Samsung NV10

Reviewed April 2007

Characteristics

The NV10 is equipped with a 1/1.8 inch, 10.3 million pixel CCD, of which 10.1 million pixels are effective. Five image sizes are offered to capture photos:

• 10M: 3648 x 2736 pixels;
• 7M: 3136 x 2352 pixels;
• 5M: 2688 x 2016 pixels
;
• 3M: 2240 x 1680 pixels; and
• 1M: 1024 x 768 pixels.

• Super Fine: the highest image quality;
• Fine: an average compression; and
• Normal: the strongest compression, which allows capturing a greater number of images, but with a lower image quality.

The NV10's CCD has sensitivities that start at 100 ISO and when the Program or Manual modes are used, sensitivity can be set manually to 100, 200, 400, 800 or 1000 ISO. In all other modes, the camera has control of the sensitivity, increasing it as necessary to compensate for the brightness of the ambient light.

The NV10 has a Schneider-Kreuznach 3X Varioplan zoom that has a focal length range of 7.4 to 22.2 mm, the equivalent of a 35 to 105 mm zoom in 35 mm. The lens has 2 apertures, f2.8 and f7.1 when it is at the wide angle end, and f5.1 and f13.1 at the maximum telephoto.

In addition, the NV10 also provides a digital zoom that takes over where the optical zoom ends, creating a combined zoom effect of 15X. The digital zoom is a cropping zoom that captures a progressively smaller area in the middle of the full size image as the magnification of the digital zoom is increased, and then interpolates the cropped image to the currently selected image size.

With the NV10, shutter speeds range from 1/1500 second down to 1 second when the camera is set to the Auto mode or most of the Scene modes. The Manual mode, however, allows selecting shutter speeds from 1/1500 second down to 15 seconds, while the Night and Firework modes allow a maximum exposure time of 4 seconds.

As explained in the Ergonomics section of the review, the settings that can be modified when the camera is set to a capture mode are superimposed directly on the monitor as soon as any one of the Smart Keys to the right and below the screen are touched. Moreover, the Smart Key labeled with on the monitor provides access to a secondary option level, by moving the current line up and replacing it by the second level.

The number of options displayed on the monitor varies according to the capture mode in use, the Auto mode having the fewest, while the Program and Manual modes have the most. The options presented in a column on the right are:

• Mode (Only when the camera is set to SCENE): serves to select one of the Scene modes (see the Ergonomics section of the review for more information).
• Colour (only with the Auto mode): serves to adjust the colour tone by shifting colours towards warm or cool.
• Brightness (only with the Auto mode): serves to adjust the brightness of the captured image towards lighter or darker.

• White Balance (only available with the Program, Manual or Movie modes) serves to adjust the white balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent H (daylight type), Fluorescent L (white), Tungsten (incandescent) or Custom (set under ambient lighting using a white surface).
• ISO (only available with the Program or Manual modes): Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1000 ISO.

• Exposure Compensation (only available with the Program or Movie modes): serves to compensate the exposure over a range of ±2 EV in 1/3 EV increments. With the camera set to the Manual Mode, this option is replaced by the shutter speed selection, while the Smart Key below controls the selection of the aperture.

The first level of options superimposed above the row of Smart keys below the monitor are as follows:

• Focus Mode allows selecting how the auto focus operates in all but the Scene modes:
  • Normal: lets the camera focus from 80 cm (31.2 inches) to infinity.
  • Macro (only available when the camera is set to Program, Special Effect, Manual or Movie modes): allows the camera to focus on a subject from 4 to 80 cm (1.56 to 31.2 inches) when the zoom is at the wide angle end, and 50 to 80 cm (19.5 to 31.2 inches) when the zoom is at the telephoto end.
  • Auto Macro (only available when the camera is set to Auto or ASR modes): allows the auto focus to freely move from the normal focus range to the macro range as necessary.
• Flash Mode: offers settings of Forced Off, Slow Sync, Fill-in, Red-eye Reduction and Auto when the NV10 is set to Program or Special Effects modes. With the Auto mode the choices are limited to Forced Off and Red-eye Reduction, while with the Manual mode these are Fill-in and Forced Off. The flash cannot be used when the camera is set to ASR, Continuous shot, or the Movie mode or any of the Scene modes with the exception of Night, Portrait and Children.
• Size: serves to select the image size (see top of the page). When set to the Movie mode the options offer a choice of frame size: 604 x 480 pixels or 320 x 240 pixels.
• Continuous Shot offers 5 options:
  • Single: captures one image each time the shutter release is pressed.
  • Continuous: captures shots continuously as long as there is memory space. The capture rate depends on the shutter speed and the image size and quality settings.
  • High Speed: captures 3 images at 2.5 images per second while the shutter release is pressed.
  • M. Capture: serves to capture 20 images at the 1M image size (1024 x 768 pixels) at a rate of 7 images per second while the shutter release is held down.
  • AEB: (Auto Exposure Bracketing) captures three images, the first with the metered exposure, the next underexposed by -0.5 EV and the third overexposed by +0.5 EV.
• Metering (only available when the camera is set to Program, Special Effect, Manual or Movie modes) offers a choice of metering patterns: Multi, Centre-weighted, or Spot.
• Sharpness (only available when the camera is set to Program, Special Effect, or Manual modes): provides control over the image sharpness (Soft, Normal or Vivid).

