Samsung S1050 review

It also includes face-tracking autofocus and autoexposure, which senses when faces are in-frame automatically and adjusts settings accordingly. Face-tracking AF/AE systems can help a great deal in family photos, for example, where odd angles and positions can leave faces unrecognised by both autofocus and metering systems, which tend to focus near the centre of the frame, locking on to the nearest subject they detect.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (typical)

Kodak EasyShare V1003

1.6

2.7

0.6

Casio Exilim EX-Z1050

1.9

1.4

0.5

Samsung S850

2.1

2.1

0.5

Samsung S1050

3.1

2.4

0.9

The S1050's face detection works well enough in most cases but low light can confound the system, causing it to slow down or sometimes not even detect a face at all.

Performance
Slow shot-to-shot times and a shutter that lags really hold the S1050 back. After a 2.4-second wait from power-on to first photo, we could fire off a new shot just once every 3.1 seconds. With the onboard flash enabled, that wait ballooned to 4.6 seconds. The shutter fared little better, pausing 0.9 seconds between pressing the shutter release and actually taking a picture of our high-contrast target.

With our low-contrast target, that time increased scantly to one second, a laudable wait were it not for the camera's other slow tendencies.