HZ25W: New Mega-Zoom from Samsung

[billy]

Yesterday, Samsung USA announced the HZ25W. Their first ever "Mega-Zoom" digicam, the HZ25W offers some appealing features packed into a nice sized frame.


Key features include:

• 12-megapixels of resolution
• 24x Schneider-KREUZNACH optical zoom lens (26 - 624mm equivalent range)
• Samsung's Dual IS system (optical + digital stabilization)
• 3.0-inch LCD
• High-resolution EVF (Electronic ViewFinder)
• 720p HD video recording
• Broad ISO range (up to 3200 @ full resolution, 6400 @3M)
• JPEG and RAW still image formats

The HZ25W will retail for about $399, and starts shipping sometime in October, 2009.

For more information, Click Here.

[Tullio]

A good looking camera if nothing else!

[JOEGA]

Originally Posted by Tullio

A good looking camera if nothing else!

I've been trying to find out info on this camera, but not much more than the press release. Based upon my family's desires, it does sound the best, but I've no experience with Samsung cameras, don't know if they take good pics or not. Any experience on your side of Georgia?

[Tullio]

The digital era has changed photography in every respect. In the old film days, there were a handful of players that dominated the market - Pentax, Nikon, Minolta, Yashica and Olympus pretty much controlled the SLR world. Kodak and Fuji were film makers and they produced cheap disposable cameras. Then came Canon, Ricoh, Practika, etc..

Today, things are much different. Many companies that never produced cameras before are now competing with the old players and Samsung is one of them. I don't know much about their cameras but they use Schneider lenses, which is a good start. Panasonic and Sony did the same. They used famous brand lenses (Leica and Carl Zeiss respectively) to boost interest in their products. It certainly worked.

[JOEGA]

Originally Posted by Tullio

The digital era has changed photography in every respect. In the old film days, there were a handful of players that dominated the market - Pentax, Nikon, Minolta, Yashica and Olympus pretty much controlled the SLR world. Kodak and Fuji were film makers and they produced cheap disposable cameras. Then came Canon, Ricoh, Practika, etc..

Today, things are much different. Many companies that never produced cameras before are now competing with the old players and Samsung is one of them. I don't know much about their cameras but they use Schneider lenses, which is a good start. Panasonic and Sony did the same. They used famous brand lenses (Leica and Carl Zeiss respectively) to boost interest in their products. It certainly worked.

Thanks for the response. I guess I will probably buy it from Crutchfield. I've got 30 days to return it if it isn't as expected. Personally I'd like the latest and greatest, and never be satisfied, but this is really a camera for my youngest (40 years of age) to take most of the pics. I have two grandchildren in tumbling and cheerleading, and a grndson in marching band in hhigh school, so I'm trying to take both indoor and outdoor at night pics. Can't aford a whole lot, so trying to get the best bang for the buck.

[mtclimber]

Hi there Tullio and JoeGA-

The Samsung HZ25W is another camera produced by the same Chinese factory that has produced the Nikon P-90, the Kodak Z-980, the Pentax X-70, and now the Samsung HZ25W has been added to that family line. All four cameras use the very same 24X lens, beyond that each brand can add the feature they desire.

For example, the Kodak Z-980 is the only camera of that group to use an external flash, the Kodak P-20 external flash. The Pentax X-70 is the least featured of the group.

Have a great day.

Sarah Joyce

[JOEGA]

Originally Posted by mtclimber

Hi there Tullio and JoeGA-

The Samsung HZ25W is another camera produced by the same Chinese factory that has produced the Nikon P-90, the Kodak Z-980, the Pentax X-70, and now the Samsung HZ25W has been added to that family line. All four cameras use the very same 24X lens, beyond that each brand can add the feature they desire.

For example, the Kodak Z-980 is the only camera of that group to use an external flash, the Kodak P-20 external flash. The Pentax X-70 is the least featured of the group.

Have a great day.

Sarah Joyce

Sarah:

Glad to hear from you. In my research I've been told this is too slow for my needs. I honestly believe a DSLR is what I am going to have to purchase. My daughter has an old Oly film camera and under daqrken but spot lighted gym cheerleading events, everybody looks like they have yellow jaundice! Any motion is a blurr. I need to catch motion from a very far distance, and each time I find a camera which sounds good, I hear of recalls, etc. Just frustraiting. One question for you: Is there some formula I can use to see what equivilant of a zoom (4x, 5x, etc.) is when reading dslr lenses? I will need a "bright" lense, but really want to go good if I am going to invest in a camera and lens.

[mtclimber]

Joe-

The HZ25W really does not have much high ISO capability due its very small imager. DSLR cameras have a much higher ISO capability and are probably more suited to shooting inside a poorly lighted gymnasium.

The yellow color in your photos is caused by not adjusting the White Balance nto the existing lighting in the gym. In point and shoot cameras the multiplier X is used, whereas, in DSLR lens it is not. The formula for determining X is to divide the smallest focal length into the maximum focal length when deasling with zoom lenses.

Your photos would be much better, even with a DSLR camera, if you could position yourself closer to the action. The reason for this is simple: as most DSLR telephoto lenses zoom out the available aperture becomes smaller. As the aperture becomes smaller, you have two choices: increase the ISO speed or accept a slower shutter speed.

Have a good day.

Sarah Joyce