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Manual Control Options
The NV40 offers a middling amount of manual control for a point-and-shoot camera, but is once again marred by a difficult user interface. There are 46 different shutter speeds, from 1/1500 of a second to a maximum of 16 seconds. However, there is no exposure compensation in manual mode, so to adjust exposure levels you have to change the shutter speed. The exposure compensation menu is available, but not in manual mode. Swiping your finger across the bottom row of buttons controls shutter speed, which is imprecise when trying to set a specific speed. Once again, we recommend using your pinky finger if you have any but the most delicate of digits. The ISO speeds range from ISO 80 to 3200, but this final level is at a reduced 3-megapixel resolution. There are also seven settings for white balance, including auto and manual white balance. You are given control over the aperture, but only two steps. There is no aperture or shutter priority mode.
Oddly, there are fewer flash controls in Manual mode than in Program or Auto. The only option you can change in Manual mode is Flash Off or Fill In. When in other shooting modes, you have access to two Red Eye Reduction modes, auto flash and Slow Sync mode as well.
All told, when in Manual mode, you lose access to four flash settings, auto exposure bracketing, auto contrast balance and exposure compensation, which are all available in Program mode. It is highly irregular to see options available in Program mode but not in Manual
Settings for auto focus mode, focal area, image size, shooting mode (continuous, high speed, motion capture and auto exposure bracketing) metering, image quality and compression are available. More advance controls are included as well, with contrast, saturation and sharpness all on hand.
Focus
Auto Focus (8.50)
The NV40 has 9 auto focus points, and emits two beeps when focus is achieved. It has Multi AF, Center AF, Self Portrait and Face Detection. The Face Detection mode can recognize up to 9 faces at a time, and will focus on the nearest of these and automatically adjust for exposure. Self Portrait mode combines Face Detection with audible cues to let you know if your face is in frame and will make a different noise when you are centered, allowing you to take the best MySpace shots possible.
The auto focus assist lamp is situated above and to the left of the lens, and is bright enough to help with focusing even in very dark conditions.
In Macro mode, the focus has a range from 1.97 inches to 31.5 inches (5 cm - 80 cm), and in normal mode this stretches from 31.5 inches to infinity (80 cm to infinity).
The auto focus is quite fast, and refocuses rapidly, which is important if you're trying to capture a speedy subject, or are changing your framing quickly. Focusing in low light is often a problem for point-and-shoot cameras, and the NV40 delivers about average performance in these situations. With the help of the auto focus assist lamp and a bit of light, ir generally manages to focus on the right subject.
Manual Focus (0)
The NV40 does not offer Manual Focus.
ISO (9.00)
The NV40 has full resolution ISOs from ISO 80 to ISO 1600, and ISO 3200 at a reduced 3- megapixel resolution. The advantage to using a higher ISO is that it provides increased light sensitivity, allowing you to take photos in darker conditions. The downside is that the higher the ISO, the more noise, or digital static, in your photo. The NV40 has a very low noise rate, so while we recommend always shooting at the lowest ISO possible, the NV40 will be more forgiving than many other cameras.
The noise reduction system with the NV40 is completely automatic, and appears to kick in above ISO 400, though this is not documented in the user manual. It does a good job, contributing to the camera's excellent noise reduction score in our performance testing.
White Balance (7.75)
The white balance for the NV40 also scored very well in our tests, but, surprisingly, the automatic mode was where most of the camera's high scores were recorded. The NV40 offers white balance presets for incandescent/tungsten, two levels of fluorescent, shade and sun, as well as automatic and manual white balance. This last lets you aim the camera at a white object (say a sheet of printer paper) and make the camera recognize that as ‘white’, then adjust the relative white balance appropriately. As with most controls, these are accessed and controlled via the buttons along the right and bottom of the LCD screen. However, since this is a situation where each level of white balance is afforded a button, rather than using the finger swipe controls, the menu system is slightly more precise than in other cases.
Exposure (2.00)
Unfortunately, there is no exposure compensation control in Manual mode, so any attempts to fix the exposure in your photos must be done by altering the aperture or shutter speed directly. In Program and Dual Image Stabilization modes, exposure compensation control activates and can change ±2 at 1/3 EV increments, but it appears to do so by altering the shutter speed.
Metering (7.00)
As with many point-and-shoots, the NV40 offers Center Weighted, Spot and Multi meter modes, but the choice isn’t available in automatic mode.
Shutter Speed (6.00)
In manual mode, the NV40 can use shutter speeds from 1/1500 of a second to a maximum of 16 seconds, but only up to 1 second in automatic mode. The NV40 fared well in our long exposure tests, which paired with its low noise performance makes this a particularly good camera to play with if you're interested in trying long exposure and low light photography.
Aperture (7.5)
The NV40 only offers two selectable aperture choices, f/2.8 and f/7.0, and when the 3x lens is fully zoomed in, this shrinks to f/5.2 and f/13.5. This range is not unusual for a compact camera, and in this case is only adjustable in manual mode.
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Image Parameters