Samsung SL30 vs Sony Cyber-shot WX150: A Hands-On Compact Camera Showdown

Over the years, I’ve tested hundreds of compact cameras that cater to casual shooters and enthusiasts alike. Today, I’ll walk you through an in-depth, hands-on comparison between two pocket-sized compacts that represent different moments in compact camera evolution: the Samsung SL30 (introduced in 2009) and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150 (released in 2012). Although both are classified as small sensor compacts, their distinct design choices, feature sets, and photographic prowess make for an insightful comparison to understand how compact cameras evolved - and to help you decide which might still be relevant depending on your needs.

My evaluation draws on extensive field testing, technical specs, user interface impressions, and real-world image quality checks. Whether you’re a beginner seeking simplicity or an enthusiast craving more versatility, my hope is this comparison will clarify what these two compacts can realistically deliver.

Sizing Up the Contenders: Design and Ergonomics

When I pick up a camera, the very first impression usually starts with how it feels in the hand - size, weight, grip comfort, and intuitive controls. Both the Samsung SL30 and Sony WX150 are easily pocketable, yet their physical presence contrasts in subtle but meaningful ways.

The Samsung SL30 is a compact but slightly thick device measuring 94 x 61 x 23 mm and weighing about 140 grams. Its straightforward rectangular body lacks any pronounced grip, which makes it a bit fiddly during extended shooting sessions, especially for those with larger hands. Featuring a modest 2.5-inch LCD, it doesn’t offer any articulations, limiting compositions from challenging angles.

In contrast, the Sony WX150 is a hair lighter at 133 grams and marginally slimmer at 95 x 56 x 22 mm. Its body benefits from a subtle ergonomic curve on the front, making it easier to cradle securely. The 3-inch ClearPhoto TFT LCD offers a noticeably bigger and sharper display, enhancing preview assessments - a real plus when reviewing focus and exposure on location.

The control layouts also reflect their era and target audiences. I include a comparative top view to highlight button placements:

Neither camera boasts a viewfinder, necessitating reliance on the rear screen in bright outdoor conditions, but that’s typical for cameras in this class and period. Overall, the Sony’s design feels a bit more mature, balancing portability with firmer handling.

Sensor Technologies and Image Quality: Pixels and Beyond

Both cameras rely on small 1/2.3-inch sensors, but their sensor technologies and resolutions differ considerably - directly impacting the quality you can expect from their JPEG outputs.

The Samsung SL30 packs a 10MP CCD sensor with dimensions roughly 6.08 x 4.56 mm. CCDs in 2009 produced decent color rendition and moderately low noise at base ISOs but tended to struggle as sensitivity climbed. The SL30 caps its native ISO at 1600 - though image quality degradation near that ceiling is pronounced. The sensor area of 27.72 mm² is average for the class at the time.

The Sony WX150, released three years later, ships with an 18MP backside-illuminated CMOS sensor, measuring about 6.17 x 4.55 mm for a total 28.07 mm² area. This newer BSI technology integrates improved light-gathering and noise reduction, which results in cleaner files and better low-light performance. The WX150 maxes out at ISO 12800 (boosted), providing more flexibility in dim conditions - especially valuable for handheld and indoor shooting.

In practical shooting, the WX150 produces sharper images with finer detail retention and better dynamic range, owing to the higher pixel count and more modern sensor design. The SL30’s images can feel softer and noisier above ISO 400, limiting its appeal for demanding scenarios.

LCD and User Interface: What You See is What You Get

Since these compacts lack viewfinders, their rear LCD screens are critical for framing and reviewing shots. The quality and usability of these displays can make or break the shooting experience.

The Samsung SL30’s 2.5-inch screen offers just 230k dots resolution, which feels grainy and bland compared to modern standards. This low pixel density makes fine focusing confirmation harder, especially outdoors or under sunlight glare. Its fixed non-touch interface limits quick access to exposure parameters or shooting modes - something I found frustrating when needing to adjust white balance or flash settings quickly.

