A Teenagers Perfect Camera!!! (Samsung L830)

Member Name: scotlandizdabest

Product:	Samsung L830
Date:	12/10/08 (600 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great design, pictures and overall camera

Disadvantages: Does maybe have too many features?

The Samsung L830 is one of the newest digital cameras by Samsung. It has some of the newest technology on the digital camera scene at the present time.


What's Special About This Camera
I got this camera for Christmas after researching it on different sites and one of the things that appealed to me most was the Face Recognition Technology which I hadn't heard of before. The idea is that it focuses on peoples faces to give you clearer shots which I thought was really cool. Another thing that pulled me to this particular camera was that the price for what you get.

Packaging
The camera is cosily packaged into a box with big pictures of the camera on the front. The box is very colorful and definately shows off the camera! When you open the pack you have the instructions, the actual camera, a USB cable, 2 AA batteries and a power adaptor. So the average kit to get you started up. If you want a memory card though you need to buy it seperately but I just used to one from my old camera.

Setting Up
This was very easy indeed. All you have to do is have a quick read of the manual, which is very easy to use and has pictures to help if you get a little stuck. Take off all the plastic packaging and then all you have to do is put in the batteries and memory card and you are away. Very simple.

How Easy Is It To Use
When you turn it on the lens goes out which I admit I wasn't used to and almost dropped the camera out of fright! Anyway you choose a mode from the 8 at the top from which includes Video, Night Mode, Auto (meaning just taking a picture) and the different settings etc. I tried auto first as that just takes a simple picture. So you press the shutter button down gently to let it focus on the item you want to take a picture of and press it down fairly firmly to take the picture. You can easily change to modes by turning the turnstile at the top of the camera.
Using the features at the back of the camera you can click the view button to look on the impressive LCD screen on the back the photos you have taken. You can easily scroll though them and even zoom in on them. If you want you can delete them but I have never done that to date. It is pretty easy to use but it really does take a while to get used to it as there are a lot of buttons to remember etc.

Megapixels
Has an impressive 8.1 megapixels which is very good. 3/4 years ago this sort of megapixel camera would have been very expensive! Anyway this means the quality is very good and giving you clearer, higher definition pictures. The only down side of this amount of megapixels is it takes up a lot more space (picture wise) on the memory card and your computer compared to a 5 megapixel picture.


Camera Design/Size
It is quite a small camera and quite light. I used to have quite a big camera so it did take me that little bit longer to get used to the camera. I asked for the red one as I thought it was really nice. It comes into two other colors black and silver. It comes in a metallic finish which I really like as it gives it that stylish edge which I really like. It has a good size LCD screen on the back which is very clear and impressive to show off your photos on. The lens has a silver finish and a black shutter when the camera isn't on. So it is a handy size to just slip into your bag and swoop it out when you need it. A very beautiful design and looks very sleek and stylish.

Extra Features
It does seem to have a lot of them. Reading the manual I got a big idea of of the extras you get. You get MPEG 4 video recording which is apperently good enough to put in movies (although I have never use this features) with sound and playback.
It has lots of different photo functions which means it can for example take photos in the dark, take photos of fast movie objects like footballs etc. It has Anti Blur built in, red eye removal, face recognition and 3x zoom lenses which is very good. But one of my favourite features is the 'children' feature which lets you take photos of moving people while putting them in the best light like of a baby etc. So it is very impressive the features to play with.

How Easy Is It To Download Photos?
The way I do it is I have a memory card reader so I use the memory card to download the photos. There is another way to do it using the USB lead to download your photos. This is very easy and doesn't need to download any software. So your photos are simply downloaded onto your photo editor etc like for me it is iPhoto.

Quality Of Photos
For a 8.1 megapixel camera I admit, I had high expectations. With all the camera features it has to give you the best possible pictures I can safely say it has achieved that. Looking over the last week at the photos I have taken with the camera I am very impressed with them. I don't have red eye in any of my pictures at all, my photos are high definition and look stunning when I print them out and the face recognition technology works! But one thing that I have noticed in a lot of the pictures is that a lot of them tend to contain a lot of 'noise' and tend to miss back round out leaving it dark which is quite annoying. If your taking photos of people, that is the camera at its best and believe me I have took some stunning shots of my family and friends with this camera, but if I'm wanting to take photos of say landscapes etc it doesn't seem to give that great a result. But still overall and impressive quality of photos.

Price
Well since I got this for Christmas (last year) so I don't know how much it was but I have done my research and price vary from £89 in Currys to £109.99 from Amazon. A lot of other prices I looked at were around the same but I found the silver one seemed to cost just a couple of pounds more for some reason? Most good technical shops should have this in the stock but it is falling a bit behind time as Samsung are releasing more up-to-date cameras which just shows how fast technology is travelling!


What's Right With It
When you whip it out to take a cheesy photo of your friends the "Oooo's and Ahhhh's" you get from them saying what a nice camera it is. It has a very beautiful design, color and is small so sleek. I love how it is very modern and stylish and is just quite a cool gadget to have.
The photos can be very good quality and the camera can produce very good results. The face recognition technology is very good as it can pin point each face so shines light on each one. This is very impressive and has delivered excellent results. The built in anti-blur is an added bonus and taking photos of moving pets can be done a lot better than my old camera as they are not blurred. The quality of the photos is high, by the extra megapixels as you can get less mega pixel cameras for the same price so that is a bonus.
The battery power is very good and can last for quite a while (About 2 Days, if constant use!) This is very handy and that gets a special mention for this camera as it is very impressive compared to other cameras I have own.
The price is really good for what your getting which is pretty high quality photos, a stylish accessory and a handy camera, perfect for catching those precious moments.

What's Wrong With It
There are 2 problems with this camera. If you try and take photos from a distance it seems to have problems (quality wise) with this concept, and creates a lot of noise in the picture. This can be irritating. Another thing to mention is it is quite a complex camera to use. There are a lot of different modes so I and possibly others have found themselves thinking what mode will be the best for this picture, and get in a huge knot. So I find it simplest to have it on auto so it decides if it needs a flash or not etc.

Conclusion
This is such a great little camera to have. It is stylish, practical and and small so it is perfect for anyone. I love this little camera and even though it hasn't got 5 stars, I would still recommend it to everyone and if you don't like red you can get black or silver which are just as good.

Janie x

© scotlandizdabest 2008

Summary: I love snapping away with this!

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