With shutter speeds that reach up to an effective 1/2000 second and an ISO equivalent of 1600, users will be able to take advantage of the L73's high resolution in any situation, ranging from dusk landscapes to fast-action sports photography. Samsung's proprietary ASR image stabilization system helps to reduce camera shake and image blur during longer exposures and in situations where holding the camera steady is impossible. When enabled, Samsung's Wise Shot automatically takes two consecutive pictures in rapid succession--one with ASR image stabilization enabled and one with the flash--and prompts the user to review both and keep the preferred version of the picture.

A built-in motion detection feature automatically halts exposure for two seconds when it detects movement in self-timer mode. This unique feature virtually eliminates the possibility of one family member showing up as a blur in that precious family portrait. Further enhancing ease of use, the L73 features Samsung's renowned Smart Touch user interface, which employs two sets of pressure-sensitive buttons to access the camera's controls. Smart Touch menus dynamically allow the user to change aspects of exposure (including color tone and brightness) gradually or rapidly including brightness and color balance via virtual sliders. Users can quickly page through settings much as they would with a mouse with a scroll wheel.

The L73 also offers Samsung's Intelligent Face Recognition Technology, which detects the subject's face and automatically adjusts auto focus and auto exposure to ensure the best possible image quality in portraits and other shots featuring people. The AF function instantaneously recognizes the faces of up to 9 subjects and accurately focuses on them all. The AE function then takes over, setting the appropriate exposure to ensure the highest image quality.

Individual dedicated modes for common-yet-difficult shooting situations including Children (with a high shutter speed to freeze motion while avoiding blur), Backlight (to compensate for a rear-lit subject), and Portrait (to bring the subject into strong focus while deemphasizing the background) are included. The powerful in-camera image effects include conversion to sepiatone and black and white. A built-in microphone allows a 10-second voice memo to be attached to any still image. Images can be trimmed, resized, and rotated in the camera without the use of a PC. Slide Show automatically scrolls through photos and displays them on the bright and vivid 2.5-inch TFT LCD screen.

Just as much attention was given to the L73's Movie mode, which lets users capture video in one of four resolutions, from 320 x 240 to 800 x 592, at up to 30 frames per second in AVI (MPEG-4) format. Just as in still-picture mode, the ASR image stabilization system can be engaged to compensate for unwanted camera movement and subject blur.

The included USB 2.0 cable, camera cradle, and CD-ROM containing Samsung's Digimax Master software (compatible with Windows 98/2000/ME/XP and Macintosh OS X 9.2 through 10.4) will get even beginning photographers up and shooting right out of the box.

The Samsung L73 contains 20MB of internal memory and can accept Secure Digital (SD) flash memory cards up to 4 GB

Samsung L73 Reviews 

PCAdvisor.co.uk had this to say about the Samsung L73 "Despite its diminutive dimensions and sleek black design, the Samsung L73 sports a 7.4Mp (megapixel) 1/2.5in CCD (charge-coupled device) and 3x optical zoom.

The LCD, meanwhile, is a healthy 2.5in, which is about as large as you could fit on a camera this size.

However, the Samsung L73 is not particularly well served for manual control. You can choose between multi, spot and centre metering, and there's a wide ISO range from 50 to 1,600. But although shutter speeds can vary from 1/2,000th of a second to two seconds, and the aperture has a decent range from f/2.8 to 4.9, you can't set either manually. There is an exposure control which varies from +2 to -2.

The Samsung L73's ASR antishake system has its own specific mode as it isn't true image stabilisation. Instead, it increases ISO and shutter speed as far as possible to reduce the blurriness caused by camera motion. The manual focus is also quite hard to operate, as this works through the Smart Touch system.

The Samsung L73's Smart Touch menu adopts a slightly unusual approach. Instead of scrolling menus and a four-way rocker switch, the Samsung L73 has an array of touch-sensitive buttons down two edges of the LCD – six vertically on the right and seven horizontally along the bottom.

Menu options line up with these keys in one direction, and then the settings in the other. It's a novel approach, but works well once you're used to it.

In keeping with the general design approach, Samsung has combined the charge and PC connection cable into one. So the Samsung L73 charges automatically when connected via USB and the mains adaptor presents a USB connection.

In good light, the Samsung L73 performed as expected for a 7Mp compact, but we noticed a small amount of grain in darker outdoor conditions. This was also true indoors. But colour fidelity was quite good in both conditions. Overall, the image quality had no glaring weaknesses for a camera in this class.

And the verdict for the L73:  It has an eye-catching appearance, and the Smart Touch system is sure to wow your friends – but it's not one to choose if you're after manual control. It's also a little pricey".