Samsung WB5000: hands-on with a 24x zoom featherweight

When not concerned with the futility of existence we know what has your mind preoccupied: just how manly is Samsung's WB5000? With a 24x optical zoom, full manual control option, ISO 6400 sensitivity, and RAW format support it's just gotta be a heaving mass of elongating gadget hedonism, right? Well, no... at least not physically. Granted, our nerdceps are tuned to negate the shutter recoil of Nikon's beastly D300 DSLR. But the WB5000 feels surprisingly light, hollow even. Now the weight of a super-zoom camera, in general, has nothing to do with image quality. But the size to weight ratio was surprising nonetheless, and a stark reminder that the WB5000 is nothing more than a massive 26mm Schneider-KREUZNACH lens with compact-camera quality components inside its chunky posterior. We'll reserve judgment until we, or someone else, can grab a unit for a full review. 'Till then, you know where to find more pics.

Samsung WB5000 hands-on

[Raul7 Posted Sep 6th 2009 3:25PM]

"ISO 6400 sensitivity"
That must really be terrible...

[Plexus Posted Sep 6th 2009 4:31PM]

Interesting.
But I still want the Panasonic GH1

[soccersgreat Posted Sep 6th 2009 3:29PM]

does it have flash? unlike the olympus e-p1? What dedicated camera doesn't have flash, especially for $800?

[HaZaRd Posted Sep 6th 2009 3:41PM]

Way to bring your buying decision into an article with no relevance to it. I'm gonna go with Rob Conway on this one...

I can't believe you bought an $800 camera and didn't know it didn't come with a built-in flash.

[Kieran Posted Sep 6th 2009 4:33PM]

You know what's more annoying than not having a shitty built in flash? Not having a hot shoe mount. If you're going to moan about every camera just to mention the EP-1, at least moan about something relevant to the camera.

[Trebawa Posted Sep 6th 2009 5:04PM]

Since when does a camera without interchangeable lenses have no flash?

[cortiz1679 Posted Sep 6th 2009 3:34PM]

pic 12or16 has flash.

[DizWhiz Posted Sep 6th 2009 3:34PM]

How in the world did you guys get the lens THAT dirty?! =(

[Faceless Troll Posted Sep 6th 2009 3:53PM]

We probably don't want to know. I can only imagine the shenanigans possible with a 24x zoom.

[KRISC123 Posted Sep 6th 2009 3:50PM]

it looks like its going to take a picture of me so im smiling :D

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 6th 2009 7:41PM]

Does this have a threaded lens for filters etc. ?

[PeterZheng Posted Sep 6th 2009 11:16PM]

Samsung WB5000 superzooma is only a 1/2.33 inch of low-end sensor;
a low-end sensor + a bigger cheap lens = Korea aunty's fondest camera (take a highly price for a low-end camera) .

[meatloaf Posted Sep 7th 2009 3:11PM]

Dear Engadget: There's a white balance feature on your camera. Please use it.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2009 10:43PM]

Samsung Camera's are really bad. Produces too much noise.