Samsung Samsung TL500 (EX1) ISO 800 Sample Images from RAW

[Amin]

I just received a Samsung TL500 (EX1) courtesy of B&H Photo for testing on Serious Compacts. One of the complaints about this camera is excessive noise reduction (smearing) in the high ISO in-camera JPEGs. I haven't seen many processed RAW images from this camera on the web, so I thought I'd share a few.

These are 1/45s exposures at ISO 800, processed using the Samsung RAW Converter, which is a version of Silkypix. I applied zero luminance noise reduction and subsequently sharpened, so you're seeing the full extent of luminance noise.

Below each resized JPEG, you will find links to download the full-res JPEG as well as the RAW file.

Full-res JPEG: https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4819350662_ecb1602aab_o.jpg
RAW: View attachment 202


This one was pushed a bit more in the shadows, hence noisier than the others:

Full-res JPEG: https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4819350676_76a04a15e5_o.jpg
RAW: View attachment 203

Full-res JPEG: https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4819350638_be5e807e53_o.jpg
RAW: View attachment 204

I think this is right up there with the best of them as far as high ISO performance, and the lens speed is class leading. Subjective impression is that the image stabilization is not as effective as some others, particularly Canon.

Thanks to B&H for the loaner. Some more rigorous testing coming soon!

 

[Djarum]

Nice shots. Seems like RAW produces pretty good results.

 

[soundimageplus]

Raw Samples

Thanks for posting the raw samples. This gives a much better idea as to what the camera can do. I've got the Samsung software for my NX10 and I've just updated it to open your raw EX1 files.

I used the super neutral setting to develop them to try and get an idea of what the base image might be like at flat settings. I then looked at the files in Photoshop CS4. This is a fairly substantial blowup of one of your files, from those "flat" settings.

This is with the Photoshop Reduce Noise filter used to just remove the colour noise.

This is using my Noiseware Professional plug-in at fairly restrained settings to eliminate colour noise and some luminance noise.

The results are better to me than the samples I've seen would have indicated. It actually looks much more photographic instead of the over-processed look of many of the jpgs that have been posted.

Don't know if you'd agree but it looks to me very similar to what you'd get from m4/3 at ISO 3200. Considering the differences in the size of the sensors I don't think thats a bad result.

Hopefully you'll post some samples at base ISO so that we can get an idea of what those are like.

Once again thanks for doing this - It does make all the difference. After seeing a lot of jpg samples I had written off this camera, but these samples do indicate that by shooting raw a much pleasanter result can be obtained. Certainly makes me think again about the possibilities this camera could offer.

 

[Andrewteee]

This looks to be an interesting camera. I'll be curious to follow your impressions.

 

[sonomichele]

Amin, it will be fun to read your ongoing review of this camera. I imagine its IQ will be somewhat comparable to the other top "small sensor" cams but time will tell. Also of interest is usability, I'm sure that I'm not the only one who would like hear about that aspect as well. Go ahead and be opinionated, tell us what you really think!

 

[Amin]

Thanks Michael, Andrew. I tend to do more comparative type of reviews, and since the LX5 is not yet available, I think the LX3 is still the best comparison for the Samsung. Will try to let my opinions come through!

 

[Björn Utpott]

Yes, those conversions look a lot better than the out of camera JPEGs. I'm wondering, is there any way to convert these proprietary RAW files to DNG format so they can be processed using Lightroom 3? Silkypix is a good tool, but not the best for bringing out fine detail.

 

[Amin]

Björn, I was looking for a way to convert to DNG, but no success. I'm not a big fan of Silkypix conversion, although they look better in print than they do on screen. Very ugly viewed at 100% . I'm sure more RAW support will be along soon given the good reviews already out for this camera.