Samsung HZ15W

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1QJY6SYTJ9O2C If you are like me you prefer to see a camera in person and to hold it in your own hands before you purchase it. I made this video review hoping that it could serve as a "virtual" hands-on demo. I go through some of the Samsung's major features and even demonstrate a few in the field. I hope that this review helps you in your decision making process.

Lowerpro Ridge 30 Digital Camera Bag (Artic Blue)

PROS
HDMI connection terminal
In-camera cropping
In-camera trimming of video clips
10x optical zoom
Lightweight
Crisp viewing from LCD

CONS
No dedicated battery charger
Unusual placement of flash adjacent to grip
Short charging cable (2 feet)
Average sound quality for a camera but below average for someone looking for a camcorder

INTRODUCTION

I am a casual user who prefers size, convenience and function over versatility of SLR cameras. I have been using digital cameras since the 1.2 MP era in the late 1990s. My most recent camera prior to this model was the Panasonic Lumix TZ-5 with 9 MP and 10x optical zoom.

WHAT IS IN THE BOX?
Camera
User manual
AC adapter
Rechargeable battery
Audio Video Cable
Carrying Strap

CONSTRUCTION

The metallic body has a black matte finish with a grip on the right side. The grip is textured which decreases the chance of slipping from my hand. It is slightly heavier than my TZ-5 and really requires two handed operation to keep it steady.

On the top of the camera, there is a power button, speaker, zoom lever, and mode dial. The flash is on the same side as the grip which is something that you need to be congnisant of when using flash. In the bottom of the unit, there is a centrally placed tripod unit which is more stable than eccentric placement that I have had on other cameras. The Battery chamber holds the battery and memory card. The back of the camera has a nice vivid color screen, a multidirectional keypad, command lever, function/delete key, play button and effect button. On the right side of the unit a USB, AV and DC terminal are located towards the top.

The command lever allows for custom exposure control, ISO/white balance and Aperture/shutter speed.

The unit has 21 MB of internal memory and is guaranteed to work with up to 8 GB. The built in memory does not allow for more than 5 photos at the highest resolution.

OPERATION

Setup of the camera is easy and intuitive. You initially set up the camera by entering your language (English, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Italian) and the Time and date.

I set my command lever for white balance but you can also set it for exposure levels.

Operation of the camera includes full automatic mode, program mode, manual mode, Scene, beauty shot , movie and smart auto. There are a few scene modes including landscape, self shot, children, beach/snow, and fireworks, just to name a few. The mode is set by using the control dial at the top of the unit. What I like about this camera over my Panasonic Lumix TZ-5 is that the dial actually locks into place, as opposed to inadvertently switching me to another mode (big advantage in my opinion). Beauty shot mode allows you to clear facial imperfections (this is the first that I have experienced something like this).

This camera has good low light sensitivity with both video and photographs.

This camera uses an SDHC card up to 32 GB. With a 1 GB card, you can take 404 pictures at the highest resolution or 780 photos at 5 MP. At the highest quality movie, you can record 8 minutes 20 seconds at 1280 HQ, 30 Frames per second.

Battery life by the manufacturer is about 140 minutes for stills only and 125 minutes for movie mode, so I recommend a second battery for backup when travelling or taking videos of your child's rehearsal, for example. Unfortunately, this has no supplied battery charger, so you have to plug the camera into the wall.

The glossy LCD screen is comprehensive showing icons for remaining battery life, shots remaining on camera, metering, ISO, color saturation, date/time, flash status, zoom level, and histogram (there are other functions revealed but I mentioned what I feel are important). The quality of the images viewed on the LCD is vivid and crisp.

The camera can take 1.5 frames per second in high speed mode or one picture at a time, aside from the continuous and motion capture mode (6 shots per second for 5 seconds).

Image stabilization is good but there are times that I would still get motion blur.

There seems to be a long refractory time between photographs when flash is being used. Shutter lag is average to other point and shoot cameras that I have used.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographs are stored in JPEG, EXIF, DPOF. Color effects include normal, black and white, sepia, red, green, blue, negative and custom color.

Recharging time for the battery is about 5 seconds when freshly charged.

Viewing photos by normal display or thumbnails is intuitive. I like the ability to crop the photo within the camera - it's like having a built in photo-editor. You can also view photos by slide show, which I use to play back when we go on trips.

Shutter speed on automatic mode runs from 1/8 to 1/1,500, on program mode from 1 to 1/1,500, manual from 16 to 1/1,500. ISO equivalents are from 80 to 3200.

