Digital Camera News

January 07, 2006

Samsung Announces New Flagship of the S-series

January 7, 2007 – Debuting at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, are the Samsung S1050 and S850 digital cameras. Samsung announced today that the 10.1-megapixel S1050 will be taking the helm as the flagship model of the series. The S850 comes with 8 megapixels and retails for $249. The S1050 will sell for $349 when both cameras grace store shelves this spring.

The Samsung S1050 and S850 have many similarities. The point-and-shoot models both have 5x optical zoom lenses with Samsung’s ASR (Advanced Shake Reduction) optical image stabilization. The cameras have manual functionality as well as aperture and shutter speed priority modes. Like other Samsung digital cameras announced today, the S1050 and S 850 both come with manual ISO settings up to 1600.

Samsung combined the ASR and high ISO sensitivity in the cameras’ Wise Shot mode, which snaps two pictures in a burst – one with the image stabilization and more natural lighting while the second picture uses the built-in flash. Users can then view both images.

Both the Samsung S1050 and S850 have face recognition technology that detects up to 9 faces automatically focuses on them and finds the proper exposure settings. Both models have a movie mode with four resolution settings up to 800 x 592 pixels and a choppy frame rate of 20 fps. The movies can be split while still images can be edited with the designated "effect button." Images can be trimmed, resized, rotated, and colored to black-and-white, sepia, red, green, or blue. Voice memos up to 10 seconds can also be added.

These freshly announced digital cameras come in black and silver bodies that measure 3.9 x 2.5 x 1 inches and run on two AA batteries. A camera cradle is included with each model too. Both models have 45 MB of internal memory, which is much more than what the average digital camera offers.

The Samsung S1050 has more resolution than the S850 and a larger LCD screen. The flagship camera has a 3-inch monitor while the S850’s measures a standard 2.5 inches. The differences between these two models add up to a hundred dollar price difference for consumers.


These two digital cameras are similar to another model Samsung announced today, the Samsung L73. The L73 has optical image stabilization, face recognition, and high ISO sensitivity. However, it comes with less resolution at 7.1 megapixels, only 20 MB of internal memory, and with a 3x optical zoom lens. The Samsung L73 has a $299 price tag and features the fancy technology of the S1050 and S850 but pairs it with a Smart Touch interface and a 2.5-inch LCD screen.