Samsung WB5000 Review
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 12 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.
The Samsung WB5000 produced images of average quality during the review period. Noise is by far the main problem, being obvious at the relatively slow speed of ISO 100 and then becoming progressively worse at the faster settings of 200 and 400. By ISO 800 the images have become almost unusable, and it's best just to diregard the 1600-6400 settings completely.
Chromatic aberrations were quite well controlled, with some purple fringing effects appearing in high contrast situations. The 12 megapixel images were a little soft straight out of the camera and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can increase the in-camera sharpening level.
Macro performance is a standout highlight, allowing you to focus as close as 1cm away from the subject. Barrel distortion at the 26mm wide-angle focal length is obvious in our white wall test shots, although there is a Distortion menu option which partially removes this unwanted effect. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure.
Anti-shake works very well when hand-holding the WB5000 in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of that huge zoom range. The maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds easily allows the camera to capture enough light for most after-dark situations.
The Samsung WB5000 allows you to record RAW files, but it takes around 10 seconds to write a single image to the memory card, and it automatically limits the ISO range to 64-400.
Noise
There are 8 ISO settings available on the Samsung WB5000 for JPEG files, and 4 ISO settings for RAW files. ISO 3200 and 6400 are only available at lower resolutions (5 and 3 megapixels respectively). Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.
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ISO 64 (100% Crop) |
ISO 64 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 3200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 6400 (100% Crop) |
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Focal Range
The Samsung WB5000's 24x zoom lens offers an incredibly versatile focal range, as illustrated by these examples:
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26mm |
624mm |
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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 soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level.
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Original (100% Crop) |
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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File Quality
The Samsung WB5000 has 3 different JPEG image quality settings available, with Fine 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.
| 12M Super Fine (5.8Mb) (100% Crop) | 12M Fine (3.8Mb) (100% Crop) |
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| 12M Normal (2.5Mb) (100% Crop) | 12M RAW (17.3Mb) (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Samsung WB5000 handled chromatic aberrations fairly well during the review, with some purple fringing present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.
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Example 1 (100% Crop) |
Example 2 (100% Crop) |
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Macro
The Samsung WB5000 offers a Super Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is just 1cm 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.
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Macro Shot |
100% Crop |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Samsung WB5000 are Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, Fill-in flash, Slow sync, Flash off, Red eye fix. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Off - Wide Angle (26mm) |
Fill-in - Wide Angle (26mm) |
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Off - Telephoto (624mm) |
Fill-in - Telephoto (624mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Auto or the Red eye fix settings caused any red-eye.
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Auto |
Auto (100% Crop) |
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Red eye fix |
Red eye fix (100% Crop) |
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Night
The Samsung WB5000's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds in the Manual and Shutter Priority modes, which is great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 16 seconds at ISO 64.
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Night Shot |
100% Crop |
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Anti Shake
The Samsung WB5000 has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here are some 100% crops of the images to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
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Shutter Speed / Focal Length |
Anti Shake Off (100% Crop) |
Anti Shake On (100% Crop) |
| 1/5th / 26mm | |
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| 1/4th sec / 128mm | |
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Sample Images
This is a selection of sample images from the Samsung WB5000 camera, which were all taken using the 12 megapixel Super Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.
Sample RAW Images
The Samsung WB5000 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Samsung RAW (DNG) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).
1/125s · f/4.5 · ISO 64
220mm
Download original
1/10s · f/2.8 · ISO 200
26mm
Download original
1/100s · f/4.5 · ISO 64
220mm
Download original
1/250s · f/4 · ISO 64
105mm
Download original
1/60s · f/4 · ISO 125
71mm
Download original
1/400s · f/4 · ISO 64
95mm
Download original
1/80s · f/4.5 · ISO 125
129mm
Download original
1/30s · f/2.8 · ISO 160
26mm
Download original
1/13s · f/2.8 · ISO 320
26mm
Download original
1/10s · f/4.5 · ISO 400
129mm
Download original
1/80s · f/2.8 · ISO 64
26mm
Download original
1/30s · f/4.5 · ISO 200
162mm
Download original
Sample Movie & Video
This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 640x480 at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 15 second movie is 17.8Mb in size.
As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.
Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.
Product Images
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Front of the Camera |
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Front of the Camera / Flash Raised |
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Front of the Camera / Lens Extended |
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Isometric View |
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Isometric View |
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Rear of the Camera |
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Rear of the Camera / Turned On |
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Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed |
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Rear of the Camera / Main Menu |
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Rear of the Camera / Function Menu |
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Top of the Camera |
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Bottom of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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Front of the Camera |
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Front of the Camera |
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Memory Card Slot |
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Battery Compartment |
Conclusion
The Samsung WB5000 is one of those cameras that turns out to be better on paper than it is in the flesh, offering a compelling list of features that turn out to be rather half-baked. That's not to say that it's a bad camera, particularly for novice users, but more experienced snappers attracted by the manual shooting and RAW mode will be disappointed by the WB5000.
Top of the list of gripes is the excruciatingly slow RAW file processing times - we haven't experienced a wait like this for at least a couple of generations of cameras. 10 seconds or longer is simply too much to bear for everyone except those with the patience of several saints. Add in the inexplicably limited ISO range of 64-400 in RAW mode, and it seems that this feature has been added just to attract the attention of a wider audience.
The WB5000 makes much more sense as a JPEG shooting camera, but sadly even here it doesn't come up to scratch. There's unwanted noise in evidence even at the relatively slow speed of ISO 100, and by 400 and faster the degradation in image quality is plain for all to see. Again, we haven't seen such bad results from a 12 megapixel small-sensor camera for quite a while. In most other regards the WB5000 delivers good if not outstanding results, but the noise is simply too obvious to get away from.
Which leaves us with a well-specced, fairly stylish and light super-zoom camera that unfortunately can't match its main rivals in several fundamental areas. With an RRP of £349 / $399.99, the WB5000 doesn't even have the usual Samsung advantage of being able to undercut the competition financially. Instead you should avoid the WB5000 and take a look at our Main Rivals page for a selection of better alternatives.
| Ratings (out of 5) | |
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| Design | 4 |
| Features | 4.5 |
| Ease-of-use | 3.5 |
| Image quality | 3 |
| Value for money | 3 |
Review Roundup
Reviews of the Samsung WB5000 from around the web.
reviews.cnet.co.uk »
Chasing a bigger slice of the digital-camera market, Samsung's added a long-range superzoom to its range. But the WB5000 doesn't really add anything to this sector that other makers haven't done already, and it's not the cheapest device of its type, either.
Read the full review »
Specifications
| Image sensor | Type | 1/2.33" (7.83mm) CCD | |
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| Effective Pixel | Approx. 12.47 Mega-pixel | ||
| Total Pixel | Approx. 12.70 Mega-pixel | ||
| Lens | Focal Length | Schneider-Kreuznach Lens f = 4.6 ~ 110.4mm (35mm film equivalent: 26 ~ 624mm), 24x Zoom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| F No. | F 2.8 (W) ~ 5.0 (T) | ||
| Digital Zoom | Still Image mode: 1x ~ 5x Play mode: 1x ~ 12.5x (depends on image size) | ||
| Focusing | Type | TTL auto focus (Multi AF, Center AF, Face Detection AF, Tracking AF, Selection AF) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Range | Normal: 80cm ~ infinity (Wide), 170cm ~ infinity (Tele) Macro:10cm ~ 80cm (Wide), 80cm ~ 150cm (Macro Tele) Auto Macro: 10cm ~ Infinity (Wide), 80cm ~ Infinity (Macro Tele) Super Macro: 1 ~ 10cm Manual Focus: 10cm ~ Infinity | ||
| Exposure | Compensation | ±2EV (1/3EV steps) | |