VIDEO

The video mode allows for zooming while filming. Zoom is smooth in transition.

Video is stored in MP4 (H.264(MPEG4.AVC). Audio is saved as a WAV file.

Video clips are set by determining your image size from 1280x720 HQ to640x480 to 320x240. Maximum recording time per clip is 29 minutes. Frame rate can be set based upon resolution. Videos can be recorded with or without sound.

Sound quality from the microphone is decent but not as sensitive as a conventional camcorder.

A nice feature of the movie playback is the ability to trim clips, if they are longer than 10 seconds. So in-camera processing is relatively painless.

PLAYBACK ON TELEVISION

Image size for playback includes 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 576p.

SOFTWARE

System recommendations for the USB support on Windows:
Pentium III 800 Mhz
Windows 2000/XP/Vista
Greater than 1 GB
MS Direct X 9.0 C

The recommendations for USB support on Mac:
Power Mac G3 or later
Mac OS 10.3 or later
110 MB hard drive space
>512 MB RAM

The software is rudimentary allowing for photo organization, inserting text, effects, narrations, and music files to a movie clip. It is not quite a full featured program like iMovie on my Mac.

CONCLUSION

Overall, this is a powerful camera for its relatively compact size. Its limitations for video include low sensitivity for the microphone and just an average shutter lag.

Highly recommend for an all purpose camera and casual videography.

UPDATE June 13, 2009

I was at the beach last weekend and I took a picture of the clouds. With the 12 Megapixel resolution, I was able to zoom into the picture and see very good detail of people (who were in the distance). So even though you probably would not print a 30x40" picture, you can zoom in and crop small details of your photograph. I have also found that using the in-camera crop feature, that I can edit out 'bystanders' in photos without having to resort to Photoshop Elements.

Having owned a Panasonic TZ5 for over a year, when I received the HZ15W, physically they look like siblings. The HZ15W is loaded with features, that my TZ5 just doesn't have though. Notably, manual controls, and a wider 24mm lens. The first negative thing I noticed about the HZ15W was apparent as soon as I opened the box. The included proprietary USB cable is no longer than maybe 2'. Since it's needed to attach the camera to a computer, I found this ridiculous. When I was ready to load the pics from the camera to my desktop computer, the cable would not even reach my computer desk. I had to place the camera under my desk, on top of the computer to attach it. Enough about the cable though. After charging the battery, I set out and took about 100 pictures in all different conditions and modes. The battery started showing a low charge after about 100 pictures and a few minutes of video, which I consider fair at best. I found the camera very easy to use, and the controls well laid out. Settings were easy to find in the menus. After loading the pictures onto my computer, and printing a couple out, the results were mostly good, but there were some things I was disappointed in. Mainly in the "detail" of outdoor photos taken at ISO 80. There seemed to be a lot of blown detail, that shouldn't happen at a low ISO. Apparently Samsung has squeezed too may MP into the HZ15W's small sensor. I took several of the same pictures with my TZ5. the TZ5 was never known for "fine detail", but IMO it had maintained more detail than the Samsung. This was very surprising and disappointing to me. One thing the Samsung excelled out was color. I thought the colors were among the best of any P&S camera I own. I took a few minutes of video, and it was "good" when viewed on my wide screen monitor. Sound was fair at best. About on par with the video of the Panasonic. All in all, the HZ15W is a good camera loaded with awesome features. I was slightly disappointed with the image detail, but it's still a good choice for casual photography.

Pros:
Great 24mm wide angle 10x Schneider lens.
Manual controls.
Good 3" screen.
Generally good results under all conditions. Great color.
Well built and designed.

Cons:
Short proprietary USB cable is a joke.
Battery life nothing special.
Pictures lack fine detail at low ISO.

For those starting out looking for a point-and-shoot camera that's a jack of all trades, here's, at the time of writing, the latest effort by Samsung. One of its biggest selling points is also something buyers should be wary of: More megapixels does NOT necessarily mean better image quality. There's a reason why a Nikon D300 has 12MP and costs the better part of two thousand dollars, while this 12MP camera only costs around three hundred dollars... The sensor on a proper Digital SLR can resolve a great deal more detail than this Samsung could ever hope to achieve.

With that out of the way, let's see how well this camera does.

Build quality:

The camera's build quality is decent, though by no means perfect. It feels a little too plasticky to weigh so much, and if you dropped it from any handheld height, chances are it's dead. Plain and simple. Get a case. Overall, it's nothing special in terms of build, but for its class, it's acceptable. There is a noticeable rattle from the lens area when you point the camera up or down, but again, this is probably just the design.

