Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

A large number of compacts have been announced over the past few days, so here is a brief round up of the various cameras announced:Panasonic - (News Article One, News Article Two, News Article Three)Pansonic, as usual, have announced their cameras, but with no pricing and availability. In an increasing commoditised market, I am not sure if it is a good idea. In any case, Panasonic has five cameras, with two belonging to a new line, the SZ superzoom compact. It does leave me a little confused: So it is smaller than a travel zoom, which in turn is smaller than a superzoom bridge camera, but still bigger than a not-so-super-but-still-generous-zoom compact (you know it is trouble when companies start finely dividing markets in this manner). The DMC-SZ1 and DMC-SZ7 both come with 10x 27-270mm equivalent f/3.1-5.9 stabilised lenses, with the former packing a 16 megapixel sensor, a 3" QVGA LCD, and 720p videos at 30FPS. The latter has a 14 megapixel sensor (strange considering consumer cameras tend to have more pixels further up the range), but boasts a 3" HVGA LCD, and 1080p video at 30FPS in AVCHD.Next up are a couple of budget compacts in the FH line, the DMC-FH6 and DMC-FH8. Both possess a 5x optically stabilised 24-120mm equivalent f/2.5-6.4 zoom lens and 720p video mode. The former has a 14 megapixel sensor with a 2.7" QVGA LCD, and the latter has 16 megapixel sensor with 3" QVGA LCD. With differences so minor, I wonder why they bother.Last for Panasonic, is the DMC-S2, which is an update of the S1 budget camera. The specs are now almost that of the S3, so I suppose given the right pricing, the S2 is the one to go for if you are truly looking at the cheapest of the cheap. The camera has a 14 megapixel sensor, a 4x optically stabilised 28-112mm equivalent f/3.1-6.5 zoom lens, a 2.7" QVGA screen, 720p video mode, and a curvy plastic body instead of the metal ones in the FH line.More cameras after the break! Read more...

The first camera announcement of 2012 comes from Samsung, which is an addition to their unique DualView line. I'm not sure how popular the dual LCDs are, but Samsung think its a recipe for consumer success. The DV300F comes with a 16 megapixel CCD (yay, "only" 16), with a 25-125mm equivalent f/2.5-6.3 lens, and a 3" HVGA LCD at the rear, and a 1.5" low-resolution LCD with 61k dots in the front. There is also 720p video taking capability. The big addition is that of WiFi; in addition to sharing photos on common social networks, with the right app the camera can be controlled by a smartphone. In fact, the camera pretty much reads like a DualView update of the SH100, which we reviewed several months back. Like the SH100, it'll cost US$200, and the camera will ship in March.

"The Samsung NX200 is the company's fifth NX camera but only the third body design, and represents a significant step up for the series. It's built around a completely new 20.3MP APS-C CMOS sensor and wrapped in the series' first all-metal body. The result is a handsome camera of similar size to Sony's NEX models but one that takes a rather different approach."

Samsung has launched its 5th NX camera, the NX200, which is the successor to the NX100. The improvements are in a new 20 megapixel sensor of the APS-C size, a beefier magnesium alloy body, and an upped ISO range to ISO 12,800. Other niceties include 1080p video at 30FPS, and the ability to have full manual control while taking videos, and recording at a variety of speeds, from 0.25x to 20x. The camera is a bit smaller than the NX100 as well. The LCD is still a nice 3" AMOLED screen, though of the PenTile variety. I wonder though, if Samsung is going to have any success; its past few NX cameras have been a little underwhelming in terms of image quality, and there has not been any other unique hook to it. Upping the pixel count and making the body smaller isn't going to be enough Samsung; your old enemy Sony has done that already. Hit the link for the preview.

"The Samsung NX200 is the company's fifth NX camera but only the third body design, and represents a significant step up for the series. It's built around a completely new 20.3MP APS-C CMOS sensor and wrapped in the series' first all-metal body. The result is a handsome camera of similar size to Sony's NEX models but one that takes a rather different approach."

