Ridgefield Park,
N.J. – Samsung unveiled a new 12.5-megapixel
point-and-shoot digital camera offering a 24x optical zoom lens.
Billed as the compact digital point-and-shoot camera with
Samsung’s most powerful lens to date, the HZ25W will ship in October at a $400
suggested retail.
The unusual 24x optical zoom lens uses Schneider-Kreuznach optics
with a 26mm wide angle out to 624mm of equivalent 35mm film focal range.
Also included is HD video recording at up to 720p HD video
resolution in the H.264 format.
“Photographers of all skill levels are going to be drawn to the
HZ25W’s features,” stated Reid Sullivan, Samsung A/V/digital imaging marketing
senior VP. “The versatility of the lens gives any user, whether a soccer mom on
the sidelines or an enthusiast looking to create a stunning image, the ability
to be prepared for just about any shooting scenario.”
The camera offers both aperture and shutter priority modes as
well as full manual control and RAW support.
A Smart Auto function makes the proper exposure and focus
settings from one of 11 optimized settings automatically, after analyzing the
current environment.
The camera includes Perfect Portrait System, has face
recognition, face deection, Smile Shot, blink detection and Samsung’s Beauty
Shot. The face-recognition technology automatically stores up to 20 preferred
faces to the cameras’ internal memory.
While taking a portrait, the HZ25W will automatically recognize
if one of the user’s 20 preferred faces is in the frame and identify them as a
priority for focus and exposure.
After pictures are taken, users can search for a specific image
they have saved on their memory card using a Smart Album feature. Smart Album
automatically organizes the user’s digital images and gives them the ability to
narrow their search based on specific criteria such as the date or week the
image was taken, the overall color tone, portraits or specific file types,
including photos, videos or voice memos.
The zoom lens is fully functional when in video recording mode.
The zoom is supported by Samsung’s Dual Image Stabilization
system, which combines both optical and digital stabilization to help reduce
blur, especially when using the lens at its maximum zoom.
The HZ25W also provides aperture and shutter priority and a full
manual shooting mode for those users looking to exercise more control over
camera settings.
Additional manual controls include the ability to customize white
balance settings from a temperature range of 3,000K to 10,000K as well as
manual focusing, Samsung said.
Users have the option to shoot in RAW (DNG1.1), JPEGs or both.
The camera is equipped with both a color electronic view finder
and 3-inch LCD screen, the latter of which also provides access to the camera’s
user interface.
