Samsung Digimax i5

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In a move to consolidate the distribution and marketing of its cameras, Samsung introduced a slew of nine cameras early this month, including its flagship model, the Digimax i5. This camera is targeted at lifestyle consumers who want an ultracompact as a shooting companion. With an aesthetic design, some interesting features and a nice bundled package at a very attractive price of S$599 (US$432.21), the i5 looks set to be a hit among general photography users.

Design

	The Digimax i5 comes with a pouch that looks just as good as the camera itself.

The Digimax i5 looks and feels good in our hands with its rounded edges. At a weight of 133g and measuring 89.3 x 59.8 x 17.3mm, this ultracompact may not be most ideal to fit into breast pockets, but makes a good hand-carry companion with its dedicated pouch and a sleek camera strap that comes with the purchase of the retail unit.

As with all other ultracompacts that sport an internal zooming mechanism, our fingers tend to curl around the edge of the lens and occasionally cover up the speaker found just right above it. The 3x optical zoom SHD (Schneider-Kreuznach) lens hides behind a metallic sliding cover that also reveals the flash unit and autofocus lamp upon receiving power. The bottom edge includes the compartment for its Lithium-ion battery, SD/MMC card and cradle connector. The strap eyelet is the only protruding edge on the i5's side.

	The pouch and camera strap with a metallic cylinder embossed with the brand form part of the accessories that come with the package.

The shutter release, power button, Safety Flash (SF) control, microphone and speakers are lined side-by-side at the top of the camera. All other key functions are bunched to the right of the 2.5-inch TFT LCD on the back of the i5, including the zoom lever, mode, playback, delete and four-directional buttons. Selecting left on the directional control allows the user to choose between different flash modes, while right activates the self-timer function. You press up to find the voice memo/voice recording feature, and down to switch between macro and super-macro.

The various shooting modes of the camera accessed via the Mode button allow you to select between Auto, Manual and Movie functions. Scene options are also available with the same button. The aperture and shutter settings are found under the Night scene mode for the more creative photographers who want to tweak their pictures. While in manual mode, the Delete button doubles as a control to change the RGB, ISO (100 to 400), white balance and the exposure compensation (2EV in 0.5EV steps) settings.

All other menus and functions are accessed with the Menu key in the middle of the four-directional button.

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