Samsung has launched its 5th NX camera, the NX200, which is the successor to the NX100. The improvements are in a new 20 megapixel sensor of the APS-C size, a beefier magnesium alloy body, and an upped ISO range to ISO 12,800. Other niceties include 1080p video at 30FPS, and the ability to have full manual control while taking videos, and recording at a variety of speeds, from 0.25x to 20x. The camera is a bit smaller than the NX100 as well. The LCD is still a nice 3" AMOLED screen, though of the PenTile variety. I wonder though, if Samsung is going to have any success; its past few NX cameras have been a little underwhelming in terms of image quality, and there has not been any other unique hook to it. Upping the pixel count and making the body smaller isn't going to be enough Samsung; your old enemy Sony has done that already. Hit the link for the preview.

"Now this week at IFA, the company just introduced yet another completely original (and practical) camera design with its MV800. The camera's image quality isn't much to speak of (though we've only had a chance to use a pre-production model), but its MultiView flip-up LCD is pretty darn fantastic -- in concept, at least."

Samsung has launched a couple of compacts, the first is the MV800, seen above. The 16 megapixel shooter packs a 5x 26-130mm equivalent zoom lens with optical image stabilisation, and comes with a 3" WQVGA (that's 432x240 pixels) capacitive touchscreen LCD that flips 180 degrees up. As gimmicks go, I'd rate either an articulated arm or a tilt LCD higher, because this only goes one way (up), and I'm mildly curious on how is the shutter release button meant to be pressed with the screen as above? The camera also does 720p videos, but does not seem to have much going for it. It is a bad day when a consumer site like Engadget says the image quality is not good...

Next up is the WB750, a 12.5 megapixel camera with a CMOS sensor and an 18x 24-432mm equivalent f/3.2-5.8 zoom lens in a compact body. The lens is optically stabilised, and the LCD is a 3" HVGA screen. 1080p videos at 30FPS is possible, and the camera can snap 10 megapixel stills while capturing a video. Interestingly the camera also comes with full manual controls. No word on pricing or availability. See a photo of the WB750 after the break.

Samsung MV800 hands-on at Engadget

Samsung WB750 at Engadget

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"The so-called 'Travel Zoom' category was effectively invented by Panasonic, with the Lumix DMC-TZ1. Released in 2006, the TZ1 was the first camera with a 10x optical zoom lens that could truly be called 'compact', and although Panasonic had the field to itself for a while, it wasn't long before other manufacturers started to move into the same space. Fast forward to 2011, and almost all of the major camera manufacturers offer compact cameras with at least 10x optical zooms, up to almost 20x in some cases."

The travel zoom area is probably the last major growth area for compacts in light of compacts getting squeezed from smartphones at the low end and cheap DSLRs and cute mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras on the high end, so it would be nice to see some more innovation in this area, instead of so-so image quality tacked to a design that has not changed much from the TZ1's launch in 2006. Still, they are still popular enough, and DPReview takes a look at some of the latest round of travel zooms, and there's a surprise winner in the round-up. Hint: The brand starts with an "N". I always thought their compacts were on the lacklustre side, and in fact, the sample images are not very inspiring in some cases; the camera gets a win mostly in the way it handles and operates. Hit the link for the roundup!

"The so-called 'Travel Zoom' category was effectively invented by Panasonic, with the Lumix DMC-TZ1. Released in 2006, the TZ1 was the first camera with a 10x optical zoom lens that could truly be called 'compact', and although Panasonic had the field to itself for a while, it wasn't long before other manufacturers started to move into the same space. Fast forward to 2011, and almost all of the major camera manufacturers offer compact cameras with at least 10x optical zooms, up to almost 20x in some cases."

The travel zoom area is probably the last major growth area for compacts in light of compacts getting squeezed from smartphones at the low end and cheap DSLRs and cute mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras on the high end, so it would be nice to see some more innovation in this area, instead of so-so image quality tacked to a design that has not changed much from the TZ1's launch in 2006. Still, they are still popular enough, and DPReview takes a look at some of the latest round of travel zooms, and there's a surprise winner in the round-up. Hint: The brand starts with an "N". I always thought their compacts were on the lacklustre side, and in fact, the sample images are not very inspiring in some cases; the camera gets a win mostly in the way it handles and operates. Hit the link for the roundup!

