Wide angle seems majority. Until the middle of last year, it was hard to see a product having 28mm (on 135 format), but from the photokina last year, not only the 28mm, but also 24mm compact digital cameras have appeared. This product in my hand is also 24mm model.

The Samsung WB500. It’s going to be released in the middle of this month. The first impression is a little bit big and thick, but with 24mm wide angle and optical 10x zoom, I can see this camera is not just for a fashion accessory, but a practical one.

Optical 10x zoom can remind a big high-end camera among compact digital cameras. Those models are normally thick, and the lens barrel is protruded much. The optical 10x zoom lens of the WB500 is protruded shorter than I expected. In fact, the focus distance is just 42mm, so there’s no reason for the barrel to protrude. Anyway, it looks quite practical.

However, the maximum iris value F3.3 at the maximum wide angle is a little unsatisfactory. Anyway, the sensor is a small as a compact digital camera, so the low open iris value doesn’t affect the depth, but when the light is insufficient, compared to other compact digital cameras having F2.X, the problem is that it’s not good to secure the shutter speed.

However, this weakness can be nothing. When it comes to the Sigma DP1, it only has 28mm with F4.0, but I used it without any trouble. I used the camera for a while on Sunday, and the maximum open iris value is relatively high, but because noise reduction was quite good at high ISO, the shutter speed can be compensated by the adjustment of ISO. It can be unsatisfactory, but there’s an alternative, so you don’t have to worry much.

The feeling is that it’s quite fast unlike other compact digital cameras, good noise reduction at high ISO, and control is also good. As a result, the images are not like vivid pictures on the internet, but after developing images for homework, I couldn’t see any noticeable problem. I’m going to find out other features with this for a while.