If you're considering this camera, you've most likely heard of Samsung's dual LCD feature which is probably the single best reason to purchase this particular camera model. I brought this camera along on a recent trip to Disneyland and having the LCD on the front of the camera took all the guesswork out of framing portrait shots of me and my girlfriend.To start off, I'll address the dual LCD feature a little more in detail. Samsung made this camera very user-friendly by putting a "Front LCD" button next to the power button push the Front LCD button and you're ready to take self-portrait shots of yourself or with one other person (I found it difficult to frame 3 people in the same shot using the Front LCD). This model (as well as the Samsung Dual View 12.2MP Digital Camera Silver (TL205) can shoot video while the Front LCD is activated, which is a nice touch.
I found the camera's rear LCD bright and clear enough to rival Canon cameras within the same price range. Thankfully Samsung removed the touchscreen feature touchscreen is really more a gimmick than anything else. There is a standard "wheel" where you can scroll through the various camera modes (video, night shots, auto mode, etc). When you scroll through each mode, the camera will display a short blurb about what each mode is designed for. There is an interesting "Beauty Shot" mode that claims to remove blemishes automatically however the pictures taken in this mode were not extraordinarily different than those taken in Auto mode. There is also a dual image stabilization mode which apparently uses both digital and optical image stabilization I found these pictures to be a bit grainy and softer than pictures taken in Auto mode.
The weakest part of this camera is the picture quality. Yes, this camera produces 12.4 megapixels however a side-by-side comparison of pictures taken by the much older Canon PowerShot SD700 IS 6MP Digital Elph Camera with 4x Image Stabilized Zoom yields much better picture quality by the Canon camera (and the Canon is only 6 megapixels!). Pictures taken by this Samsung camera are not horrible but you will find that unless you take pictures in broad daylight with plenty of lighting, your pictures will come out grainy and soft (seems like too much automatic noise reduction by the Samsung). In low lighting situations (such as taking a picture with NO flash during the queue line for Space Mountain, this camera will produce pictures no better than the iPhone 3GS 2-megapixel camera).
Video quality is high-def 720p and is excellent. My only gripe is that whenever you zoom in or out, the audio will disappear until you stop zooming in/out. If you like to take wildlife videos and plan on doing a slow zoom, you'll end up with a silent movie :)
I had no problems with battery life the Samsung lasted 4 days on a single charge for me with some power still left. I think I took about 200 photos and about 15 video clips in total. Note that you will need a Micro-SD card instead of the regular-sized SD card.
The outer housing of the camera is cheap glossy plastic and as one other reviewer mentioned, the camera IS NOT red but has a red stripe on one side. The glossy housing is a great way to see your own fingerprints. Although I appreciate how Samsung made this camera as light as a feather, it also feels like a camera that costs $50.
Pros: The Dual LCD feature is great (other manufacturers need to get on this), video quality (at highest setting) is excellent, camera is lightweight, rechargeable battery lasts a decent amount of time.
Cons: Grainy and soft images, especially at night (definitely not what you would expect from a 12.4 megapixel camera). Camera has a short but noticeable lag when taking pictures especially after using the flash. The plastic housing feels cheap and will probably break after one drop. Fingerprint magnet.
For a starter camera, this is definitely a good choice. I'd say $129 is a more appropriate price for this camera given the image quality. I uploaded 3 photos taken in Disneyland into the Amazon product photo gallery at the top of the page in case anyone is interested to see the camera in action.
