Mix-up between Samsung and retailer led to early unveiling of NX1100 compact system camera

 

 

In the annals of product launches, the introduction of Samsung's new NX1100 compact system camera is going to go down as one of the stranger ones. First, specs for the 20.3-megapixel NX1100 leaked out on photo rumor sites last month. Then, a manual for the still-unannounced camera mysteriously became available online.

And finally, the NX1100 was unveiled this past Monday. Or so it seemed be.

In truth, the NX1100 only turned up formally in one place on Monday: the website of photo retailer giant B&H Photo. A story on the new camera appeared there, as well as a way to pre-order it through B&H for $699 with a 20-50mm f/3.5-5.6 ED II kit lens.

Meanwhile, a press release about the NX1100 and its availability at B&H appeared on PRWeb. As of today, however, no other retailers were offering the camera for pre-order, and info and NX1100 images don't even appear on Samsung's website.

So what gives? Is the NX1100, which uses the same APS-C sensor as the previous model, but with a few modest feature upgrades, some kind of exclusive Samsung camera offering through B&H?

Apparently not. It actually seems to be more of a mix-up between Samsung and B&H over the official announce date for the NX1100.

“We will be making a formal announcement about the availability of the NX1100 in the U.S. soon," Samsung Electronics America told IR in an emailed statement. "But in the meantime we can confirm that the NX1100 will have wide distribution in the U.S.”

 

Availability of the 20.3MP Samsung NX1100 in the U.S. has still not been announced yet.

B&H Photo was also somewhat opaque when we contacted the retailer about the NX1100 posting on its site.

"B&H strives, at all times, to get new product information to our customers as quickly and accurately as we are able to do so," said Henry Posner, Director of Corporate Communications at B&H Photo.

Other features of the NX1100 include a 3-inch, 921k-dot LCD screen; full 1080p HD video at 30fps, built-in WiFi connectivity; 8fps RAW and JPEG continuous shooting; ISO 100-12,800 capability; and Smart Auto, Scene and Magic modes. An external flash and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom are included with the NX1100. The camera comes in black and white versions.

Aside from the inclusion of Lightroom, very little of the new camera seems to be much different from the NX1000, which was released in June 2012. If anyone is still keeping score after all this, Samsung has still not said when availability of the NX1100 will be officially, officially announced.