Samsung NV20 Review
Review Date: October 15th 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 12 megapixel Super
Fine mode, which gives an average image size of around 3Mb.
Noise
There are 7 ISO settings available
on the Samsung NV20 which you can select at any time if the
camera is in the normal shooting mode. Note that the image
resolution is reduced to 3 megapixels for ISO 3200.There
is no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 80
and 100, as
you
would expect,
but
at ISO 200 noise is already appearing. By ISO 400 it is very
obvious, together with coloured artifacts and blurring
of detail. ISO 800 is for emergency use only, whilst ISO
1600 is virtually unusable. Here are some 100%
crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have
been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand
image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the
camera images are fine at the default sharpening
setting of Normal. You can change the in-camera sharpening
level to one of the preset levels (Soft, Normal or Vivid)
if you don't like the default look.
File Quality
The Samsung NV20 has 3 different image
quality settings available, with Super Fine being the highest
quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality
of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
Chromatic Aberrations
The Samsung NV20 suffered quite badly
from chromatic aberrations during the review. Obvious purple
fringing was present around the edges of objects in high-contrast
situations, and also often in places where you wouldn't really
expect it, as shown in the examples below.
Macro
The Samsung NV20 offers a Macro setting
that allows you to focus on a subject that is 4cms away from
the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first
image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this
case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
Flash
The flash settings on the Samsung
NV20 are Auto,
Auto & Redeye reduction, Fillin flash, Slow sync, Flash off, and Redeye Fix. These
shots of a magnolia coloured wall were taken at a distance
of 1.5m.
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Auto
Flash - Telephoto (102mm) |
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And here are some shots of yours truly.
As you can see, both the Auto setting and the Redeye Fix
option caused a tiny amount of red-eye.
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Auto
(100% Crop) |
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Flash
- Redeye Fix (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Samsung NV20's maximum shutter
speed is 15 seconds, which is good news if you're seriously
interested in night photography. The shot below was taken
using a shutter speed of 15 seconds, aperture of f/7 at
ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what
the quality is like.
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Night
Shot (100% Crop) |
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Advanced Shake Reduction
The Samsung NV20 has an Advanced Shake
Reduction mode, which allows you to take sharp photos at
slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test
this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the
lens set to the same focal length, with the ISO speed set
to 100. The first shot was taken with the camera set to Program
mode, the second with it set to the ASR mode. As you can
see, with Advanced Shake Reduction on, the images are definitely
sharper than with
it turned off. The Samsung NV20 appears to increase the ISO
speed if neccessary and perform some extra in-camera processing
(it takes a few seconds for the image to be processed). However,
I found that it only ever increased the ISO to 200, even
when the shutter speed was greater than 1 second, resulting
in blurred results. Also, if you are more experienced, you
will know how and when to change the ISO speed yourself to
compensate for poor lighting. Therefore the Advanced Shake
Reduction mode seems to be targetted more at beginners, and
is only genuinely useful in certain situations. Here is a
100% crop of the image to show the results.
Overall Image Quality
The Samsung NV20's image quality is
below average. The Samsung NV20's main drawback in terms
of image quality is noise, with the relatively slow speed
of ISO 200 showing some noise, particularly in shadow areas.
The
noise
gets
progressively
worse as you go from ISO 200 to ISO 400 and finally the pretty
unusable ISO 800 and 1600 settings. The Samsung NV20 didn't
handle chromatic aberrations very well either, however, with
purple fringing effects appearing in high contrast situations.
The 12 megapixel images were sharp straight out of the camera
at the default setting of Normal, and you can also change
the in-camera sharpening level if you wish. The night photograph
was OK, with the maximum shutter speed of 15 seconds allowing
you to capture enough light for most situations, but the
resulting images were quite noisy. Macro performance is about average, allowing you
to focus as close as 4cms away from the subject at the wide-angle
lens setting. Advanced Shake Reduction is a feature that
promises to set this camera apart from its competitors, but
unfortunately it seems to be little more than an automated
way of increasing the ISO speed. The pop-up flash unit worked
well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Samsung NV20 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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