SAMSUNG ES30 UNBOXING & MINI REVIEW!!

Hello folks!!

To those who followed my blog, I used to own a 5MP Polaroid digital camera. That was my first digital camera, and for all intents and purposes was a really good and durable camera. Sadly early on, my little sister needed a camera to document her trips and stuff specially when she’s out of Manila, so I gave her my Polaroid camera.

For months, I had been contemplating on getting a new camera. So for this one, I took time and researched and looked around for a camera that atleast has the following specs:

• 12 megapixel (my old Polaroid camera only had 5 megapixel resolution, so I’m bumping it up a notch)
• 3.0” LCD screen (I’d like much more screen space)
• Optical Zoom (my old Polaroid camera only has digital zoom)
• Powered by AA rechargeable batteries (I’m not a fan of rechargeable lithium ion battery packs since its hard to find replacements once the model gets phased out)
• Digital Image Stabilizer/Anti-Shake feature (I have shaky hands so this would help me a lot)

Now I believe these are pretty reasonable features for a camera that’s below Php 6,000 since that’s the only budget I have for a digital camera. Back then, the best camera I can find with those specs in mind was the Nikon Coolpix L22:

Priced at Php 6,000 for me back then it seem a better deal. Considering that I saw just how good my GF’s camera was (a Nikon Coolpix L21), I said to myself this seemed a good deal for a camera. Then came this camera:

Introducing the Samsung ES30. I’ve recently just seen this camera, and I was surprised at the specs of this camera considering its price of just Php 4,990!! Here’s a quick comparison of the these 2 cameras:

	Nikon Coolpix L22	Samsung ES30
Total Megapixel	12 Megapixels	12 Megapixels
Max Resolution	4000 x 3000	4000 x 3000
Optical Zoom	3x zoom	5x zoom
Digital Zoom	4x zoom	5x zoom
Display LCD size	3.0” LCD	3.0” LCD
Dimensions	3.84 x 2.39 x 1.1 in (98 x 61 x 28 mm)	3.76 x 2.43 x 0.9 in (96 x 62 x 23 mm)
Image Stabilizer	Digital	Digital
Connectivity	USB (2.0), AV connector	USB (2.0), AV connector
Price	Php 6,000	Php 4,990

Considering the specs alone, I went ahead and got the Samsung ES30 instead of the Nikon Coolpix L22. I’m pretty confident with my choice, since I already had some hands-on with another Samsung digital camera (the one that my father uses) and so far I’m okay with it’s performance. So yesterday, I finally got my funds to get the unit and went to SM Bicutan to get my Samsung ES30.

The folks from Picture City at SM Bicutan (the same shop where I got my GF’s Nikon Coolpix L21 camera) gave me a great package for my Samsung ES30 for only Php 4,990. My camera comes with the following:

• Camera Pouch
• 2GB SD card
• Energizer AA Rechargeable Batteries + Charger pack

Aside from the package, it also comes with 1 year warranty, which is good enough for me. So I went home happily with my brand-spankin-new digicam. ^___^ Here’s a simple unboxing (pics taken from my Nokia C3 camera):

My initial impression with the camera was its gorgeous. It looks really good and doesn’t feel cheap at all. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to think that this camera only costs less than Php 6,000. Build quality is solid, and the camera feels good in the hand.

Here’s some sample shots I got for the camera:

Pretty good quality IMHO. Just to test how good it is compared to my current Nokia C3’s camera, I’ve made what I call the “Voltron Test” where my test subject is my uber-awesome Voltron toy and take pictures of it then compare the shots taken. Here’s the results:

Picture Taken with the Nokia C3 (using default settings)

 

Picture Taken with the Samsung ES30 (using only Smart Auto)

I love how the colors are more vibrant and more better toned on the Samsung ES30, than on my Nokia C3 (well it IS just a camera phone after all). So far so good I’m lovin the results so far. I’ll try to get a similar comparison with the Nikon Coolpix L21 that my GF uses and see how it fares with that camera if ever.

But overall, it’s money well-spent and I’m amazed at the quality I got with my Samsung ES30 considering its price tag. With my new digicam, you can expect better photos in my blog soon (me thinks I’ll have to take pics of my toys again for christmas. Hehehehe).

Definitely one happy camper *iskwik iskwik* XD