Samsung Rolls Out More Compact Cameras, Does Anyone Care?

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/19/samsung-rolls-out-five-new-st-series-point-and-shoot-cameras/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/19/...-shoot-cameras/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Samsung just introduced a slew of&nbsp;new cameras&nbsp;at CES earlier this month, but it's now already back with another batch, which consists of five low to mid-range point-and-shoots in its ST series. Those begin with the $100 ST30 model, and move on up to the ST65, ST90 and touchscreen-equipped ST95, before topping out with the $230 ST6500..."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1296059357.usr15670.jpg" /></p><p>So what we have here are a bunch of compacts, with 5x zoom lenses starting at 26/27mm equivalent for all the models except the ST30 (that comes with a 3x starting at 28mm equivlanet), 10 to 16 megapixel sensors, 720p video mode in all but the $100 model. Prices range from US$100 to US$230. Does anyone care about such low end compacts from a name that has no brand recognition when it comes to cameras? Price-wise both Nikon and Canon have equally cheap cameras, so it does not seem to be something Samsung can really crow about here.&nbsp;</p>

[Jason Dunn]

< yawn >

Budget cameras are so heavily commoditized there's not much interesting that anyone can do...though I do think there's so much room for improvement. The problem is the stuff that would make them better would also make them non-budget cameras.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

The problem, as I see it, is marketing. At the budget range, there are cameras at every $10-20 price point. It's silly. Do you think consumers shopping for budget cameras really care that $10 gets them another 2 megapixels?

Flip Video cameras did very well by making them simple, easy to use, with acceptable quality, all while keeping a low price point. How many models did Flip release? Not a lot. What Flip did was to emphasise on the product's strong points while keeping focus on just the few (and I believe at one point, just the one) products.

Sometimes I do wish that Apple would enter this market. They'd whip everyone south of the $700 price point.

[Jason Dunn]

Sometimes I do wish that Apple would enter this market. They'd whip everyone south of the $700 price point.

But Apple doesn't do anything low end - they'd probably come out with a 6 megapixel camera and charge $900 for it. :D