~*~*~ Samsung ST66 - Pink ~*~*~


~ What is it? ~

This is a nice little compact digital camera. I have it in pink but I do believe it is also available in black, red, blue and silver.


~ Why I bought it? ~

I didn't buy this nor choose it as it was a Christmas present from my mum. I was however very pleased to receive it and have used it pretty much daily since I have had it. I keep it in a little camera case in my bag so I know where it is all the time. My little one is forever coming out with new funny facial expressions so it's to be able to capture the moment.


~ The camera ~

As I have already mentioned I have this in pink, the pink is very delightful pink shade which is set off with silver coloured hints. The zoom lens on the front are coloured in silver as is the top plate and buttons. SAMSUNG is also in silver lettering up the side.
On the left hand side at the front of the camera you will find the flash.

Looking at the top panel you will find the Power button and also the zoom button which operates the 5x optical zoom. It is here you will also find the button to press to take a photo.

The back of the camera has an impressive 2.7" LCD screen which shows the image in a beautiful crystal clear way. On the right of the screen are numerous buttons which allow you to access the different actions/modes of the camera.

Pressing the MENU button will take you through to the menu options which is where you can change different things. The first is -
Shooting - You can change your photo sizes here, the options are
* 1M
* 2M
* 3M
* 5M
* 10M
* 12M
* 14MP
* 16M

Sound - You can change the sounds your camera makes here. This is for the shutter sound, start screen etc.

Display - There are a few features here in which you can personalise the camera to your taste.
* Function Description
* Start Image
* Wallpapers
* Date/Time Display
* Display Brightness
* Quick View
* Power Save

Settings - It is here you can format the camera, reset to factory settings, change the language, there are over 30 different languages to choose from, and more.

The next button is the MODE button. Pressing this will take you into a different menu screen and it is here you can change all the photo options.
You will find the option to take Live Panorama shots where you scan the camera over a long distance taking in the whole view, to do this you simply have to follow the instructions on the camera and click the photos within the given frame to keep it all even. It's really effective and gives a great finish.
There's also the Scene mode where you can add frames, funny face, add text plus more.
And also change the camera into Movie mode where it acts as a video camera.
There are other features available on this too.

There is a circular button with four different options on that too and also the OK button in the centre of this. The circular button controls the -
* Display
* Shutter speed
* Flash
* AF shots

Under this you will find the play button which allows you to look through all the photos you have taken and also a delete button.


It is a nice lightweight camera that I have found very easy to use.

A big plus for me is that it comes with a neat rechargeable battery pack so I don't need to keep buying batteries all the time! The charger is a multi cable which is also the data cable too for transering the data to the computer.
The battery compartment can be found on the underside of the camera.

The camera has a CCD sensor which allows you to take high quality photos even in low light situations and with the camera having a great 16.1MP resolution the images are of really amazing quality. The wide angled lens makes it brilliant for group shots and I found this brilliant on Christmas day when I was wielded with my camera taking photo's of everyone, everything and anything!

I have used the camera with the Smart Auto turned on as I want to get the right shot everytime and this really does work wonders. The camera scene detection technology can identify up to 16 different conditions allowing the camera to adjust to the correct settings for different photos.

Another thing I have used is the Magic Frame feature, there are 13 different frames to choose from but I really like the Old Album effect frame which takes the photo in a sepia colour, inside a frame surrounded by old fashioned cameras and the like, there's also a Newspaper effect where you can take the photo to look like it is on the front cover of a newspaper as well as Billbord effects, Old Film, Full Moon and more.
This is a nice way of customising your photos.

You also have the option of using a Beauty Shot which retouches the photo to smooth out any blemishes.

Funny Face allows you to stretch the photo and distort it and my children have found these photo's very amusing!


~ Using the camera ~

Even with all the different features available this camera is very simple and easy to use. Like I have said I use it in the Smart Auto mode and after using the frames and funny face modes I simply click back through the buttons until I get back to the start and click OK on the Smart Auto and the camera is ready then for use.

I charged the battery on Christmas morning for about 2 hours and then used it through the day, I then charged it again later that day for about 4/5 hours and I haven't needed to recharge it since despite using it everyday. I am forever taking photo's of the children and have hundreds saved on my computer, on memory cards, in albums and in various frames around the house. I have a nice photo collage on my landing wall comprising of many different photos of my children in a collection of different frames and I think it is such a lovely display.


~ Photo Quality ~

I took my memory card to my local Asda store and printed out a load of photos and I am very impressed with the quality of the photo's. They look really clear and perfect. I have nothing bad to say about this camera what so ever.

The screen shows the images in a crystal clear way and I am pleased to say that they look as goood when printed out as they do on the screen.


~ Other features ~

The camera has Smart Face Recognition and Face Tracking, this allows the camera to pick up on the favourite faces, your children for example, in a crowd and make them really stand out. You can choose which faces to use or the camera will pick up on the faces you have taken the most photos of.

It also has the Smart Album where it will organise your photos by type, date, colour, week, even face so you can easily find what you are looking for.


~ Overall ~

I am so happy that my mum bought me this camera, I didn't ask for a camera, and I didn't know I was getting a camera but my mum certainly made a good choice with this.
My mum knows that I like to keep my camera handy and this small and compact little camera is perfect for slipping into my bag.

I love the pink and silver finish and I love how good the quality of the images are. It has lots of different features and is just generally a really great camera.


~ Price & Availability ~

I got this as a gift so I am unsure as to how much it cost or where it was purchased, however after looking online I can see that it is availble from -

Curry's, Jessops, Amazon, Sainsburys, PC World, Tesco plus many more. It can generally be bought for around the £50 - £60 mark.


Thanks for reading :o) x