Samsung WB2000 review

Samsung WB2000 Review

Picture this – you’re stood on the sidelines of a football match, itching to capture the action. You can either switch to video mode, or shoot stills – which is more important? Now Samsung has solved this problem with the new WB2000 that boasts ‘Dual Action’, recording both movies and stills at the same time. Most current camcorders have mastered this, but it is a rarity in the digital compact camera market, and it’s a great advantage. Not only that, but the videos themselves are Full HD with an accessible 5x optical zoom for close-ups at 10-megapixels.

Another quick-fire feature is the impressive burst mode that shoots 10 photos per second at full resolution. This is perfect for capturing an action sequence, whether it’s a child running a race on sports day, or a dog leaping for a Frisbee. The recording mode has been amped up to 1,000 fps too so that videos can be played back in super slow motion, which would be effective for scenes such as jumping in a swimming pool. There is even a pre-capture facility for those who hate missing the winning shot. By half-pressing the shutter, the WB2000 automatically records an image before the button is fully pressed so you effectively double your chances of success.

There’s a whole host of manual modes to unleash your creativity with, too. The mode dial can be found occupying the usual top right hand corner position with the P, A, S, M modes, along with movie, Smart Auto, Scene recognition, and Dual Image Stabilisation. Curiously, two dials akin to those found on a car’s dashboard can also be found on the camera’s top plate. They swing to life when the WB2000 is powered up, and show how close the battery and memory card are to being empty. This is a novel idea and lends an attractive post-modern feel, however, the review model we were sent claimed that an empty memory card, fully formatted, was verging on completely full.

Users can opt to shoot in RAW as well as JPEG, which enables you to freely edit uncompressed, original data to correct important elements such as exposure and white balance. However, Samsung has provided software so that you can make slight amendments to your images if you don’t fancy labouring for hours in Photoshop. What’s more is that you don’t need to upload the software either; it simply fires up as soon as you plug the camera to the PC or laptop. 

There is also the usual array of creative filters in-camera, including Miniature effect, Vignetting, and Fish-eye filters. However, accessing the Smart Filter is rather lengthy as it is the tenth option on the list within the menu. It would be better suited to the Function button, where you can make the usual tonal and quality adjustments. Within the attractively illustrated Scene mode, which is easily located on the mode dial, there is a Panorama option that acts the same as Sony’s Sweep Panorama function. Unlike the Sony version, however, it blurs any moving objects and the quality is pretty poor.

Unfortunately, image quality under normal circumstances isn’t up to a high standard either. We found pictures lacked fine detail and highlights were continuously blown. The WB2000 coped better indoors, but for £330 it really needs to perform everywhere. The three-inch AMOLED screen does at least make it possible for you to see what it is you’re capturing, even in bright sunlight. Also, due to the absence of LCD backlight, less power is consumed. The host of advanced features that come with this compact is impressive and puts it in the high-end compacts category, but Samsung has already filled this spot more successfully with the EX1. The latter model is slightly larger, but if image quality is the deciding factor for you, then it may be worth paying the £70 more for one that fires on all cylinders.