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250 of 254 found the following review helpful:
A very good point and shoot for a great priceMay 05, 2008
By Mom of 3
I bought this camera as an addition to our Minolta digital SLR, just to have a small and convenient point and shoot for times that I don't want to drag the SLR around.
Samsung has put together a very good camera for this price, and it has a couple of nice things beyond the basics. I especially like the facial recognition feature, which makes sure that you actually get a focus on a person instead of sharp surroundings and a blurred human subject. The menus are very easy to use, and the camera itself takes very good action shots. There are eleven different photo settings from which to choose. It also takes small video clips. The photo quality is excellent and you can print up to poster size and maintain that quality. It is an 8.1 megapixel camera with a 3x optical zoom and a 3x digital zoom.
The body of the camera itself is small and compact, and it easily fits into standard blue jean pockets. It has a nice, solid feel to it and since I have small hands, it's very comfortable for me to use. A person with very large hands may want something bigger for ergonomic reasons.
The only down side to this camera is that you have to use the LCD screen to take your shot. There is no standard view finder. The LCD screen itself, however, is very large and extremely crisp.
This is an excellent camera if you are looking for a basic point and shoot with a few added perks beyond the most basic category. If you are looking for a camera with tons of settings, features and major zoom ability, you need to look elsewhere. However, for basic everyday use, Samsung has really put out a great product in the S860.
55 of 56 found the following review helpful:
 spotty performer . . .Aug 11, 2008
By trebe
The Samsung S860 is a low priced camera that is can produce clear images with vibrant colors, however results can be uneven and unsatisfactory. Obtaining decent results, may require that you take some time to explore the camera's capabilities.
Ideally, when set in auto mode, a camera should provide reliable results with a minimum amount of fuss and adjustment. At this, the Samsung receives low marks. In auto mode, I found that the camera's autofocus sometimes has issues. It is very annoying to focus on the subject, lock on, and press the shutter button, only to have the camera fail to fire. This seems to happen more often than average with the S860. The results are a little better, using `Multi AF' instead of `Center AF', but in this mode the camera can have problems with selecting the proper subject or focus area. ISO is automatically set by the camera according to the lighting conditions. Unfortunately, in low light situations, ISO is often set too low, resulting in blurry images. Also annoying, is that the flash function defaults to red eye reduction mode. So if you were in autoflash, or flash off mode when you turned the camera off, it will reset to red eye reduction the next time it is turned on. Being in red eye mode is not the best place to be, if you want to take a photo quickly.
Auto mode may be suitable for outdoor situations with good lighting, but the best option for normal use is probably `P' (Program) mode. ISO, white balance, sharpness and image quality can be adjusted in this mode. The flash setting when the camera comes on is the same as when it was last turned off. The focusing issues remain, but adjusting the ISO does improve the results. However, when ISO is set to 800 or above, the camera takes 4 or 5 seconds to save the file to memory, and the noise in the images often increases significantly.
In Manual mode your options are limited. While a standard range of shutter speeds is available, only two aperture settings F2.8 and F8.4 can be selected. The camera has many other modes and features, including macro and face detection. The camera is capable of producing movies that are of acceptable quality, and you can get about half an hour of recording time on a 4GB card.
The mode selection dial located on the top of the camera is too loose, and prone to being accidentally rotated (a small piece of adhesive tape is my simple solution). Being familiar with Canon and Fuji cameras, I found the design and operation of the menu and settings not especially convenient to navigate. The 2.4" LCD is clear, and has good visibility in a bright light, though it is very prone to smudging. Useful information like battery level, memory level, ISO, flash setting, metering mode and face recognition function can be displayed.
As with many other cameras, the zoom function is controlled by a toggling button, located at the top right corner, on the rear of the camera. If the zoom control was located by the shutter button, it would be much easier to operate the camera using one hand. It can be done, but is a bit awkward attempting this with the S860. The wrist strap could really use a locking ring. It is a very small thing that could go a long way, if it keeps you from dropping your camera even once.
The camera has a USB connection, but is not recognized by a PC. Rather than loading in Samsung's software, you can use a card reader to download images. The S860 uses AA batteries. Setting the camera in powersaver mode helps to increase battery life, but carrying spares is highly recommended. Because it uses AA batteries, the camera isn't super thin, but having a readily available power source can be very convenient. There is a quick start pamphlet, but no printed manual included. Samsung has a manual in PDF format available at their website.
This is not a glowing review, but I already have several SLR's and point and shoots, and the S860 has enough good points, for me to decide to keep it as a walk around camera. Even at the most basic mode, performance could definitely be better, but you do get a lot of features at a low price level. As with any camera, it really depends on what is important to you, and how you like the results. Feel is important as well, so getting one in your hands and trying it out, is always recommended.
