Perfect for point and click photography. A little old at this stage so good value to be had
Rated as /5 on Apr 20 2007 by Conor O'Neill
My mother dropped her ancient 35mm camera recently and it finally died. She popped into her local pharmacy/photo shop to get a replacement. They rightly guided her to a digital one. Due to her total technology phobia, the owner suggested this Samsung. It has a 5.1 MP sensor, 3x optical zoom and unless you want to experiment, everything is automatic. He also gave her a 1GB SD Card for it.
At the semi-regular extended family meet-up I played with it for a bit and was impressed overall. It takes standard AAs or rechargeable ones, is meaty in the hand but quite light and it is large enough not to have overly-fiddly buttons.
It was very fast to take pictures in comparison to our three year old Canon Ixus 400 and the picture quaity overall was excellent.
Navigation in "play mode" was simple and the menus were not too obscure.
I only have two real criticisms of the camera. First is that the USB cable has a proprietary connector on the camera. Why the hell couldn't they use standard mini-USB? And second, the navigation buttons are in the bottom right of the camera and my thumb kept pressing them by accident as I was holding the camera.
Being a local supplier, the cost of the phone was high for what my mother got - €160. She could easily get it for €100 online, but she doesn't shop online.
She now knows how to take snaps and knows to go to the pharmacy to get them to print the pictures she selects So they still have a thriving print business as long as people like her are around!
Summary features:-5.1 megapixels-15X zoom (3X optical, 5X digital)-Large 2.4” LCD-Quick print button-User-friendly “Effect”button-Macro & Auto Macro mode (as close as 5cm)-Cradle charging system (optional)-Available in black and silver
I believe there is no real difference between the S530 and the S500 so the URL on the Samsung site is for the S500.
