The new Samsung L74 Wide manages to pair a wideangle lens and 3in touch-screen LCD, resulting in a compact that impresses on paper. The main selling point of this 7.2MP camera is the inclusion of a 28-101mm equivalent wideangle zoom, coupled with a 3in touch-screen LCD. The maximum ISO 1600 is aided by an Advanced Shake Reduction system to aid shooting in low light.

The design of the L74 maintains Samsung’s NV styling, with a black, retro chassis with blue highlights, but the body is quite large for a digital ‘compact’. The introduction of the touch-screen technology has replaced the innovative ‘Smart Touch’ interface on the NV10, but seems to have compromised display quality and it is also somewhat unresponsive. Additionally, the 3in LCD struggles to display images clearly in bright conditions.

In use, the camera is relatively quick, with a responsive AF system that only seems to struggle in low-light conditions. The delay between shots isn’t bad, though hardly market-leading, with image reviewing slowed by the temperamental touch-screen interface.

Image Quality
Fringing is visible, with even marginally challenging lighting conditions adding blue edges around elements at the edge of the frame. This can encroach across the whole frame in extreme lighting, along with noise in dark areas of the shot. Images appear soft on the whole, with sharpness noticeably falling off towards the edge of the frame, resulting in flat, low-contrast images.