The Samsung TL34HD is a 14.7 megapixel point-and-shot digital camera which will surprise you with its specs and, what is more important, performance.
Introductions:
Samsung TL34HD features a three inch touch display, good face detection with blink detection, optical image stabilization and plenty of other very convenient options. Moreover, it is built of high quality materials, therefore it is very handy and quite fingerprint proof. As it is available in three different colors you should easily find a perfect one for you.
Samsung TL34HD pros:
+ Solid, aesthetic construction
+ Excellent touch-screen with good resolution and sun legibility
+ Good image quality
+ Nice battery life
+ 14.7 Megapixels
+ Very good photo quality
+ Snappy performance
Samsung TL34HD cons:
- Poor video quality
- Proprietary port
- In-camera battery charging
- Poorly placed zoom controls and flash
The design:
Samsung TL34HD measures 3.7″ x 2.3″ x 0.8″ (94.9 x 59.5 x 19.9 mm) and weighs 4.9 oz (138 grams). it is made primarily of metal with some plastic finishing, but is is almost entirely fingerprint-proof. On the front of the Samsung TL34HD is the lens along with two small glass circles which are IR receiver and auto focus assist lamp. The back of the camera is dominated by the 3-inch touchscreen display with 460,000 pixels, but on the right side of the LCD there are four buttons which make operating the Samsung TL34HD a bit easier and more comfortable. On the right side of Samsung TL34HD you will find a wristlet-strap and above it the mode dial, whereas on the left there are only a few dots covering the microphone. The bottom, as usual, features the tripod mount, memory card slot (SD or SDHC) and the Samsung proprietary port used for connecting the Samsung TL34HD to a PC (no Mac support) and charging the camera. The top houses the mode dial and the pop-up flash.
Performance:
The Samsung TL34HD is a quite quick camera. It starts up in about 1.5 seconds, and the continuous mode offer from 3 images per 2 seconds which is quite natural for compact point-and-shot cameras. The built-in battery should work for about 100 minutes, or about 200 photos. The built-in flash has quite nice range – over 5 meters and recharges quite quickly too. The lens offers 3.6x optical zoom which might not sound too impressive, but it is quite good for a point-and-shot camera. The Samsung TL34HD has no viewfinder, but it does not need one. The 3-inch high resolution LCD display works just fine here.
The Samsung TL34HD produces very nice images. With the highest resolution of 4384×3288 you can take really nice photos with plenty of detail. The images are well saturated, but sometimes a little under-sharpened. The Samsung TL34HD is supposed to be a competition for Sony Cyber-shot T77 and indeed it does a much better job. The camera has nice dynamic range and white balance, although with white balance I would not recommend depending on the present and suggest going for the ‘auto’. When it comes to the noise levels, the Samsung TL34HD is again better than the competition. The only thing that is not so good when it comes to the quality is video performance. Samsung TL34HD can record movies in 1280 x 720at 30fps, but unfortunately the video quality leaves much to be desired. The videos generally look unclear, moreover Samsung TL34HD has troubles following moving objects.
Menus / ease of use:
The Samsung TL34HD offers slightly too little manual customization, but in the end it is not a professional ultrazoom digital SLR. The camera has 13 scene modes, and a few manual controls, but I guess most shooters will go for the ‘Auto’ mode. It is the best solution not only because it will automatically deal with the noise, but do the focusing and all other necessary settings for you. It speeds things up and guarantees the best image quality.
When compared with the competition the Samsung TL34HD is good value for the money, as it retails for quite a reasonable price of $299, whereas its direct competitor Sony Cyber-shot T77 is a $100 more expensive I think.
Selected Samsung TL34HD features and specifications:
Display
3.0 inches, 460K pixels, touchscreen
Features
13 Scene modes
Formats:
JPEG, Up to 4384 x 3288 pixels
Sensor
14 Megapixels (1/1.72-inch CCD)
Lens
Optical zoom:
3.6x
Focal length:
28-102mm equivalent
Focusing range:
Normal: 80cm – infinity. Macro: 5cm-80cm
Optical image stabilization
Aperture and shutter
Aperture range:
f/2.8-5.9
Shutter speed: 16 – 1/2000 sec.
Exposure control
ISO sensitivity:
ISO 80 to 3200
Light metering:
Multi, Spot, Center Weighted, Face Detection AE
Exposure control method:
Manual, Program AE
White balance:
Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent_H, Fluorescent_L, Tungsten, Custom
Built-in flash:
Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, Fill-in flash, Slow sync, Flash off, Red eye fix
Flash range:
Up to 5.4m
Memory cards
SD, SDHC
Accessories
Rechargeable battery, AC adapter, USB cable, AV cable, Strap, Manual, CD-ROM
Other recently reviewed digital cameras:
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T77, Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28, Nikon D90, Pentax K20D, Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, Nikon Coolpix S610c, Olympus 570UZ.