Samsung NV40 Digital Camera Review - Samsung Point and Shoot and Non-DSLR

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Viewfinder (0.00)
It would be a rare sight these days to find a small, point-and-shoot digital camera with a viewfinder. Often, there's just not room for it in the camera, as space can be a valuable commodity with cameras this small. The NV40 LCD screen handles viewfinder duties, and has a sufficiently fast refresh rate to do so without any trouble. We do prefer cameras with an optical viewfinder, though, because they are easier to see in direct sunlight versus an LCD screen, offer additional stability when holding a camera to your eye, and save battery power.

LCD Screen (6.00)
The LCD screen of the NV40 measures 2.5 inches across and has a 230,000 pixel resolution. This is fairly standard for a point-and-shoot camera, though many go a step larger to 2.7 inches (like the Nikon S700), or even 3 inches, such as the Canon PowerShot SD750. That said, the LCD on the NV40 is very bright, and is viewable from almost any angle. There is some solarization when viewing from extreme vertical angles, but even this is minimal. Three levels of LCD brightness are available; dark, normal and bright. When using auto LCD brightness, the screen adjusts itself based on shooting conditions.

The screen is very reflective, so it suffers from glare. The advantage to having a screen this shiny is that it makes the image look razor sharp, but reflectivity can be a problem, especially if you're shooting under bright lights or direct sun.

There is no way to change screen mode, so no histograms, shooting grids or other such niceties are available.

The LCD is 2.5", an average size for a compact point-and-shoot camera

Flash (5.75)
The flash is placed centrally on the camera, to the left of the lens. It's protected against errant fingers by a stabilizing ridge, which is rather handy, as it prevents you from accidentally blocking the light with your fingers. The flash is plenty powerful, though a bit uneven, with the center better illuminated than the periphery.

The flash range, according to Samsung, is 1.6 - 14.8 feet (0.5m - 4.5m) at the widest angle and 1.6 - 8.2 feet (0.5m-2.5m) for the maximum telephoto setting with ISO on auto. If you're shooting at a low ISO, you may find that the effective range of the flash is reduced.

The available flash modes are fairly standard. The flash is highly automated, even with camera modes designed around offering greater user control. First, there is Fill In, which will fire even in bright light, but the intensity is automatically controlled. There are two methods of dealing with Red Eye on this camera, as there's a Red Eye Reduction and Red Eye Fix. The former fires two flashes consecutively in order to prevent the subjects of your photos from having crimson pupils. Red Eye is caused by light reflecting off the blood vessels in the back of your eyes. By firing two flashes, the first causes the pupil to contract, which minimizes the reflected light. This method seems to take an unusual amount of time, averaging approximately 1.5 seconds between the two flashes. The problem this causes is that your subjects may think you've taken the picture with the first flash and start moving away only to be caught unawares by the actual shot. Red Eye Fix detects if there's Red Eye in the photo, and removes it digitally. If you are not shooting in Red Eye Fix mode, it is possible to correct red eye by editing the photo in playback mode. There is also a slow synchro flash setting that uses a slower shutter speed to capture more background detail in nighttime or dark shots.

The flash is powerful, but uneven

Zoom Lens (7.00)
The NV40 has a 3x optical zoom lens, with a focal length of 6.2 - 18.6mm, which is equivalent to 34 - 102mm in 35mm photography. The lens is made by Schneider-Kreuznach (who also supply lenses to Kodak), and offers an aperture range of f/2.8 - f/7.0 when at its widest and f/5.2 - f/13.2 at maximum telephoto.

Fully extended, the two-tiered lens raises about an inch from the body of the camera. The zoom is controlled by a small but wide switch that your thumb rests on while holding the camera. It's responsive, but not overly sensitive, which is good. The 3x zoom is definitely a modest telephoto. And while this is bolstered by a 5x digital zoom, using digital zoom rapidly reduces image quality, and so we recommend avoiding it if at all possible.

You can use the zoom while filming a movie, which isn't always the case with point-and-shoot cameras. Zoom level is indicated on the LCD by a sliding bar, with a vertical line representing the boundary between optical and digital zoom. Once you cross that threshold, the digital zoom level is also indicated numerically.

The NV40 has both optical and digital stabilization, the combination of which should allow for better protection against camera shake. Optical stabilization is activated by a button on the back of the camera, and is usable regardless of the image mode you're in. The digital stabilization, on the other hand, only turns on when the camera is set to Dual Stabilization mode, and doing so turns off the digital zoom. Optical image stabilization works by using an internal gyroscope to help steady the lens while you're shooting. The digital image stabilization uses color and shape data gathered from the image to try and minimize blurring in your shot. In our informal tests, we did not see a great improvement in using both stabilizers.

The Schneider-Kreuznach lens offers a 3x zoom.

Testing/Performance	Page 4 of 13		Design / Layout
Samsung NV40 Digital Camera Review Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour	Testing/Performance	Components
Design / Layout	Modes	Control Options	Image Parameters
Connectivity / Extras	Overall Impressions	Conclusion	Sample Photos
Specs / Ratings