Samsung Digimax L730 review

A 7-megapixel camera for £83 isn't unusual, but finding one with an aluminium body, a 2½in, 230,000-pixel screen, an 800x592-pixel MPEG4 video capture and a Li-ion battery is a surprise.

The design is smart and compact, although the etched button labels are hard to see in low light.

We're slowly getting used to Samsung's sprawling menu layout but other manufacturers' menus are easier to use. Crucial settings are quick to access, though, and the inclusion of a manual (but not priority) exposure mode and automatic exposure bracketing are rare treats at this price. Face detection has a dedicated button but we didn't find it particularly effective.

Digital image stabilisation is usually just another name for a high ISO mode and doesn't serve as a replacement for optical stabilisation. However, Samsung's Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) is more sophisticated than most, taking two photos in very quick succession and carefully overlaying them to capture a shot with reduced blur, and without introducing excessive image noise as a high ISO speed would. Our tests revealed a higher success rate of blur-free shots with ASR enabled, although it added a few seconds to the time required to process and save photos.

Sadly, the L730 isn't particularly fast to start with at around three seconds between shots without ASR. Pressing the shutter button any quicker delays things even further, as the camera ignores it rather than shooting as soon as it's ready. The auto-focus is extremely quick except in very low light, where it gives up altogether.

Image quality is typical of a budget camera, with reasonably sharp detail and excellent colours in bright light but a few problems elsewhere. Noise was visible in shots taken in overcast weather. Colours were muted and slightly skewed when shooting indoors without the flash. Because of the below-average quality and performance, the L730 isn't a bargain at this price.