Samsung ST5000 and ST5500 cameras are beautiful and extremely technological in everything – from the design of the body to the software. Photographers who prefer their camera to be a cutting-edge high-tech gadget or have an uncommon appearance, which is also an undeniable advantage of these models can safely go to the store for one of these novelties and not pay attention to the products of competitors.
14.2MP 31-217mm 5x 3.5″ $330, 3.7″ $400
The actual design of the cameras is the result of new hydroforming technology that produces smooth, seamless metal shapes.
The designers have taken care of user-friendliness: the shutter button and zoom lever are tilted for easy control, and the camera itself leans back 7 degrees when placed horizontally to make it easy to shoot self-portraits with a timer – this is a trademark feature of the new Samsung models.
The final touch – the bent mirror around the lens and mirror same part of the lens unit on which the power on the camera displays the name and lens parameters the semantic load is zero, but it looks very impressive .
Both cameras are equipped with 12 megapixel sensors and “stabilized” lenses with 7x optical zoom. Both are able to record 720p video in modern H.264 which, compared to the older Motion JPEG, gives a much smaller footage, meaning a longer recording time and features HDMI ports for connecting to high-definition televisions or monitors.
But the most interesting thing about this is the touch sensitive screens and accelerometers, which work together to form the basis of a unique Smart Gesture interface. Samsung ST5500 is equipped with a huge AMOLED-display diagonal of 3.7-inch and a resolution of 1152 thousand. points. ST5000 is a little bit simpler: it has a regular LCD screen with a diagonal of “only” 3.5 inches with the same resolution.
Smart Gesture – a control system that understands the presses, gestures and even movement. For example, to scroll through the images in playback mode, you just need to tilt the camera in the desired direction, a stroke in the form of a cross will delete the selected frame, and in the form of a circle will rotate it. Frame your subject with your finger and it will automatically focus on the highlighted subject, and even track its movement when you’re shooting!
It is already quite obvious that in the shooting is not without technology with the word smart in the name, but even here Samsung developers have found something to surprise. Smart Auto 2.0, of course, easily recognizes shooting conditions, both in the production of still images and when recording video.
Face detection also works on strangers, but by analyzing the photo album, the cameras will remember the people you shoot most often, and then will always give them priority.
The photo album itself, that is, the viewing mode, can also be smart: ST5500 and ST5000 can sort frames by day of the week, colors and even faces. Photo editing features are enhanced with filters that simulate the effects of tilt-shift optics, vignetting and fisheye lenses.
Finally, another unique feature worth talking about: the ST5500 is also equipped with wireless data transfer via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. This amazing gadget can connect to phones, DLNA-compatible devices and the Internet – in the latter case, the camera itself can send pictures and videos by e-mail or publish in popular services like Picassa, YouTube or Facebook.
These Samsung compact cameras seem to have some impressive connectivity features. I wonder how seamless and reliable the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections are when transferring files or controlling the camera remotely from a phone. Has anyone tried these features? How is the overall user experience in terms of connecting and using the camera with a smartphone?
Can the Samsung ST5000/ST5500 compact cameras connect to multiple phones simultaneously using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi?
Can the Samsung ST5000/ST5500 compact cameras connect to phones via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi?