Samsung Digimax V700

Reviewed May 2005

Image Quality

The Samsung Digimax V700, with its 7.1 megapixel resolution, 3X optical zoom, and advanced shooting modes and functions is a reflection of two interesting trends in the marketplace. First, as high resolution compact digital cameras are becoming increasingly more common, the competition is driving prices down. And second, more and more very compact cameras now offer functions that were usually associated with bulkier cameras.

As do many compact cameras, the V700 provides a focal length range that is well-suited to most photographic subjects.

Wide angle shots from the V700 reveal a minimal amount of barrel distortion, and a small chromatic aberration — visible as a purple fringe on the edge of bright/dark boundaries — when the subject contains very strongly contrasting zones. Sharpness is generally high at all focal lengths, and uniformly crisp throughout the frame. Telephoto shots show no distortion whatsoever.

As are many other digital cameras, the V700 is equipped with a digital zoom. But, unlike most others, the digital zoom cannot be turned off. With the V700, as the optical zoom's limit is reached zooming stops, and it is only if the zoom button is pressed again that the camera transitions into digital zoom territory.

One of the strengths of the V700 is that it provides a full group of shooting modes: Aperture priority provides control over the depth of field. This mode is ideal for portraits that look best with a shallow depth of field, or macros that are best when the depth of field is maximized.

Shutter priority makes it possible to control the way motion is captured, either freezing subjects or objects as they move, or allowing them to blur evocatively.

Finally, the Manual mode offers full control over the camera, and is the perfect tool to capture night time scenery, an option offered by the V700's maximum exposure time of 15 seconds (see the Test Photos section of the review).

Two metering modes are available on the V700. First is a Multi-area pattern that takes readings from a number of areas within the frame, but which is still clearly influenced by what is at the centre, much like a centre-weighted pattern. Second is a Spot meter, which measures the brightness at the precise centre of the frame, perfect for shots that have the subject back-lit.

While the Multi metering yields good results easily, we noticed that it reacts slower than most when switching from a brightly subject to a darker one. Unless some care is exercised, this can occasionally lead to an underexposed image unless the metering system is given a bit of time — pressing the shutter release halfway twice in close succession is usually sufficient — to adjust to the change in the brightness of the scene.

The Auto white balance usually produces images that have good saturation and bright, snappy and consistent colours, even under overcast conditions. Moreover, the user-set white balance settings are effective, and ensure that should the Auto white balance not live up to expectations, it can be by-passed and accurate colours can still be obtained.

At the lowest CCD sensitivity of 50 ISO, the V700's photos only contain a bit of noise in the deeper shadows of an image, unless the ambient light is poor. Noise increases slightly at 100 ISO, but is much more detectable, even with daylight shots, at 200 and more so at 400 ISO.

With longer exposures however, such as with night photos, the images benefit from an effective noise reduction system that makes photos captured at the higher ISO values quite useable.

The V700 is quick to be ready to shoot. The lens deploys rapidly, the menus respond quickly, there is no serious lag when controls are solicited. But, we also noted that when the ambient light is low, such as on a cloudy or rainy day, the camera can exhibit a latency before the shutter releases, which can be disconcerting.

One capability of the Digimax V700 is most unusual: not only does it offers a Text mode to photograph printed matter, Samsung includes the software necessary to perform optical character recognition (OCR) on the photo. This makes it possible to photograph text, then have the text read by the software on the computer, so that the output can be saved in a text format that can be immediately used by a word processor, or any other software package that can import text. A feature as potentially useful as the ability to record sound.

In summary, this plus the inclusion of a full set of shooting modes, and the fact that the Digimax V700 produces good quality images, makes it a camera that deserves attention. Particularly as it offers features and capabilities that are not usually only found in its price range.