Digicams, like Darwinism, tend to exhibit certain mutations that define their species from the rest of the genus. In other words, it’s common for digicams to have a gimmick.
The Samsung PL90 point-and-shoot’s gimmick is pretty neat, though: a built-in USB connector eliminating the need for an external cable to sync and charge. That makes this an excellent choice for an entry-level camera for laptop users.
Quality-wise, the Samsung PL90 packs 12 megapixels onto its tiny sensor, which means you can expect a good deal of noise in your snaps. On the positive side, though, the lens here is great for an entry-level, with a 29-116mm equivalent zoom and a ƒ2.8-6.5 aperture range, which is surprisingly bright.
At $150, this actually looks like a really good camera to give an amateur in need of a new casual snapper. It even has some pretty great self-organizational software features, including the ability to sort pictures according to criteria ranging from their date, time and even dominant color. Pretty neat.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
