Samsung WB550 Review

I bought this camera before the reviews were released by this site. I made my decision based on the information that was available from various other sites and tried as best as I could to compare it to the Panasonic TZ7, which was the other camera I was looking at. I am new to photography and wanted a fairly good compact to hone my new hobby, but was unprepared to pay a premium for a "premium" brand. From the stills I have taken since owning the WB550 I can only say in my amature opinion that it is a great snapper. I have taken close shots of interesting things like a snapped branch of a tree, which sounds a little boring, however the detail I achieved was amazing, each fibre of wood looked so utterly realistic I doubt whether the much more expensive TZ7 could have done any better. I also looked at the Cannon SX200 which, according the Cannon rep in Jesspos one afternoon, would deliver a much better performance. I did not find this when reading reviews. Most reported that the Panny was the superior camera. Back to the WB550. I am delighted with the WB550, it suits my needs brilliantly, it is not so big as to be a hassle to take out on a dog walk, where most of my photos are taken. I get great results when shooting in the forests and wider landscapes. The "children" scene is excellent for non blurred shots of moving objects, such as .... childres, or in my case dogs! The macro function is superb, and with the manual focus can capture crisp images of close up subjects. I managed to find one on line for £225 from PCworld business, whic was a full £75 cheaper than the Panny, and £60 cheaper than the Cannon. And for that price, it is absolutely superb. I have not compared directly the Panny TZ7, and this may give a better performance, but speaking as I find, I think that if you are new to the game, like me, or want a wide angled lens camera to take some great stills (I have not yet taken any moving images yet), you can't go wring with the WB550.

If you dont want to carry around a big, foot long camera. Then this is as close as it gets. Unbelivable for value

I have taken loads of pictures and movies with the Samsung WB550. Even if you think you won't ever use the manual controls now, if you get this camera you WILL use the manual control. I have some absolutely beautiful pictures, especially at night that I just would not have if it were not for the manual control. I was thinking of the Panasonic however it had no manual control so I got the Samsung instead. I am so glad I went for this camera and recommend it highly. Don't worry about the name, the camera is excellent. The only down point is the zoom motor can be heard when recording in movie mode when recording in quiet places. However it's better to have the zoom work in movie mode than not at all like the Canon. The zoom not working at all is just stupid on the Canon, what's the point of that.

I bought the 550 about 5 weeks ago and right out of the box it had a problem with the flash, it didn't work. After a few hours of searching on the internet for solutions, I happened to notice that the flash appeared to go off just extremely weak. I decided that it must be defective but was going on vacation the next day and the shop was closed so I decided to take it along anyway so I could get some pictures anyway. The camera worked really well for me the entire time and even though I didn't have a flash, I still got some great pictures. My biggest complaints are the menus and the circular button on the back. The menus are not very well laid out and navigating them can be awkward with the circular control and I frequently make mistakes and have to correct them. Upon return I took the camera in for repairs and now the flash works but I really notice that the position is bad, right where you put your finger when you hold it. As far as the manual controls go, I am still unable to figure out how to change the shutter speed despite spending another hour online with the manual (maybe I'm an idiot, but I've used cameras and computers for years :) The only aperature changes I seem to be able to make are between f3.3 and f7.5. I'm hopin that I am just not understanding something simple and that something else isn't broken. Anybody have any practical experience with changing aperature and shutter speed on this thing? Otherwise, it's a really cool little camera and the mode wheel is a great feature as it saves the settings you last used. Thanks