Samsung ES25: Compact Digital Camera (My First REAL Camera!)

Samsung ES25: Compact Digital Camera (2010)

2021.07.31 - First published

2022.07.26 - Re-written and updated with new photos

Samsung ES25

Compact Digital Camera

Model - ES25

Introduced - 2010

Sensor Size - 1/2.3" CCD

Resolution - 12.3 Megapixels

Focal Range (35mm Equivalent) - 27mm to 108mm

Zoom - Up to 5x digital zoom

Maximum Aperture - f/3.5 (27mm), f/5.0 (108mm)

Shutter Speeds - 8" to 1/2000"

ISO Range - Auto, 80 - 1600

Exposure - Program AE

Minimum Focusing - 80cm (Wide/Tele)

Macro - 5cm (Wide), 70cm (Tele)

Video - VGA 640x480, QVGA 320x240

Framerates - 30fps, 15 fps

Stabilization - Digital stabilization

Video Format - AVI, WAV

Power Source - 2x AA Batteries

See User Manual Here

Photo Album

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZipfNLUYUpF8fSAv8

========================================

Impressions

It took me ten years before finally writing about the Samsung ES25. Owning this camera was an important milestone in my life because it was my first ever REAL camera. I began to venture into photography almost into my 30s, that was in 2010, and using very low-tech mobile phones. At the time, I had zero knowledge of how to shoot, and about photography skills in general. This camera was truly an important tool for documentation too.

I bought this digicam at the end of July 2011, from a kiosk at the second floor of Isetann Recto. It sold for PhP 2,500.00 brand new and unopened. The camera's flash would go bust exactly on its first anniversary, but I was still able to use this camera for another year, without the flash. It was replaced with a Samsung ES95 in September 2013.

The build quality of this camera feels very solid but lightweight. Its design looks typical of a digicam with the usual button and function layouts. As a newbie learner of photography at the time, all I cared was to set this camera to auto and flash was always fired. This camera only has one exposure mode -- Program AE.

Are digicams still relevant or useful today? Yes they are. Because they have the benefit of using 'optical zoom' (lens elements move inside the camera to zoom into the subject). Mobile phones may be more convenient and focus even closer, but they can only do 'digital zoom' (zooms by cropping the image, which results in lower resolution and poor quality).

As for the image quality, I was usually very pleased with the crisp clarity as long as there is ample lighting or flash was used. Add a tiny bit of sharpness in editing and you would think the photos were shot with a DSLR or larger sensor camera. The ISO sensitivity is only up to 1600, which means that you usually set it to 400 or 800. This is only a problem in low light and in situations when you don't want to use the flash.

Video resolution is only Standard Definition or 640x480 (30 or 15 fps). This was common resolution at the time. HD and FHD already existed at the time but the were very expenvise. However, I do find that videos have a tendency to be blurry and soft, and usually unusable. I only have two surviving video samples uploaded to YT but one of them is private.

Limitations

The only complaint I have for this digicam, or maybe any digicam in general, is the slow autofocus, because there is no manual focus at all. It usually hunts in normal room lighting so I waste alot of time doing retakes for selfies or videos. And yes... it only runs on two AA batteries, which easily run out of power if you are shooting videos. That was another reason I rarely filmed videos with this camera. At closeup mode, the nearest you can get to a subject is 50cm (wide) or 70cm (tele). It's not close enough if you want to do real macro shots.

Conclusion

It's 2022 now. Looking back at eleven years ago, this was my first REAL camera and gave me alot of joy, despite its limitations. Would I shoot with it again today? Yes, I'd like to shoot photos with this camera again and apply all the skills I learned throughout the years. Surely the outcome would be much better than when I used to be an amateur.