The Movie feature for video recording is HD 720p quality. This is just as good as a Flip video recorder (except I don't have to carry an extra recorder, All I need is my Camera). One thing to note is that you loose sound when you zoom while recording, but considering that Flip recorders and the other mini-recorders do not have zoom, so considering that it really is better than those products. You don't have to spend money on a Camera and a mini Camcorder. There was something else my friends noticed when I recorded, which was that it didn't give them a headache or make them nauseated. I didn't think about this before but when you watch other peoples home videos and you zoom in and out it tends to nauseate or give people headaches. (I stopped zoomiing while recording; I would stop zoom and start and my friends noticed the difference in nausea)
The battery life is good, I read other reviews which stated the battery life was not good but, I can use this Camera for 5 days taking about 300 pictures and still have a little juice left. (I purposely did not charge the Camera to test the Battery life because of the other reviews) I also purposely left the Camera on for 3 hours straight and turned the camera on and off repetitively to see if I could figure out what the other people were complaining about. I never had any problems and leaving it on for 3 hours barely used up the battery. Turning the power on and off repetitively didn't affect the battery much either. I was at Ritz Camera and was talking to the employee there to see if he knew of other customers complaining, he stated he never had an actual costumer complain at the store but he has seen the mystery online reviewers. He stated maybe the touch screen version uses more battery power. (The TL210 is not touch screen; TL220 and TL225 are touch screen) The Camera guy at the store stated they didn't have issues with people even returning this camera because of battery life and the other 2 employees that were working that day stated they didn't have that complaint either. But he did add in theory the touch screen may use more battery power (he thought that was unlikely but a possible theory) He went on the state the more likely issue is a bad battery, he stated this can happen with any Camera and Sony cameras have this issue a lot because they are slim with small batteries.
For me if the battery last more than 24 hours I'm good because I am usually able charge it by then. Also viewing your pics using a computer usb charges this Camera. Anyways if you are worried about battery life, don't be, Unless you are going to be in an area with no power or computer for more than 4 days.
The picture quality is great. Compares well the the 3 other cameras I have. I have a Casio Ex-slim (only 3megapixel), a Canon powershot 14.1 megapixel and a Sony 10.2 Megapixel. Other than the Casio which has a 3 megapixel quality, I can't telll the difference from the Canon, Samsung or the Sony. I am not a professional and after 6 megapixel, I really don't notice the differences in the 3 inch LCD screens or on a 4x6 print out. If I enlarged these pictures to a life size poster maybe I will see a difference, but on a normal print or a calender size print I do not see a difference. (The Casio, yes there is a difference in quality, but that is excepted, the casio is very old and only 3 megapixel. The Canon is a couple of years old and the Sony is a only a year old. Now for those reviewer who compare a point and shoot with a SLR $1500 dollar camera, that is not a logical comparison. I personally could not tell the difference in the pictures so I decided to print 5 shots and compare it with the other photos I had from the other Cameras. I asked a few friends without telling them which photo was from which camera and wanted to check if they could tell a difference. None of them could really tell the difference (other than the Casio, which again is not a fair comparison). For the people who have questions about the quality of the picture, you should try this as well. Have someone else take the picture and let them print and shuffle it around. See if you can pick out the Canon photos from the other ones. I bet you will be very suprised. One of my friends has a bias against Sony products because her and her mother who had a Sony TV a few years back had the TVs blow out after a year (Right as the warranty was up) She is sure that Sony products are junk, but if you ever talk to guys who work at electronics stores they tell you this can happen, usually a bad batch/(lot number of products) were multiple TVs or Computer panels from the same bad batch can burn out at the same time. She only buys Panisonics now. I personally have a Sony TV and do not have any problems, but if I were to ask my friend about comparing the Sony Camera with almost any other Camera, she will pick the other brand. So I have to make sure her personal bias is not clouding her judgement. That is why I made sure when I compared these 4 cameras, that no one knew which camera took which photo. And just like I thought, with the naked eye normal non-professional people can not really tell the difference in picture quality.
The speed for taking pictures one after another are great. This Camera is similar to the others cameras, where you have to push slightly first to focus then push again to take the shot. The speed is the same as my other cameras. If you have never owned a digital camera and you push and hold the shutter button without the second push it will take a while longer to take the shot (this is normal). Also this Camera is high resolution with HD video recording.
You need a fast Micro SDHC/Micro SD. (MICRO) The flash cards come in many speeds. Class 2, 4, 6 and 10. The higher the class the faster the write speed. The flash memory cards do not have a standardized way of measuring speed, but if you get a higher class, such as a class 10, it means at minimun it has a speed of 10 mbit/sec . This will also help with the speed of the Camera. If you use the Samsung Smart function it takes a bit longer to take the picture (The camera will try to get the best focus, so a quarter to half a second delay is possible, under the Auto function, no delay)
Night pictures are ok. If you use the auto or smart functions to take the picture they are comparable to the Sony. Pictures in dark restaurants and clubs are just like with any other digital camera. Now you can only compare cameras in the same price range. So I think night pictures are comparable to cameras in the $350 and under cameras. If you get more a more expensive camera it will be better for night photos. My buddy has a Nikon (around $450 dollars) which he bought for night pictures. Most 350 and under cameras seem to have similar quality for night photos (you get what you pay for).
