Samsung Smart Camera EX2F - hands on field test

[ortega]

The Smart Camera EX2F is Samsung's latest serious digital compact camera. Touted as the camera that lets you instantly capture beautiful memories — and share them with friends and family just as quickly. The fast aperture of the world’s brightest F1.4 lens in its class with ND(Neutral Density) filter and the clearer pixels and lower noise of the large 1/1.7" 12.4-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor combine to create expressive portraits and stunning landscapes, even in low-light situations. What’s more, you can easily — and wirelessly — share and save your masterpieces. Upload images to your favorite social networks. Now lets see what it can do.

pretty handy size that can still fit into large coat or cargo pants pockets.

 

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it has a pop up flash but with the large sensor and fast lens, you might not have to use it.

Full PSAM modes and the control dial that lets you change settings easily.

 

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closer look at the top plate with all the controls

dedicated movie recording button and wifi button

it features a HDMI port for viewing on a big screen and a USB port. What i like is that you can use an external battery to charge the camera's battery via the USB port.

 

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on the bottom you have a standard tripod mount and the door to the battery and SD Card

it uses a Samsung SLB-10A battery with a CIPA Rating of 240

and a nice bright 3" swivel LCD screen.

 

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Official specifications

Sensor
Sensor Type : 1/1.7" BSI CMOS
Effective Pixel : Approx. 12.4 M
Total Pixel : Approx. 12.76 M

Lens
Focus Range : f = 5.2-17.2mm (35mm film equivalent : 24-80mm)
F No. : F1.4(W) - F2.7(T), Include ND filter
Optical Zoom : Schneider-KREUZNACH 3.3X
Digital Zoom : Still Image mode : 1.0X-4.0X (Smart Zoom : 1.33X), Play mode : 1.0X-12.0X
Image Stabilisation : Dual IS

Display
Type : AMOLED
Size : 3"
Feature : 3.0"(7.62cm) 614k dots, Rotating

Focusing
Type : TTL Auto Focus, Manual Focus
Range :
Normal : 40cm ~ Infinity (Wide), 100cm ~ Infinity (Tele)
Macro : 1cm ~ 40cm (Wide), 40cm ~ 100cm (Tele)
Auto Macro : 1cm ~ Infinity (Wide), 40cm ~ Infinity (Tele)
Manual : 1cm ~ Infinity (Wide), 40cm ~ Infinity (Tele)

Shutter Speed
Smart Auto : 1/8 ~ 1/4,000 sec, Manual : 30 ~ 1/4,000 sec

Exposure
Control : Program AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE, Manual Exposure
Metering System : Multi, Spot, Center-weighted, Face Detection AE
Compensation : ±2EV (1/3EV steps)
ISO Equivalent : Auto, ISO 80, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1600, ISO 3200, ISO 6400*, ISO 12800* (* Available only when ISO Expansion is activated)

Flash
Mode : Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, Fill-in flash, Slow sync, Flash Off, Red-eye fix
Range : Wide : 0.9m-7.8m (ISO Auto) • Tele : 0.8m-4.1m (ISO Auto) • Flash EVC : ±1EV(1/2 steps)
Recharging Time : Approximately 4 sec.

White Balance
Mode : Auto WB, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent_H, Fluorescent_L, Tungsten, Custom, K

Shooting
Modes: Smart Auto , Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, Scene, Magic Plus • Burst, Precapture, Bracket, Timer • ND Filter effect

Image Play
Single image, Thumbnails, Multi Slide Show with Music and Effect, Movie Clip, Smart Album, Creative Movie Maker

Date Imprinting
Date & Time, Date, Off

Movie Clip
Video Recording Modes: Smart Scene Detection, Movie, Magic Plus (Picture in Picture) • Format: MP4 (H.264) • Size: 1920 X 1080, 1280 X 720, 640 X 480, 320 X 240 • High-speed: 480fps (192 X 144), 240fps (384 X 288), 120fps (640 X 480) • Sound Alive • Image Stabilizer • Capturing during recording
Effect : Smart Filter
Edit : Pause during recording and playing, Still Image Capture, Time Trimming

Storage
Media : SD card, SDHC card, SDXC card
File Format : Still Image: JPEG (DCF), EXIF 2.21, DPOF 1.1 • Movie Clip: MP4
Image Size : 12M, 10MP, 9MW, 8M, 8M(1:1), 5M, 3M, 2MW, 1M

Interface
Digital Output Connector USB 2.0 (Hi-Speed)
Audio Microphone: Stereo, Internal Speaker: Mono
Video output A/V Out, HDMI 1.4
DC Power Input 5V

Power Consumption
Power Source Type : SLB-10A (1,030mAh), Micro USB(7 pin)

Design
Dimension (W x H x D) 112.1 x 62.4 x 27.55 mm (Dimension excluding the Projection Part)
Weight 286 g (without battery and memory card media)
Operating Temperature 0 - 40 ℃
Operating Humidity 5 - 85 %

Wireless
Mobile Link, Remote Viewfinder, Social Sharing, Email, SkyDrive, Auto Backup, TV Link, Wi-Fi Direct)

 

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High ISO Noise tests

the full scene

all images below are 100% crops of the center of the above image as different ISO speeds

 

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looks like there is aggressive noise reduction

 

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another scene

all images below are 100% crops of the center of the above image as different ISO speeds

 

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Built-in ND filter

in order to demonstrate the strength of the ND filter, i used manual exposure to shoot the image with out the filter and then take another shot with the filter switched on with no change in exposure.

 

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Panorama

Landscape orientation

Portrait orientation

 

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Image without Smart Filter

 

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[ed9119]

gotta love the AMOLED screen (same same as the screens on their Galaxy S2 and S3 smartphones and tablets )

can you advise about the uploads and tethering (to smartphone) capabilities ?

Wonglp was quite impressed with this feature on the NX20 review a few weeks back

 

[ortega]

 

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