Digital Camera Review by: Katrina Putker

The Samsung S860 is an entry-level compact perfectly suited to first-time digital camera users or those who have not updated within the previous five years and are feeling completely overwhelmed by the jargon and advanced technologies saturating the modern compact camera market.

While the S860 has adopted a number of popular and valuable elements common to digital compacts toady - including face detection auto exposure and focus, and digital image stabilisation - it is in no way intimidating or complicated: the S860 is cleanly designed, easy to operate, and more than capable of fulfilling the average point-and-shooter’s needs.

For a compact camera within this highly affordable price range, the S860 packs a powerful little punch. High resolution images are created using what Samsung call a ‘true-colour filtered’ 8.1 mega pixel CCD (charge-coupled device), which allows users to print their images any size up to that of a standard poster without loss of quality.

The two-tier, fully-retractable, three times optical zoom lens can combine with three times digital zoom to offer a nine times total zoom capacity, allowing users to get closer to subjects further away and achieve some quite impressive, clear results. Built-in macro mode will help those who would like to get closer to subjects already under their nose in order to capture finer detail and eliminate distractions from the final composition.

During recording of the available 640 x 480 Motion JPEG video, the S860 retains its ability to zoom and is capable of recording either with or without sound. Unfortunately though, both cannot be done at once: at the point where the zoom function is activated, the audio recording will be cut off.

It is advisable that consumers purchase at least a 1GB card at the point of sale to help ensure ample amounts of both video and stills can be taken and stored at a time. Movie mode especially is a fantastic novelty - as well as often being a useful tool - to have on a digital compact camera and as such, should be used without the restriction of a small 512MB card or lower.

Eleven scene modes are incorporated into the S860 and range from portrait to night scene, sunset, dawn, landscape, fireworks and text etc. A photo help guide is also built-in to offer the user tips and tricks to counteract issues such as camera shake, out of focus images, and the difficulty of shooting in low light conditions.

The S860 can be somewhat sluggish when processing images shot using digital image stabilisation. In some cases, it may take up to three or four seconds before the previous image is recorded and the next can be composed and taken. For general shooting however, either with or without the flash, this will reduce to one or two seconds.

The S860 kit comes with two AA alkaline batteries to power the unit but it is highly recommended that rechargeable batteries be purchased (along with a charger if not already owned) as these will quickly prove to be more economically efficient. The kit also includes a wrist strap, software, USB cable, manual and warranty card and the S860 is available in four different colours: silver, black, pink and blue.

Appearance rating	3 stars
Functionality rating	3 stars
Image quality	3.5 stars
Lens quality	3.5 stars
View finder / LCD screen	3 stars
Value for money	4 stars
RRP (AUD)	$229
Effective Pixels	8.1 Million mega pixels
Image Sizes	7 Sizes
Lens - zoom wide [mm]	35mm (35mm equivalent )
Lens -zoom tele [mm]	105mm (35mm equivalent )
Lens - Optical Zoom	Yes, 5x
Resolution Settings	From 1024 x 768 to 3264 x 2448
Shooting Modes	10 Scene options
Face Detection	Yes
Manual Focus	No
Auto Focus	Yes
Focus Range [cm]	80cm - infinity
Aperture Range	F3.0(W) ~ 5.6(T)
Aperture Priority	No
Macro	Yes
Macro Range [cm]	0.1m ~ 0.8m (Wide), 0.5m ~ 0.8m (Tele)
Shutter Speeds	8Auto: 1 ~ 1/2,000s / Manual/Night: 8 ~ 1/2,000s / Firework: 4s
Shutter Priority	No
ISO	Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000
LCD Monitor	Yes
LCD Size	2.4" TFT LCD Screen
Viewfinder	No
Flash	Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, Fill-in flash, Slow sync, Flash off
Hot Shoe	No
White balance	Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent_H, Fluorescent_L, Tungsten, Custo
Self Timer	Yes. 2s, 10s, Double (10s, 2s), Motion Timer
Movie Options	Yes. Limited only by memory card size.
Video Out	Yes
Storage Type	Internal memory: Approx. 11MB flash memory / External memory: SD Card (up to 2GB guaranteed) / MMC plus (up to 1GB guaranteed) / SDHC (up to 4GB guaranteed)
Storage Included [Mb]	16MB Internal Memory
Image / Audio Formats	Still Image: JPEG (DCF), EXIF 2.2, DPOF 1.1, PictBridge 1.0 / Movie Clip: AVI (MJPEG) / Audio: WAV
Connectivity	USB
Power Source	Optional: SNB-2512B KIT (2x AA 2500mAh Ni-MH Battery & Charger)
Battery Options	Primary Battery: 2x AA Alkaline / Rechargeable battery
Dimensions	93.0 x 62.0 x 26.5mm
Weight	123g (without batteries and card)