Samsung A couple of EX1 questions.

bilzmale

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Location
Perth, Western Australia
Name
Bill Shinnick
My EX1 arrived today - actually a TL500 because it came from the US. Ordered 11pm Monday my time and it arrived noon today (Friday) in Perth - that pretty slick service.

I was pleased that both batteries had some charge so I could play immediately. There are a couple of menu options greyed out and after reading the manual I still can't work out why.

The first is "Focus Area" - I have it set to Nor(mal) but can't select the focus area. The second is "Smart Range" also greyed out. I am not in the smart (aka dumb) mode and it applies in RAW and jpeg settings.

I also don't see the "Auto Macro" option when I push the macro (down) arrow.

So far apart from these niggles the cam looks like it will suit me (oops I meant my wife ;)) very well.
 
The first is "Focus Area" - I have it set to Nor(mal) but can't select the focus area.

it sounds like you have face detection or one of the other gizmos like smart filters turned on. You select the focus point in the menu. You select the camera icon, then select , "focus area", then select, "selection AF".


The second is "Smart Range" also greyed out. I am not in the smart (aka dumb) mode and it applies in RAW and jpeg settings.

sounds once again that you have face detection or smart filters turned on

I also don't see the "Auto Macro" option when I push the macro (down) arrow.

that is one of the quirks of this camera that this option will only show in certain settings and not others. The ironic thing is that Macro and Auto Macro are exactly the same. All this is, is a focus limiter switch and when Macro Mode is on the camera will focus on things up close and things far away. It does not matter if you are in "auto macro" or regular "macro" it will still focus at infinity on both. You could leave it in "Macro" mode all the time, but that will make AF slower for most shooting where you do not need macro
 
Wally you are spot on. Turned on Face Detect for my wife :). Now switched off and a few more options like styles have appeared too.

Visited Samsung site and found the TL500 uses different firmware to the EX1 which was a surprise. Is there any way to check the installed firmware version or just try an upgrade and assume the screen message will identify if the upgrade is needed?
 
Wally you are spot on. Turned on Face Detect for my wife :). Now switched off and a few more options like styles have appeared too.

Visited Samsung site and found the TL500 uses different firmware to the EX1 which was a surprise. Is there any way to check the installed firmware version or just try an upgrade and assume the screen message will identify if the upgrade is needed?

Glad it worked for you :D

My guess is the firmware has something to do with different video frame rates for PAL and NTSC, my guess is both would load just fine. Also if you look at the EXIF data on mine it says that it was shot on an EX1 not a TL500 yet I have a TL500. When I first got the camera I downloaded and tried to install the firmware for the EX1. It did not appear to work I figured that the version I had on camera was that one or one better, or perhaps it did work and just did not show and that is why my EXIF data says EX1
 
Exif on mine also says EX1. I have noticed that there is considerable lens distortion that is corrected in-camera for jpegs. RAWs of course are not corrected but interestingly the correction is automatic in Silkypix and is available but must be applied as a profile in LR3 and ACR 6. Also Faststone Viewer 4.3 does not recognise SRW.

Still playing but I'm liking it more and more. Have ordered an 'auto' lens cap and a mains/car charger (very cheap) on eBay.
 
Exif on mine also says EX1. I have noticed that there is considerable lens distortion that is corrected in-camera for jpegs. RAWs of course are not corrected but interestingly the correction is automatic in Silkypix and is available but must be applied as a profile in LR3 and ACR 6. Also Faststone Viewer 4.3 does not recognise SRW.

Still playing but I'm liking it more and more. Have ordered an 'auto' lens cap and a mains/car charger (very cheap) on eBay.

I got one of the cheapy Ebay charges as well and several batteries. When I go out shooting street I leave the LCD on 100% of the time and the batteries last around an hour and a half. They work great and are 1/4 the cost of the "real ones".

I don't have the auto lens cap, you will have to let me know it works, yet I have no issues with the one it came with. I leave it tied on and just palm it in my right hand.

I shoot RAW 100% of the time and do not worry about lens distortion, I am sure it's there but for my shooting style it does not really matter. I process everything in LR3 so I am sure I could easily correct but don't. I do find that the noise reduction in LR3 works great with 800 and 1600 iso shots however
 
I've also got an AC charger on its way ($10) for the extra battery that was in the Adorama deal.

The auto lens cap has arrived and I quite like it. It replaces the normal lens ring/mount/thingy. It is a bit light in weight (plastic) but I guess that way it doesn't stress the lens when it extends. Also less dust proof since it is in three sections but probably getting too picky now.

Replaced the wet-suit material pouch supplied by Adorama as it is too grippy and messes with the two mode dials. Had a spare bag that is a good fit.

I have to be careful shooting in A mode wide open as our bright aussie sunlight is often too much at 1/1500 sec. P mode is safer unless I adjust the aperture shot-to-shot.

The Smart Auto mode works well but only allows jpg images to be shot. I like the bracketing features with a mode dial selection.

All-in-all at $319 for the kit which also had an 8GB Sandisk SD card and mini tripod I'm very happy with the camera and its images. Particularly as that deal is now over $400.
 
I shoot RAW 100% of the time and do not worry about lens distortion, I am sure it's there but for my shooting style it does not really matter. I process everything in LR3 so I am sure I could easily correct but don't. I do find that the noise reduction in LR3 works great with 800 and 1600 iso shots however

Hey Wally, what is your 'real world' shot to shot time in RAW? I'm mainly curious after taking 1 RAW, how soon can I take another shot (not continuous, I mean re-compose and focus.) I don't need a big buffer, but if I can take a couple of shots in RAW within a reasonable amount of time, that's good enough for me.
 
Hey Wally, what is your 'real world' shot to shot time in RAW? I'm mainly curious after taking 1 RAW, how soon can I take another shot (not continuous, I mean re-compose and focus.) I don't need a big buffer, but if I can take a couple of shots in RAW within a reasonable amount of time, that's good enough for me.

The camera allows you to take another shot immediately, but after that you have to wait until it finishes writing to continue shooting.

That said, with fast cards (I'm currently using Toshiba HighSpeed Pro Class 10 SDHC) writing times are reasonable.
 
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