Samsung TL240

Viewfinder

Like most compact cameras today, the TL240 doesn't have an optical viewfinder.

LCD

The 3.5-inch WVGA touch-screen LCD is a good-looking display, though of course constant finger contact leaves its greasy impression. And you can't wipe it off without turning the camera off, or risk accidentally changing a setting. You can shoot using the standard information display, or overlay a 9-box grid to help with lining up a shot.

The playback display, with touchable icons at left.

Flash

The small built-in flash can be set to auto, auto with red-eye reduction, fill flash, slow sync (to capture both a foreground subject and a dark background) and red-eye fix, which is different from red-eye reduction. The former uses a pre-flash to help close the subject's pupils before taking the photo, the latter digitally edits a shot to remove red-eye if it appears.Samsung gives the flash range as 0.3m - 5.0 meters at the widest lens setting.

The camera supports slow sync and red-eye reduction.

Lens

The TL240 offers a 7x zoom lens which Samsung's promotional material dubs 'wide angle' though, with a range equivalent to a 31-217mm in 35mm photography, we're not quite convinced of that label. Maximum aperture is f/3.3 at the widest setting, f/5.5 at maximum zoom. It's controlled with a switch that pivots around the shutter button and moves smoothly and precisely.

The Samsung blue band is visible here.

Jacks, Ports & Plugs

The camera uses a proprietary connector for its USB 2.0 data connection and standard-def video, and an HDMI jack for connecting to a high-def TV.

As usual, you'll have to buy an HDMI cable separately.

Battery

The small rectangular Lithium ion rechargeable battery is rated at 1100mAH.

The battery shares a compartment with the memory card.

Memory

The TL240 uses tiny microSD memory cards instead of the usual SD/SDHC variety and we're not quite sure why: it's a small camera, but not all that small, and other than size there's no advantage to using microSD, and the capacity is limited to 4 gigabytes..

A tiny microSD card fits in the slot above the battery.