Review Date: April 1, 2014
Category: Point-and-Shoot
HANDLING & FEEL
Sleek and elegant. The Samsung WB350F is compact and looks sleek and elegant with its clean, uncluttered design. A leatherette covering (available in five different colors: black, white, brown, blue and red — country dependent) gives it an air of expensive quality. The top plate is brushed silver and the lens barrel is silver (when powered OFF) and black (when extended). There is no handgrip and, though the textured leatherette is non-slip, it is still advisable to use the included wrist strap. Control buttons are where they should be and build is very good.
In this compact digital camera resides a powerful 21x (23-483mm equiv.) wide optical zoom F2.8 lens. The extra wide-angle 23mm captures wide landscape shots and groups, and the super tele 483mm is ideal for bringing far away subjects close. It takes about 4 seconds to zoom optically from wide to tele. I counted about 15 intermediate steps for the optical zoom. Focus is continuous. The lens is optically image stabilized to reduce camera shake; the Optical Image Stabilization [MENU – OIS – On] is very effective in stabilizing both the view on the LCD as well as the captured image.
There is no option to disable digital zoom (which goes up to 105x) but you can turn IntelliZoom on which will limit digital zoom to 42x. When the 21x optical zoom is reached, the camera pauses. If you release the zoom lever and then reengage it, you will then be doing digital zoom.
The SMART WB350F bristles with wireless capabilities. It has Wi-Fi and NFC (for Tag & GO capability), allowing for instant transfer of images being viewed on the camera to the paired smartphone and remotely controlling the camera with your smartphone. You can transfer pictures from your smartphone to the camera or from the camera to one or more smartphones. You can email photos from the camera to an email address, and send photos to Facebook, Picasa, YouTube and Dropbox. Samsung Link lets you store images in the Cloud (Samsung Link online storage) or play them back on a DLNA-supported device such as a compatible TV.
Looking at the camera from the front, there’s only the lens and the AF-assist light/Selftimer lamp at top right of the lens.
The availability of PASM modes mean that serious photographers will be able to have direct control over exposure settings. Note that the slowest shutter speed available varies according to the shooting mode selected: in S and M modes, you’ll be able to go to 16s; in P and A modes, to 1s; in Smart AUTO mode, to 1/8s; and in NIGHT scene mode, to 8s.
Also on the Mode Dial are Smart Mode, Best Face and Magic Plus. Smart Mode gives you access to scene modes. Best Face is a nifty feature where the camera takes 5 pictures of the same group scene, then allows you to pick and choose the “best faces” from the 5 shots to superimpose onto the first shot; this helps avoid pictures where everyone is smiling except one person who is looking down or away from the camera. Magic Plus lets you get creative with frames, animated GIF and filters.
TIP: Since the LCD is Touch Panel, be careful not to touch anywhere on screen while operating the camera using the buttons. For example, if, while holding the camera, your left thumb touches the screen, nothing else (including the shutter button) will respond to your right finger’s touch.
The dedicated Movie button starts recording 1920 x 1080p (30 fps) Full HD video as soon as you press it; you press it again to stop recording. Or, you may press the OK button to pause recording, recompose the scene and press OK to start recording again on the same video clip. You can zoom optically during video recording but you will clearly record the zooming sound (mono). You can also take as many still shots (at reduced resolution) as you wish during video recording without stopping the recording; however, you will also record the shutter release click sound. The still shots get saved before the actual movie is written out to your memory card. In Playback, you can stop the movie and press the DOWN key to capture the currently displayed image.
TIP: Disable the sound [MENU – Voice – Sound Alive On] during video recording so the zooming sound does not get recorded. However, since you will still capture any other sound (your movements, finger, shutter click, etc.), you may want to start recording a few seconds before and finish a few seconds after your actual scene, and then trim these two extremes out.
TIP: During video playback, the Zoom lever also acts as the Volume button.
The self-timer resets after every shot.
The NFC tag is on the left side (viewing from the back). Install Samsung SMART Camera app on an NFC-enabled device (smartphone or tablet) and when you bring your device to the camera, it automatically launches the SMART Camera app. Don’t forget that the internal wireless antenna is on the left side (viewing from the front) of the camera and you don’t want your fingers there when you are attempting a wireless connection and/or transfer.
The WB350F has Touch AF that allows you to simply touch the screen where you want the camera to focus. In fact, you can set Touch AF [MENU – Touch AF] to Off, Touch AF, Tracking AF or One-touch shot. One-touch shot sets the AF and takes the picture with simply one touch on screen. Tracking AF allows you to touch the object you want the camera to keep focus on even as it moves about (or you move the camera to recompose).
TIP: You can also switch Touch AF mode anytime by simply tapping on the icon on screen and selecting a different Touch AF mode.
When using Touch AF, you cannot drag the AF frame to where you want the camera to focus (as you can on the Samsung GALAXY Camera): you need to tap the screen. The problem is that there are icons overlayed onto the screen and you may not be able to tap a spot behind that icon without activating whatever function is associated with that icon.
In good lighting, AF is fast and precise. In low lighting, with the help of the AF-assist light, the camera locks focus in about 1 sec.
On the bottom of the camera is the plastic tripod socket and battery/microSD card compartment. Included in the box is a rechargeable 3.7V Li-ion battery. You recharge the battery in-camera using the USB cable/travel adapter plug. You won’t be able to change battery or memory card when the camera is on a tripod. The monaural speaker is also on the bottom.
The Samsung WB350F is sleek, elegant and easy to use. Its features and controls are well implemented and enjoyable to use. Build quality is solid. I like its super wide angle zoom and flexible shooting modes.
Next: Samsung WB350F User’s Experience
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