Performance is fairly average--neither bad nor exceptional--but lags behind the competition slightly. The camera starts up reasonably fast at 1.9 seconds, but then requires an average wait of 2.4 seconds between subsequent shots. Turning on the flash slows that time to 3.6 seconds. It takes a reasonable 0.5 second to focus and shoot in good light and only goes up to 0.8 second in dim conditions. The TL320's burst mode lowers the photo resolution to 640x480 pixels. Nevertheless, it does have a continuous drive option capable of 0.8 frame per second.
Like most point-and-shoot cameras, the TL320 hits a wall at ISO 200. Photos are less than sharp from the get-go--especially out in the corners--and there is some graininess when viewed at 100 percent, particularly at ISO 200 and above. Generally, though, the results are very good. At ISO 400, the noise reduction makes things hazy and soft, but a good amount of detail remains. This, of course, increases at ISO 800 and 1,600. While photos taken at ISO 800 are still usable for the Web and small prints, those at ISO 1,600 have noticeable color issues. Overall color, white balance, and exposure are very good, though some colors come across a little richer than others. More importantly, if you don't like the colors produced by the TL320, there are several ways to tweak things before and after you shoot. Barrel distortion is kept under control, which is nice for such a wide-angle lens. At the long end of the lens there is some very minor pincushioning, however. The TL320 also exhibits a below-average amount of blue/purple fringing in high-contrast areas. It's visible on occasion, but likely won't destroy your photos.
Video quality is very good, and you do get use of the optical image stabilization and zoom while recording. The camera does kill the audio, though, while the lens is in motion so you don't hear it zooming--or anything else for that matter. One pleasant surprise is the ability to apply one of Samsung's Photo Styles to your video, including the Custom RGB option.
It might seem given that the photo quality and performance of an ultracompact camera would not be as good as that of a large digital SLR. But looking at the Samsung TL320's feature set and over-$300 price, it's more reasonable to expect a level of pictures and speed above that of a typical point-and-shoot camera. It's not that the photos from the TL320 are poor or that it performs unusually slowly, because both are fairly good; they are just not as extraordinary as the rest of the package.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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Time to first shot | |
Typical shot-to-shot time (flash) | |
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Shutter lag (dim) | |
Shutter lag (typical) |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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