The Sony WX150, featuring a 3-inch ClearPhoto TFT LCD with 461k dots, offers a visibly brighter and clearer preview, supporting 16:9 aspect ratios in addition to 4:3. The lack of touchscreen is a mild disappointment, but the interface is snappier, and menu navigation is intuitive with dedicated buttons for exposure compensation and manual mode activation - a boon for enthusiasts testing creative control.

In essence, if you prioritize ease of use and accurate image assessment before pressing the shutter, the WX150's bigger and more detailed LCD holds a meaningful advantage.

Portrait Performance: Skin Tones, Bokeh, Eye Detection

Portrait photography challenges compacts to render skin tones faithfully, provide good subject separation, and deliver reliable autofocus - ideally with face or eye detection.

The Samsung SL30 includes face detection autofocus, which was quite advanced for its time, and it offers center-weighted metering to help expose faces properly. However, its fixed lens with a relatively narrow zoom range equivalent to 38-114mm and a maximum aperture of f/2.8-5.7 produces limited background blur. I found the bokeh shallow and occasionally harsh at telephoto, which compromises the subject-background separation.

The Sony WX150 also features face detection plus continuous autofocus with tracking - helpful when shooting children or pets in motion. Its lens offers a broader zoom from 25-250mm equivalent, providing more framing versatility. The slightly slower aperture (f/3.3-5.9), however, also limits creamy bokeh, but the longer reach gives more pronounced background compression.

In real life, the WX150 consistently produced more pleasing skin tone reproduction with subtle warmth and better highlight retention, thanks to its CMOS sensor processing. The SL30’s CCD imagery sometimes veered towards cooler tones, requiring color correction in post.

Exploring Landscapes and Nature: Dynamic Range and Weather Resilience

When I take cameras outdoors for landscapes, I look for sensors capable of capturing wide tonal range and lenses with decent resolving power and minimum focus distance.

Neither the SL30 nor WX150 offers environmental sealing, limiting their reliability in harsh weather or dusty environments. This eliminates them from serious outdoor adventures where ruggedness is paramount.

The Sony WX150’s sensor poise with its higher resolution and dynamic range allows for more recoverable shadows and highlights in post-processing. Its 18MP files give latitude to crop tightly without sacrificing detail. Wider zoom coverage (25mm equivalent wide) supports expansive widescapes better than the SL30's 38mm minimum focal length.

The SL30, on the other hand, has a slightly faster wide-end aperture (f/2.8 vs f/3.3), which can help in dim natural light but falls short in resolving power and dynamic range. Its comparatively lower resolution limits image enlargement.

For landscapes, the WX150 is the preferred camera - delivering better overall image quality despite lacking ruggedness.

Wildlife and Action: Autofocus and Burst Shooting

Shooting unpredictable wildlife or sports demands rapid autofocus, tracking accuracy, and burst shooting speed.

The Samsung SL30 uses contrast-detection autofocus with face detection but only supports single autofocus with no continuous or tracking modes. It also doesn’t offer burst shooting. This severely hampers its ability to capture fast-moving subjects.

Conversely, the Sony WX150 comes with 9 autofocus points plus continuous AF tracking, supporting up to 10 frames per second burst mode. In my field tests, this proved surprisingly agile for a compact, reliably locking onto moving subjects in daylight. The impressively long 25-250mm equivalent zoom also allowed for distant wildlife framing - a major advantage.

However, low-light autofocus performance remains challenging on both cameras due to limited sensor sizes and consumer-grade AF systems, but the WX150 still offers a clear edge when action speeds up.

Sports and Street: Discretion, Responsiveness, and Low-Light Capability

Compact cameras excel in unobtrusive street photography & casual sports shooting. Here, size, shutter lag, and ISO performance matter.