Usability:

This is where the camera loses points. I think the menu system is hopeless. Nothing is particularly intuitive. The one area where the camera excels, though, is in its wheel on the top of the camera. When you turn it, it shows an image on the 3" LCD of the wheel's position, and what the position means. Very nice. However, it's just not very easy to enter into the menus. Do you hit the Menu button of the Function button? Do you use the 4-way button or the little micro-adjust black buttons to make the changes? Do you hit Enter to select something, or do you hit the right-directional button to go into the menu? Too muddled.

I consider myself quite technically savvy, but the menu system on this camera just plain frustrated me. Definitely do not buy this for your aging father/mother.

And other problems:

1.) Samsung advertises this camera has having HDMI, but you're going to need to buy the less common mini-HDMI to full-size HDMI cable to take advantage.

2.) For those with big hands, your index finger might cover the poorly-placed flash...

3.) No separate charger included, so you have to charge the battery in the camera. Madness.

4.) You can quite easily hear the zoom mechanism when playing back video where you were changing the focal length.

5.) The "crop" feature for editing photos in-camera should offer the option of keeping the original file. Once you've cropped an image in the camera, that's it. The original is gone forever.

LCD Screen:

The LCD on this unit is quite nice. Nothing special, though, and since the resolution isn't great on it, there's a tendency to lose details, especially on distant objects. Also, Samsung touts this LCD as being tremendous, even in direct sunlight. Well, I can tell you that either the Samsung marketing team are smoking something, or I have a defective camera! In direct sunlight, like most (if not all) LCD screens, details are lost, and the whole display washes out. It's definitely usable outside, but don't expect anything Samsung boasts.

Image quality:

This is, realistically, where the camera must excel. Unfortunately, it does not. Again, Samsung has put a 12 megapixel sensor into this camera, and honestly, it's one big waste of time. The sensor in this camera simply CANNOT resolve the details. In fact, at the 12mp size (4000x3000), the image is truly appalling, with so much compression to make your eyes bleed; it's simply embarrassing. So you're left with a 12mp camera which isn't even close to taking advantage of the resolution. I was actually taken aback by how poorly the camera fared: For comparison, my Canon SD700 (6mp) and my Canon SD1100 (8mp) took far less compressed images of the EXACT SAME objects.

Yes, you read that correctly: My 6 megapixel and 8 megapixel point-and-shoot cameras take cleaner pictures than Samsung's latest 12 megapixel shooter.

However, there's more to it than just that, and some of these features my Canons don't have..

1.) Manual focus mode. This works great for the macro work, allowing you to micro-manage exactly where you want to focus. This works really well I found.

2.) "Superior" face detection. A nice feature, in theory, is that the Samsung can take a picture automatically when it detects a smile (not just the face!). The theory behind this is that you set up the camera, perhaps on a tripod, and then you can get into the picture, without the use of a timer. Then you all smile, and WHAM! The camera takes the shot! OR, for example, you don't have to be so quick on the draw to take the picture when your grumpy son/daughter/wife/mistress etc actually does crack a smile - the camera does it for you. Unfortunately for all of us, this feature needs work. I tested it on my wife, and, well... She had to be grinning like Heath Ledger's Joker character for the camera to take the shot. Not particularly fool proof then...

3.) ISO picture quality isn't bad actually. The noise isn't awful until around ISO 800, as expected. Again, if you want to print full 12mp images, FORGET THIS CAMERA. You won't be doing that at ANY ISO level. For smaller shots, in the realms of 4-6mp, this camera performs OK up to ISO 400-800. Interestingly, at ISO 3200 (unusable), the camera limits your image-taking to 3mp! You can not take 12mp ISO 3200 shots! Why? Because Samsung is probably embarrassed by the atrocious quality even in 3mp mode, and in 12mp any buyers might have a heart attack! Honestly, I've no idea why this camera even included ISO 3200...

4.) 720p movie mode is decent. Nothing fantastic, but it works. Heck, it works a bit better than picture mode, because at least you don't get the chance to be appalled by the compression!

5.) The overall lens quality is fairly decent, covering a wide range of focal lengths. Unfortunately, there's quite a bit of barrel distortion at the wide end. For those not camera-minded, this means keep any straight objects away from the edges of your image, because they will be slightly curvy at the widest focal length (24mm).

Overall:

This camera really does nothing particularly well. From a frustrating menu system to sub-par image quality with long processing delays after each shot before you can take the next one (due to the 12mp image size). It's pretty sad when you can look at a point-and-shoot camera and the best thing you can say about it is that its video capabilities are decent...

