Las Vegas, NV (January 7, 2007) -- Samsung Camera today announced the release of the Samsung L73, a sleek and pocket-sized digital point-and-shoot camera with a 7 mega-pixel image sensor and a precision 3x optical zoom lens. The L73 is the ideal camera for photographers who want a compact digital camera they can take anywhere without compromising on features, image quality or ease of use. Housed in a lustrous black or silver finish, the L73 boasts many of the features typically reserved for cameras that cost twice as much.

With shutter speeds that reach up to an effective 1/2000 sec and an ISO equivalent of 1600, users will be able to take advantage of the L73’s high resolution in any situation, ranging from dusk-landscapes to fast action sports photography. Samsung’s proprietary ASR image stabilization system helps to reduce camera shake and image blur during longer exposures and in situations where holding the camera steady is impossible. When enabled, Samsung’s Wise Shot automatically takes two consecutive pictures in rapid succession­—one with ASR image stabilization enabled, and one with the flash—and prompts the user to review both and keep the preferred version of the picture.

A built-in motion detection feature automatically halts exposure for two seconds when it detects movement in self timer mode. This unique feature virtually eliminates the possibility of one family member showing up as a blur in that precious family portrait. Further enhancing ease-of-use, the L73 features Samsung’s renowned Smart Touch user interface, which employs two sets of pressure-sensitive buttons to access the camera’s controls. Smart Touch menus dynamically allow the user to change aspects of exposure (including color tone and brightness) gradually or rapidly including brightness and color balance via virtual sliders. Users can quickly page through settings much as they would with a mouse with a scroll wheel.

The L73 also offers Samsung’s Intelligent Face Recognition Technology, which detects the subject’s face and automatically adjusts auto focus and auto exposure to ensure the best possible image quality in portraits and other shots featuring people. The AF function instantaneously recognizes the faces of up to 9 subjects and accurately focuses on them all. The AE function then takes over, setting the appropriate exposure to ensure the highest image quality.

Individual dedicated modes for common-yet-difficult shooting situations including Children (with a high shutter speed to freeze motion while avoiding blur), Backlight (to compensate for a rear-lit subject), and Portrait (to bring the subject into strong focus while deemphasizing the background) are included. The powerful in-camera image effects include conversion to sepia-tone and black-and-white. A built-in microphone allows a 10-second voice memo to be attached to any still image. Images can be trimmed, resized, and rotated in the camera without the use of a PC. Slide Show automatically scrolls through photos and displays them on the bright and vivid 2.5” TFT LCD screen.

Just as much attention was given to the L73’s Movie mode, which lets users capture video in one of four resolutions, from 320x240 to 800x600, at up to 30 frames per second in AVI (MPEG-4) format. Just as in still-picture mode, the ASR image stabilization system can be engaged to compensate for unwanted camera movement and subject blur.

The included USB 2.0 cable, camera cradle, and CD-ROM containing Samsung’s Digimax Master software (compatible with Windows 98/2000/ME/XP and Macintosh OS X 9.2 through 10.4) will get even beginning photographers up and shooting right out of the box.

The Samsung L73 contains 20 megabytes of internal memory, and can accept Secure Digital (SD) flash memory cards up to 4 gigabytes. Over 1,300 images can fit on a 256 megabyte card, depending on the selected image quality. The Samsung L73 will have an MSRP of $249.99 and will be available in the spring of 2007.

Samsung Opto-Electronics America, Inc., Secaucus, N.J., is the U.S. subsidiary of Samsung Techwin Co., Ltd., Sungnam Kyungki-Do, Korea. Samsung Opto-Electronics markets a full line of auto focus cameras, zoom and digital cameras for the amateur as well as the professional under the Samsung brand name.

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