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| Control | Program AE | ||
| ISO Equivalent | Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 (up tp 5M), 6400 (up to 3M) | ||
| Metering | Multi, Spot, Center Weighted, Face Detection AE | ||
| Flash | Modes | Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, Fill-in flash, Slow sync, Flash off, Red eye fix | |
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| Recharging Time | Approx. 5 sec. | ||
| Range | Wide: 0.3m ~ 6.0m, Tele: 0.5m ~ 3.0m (ISO AUTO) | ||
| Storage | Media | Internal Memory: About 20MB External Memory (Optional): SD (up to 4GB guaranteed) SDHC (up to 8GB guaranteed)* Internal memory capacity is subject to change without prior notice. | |
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| File format | Still Image: RAW (DNG1.1), JPEG (DCF), EXIF 2.21, DPOF 1.1, PictBridge 1.0 Movie Clip: H.264 (AVC) Audio: WAV | ||
| Image Size | 12M: 4000 x 3000 pixels, 10M P: 3984 x 2656 pixels 9M W: 3968 x 2232 pixels, 8M: 3264 x 2448 pixels 5M: 2592 x 1944 pixels, 3M: 2048 x 1536 pixels 2MW: 1920 x 1080 pixels, 1M: 1024 x 768 pixels | ||
| Interface | Audio | Microphone: StereoInternal Speaker: Mono | |
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| Digital output connector | USB 2.0 | ||
| Video Out | AV: NTSC, PAL (user selectable) | ||
| DC power input | 4.4V | ||
| Cradle | N/A | ||
| Physical Specification | Dimensions (WxHxD) | 116.1 x 82.8 x 91.1mm (excluding protrusions) | |
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| Weight | 398g (without battery and card) | ||
| Operating Temperature | 0 ~ 40 °C | ||
| Operationg Humidity | 5 ~ 85% | ||
| Display | Type | TFT LCD | |
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| Feature | 3" (7.62cm) 230K | ||
| Movie Clip | Recording | With Audio or without Audio (Max Recording time: 20min in HQ Movie) Size: High Quality-1280 x 720 (30fps & 15fps) Standard Quality-640 x 480 (30fps & 15fps), 320 x 240 (60fps & 30fps) (With 24x Optical Zoom) Setting: Movie Stabilizer, Dynanic Range* Due to the noise while optical zooming, user can select to record sound or not. | |
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| Effect | Color Style: Normal, Soft, Vivid, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, Classic, Negative, Custom | ||
| Edit | Pause during Playing, Still Image Capture, Time Trimming | ||
| Still Image | Shooting | Mode : Smart Auto, P, M, A-S, USER1, USER2, Scene, Beautyshot, NightScene Recognition : Portrait, Night Portrait, Night, Backlight Portrait, Backlight, Landscape, White, Macro, Macro Text, Tripod, ActionScene : Frame Guide, Portrait, Children, Landscape, Text, Close-up, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Fireworks, Beach & SnowContinuous : Single, Continuous, HS Continuous, AEB, Motion CaptureSelf-timer : 2 sec., 10 sec., Double | |
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| Effect | Color Style : Normal, Soft, Vivid, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, Classic, Negative, CustomImage Adjust : Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation (5 steps), Beauty shot, Dynamic Range | ||
| Edit | Image Edit : Resize, Rotate, TrimmingColor Style : Normal, Soft, Vivid, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, Classic, Negative, CustomImage Adjust : Face Retouch, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Red Eye Fix, ACB | ||
| Special Feature | • 26mm wide, 24x Zoom Lens with Dual IS (OIS+DIS) • Scene Recognition - Smart Auto Mode • Face Recognition • Perfect Portrait System - Face Recognition, Beauty Shot (Playback Retouch), Face Detection & Self Portrait, Blink Detection & Smile Detection • High Definition Movie Recording - H.264, 720 (30fps), Stereo Mic. • Smart Dial UI • Full maual functions - WB control, MF control, RAW File Format, Etc • ISO 6400 (3M) • Function Description • Frame Guide, Smart Album, Recycle Bin (Only JPEG Format) • Dynamic Range, ACB |
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| System Requirement in general | For Windows | PC with processor better than Pentium? 500MHz (Pentiumlll 800MHz recommended) Windows 2000 / XP / Vista 250MB of available hard-disk space (Over 1GB recommend) Minimum 256MB RAM (Over 512MB recommended) USB port CD-ROM drive 1024 x 768 pixels, 16-bit color display compatible monitor (24-bit color display recommended) Microsoft DirectX 9.0c or later | |
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| For Macintosh | Power Mac G3 or later Mac OS 10.4 or higher Minimum 256MB RAM 110MB of available hard-disk space USB port CD-ROM drive | ||
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