Samsung S730 and S630 First Impressions Review

by Richard Baguley
Published on January 09, 2007

Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour
Components	Design / Layout
Modes	Control Options
Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras
Overall Impressions	Conclusion

Viewfinder
No viewfinder is present on the S730 or S630. All of the shooting is done using the live preview mode of the LCD screen. 

LCD Screen
The 2.5-inch LCD screen has 230k pixels, and images looked clear and sharp on the pre-production device that we looked at. Images were clear enough to easily check focus, and they can be zoomed in up to 12X on playback for a close look.

Flash
The small flash unit is embedded in the front of the camera, above and to the left of the lens. We weren’t able to test the strength and quality of this unit at CES, but Samsung claims a range of 0.3 to 3 meters (0;9 feet to 9.8 feet) on the wide zoom setting and 0.4 to 2.5 meters (1.3 feet to 8.2 feet) meters at the telephoto end. That’s a pretty standard range, and our (very basic) tests at CES don’t show anything to dispute that.

Lens
The Samsung SHD lens has a focal length of 5.8mm to 17.4mm, which works out as the equivalent of 35mm to 105mm on a 35mm film camera. That’s a respectable range, but it is nothing outstanding. Photographing groups of people may be hard at the wide end of the zoom, and the telephoto end won’t let you get in that close if you’re shooting sports. But it’s a pretty standard range for this price point.