Samsung TL500

Viewfinder (0.00)

There is no viewfinder on this camera: all images a previewed through the AMOLED screen.

Display (9.21)

The TL500 has a large 3-inch AMOLED screen on the back. This has a resolution of 614k, and it looks great, with bright colors and plenty of detail. It doesn’t have a huge contrast range, though: blacks in images looks slightly grey, so you don’t get the dramatic impact of a photo. It also does get rather pale in bright daylight; you have to shield it from the sun to be able to see the image on the screen in direct sunlight.

The screen is also on a rotating pivot that allows it to both flip out and rotate. This means that you can use the screen to preview the image while shooting from above or below, as well as rotating it around to provide a self-portrait preview.

Flash (6.75)

The built-in flash of the TL500 is a small pop-out model on the top of the camera body. This is a good arrangement; it keeps the flash out of the way when not required and also moves the flash away from the lens, minimizing red-eye. We found the flash to be reasonably powerful, illuminating objects in the dark up to 13-14 feet away.

A hot shoe on the top allows you to attach a separate flash unit, and any standard flash unit should work. Samsung says that the TL500 is also compatible with the flash designed for their NX10 SLR camera (the ED-SEF20A), which is more powerful than the built-in unit and supports TTL (Through The Lens) flash metering.

Lens (5.90)

The lens is one of the highlights of the TL500, with a very wide f/1.8 aperture. This means two things: the camera can have a really short depth of field (so you can shoot a portrait with a nice soft background) and it can gather a lot of light for more effective low light shooting.

The lens has an extremely wide zoom as well: 5.2mm, which is equivalent to a 24mm on a 35mm film camera. This means that it provides a wider angle of view for shooting landscapes, group shots and close-ups. The downside is that the lens has a relatively short zoom range: 3X, with a maximum telephoto zoom of 15.6mm, equivalent to a 72mm lens on a 35mm camera. That means that this lens can’t get close in on the action; this camera simply does not have the zoom capabilities of other point & shoot cameras. Samsung does offer an adapter that takes the lens even wider (the LWCEX1, which converts it to an 18mm wide angle), but there is no way to make the telephoto end of the zoom any longer.

Zoom Ratio Examples
5.2 mm	9.1 mm	15.6 mm

Battery (6.50)

The battery of the TL500 hold 1130 mAh, and can be charged while it is still in the camera. Unusually, the same cable is used for the USB connection and for charging the camera, so you can do both at once. This also makes it easier: if you are taking along a laptop, you can use that as a charging source. We found in our informal tests that the battery lasted long enough for a couple of days of shooting, but a spare would be recommended for longer trips or if you use the camera to show photos a lot.

Memory (4.00)

The TL500 stores images on SDHC or SDXC memory cards that fit alongside the battery. While SDHC memory cards can hold a maximum of 32GB of data, the newer SDXC can hold a theoretical maximum of 2TB, which should be enough to satisfy the most avid RAW shooter. The largest SDXC cards currently available are 64GB.

Jacks, Ports & Plugs (3.50)

There are two ports located under a small cover on the right side of the camera body: one for the USB and battery charging connection, and a micro HDMI port for connecting to a HDMI equipped TV. The USB/charging port uses a proprietary connection, but the USB/charging cable is included. No HDMI cable is included: If you want to view the images and video this camera captures on a HDTV, you’ll need to spend extra on a cable with a micro HDMI plug on one end.