2/5

For your information, my pictures and video were manipulated using the following software/hardware:

MacBook Pro unibody 17" connected to calibrated Apple Cinema Display 24"
OS X 10.5.7, using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 (for pictures) and Final Cut Studio (for movies).

The Samsung HZ15W Digital Camera is a relatively new entry in the digital camera market and it boasts a very impressive set of features right out of the starting gate. I wondered if the promise this camera shows is too good to be true, so I spent some time getting to know it and learning how to use it. After testing for several days I can say that this camera delivers on every promise it makes.

Rather than talk about every single feature this camera brings to the table, I will specifically address the features that set it apart from others. Almost every digital camera has review, delete, shutter speed settings, etc. so there is no need to discuss what comes standard.

The Samsung is a slightly smaller camera than my Canon PowerShot A630, due to the fact that it uses a small, square rechargeable battery, whereas other cameras with which I have worked (including my Canon) rely on bulky disposables or AA batteries of some form. Because the battery requires little space, Samsung has designed the camera body to be slightly thicker on one side, making holding the camera easier. The battery cam be charged with the included USB cable connected to a computer or using a travel charger (there was one in the box). Charging up completely takes approximately 3 hours.

The camera body itself is very solid and feels sturdy. It feels a little more substantial that my Canon, to be truthful.

With the battery in and a memory card inserted, I was shocked when I powered on the camera. After the initial set-up (language, date/time, etc.), the camera is ready for use and has an enormous LCD screen. The screen is very bright, clear, and it accurately replicates the colors of the target at which the camera is pointed. That said, it does compensate for light levels so what is displayed may be a little off in lower-light conditions, which is acceptable. There is plenty of information that can be displayed about the current mode on the screen without cluttering the display.

There are several modes in which this camera may be set, and four of them should prove useful to most users. Smart Auto is a good place to start for most users, as it does a very good job of automatically adjusting itself for most situations. When set in this mode you can watch the camera auto-focus. The digital zoom does not seem to be activated in this mode (more on the digital zoom shortly). Another helpful mode is the regular Auto which allows a little more control. Beauty Shot does a smoothing effect to compensate for blemishes on the target (which may or may not work out quite as you'd like). Dual IS mode adjusts for motion and light levels. There are other modes for various purposes, but these are the ones most likely to be useful right out of the box with minimal interaction.

There is a movie mode too, and to be honest I have not tried it. I never have used the movie mode on my Canon either. That said, it is convenient to have the feature at the ready without carrying a separate camcorder.

This camera is the first I have ever seen with a 10X digital zoom. I decided to try it out and took a couple of shots in the neighborhood. I was stunned at how excellent the results were - signs that were absolutely unreadable at a distance could be read clearly in the resulting snapshot. The camera adjusted for the distance better than I ever imagined. Now, that said, at that distance motion must be factored in. It is difficult to hold a camera steady and get a good shot when trying to get a distance shot like that, so I'd recommend using a tripod for that. With a steady camera, the 10X zoom is a HUGE feature and makes the camera worth its salt.

Another remarkable feature is the photo touch-up capability, built right in. When reviewing shots taken, you can apply several filters, such as red-eye reduction, blemish removal (soften), and even switch to black and white. I have never seen this kind of functionality built right into a camera. I tried some of the filters and they work well, though I personally prefer using external software on the computer.

This is a 12.2MP camera. For the average user that may be higher than necessary. So, the camera gives the ability to drop the resolution. I set mine to 5MP - perfect for my uses. It can be set higher or lower than that, as needed.

In looking at the resulting snapshots I have taken, the camera has delivered very consistently high quality images that faithfully reproduce the colors of the target. Some camera do not get this right and add a purple tinge, wash out the photo or even over-adjust the light. Not so with this camera - it has been accurate every time.

I have found two minor flaws in the design of this camera. First, the LED associated with the power button is so bright that it casts a blue glow on the ceiling when in a dark room. Some people may find it distracting. The second, more serious flaw is the placement of the flash. It is on the right side in close proximity to the snap button, and if not paying attention the user can very easily cover the flash with a finger, which may result in a less than optimal photo. Both of these flaws are minor and can be overcome with some attentive care, but it is unfortunate that these mar an otherwise perfect product.

Samsung's HZ15W is a truly remarkable and amazing digital camera. It has a very generous feature set, produces very accurate results and even makes more difficult shots easy. This camera deserves serious consideration when looking for a high-quality digital camera, especially when looking in its price range. This camera is simply outstanding, in spite of a couple of minor design issues.