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(More customer reviews)After a month of wrestling with trying to get a problem-free Samsung S730, I have really mixed feelings about this camera, but I like the one I have. The problem is, there are pronounced manufacturing irregularities that cause one camera to perform differently from another camera of this same model. You can literally line up 6 Samsung S730 cameras with the exact same settings, side by side, in the exact same environment -- and find that the picture/video tint, brightness, focus, sharpness, clarity, saturation, & most likely the internally preset ISO is consistently DIFFERENT for each & every one of them. I know, because I searched local stores looking for one that took pictures like the first one I had that got fried, & eventually ran 6 of them through about a dozen identical tests, side by side. After making a large number of returns of single cameras, for the following issues.
The most common anomalies I've found that differ among the SAME Models within the Samsung S Series are:
1) A pervasive yellow/gold tint appearing throughout the picture & .AVI video files that is noticeable in the LCD display, and visible in the downloaded .jpg pictures. It is hard to adjust this gold tint out while keeping the other colors in your picture true. This issue is present in some models, and, happily absent in others. You can literally hold 2 cameras of the same model powered on side by side, with the exact same settings, & immediatley see the difference in the tint. And it occurs in the .JPG pictures & .AVI videos when viewed side by side as well. I noticed this gold tint issue in the two Samsung S630's I tried as well. One had a great picture & one was yellowed out.
2) Video Sensor Issues. In several Samsung S730 cameras I tested, I found 1 to 3 "bright spots" that turned up in the video output - but not in the pictures. Unless you made a picture, from the video (which is a neat feature). I don't know what causes them, & Samsung tech support was absolutely clueless, but some of the cameras have permanent "bright spots" in the video, some fairly faint, some quite bright & visible by eye in the LCD. Some cameras don't have them at all.
One S730 camera I got had 1 bright spot when I bought it, & by the end of 10 days - it had developed 2 more. Samsung CS warned me that if these appear, it is likely to get worse over time & apparently it can, & they told me to take it back.
I suggest testing your camera by recording a short video against a very dark background while moving it in small circles (4" away from the carpet in a dimly lit room works great). Watch for permanent bright spots in the .AVI clip that don't move when environment does.
3) Electrical Problems in Video Mode. Two Samsung S730's I tried froze in Video Mode, where the suddenly turned white, turned to snow (like television snow) with diagonal lines running through it, became inoperable, record corrupt unusable .AVI files, & I had to take the batteries out to turn it off. One camera had a great picture, but it froze like this half the time in video mode, creating unusable files, & I had to take it back.
The Kodak SD card I used in one of these cameras became unsuable - & I am wondering if it was just coincidence, or shorted out by the camera's electrical issue as one store employee suggested. Very strange.
4) Chromatic Aberrations... Fringing, halo effects, noise issues, & image over-processing (often seen in conjunction with the annoying yellow tint) present in some models - & happily absent in others, while some have a tint that leans more toward blue. Why...?? God only knows. Upgrading to the Samsung S850 resulted in these same issues.
5) Sound Quality Differences. Some cameras sounded crystal clear, some sounded muffled, & some recorded a great deal of crackling if I raised my voice during a video recording, while some did not. And, many S730 cameras recorded louder than others in side by side tests.
I have seen similar problems in the Samsung S Series turning up across reviews for the Samsung NV Series.
I am convinced that this is NOT a problem of certain consumers errantly slamming a great camera among the Samsung S Series... This is a problem with inconsistency in the manufacturing at Samsung. You are not imagining things, this problem is real. And if you got a bad camera, you'll be ticked. And if you get a good one, you'll be happy. It really is a dice toss. If you want to try one out & see how it goes, I suggest doing so locally vs. buying by mail, to spend gas rather than postage & time on possible returns.
In my experience (and I almost feel like I should go to work for Consumer Reports after systematically testing & comparing so many Samsung cameras in dozens of "controlled experiments"...) -- taking the camera back & trying again with the same model, if that's what you really want to use, has been the only way to remedy the problem. I cannot stress this enough to you. And what a way to tick off a store with repeated returns. WM is NOT a happy camper, but I DID finally find 2 Samsung S730's I liked at KM. Because of the strange technical issues I've seen, I kept TWO of these S730s, in case something happens to one of them. It became a challenge to me, I had a VISA card to work with, & I didn't quit until I beat the issue.
The reason I kept trying & really fought for it, is because this camera is *A Webmaster's Dream*... I would subtitle the S730 as "The MySpace Camera". It's Settings & Editing Features make it the perfect camera for creative, artistic people taking pics & videos to post or send to friends by the Internet.
I admit, I bought a Canon Powershot A570IS that can beat the tar out of this camera for outdoor photo quality... I'm sure it would make nice prints. But short of an actual cam corder - NOTHING I've ever used takes a better VIDEO than the Samsung S730 - IF you can get one that is working properly.
I've been taking BEAUTIFUL outdoor Videos of a lake, wildlife, & its surrounding greenery. It's videos of my cat are second to NONE. My videos have been sharp, crisp, clear, realistic, with low video noise...almost cam corder picture quality. It does not "pixellate" (turn into little squares) when it views rippling lake waters like the Canon. It records sharp imagery out past the Optical & on into the Digital Zoom. And the Mic is nice outdoors. It does NOT record high winds that play back sounding like a Hurricane, with an over-sensitive mic, recording every little microscopic creak of the plastic casing - like my Canon does... The Canon has NO "OFF" setting for the Sound - & this Samsung DOES. The Samsung even can create Audio Files, without Video. Using Tungsten / Blue simultaneously, my indoor lighting Videos turn out beautiful. I will NOT use this Canon for Video... For Video -- the Samsung S730 is THE way to go. I wish my web cam were this good.
Besides taking nice videos to post to your web space, the in-camera photo editing can do things that other cameras just don't do. After you take your pictures, using the E (Effects) Button you can adjust the picture color, brightness, contrast, saturation, RGB, (but not sharpness, darn it) after the shot. It will allow you to adjust your overall picture size. And you can zoom into your pics with the T Button to easily crop out images. You can turn "almost-good" shots into usable pics by changing them into Sepia or B&W, & create wonderfully bizzare nature shots using the Negative filter (see Customer Photos for mine). And it saves all your originals, without overwriting the files. You can even create composite pictures & collages, add various frames, funny images, blank cartoon balloons to add text to, & even create your own Start-Up pic. You can capture pictures that are absolutely *to die for* from it's most excellent video... It sounds complicated, but it's a breeze to use. The in-camera editing is amazingly creative, lots more fun to play with than my photo editor, & it has several buried cool features that aren't listed in the manual.
Thank goodness the camera's interface is intuitive & user friendly, because the printed manual that comes with it is vague & nearly useless. It basically shows you pictures, draws diagram lines, & tells you "you have this feature" - & offers very little information about how to use them. DOWNLOAD & read the manual from the website instead. Their PDF file will give you much more information about the capabilities of the camera.
My cat detests camera flash, & as a result, he works against me to trash every picture I try to take. But with THIS camera, I can leave the flash off, raise the ISO to 1000, perhaps open the A/E one notch, go Macro, & take very unique pet pictures indoors. There will be some noise in very dim lighting, but this camera can take really neat low light pictures where other cameras fear to go... I can do great things with this camera indoors, in a dim apt., without Flash. And capture shots I could never get any other way. I primarily use mine Program Mode, which allows me keep my hands on ALL of the Controls at all times. I can do the same in Video, though I wish I could adjust the ISO speed, Saturation, Brightness, or Contrast in Video Mode -- but it can't be done. And many Samsung S730 cameras I tried took great low light video, & many did not. Again, it is a dice toss. But when it's great, it ROCKS...
Here's a nice hidden feature of this camera... If you turn it on, press the E Button, go to Image Adjust, select Saturation, point the camera at the area you're going to photograph or film, & press OK - even WITHOUT adjusting the bar at the bottom (though you can, if you need to) - this camera will READ the lighting in your environment, &...Read more›
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