Samsung L700

Reviewed July 2007

Characteristics

The Samsung L700 is equipped with a 1/2.5 inch CCD with 7.4 million pixels of which 7.2 million are effective during image capture. Four image sizes are available:

• 3072 x 2304 pixels
• 2592 x 1944 pixels
• 2048 x 1536 pixels
• 1024 x 768 pixels

All of which are recorded in JPEG at any of three compression levels:

• Super Fine, yields the highest image quality and has a compression ratio of approximately 6:1.
• Fine, uses a compression ratio of approximately 9:1.
• Normal, the strongest compression, compresses images to a ratio of around 16:1.

CCD sensitivity starts at 50 ISO and can be manually set to 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 or 1600 ISO only when the camera is set to the Program mode. In all other modes sensitivity is under the control of the camera, which adjusts it as required depending on the light available.

The L700 is also equipped with a 3X Samsung NV optical zoom that has a focal length range of 5.8 to 17.4 mm, the equivalent of a 35 to 105 mm on a 35 mm format camera. Apertures are totally under the control of the camera and start at f2.8 at the wide angle end and f4.9 at the telephoto end.

In addition, the camera is also equipped with a 5X digital zoom which crops the centre part of the full size frame and interpolates it to the currently selected image size. Worth noting, the digital zoom is deactivated when the camera is set to Night, Children, Text or Fireworks mode. Otherwise, the digital zoom cannot be deactivated, but the camera marks a pause when switching from optical to digital zoom.

The L700 has a shutter speed range that covers from 1/2000 second to 1 second for most modes, but can capture exposures as long as 15 seconds when set to the Night mode. The camera uses a noise reduction system that doubles the exposure time of all long exposures.

The access to the settings of the L700 is divided into two parts, those accessible using the +/- button (RGB colours, ISO, White Balance, and Exposure Compensation), and those that are accessed in the menu that is displayed when the MENU/OK button is pressed. Options are presented in a strip across the top of the monitor, each of their possible settings appearing underneath as the option is selected. The quantity of options that are accessible varies with the mode in use, the Program mode offering access to all:

• Mode Set: this options serves to select the capture mode (see the Ergonomics section of the review for a list of the modes available). Once selected, the camera returns to the selected mode when turned back on.

• Mode offers two options to control the behaviour of the MODE button:
  • Still and Movie: allows toggling back and forth between the current still image capture mode and the movie mode.
  • Full: provides access to all the modes, which requires the use of the 5-Function control.
• Size: serves to select the image size (see above) or the movie size (see the Ergonomics section of the review).

• Quality: serves to select the image compression level (Super Fine, Fine or Normal) when the camera is set to a still image mode, or is identified as Frame Rate when the camera is set to the Movie mode, and offers a choice of either 30 or 15 frames per second.
• Metering: offers a choice of Multi, a metering pattern that takes the entire frame into account but which gives more importance to the centre of the frame, or Spot, which focuses the reading on the subject at the centre of the frame.

• Shooting controls the drive mode:
  • Single: captures one image at a time.
  • Continuous: captures images as long as the shutter release is maintained pressed, the shooting rate varying according to the shutter speed available to the camera.
  • AEB: Auto Exposure Bracketing captures 3 images, bracketing the automatically established exposure with one underexposed image by -0.5 EV, and one overexposed image by +0.5 EV.

• Sharpness: controls the internal image sharpness processing (Soft, Normal, Vivid).
• OSD Information serves to select the level of information superimposed on the monitor:
  • Full: all active settings are shown.
  • Basic: only the remaining number of images is shown. But when the shutter release is pressed halfway, the selected shutter speed and aperture are displayed.
  • LCD Save: presents the same level of information as the Full setting, but automatically turns off the monitor after 30 seconds of inactivity.
• My Cam: serves to select three basic start-up settings:
  • Start image, displayed when the camera is turned on (none, Samsung's logo, or one of two images captured with the camera that are in the memory card).
  • Start Sound, one of three sounds or none.
  • Shutter Sound, one of three sounds or none.
• Setup: is the access to the Setup menu (see the Interface and Software section of the review for a list of the options in the Setup menu).

With the camera set to the Playback mode, the MENU/OK button displays the following options:

• Show: to review the images in memory automatically, with the slide show looping back to the beginning at the end or not, and selecting the on-screen time of images (1, 3, 5 or 10 seconds) as well as one of three transition effects or none, or one of accompanying tunes or none.

• OSD Information:
  • Full: presents part of the shooting data on the lower right of the image (aperture, shutter speed, ISO, flash mode, image size, date and time of capture) and the data related to the file itself on the top left (attached sound, protection, and DPOF setting).
  • Basic: shows only a few details about the image on the top left side.
  • OSD Off: does not superimpose any of the shooting data on the image.

• Rotate: serves to rotate images in 90° increments to the left or right or 180° to rotate them horizontally or vertically.
• Resize: to record a copy of an image under review at a smaller size.

• Protect: to prevent the accidental deletion of one or all images. Protected images can still be deleted if the Format function is used.
• Delete: to delete the image currently under review, or select images for deletion using an index view, or delete all images in memory except those that have been protected.
• Copy to Card: serves to copy images and movies stored in the internal memory to a memory card.

• DPOF serves to set printing options for images that will be printed directly to a printer of by a DPOF compliant service or printer:
  • Standard: to choose the number of copies to print of selected images, or for all images in memory.
  • Index: to print an index sheet.
  • Size: to choose the print size of images (3 x 5, 4 x 6, 5 x 7 or 8 x 10 inches) or to cancel printing.
• My Cam: (see the capture menu).
• Setup: is the access to the Setup menu (see the Interface and Software section of the review for a list of the options in the Setup menu).

When the L700 is connected to a PictBridge compatible printer, a new option appears in the Playback menu, making it possible to print directly without the need for a computer:

• PictBridge allows controlling the following settings:
  • Auto Set: prints all images using default settings.
  • Custom Set: allows selecting the paper, the print layout (Auto, Full, 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 16 images or Index), the paper type, the print quality, and whether or not the time and date of capture and the file size is printed.
  • Print: prints either all images in memory, or prints an index.
  • DPOF Print: uses DPOF settings to print images.
  • Reset: returns all user settings made in the PictBridge menu to their defaults.

The Samsung L700 is equipped with a 20 MB internal memory, and is retailed without a memory card. Nevertheless, it is equipped with an SD (Secure Digital) compatible memory slot, and is also compatible with SD SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) up to 4 GB, and MMC (MultiMedia) cards. The card is located in a compartment underneath the camera and is covered by a solid door.

The chart below provides an idea of the capacity of both the internal memory and an optional 1 GB SD memory card:

The L700 is powered by a rechargeable Lithium ion battery (SLB-0837) that is housed in a compartment next to the memory card slot. A charger, SBC-L5, is supplied as part of the camera kit and requires approximately 2.5 hours to recharge the battery when it is fully drained.

The L700 only has a single external connection, positioned behind a cover door on its right flank, directly below the wrist strap eyelet.

It serves as a USB port (compatible 2.0) or as A/V Out (audio/Video) depending on the cable used, and both cables, A/V and USB, are supplied with the camera.