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Steve's Digicams Samsung TL34HD Digital Trends Samsung TL34HD |
The Samsung TL34HD comes in three colors: silver with a red top and accents; bronze with a black top and lens; and black as the devil's soul. Naturally, our review model was the last of these. The body is made of lightweight metal, and feels like it can take a bit of a beating. Thankfully, the body is mostly matte, which helps prevent the entire camera from being a smear of fingerprints (we're looking at you, Nikon Coolpix S710). Overall, the TL34HD has an attractive curved aesthetic that is also functional, and we warmed to it quickly.
Front (8.00)
The front of the TL34HD is a sleek little number, with a curved accent along the upper left corner made of smoother plastic that morphs into a wrist-strap hole. Apart from this little area and a small section on the lens, the rest of the camera's front is made of a matte black plastic that appears to be pretty resistant to fingerprints. There's a slight projecting ridge, which acts as a grip. To the upper left of the lens are two small glass circles, the left one an IR receiver for the optional wireless remote and the one on the right for the auto focus assist lamp. The lens itself is set forward from the base by a smooth curve of about 4mm, and is ringed by a small strip of blue, and concentrically engraved rings on the metal. The right side of the body gracefully curves away around to the back.
The grip on the left adds a touch of stability.
Back (6.00)
As one would hope from a touch-screen camera, the main feature of the TL34HD's rear is the three-inch, 460,000 pixel LCD. Thankfully, Samsung haven't completely lost their mind and gone entirely touch based, instead keeping a column of four buttons along the right. The top two are conjoined and used for zooming in and out, and the two lower lozenge-shaped buttons are used for accessing the menu or switching to playback.
The back of the TL34HD is mostly rectangular, but the top right corner curves away to reveal the wrist-strap eyelet, and the mode dial poking out the top.
The LCD is large and easy to use.
You can just see the microphone holes at the top.
The right side of the camera offers us a little visual flair when compared to the left. Mostly comprised of smooth curves, the two halves of the case gracefully arch inwards to meet the protruding wristlet-strap. Above this, you can see the mode dial, projecting slightly to make it easier to reach.
That spiky bit is where the lanyard loops.
The top is the repository of controls for the TL34. On the far right is the always essential Mode Dial, which lets you choose between Auto, Program, Manual, Dual Image Stabilization, Night, Beauty Shot, Scene Mode and Movie. Next to the left is the silver shutter control, which has a depression in the middle and is engraved with concentric rings, which makes it easy to identify by touch. Further left, and set back a little, is the power button. This is slightly recessed into the body so you don't push it accidentally, and glows blue like a souped-up Honda Civic while powered up. In an arc around this button are a series of small holes which cover the speaker. Finally, on the far left is the flash, which is hinged towards the rear, and springs upwards when the situation demands it. We're glad to see that Samsung have removed the vaguely useless Photo Style Selector Dial that we saw on the NV40, whose features are now accessed through the menu.
The business end of the controls
Flush on the left side of the camera botom is the housing for the battery and memory card. While the door guarding them won't stop a concerted assault, it feels like it will stand up to everyday use. Contrarily, we have some issues with the durability of the proprietary port on the camera's bottom. The issue isn't whether it's tough enough, but rather that it's completely exposed to the elements, with the working parts flush with the surface of the camera. This just screams for sand, water, mud and potentially damaging objects (like keys) to get pushed into it and ruin its functionality. Seeing as this is the only included way to hook your camera up to your computer or charge the battery, it would be a bit of a problem to work around if it broke. We did like having the tripod mount lens-centered, which makes framing your shots a little easier.
Exposed ports are a bad move
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Color and Resolution