Samsung S850 review

The camera tends to underexpose shots, especially those taken under incandescent lighting. Fortunately, underexposure is much easier to fix than overexposure. When your photos are underexposed, simply adjusting image levels in photo-editing software can bring out the shadow detail. Most image editors and photo kiosks can perform these functions automatically with only a few clicks. Overexposed photos, on the other hand, can completely eradicate detail found in highlights, and are much harder to recover than underexposed shots.

Colors look good in most shots, with a few minor quirks. In general, automatic white balance works well when shooting outdoors under direct or overcast sunlight, and tungsten white balance works well when shooting indoors under most incandescent and fluorescent lighting. The fluorescent preset tends to overcompensate, resulting in a slightly reddish cast. Of course, manual white balance gave the most neutral results, but needs to be reset whenever you change lighting conditions.

As one of the least expensive cameras with manual exposure controls out there, the Samsung S850 is a great choice for young or inexperienced photographers who want to step beyond simple snapshooting, without investing more than $250. While it suffers from flaws like slow shot-to-shot time, a narrow lens, and slight underexposing, you'd be hard pressed to find a better training camera for the price.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (typical)

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W35

1.4 

1.4 

0.4 

Canon PowerShot A550

1.7 

1.5 

0.5 

Samsung Digimax L700

1.8 

2.1 

0.6 

Samsung Digimax S850

2.1 

2.1 

0.5 

Olympus FE-210

2.7 

4.2 

0.6 

HP Photosmart M537

2 

4.1 

1.1