Can anybody tell me why camera manufacturers store up all their cameras and then unleash them on the market in a huge batch? Actually there are good reasons for doing this but it doesn't help when cameras get reissued with different finishes and bundles.
Behold then, the Sprint 07 lineup from Samsung. Some of these are new announcements, some are updates to older cameras and some we just didn't mention the first time. There are rather a lot of them…
i7
Aparently this is a must have for any “cool hunter”. Whatever that is. Stop thinking “camera” and start thinking “multi function convergence device that plays videos and music and tells you about where you are - oh and it takes pictures too”.
This is by far the coolest compact so far. There's a 3 inch LCD screen which is getting pretty standard on high end compacts now. What isn't standard on most other cameras is that it's touch sensitive and rotates through 180 degrees. Turn it one way and it's a video player, another and it's an MP3 player. Turn it a third way and finally it morphs into a camera. As you could probably guess, you get 7 million pixels and practically any of this season's must haves that Samsung can stuff into it. ISO 1600, anti shake, face recognition and in camera editing. Thre's also a travel guide which can tell you all about the city you're visiting complete with graphics and text on its 450MB internal memory. You can even download updates from the internet.
[Note to Samsung - this is pretty cool but whack in GPS and it would be awesome]
Oh and you can watch 24 on it too. But probably not legally.
£250 gets you a pocket full of loveliness from mid March.
L74 Wide
Imagine an i7 that was slightly less cool, didn't have the cunning swivel rotating thing and sold for 20 quid less. As the name implies you also get a 28mm wide angle lens built in. Combined with the same travel guide as the i7 you have a perfect holiday camera. 7 million pixels, 3.6X zoom face recognition anti shake and all the good stuff you'd expect.
£230 from mid March
NV3
OK this is where it gets a little strange. Everyone knows the NV3. Well, there's a new shiny version called the NV3 silver. Nothing new in that - firms have started to realise that people buying lifestyle cameras will pay for style and style means different colours. The odd bit is the NV3 OPL. This is finished in a stunning oriental paint lacquer. Really you have to see this camera to appreciate just how striking it is. I've handled a couple of them and I just can't decide whether I absolutely love them or find them slightly tacky. I'm guessing the buying public will be pretty much divided on this one.
If you fall into the “love it” camp then expect to pay an extra 30 quid for the privilege. NV3 Silver is out in February (OK, it's already available) for £200.
OPL comes out in March for £230.
That's quite a lot per square inch.
S630, S730, S830, S850, S1030 & S1050
I'll let you into a secret about the S series and we can save a lot of time here. Let's break down the model codes because believe it or not they actually mean something.
“S” is Samsung speak for “a boxy camera that runs on AAs” - you can either pick up a pack of Duracells wherever you are or (much better for your wallet and the planet) run them on rechargeable NiMH batteries.
The first digit (or 2 digits for the 4 digit cameras) tells you how many pixels you can expect.
S630 has 6 million pixels, S850 has 8 and S1030 has 10. You get the picture.
The next digit tells you the zoom range. Spend your cash on an S1030 and you'll get a 3X optical zoom, plump for an S850 and you'll get a 5 times.
The last digit is 0. Maybe this means something - I have no idea.
Since an S1050 has 10MP and a 5X zoom and the S630 has 6MP and a 3 times zoom you can also see that the higher the number the more money you are going to pay. Also in the higher end bodies you will get more for your money such as proper image stabilisation, higher ISO range and face detection. For the exact feature set you should probably check with Samsung. Sitting in the press launch I played “guess the price” as each camera was announced. Usually I was £20 - £30 out. In every case the RRP was less than I expected. If you're looking for a good cheap compact then I'd check out the bottom of the range S630. For an amazing feature set for the price check the S1050. Most people will probably find themselves deciding between the S830 and S850.
All of these will be available “sometime in Spring” if they aren't already in the shops.
Prices are all TBC.
NV11
Remember the NV10? Forget about it. Step forward the NV11. Schneider lens, gorgeous touch sensitive interface (copied straight from the NV7 and NV10), 10 MP, 5X zoom and 1600 ISO. You also get face recognition.
In addition you get media playback just like on the NV10 and you'll be able to buy one from mid March for £300.
i70
The i70 is an odd one. Not quite as cool as the i7 it still manages to do pretty much everything its sibling can. There's a very cool sliding body so all the buttons appear when you open it. This makes the camera very nice to look at and gives it a h-u-g-e LCD on the back - a 3 inch screen on a camera not much bigger.
Whether you choose this or the i7 depends on which you prefer the look of, whether you trust the swivel mechanism and budget. Price is TBC but I'd expect it to be a little cheaper than the i7.
L700
The L700 should really be called the L73. “L” means stylish and small and the numbers work pretty well like the S range. L series cameras have Li-Ion batteries which means they can be thinner and lighter than their S series cousins. Brushed metal finish is de rigeur in the L series. The L700 has 7 million pixels and a 3X optical zoom but is the entry level to the L series.
L73
The L73 adds on the smart touch interface from the NV series and has face detection technology as well as all the toys you'd expect in a lifestyle ultra compact camera.
L77
And finally the L77. To remind you of how this works:
L = small and light with a Li-Ion battery
7 = 7 million pixels
7 = 7 times optical zoom. Yep, 7. In a small thin body. Apparently it's the thinnest 7 mp 7X zoom camera ever. I certainly can't think of a thinner one.
As one of the flagship cameras you can expect every gizmo that can be stuffed into its wafer thin 21mm body.
