Samsung WB2000 Expert Compact Digital Camera: On Sale in August

Find the best price

Several of you have e-mailed us in the past few weeks wondering what has happened to the WB2000?  The successor to the popular WB1000, the WB2000 should be a step up for Samsung, with a raft of new features.  But three months after it was launched, it's still impossible to get hold of one—because its launch date has been pushed back to August.

After reading your piece about this camera, I signed up to an alert at on online store so I could find out when the WB2000 would be going on sale.  Yesterday, they told me that they were withdrawing it from their range because Samsung isn't going to sell this camera in Europe.  I would love to know why this is the case and if you know anything about it. After spending a couple of days looking for it online and calling both Samsung and several resellers, I've learnt that this camera won't be going on sale in Europe after all.  It's a real shame, as it looks excellent on paper.

We have to admit that we were worried by these reports, because the WB2000 seemed like such a key plank in Samsung's strategy.  On paper, it looks likely to fit into a segment that been rather quiet of late, that of the high-end compact camera.  Apart from the Canon S90, which isn't really that small, we've not seen much action here recently.  The WB2000 would seem right at home though, with a 10 Megapixel CMOS sensor capable of shooting Full HD video, a fast burst mode and on-the-fly panoramas, a decent 24-120 mm lens, an AMOLED screen, manual control over lots of settings and photos saved as RAW files.

That's why we got in touch with Samsung.  Christophe Chancenest, marketing director for the company's imaging division explained that the WB2000 has not been cancelled, just put back.  Because it's been delayed, the decision was made to release it alongside other new cameras in August, rather than put it on sale it in the quiet period at the end of spring.

Samsung's 'expert' level cameras have all been dragging their heels in the past few months: the EX1, which is a more direct attack on the traditional expert segment was also announced in February but will only go on sale in the next few days.

We're sure the Korean manufacturer is aware how eagerly anticipated these new cameras are because they offer a lot more technology than some of the other models in its range, so they're no doubt doing everything they can to fine-tune them.  That doesn't make waiting any easier though ...

The WB2000 should finally be in the shops around August 15, costing somewhere between the WB1000 (which launched at £300) and the EX1 (currently going for around £380)

> Product Survey: Compact Digital Cameras


> Buyer's Guides: Our Pick of The Best Products