"The so-called 'Travel Zoom' category was effectively invented by Panasonic, with the Lumix DMC-TZ1. Released in 2006, the TZ1 was the first camera with a 10x optical zoom lens that could truly be called 'compact', and although Panasonic had the field to itself for a while, it wasn't long before other manufacturers started to move into the same space. Fast forward to 2011, and almost all of the major camera manufacturers offer compact cameras with at least 10x optical zooms, up to almost 20x in some cases."

The travel zoom area is probably the last major growth area for compacts in light of compacts getting squeezed from smartphones at the low end and cheap DSLRs and cute mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras on the high end, so it would be nice to see some more innovation in this area, instead of so-so image quality tacked to a design that has not changed much from the TZ1's launch in 2006. Still, they are still popular enough, and DPReview takes a look at some of the latest round of travel zooms, and there's a surprise winner in the round-up. Hint: The brand starts with an "N". I always thought their compacts were on the lacklustre side, and in fact, the sample images are not very inspiring in some cases; the camera gets a win mostly in the way it handles and operates. Hit the link for the roundup!

Samsung's not done with cameras yet; this round is rather uninspiring though.

The first bath of cameras are Samsung's "DualView" cameras, essentially cameras with two LCD screens, one at the back and one on the front. Personally, I wonder how prevalent is the self-portrait culture is outside of East Asia? It is something I see a lot of young females do, so it makes sense for Samsung's home ground, but outside of it?

Anyway, the three cameras are the DualView PL120, PL170, and ST700. All are very similar, with the main differences coming in the sensor, lens and LCDs. The ST700 features a 16 megapixel LCD with an optically stabilised 5x 26-130mm equivalent f/3.3-5.9 lens and 3" and 1.8" LCDs (back and front respectively), with the 3" LCD being a touchscreen featuring Samsung's latest touch interface that reminds me of TouchWiz. The PL170 drops the front LCD down to 1.5" and loses the touchscreen feature, while the PL120 loses the optical stabilisation, and has a 14 megapixel sensor and 2.8" LCD instead. All three cameras record video in 720p, and will ship in March for about US$150, US$200 and US$280 respectively.

Samsung DualView PL120/PL170/ST700

Next up is the pair of superzooms; the WB210 and PL210. (By now Samsung numbering system has totally confused me). Both are 14 megapixel shooters with optical image stabilisation, with the former offering a 12x 24-288mm equivalent zoom lens and an optional 21mm equivalent converter, as well as a 3.5" touchscreen LCD with aforementioned TouchWiz UI); the latter comes with a 10x 27-270mm equivalent zom lens and a more standard 3" LCD screen. The pair will ship in February at about US$280 and US200 respectively.

Samsung PL210/WB210

Samsung has announced an interesting WiFi camera. In addition to the usual abilities of uploading images via WiFi, it allows the Samsung Galaxy S to act as a viwefinder for the camera. I am going to guess that other Android phones will work as well, with the aid of an app. US$200 also gets you a 14 megapixel sensor with a 5x zoom lens going from 26mm to 130mm equivalent, 720p movie mode, DLNA and wireless PC sync. Coming to your favourite camera store in March.

With CES 2011 coming, expect to see a deluge of new consumer cameras, and Samsung is the first with their announcements. The NX11 is an update of the NX10, and most notably adds the i-Function feature introduced in the NX100, which essentially is a customisable function button built into the lens. The other change is in the grip design, which looks to be slightly better than the older one. It retains all of the features of the NX10, including the 3.0" AMOLED screen and 720p video recording. Available in February with the 18-55/3.5-5.6 kit lens for US$649.

