Samsung GX-1L First Impressions Review

Picture Quality / Size Options
The GX-1L calls its JPEG quality settings “Super Fine,” “Fine” and “Normal.” We'll have to wait for a full review to see the quality impact of the settings, but Samsung indicates that Super Fine files are about twice the size of Fine files, and Normal files are about 2/3 the size of Fine files. Given the size difference, we expect to see significant differences in image quality at the various settings. Resolution options run from 3008 x 2000 pixels to 2400 x 1600 pixels to 1536 x 1024 pixels.

The GX-1L also records uncompressed RAW files, which are only recorded at full resolution.

All in all, the GX-1L offers a useful range of quality and size options. Users may want to shrink even the smallest sized image for emailing, but downsampling on the computer is usually a better option than taking low-res images that are only useful for emailing.

Picture Effects Mode
The GX-1L offers the same effects as the *ist DL, allowing post-processing of images. The effects are: black and white, sepia, soft focus and slim, which squeezes or stretches the image. The particular advantage of these effects is that they are applied after the image is shot, preserving the original. That's a big improvement over most effects modes on other cameras.

The GX-1L also has settings for saturation, sharpness and contrast, which affect images as they are shot.