Overview
The Samsung ST93 is part of the brand’s Style (ST) range of compact cameras, with a 2.7-inch LCD screen, 16.1 megapixel CCD image sensor and Samsung wide-angle 5x zoom lens.
Costing less than the more advanced Samsung EX1 (TL500) from the brand’s Performance range, the Samsung ST93’s pricepoint puts it alongside rivals such as the Nikon Coolpix S6200, Canon IXUS 230 HS, Canon PowerShot SX150 IS and Samsung’s own Samsung MV800.
It offers five different shooting modes – Smart Auto, Program, Panorama, Scene and Dual Image Stabilisation – which gives users a wide range of modes to choose from without being too overwhelming.
The camera also offers 10 scene options including Magic Frame (where you can take your photo surrounded by a selection of graphics), Beauty Shot, Object Highlight, Night, Sunset and Dawn. Alternatively, you can choose Smart Auto and the camera will pick the best mode for your environment.
The Samsung ST93 has the standard five flash options (although some are only available when using certain modes) such as redeye reduction and fill flash.
Unsurprisingly at this price point, the Samsung ST93 doesn’t offer a manual mode, but the Program shooting mode has quite a few changeable options including white balance, ISO, EV compensation and image quality settings, enabling the user to take photos in a variety of conditions. There are also several filter options available such as Miniature (replicating the popular tilt-shift mode), Retro, Fish-eye, Half Tone Dot and Vignetting.
Video can be shot in 720p HD (1280 x 720), VGA (640 x 480) or QVGA (320 x240). There’s an impressive amount of options for shooting movies, including setting the frame rate as well as the white balance, EV compensation and metering.
Build quality and handling
Available in a variety of colours including silver, red and black, the Samsung ST93 weighs in at 95g (without the battery or a memory card) and measures 89.6 x 54.8 x 17.5mm, making it fairly small and easy to carry. It uses microSD memory cards with 12MB of internal storage and has a lithium ion battery.
It’s worth noting that the options within Smart Auto mode are severely limited. You’re only able to choose between Smart Auto flash or no flash, and the only function you can adjust is the picture size. This mode will automatically decide whether you need to use a macro setting and apply it accordingly.
In-camera resizing and editing is available, although it’s slightly difficult to find in the menu structure. The options to adjust the brightness, contrast and red eye are easy to use, and you can also apply filters after the photo has been taken. This is handy if you’d like to try out the tilt-shift option or add some extra vignetting. If you don’t have access to photo editing software then the resizing and retouching in the camera will make reasonable substitutes.
The Samsung ST93’s 2.7-inch LCD screen is bright and easy to view, although it can be difficult to see if light is shining directly onto it. The menu options are clear and easily accessible – mode changes are available via the Mode button, plus the function option allows you to tweak your settings.
The USB socket is small and protected by a hard plastic flap, which feels more durable than the soft rubber caps that can twist or be broken easily. The battery compartment has a lock to prevent accidental opening, and has a sturdy feel with a slight spring to prevent damage when open.
Performance
While overall quality of the images captured by the Samsung ST93 is decent, they’re not always as sharp and as crisp as we’d like to see. They do have a good range of well represented colours, but when viewed at 100% some of the images are blurry and soft. Both the auto and program modes seem to suffer occasionally from blurring and darkness, which using the image stabilisation mode helped to resolve.
The sensitivity range is between ISO 80 and 3200, with expected reduction in picture quality and colour at the higher end of the scale.
The time between shots is the biggest bugbear about the Samsung ST93. The wait between shots is on average about 2.5 seconds, and in continuous drive mode the speed between shots can still be slow, even when the picture size and quality is reduced.
Smile Shot and Blink Detection functions worked reasonably well during our tests, managing to recognise and photograph a smile four times out of five. Self Portrait mode offers an audio signal to the photographer to tell you when you’re in the shot and in focus.
The Samsung ST93 also offers audio signals when your photos are in focus or out of focus in other modes, which is useful if you’re not able to see the screen well.
Panorama mode works well, asking you to depress the shutter then pan sideways slowly to capture the scene rather than stitching together several different shots, similar to the Sweep Panorama function found in Sony compact cameras such as the Sony NEX-5.
