Why You Can Trust CNET Samsung WB750 review: Samsung WB750
The WB750 is fine, if you want a cheap, long zoom camera to capture casual shots. Anything more, and its shortcomings will become far too evident.
- Webby Award honoree, 2x Gold Telly Award winner
Design and features
The WB750 is Samsung's compact superzoom model, packing an 18x optical zoom lens in a relatively slim body. It sits nicely in the hand, thanks to the textured and rounded grip that is situated on the front panel, while buttons and dials are arranged in a logical manner. At the top is a mode dial, which contains a number of different shooting settings: smart auto, movie mode, creative movie maker, panorama, scene modes, dual image stabilisation and PASM control. The WB750 can also take 3D photos and panoramas, should you desire.
Samsung WB750
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Along with its 12.5-megapixel backlit CMOS sensor, the lens that sits in front of it opens to 24mm at its widest, and has a maximum aperture of f/3.2-5.8 throughout the telephoto range.
There's an instant-on button that starts video recording when you are in an automatic or manual mode (though video recording is an all-automatic exposure affair). Around the back is a 3-inch LCD screen, which is not particularly enjoyable to use, as it's rather grainy and low resolution. Colour accuracy of the screen is also not quite right, with images in playback mode appearing more washed out than they really are.
A range of creative filters are supplied with the camera to apply different effects to photos, including a cartoon and oil-painting look, plus HDR mode. Connectivity is provided via HDMI and a proprietary USB port that is used for both connecting to a computer and charging the battery (which is done in-camera).
Compared to
| Sony Cyber-shot HX9V | Panasonic Lumix TZ20 | Canon PowerShot SX230 | Samsung WB750 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16.2-megapixel Exmor CMOS | 14.1-megapixel MOS | 12.1-megapixel CMOS | 12.5-megapixel backlit CMOS |
| 3-inch LCD (920,000-dot) | 3-inch touchscreen (460,000-dot) | 3-inch LCD (460,000-dot) | 3-inch LCD (460,000-dot) |
| 16x optical zoom | 16x optical zoom | 14x optical zoom | 18x optical zoom |
| 24mm wide angle | 24mm wide angle | 28mm wide angle | 24mm wide angle |
| GPS tagging | GPS tagging | GPS tagging | No GPS tagging |
| HD video (1080p) | HD video (1080i) | HD video (1080p) | HD video (1080p) |
Performance
Note that the WB750 can take up to 10 frames per second; however, it is only able to capture eight frames in total. Shutter lag in low light is very poor. You might be waiting up to 10 seconds in some cases while pressing the shutter for the camera to focus and take a shot. The WB750 also takes a long time to respond when shooting with flash, which takes an absolute age to fire. Samsung rates the battery at 225 shots.
Image quality
The WB750 produces decent photos in adequate lighting, ideal for casual snapshots or non-critical images. However, it produces some serious noise on photos at ISO 400 and above, and there is significant detail deterioration and colour noise at ISO 800 and above. Colours are reasonable, though there is some serious over-saturation in the red channel, particularly evident on pink hues.
Photos taken at the full 18x zoom appear reasonably sharp. 100 per cent crop inset.
(Credit: CBSi)
Straight from the camera, images are a little soft when shooting on the highest-quality JPEG setting. The image-stabilisation system (on the default setting, not Dual IS) isn't great, struggling to get a clear shot at shutter speeds of 1/30 and below.
The built-in flash illuminates the subject a little unevenly, producing a washed-out result with distinct vignetting in the corners. The image above shows a photo taken with flash (left) and without (right).
(Credit: CBSi)
Video quality is not great, particularly disappointing considering other cameras in this class produce some excellent results. The WB750 can record at 1080p, but the image appears mushy and detail is lost. You can, however, use the full extent of the optical zoom while filming, and take stills at the same time as recording video. Sound quality is adequate using the stereo microphone at the top of the camera.
Image samples
 Exposure: 1/125, f/3.2, ISO 100 |  Exposure: 1/30, f/5.6, ISO 1600 |
 Exposure: 1/30, f/3.2, ISO 160 |  Exposure: 1/350, f/4.2, ISO 100 |
Conclusion
The WB750 is fine, if you want a cheap, long zoom camera to capture casual shots. Anything more, and its shortcomings will become far too evident. With a little more cash, it's worth looking at something like the Panasonic TZ20 or the HX9V for the best of all worlds.