72 of 77 found the following review helpful:
 BEST DIGITAL CAMERA FOR THE MONEY! CLEAR, CRISP PICS AND GREAT VIDEOS IN AVI MODE!Jun 12, 2008
By Daisy S
"Daisy S"
June 12, 2008 I bought this camera yesterday and I am totally overjoyed with it. Before I bought this one and found the RIGHT CAMERA for me, I returned a Kodak Easy Share camera to the store. Why did I do this? Well, the Kodak took great pictures, however, when you shoot a movie (video) it is saved in the MOV mode on the Kodak (Apple format, not Microsoft). So you have to download Quicktime to play a movie in the MOV mode on a Windows PC! Not fun. I wanted both a camera that is easy to just point and shoot for stills and also wanted the AVI video output so when I downloaded my video card on to my PC, I can instantly watch my movies! I found this perfect camera for me with this cute pink Samsung! On my first day I found that the basics of this camera were easy to learn. I used mostly the AUTO mode, and the camera does the work for me in any light! I took some stills in daylight and then inside both from faraway and also some closeups of flowers in my garden with the micro setting and later did an indoor and outdoor video. Everything came out just beautiful and as soon as I loaded my computer with the videos, I watched them from my PC. Plan to put these on a DVD to watch on TV. So far this has been an easy camera to learn for just the basic features that I need. My favorite feature is the clear videos that are saved in the AVI mode, not in the MOV mode. This AVI mode plays perfectly in my computer the Vista Windows Media Player and saves great to watch on a DVD on my TV. Note, that there are so many settings, I just use the AUTO and the DIC for low light and anti shake. By the way, it seems easy to use and does great micro shots as well. This is my newest camera after updating my older HP camera from near 3 years ago with just a 5 pixels. Another great feature I love is the FACE RECOGNITION. I took several pictures of friends and they came out just perfectly, NO RED-EYE and SKIN TONES were perfect. (With my old HP 5 pixel, the skin tones came out too red). My advice if you are looking for a good basic camera that takes great stills and videos, this is the one for you!
35 of 35 found the following review helpful:
Great camera for the priceJun 17, 2008
By JonBoi567
I normally don't do reviews on products that i buy, but in purchasing this camera I was thoroughly impressed. I have my camera for alittle over a month and it is truly a luxury having it. It is a great basic camera for the average photographer. It has the basic features that is necessary to capture everyday photos and it still has the quality to do much more. The in-camera help option allows the user to trouble-shoot any problems that might occur while in use. I found that to be extremely helpful especially with change in low-light and bright lighting areas. The auto flash and face recognition features are definetly and added bonus to the cameras already impressive design.
One flaw that I would have to point out is that it does run off of AA battery which gets decent life out of, but can be annoying constantly searching for new ones.
Overall the camera is a great buy, especially for the price. There are not many 8.1 Mp cameras out there that can offer everything that this one can...
16 of 17 found the following review helpful:
A 24 hours a day keep-it-with-you-at-all-times cameraAug 16, 2008
By Rolf Bertram
"RolfBertramDotCom"
I uploaded a grasshopper photo in the samples gallery for this camera. I was surprised to see it as sharp as the photos from my Digital SLRs, except some minor jpg artifacts in the blurred background. This photo was taken at full superbright Florida daylight, meaning short shutter speed and hight apperture value. This makes shake free images and long depth of field easy, even handheld. The camera was set to macro mode, with is a one-touch button and therefore quickly activated.
For professional photography I use a digital SLR, and I published books on Amazon with images from my digital SLRs. But those cameras are huge and heavy. This tiny samsung, in case logic strechy bag, is as small as a wallet. I used it for family trips, and to copy documents from pinboards. Much faster than writing down, or searching for a copy machine. Press the macro button, click done. Press the view button, zoom button, to check the image sharpness, off, done. For family photography it's great. The skin tones come out natural. For long exposures just find a table, a fence post or use the ground, to hold the camera firmly with one hand, and press the shutter button with the other. Night shots of fireworks with 4 second exposure time are easy this way. Alkalines lasted 100 to 150 pics without flash. A 2GB SD holds almost 500 pics at 8MP.
A little scary is, that the on button is not a slide, but a press for 2 seconds. The lens will zoom out, and if that happens inside a tight camera bag, will the lens mechnism survive this? Also, the camera switches on, whithout lens coming out, if pressing the play button. But it has a auto-off mode.
One strange effect happened, when the batteries were low, but still working witout flash. When activating the flash, the camera switched off without pulling the lens in! Well, switching it on and off again pulled the lens in. Anyway, makes sense to always have an extra set of fresh batteries.
Using Lightroom to pull shadows or squeeze highlights is pretty much not of much use. This camera optimizes the image already pretty much to the maximum possible. And the dynamic resolution is just not there for further such editing. Be it due to sensor or A/D or jpg noise.
I personally print from this camera 2 prints on one 4x6, so each print is 3x4", which matches the aspect ratio of the sensor, and also at this small size pretty much all images, handheld or not, are sharp.
Following is a link to my book about Suntan adjustment in Lightroom and Photoshop. This of cause only works when using Digital SLRs:
Suntan: Skin Tone Color Adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop
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