Samsung EX1 On Sale

Samsung EX1 Prices unavailable Recommended alternatives Editor's Choice Canon PowerShot SX260 HS Battery Life and Video Sony Cyber-shot HX20V Quality Budget Snapper Canon Ixus 220 HS

If I told you about a compact camera with a 24-72 mm zoom on a lens that has a minimum aperture of f/2.4, a 'large' CCD 10 Megapixel sensor, and a rotating AMOLED screen and your immediate reaction was that it must be the direct descendent of the G6, then you, like us, will be desperate to find out more about the Samsung EX1.

The first time that we heard about this camera, Samsung's product designer seemed almost as excited as the day he first brought us an NX10, which had been a long time coming.  And we can understand why: on paper at least, the new EX1 seems to have everything.

It has the fastest zoom lens we've seen on a compact, with f/1.8 at wide-angle and f/2.4 in telephoto.  That means the maximum zoom is 3x, but it includes a real wide-angle option at 24 mm.  The 10 Megapixel CCD sensor is relatively large at 1/1.7'', a technical choice that performed very well on both the Ricoh GR Digital III and Canon G11.  You can take photos even at the most obscure angles because the 3'' AMOLED screen rotates in several directions.

And for those who know what they're doing and want to get started quickly, there are PSAM modes and a click wheel for the settings, as well as a second scroll wheel for setting up the burst mode or the self-timer

There was no information about pricing when it was launched, but we currently think it will cost around £500.  It's currently available for pre-order in several shops at a price that is likely to generate a lot of interest: £399.

To give you a better idea of how that stands up to the competition, here are three recent expert-level compact cameras that what we've seen, and they've all been round for over a year.  We've included some of their key specifications, in green if they're better than the new EX1, and in red if they're not as good.

Canon G11 28-140 mm f/2.8-4.5 scrollwheel rotating screen  VGA/H.264 video	Panasonic LX3 24-60 mm f/2-2.8 joystick (no dial)   fixed screen   720p/MPEG video	Ricoh GR D III 28 mm f/1,9 (zoom) dial + slider fixed VGA screen   VGA/MPEG video
MARCHANDS €     Amazon mark...  559.99  Compare prices	Prices unavailable Recommended alternatives Editor's Choice Canon PowerShot SX260 HS Battery Life and Video Sony Cyber-shot HX20V Quality Budget Snapper Canon Ixus 220 HS	Prices unavailable Recommended alternatives Editor's Choice Canon PowerShot SX260 HS Battery Life and Video Sony Cyber-shot HX20V Quality Budget Snapper Canon Ixus 220 HS

The EX1 is easily the cheapest of the four, but the absence of a dial could annoy experts, though it is the one that zooms the least.  Samsung has at least one decisive advantage though: its AMOLED screen which we have no doubt will offer better contrast than its LCD competitors.

We're hoping that the manufacturer will soon be able to bring us an EX1 to play with, to see if it can deliver on its exciting promises ...

> Product Survey: Compact Digital Cameras

> Buyer's Guides: Our Pick of The Best Products