Pressing the Smart Key labeled with adds another row of icons:

• Effect serves to change images' colours as they are being saved (only available with Program, Special Effect, Manual, or Movie modes): Black and White, Sepia, Blue tone, Red tone, Green tone, Negative or Custom, which allows the user to adjust RGB values (this last option is limited to the Special Effects mode).

• Quality: serves to set the compression level (see above). With the NV10 set to the Movie mode, this option is replaced by the frame rate, either 30 fps or 15 fps.
• Self-timer/Remote Control: serves to activate the self-timer or the optional infrared remote control. Options available are a 10-second or 2-second delay, a double self-timer that captures one photo after 10-second and a second after 2 more seconds, and the activation of the Remote control with a 2-second delay.

• Voice Recording/Voice Memo: makes it possible to add a 10-second memo to an image immediately after capture, or use the NV10 as a digital voice recorder which will capture sound in WAV format as long as there is space in memory.
• Setup: is the access to the basic settings of the NV10 (see the Interface and Software section of the review for a list of the options of the Setup menu).

The last Smart key is labeled and serves to return to the previous level of options.

With the NV10 set to Playback, activated by pressing the button, options are superimposed on the right side of the image:

• Slide Show: makes it possible to review captured images, selecting one of three transition effects, the on-screen time of images, and whether or not the show loops back to the beginning or ends after the last photo.

• Protect: serves to tag images so they cannot be erased accidentally. Images can be selected for protection one at a time, or all at once.
• Delete: serves to erase unwanted images either one at a time, or all at once.
• DPOF: serves to choose images that will be printed. The number of copies to make of each image, the print size, or the creation of a print index can be set.

• Edit: opens another set of options, this time presented horizontally at the bottom of the screen, offering the following options:
  • Rotate: allows rotating an image in 90° increments to the left or right. or by 180°.
  • Resize: serves to re-record an image at a lesser resolution. The option can also be used to resize an image that will be displayed when the camera is powered on.
  • Trimming: serves to capture part of an image that has been zoomed into as a new image.
  • Effect: serves to apply a digital filter to an image already stored in memory (Black and White, Sepia, Blue tone, Red tone, Green tone, or Negative).
• GIF: serves to select images that can then be combined to create an animated sequence at either 2 or 5 frames per second and with an image size of 400 x 300 pixels or 320 x 240 pixels.

Placing the Mode Dial to the position, the camera enters the Photo Gallery mode. Other options are then available:

• Playback Mode: serves to see images by album (images must have been previously organized into albums — see below) or by date, so that only images captured on the same date are played back.
• Album or Date: serves to select a specific album or date.
• Slide Show: starts the automatic playback of images. The lower part of the monitor shows icons for options that serve to select a transition effect, the on-screen time, select background music and decide whether the slide show loops back to the beginning or ends with the last image.

• Add to Album: this option is only shown when the Album playback mode has been selected. Using an index view of images in memory, it is possible to classify images into Personal, Family, Friends or Events albums.

When the camera is connected to a PictBridge compatible printer, an additional menu of options appears with which DPOF settings can be used to make prints.

The Samsung NV10 is powered by a very compact rechargeable Lithium-ion battery (SLB-0837B) which is inserted into a compartment underneath the camera, next to the memory card slot.

Equipped with a 20 MB internal memory, the NV10 is sold in North America without a memory card. It is nevertheless compatible with SD (Secure Digital) cards, or MMC (MultiMedia) cards. The cover door of the battery/card compartment is latched solidly, and the battery is held in place by a small spring-loaded clip.

The chart below provides approximate capacities for the internal memory, and an optional 1GB SD card:

The NV10 only has a single external connection, also located underneath the camera, but without a cover door.

The connection offers 3 functions, each dictated by the cable used:

• USB Port, compatible 2.0 High Speed, to connect the camera to a computer or a PictBridge/DPOF compatible printer.
• A/V (Audio/Video) Out, compatible with either NTSC or PAL, allowing the camera to be connected to a television.
• Charger connection to recharge the battery directly in the camera using the supplied charger (SAC-45) which is connected to the USB cable in the North American version (see below).