The SL30’s slower shutter speeds (max 1/1500 s) and lack of burst shooting limit capturing rapid moments. Its moderate ISO ceiling and noisier files make low-light street scenes difficult to shoot without flash, which can attract unwanted attention.

The WX150, with a max shutter speed of 1/1600s and faster continuous shooting, is more responsive but still can’t compete with advanced enthusiast compacts or mirrorless cameras in challenging light.

Portability is comparable, though the WX150’s slimmer profile and better grip provide more confidence during street walks. Its image stabilization mitigates the telephoto reach’s shake, crucial during handheld sidewalk or stadium shots.

Macro and Close-Up: Magnification and Sharpness

Both cameras offer a macro focusing distance of approximately 5 cm, which is standard but not exceptional for compact cameras.

The Samsung SL30’s lens with a longer minimum focal distance and less refined focusing mechanism produced acceptably sharp images up close but struggled with fine detail under muted lighting.

The Sony WX150, aided by its higher resolution sensor and optical image stabilization, captured noticeably crisper close-ups, maintaining color accuracy and sharpness without needing a tripod.

While neither camera pursues macro photography enthusiastically, the WX150 is better equipped for casual flower or object close-ups.

Night and Astrophotography: High ISO and Exposure Modes

When I push compacts into night or low-light astrophotography tests, sensor noise control and shutter speed flexibility become crucial.

The Samsung SL30 offers longer shutter speeds up to 8 seconds but lacks manual ISO control and advanced noise reduction. Its max ISO 1600 native is insufficient for clean night scenes unless tripod-mounted with low ISO. Its CCD sensor tends to produce color noise artifacts visible in dark areas, further limiting night use.

The Sony WX150 ups the ante with a max shutter speed of 30 seconds and an ISO range extending to 12800 (boosted), though practical noiseless shots top out closer to 1600-3200 ISO depending on exposure. Optical image stabilization helps handheld night captures. Custom white balance and manual exposure modes offer creative flexibility.

Neither camera offers specialized astrophotography features, but the WX150’s improved low-light capabilities make it the better companion under stars.

Video Functionality: Resolution, Frame Rates, and Stabilization

While still predominately photo devices, compact cameras increasingly support video capture. Let’s see how these two fare.

The Samsung SL30 records video at 640x480 maximum resolution (VGA) with 30 fps, outputting Motion JPEG format - a standard in 2009 but now outdated. No optical or digital stabilization is available during recording, and no external mic input limits audio quality capture.

The Sony WX150 advances with Full HD 1080p video at 60 fps in AVCHD and MPEG-4 formats, providing smoother, high-resolution footage. Optical image stabilization works during video, reducing handheld shake. The presence of HDMI output facilitates easy external monitoring or playback. Unfortunately, neither camera has microphone or headphone ports.

For casual, everyday video recording, the WX150 dramatically surpasses the SL30.

Travel Companion: Versatility, Battery Life, and Size-Weight Balance

As a seasoned traveler, I highly value a camera’s ability to balance performance with compactness and battery endurance.

Physically, both cameras are compact and lightweight, excellent for stuffing into pockets or purses.

The Samsung SL30’s omission of image stabilization and slower autofocus limits its ability to handle a wide variety of lighting and subjects. Additionally, its unspecified battery life is a black box, but I found it tended to demand frequent recharging after a few hundred shots.

The Sony WX150 benefits from optical image stabilization, faster operation, and a rated battery life of approximately 240 shots per charge - a respectable figure. Its wider zoom range means fewer lens changes, and support for multiple storage formats adds flexibility.

Overall, the WX150 is the superior travel camera, offering a more rounded set of features without compromising pocketability.

Professional Use: Reliability, File Formats, and Workflow Integration

Neither the Samsung SL30 nor Sony WX150 is aimed primarily at professional photographers, but understanding their limitations here is still important.

The absence of RAW support in both cameras eliminates the ability for advanced file editing and highest quality output preferred by professionals.

Sturdy environmental sealing is missing in both, ruling out serious outdoor professional use under challenging conditions.

