Be warned! (Samsung in general)

Member Name: milhouse

Product:	Samsung in general
Date:	08/10/02 (154 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Value for money, contiuous shooting mode

Disadvantages: Poor construction quality, Unreliable

I bought the new Samsung Digimax 230 in June 2002 - it had just come out and seemed to offer pretty good value considering it costs less than £200 (just), and offers a 3x optical zoom. Here is the full spec (as I remember it):

- 3x optical zoom
- 2x digital zoom (once you have zoomed to the optical max, giving a "6x zoom"
- 2 megapixel
- autofocus
- video mode
- self-timer
- continuous photo shooting (takes a snap every fraction of a second)
- LCD display
- Macro mode (for extreme closeups)
- built-in flash
- audio recording
- connects to a PC using USB (cable included)
- protective carry case
- 8mb CompactFlash card

Pictures from the thing have come out very clear. The autofocus works well, but it is frustrating waiting for it to focus when you want to get a snap in a hurry. It's embarrassing to have to get everyone to stand still for up to 5 seconds whilr the camera sorts itself out.

It also takes several seconds to initialise when it is powered up.

If battery life is a concern, you'll be irritated to find that it's default setting is to go straight to LCD mode when the camera is switched on (and there doesn't seem to be a way of changing the default.)

Worst of all, the camera developed a fault the first time I got to use it seriously - within 2 months of purchase the mode wheel stopped working. Luckily it was stuck in the "shooting mode" so we could continue to take pictures, but couldn't view them on the LCD screen, delete them, change to macro mode, or download the pictures over the USB link.

After a trip back to Samsung via Dixons, it came back with a different fault - this time the camera switches itself off within 15 seconds of beeing switched on.

I may have been unlucky, or they are pretty atrocious quality. I would be interested to see if anyone else has had problems with this camera?

Summary: