filmdiehard
New member
Great camera and great lens. Most useful functions directly accessible by buttons and they are instinctive. This convenience is hard to find as these features are accessible in most digital cameras through the "menu" system.
Very sharp pictures with great depth of field. I have found sharpness usually varies even between 2 cameras with identical model number. It is a combination of a sharp lens and precise auto focusing system working in perfect harmony. Probably the same sharpness cannot be guaranteed from sample to sample even for this camera.
Problems:
I first tried out this camera with the objective of finding a digital camera that can give me prints as good as a good film camera can without having to perform any digital enhancement. It is becoming more and more difficult to tell airport security to hand inspect your films and film cameras without passing them through X-ray. The Samsung Pro 815 did not meet this objective but I like the overall performance enough to want to keep it.
The lack of digital image stabilizer is a disappointment. I am sure it is a marketing strategy to hold it off for the next version. On the other hand, what did people use to do when image stabilization wasn't invented. If people had ways to overome it then, we can use the same to overcome it today.
Jan. 27, 2006 Update:
No change to everything I said in the "Pros" section. However, I have noticed several unpleasant surprises in the pricing of this camera. I paid about $1000 Canadian in October 2005. It dropped to $980 6 weeks later and after another 4 weeks, the price dropped to $900. It is now back up to $1000 Canadian. Also, I wanted to buy a custom case and external flash for this camera since October 2005. I held off because these items were listed as out of stock in the online store I was looking at. While holding off, the price of the custom case has increased from about US$55 to about US$85, and the external flash has increased from about US$85 to about US$235. The items are still listed as out of stock although the prices have increased so much. Such abnormal price pattern would indicate that the camera is sellihg very well. From all the opinions read, you either love this camera or you hate it - very few in betweens.
Very sharp pictures with great depth of field. I have found sharpness usually varies even between 2 cameras with identical model number. It is a combination of a sharp lens and precise auto focusing system working in perfect harmony. Probably the same sharpness cannot be guaranteed from sample to sample even for this camera.
Problems:
I first tried out this camera with the objective of finding a digital camera that can give me prints as good as a good film camera can without having to perform any digital enhancement. It is becoming more and more difficult to tell airport security to hand inspect your films and film cameras without passing them through X-ray. The Samsung Pro 815 did not meet this objective but I like the overall performance enough to want to keep it.
The lack of digital image stabilizer is a disappointment. I am sure it is a marketing strategy to hold it off for the next version. On the other hand, what did people use to do when image stabilization wasn't invented. If people had ways to overome it then, we can use the same to overcome it today.
Jan. 27, 2006 Update:
No change to everything I said in the "Pros" section. However, I have noticed several unpleasant surprises in the pricing of this camera. I paid about $1000 Canadian in October 2005. It dropped to $980 6 weeks later and after another 4 weeks, the price dropped to $900. It is now back up to $1000 Canadian. Also, I wanted to buy a custom case and external flash for this camera since October 2005. I held off because these items were listed as out of stock in the online store I was looking at. While holding off, the price of the custom case has increased from about US$55 to about US$85, and the external flash has increased from about US$85 to about US$235. The items are still listed as out of stock although the prices have increased so much. Such abnormal price pattern would indicate that the camera is sellihg very well. From all the opinions read, you either love this camera or you hate it - very few in betweens.