Auto Mode
To get to the Auto mode, you need to press the “M” button and cycle through the modes by pressing the control dial to the right or left. The Samsung i8 has an Auto mode as well as a Fun mode. Fun mode is fully automatic except for manual adjustment of picture size and quality, as well as exposure metering.
Movie Mode
Like the Auto and Fun modes, the Movie mode is accessed through the “M” button. Movies can be recorded in the following sizes: 800 x 592, 640 x 480, and 320 x 240. There is also a frame rate option, with the ability to choose 30, 20, or 15 fps. However, the 800 x 592 frame size can only be played at 20 fps, making motion quite jerky. The zoom can be used during movies, but the autofocus wouldn’t kick in, so using the zoom is pretty useless. Perhaps Samsung will fix this in the full production model.
The Movie mode offers three manual control options: metering, white balance, and exposure compensation. Some point-and-shoots don’t offer any manual controls in Movie mode, so this is a plus. In playback, the i8 offers several editing effects: Rotate, Color, and Fun. The effects in these menus are the same as for still images (see the Image Parameters section further along in the review).
Drive / Burst Mode
In Program mode, you can access the burst options through the Function menu. These options are Single, Continuous, Auto Exposure Bracket (AEB), Wise Shot, and Motion Capture.
In any mode you can press the drive button to change the self timer options. These include 10-second, 2-second, Double, and Motion Timer.
Playback Mode
The Playback mode is accessible through the playback button located below the control dial. You can cycle through your photos one at a time using the control dial or use the zoom lever to zoom out and scroll through your photos in groups. You can also zoom in on your photos to check detail or focus. But, like the slow zoom in Shooting mode, the zoom in playback is sluggish. The 2.7-inch LCD screen is nice and large, and certainly helps you see your photos better. However, keep in mind that there are other cameras on the market with even bigger 3-inch screens.
There are also a slew of picture editing options in Playback mode. Pressing the “E” button in Playback mode brings up five editing menus: Resize, Rotate, Color, Image Adjust, and Fun. These effects are impressive and allow for some creative editing control without using a computer.
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Voice Memo
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Protect
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Delete
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DPOF
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Copy to Card
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Resize
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5MP, 3MP, 1MP, Start Image, MP3 Skin
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Rotate
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Right, Left, Mirror, Flip Down, Flip Up
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Color
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BW, S, R, G, B, N, Custom
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Image Adjust
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ACB, Red Eye Fix, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Add noise
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Fun
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Cartoon, Photo Frame, High Light, Composite, Sticker, Color Filter, Color Mask
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Custom Image Presets
The i8 has a plethora of Scene modes, providing simple solutions for a wide variety of tricky shooting situations. They are accessible by pressing the “M” button and scrolling up (not side to side). This is a bit confusing, and can make it difficult to know exactly what mode you’re shooting in. The pre-production model didn’t have descriptions for each Scene mode, but there were labels indicating the final model will describe each mode. The Scene modes included on the i8 are Children, Landscape, Closeup, Text, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Firework, Beach and Snow, Self Shot, Food, Café, Nightscape, and Portrait.
Also available in the “M” menu, but not with the Scene modes, is a Digital Image Stabilization (DIS) mode. This mode boosts the ISO speed to 1600 so the shutter speed is fast enough to capture photos without blur. This is nowhere near as useful as optical image stabilization, which can limit blur at any ISO speed. Photos taken at ISO 1600 are going to be much noisier than at lower ISO speeds. Another image preset on the i8 is the Face Detection mode, accessible by pressing the face detection button on top of the camera. We’ll talk more about this feature in the Autofocus section.
