Samsung WP10 / AQ100 - stabilisation

2010-6-29 19.45
My last camera without an image stabilisation was the 2 MP Canon A60 and I barely had any unsharp picture with her.
The main unhappyness I have with the Samsung WP10 is the lack of a real stabilisation.
Sure there is the digital stabilisation but that is a just not an alternative.

Let me give you a couple examples so you get an idea and as usual all pictures are original lossless crops. Click on the picture for the original cropped size and quality.

1/30 2 x zoom ISO 400 no IS

1/30 2 x zoom ISO 400 digital IS

1/80 2 x zoom ISO 200 flash

1/5 5 x zoom ISO 400 no IS

1/5 5 x zoom ISO 400 digital IS

1/90 5 x zoom ISO 200 flash

1/6 5 x zoom ISO 400 no IS

1/6 5 x zoom ISO 400 digital IS

So  just use flash and every thing is ok?
Sadly no, 2 shots I took from my camera guy, both with flash turned out crappy. Let´s find out why. Here he was walking towards me and you can see the back is clearer than his face

 I reshot this today we both were motionless and it came out better but still unacceptable.

Checking the lower part of the foto, I discovered why some of my flash pictures are blurry. You can clearly see the Qptio WS80 print on the box has a ghosting in the vertical direction. It looks to me the WP10 is using a slow sync flash modus like in a twilight portrait to keep the surrounding landscape visible. So with this error in the not so intelligent mode my shutter pressing what results in vertical camera movement results then in a blurry foto.

 This picture was taken one minute after the first one of my camera guy, the settings were the same but I think to remember I needed some time to frame this shot from the post card stand and these fine folks were just browsing and I used both hands to hold the camera.

 the full foto

is there a way to improve the sharpness of the picture?

Yes there is, instead of holding the Samsung WP10 like this

stabilize her with your left hand

Here is what the Samsung UK website states today the 28 of June 2010:

 Even the tiniest shake can ruin your shot. You are so right here! Dual Image Stabilisation solves that. To bad the WP10 does not have that, so why do you mention that on your Samsung UK WP10 website? Samsung has combined the revolutionary technology of their ultimate Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) mechanism with the advanced algorithms of Digital Image Stabilisation (DIS). That´s great, but the WP10 does not have it!!! Giving you sharp images no matter the condition. No it does not with the WP10 Whether it’s low light, zooming or just a case of plain old shaky hands, your photos come out sharp and clear. No they do not with the WP10 So let your Samsung camera shake things up. Yes you do that  In a good way. You call this good? Fire your webmaster, you should be liable for that false information you tell here.

Here is what the Samsung Germany website states today the 28 of June 2010:

Here they explain, that the image stabilisation takes 2 shots, one fast to get the pixel crisp and one normal to get the color information. Then the two are merged together with some clever processing and this is why you can not use the flash with the image stabilisation! BUMMER

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After trying out several shooting techniques here is the best way to shoot blur free.
4 sharp fotos out of 5 selecting Scene and then Children. This is the high speed mode from the camera it activates also constant autofocus.
3 sharp fotos out of 5 selecting Program and set the ISO to 200. Your trade sharpness for acceptable grain.
2 sharp fotos out of 4 selecting Program and activating image stabilisation.
With 1 slightly sharp foto out of 5 Smart Auto lands on the last place.
Holding the camera with both hands makes a bit of a difference.

Pictures were taken in 5 x zoom

one hand Smart Auto

one hand Children Mode

two hands Smart Auto

two hands Children Mode

Program ISO 200