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Ever since Samsung launched their first 2View camera, the compact camera that comes with a second display at the front, I’ve always wanted to test just how good of a camwhore camera it is, but today I have something better, the new Samsung PL151. Boasting the same 1.5” display at the front that can not only let you take self-portraits easily, it can also be used to display cartoon clips to attract the attention of children and additionally, the front LCD of the PL151 comes with a couple shot that takes images automatically once the couple tilt their head together.


Story continues after the break.


Appearance
The Samsung PL151 looks and feels rather bulky compared to many compact cameras in the market today, but thank god for its light weight, the size doesn’t really matter. Unfortunately though, it’s the combination of big size and light weight that makes the camera feel like a toy.
 
The front of the camera comes with a second small LCD display that can be turned on with the button on the top of the camera, and the mode (self-portrait, child and couple mode) can be switched by further pressing the same button. This can get rather confusing at times, because the buttons are next to each other, you’ll tend to turn off the camera when in actual fact, you’re aiming for the front LCD button. The best part of the camera’s physical design is how you can place it at a tilted angle when it’s sitting on the table.



The back of the camera comes with a large display that unlike the previous 2View cameras, are not touch sensitive, hence it comes with buttons on the right side. The buttons are unfortunately very unresponsive, you’re going to have to press them slowly in order for the camera to register the press – this means you can’t scroll through the pictures quickly.


Camwhore? Yes please!
Ask any girls or even guys out there who camwhore a lot to try taking self-portraits with a normal camera (and sometimes even DSLRs) and they can do it perfectly, so what exactly is the use of the second display? To be honest, that was what I thought – someone who likes to camwhore will not need the second display to see if they’re doing it right, they had years of practice ever since mobile phones came equipped with cameras. The extra display is actually good when you want to, say, take self-portraits and try to fit like 5 people into the small frame. It is also good when you want to camwhore with pets and children and you want to make sure that they’re looking at the camera instead of everywhere else. Here’s a hint, top it off with the Beauty mode on the camera, and you’ll get a smooth and wrinkle-free face you’ll definitely want to post on Facebook.
What I love most about the second display is the Child Mode that plays animated clips with sound effect to capture the attention of children and even babies but, I don’t use them on children – it works like a charm on pets as well. Not that the animals actually look at the animation, but it’s the cute sound effects that catches their attention enough to allow you to capture a curious face.


When Taking Pictures
I hate to say this, but I’m utterly disappointed with the image quality. Even when Super Fine quality is selected, the pictures tend to be quite blur hence, a whole lot of details will be lost. The good news is, because it’s 12.4MP (which you won’t usually need unless you’re printing out a huge banner to cover your house wall), you can compress it and the pictures will look much better.

Click for a larger view of the image.
The one taken with the Samsung PL151 have a lot of details loss and despite being compressed, the water droplets on the bottle still looks blur. The very tiny droplets just looks like a patch of blur on the PL151. But then of course, we're comparing a RM1,200 camera with a RM899 camera respectively.
Like many cameras out there, the PL151 comes with various modes (Auto, Smart Auto, Program and such), but what makes me like it the most is the Night Mode. I know Night Mode is a feature you normally wouldn’t want to use unless you can’t help it because it compensates your shutter speed for brighter pictures (you can use flash instead), but the Night Mode on the PL151 allows you to manually select the shutter speed, giving you more control of the camera. 



Having fun with the Night Mode slow shutter speed
Conclusion
I’ve seen and play with better digital compact cameras that can deliver much better images, but none of them are near the price of RM899 or comes with a secondary display. I have to admit though, as much as I dislike (hate is a strong word, it's still pretty decent, but I've been spoilt with higher end cameras) the picture quality it delivers, I love all the functions available on board. If you need a camera just to share pictures on social networking websites with your friends, or just to print out 4R prints for your physical photo album, the PL151 could be an interesting choice – where else could you find another camera for less than RM900 that comes with a second display at the front? 

Sketch

Sepia Effect
Pros
. Second display to take self-group shots, automatic couple shots and plays animated clips to capture children’s attention.
. Large display
. Can be tilted when placed on a flat surface
. Filter effects for added fun when using the camera – who needs photo editing programs?
. Nightmode allows you to manually adjust the shutter speed so you can take fancy pictures with light effects
Cons
. Images are not sharp enough
. The image stabilizer doesn’t work very well
. Watching the video playback on a large display makes me so sick, I didn’t even want to test it anymore
. Buttons not responsive enough
. Interface childish looking

Nice to hold

Nice to camwhore