The second camera is the WB700, which is a compact superzoom with an optically stabilised 18x 24-432mm equivalent f/3.2-5.8 zoom lens. What is interesting about the WB700 is that it comes with a 16 megapixel sensor; a sign of things to come in 2011? More pixels is the last thing the small sensor compacts need; I thought we stopped the insanity already, but I guess not. Features 1080p video recording, and interestingly enough, RAW format for stills. Ships in April for US$299. Photo of the WB700 after the break.

Samsung introduces NX11 interchangeable lens camera

Samsung WB700 super zoom camera

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"New research from Samsung reveals over a third of Brits are under-using their cameras, more so than other technologies such as mobiles or laptops. A quarter admit to feeling worried when they press a button which produces a display they don’t recognise and just over one in ten say they are so confused by their cameras that they hand it to someone else to take the shots."

Idiot mode: Use it! (Image from Panasonic)

While this is a report commissioned by Samsung for the launch of its latest camera, the NX100, and the new lenses with the iFunction system (essentially a custom button on the lens), I would like to point out that if you can use the camera that comes with a phone, you can use any point-and-shoot, just that now you have optical zoom as well. The other functions? Well, I'd like to say that nowadays, they're fairly optional for casual users. Most cameras have an "Idiot Mode", so just set to it and go. I suspect Samsung purposely asked questions in the vein of "Do you know how to change the ISO with one button?" in an attempt to make their product look superior. What do you guys think?

"In this review, I'm going to stick to one camera from each maker. I'm ignoring the more DSLR-like cameras with optical (EVF) viewfinders, such as the G and GH series from Panasonic and the NX5 and NX10 from Samsung. What I'm looking to cover here is the cameras most likely to act as a competent compact replacement for a typical DSLR user. To that end I've narrowed things down to these four:"

Continuing from his earlier compact camera review, Thom Hogan looks at four mirrorless cameras (I can't quite call them EVIL, can I?) and not surprisingly finds them all capable of producing good photos; just a matter of what one's preferences are. Personally, I can't give up a viewfinder, so all of them are out for me. If you're looking for such a camera though, check out the article for a experienced photographer's viewpoint.

"The Tab certainly packed the specs -- a 1GHz processor, full Flash support thanks to Android 2.2, dual cameras, support for up to 32GB of storage and WiFi / 3G connectivity -- to put other Android tablets to shame, and our initial hands-on with it only had us yearning for more."

Sell! Sell! Sell! Slate tablets are the hottest thing right now and everyone wants a piece of the potentially lucrative pie. Samsung's entry is the Galaxy Tab, a 7 inch Android wonder. Along with the usual Android goodness there are some custom Samsung apps to help the lightweight tablet along and make better use the screen. It is nice to see that there is going to be some competition against the iPad as it will help drive innovation and make sure that no one stagnates in this revived market. The big decision looks like it will be either you go with a 7 inch or 10 inch model. Both have their advantages and there could be room for both. I am just waiting for the standardized keyboard to use with all these tablets so I can type faster. Oh, wait...

"Samsung is ready to duke it out with Apple. Meet the Galaxy Player, an Android 2.1 multimedia device with a 3.2-inch display, 2MP camera, wifi, 8 or 16GB storage, a micro SD slot, FM radio, GPS and built-in DiVx support."

After watching the promotional video for the Samsung Galaxy Player, I am not sure whether I should be impressed or disappointed. The Galaxy Player looks and feels a lot like an Android phone, which makes sense, since it is Android, but without the phone bit. Just like how the iPod Touch is the iPhone, without the phone bit. Will it succeed against the iPod empire? Android seems to be doing okay in the phone industry, however, I think that in order to properly compete media players based on Android would need a central hub for music, just like how Android Market is for apps. The platform and interface are good enough to compete, but the services bundled with it remain a big mystery. And of course, there is the price point. Here is to hoping that it will not cost more than what you would get for your phone!

