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  Samsung Digimax i85

  Sudeep Naik, May 08, 2008 1853 hrs IST

  The i85 is a digital still camera, a Portable Media Player (PMP), a voice recorder, a text reader and, the best of all, a tour guide all rolled into one device

  Looks and build quality, 3-inch LCD, loads of features, PMP functionality, World Tour guide, Battery Life.

  Average image quality, small buttons, sluggish operation, LCD blanks out in ASR mode.

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Page 1 - Design Page 2 - Specifications Page 3 - Features Page 4 - ISO Tests Page 5 - Performance, Battery Life & Conclusion Page 6 - Sample Shots (1 of 3) Page 7 - Sample Shots (2 of 3) Page 8 - Sample Shots (3 of 3)

Performance

The i85 has a lot going for it in terms of looks, features, as well as functionality. I was particularly impressed by i85's build and looks. It appears and feels like a true lifestyle camera. Although the camera feels sturdy, you don't really get a comfortable grip on the camera like you would get on a regular run-of-the-mill digicam. But we aren't talking about those cams here, are we?

Being a multimedia player, the camera has a huge internal memory and also features the nifty World Tour Guide feature. T here is also a text viewer that can display a text document up to 99,999 pages.
The menus are easy to navigate (if you've used a Samsung camera before), but the operation is pretty sluggish. Response times are really long after you've pressed a button. However, the controls are well-set -- all in their proper place, buttons have good tactile quality, if that's any consolation.

The 8MP CCD delivers average color reproduction. Skin tones turn out good, though not exceptionally well. The images we shot indoors were of decent quality, but a little darker than the scene. All the images had some amount of noise (even at ISO 200), which became more obvious as we went on to higher ISO settings. With ISO 800 and beyond, the images were of no use (check out the sample pictures for more).

Images shot in the Macro mode did appear darker, but I could live with that. The ASR mode works pretty well, but takes a lot longer to give you the processed image; meaning greatly increased shot-to-shot times. The LCD freezes or goes blank when shooting in this mode, which can makes it hard to follow your subject. Turning off ASR seems to breathe life into the camera: the shot-to-shot times are surprisingly small, and the camera feels responsive.

The "Fun" feature allows you to create a composite photo by saving up to four individual images as one, highlight an image by sharpening the foreground and softening the focus of the background, as well as customize the saved images with photo frames, stickers of various shapes, and cartoon text bubbles. You have a lot of options to choose from, and we're sure you'll find what you'd like.

The i-movie mode on the camera offers users SVGA-resolution (800 x 592) MPEG-4 video and advanced editing controls. The quality of the clips is decent enough for spur-of-the-moment videos -- those goofy ones. An interesting feature is the camera's Successive Recording mode, where you can pause and resume filming of video clips without having to save the clips as individual files. Additionally, you can operate the camera's optical zoom while filming, and engage a movie stabilizer to compensate for unwanted camera movement and subject blur.

Battery Life

Powered by Samsung's proprietary SLB-1137D (3.7v- 1100mAh) rechargeable Li-ion Battery, the i85 lasted for about 100 shots and a few videos that we shot while testing it. Along with that, I also listened to a few MP3s and viewed several text files and used the World Tour guide for about 8-10 minutes, which is pretty good for a compact camera.

Still I'd suggest that you get an extra battery pack, so you aren't left with a non-functional camera when you're out and about for longer times.

Conclusion

The Samsung Digimax i85 is available for around Rs. 14,500 with a 1-year warranty; and for that price what you get is a very capable ultra-compact camera with a variety of high-end features.

It's easy to use and has a good number of preset shooting modes that allow for hassle-free photography. Also, it offers a variety of effects that can be applied to images in-camera. Since it has multimedia features as well, it is great for people who travel a lot, including a downloadable World Tour Guide.

Overall, the i85 is a decent camera with well endowed features that should entice consumers into purchasing it. It's suitable for those who are looking for a slim digicam and want that something 'extra'. Trust me, this has got more 'extra' than you can handle.

Page 1 - Design Page 2 - Specifications Page 3 - Features Page 4 - ISO Tests Page 5 - Performance, Battery Life & Conclusion Page 6 - Sample Shots (1 of 3) Page 7 - Sample Shots (2 of 3) Page 8 - Sample Shots (3 of 3)

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