Digicam Pics: Neighborhood photos with the Samsung TL500

The Schneider-Kreuznach glass in the little Samsung TL500 has a maximum aperture of f/1.8, which is pretty dang fast for a little pocket camera with a 3x (24-70mm equivalent) zoom lens.

Digicam Pics: Neighborhood people with the Samsung TL500

The bartender at Fat Dan's Chicago Style Deli, photographed with the Samsung TL500. I was shooting in Program mode with the ISO set to Auto, and the camera picked ISO 200 and 1/30th at f/2.3, thereby illustrating the advantages of the lovely, fast Schneider-Kreuznach glass (most pocket cameras will only open up to f/2.8 or so at their widest; the TL500 will go all the way to f/1.8 if necessary) and Samsung's optical image stabilization.

His shirt touts Rocky Ripple, an eclectic little urban village nearby. Nestled behind levees on a floodplain island between the White River and the canal, Rocky Ripple is only accessible by two road bridges over the canal and its denizens often sport bumper stickers on their cars that read "I'm not lost, I live here."

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Digicam Pics: 1961 Buick LeSabre with the Samsung TL500

I keep the Samsung TL500 set up to record two files with every shot. The camera records one in RAW format, which for Samsung uses the ".SRW" file extension, and one fine quality JPEG. You can set custom color balances for the JPEG like Soft, Vivid, Forest, et cetera. It took me a little bit of scrolling and testing to figure out that "Classic" was Samsung-speak for "Monochrome".

So that's what I use: One RAW file is recorded and a monochrome JPEG. Being as this is a 2010-vintage pocket camera, it takes it a hot minute to write that 24MB .SRW file. If you just wanted to turn the camera on and pop off a quick shot or two then shut it back off, you'll be waiting a few seconds for the green "Busy" LED to stop blinking before it'll retract the lens and power down.

The Classic setting gives you a pretty stark and contrasty B&W effect.

Digicam Pics: Around SoBro with the Samsung TL500

The TL500 from Samsung... yes, Samsung was in the digital camera biz for a hot minute ...was their 2010 offering in the "Enthusiast Compact" segment.

Like most enthusiast point & shoot cameras of the period, it offered a physically larger 1/1.7" 10MP CCD sensor, which offers better low-light performance than the more typical 1/2.3" sensor found on P&S.

The star feature on the TL500, though, is the glass. Samsung used German optics company Schneider Kreuznach as their OEM glass provider, and the lens on the TL500 is quite a showboat: It's a 5.2-15.6mm f/1.8-2.4 zoom lens. That's the equivalent of a 24-72mm lens on a full-frame camera with a bright f/2.4 aperture available even at the long end.

Here's the SoBrosaurus at wide-angle...

Here's the full 72mm equivalent zoom on the dino's noggin...

Here's a 100% crop of the second photo. Notice the good detail on the rusty metal surfaces...

I love the color rendition from these old 10MP CCD sensors!

In addition to the usual JPEG filters offered by P&S cameras, enthusiast cameras like the TL500 offer the full array of PASM modes and the option of shooting in RAW. The TL500 even has dual control wheels (a click wheel on the front grip and a rotary dial that doubles as a 4-way D-pad on the back) just like a prosumer DSLR. That's important if you want to shoot in full Manual mode, since one controller handles aperture settings while the other controls shutter speed.