Samsung S1050 review

Typical price: £160

What is it: 10-megapixel compact with face detection

What we think: Despite its improved features, its performance and photos come up lacking

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Samsung S1050 Review

Reviewed by: Will Greenwald

Reviewed on: 1 October 2007

With cameras, you usually get what you pay for. If you're willing to drop more cash, you'll generally get more features, faster shooting and better pictures.

Naturally, when we saw the Samsung S1050 -- the beefed-up, higher-resolution version of the S850 that retails for around £160 -- we thought it would prove to be a superior camera. We were wrong.

Design
The S1050 shares almost the same design as its little brother. Its lens juts significantly out from its solid, chunky body, though not nearly as much as the absurdly endowed Samsung NV5 or NV7 OPS.

Although the camera doesn't have a viewfinder, its 76mm (3-inch) LCD more than makes up for it

Its small buttons sit nearly flush against its back but the buttons aren't spaced apart enough to be easily manipulated by large fingers. A dial on top of the camera offers access to all of its various shooting modes. The dial feels loose, though, and we often accidentally bumped the camera out of the mode we were using while framing vertical shots.

Besides the obvious increase in resolution from eight to 10 megapixels, the S1050 features several improvements over the S850. Its 76mm (3-inch) LCD eclipses the S850's 64mm (2.5-inch) LCD and proves invaluable, considering the camera lacks a viewfinder.

Features
Just like the S850, the Samsung S1050 offers several features for more experienced photographers, with Program/Aperture/Shutter/Manual exposure controls that grant a great deal of flexibility.

The S1050 offers the same 38 by 190mm-equivalent, 5x zoom range, offering a slightly boosted telephoto reach at the cost of its wide angle abilities. Samsung's Advanced Shake Reduction electronic image stabilisation system can boost the ISO sensitivity and quicken shutter speed for zoomed-in and high-speed shots. While helpful in some cases, electronic image stabilisation can only go so far, and simply can't replace a flash or tripod or match the efficacy of optical or mechanical stabilisation.