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Samsung S1030 and S850 digital cameras

More features than a Sunday newspaper supplement

Samsung S1030 digital camera
The S1030 features a 2.7in LCD display

The S830 also offers a high sensitivity ISO 1600 setting (compared with a maximum ISO 1000 on the S1030), which means you can take more photos indoors without a flash. This, coupled with ASR (Advanced Shake Reduction) makes for better flashless photography.

Samsung S850 digital camera
The S850 features a 2.5in LCD display

But what if you've got just one chance at the perfect shot? You want to try it without the flash, but you're worried that it might just come out blurry, despite all that ASR has to offer. Step in Wise Shot, which takes two pictures at the same time - one using the Flash, the other using ASR. When the images have been captured, the LCD screen shows them both side by side for comparison: beneath the main images are enlargements of both of them, which dance around the image in synch so you can compare them in close-up, and choose which of the two to save.

Although, frankly, there's no reason why the camera shouldn't manage to save both images, so you could decide which is the best one when you get them back to your computer, rather than having to make a snap decision while the bride's still got her knife hovering over the cake.

The S850 has a 'super macro' setting that focuses as close as 1cm, and an intriguing Intelligent Face Recognition Technology that enables auto focusing on faces even when they're not in the centre of the frame.

Both cameras come with a variety of scene selections - the standard Beach, Snow, Sunset, Night, Fireworks and Backlight, and so on. Of course, you can override all of these and opt for either fully automatic or manual shooting modes, with the choice of shutter or aperture priority.

Slightly less standard features are three timer modes: ten seconds, so you can position the camera and run around to get in the picture; 2 seconds, for eliminating camera shake when you press the capture button; and a double timer. This last mode is ideal for taking group shots: the ten second timer allows you to get in the picture, but it's not until the shot has been taken, and the group of family or friends relaxes, that it fires again and you get a more natural shot. There's also a Voice Memo mode that allows a ten second audio clip to be attached to each image - ideal for recording what, exactly, you've photographed.

A 'special effect' button brings up a menu of options. The Colour section allows you to choose black and white, sepia, negative or red, green or blue tones; a novel preset focus mode places a rectangle, body shape or double body shape on the viewfinder, and then turns everything outside that area to soft focus. Fine if you manage to get your subject perfectly lined up; irritating if you forget to turn this mode off afterwards.

Several cameras allow composite shooting, so you can photograph a friend on one half of the screen, and they can then photograph you on the other half to produce an image that looks as if you're both standing in the same shot. The Samsung takes this a step further with multiple arrangements of up to four images combined. There's no soft transition between the captures, though, so if you're not precisely lined up you'll get disappointing results.

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