CES 2011: First Hands On With Samsung NX11, SH100 and WB700

_Last night's "CES Unveiled" event wasn't very dense with new cameras, but Samsung did have their recently announced models on-hand for up-close looks. We got some quick first impressions from these pre-production units. _ SH100 The first thing we noticed about Samsung's new budget-friendly ($199), super-connected compact was how small it is. Even compared to the Canon S90 with which this picture was taken, it felt tiny and extremely light in the hand. Unfortunately, they didn't have a Galaxy S smartphone on-hand to show off its Android connectivity, which we're very much looking forward to messing with. SH100 The touchscreen interface is a familiar one for those who know their way around Samsung cams. The screen itself feelt huge on the back of this tiny camera. It also seemed fairly snappy and responsive despite pre-production firmware that was clearly not running at full speed. WB700 We had the chance to check out the 18x zoom-range on the WB700 super-zoom. Although going from wide angle to telephoto was a very slow process, it can likely be chalked up to the fact that the camera is still pre-production status. However there will have to be a very big increase in speed if the WB700 is going to be a contender. WB700 The real draw of this cam is its big zoom packed into a small package. While we didn't have one to compare it to, the WB700 feels a little smaller and a lot more pocket-friendly than Canon's 12.1x PowerShot SX130 IS. By the way, the lens is fully extended in this photo. NX11 We knew going in that there weren't any huge changes internally between the NX11 and its predecessor the NX10. The big difference is the tighter i-Control integration which is a more than welcome addition. The NX11 feels more like an NX100 or even an updated NX10 with i-Control. If you've used either of the two, you know what we're talking about. NX11 Vs NX100 This overhead shot gives a pretty good idea of the size difference between the two cameras. NX11 The redesigned grip is the other big talking point for the NX11 and it is a welcomed upgrade. Having used the NX10 a bit, we can definitely say that the NX11 feels much more comfortable in our larger-than-normal hands. NX11 Here's a top-down shot of the NX11 without our rather large hand to obscure the redesigned grip. NX11 Vs. NX100 A back comparison shot of the NX11 and the NX100 shows just how similar looking these two are.