Samsung TL100 Digital Camera Review

Samsung TL100

First Impressions Review

Jan 11, 2009 - By Tim Barribeau
At CES 2009 we managed to get our hands on a pre-production unit of the new Samsung pocket-sized point-and-shoot, the TL100. Expected to ship in the first half of 2009, this tiny camera measures only 0.67 inches deep, but packs a 12-megapixel sensor and 3x zoom in its slender frame. While the model we tried out certainly wasn't final, we've whip ped together a few observations in the following First Impressions review.
Advertisement
Latest Camera Reviews
DSLR Point & Shoot
Samsung
NX10		Panasonic
DMC-TS2
Olympus
E-P1		Casio
EX-G1
Nikon
D300S		Panasonic
Lumix DMC-FZ35
Pentax
K-X		Sony
Cyber-shot DSC-TX5
Nikon
D3000		Samsung
TL500
Recently Viewed Products
Nikon
Coolpix P90		 $260
Top Point & Shoot Cameras
Max Price: $2100
$0 $525 $1050 $1575 $2100
Filters
All
Canon
Casio
Fuji
Kodak
Nikon
Olympus
Panasonic
Pentax
Samsung
Sony
All
Compact
High-End
Pocket
Ultra-Zoom
1.Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
Ultra-Zoom		$420
2.Canon SX1 IS
Ultra-Zoom		$520
3.Panasonic DMC-ZS3
Compact		$280
4.Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35
Ultra-Zoom		$400
5.Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX7
Compact		$350
TL100 Prices

While the Samsung TL100 probably won't win any awards for revolutionizing design, they've managed to create a tiny camera which is sleek enough for any situation. In general, the construction felt a little on the shoddy side, but this may be due to the fact that we were using a pre-production model.  We'll know better once we get our hands on the final model.

Front
There's nothing particularly exciting about the camera's front. There's the lens, auto focus assist lamp, and flash placed in a prime location to get blocked by your fingers.

 


That flash is just asking for trouble.

Back
All off the controls on the back of the camera are olocated on a slightly recessed strip to the right of the LCD. The buttons were very small, and required nimble fingers to operate properly. The four-way pad alters display information when pressing up, macro mode when pressed downward, flash mode on the left and self-timer on the right. The sliding switch near the top moves between still photography and video.


Controls are a bit on the small side.

Sides
The left side is completely bare, while the right houses a loop for the wrist strap, and a rather flimsy port cover.

Not much exciting on the sides.

Top
In addition to the power and shutter controls, there's another button on the top of the camera. It has the word "manual" written next to it, but glows with the text "smart" while the camera is powered up. This button is used to switch between Manual mode (read Program) and Smart (which is an intelligent scene mode).


The top, and the top lit up

Bottom
As you would expect, the bottom has a tripod port, and a cover for the battery and memory card slot.


In this case, the tripod mount is covered with a sticker

 
Intro Page 2 of 8 Components
Samsung TL100 Digital Camera First Impression Review Navigation

Advertisement