Samsung Smart Camera WB350F sample pictures

These are 100 percent crops of photos of our test scene at each of the camera's available ISO settings. As with its predecessor, the WB250F, you'll want to consider this camera for its features more than its photo quality (or video quality, for that matter). If you need a camera that can take photos for prints larger than 8x10 in all lighting conditions or for something like birding where you'll want to enlarge and crop in to examine fine details, this likely won't be enough camera for you. The camera's strengths are in its novel shooting options.

Like many point-and-shoots with its price and features, the WB350F does well up to ISO 400, so you'll be able to get good-looking shots when you have plenty of light. Photos get noticeably softer from noise reduction at sensitivities above ISO 400; going above ISO 800 isn't recommended as you lose too much detail and colors desaturate. That said, the built-in flash is actually useful since it can be angled up and bounced, getting you better results than you'd have without flash or with a blast of direct light that you'd get from other camera flashes. Well, as long as you're not too far from the surface you're bouncing off.

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The WB350F's lens starts at an ultrawide-angle 23mm (top) and zooms in to 483mm (bottom), an optical zoom of 21x.

One of 13 Smart modes, Rich Tones is the camera's HDR mode, which balances extreme highlights and shadows to give you a more even exposure. The top photo here was taken in the camera's regular auto mode, the bottom is the Rich Tones image.

Several of the Smart modes take different shooting concepts, such as using slow shutter speeds for different effects, and automates them. With modes like Light Trace that use longer shutter speeds, you will need to put the camera on a support. I had the camera on a tripod for this shot and traffic going over the bridge I was on was enough to cause unwanted motion blur of trees and lights in the background, so you can imagine what holding the camera would do.

Similar to Light Trace is the Waterfall mode, which will also require a tripod or some other solid support. And with the shutter staying open so long, you won't want to shoot in full sun as I did here. The camera blows out highlights even when the shutter isn't open very long.

The WB350F does have semimanual and manual shooting modes if you know how or want to learn how to use them. Shutter speeds can be set from 16 seconds to 1/2,000 second. Available apertures at the wide end are f2.8, f3.2, f3.5, f4.0, f4.5, f5.0, f5.6, f6.3, f7.1, and f8.0; in telephoto you have just f5.9, f6.9, f7.5, and f8.5.

Magic Plus mode is where you'll find filters for you to experiment with when you're shooting photos and video. All of the filters are live view, so you can see what your final shot will look like before you take it. Take a closer look.

This and the remaining slides can be downloaded at full resolution via the links below each image. Note, though, that these are large files and may take several take some time to download or open.

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