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Archive 2016 · Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 thoughts?

  
 
PanS
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 thoughts?


The Samsung Galaxy Camera (2012) and Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 (2014) have been around for some time now. I was digging around for a camera that can run on Android (Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, blah) popped up.



It seems to solve a lot of the issues that many present day cameras have such as wanting a more user friendly interface, a 1/2.3" sensor with a decent (23-483mm 35mm equivalent) kit lens, and modern connectivity.

Sadly, I feel the quality of the images created by the camera were not enough to make this device as popular as it should have been. The camera had poor noise performance at 400 ISO + and honestly, my iPhone 6+ and my spouse's Samsung Galaxy 7 creates images of comparable quality.

I think this camera was headed in the right direction though. Thoughts?



Sep 20, 2016 at 11:33 AM
arduluth
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 thoughts?


There's a limit to the quality you can get using a 1/2.3" sensor. Add a 21x zoom lens and the upper limit is a lot lower. A lot of compromises there, though I can understand why Samsung went that way.

It just seems kind of clumsy to me. It's just as big as a pocket superzoom camera, except they've stripped it from the useful buttons and dials. I really wouldn't like the step backward to dealing with an auto P&S, doesn't matter how big the sensor or zoom range.

It is only one device, which is a good and bad thing. If you were already committed to carrying around a pocket superzoom around all the time it wouldn't hurt to merge them into one device. It's easy to see the negatives - this camera line hasn't seen an update since 2014, and Samsung stopped bothering to update it. It's stuck permanently on an obsolete version of Android. If you want a better phone or newer OS, you'll have to abandon the camera and switch to a regular smartphone of some kind. If I wanted this kind of camera, I'd probably just get a Canon PowerShot SX620 or similar and a phone. Stacked together in your pocket the size will be pretty similar.

I'm an Android user, but maybe Apple could do better, at least keep it running a newer version of the OS to keep it relevant.

I wouldn't mind an Android (6 or 7 mind you, not something ancient like Jelly Bean) phone with a 1" sensor and a fixed 13mm f/1.4-f/2 prime, something that didn't need to extend on power on. Even then, the ergonomics would probably annoy me and leave me wanting to use a standalone camera. Just a PIA to use for me.



Sep 20, 2016 at 12:38 PM
PanS
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 thoughts?


It's a cellphone sensor with a typical point and shoot super zoom lens on it. That may be why the image quality was never up to par.


Sep 20, 2016 at 02:59 PM
Jman13
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 thoughts?


I don't see the point of these in this thick form factor. It's huge for a phone and has crappy quality for a camera. You'd never want to use it as your phone, and with almost all cameras having WiFi now, you can shoot the images quickly to your phone for processing and sharing, which I think is a lot more useful.

There is a market for a phone that can fit a camera with a 1" sensor or so and a decent lens without making it too thick, but all the ones that have come out so far are compromised in ergonomics.

Honestly, the best implementation of 'good camera' + smartphone has been the DxO One, which you can toss in your pocket unobtrusively when you want, and have a beautiful screen and touch controls with instant transfer to the phone when you want to shoot.



Sep 20, 2016 at 03:15 PM
PanS
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 thoughts?


Jman13 wrote:
I don't see the point of these in this thick form factor. It's huge for a phone and has crappy quality for a camera. You'd never want to use it as your phone, and with almost all cameras having WiFi now, you can shoot the images quickly to your phone for processing and sharing, which I think is a lot more useful.

There is a market for a phone that can fit a camera with a 1" sensor or so and a decent lens without making it too thick, but all the ones that have come out so far are
...Show more

Wow. 1" sensor and 33mm f/4.86 35mm equivalent is pretty decent.

I remember the Sony QX trying something, in theory it was great. APS-C sensor, E-mount lenses. I thought it looked a little weird though. It saved to SD and Memory Sticks and needed to connect to your phone via WiFi or NFC. I asked on B&H if it can save directly to cellphone.



Sep 21, 2016 at 08:21 AM





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