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Jonathan Takiff: Season's gadgets

BABE MAGNET: We're hearing buzz about digital cameras going "bye-bye" (the newly discontinued Flip camcorder line being a sore case in point) because people are content taking digital stills and video with . Yet a dedicated digi-camera with the right features set still deserves attention.

Take, please, the Samsung DualView ultracompact series, boasting a second LCD screen on the front that displays whatever is being captured by the lens. In effect, that second screen serves as a mirror for the subject - great for attracting a baby's attention. A front screen's also good for getting a glum teen or grown-up to perk up, after noting, "Eew, I look awful!" Or to help the shooter get properly framed in an arms-length self-portrait.

The latest Samsung ST700 Dual View ($199 after savings at Best Buy) also boasts a super-high-resolution 16 megapixel image-capturing chip, five-power optical zoom (far better than the digital zooms in phones), image stabilization, special effects and intuitive touch-screen control.

THE "NO-BRAINER" BACKUP: For all those who do use an iPhone (3G, 3Gs, 4) or current (fifth) generation iPod touch as their preferred digital shooter, there's a handy-dandy item to back up your images and contact list. It's the Iomega SuperHero Backup & Charger ($69.99 at Target and www.iomega.com). Download the free Iomega SuperHero app to the Apple. Whenever you dock the product in the spiffy Iomega base, your contacts and still photos (not videos) are automatically saved to a 4GB SD card while the device recharges.

Of course, these same (and more) backup burdens can be achieved by connecting to a computer. But Iomega's solution requires zero thought or effort.

KINDLE WITH BENEFITS: What's the difference between a conventional Kindle eReader tablet with Wi-Fi and the new Kindle with Special Offers? The latter costs $25 less (a mere $114) but is "ad-supported." Instead of delivering an opening screen image of a famous author, you might see a monochrome advertisement for a new car, bank card or skin cream.

Samsung NX11 review

Compact system camera is a minor refinement, but handles well

The 14.6 effective megapixel Samsung NX11 upgrades the original NX10 (read our review here), with some refining design tweaks and additional lens compatibility, a 20mm ‘pancake’ plus 20-50mm zoom,launched alongside it. But although it is a compact system camera (or CSC) like its predecessor it still takes its style cues from a conventional bridge camera or digital SLR, rather than a pocket compact.

The camera comes in two parts, the body and the lens. An image stabilised 18-55mm zoom came with our test kit, providing a 35mm equivalent focal length of 27.7 to 84.7mm. Since like all CSC’s the NX11’s body is mirrorless, it occupies about half the physical depth of even an entry level DSLR, such as the Canon EOS 600D.

Samsung NX11: Build

Even with lens removed the NX11 body would struggle to fit into a jacket pocket however, as could be achieved with a rival CSC without optic, such as an Olympus E-PL2 or Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2. The larger size is partly because, unlike them, the Samsung offers the advantage of a built-in viewfinder plus AMOLED (not LCD) screen directly beneath for framing up shots as well as reviewing them. Neither viewfinder nor monitor is angle adjustable however.

Read more : http://www.t3.com/reviews/cameras/digital-cameras/samsung-nx11-review?ns_campaign=reviews&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=t3&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

Scintillating shooting experience with the Samsung NX-11

The UrbanWire spoke to Mr. William Aung, lecturer at the School of Film and Media Studies in Ngee Ann Polytechnic and professional photographer, and he gave his input on Samsung’s NX-11 camera.
“The NX11 is a great alternative for people who wants to enjoy great image quality of DSLRs, but does not appreciate the weight and the size of the modern DSLRs. A lot of people mistake NX11 for a micro-four-third. In fact, the camera is a mirror-less body featuring an APS-C sensor, which in a way, is the same size and quality of most DSLR cameras in the market.

Read more: http://theurbanwire.com/2011/05/05/scintillating-shooting-experience-with-the-samsung-nx-11/

Review: Samsung SMX-F50 Standard Definition SD Camcorder

Camera Has an Eye for Photos, Brain for Wi-Fi

The pocket-size, point-and-shoot digital camera was once a standard part of many consumers' electronic tool kit. But it has been challenged by smartphones with better and better built-in cameras and photo apps. While they lack some photographic capabilities, like physical zoom lenses, phones are carried everywhere all the time. Plus, they are wirelessly connected to email and the Web, where digital pictures often wind up.

Walt Mossberg tries out a new pocket-size digital camera from Samsung with some of the wireless convenience of a smartphone. The Samsung SH100 has built-in Wi-Fi, which allows it to rapidly upload or email pictures and beam photos wirelessly to a PC.

Now, Samsung has introduced a pocket camera that aims to erode the advantages of smartphones—even though the company also produces phones. This new camera, the SH100, has Wi-Fi built in. This isn't the first camera with built-in Wi-Fi, but Samsung hopes to better capitalize on it. It also competes with the add-on memory card called Eye-Fi, that brings Wi-Fi abilities to almost any camera. It has easy, preconfigured uploading to Facebook, YouTube, Picasa, email and other online destinations, plus a bunch of added wireless features, including cordless transfer of photos to a PC.

Read more : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576317161124849834.html

Samsung EX1 review

Another of those fashionable SLD (single lens, direct view) cameras? Not quite. The EX1 still qualifies as a compact camera, lacking interchangeable lenses and sporting a small 1/1.7in CCD image sensor. Nonetheless its design and features borrow heavily from the new genre.

It's quite the thing these days to bring out a fixed-focal-length, wide-angle and highly compact "pancake" lens for your SLD. Samsung is following stylistic suit by kitting out the EX1 with a very compact lens giving a 24mm equivalent wide-angle setting. It's not interchangeable like an SLD's, but what it does offer is a very fast f/1.8 - f/2.4 maximum aperture to go with a 3x zoom range.

The rest of the body is relatively chunky though, in particular its 114mm width. And there's a big disadvantage compared to true SLD cameras such as the Olympus PEN range and Panasonic Lumix G2. You don't get the advantage of a big Four Thirds sensor here, with the standard compact camera size offering a total area almost six times smaller than a Micro Four Thirds sensor.

Samsung WB600 review

Samsung WB600

The battleground for the point and click shooter is getting hotter, especially where big zoom compacts are concerned. Now Samsung is jostling for position with Panasonic with its 15x optical zoom WB600 being offered with a host of added features and a robust but solid build at a bargain basement price.