Samsung extended its NV series with three new point and shoot digital cameras: NV 8, NV 15 and the top of the line, NV 20.

All three models integrate Samsung’s Smart Touch User Interface, a technology which enables easy navigation of the cameras' feature sets by simply sliding a finger across the control buttons positioned around the cameras' 2.5" LCD screens.

The NV 8 has a resolution of eight mega pixel, NV 15 offers 10 mega pixel and NV 20 is the first compact camera with 12 mega pixel.

For these models Samsung included premium Schneider optics with a 3x optical zoom and also new enhancements such as a faster Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) up to 0.7 seconds, advanced noise reduction which supports up to ISO 3200 and Samsung's new Auto Contrast Balance (ACB) that automatically adjusts the brightness of subjects composed in harsh lighting, such as those that are back-lit.

Also all three models have Samsung's Face Detection technology that detects up to nine faces and automatically adjusts focus and exposure to ensure better composition and image quality.

Being a point and shoot camera, all three NV camera offer 14 scene modes to choose from, including Night, Portrait, Children, Landscape, Close-Up, Text, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Fireworks, Beach & Snow, Café, Food, and Self-Shot.

The images recorded can be saved to each of the cameras' 20MB of internal memory or to an external SDHC/SD card with a guaranteed maximum of 8GB.

NV 8, NV 15 and NV 20 can also be used for recording movies at VGA resolution (640x480) at a maximum frame rate of 30fps.

The recommended price of NV 20 is $399, while the NV 15 will be available for $299. The price and availability of NV 8 is yet to be announced.