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.
The third section contains:
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).
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.
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Interface & Software
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.
OSD Set controls the way options are presented on the
monitor:
