Digital Cameras

Reviews

My experience over the last couple of years seems to jibe with what other reviewers have said. The first unit I got stopped functioning properly after a couple of weeks. I forget the exact problem, but I took it back to the retailer (K-Mart) and they provided a new one. This has worked fine. Battery life is the major issue, and I think it's a defect. Sometimes the most powerful and expensive lithium batteries won't take five pictures, flash or not. When I check the voltage, they're at 1.54, still perfectly good batteries and perfectly usable in other devices. So I tried rechargeables with good success. They work very well. The best and most powerful freshly charged batteries only rate 1.45 volts, but they can last for 50 or more pictures and weeks at a time. In both cases, the battery type setting in the camera was appropriate to the installed batteries. One thing I haven't tried is using the non-rechargeable lithiums while retaining the rechargeable setting. Anyway, I'm fine with the rechargeables, which are cheaper in the long run. It does a fine job taking pictures in most situations. Transfer to the computer is quick and easy. I haven't used the video capability so no comment on that.

This is a pretty nice camera. My sister got one a couple years ago, and it worked really nicely. It takes nice pictures, and is pretty quick after taking pictures too as far as refreshing back to screen. The only thing I did NOT like about this camera, is after about a year of use it started to eat batteries up very quickly. We use Re-chargeable batteries in the camera. I thought maybe it was the batteries too as well, but I replaced the batteries with regular Lithium Energizer batteries made for digital cameras, and it did the same thing. It drains in about 1 hour of use. When we first got it, it worked really well. it lasted for a lot of hours. Camera is nice, easy to use though and thats a plus.. it also has Memory card adapter as well so thats nice too. I actually got dirt in her last camera and destroyed it so that's why I bought this camera recently. the other one still works, but when the camera lens comes out and goes in it stops sometimes and beeps 3 times. Other than that its a pretty handy camera!

I bought the Samsung S730 camera to replace a Nikon CoolPix L4 camera that I gave to my son. The Nikon CoolPix 4 Mega Pixel took excellent quality pictures, especially outdoors (I actually printed an shot of a tiger at the Naples (FL) zoo to 23 x 17" on an HP130 printer, and even with only 4MP, the print quality is outstanding! That print is framed and hanging on my wall, and there are no tale-tale signs of pixelation or that it was taken with a digital camera!). Also, a set of alkaline or rechargeable batteries seemed to last almost forever in the CoolPix (weeks and weeks, actually). So I thought this type of battery life would be *normal* for small point-and-shoot cameras. How wrong I was. This Samsung is a newer model than the CoolPix L4 and higher resolution (7.2MP vs. 4MP). I was hoping for maybe even better battery life, hoping that a newer camera had newer power-saving features? Alas, no. I would like to comment on the picture quality, but it is difficult because I have been able to take so few, due to my AA battery budget being under $50 a month! This Samsung eats alkaline batteries like a elephant eats peanuts; NO exaggeration. Let me repeat this important & *expensive* point: ----- THIS THING EATS ALKALINE BATTERIES LIKE CANDY!! ---- My rechargeable batteries (2100mAh) worked quiet well, and long, in my Nikon CoolPix, but the Samsung won't even turn on with them! A new set of name-brand alkaline AA batteries are only good for perhaps 10 or 15 pictures before the low battery warning and prompt shut-down. This is unacceptable for a camera. Any small camera, in my opinion. To use this camera at all, I have had to switch to (VERY) expensive lithium batteries. These last as long as batteries should in a small digital camera, maybe 100 shots or more, but at $10+ for a set, the cost of $-per-shot is still unacceptable. But the camera is useless without them, so it has been either buy expensive lithium batteries or just not use the camera at all. I will be much more careful when I select my next camera (and it probably won't be a battery-eating Samsung). As another reviewer had mentined, the battery power indicator is basically useless, as it shows a good, full charge, then suddenly the camera warns you that you are running on low battery power and promptly shuts itself down. However, don't throw those batteries away, as you will find that if you put them into any other device that uses AA batteries, they are still quite good with lots of power left, maybe most or almost ALL of the power of a new AA battery! This makes this Samsung useless & unacceptable, even *if* it has good picture quality. I tried to return the camera to Circuit City (RIP) because of the battery issue (well before they went under), but I was told this was normal and they wouldn't take the return.

I purchased the Samsung camera about 3 months ago thinking it would be a great camera to take along on my vacation to Alaska in August. Sure am glad I bought it early! I couldn't afford to buy batteries for this camera. On several occasions, I only got 6 pictures out of one set of batteries. I have an older digital, took the batteries out of the Samsung (It indicated they were dead) and used them in the other camera for 20 more pictures. I recently bought another camera to use on my trip, anyone want to buy a Samsung S730? Cheap!!!

I bought this camera to use while hiking and otherwise away from a constant supply of batteries. If you buy this camera, you better bring huge supply of batteries with you. For instants, once in a while I would get maybe 20 or so photos before it shut down, sometimes only 3 or 4 and a couple times it would not start up with store fresh Duracells. It always seemed to shut down when I needed it the most. On the positive side the pictures look great, the camera has easy to use controls and the supplied Windows software works well. All in all I suggest you look elsewhere for a digital camera.