"Samsung has announced the addition of the NX100 to its NX series of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. It features the same 14.6Mp sensor and 3.0" OLED screen as the NX10, which are built into a flat, 'compact camera style' body. It also offers the i-Function feature that allows the use of the focus ring to control various camera functions when using compatible lenses. To complement this feature the company has launched two lenses with i-Fn buttons - the 20-50mm F3.5-5.6 ED kit zoom and 20mm F2.8 pancake lens."

Today's a big day, as three manufacturers decided that somehow Tuesday is a good day for announcements. The most interesting of the lot is Samsung's GF1/Pen competitor, the NX100. Thanks to Samsung's useless Press Release site, I have no images for you dear readers, save for a nicely watermarked image from DPReview (honestly, why they watermark PRESS IMAGES is beyond me).

The NX100 is an interchangeable lens compact using Samsung's own NX mount with APS-C sized sensors, in this case, a 14 megapixel Samsung development. Highlights include a 3" AMOLED display, 720p video, two command dials, and the ability to use i_Function lense. These lenses have an extra button on them, which when pressed, will allow the focus ring to perform other functions; kind of like the Canon S90/S95's customisable front command ring. The lenses have icons on them to show what kind of lenses they are; portrait icon for portrait lenses, and so on. The lenses communicate with the camera depending on the focal length, and will set the appropriate scene mode. Looks like Minolta's card system from the early 1990s revived, but placed in lenses instead of cards.

The two new lenses that debut are the 20-50/3.5-5.6 compact zoom, which collapses like many of the Olympus Pen lenses, and the 20/2.8 pancake lens. This gives Samsung about three kit zooms; two versions of the 18-55 (with and without stabilisation), and this 20-50. Samsung's lens lineup is rather pedestrian at this point, which is not good for a new system looking to attract users in a crowded market with many entrenched players.

"Last week alone saw ViewSonic, Toshiba and Samsung all officially unveil new models of keyboard-less computer, with a mish-mash of operating systems and screen sizes hoping to somehow build themselves a market in the wake of Apple's market-leading device. So here's a summary of five of the best tablets out there and on the way this year. Or, to put it another way, the iPad +4."

Is the slate tablet market really that hot, or is this simply a whole bunch of hype intended to get everyone to open their wallets? Tablets might be the next step in casual computing and thankfully, it seems like it draws a large part of its inspiration from smartphones. The only one that stands out for me, and not in a good way, is the ViewPad 100. Dual-booting just seems like such a hassle and it is not like dual-booting slate tablets have not been tried before. Just ask HTC. Most likely, the iPad will continue to dominate the space though there will be a large amount of Android devices to pick from.

"Looks like we can take the guesswork out of today's leaked render, after all. A generous (and, as usual, anonymous) reader just sent us a handful of pictures of what appears to be -- quite convincingly, we might add -- the Samsung NX100 we've been eying since a low-res snapshot came to light last month."

Engadget's got two photos of the Samsung NX100, and it looks pretty much a reality. Pity there are only photos of the front; usually it is the back of the camera that will give more details on the UI of the camera. There's a little dial behind the shutter release, but I'm not sure if it is a full command dial or something else; it does look a bit awkward. Hit up Engadget for the rest!

"Having compared the size of several different mirrorless interchangeable lens systems, we'll now take a look at how much detail relative to noise is captured at any given ISO by each of these systems. "

Serious Compacts has done a really nice comparison of the various mirrorless cameras on the market, comparing them based on their size, as well as doing an ISO test. The comparison is split into two parts, so be sure to check them out.

Part 1: Mirrorless Camera Size Comparison: NEX5, NX10, E-P2, E-PL1, GF1, G2

Part 2: Mirrorless Camera ISO Signal/Noise Shootout: NEX5, NX10, E-P2, E-PL1, GF1, G2, GH1

Well, PhotoRumors.com has posted a photo of the alleged NX100, which is rumoured to be a higher specified version of the NX10. I'm left wondering if Samsung is throwing good money after bad; a new lens mount needs to have a lot going for it, and just the Samsung name is not going to be good enough. In fact, after the lukewarm reviews of the NX10 (and all the cameras before it) maybe the Samsung name is more a liability than an asset.