Samsung Digimax U-CA 5 Review

The U-CA 5 features a 3x (35-105mm equivalent) all-glass optical zoom with a maximum aperture of F2.8-4.8. It has a 1.0X - 5.0X digital zoom option.

The auto focus system covers 80cm to infinity in normal focus mode, from 30 to 80cm in Macro mode and from 5 to 80cm (wide) / 50 to 80cm (tele) in Super Macro mode. As you can see from the animation above, the lens retracts fully inside of the camera when powered down and is protected by a built in lens cover. On power up it only takes about two seconds to extend the lens.

To aid in focusing in dim lighting, the U-CA 5 has a focus-assist illuminator.

Framing is done on the 1.8-inch color LCD, there is no optical viewfinder. The LCD automatically adjusts its backlight depending on ambient lighting.

The built-in flash has modes for auto, auto+red-eye, fill, slow sync and off. The working range is approx. 0.2 to 3.0m (W), 0.5 to 2.0m (T). A new feature is called "SF" for Safety Flash. SF does not use the flash but will let you take pictures in darker conditions and then brightens the image before saving it.

Located on the top is the power on/off button, Mode switch (Movie / Voice / Still) and the shutter release.

Controls: Upper right are the zoom control buttons, they serve as Index and Magnify in playback mode. Below is the Monitor button which controls the amount of information displayed on the LCD. The "M" button lets you change to Auto / Manual / Scene mode quickly. The 4-way controller is illuminated and easy to operate for navigating menu screens and selecting images during playback. Press the center button to call up and dismiss the menu or to accept a selection. In record or playback you press "Up" to attach an audio memo for an image. Press Right for self-timer, press Left for flash mode and press Down to enable Macro focus or to play/pause an audio recording or movie in playback. Below the 4-way is the Playback button. The "+/-" button calls up an onscreen overlay (see next page) to adjust exposure compensation, white balance and ISO speed. In playback it is the Delete image button.

The U-CA 5 supports any size SD memory cards up to 1GB. Samsung includes a 32MB SD card with the following capacity:

On the bottom is the I/O port, it can be connected to the dual-purpose USB/AV cable, the AC power adapter or the optional docking cradle.

The U-CA 5 is powered by the included SLB-1137 3.7V 1130mA rechargeable Li-ion pack (up to 200 shots). It can be charged via the included AC adapter or with the optional cradle (below.) Charging when camera is powered off takes ~150 minutes.

You can recharge the battery, print an image or download images when the camera is placed in the optional docking cradle.

The AC power adapter plugs into the cradle. I/O from the cradle is USB 2.0 for data and AV for connection to a TV monitor for playback. The USB cable may be connected to any PictBridge compatible printer for direct printing.