With a sober and classic design,
the Digimax L700 is one of the smallest digital cameras
in the current Samsung line-up.
The narrow top of the camera
provides, starting from the right, the shutter release,
a standard two-stage release which focuses the zoom and establishes
the exposure parameters when pressed halfway, as well as the
round power button, and the speaker.
All the other external controls of the camera are positioned
on the back, to the right of the 2.5-inch LCD monitor
that is composed of 230,000 pixels.
First, on the top right is the
zoom control. With the camera set to the Playback mode, the
zoom control serves to view images as an index
placing 9 thumbnails per screen when pressed to the wide angle
(W) side, or serving to zoom into an image
up to 10X when pressed on the telephoto side (T).
To the left of the zoom control, a small LED lights up green
briefly when the camera is powered on and blinks while the
camera is accessing the memory.
A column of three buttons, aligned on the edge of the monitor
is next:
The top button is called the Mode
button. Left to its default, called the Still and Movie
Mode, the button serves to toggle back and forth between
the currently active still image capture mode as it
has been selected in the camera menu previously, and
the movie mode.
Alternatively, the button can be set, in the menu,
to the Full mode, which displays all the shooting modes
in two rows on the monitor: one in the middle that can
be used to switch from Auto, to Program, to Movie, and
one on top that can be used to select any of the 11
Scene modes.
The L700 offers a total of 14 shooting modes:
Auto: puts the camera in charge
of all photographic settings, leaving the user in
charge of the flash modes, the self-timer, or the
macro mode.
Program: allows the user to control
all the settings available on the L700, however the
camera remains in charge of the aperture and shutter
speed selection.
Movie: serves to capture video
at 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels, at a frame rate
of either 30 or 15 frames per second with mono sound.
Recordings are AVI (MPEG-4) and while capturing video,
the zoom remains useable but the microphone is turned
off while the zoom operates. Metering and white balance
are adjusted as necessary during the recording, but
focus is established at the first frame. The length
of the movie depends on the memory capacity. Moreover,
an electronic image stabilization mode is available,
but only when a memory card is used.
The 11 Scene modes of the L700
configure the camera to capture specific subjects:
Night
Portrait
Children
Landscape
Text
Close up
Sunset
Dawn
Backlight
Fireworks
Beach and Snow
The next button serves to apply a capture Effect. Pressing the button
displays a menu that is superimposed on the image coming
from the lens, presenting two groups of options:
Colour Special Effect changes the way colours are
recorded: Normal (no effect is added to
the image), Black and White, Sepia tone, Blue tone, Red
tone, Green tone or Negative.
Preset Focus Frames: allows selecting
any of four types of focus frames, indicated by a dotted
line, and moving them into position on the screen using
the +/- button to make the frame moveable and using the
arrow keys to position it. Once placed in the desired position,
the camera focuses on the selected area while letting the
rest go out of focus.
The third serves for
different functions in the Program mode
or to Erase images in the Playback
mode:
RGB: serves to adjust the Red,
Green or Blue components.
Exposure Compensation: allows adjusting the exposure
over ±2 EV in 0.5 EV increments.
ISO serves to select the CCD sensitivity:
Auto or 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 or 1600 ISO.
White balance offers the following
choices: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent H (daylight),
Fluorescent L (white), Tungsten (Incandescent) or
Custom (set on the spot according to ambient light).
All settings made this way are recalled after the camera
has been powered off.
Next comes the 5-Function
button, commonly referred to as a 4-direction controller,
which serves to navigate the menus and images in playback.
At its centre is the MENU/OK button that is used to
display the menu that corresponds to the camera's current
mode, and confirm selections made in the menu.
Each of the four directions of the 5-Function button also
provides additional functions, as indicated by icons:
The up direction serves, when
pressed once, to add a Voice Memo up to 10 seconds
long to an image immediately after its capture, or when
the camera is in Playback and an image is on screen.
This function is deactivated during movie recording
or playback.
Pressed twice, while the camera is
in a capture mode, it starts the Voice Recording
mode. The length of the voice recording is dependent
on the capacity of the memory, but limited to a
maximum of 1 hour.
The right direction controls the
Self-timer which cycles through 2 seconds, then
10 seconds and finally a double Self-timer that captures
the first image after 10 seconds, and a second image 2
seconds later.
The down direction starts the Macro
mode. Set to the macro mode the camera can focus on a
subject that is between 5 cm (2 inches) and 80 cm (31.2
inches) at the wide angle end, and 40 cm (15.6 inches)
at the telephoto end.
With the camera in the Playback
mode, the down direction serves to start or stop
the playback of a movie or sound recording.
The left serves to select the Flash
Mode : Auto, Auto with Red-eye Reduction, Fill-in,
Slow Synchro or Forced Off.
Finally, the last external
control is positioned directly below the 5-Function control:
Switches the camera to the Playback
mode. Moreover, when the camera is turned off, the
button can be used to turn the camera on directly in
the Playback mode, which avoids having the lens deploy,
if it is held down for 2 seconds. The camera can be
turned off by pressing either the power button or the
playback button once more.
In addition, when the L700 is connected
to a PictBridge compatible printer, the button
serves to control the printing process. All images can
be printed in sequence, with a selection of the image
size, the number of images to be printed per sheet,
the paper quality, the print quality, and whether or
not the date and time is superimposed on the image.
Other choices include index prints, or automatic printing
based on DPOF settings. (DPOF settings are established
in the Playback menu. See the Characteristics
section of the review.)
Although very compact, the
Samsung L700 is very pleasant to use. Its controls are comfortably
positioned and respond accurately and quickly. Similarly,
the monitor, which has an excellent high resolution —
provides a sharp and lively image.
Introduction
placing 9 thumbnails per screen when pressed to the wide angle
(W) side, or serving to zoom into an image
up to 10X when pressed on the telephoto side (T).
