Samsung NV10

Reviewed April 2007

Interface & Software

Interface

The camera settings superimposed on the periphery of the NV10's monitor image have an excellent contrast, critical for their visibility. The icons used are easily recognizable, and text is very legible.

The New Vision series cameras from Samsung use a new type interface, that is somewhere in between standard digital camera controls and touch-screens. Samsung has adopted a system it calls Smart Keys, that are labeled on-sceen and therefore change function, with the exception of the BACK and keys, according to camera's mode. The system replaces the usual recording and playback menus, making all functions instantly accessible. Still, this is an interface that requires some time to get accustomed to, and for a while mistakes are common while settings are being accessed and changed.

Only the Setup menu is more conventional: the Smart Keys aligned on the right of the monitor serve to select options, while those below the monitor serve to access any of the 4 pages that comprise the menu. The menu itself is subdued, presenting options on a uniformly gray background.

The first section contains the following options:

• OSD Set controls the way options are presented on the monitor:
  • Full: the name of the setting appears next to its icon on the monitor when the Smart Key next to it is lightly touched.
  • Basic: touching the Smart keys does not display the name of the function.
  • Hide: on-screen information disappears after 3 seconds if the camera is not used. When the shutter release is pressed halfway, the shutter speed and aperture are displayed on the monitor.
  • LCD Save: turns off the monitor if the camera is not used for 30 seconds.
• OSD Set: offers the same first three options as above, but applicable to the Playback mode.

• File: serves to choose if the file names of photos and movies are incremented consecutively or re-start at 0001 when the memory/card has been formatted, or all images deleted.
• Language selects the interface language: English, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Thai, Malaysian/Indonesian, Arabic, Polish, Hungarian, Czech and Turkish.

• Date & Time: serves to set the date and time on the NV10, including the date format.

The second section offers:

• Imprint: decides whether or not the time and date of capture is permanently imprinted on images.

• LCD serves to set the intensity of the monitor's back light: Dark, Normal, Bright.
• AF Lamp: serves to turn On of Off the AF Assist lamp that comes on when there is not enough ambient light for the auto focus system to operate reliably.
• Power Off: selects the time period after which the camera shuts down automatically when it is unused (1, 3, 5 or 10 minutes).
• Quick View decides whether or not an image is displayed on the monitor immediately post capture: Off or 0.5, 1 or 3 seconds.

• Start Image decides if or what image is displayed on the monitor when the camera is turned On: Off, the Samsung logo or an image captured with the camera.
• Sound Volume: serves to set the Playback volume (Off, Low, Medium, High).
• Beep Sound: decides what, if any, sound is produced by the camera when it is operated (Off, Sound 1, Sound 2, Sound 3).
• Start Sound: selects the sound the camera produces at start-up (Off, Sound 1, Sound 2, Sound 3).

• Shutter Sound: selects the shutter sound (Off, Sound 1, Sound 2, Sound 3).

Finally, the fourth section has the following options:

• Format: serves to format the internal memory of the NV10, or if there is a card present, the memory card. All images are erased, even those that have been marked as protected.
• Copy to card: to copy images from the NV10's internal memory to a memory card.

• Video Out: NTSC or PAL.
• USB: allows setting the USB protocol of the NV10:
  • Computer: to connect the NV10 to a computer and have the camera's memory recognized as a removable disk.
  • Printer: to connect the NV10 to a PictBridge compatible printer and print photos directly.
  • Reset: returns all the NV10's options to their factory defaults with the exception of the date, time, language, and video out signal.

A printed manual accompanies the NV10, as well as a foldout that explains how to load the battery into the camera, install the USB driver on a computer, take pictures and view them on a computer. The explanations supplied in the manual are quite complete but do not quite succeed in fully explaining the way the New Vision interface operates.

Software

A single CD accompanies the North American version of the Samsung NV10. The disc contains Digimax Master for Microsoft Windows (only for 98, 98 SE, 2000, ME and XP) and the USB driver along with the Xvid codec to view movies captured with the NV10.

Digimax Master is an image browser that opens a window with tools at the top, the computer's folder in a window below, and presents the contents of the currently selected folder on the right, using thumbnails whose sizes can be increased or decreased at will.

Moreover, with an image selected from the thumbnails, its shooting date can be displayed in an area below the folders.

The tools offered at the top of the screen allow changing the orientation of an image or a group of images, deleting images, sending them by e-mail, printing a selected photo, or viewing them as a slide show.

Digimax Master also offers some advanced image editing tools, but to access these tools, the image must first be opened in a new window.

The window pane on the left offers a great number of advanced tools to edit photos, including options to add text, make geometric selections or use a lasso to freely select areas to correct. Tools are offered to resize images, trim them, rotate or invert, straighten the horizon, or even use them as wallpapers or calendars.

Furthermore, images can be corrected for noise, scratches, and dust. Brightness can also be adjusted, as well as tone, saturation, exposure, tint, sharpness, and red-eye. In addition, the program supports cloning, a powerful correction tool.

Beyond these, tools are provided to deform images, add artistic effects or textures, and what is remarkable is that all these corrections can be limited to areas defined by the geometric or lasso selection tools.

This is an excellent program and it deserves to be fully explored.