The images on the LCD display sometimes appear brighter than when viewed on a computer, which is worth remembering if you’re adjusting the exposure compensation or the sensitivity.
As expected with a compact camera, the Samsung ST93’s capabilities of shooting in low light or at night are limited. You can adjust the shutter speed and aperture using night mode on the scene selector, but the use of a tripod is recommended.
Dual Image Stabilisation can be accessed either through the Program mode or via its own mode to enable users to take better photos during low light conditions, which helped to make photos sharper during testing.
The HD video and VGA shooting options create moving footage that would be perfectly acceptable to post online, although if you zoom in during recording the sound of this can be quite apparent.
Resolution
As part of our image quality testing for the Samsung ST93, we’ve shot our resolution chart.
If you view our crops of the resolution chart’s central section at 100% (or Actual Pixels) you will see that, for example, at ISO 100 the Samsung ST93 is capable of resolving up to around 20 (line widths per picture height x100) in its highest quality JPEG files.
Examining images of the chart taken at each sensitivity setting reveals the following resolution scores in line widths per picture height x100:
ISO 80, score: 16 (see full image)
ISO 100, score: 20 (see full image)
ISO 200, score: 18 (see full image)
ISO 400, score: 18 (see full image)
ISO 800, score: 16 (see full image)
ISO 1600, score: 16 (see full image)
ISO 3200, score: 16 (see full image)
Follow this link for a full explanation of what our resolution charts mean.
Noise and dynamic range
We shoot a specially designed chart in carefully controlled conditions and the resulting images are analysed using DXO Analyzer software to generate the data to produce the graphs below.
A high signal to noise ratio (SNR) indicates a cleaner and better quality image.
For more more details on how to interpret our test data, check out our full explanation of our noise and dynamic range tests.
Our results from the lab have been compared against the Canon PowerShot A3300 IS, Nikon Coolpix S4150 and the Pentax Optio RS1500, all avaible for under £100.
Our analysis shows that the cameras’ results are close and while the Nikon Coolpix S4150 tops the signal to noise ratio results, the Samsung ST93 is only just behind. Looking at dynamic range the Samsung ST93 puts in a good performance across the sensitivity range scoring over 9EV up to ISO 400, and is only beaten by the Canon PowerShot A3300.
JPEG images from the Samsung ST93 are on a par with those from the Nikon Coolpix S4150.
Dynamic range
This chart indicates that the Samsung ST93’s JPEGs compare well against the Nikon Coolpix S4150 and Pentax Optio RS1500, capturing a wide tonal range up to ISO 800.
Sample images
Metering on the ST93 is overall good, although it has struggled to cope with the bright sunlight in the corner of this image.
The ST93 is capable of producing panoramas by sweeping the camera across a scene and stitching the resulting images together in the camera itself.
Colours on the ST93 are represented well, being punchy without being overly vibrant.
Macro focusing on the ST93 is pretty quick and accurate, making close-up images easy to produce.
Edges are well defined on images from the ST93, with bright whites and dark blacks.
Chromatic aberration is relatively minimal on the ST93.
A number of art filters are available on the ST93, including this "Vignetting" which darkens the corners of the image and creates a "Lomo" style effect.
An example of the "Negative" art filter.
Half tone dot is another art filter that creates an image out of lots of dots, this works well where there are large expanses of colour in a scene.
Sensitivity and noise
Full ISO 80 image, see the cropped (100%) versions below.
ISO 80
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
Verdict
Sitting in Samsung’s Style range among rivals such as the Nikon Coolpix S6200 and Canon PowerShot SX150 IS, the Samsung ST93 offers a range of shooting options and looks pretty good.
We liked
The range of functions and ease of use with the Samsung ST93 enables you to control your shots and add a creative twist.
We disliked
There’s not a huge amount to dislike about this little camera, but we’d like it if the time between shots could be reduced. And bear in mind that you’ll need a tripod to pull off crisp photos in low light.
Final verdict
The Samsung ST93 is a very easy-to-use, decent compact camera for someone that wants the opportunity to take good photos but isn’t necessarily going to want to spend a large amount of money for a camera with a higher spec.
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