It's been rumoured for weeks, leaked ahead of annoucement and now it's here; Samsung's first digital SLR, and the first fruit of the Samsung / Pentax tie-in announced in October. The GX-1S is a lightweight 6 megapixel camera with a 2.5-inch screen, ISO up to 3200 and a Pentax AF lens mount. Nothing we haven't seen before; the GX-1S is a rebadged Pentax *ist DS2 (there's some new Schneider lenses too, but they also appear to be straight re-badge jobs).

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Phil: Sorry for the late delivery of this story, it was due to go out tomorrow (but was leaked by another site earlier) and we were awaiting press materials from Samsung all day (which finally arrived at 7 PM our time).

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Press Release:

Samsung unveils its first digital SLR - the GX-1S

  • 6 mega-pixels CCD
  • Light weight and portable - only 505g
  • Large bright 2.5 inch colour TFT LCD screen
  • Pentaprism technology provides clear, bright viewfinder
  • 11 point auto focus
  • High sensitivity up to ISO 3200

Samsung is announcing its advance into the digital SLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera arena with the launch of the six mega-pixel GX-1S.

Launching in February, the new interchangeable lens GX-1S is Samsung's first digital SLR camera, developed in conjunction with Pentax. Samsung now provides a full offering of digital cameras to cater for the needs of everyone - from point and shooters to advanced enthusiast photographers.

Offering high portability and mobility through its compact design, the GX-1S will weigh just 505 grams and house a 23.5mm x 15.7mm CCD image sensor. The 3200 ISO equivalent allows high sensitivity shooting in indoor environments.

The GX-1S also provides a continuous shooting speed of 2.8 frames per second (up to eight frames in JPEG mode).

Lens
The GX-1S will utilize the new advanced Schneider Kreuznach D-Xenon lens system and Pentax's lens KAF bayonet mount technology - all Pentax DSLR lens will be mountable on the GX-1S.

Viewfinder
The large TFT colour LCD screen (2.5 inch and 210K pixels) and Pentaprism technology ensure a clear and bright view. The field of view is 95% with magnification at 0.95x (50mm F1.4 lens).

Focusing, Shutter & Flash
Modes include AF Single (with focus lock) and manual focus together with continuous AF . Shutter speed is 30 ~ 1/4,000 sec. with Bulb. The flash is a built-in retractable P-TTL auto pop-up offering the following modes: Auto, Manual, Auto/Red-eye reduction, Manual/red-eye reduction. Angle of view coverage is 28mm wide-angle (equivalent to 35mm). Recharge time is 3 seconds.

Samsung announced its vision of becoming a world class digital camera manufacturer in May 2005. Since then, Samsung has seen strong success and rapid sales growth via the launch of innovative slim style cameras such as the Digimax i5 and i50 MP3. Its advanced technology was recognized again in the high-end camera Pro815 for semi-professional photographers.

Samsung GX-1S specifications

Sensor

• 23.5mm x 15.7mm CCD
• 6.3 million pixels total
• 6.1 million effective pixels

Image sizes • 3008 x 2000
• 2400 x 1600
• 1536 x 1024
File formats • RAW (12-bit)
• JPEG (EXIF 2.21) - 3 levels
Color space • sRGB
• Adobe RGB
Lenses • Schneider D-XENON Lens
• Pentax KAF2, KAF, KA mount lenses
* Power zoom not available
* K mount lenses available with (function limited)
* S mount lenses available with adapter (function limited)
* 67/645 lenses available with adapter (function limited)
FOV crop 1.5x
Focus • 11-area AF
• TTL Phase matching AF system
• Focus point selectable
• EV 0 to 19 (ISO 100) detection range
Focus modes • AF-Single
• AF-Continuous (Action mode)
• Manual focus
AF assist lamp yes, via flash
Shooting modes • AUTO SCN (scene)
• Portrait
• Flash off
• Program AE
• Shutter Priority AE
• Aperture Priority AE
• Manual
• Bulb
Scene (SCN) modes

• Normal
• Portrait
• Landscape
• Macro
• Moving Object
• Night scene

Metering • 16-segment
• Center-Weighted Average
• Spot
ISO sensitivity • Auto
• ISO 200
• ISO 400
• ISO 800
• ISO 1600
• ISO 3200
Exposure compensation • -2.0 to +4.0 EV in 0.5 EV steps
• -2.0 to +2.0 EV in 0.3 EV steps
Exposure bracketing • 3 frames
• 0.3, 0.5 or 1.0 EV steps
Shutter Electronically controlled vertical-run focal-plane shutter
Shuttter speed • 30 to 1/4000 sec
• Bulb
Shutter x-sync 1/180 sec
DOF preview Yes, on power switch
White balance • Auto
• Daylight
• Cloudy
• Shade
• Tungsten
• Fluorescent W
• Fluorescent N
• Fluorescent D
• Manual
Viewfinder • Eye-level type fixed penta-prism finder
• Natural bright-matte focusing screen
• Magnification approx. x0.95
• 95% frame coverage
• Dioptric adjustment (-2.5 to +1.5)
• Viewfinder info bar
Viewfinder info • Built-in flash status
• Picture mode
• In-focus
• Shutter speed
• Aperture value
• Exposure compensation factor
• Manual WB
• Manual focus
• ISO sensitivity warning
• AE lock
• Focus point indication
• AF frame with superimposed dislpay
• Spot AF frame
Flash • Built-in P-TTL pop-up flash
• Guide number 15.6 (ISO 200/m)
• Angle of coverage 28 mm (35 mm equiv.)
• Flash sync 1/180 sec
• Electronic pop-up
Flash modes • Auto
• Flash on
• Auto & Red-eye reduction
• Flash on & Red-eye reduction
External flash • Hot-shoe
• High speed sync
• P-TTL sync
• SEF-36PZF (optional)
Image parameters • Saturation (-2 to +2)
• Sharpness (-2 to +2)
• Contrast (-2 to +2)
Custom function • Default
• Custom (18 functions)
LCD monitor • 2.5" TFT LCD
• 210,000 pixels
Drive modes • Single shot
• Continuous (2.8 fps, up to 8 frames)
Self-timer • 12 sec
• 2 sec
Remote release • InfraRed remote (tbc)
• Wired (tbc)
• Instant or with 3 sec delay
Connectivity • USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
• Video out (NTSC or PAL)
• DC-IN
• Remote terminal
Playback modes • One frame
• Zooming in/out (up to 12x)
• Nine-image
• Slideshow
• Image rotation
• Delete: One-frame-delete, All-frames-delete, Card-format, Protect
Digital filter B&W, Sepia, Soft, Slim
Storage SD card
Power • 4 x AA batteries (NiMH rechargeable recommended) or
• 2 x CR-V3
• Optional AC adapter
Weight (no batt/lens) 505 g (1.1 lb)
Weight (no lens) 605 g (1.3 lb) (reduced by approx. 20 g if using CR-V3 batteries)
Dimensions 125 x 93 x 66 mm (4.9 x 3.6 x 2.6 in)
Supplied software Digimax Master

Additional images