Make no mistake about it; the ST550 is a godsend for self-proclaimed camwhores. That’s right, it comes with dual LCDs – besides the display on the back, it’s also got a smaller one on the front, right next to the lens – so now you can get that perfect portrait of yourself on the first try.
The ST550’s sleek shiny body isn’t the main draw here. You’d have to turn it around and feast your eyes on that 3.5 inch touchscreen display. Quite possibly one of the best displays on a compact we’ve seen with a bright clear live view. There’s also the front display that measures 1.5 inches and though not touchscreen capable, gets the job done.
With that large display real estate on the back, it can be quite delicate to handle. How so? Well, for example, when we’re turning the camera around to face us, our fingers might accidentally brush the touchscreen display on the back, which turns out to be quite sensitive. There are some manual buttons as well with the Power button, Shutter button, Zoom toggle and Playback button all lined up on the top of the camera.
One of the shooting modes available is ‘Smart Auto’ which got the most play time out of us. What we like about it is that it gets it right 95% of the time without having to make constant adjustment to settings, which is perfect for beginners. For those of you who like to fiddle with settings, there’s also ‘Program’ mode.
The camera also comes with Dual Image Stabilization – combining both DIS (Digital IS) and OIS (Optical IS) for those blur-free shots. Its effective pixel is rated at 12.2 megapixels with a 1/2.33-inch CCD sensor and ISO up to 3200. Of course let’s not forget about the ST550’s claim to fame – its Dual LCDs. The front display is entirely optional-first, you’d have to turn it on by going to the display setting via the button on the bottom left hand corner of the screen and turn on the front display. It obviously won’t be as clear as the one on the back but the objective is to get the right frame and facial expression down pat so yeah, it does fulfill on its promise.
The ST550 also comes with a 4GB microSD card in the box. Yes, microSD but with an adapter for SD slot which will make it easy for you to download your photos onto your notebook (provided you’ve got a built-in SD slot).
Performance wise, the ST550 fared very well. ISO400 is the absolute maximum for you if you don’t want to flood your picture with noise. At maximum ISO, the image quality was downright ugly. Smart Auto mode turned out to handle very well even I low-light settings. Pictures turned out clear with very natural looking colors with no hint of overexposure from the flash. Landscape and macro shots turned out with rich colors and nice details respectively and we also managed to snap light-emitting sources such as LDC monitors with very good results.
Samsung ST550 Specifications :
Main display : 3.5” (8.9cm) Wide 1152K Full Touch LCD
Front Display : 1.5” (3.8cm) 185K TFT LCD
Dimensions (W x H x D) : 99.8 x 59.8 x 18.6mm
Weight : 165.7g (Without battery and card)
Internal memory : About 55MB
File Format (Still Image) : JPEG(DCF), EXIF 2.21, DPOF 1.1, PictBridge 1.0
File Format (Movie Clips) : H.264 (MPEG4.AVC)
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