From a workflow standpoint, connectivity is minimal - USB 2.0 only, with no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth except the WX150’s compatibility with Eye-Fi cards. HDMI support on the WX150 aids video workflow somewhat.

If you require professional-level flexibility, neither camera fits the bill, but the WX150 provides more creative control and better image quality for semi-professional applications.

Seeing Them in Action: Sample Image Gallery

Having discussed specs and features, let’s turn to real-world examples. I shot side-by-side samples in daylight landscapes, portraits, low light, and telephoto scenes.

Samsung SL30 front Samsung SL30 screen back Sony WX150 front Sony WX150 screen back

• In portrait shots, the WX150 captured richer tones and finer details around eyes and hair.
• Landscape images from the WX150 exhibit greater dynamic range with less washed-out highlights.
• Wildlife shots at telephoto reach were more focused and steadier with WX150’s stabilization.
• Low-light night scenes from the SL30 look significantly noisier and blurrier.

Summary of Performance Scores

Here’s a distilled assessment of how these cameras stack up across core performance, based on test results and field experience.

The Sony WX150 leads across most categories: sensor performance, autofocus functions, video, and versatility. The Samsung SL30, while competent for casual snapshots in good light, lags notably behind.

Strengths by Photography Genre

Breaking down camera suitability by use case:

• Portraits: WX150 wins for color accuracy and AF technology.
• Landscape: WX150 favored for higher resolution and dynamic range.
• Wildlife: WX150’s zoom and tracking AF beneficial.
• Sports: WX150 supports burst shooting and continuous AF.
• Street: Both fairly portable, WX150 edges out with better low light and stabilization.
• Macro: WX150 better for detail retention.
• Night/Astro: WX150’s longer exposure & ISO range useful.
• Video: WX150 records Full HD; SL30 limited to VGA.
• Travel: WX150, thanks to versatility, stability, and battery life.
• Professional: Neither truly professional; WX150 offers marginally more control.

Final Thoughts and Recommendations

From my hands-on time and technical analysis, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150 stands clearly ahead in performance, versatility, and modern features. The improvements in sensor technology, autofocus speed, image stabilization, and video recording translate into a more enjoyable and capable experience for most photography areas.

The Samsung SL30 can still be a viable choice for those on a tight budget seeking a compact, pocketable camera primarily for casual daylight snapshots. Its simplicity appeals to users who want an uncomplicated, point-and-shoot camera without fuss, but its technical limitations and outdated features restrict its flexibility.

Who Should Consider the Samsung SL30?

• Absolute beginners on a very constrained budget
• Users seeking a lightweight camera purely for occasional daylight stills
• Collectors or enthusiasts interested in older compact cameras for casual use

Who Should Invest in the Sony WX150?

• Enthusiasts desiring higher megapixels and better image quality in a pocketable form
• Travellers needing a versatile zoom range and reliable autofocus/stabilization
• Casual videographers wanting Full HD footage from a compact camera
• Those wanting a more responsive camera capable of handling varied lighting and subjects

A Photographer’s Take

Despite being released three years apart and differing in price by over $200, these two cameras highlight how rapidly compact camera technology evolved during the early 2010s. The WX150 reflects that leap forward in sensor and processing technology, which profoundly improves image quality and shooting experience.

If you’re investing in a compact for versatile use today - even if budget-conscious - I am strongly inclined to recommend the Sony WX150 over the Samsung SL30. It better aligns with contemporary expectations for image sharpness, autofocus reliability, and video capability.

That said, if you cherish simplicity, minimalism, or a purely point-and-shoot routine with no interest in manual control or video, the SL30 remains a valid (and highly affordable) option.

I hope this hands-on comparison has illuminated the key differences and practical realities of these two compacts. Feel free to reach out with your photography goals or questions - I’m always excited to offer tailored advice based on years behind the camera and in the editing suite.

Happy shooting!