A great Camera with a ton of features! Also SUPER COOL!!
I would guess that ninety percent of you reading these reviews are prospective digital camera buyers. You are reading these honest reviews by average people in an effort to learn more about buying this camera, you're asking that question "Is the dual-view TL225 right for me?" I don't know if it is, but keep in mind as you're reading my review that I'm writing this review for you because I was you the perspective buyer with numerous questions and concerns just one week ago.
Comparatively this Camera does not take the best picture of all the camera's in its price range. (The sub $300 digital camera category.) There are other camera's in the TL225's price range the give a better representation of color, perform better in low lighting, take better action photographs, take higher resolution HD movies or are smaller and possibly more convenient in some ways. The TL225 is not the pinnacle of digital photography in any category that I could find. It is however, on par with or above average for its class in just about every category; from iso, to HD-Movie capabilities, picture resolution, delay time between taking pictures, and etc. Make no mistake, this camera is no chump! It's just not a champion in any particular category. Overall I think it's the best fit for the average person that needs a digital camera for taking pictures of nights out, sight seeing, family events, etc. It's also quite sleek, I might suggest, nay, I implore you go to bestbuy and see just how sleek this device is before buying it.
Some of the other reviewers have been a bit harsh. I wonder however, how many digital cameras they have owned in their life. If the answer is 1 or 2, then they really aren't in a position to make accurate criticisms of this device. Or, perhaps they are, but only after they actually read the owner's manual. By reading this owner's manual, which, btw, is very detailed and can be downloaded from Samsung's website (in pdf form so you easily browse to whatever section you'd like to read about); you'll find the answer's to many of the little questions/problems/concerns you've had about this device! You can even read the owner's manual before you buy the TL225! Egads man!
As opposed to the aforementioned negative reviewers, I however, love this camera! This is an excellent replacement for the Kodak EasyShare P.0.S. that I had before. The TL225 comes with a ton of features on board. There's a slide show you can setup with a push of button, there's red-eye removal (which you can activate both before and after you take pics), blemish removal, and a ton other effects you can put on the pictures without having to even transfer the photos to your PC. The touch screen is very responsive and the dual view front screen works as advertised.
With its 12.2 megapixel sensor this camera takes some beautiful pictures. It also takes excellent HD movies recording them at 720p and you have the ability to zoom while recording the movies (a lot digital cameras can't do that or if they do you'll get this buzzing noise while zooming (This camera makes no such noises!)).
There's a bunch of on board features for the movies too after you've recorded them so you can edit them, just like the photos (brighten, trim movies, etc) on the camera without transferring them to your PC. I can't talk enough about how many little convenient features are included on board this camera, and they are just all so easy to find with the little pop-up menus. These features are why this camera is a "must own" 5 out 5 star device! Well, haha, that and it takes some pretty darn good pictures too!
Previous reviewers have complained about blurry photographs, well the first thing is to check the ISO level. If you know you are shooting in a dark room and are not using flash, turn the iso up manually. Yes, the auto features are good but not perfect, conventional wisdom says "the great carpenter never blames his tools". There's really something to be said for that, basically, ya know have a brain people! And two, play with your camera, enjoy it before you take it out and use it for your real world events. This camera has a lot of features but you have to use the right one for the job and know all the tools it has to offer and how to use them.
***NOTE*** Digital Camera's and HD Camera's as a whole don't tend to perform as well in low lighting as your regular film camera's they have come a long way and the technology is developing but this isn't a $500-600 professional camera, this a sub-compact point and shoot camera, keep that in mind when grading.
The other thing is this camera has pre-set features that come turned on that you can turn off which will help/hurt picture quality. One of them is facial recognition if this is on and if you are not taking a picture of someone or not trying focus on a face it will cause the picture to come out blurry. That's just the way the software on the camera is written. So you need to make sure you have the camera set in the correct modes. Furthermore, this all goes back to reading the manual and playing with your camera for awhile when you first get it.
To address some of the other concerns:
-- The battery life sucks, SUPRISE! Welcome to the world of portable electronics. I suggest only turning on the dual-view then you need it (this is the major batter drainer) and I also suggest buying another battery and the external battery charger.
-- Yes, it also sucks that this camera comes bare bones without a Micro-SD card, additional battery, or some the other nifty accessories you might need. What are you gonna do? I bought all the additional items (extra battery, charger, case, and micro-SD) and it only cost me $30.00.
-- The fact that it uses a micro-SD at all is also kind of annoying. While I think they could have tried to fit a standard SD in this camera, I'm glad they didn't. It's very sleek and stylish, slim and sexy. I guess having to use micro-SD is the price of beauty.
-- You need to buy a $50 dock to connect this camera to your TV using HDMI. Yes this is certainly frustrating, especially since one of the touted features of the TL225 is it's HDMI out, but really who cares? You can buy a USB adapter for your micro-SD and just plug it into your HDTV or PS3 directly.
**SIDENOTES** If you are debating between TL225 and the TL220, I'd say it's worth it to pony up the extra $20-25 for the TL225. The rear LCD screen is a bit bigger on this camera and the resolution on that LCD is much higher so you'll a have more accurate representation of your pictures after you take them. Also just having a larger, higher resolution screen will just add to the wow factor when you show this camera off to your friends. Another note, the orange color that the TL225 comes in is really more of a Red than an Orange; you'll see what I mean when you behold this camera in person. Sorry cuse' fans!
BOTTOM LINE:
This camera is great, if you are looking for a sleek point and shoot digital camera with a ton of features. The TL225 takes reasonably good pictures when compared to others in the same price range but where this digital camera really excels is by ease of use and innovative design with its responsive touch screen, pop-up menus, plethora of on-board features and cool dual view LCD. 5 stars!
