Photos: Samsung PL70, PL55 and ES17 compact cameras take a bow

Samsung has launched the PL70, PL55 and ES17 -- three new compact cameras that lit up our inboxes today

Richard Trenholm

Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.

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Richard Trenholm

July 14, 2009 8:01 a.m. PT

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This morning your humble Cravers awoke, blinked sleep from our eyes, brushed our teeth with the cat and shuffled bleary-eyed to our computers. Before we could even open our RSS readers for a bout of fearless desk-bound news reporting, we were confronted by an inbox bulging full of Samsung releases: say hello to the PL70, PL55 and ES17 compact cameras!

First up is the Samsung PL70, a 12.2-megapixel snapper with 5x optical zoom lens. It boasts a wide-angle 28mm lens, and shoots 720p video in H.264 format. The smart auto feature licks its finger, holds it up to the wind and automatically picks one of 11 scene modes depending on shooting situation.

Other features include face, smile and blink detection, skin-smoothing beauty shot and oh-so-emo self-portrait mode, which beeps winsomely when your face is centred. Optical image stabilisation keeps things blur-free.

There's an HDMI connection, or you can plonk the camera in an optional cradle, to display your pictures on your HD Samsung telly.

Check out your images on the 76mm (3-inch) screen. In playback mode, pictures can be sorted by scene, such as portraits, landscape or macro shots. You can even sort your pictures by colour or theme.

The Samsung PL70 will hit the shelves in August and will cost around £200, decked out in black, red, pink and silver. Click through our gallery to meet the PL55 and ES17.

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The PL55 is a 12-megapixel compact with 5x optical zoom, 11 smart auto scene modes, clever playback, optical image stabilisation, face, blink and smile detection -- hang on, this sounds familiar! As much as we like being able to copy and paste the PL70's specs -- hey, we're online, that counts as journalism round these parts -- we wonder what's the point of two such similar cameras. They even come in the same colours. Delving into the specs we learn that a drop to a narrower 35mm lens drops the price to £150. Can't argue with that.

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Everybody! Everybody in the house of love! It's the Samsung ES17. Available in pink, silver, white and black, the 12-megapixel ES17 boasts a 3x optical zoom and will cost a credit-crunching £90 in August. Deep.