Samsung WB150F camera: For the playful and the adventurous
There is a glut of point and shoot cameras released on the market every year. That seems surprising even as statistics and market reports say fewer people are buying the point and shoot variety, non-DSLR variety due to the fact that a lot of buyers now have smart cell phones. And if you’ve owned one, you will know some cell phones have pretty sophisticated cameras that go with them.
Samsung recently came out with the WB150F, a compact point and shoot camera and I had to ask myself why a company would come out with one considering the market conditions, and why anyone would be interested in getting any new camera especially if you had bought one during the past three years. What’s the big deal? What’s new? I asked myself.
Plenty!
The WF150 has lots of things to get excited about. For one, it’s got Wi-Fi! You can take a picture or a movie (in a small format up to 30 seconds) and send it via e-mail pronto. Or you can share it immediately on social networks by posting it directly to Facebook, Picassa, YouTube or Photobucket. If you are a Windows user, you can auto-backup your photos directly to your computer.
Interfacing with your Android phone is fun. Through Wi-Fi, you can download an app called Remote Viewfinder on your phone and use it as the controller/viewfinder of the camera. You can zoom or unzoom and frame the subject and even press the shutter. I tried it and I instantly liked it. It is most useful for self-portraits. When a newer version of the app comes out which will make the remote control respond faster, this feature will be a much bigger deal. The photo is saved into the WF150B and your phone; you see an icon-sized representation of the pic and you have the option to save a copy of the pic, too.
“Lian:” Overall, it’s great to use it for all types of shots. It also has some really cool artsy effects such as Oil Painting, Soft, Old Film, Cross Process, Cartoonize, etc. This will delight users who want all the eye candy they can get and more.
There are other features too that stand out — effects such as Picture in Picture, Split Shot, Magic Frame, Artistic Brush (which is like a mini-movie that “reconstructs” a pic like a quick drawing), Photo Filter, Live Panorama, and Photo Editor which allows the user many more options for dazzling shots.
Movie Filter opens you up to a plethora of effects to make your videos sizzle for maximum impact.
I took the WB150F for a spin on an outdoor trip a few days ago on the outskirts of Sydney. I was totally floored by the 18x zoom! I took a pic of a couple on a mountaintop which I knew was quite far from where I was. I was impressed and amazed at how closely I captured my subject.
The option to shoot on manual, or aperture, or speed priority is available. If you like shooting on manual, the WB150F is quite easy to use but you won’t get far in the tele-end aspect since it only has an f/5.8 to a f/7.5 aperture opening. The lens is a 24-432mm lens (35mm equivalent). The ISO goes up to 3600 like some of the large DSLR cameras but the noise can begin to be noticeable to the trained eye when you shoot beyond ISO 1200 especially when the picture is enlarged beyond 8X10.
The file sizes of the shots vary from small to large. And I do mean large.
Overall, it’s a good camera to have and bring along if you want to do more than just capture a moment. As people get more and more sophisticated and demanding in their tastes, the WB150F rises to the occasion and delivers pretty well. This is a camera for the playful, the adventurous and the demanding, and those who can’t wait to share their photos with everyone.
As for me, while I am a full-on DSLR user, I appreciate the value of something like the Samsung WB150F as a second camera. I bring this with me and I now use this camera when I want to just take photos on the fly without doing any elaborate set ups or evaluating too many factors before I press the shutter. I use it when I want to play!
