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Steve's Digicams Samsung TL34HD Digital Trends Samsung TL34HD |
Of course, the ultimate criteria when evaluating a camera boils down to "how well does it shoot?" We rigorously tested the TL34HD across a number of conditions to see how well it can capture the world around you.
Color (8.67)
We test the cameras ability to accurately record color by photographing the standard GretagMacbeth chart. The resulting images are run through Imatest, a program designed to analyze photographs, and tell us how close to the known color the camera captures. This is a measure of accuracy, so a camera that records bright and bombastic hues will score worse than one that shows a subdued but more accurate result. You can see the results in the chart below, where the outer ring of color is what the camera captured, the inner square is the ideal color corrected for light levels, and the small inset is the original chart color.
The TL34 captured purples and greens well
This information can also be expressed in the chart below. In this version, the ideal color is represented by the square, the captured color is the circle, and the hue and saturation difference is expressed by the direction and length of the line between them, with a short line representing a close value. The TL34HD slightly under-saturated the image, but captured greens, purples, flesh tones and some dark blues very well.
Flesh tones (numbered 1 and 2) are quite accurately captured
Resolution (10.10)
While the Samsung does boast an impressive 14.7-megapixel image size, resolution is more than just pixel count. We test resolution to assess the sharpness of the final image, which is affected by sensor, processing, optics and other factors. Once again, we rely on an industry standard chart and Imatest to analyze these results. The resolution is calculated as line widths per pixel height (lw/ph), which is a measure of the number of alternating black and white lines over a known area.
A full sized section of our resolution chart as shot by the TL34HD
The TL34HD grabbed 2162 lw/ph horizontally, and 2127 lw/ph vertically, with some slight under-sharpening. This is a good score, one which indicates that the Samsung will be able to capture a large amount of information in each photo. While it didn't do quite as well as the NV40 or Fujifilm F60fd, it handily outperformed both the Sony and Canon that we're comparing it to.
A camera's dynamic range is a measure of how well it can reproduce areas of both white and black in a single image without making either one look gray. A camera with a high dynamic range will keep both areas, and the transition in-between, at their appropriate hue. A poor result, on the other hand, will make them murky. To test this we shoot a backlit chart with a series of tabs running from black to white, and run it through Imatest to see how many of the tabs the camera can distinguish at every available ISO.
It's normal to see a gradual decrease in dynamic range as ISOs increase, but the TL34HD behaved oddly, in that it started with a very high score at ISO 80, dropped dramatically at ISO 100, and then leveled out. With these results, the implication is that if you're shooting at the low end of the ISO scale, you'll get fantastic dynamic range, but there's no major performance drop between ISO 400 and ISO 1600.
One of the many problems that a camera has to deal with is that different light sources cast different hues of illumination. It's something our brains compensate for automatically: we don't have to think about the fact that incandescent lights make things look a little yellow and fluorescent bulbs make them seem blue. A camera can deal with these situations by either trying to evaluate the lighting, and automatically set itself, or have the user choose from a series of presets based on the different types of lighting. We test these two methods by photographing under the appropriate light source and checking the images for color accuracy. Keep in mind, the example illustrations produced by Imatest shown below are highly exaggerated, and you would not see this much difference when actually shooting with the camera.
The camera scored astonishingly well in this section because of its performance under flash and fluorescent illumination. In both cases, the TL34HD compensated admirably for the light, which bumped up its overall score. In indirect sunlight and tungsten light, the camera scored less well, especially struggling in the latter. However, the sunlight score was on par with most other cameras, and shows that this model has a very competent method of judging lighting, except perhaps under incandescent bulbs.
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Exaggerated White Balance Errors |
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 Auto WB - Tungsten illumination |
Preset (5.82)
Unfortunately, the TL34HD didn't fare quite as well using presets, and didn't offer one for flash illumination. Under every light source except tungsten, the TL34HD did better just being left on auto. Even with the tungsten lights, the results were barely average when compared to other cameras. This is clearly a camera that can be just left to its own devices under different lighting conditions.
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Exaggerated White Balance Errors (Presets) |
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The Samsung's exemplary performance while left on automatic puts the TL34HD considerably beyond the competition for white balance.
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