Samsung HZ10W, 24mm lens wonderful
Samsung has announced the HZ10W (how do they think of these romantic names?) which is a pocket-sized (depends on the pocket) 10.2 megapixels digital camera that boasts a 10x zoom lens that starts at a wider-than-usual 24mm if you can think in 35mm film terms. Some of us would be happier without the zoom and just have the wide lens. If it had a rangefinder I would marry it.
The PR release is so bad as to be laughable:
Opportunities to enhance one’s creativity thrive thanks to the wider focal length offered by the HZ10W’s ultra-wide angle, 24mm lens. With the ability to fit more of a desired scene into the shot, users no longer have to worry about asking a group of people to stand closer together to make sure everyone is in the photo. Users can also capture even more impressive landscape images, communicating the full beauty of a mountain range or even cityscape, as they see it, without having to decide what to exclude when pressing the shutter button.
No, ducky, that is not what it is about. With a wideangle lens you have a new view of the world and it makes your pictures, individual, stylish and, yes, artistic. You may not believe this but the rest of the press release is worse. I will spare you the agony.
HZ10W also offers manual shutter speed and aperture settings which sorts of fits in with people who know why they use 25mm lens.
(It also shoots video at high-definition video at 30 frames per second which is you may or may not use as the mood takes you.)
The camera has all the gubbins.
A concerned reader has written in asking what the Dickens are gubbins. Gubbins are non-essential ideas which makes the marketing manager very, very happy. Not that they make you a better photographer. Possibly worse because there is some much to ponce around with. But the marketing people can list the gubbins and it looks impressive.
Try: 13 scene modes, face detection, Smile Shot which automatically triggers the shutter when the camera detects that people are smiling; Blink Detection which means the camera fires three shots if the camera detects that someone’s eyes are closed.
That is gubbins.
The camera will cost around $300 (US) and whether it is worth it will not be because of the gubbins, but the lens which makes it sound well worth it. If only they would offer a discount for leaving off the gubbins, what a perfect world that would be.
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