Big zoom, high-definition movies, low price
The easy-to-use Samsung WB500 is a good-value pocket snapshot camera that offers all the latest must-have features.
That includes 10-megapixel photo resolution, the ability to shoot high-definition video at a resolution of 720p and an impressive 10x optical zoom lens for pulling faraway subjects closer. It takes SD memory and has a rechargeable battery good for 270 shots. We found the build quality more robust than the price suggested.
The camera has a 2.7in rear screen, which was adequate for composing and reviewing pictures. A curved edge to the body with a rubber pad at the front provided the kind of steadying grip many more style-conscious cameras lack.
Along with two image-stabilisation methods this delivered a higher proportion of sharp photos than some cameras we have seen. The wide-angle end of the lens (equivalent to 24mm on a film camera) is well suited to landscapes and group portraits.
As with Samsung’s other compacts, the technology is biased towards taking pictures of people, with face detection, blink detection and smile detection all available. A ‘beauty mode’ also smoothes away minor facial blemishes, though results at their most extreme made people’s skin appear wax-like.
If you want to take pictures without flash then it has good low-light sensitivity, although at the highest sensitivity settings the picture resolution drops to three megapixels.
We liked the fact that the full extent of the zoom is usable for both photos and video – some manufacturers disable zooming in movie mode so the noise of the motor does not transfer to the clip. The Samsung’s zoom emits a low buzz when travelling through the range but we didn’t find this off-putting.
Another advantage is provided by the camera’s Photo Style Selector digital effects that allow colours to be made more vivid or rendered cool or ‘calm’ in tone. Even individual red, green and blue channels - the colours that are the basic ingredients for all images – can be manually adjusted. It was a pleasant surprise on what is otherwise a beginner model, though at times some of the colours did look slightly unnatural.