If you use the night photo function with the samsung you need to use a tripod, the manual states this and so does the Camera when you scroll from one function to another. I takes a few seconds to focus and process the picture. Do not use the night picture function on Samsung without a tripod. (Just use Auto pictures)
I really like the front LCD and face recognition for this camera. The face recognition only focuses in on one person, so if you want to take a picture with multiple friends make sure you know which person this camera is locked in on. The person which the camera is focused on will have a box around there face. If the person with the box locked in on them smiles, the camera will automatically take a picture. My niece loves this. She would stand in front of the camera 6 feet away watch herself on the front LCD and when she smiles, the camera automatically take her picture. I think it is a nice feature as well. If my 7 year old niece can figure out how to use the face recognition feature and takes pictures with my wife and nephew (multiple people on the screen), an adult should have no problem using this feature.
Additional thoughts: I was wondering why a Micro SDHC/SD was used and I realized Samsung did it so that you can quickly use it on your cell phones to send pictures instantly. It is a nice idea because I can take a picture then load it to my cell phone and send. And since micro SD usually comes with an adapter for SD use you can use it for products with standard SD cards as well. (One more reason, why I am starting to like this Camera the best)
You can also easily hook this camera up to your TV for viewing with a universal micro HDMI to HDMI wire (you have to buy this separately.) It works great with my TV and I can add in voice memo for the pictures while it does a slide show. The owners manual states older TVs which can not handle HD video can have sound and picture centering/quality issues. I have a LCD 720p TV (Sony), and I have no issues with the watching the Samsung pictures on my TV.
One thing to point out on the reviews here. The individuals who are verified owners by Amazon all gave this camera 5 stars or 4 stars. Just something to think about.
If I have any more thoughts I will let you guys know.
Buy Samsung TL210 DualView 12.4 MP Digital Camera with 5X Optical Zoom (Red) Now
LOVE the camera so far as I've taken it to a few theme parks in SoCal to understand it prior to the big trip to Australia... one thing I tried just recently is the VIDEO mode on the camera. Picture clarity was pretty good, and the sound came through as if I were there... ALTHOUGH... when you ZOOM in and out the sound cuts out.From Samsung's troubleshooting page and manual it acknowledges the fact this will occur and the recommended fix for this is to first adjust the zoom to where you want it PRIOR to recording. I can't fathom why one earth anyone would NOT zoom in and out of a live event, so this actually mind boggles me. I suppose if you're using the video recording feature to do a movie that you're editing later, then yeah... you don't zoom, but for the average everyday user this seems highly unacceptable. The point of the camera seems to be this: Takes pretty good snapshots, has a front LCD display so you can take shot of yourself, and the lens is pretty decent. This is NOT a camera to be shooting videos with if you plan to zoom in and out of your subject area.
Read Best Reviews of Samsung TL210 DualView 12.4 MP Digital Camera with 5X Optical Zoom (Red) Here
One great camera for the price --it has all the many options that one could wantLove the camera prep for taking pic and getting the smile at the right time It gets the best and takes great videos
Getting more memory is a must -you'll love taking pictures because it is so easy to use.
The dual view is out of this world with great picture quality
Want Samsung TL210 DualView 12.4 MP Digital Camera with 5X Optical Zoom (Red) Discount?
I bought this camera for a vacation and could not have been more disappointed. I did a lot of research to find the best camera for me in the $80-$120 range and I'm frustrated that I chose this one. The shutter speed was painfully slow and as a result about 1,200 out of the 2,000 pictures I took were blurry beyond recognition.As someone who really doesn't like to be in photos, I was looking forward to the front LCD to make me a little less self-conscious about how I look in some of the photos, and while it did help, using the front LCD was far more complicated than necessary.
The interface was not very user-friendly. I spent way too much time trying to figure out how to change things like the white balance and filter to account for the often bizarre picture quality.
Battery life was not great either.
Alsonot a huge thing, but the micro SD card is just an additional inconvenience in an already inconvenient camera.
Save your money and time. Look elsewhere.
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