Samsung NV10 Review

Review Date: October 6th 2006

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Introduction

The Samsung NV10 is the newest addition to Samsung's range of compact digital cameras. Offering 10 megapixels, 3x zoom lens, Advanced Shake Reduction mode and a 2.5 inch LCD screen, the Samsung NV10 is on paper very similar to a number of other cameras. It has a very different user interface to most digicams, however, which utilizes a touch-sensitive smart button system to make its menu system more accessible. The Samsung NV10 offers 11 scene modes and a Manual mode for the more experienced photographer. Part of Samsung's Lifestyle range, the NV10 is made from a stylish brushed black metal, is supplied with a docking cradle and has a built-in pop-up flash unit. Samsung have made a lot of noise recently about grabbing a much larger share of the digital compact market, but can the NV10 help them to achieve that aim? Carry on reading our latest review to find out.

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Features

The Samsung NV10 has a 10.3 megapixel, 1/1.8 inch CCD that delivers 10.1 effective megapixels. There are a range of different image sizes on offer (10M : 3648X2736, 7M : 3136X2352, 5M : 2688X2016, 3M : 2240X1650, 1M : 1024X768), which can be recorded as either Super Fine, Fine or Normal quality JPEGs. The camera's 3x optical zoom lens is equivalent to a 35-105mm lens on a 35mm format camera. There is also a 5x digital zoom should you feel the need to use it. The Samsung NV10 has a Advanced Shake Reduction mode that helps to deliver sharper pictures free from handshake. The camera has 20Mb internal memory and also supports SD Memory Cards and MultiMedia Cards (not supplied).

The Samsung NV10 offers Auto, Program and Manual exposure modes plus 11 different scene modes (Night, Portrait, Children, Landscape, Text, Close-up, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Fireworks, Beach & Snow). The maximum aperture is f2.8 (wide) – f5.1 (tele), and the shutter speed range is 15 secs. – 1/1500 sec. There are 5 ISO speeds ranging from 100 to 1000 and an Auto option. There are 6 different White Balance presets to choose from (Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent_H, Fluorescent_L, Tungsten, Custom), plus an Auto setting. The camera offers exposure compensation in ± 2 in 1/3 EV steps and auto-bracketing is also available. The Samsung NV10 offers 3 different exposure metering options - Multi, Center and Spot.

The Samsung NV10 has a normal shooting mode, Self-timer (2 secs. or 10 secs.), Double self timer (2 secs. and 10 secs.) and 2 different Continuous modes (Continuous, H.Continuous). Sharpness can be adjusted in 3 levels (Soft, Normal, Vivid). There are also 6 different colour effects available (B&W, Sepia, Red, Green, Blue, Negative Composite,) and you can apply Frames and GIF animations. The Macro setting allows you to focus on subjects that are as close as 4cms. The built-in flash offers 5 different modes (Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, Fill-in, Slow sync, Flash off). The flash range is 40cm - 3.2m at the wide-angle lens setting and 50cm - 1.7m at tele-photo.

To compose your images, you can use the LCD monitor - there is no optical or electronic viewfinder. The Samsung NV10 has a 2.5" color TFT LCD which has 230,000 pixels. The Samsung NV10 can record movies with sound at 640x480, 320 x 240 pixels or 160 x 120 pixels, either at 30 fps or 15 fps. Video is recorded in the AVI format. The length of the video is only limited by the size of the memory card that you are using. You can also record a voice memo (up to 1 hour) or attach a voice clip to an image (10 secs.). The Samsung NV10 supports the DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) and PictBridge printing standards, and it connects to a computer via USB 2.0.

The Samsung NV10's dimensions are 96 (W) x 60 (H) x 18.5 (D) mm, and it weighs 149g without the battery and storage card fitted. The camera is powered by a rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery, which has an approximate life of 300 shots. There is a metal tripod mount in the center of the bottom of the camera.

Finally, the standard box kit contains a Camera Case, Strap, USB Cable, AV cable, Remote Control, Lithium-ion Battery, AC Adapter, Cradle, User Manual and a CD-ROM containing Samsung software (Storage Driver and Digimax Master). Note that you can only store 3 images at the highest quality JPEG setting on the 20Mb internal memory. You will therefore need to invest in some memory cards to store your images on.

PhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Samsung NV10 have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.

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