Link: http://crave.cnet.co.uk/digitalcameras/0,39029429,49305100,00.htm
Samsung EX1: High-spec compact camerastocrat
By Rich Trenholm
Samsung is looking to join the camera aristocracy -- the camerastocracy, if you will --
with the new EX1. The EX1, announced at photography show PMA under its US name,
the TL500, is a 10-megapixel compact that packs in a wealth of upper-class features.
On the front, like the tell-tale flared nostrils of an epically inbred minor royal, is an f1.8
lens with 24mm-equivalent wide angle and 3x optical zoom. Delve into its genes and
you'll find a large 1/1.7-inch 10-megapixel CCD sensor. It offers manual, shutter and
aperture priority modes, and raw shooting.
Perched on top of the camera like a coronet on thinning hair is an accessory hotshoe for
adding a flash, or a viewfinder. At the back there's a 76mm (3-inch) flip-out AMOLED
screen. AMOLED screens give richer, brighter colour and don't burn through your battery
like the black sheep of the family tearing through the inheritance.
The aristocracy isn't perfect, of course. Instead of hereditary porphyria, the EX1 suffers
from video that's only VGA. Even the commonest of compact cameras boasts high-
definition video these days; that's egalitarianism for you. Video is, however, unlikely to be
a dealbreaker for the prosumer target audience.