorama by holding down the shutter button and slowly moving the camera to one side (horizontally or vertically).

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hd video, hd, 3 inch LCD, compact, 720p, 16 megapixel, beginner, hdmi, 5x zoom, camera, wi-fi, wireless, samsung, wi fi, dual view, front LCD, dual screen, Samsung DV300F Review, DV300, DV 300F, DV300F