Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom - A Focus on Camera Performance
An oddity in the smartphone world, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom combines an S4 Mini with the capabilities of a digital compact. But does this work out? Join us as we put the camera aspect of the phone to the test.
Editor's note: Parts of this review are from our initial hands-on article where we talked about design, software, and handling. Also, this review will only be covering the camera aspect of the S4 Zoom and how it performs as a camera. If you're looking for our verdict, feel free to jump to page 2.
Introduction
With smartphones displaying a certain uniform look nowadays, device manufacturers have turned to other aspects to differentiate their products. One of the best ways to do this is to improve the camera that comes with the phone, with so many demanding better quality images from their phone.
Not one to shy away from outlandish ideas and concepts, Samsung has tried its hand at quite a few ideas. Phablets, a smart watch, a now a camera that’s tacked onto their popular S4 smartphone (the S4 Mini to be exact), we take the S4 Zoom for a spin to decide if it is worth carrying around a phone that frankly, looks odd to hold up to your face when making a call. But before we begin, let's take a close look at how the S4 Zoom differs from the rest of the S4 smartphone family.
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As you can see from the specs, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is basically the an S4 Mini smartphone with a 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor (compact camera-grade sensor), 10x optical zoom lens, a built-in Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS), Xenon flash and a slightly better hand grip to use it like a camera. Despite the heavy camera-centric functions, the S4 Zoom is listed in the mobility products rather than their imaging line-up. In actual use, it feels more like a camera, but more on design an handling in the next section. Oddly, the phone's processor is clocked slower than the S4 Mini when the S4 Zoom is expected to double up and perform even more functions. This is perhaps the oddest aspect of the camera's specifications. Other than that, to cater to the S4 Zoom's intended usage, it has a larger battery capacity than the phone-centric S4 Mini. As a result of this and the added compact-camera features mentioned earlier, its dimensions and weight are far more than the S4 Mini.
Design and Handling
Based on the S4 Mini, the S4 Zoom looks more like a camera than a smartphone. Handling it like a smartphone proved to be no challenge, though using it as a camera had its own set of challenges. The lack of a thumb rest made us press the press the back key of the phone or the on-screen menu button more often than we liked, disrupting our shooting. This won’t be a big issue if you’re very careful but if you’re in a hurry to capture a shot; this may prove to be a big design weakness. The good news is that entering camera mode is a simple affair; you can either tap the camera icon or turn the lens ring.
From the front, the S4 Zoom looks just like an S4 Mini.
As you can see, the lack of a thumb rest makes it a bit tricky to shoot with one hand. Unless you're really careful, your right thumb may accidentally press the back button on the S4 Zoom, and exit camera mode.
On the rear of the phone, you have the lens barrel, which protrudes out from the phone’s body a fair bit. Beside the lens barrel is the autofocus assist light and the xenon flash. There’s also a curved finger grip, though the surface is smooth so you might have trouble holding on if your hands are wet. When you’re holding the phone in the portrait orientation, on the left spine is the tripod mount socket and a microSD card slot. The right spine holds the power button, volume rocker and a dedicated shutter release button.
On the left spine is the microSD card slot and the tripod mount socket.
The S4 Zoom comes with a dedicated shutter release button, which is the large button on the right here. The other controls seen here are the power button and volume rocker.
The S4 Zoom comes with Auto, Smart and Expert modes when shooting photos. Auto lets the camera/phone decide everything for you, while Smart mode gives you a list of pre-set modes to suit the particular shooting scene, like macro mode or for shooting food. Expert mode basically lets you adjust the aperture and shutter speed manually, which gives you more control over the type of shot you would like to achieve. When you enter Expert mode, a lens barrel appears on-screen. A list of adjustable settings like aperture, shutter speed and ISO run along the length of the barrel so you can tap and swipe to change the various settings.
You can adjust aperture, shutter speed and ISO among other things in Expert mode - just like the manual shooting mode of advanced compacts.
Smart Mode lets you pick from up to 25 presets.
Image Quality
The S4 Zoom’s 16-megapixel CMOS sensor isn’t anything to shout about when the Nokia PureView 1020 sports a 41-megapixel shooter. Even then, it’s clear that the S4 Zoom isn’t looking to compete on megapixels alone. A user-friendly interface coupled with its extending lens barrel (which allows Samsung to cram a 10x optical zoom) means that Samsung is aiming at the casual smartphone shooter who wants a bit more reach and slightly better image quality.
Noise is well-controlled all the way until ISO400, and even then you can continue to shoot up to ISO800 without introducing too much noise or losing a significant amount of detail, which is pretty impressive for a smartphone. Image quality is likewise, pretty good for a smartphone, except the fact that the S4 Zoom is also prone to oversaturation when it comes to colors, making certain scenes appear surreal.
The S4 Zoom definitely can't compare to a mid-level digital compact, but it's definitely a step up from most of the smartphone cameras around. And it's 10x optical zoom (with optical image stabilization) is really handy when you need to get in close to your subject without any loss in detail, unlike the digital zoom employed by the rest of its smartphone peers.
Some may be fans of the oversaturated look, but as this picture shows, it can make pictures appear too surreal.
The S4 Zoom also offers 10x optical zoom, while other smartphones only offer digital zoom.
The S4 Zoom performs pretty well for a smartphone, with exposure turning out pretty accurate most of the time.
Unless you are going to print at large sizes, you can get away with shooting at ISO800 if your images are going online.
Conclusion
With smartphone photography being all the rage right now, it’s no surprise many compact cameras now come with Wi-Fi and smartphones touting better-performing cameras. The problem is that many cameras have clunky Wi-Fi user interfaces, while the cameras on smartphones are still held back by the size of their sensors and the quality of their glass.
The S4 Zoom represents a comfortable compromise between the two concepts, but being a jack-of-all-trades makes it a master of none. It’s definitely a step up from most smartphone cameras, especially with its 10x optical zoom. But when compared to dedicated compact cameras, the S4 Zoom still pales in terms of handling, usability and image performance.
While we have not tested the S4 Zoom as a proper smartphone, just basic usage of the S4 Zoom as well as going in and out of the camera app revealed slight sluggishness. Perhaps that's because the S4 Zoom is rocking a dual-core processor (and a slower one compared to the S4 Mini that it's modeled after), while most top-end models now have quad-core processors. This means that if you have a top-end smartphone, getting the S4 Zoom would feel like a step down. Of course being a smartphone first and a camera second makes uploading and sharing pictures a very convenient process. But if performance and usability matters the most, then a compact camera is a more suitable choice.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom seems to be made as a travel compact companion that doubles up duty as a smartphone and compact camera, but it doesn't seem to be a master of either product groups. More so with its steep suggested retail price of S$798, it's hard to recommend this to any particular user group. Perhaps if top tier camera phones like the Apple iPhone 5S, Sony Xperia Z1 and Nokia Lumia 1020 didn't exist, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom might have had a chance to shine, thus showcasing the concept of a product that tried to merge the best of a camera and smartphone into one body. All in all, a good attempt, but its timing of availability could have been better.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom might have been able to wow the smartphone community had this came out earlier in the year, but alas, there are options with better execution to consider.
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