Samsung WB150F Digital Camera Review

Color

The WB150F returned an error value of 2.86 in our color accuracy test, slightly better than the 3.00 average. Greens and skin tones are among the most accurate shades, and in practice our shots of human subjects were flattering even in low or mixed lighting conditions. Samsung is not the first company we think of when it comes to color accuracy, so hopefully this represents a big step in the right direction for them. More on how we test color.

NOTE: Because of the way computer monitors reproduce colors, the images above do not exactly match the originals found on the chart or in the captured images. The chart should be used to judge the relative color shift, not the absolute captured colors.

By far the best color reproduction in this category belongs to the Sony HX9V which we reviewed late last year. Beyond that, the WB150F is neck and neck with Fujifilm's excellent F600EXR, and exceeds Panasonic's new ZS20.

Color Modes

The WB150F does not define any individual color modes, and that's okay since we normally find them pretty redundant. The most accurate mode is always going to be the most useful, so why include others?

White Balance

White balance accuracy is a mixed bag. Tungsten light is handled especially well by the automatic method, with an error of only 300 degrees Kelvin. However, daylight is also off by 300 K, and we expect much better accuracy at this temperature.

Custom white balance is highly accurate, with no light sources producing errors greater than 100 K. On rare occasions, the custom option accidentally came up with a wildly inaccurate reading, necessitating a do-over to fix it.

White Balance Options

In addition to automatic and custom white balance methods, the WB150F ships with five presets: Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent_H, Fluorescent_L, and Tungsten; as well as an option for entering color temperature directly in degrees Kelvin.