Taking self-portraits can be really tricky with a compact digital camera, often times you’ll hold your camera either too high or too low and miss part of your own head. Some have given up on taking pictures of themselves altogether and have opted to have other people take photos of them. Although I think those people that threw in the towel have never heard of the Samsung DualView range of digital cameras.
A Samsung DualView digital camera features two LCD screens, one located on the back of the camera and another smaller LCD located on the front of the camera. The idea behind the unusual front facing LCD is to allow the people being photographed to see themselves and how they’re framed in the shot, but Samsung also included the ability for DualView cameras to display images such as smiley faces to get small children to focus on the camera.
Samsung successfully launched their first DualView brand digital cameras back in 2009, the 12.1 MP Samsung ST500 and ST550 which both shipped with 1.5″ 61k-dot res. front LCDs. Since launching their first two DualView cameras in 2009 Samsung has gone ahead and released follow-up cameras in both 2010 and 2011. The most recent DualView camera launched was the 16.1 MP Samsung ST700 which shipped with a 1.8-inch front-facing LCD.
Today Samsung unveiled their latest DualView camera, the Wi-Fi enabled 16 MP Samsung DV300F which features a 1.5-inch 61k-dot res. front LCD. The new DV300F features Wi-Fi uploading capabilities for social websites, previous DualView cameras did not feature this. According to Samsung all captures whether they be photos or 720p HD video (the DV300F can record HD video) you can upload them straight to your pre-configured Facebook, Picasa, Flickr and YouTube. Besides featuring a 16 MP sensor, Wi-Fi capabilities, two LCDs (the rear is 3.0-inches and 460k-dot res.) the new DV300F will also feature other things.
Samsung says their DV300F will also include a microSD card slot, a 5x optical zoom and 25mm wide-angle lens, a Child Mode (displays smiley faces for kids on the front LCD), a Magic Frame function that provides users with 12 fun background templates for photos, a Split Shot function that merges up to three different photos into one “artistic” final image, a Funny Face function that allows you to alter photos of friends and family with “goofy grins, comical noses or even crazy eyes”, a Artistic Brush function that allows you to transform photos and video into a black and white or full color sketches, and lastly there is a Motion Photo function that allows you to freeze time around a moving subject for dramatic effect.
Samsung’s new DV300F will carry a price tag of $199 when it’s released sometime in March 2012. I expect that Samsung will have the new DV300F camera at the upcoming CES 2012 trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada.