Labs

This camera is enormous, but not without good reason: the 15x zoom range and 31/2" LCD screen set new records for digital cameras. So too does the battery capacity. It lasted for 532 shots in our test. If you need a rest from the LCD, there's an electronic viewfinder with a similarly high resolution. Even the top-mounted colour screen normally used to display camera settings can be pressed into preview duties.

Physical controls are equally abundant,

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with three lens rings for zoom, focus and exposure compensation, two command dials for aperture and shutter speed, and dedicated buttons for just about everything else. Manual exposure is well implemented, with clear onscreen feedback. Unfortunately, the only way to achieve sharp manual focus is to cycle through the digital zoom settings, which isn't particularly quick or intuitive.

The camera rarely excelled or embarrassed itself in image-quality tests. Dependable performance in tricky lighting conditions is not to be sniffed at, though image noise was intrusive at ISO 400. The zoom range makes for a highly versatile camera, stretching from a wide-angle 28mm to the same 420mm focal length offered by Panasonic. However, Samsung's lack of image stabilisation means you'll need very bright conditions or a tripod to use the 420mm focal length.

The Pro815 is great fun to use, but it's almost too audacious. It's the monster truck in a Lab test of four-wheel drives: fun in theory, but you might feel self-conscious using it.