We got to feel up Samsung’s new digicams today. The flaks even let us take some sample shots—despite the cameras being very pre-production. Photos taken with the 10-megapixel S1050 didn’t show any big problems at least. 10 megapixels is likely overkill, so you could pay $100 less ($250) and get almost all the same features in the 8-megapixel S850 – but you would have to settle for a 3.5-inch LCD instead of the giant 3-incher in the S1050.
One feature common to both cameras (and the new L73) is WiseShot – which takes two versions of a photo—one with the flash and one with natural lighting and a high ISO to reduce blur from camera shake. The interface is slick. It show the two photos side by side, with a paning zoomed window to show how details came out.
More news and pics after the jump.
One model we didn’t know about before is the the 7-megapixel L700. It provides the industry-standard 3X optical zoom; and it supports high-capacity SDHC memory cards. The basic silver block, with rounded sides, has a nice, minimalist look. But its onscreen menus are of the horrendous, old-school Samsung type. Lots of options, but hard to navigate them. Turns out Samsung has a different interface for each camera line: the L, S, and NV (which is probably the best).
All the cameras will have some handy features. For example, the scene modes will include on-screen descriptions of what they do. And one or more of the models wil probably feature Intelligent LCD—which dims or brightens the screen based on ambient lighting. At least a few models will also have face recognistion—which optimizes focus and exposure to make people look good.
