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.

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


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

Review

The Samsung GX-1S is a small, lightweight, 6-megapixel DSLR with a Pentax lens mount, 11-point autofocus, and a kit price around $800. It looks very similar to Pentax's DSLRs, which are tough, nicely styled, and easy to use. Predictions point to the sub-$1000 DSLR field as the expanding market for digital cameras, so it makes sense for Samsung, a company with ambitions in the photographic industry, to produce a model for this field.. The question is whether the GX-1S is the right camera to introduce in such a competitive market.
Source: http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/