FUNKOMETER RATING: 2

Well in case the clever title didn't give it away, today I'm reviewing a digital camera.  The Samsung S850 is a 8 mega pixel camera that comes in at just under $200.  All the pictures on the site so far have been taken with this camera, so you can pretty much decide for yourself on how good of pictures it produces.  To be fair though, I'm no photographer, and the pictures I've taken for the site so far have been in low light and kind of an experiment.  Enough about my inability to take pictures, lets get on to the camera. 

The S850 is your typical point and shoot camera, it's lightweight, small, has built in flash, and a dial for selecting different modes.  Now what's not so typical (yet) for camera's in this price range ($150-200) is the 5x optical zoom and 5x digital zoom.  Now for those not in the know, optical zoom is shizzle (that is the best).  With optical zoom you don't loose image quality when you zoom in on a subject.  The LCD on this camera is a nice large 2.5 inches, which makes lining up shots pretty easy and looking over your pictures pretty easy as well.  The S850 also allows for you to change the settings for pictures.  For example you can change aperture and shutter speed in manual mode. Another neat feature is that this camera supports HCSD (that's high capacity secure digital) cards up to 4GB, and if you take a lot of pictures at 8 mega pixels you'll want all the storage ability you can get.  Like many other digital cameras you can add "on the fly" digital effects to your pictures, though I don't really know how often any one actually uses these features. Of course there's also the "motion capture" feature, so pretty much you can record a short movie. 

Now to the things I don't like (there's not many).  First the battery life is bad, especially if you play around with the non-auto picture settings, and use alkaline batteries.  The camera doesn't come with a rechargeable battery so you'll have to rely on AA batteries.  This isn't to big of a deal if you're willing to spend a little cash on the optional rechargeable battery and charger for the camera, or better get some AA Ni-MH rechargeable batteries that you can use an anything that uses AA batteries.  Second, the zoom is a little stuttery (if that's even a word).  That is to say, it's not a really smooth zoom in and out, it's more a small step type process.  Probably not that big of a deal for most people using this type of camera. 

On to the pictures.  These pictures are completely unaltered from the camera, and are anywhere from 1 to 3 megabytes in size (slow connections beware). The pictures of Cyber Spawn and Primus were taken inside in low light with no flash.  The pictures of the motherboard components were taken under fluorescent lights with no flash.  The picture of the flower was taken outside without flash.  The picture of the dog was taken outside with no flash. 

The end result:  Good point and shoot camera.  Nice LCD screen and 5x optical zoom.  Some nice advanced features if you want to take your photography beyond typical point and shoot.  Bad alkaline battery life.