Reviews

I AM USING THIS CAMERA AS THE "YEARBOOK CAMERA" FOR MY SCHOOL, ALLEGRO ACADEMY. SO FAR IT HAS TAKEN THE BEST PICTURES!!!

I purchased the Samsung S730 new and within two months it stopped working. After arguing for over an hour with different people on the customer service line, I was given a return authorization number and address. When the camera was returned it worked fine for a couple months, then the lens stopped retracting on its own, which means the camera wouldn't turn off. You had to push the lens in. A few more months, and the display screen when white. I returned the camera again and Samsung mailed it back with a letter stating that the camera had "severe liquid or impact damage" and couldn't be repaired. They lie. They make crappy products and they don't honor their warranty. DO NOT BUY SAMSUNG GARBAGE!

Good camera, used in a warehouse and shipping environment. Has enough depth to take pictures from dock into dark trailers.

I have owned the hot pink Samsung S73 for 9 months (since August '08), and I am extremely happy with it. I got it on sale at Circuit City for less than $60, and it was worth every penny I spent and more. Like I commented on the other review, however, you NEED to get the right batteries for this camera or it will not meet your expectations. A pack of good quality 2000mAh or higher Nimh recheargeables should definitely do the trick. Alkalines will not last long at all, and for some reason they also cause the camera to freeze more often. The picture quality is superb for a 7.2 megapixel camera, even better than my 8.0 megapixel GE A835. I have uploaded a couple of pictures from my vacation in Jamaica to show what I am talking about. The S73 seems to be built very sturdily, while at the same time manages not to be too bulky, which can be an issue for cameras that use AA batteries. The only minor issues that I've had with it is that there is a slightly long 4-5 second delay before the flash goes off when taking pictures after the camera is first turned on, and the flash recycle time is sometimes pretty slow, so it can be annoying when trying to take quick action shots one after the other using flash. Otherwise, this camera is excellent and I highly recommend it!

I've had this camera for a couple years now. My mother-in-law gave it to me for Chanukah after my daughter was born. It's a pretty good camera, the pictures are clear and the video function is really nice. The problem for me, is that it's slow, and it stops if there's any movement. If that's unclear, keep in mind that most of my pictures are of my kids, the oldest being 2 1/2. So I frame the picture, push the button, my daughter moves a little, and the camera doesn't go off, picture missed. I often have to press the button several times to get the camera to actually take a picture, because she moves so much, and by the time it actually does, I've often missed the moment. Canon, Sony, even Nikon all take pictures much quicker.

Reviews

I AM USING THIS CAMERA AS THE "YEARBOOK CAMERA" FOR MY SCHOOL, ALLEGRO ACADEMY. SO FAR IT HAS TAKEN THE BEST PICTURES!!!

I purchased the Samsung S730 new and within two months it stopped working. After arguing for over an hour with different people on the customer service line, I was given a return authorization number and address. When the camera was returned it worked fine for a couple months, then the lens stopped retracting on its own, which means the camera wouldn't turn off. You had to push the lens in. A few more months, and the display screen when white. I returned the camera again and Samsung mailed it back with a letter stating that the camera had "severe liquid or impact damage" and couldn't be repaired. They lie. They make crappy products and they don't honor their warranty. DO NOT BUY SAMSUNG GARBAGE!

Good camera, used in a warehouse and shipping environment. Has enough depth to take pictures from dock into dark trailers.

I have owned the hot pink Samsung S73 for 9 months (since August '08), and I am extremely happy with it. I got it on sale at Circuit City for less than $60, and it was worth every penny I spent and more. Like I commented on the other review, however, you NEED to get the right batteries for this camera or it will not meet your expectations. A pack of good quality 2000mAh or higher Nimh recheargeables should definitely do the trick. Alkalines will not last long at all, and for some reason they also cause the camera to freeze more often. The picture quality is superb for a 7.2 megapixel camera, even better than my 8.0 megapixel GE A835. I have uploaded a couple of pictures from my vacation in Jamaica to show what I am talking about. The S73 seems to be built very sturdily, while at the same time manages not to be too bulky, which can be an issue for cameras that use AA batteries. The only minor issues that I've had with it is that there is a slightly long 4-5 second delay before the flash goes off when taking pictures after the camera is first turned on, and the flash recycle time is sometimes pretty slow, so it can be annoying when trying to take quick action shots one after the other using flash. Otherwise, this camera is excellent and I highly recommend it!

I've had this camera for a couple years now. My mother-in-law gave it to me for Chanukah after my daughter was born. It's a pretty good camera, the pictures are clear and the video function is really nice. The problem for me, is that it's slow, and it stops if there's any movement. If that's unclear, keep in mind that most of my pictures are of my kids, the oldest being 2 1/2. So I frame the picture, push the button, my daughter moves a little, and the camera doesn't go off, picture missed. I often have to press the button several times to get the camera to actually take a picture, because she moves so much, and by the time it actually does, I've often missed the moment. Canon, Sony, even Nikon all take pictures much quicker.