Samsung Digimax i5

Digital cameras continue to be the hottest gifts of the season. New from Samsung is its DIGIMAX i5. Don't let this tiny (17.3 mm) camera fool you, it's loaded with high tech features including five megapixels, a super bright screen, 3X zoom and a new lens technology that takes pictures like its bigger brethren.

The 5 megapixel Samsung DIGIMAX i5 digital camera utilizes primary color filtering technology, has a 5x digital zoom and a 3x optical zoom (equivalent to 39-117mm in 35mm format), for a total 15x zoom. The i5 is very lightweight and comes in 4 different colors: silver, black, red & grey. The DIGIMAX i5 has a 2.5 230k-pixel high resolution LCD viewfinder for improved contrast & color reproduction, allowing you to enjoy a wider & clearer image. It is equipped with an improved unique SF (Safety Flash) capability, which gives enhanced image clarity & color in places without a sufficient light source, when the use of a flash is not desirable. This unique technology delivers an image that looks like it has been taken with the flash.

The i5 supports MPEG-4, the high-compression high-quality video format. When used with a 256 MB memory, the user can record up to 2 hours 10 minutes of movie with sound, and i5 can be used like a camcorder due to its 3x optical zoom capability. The user can record a high quality movie of up to 30 frames per second at VGA resolution and then play it on TV without any loss of quality, or enjoy it on a PC screen at twice the size of conventional videoclips. The DIGIMAX i5 also has a movie stabilizer function that removes the jitters associated with high action photos and videos. $299.99; www.samsung.com