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

by Tim Barribeau
Published on August 18, 2008

Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour
Testing/Performance	Components
Design / Layout	Modes
Control Options	Image Parameters
Connectivity / Extras	Overall Impressions
Conclusion	Sample Photos
Specs / Ratings

Model Design / Appearance (6.00)
The NV40 is well proportioned and shaped. It takes up about as much space as a tin of Altoids mints, though it is admittedly rather heavier. The inclusion of the ridge on the front and thumb rest on the back serves to break up an otherwise plain body and provide better handling stability. The two long stretches of buttons on the reverse of the camera are intriguing, though baffling without reading the manual. The dials on the top of the NV40 create a rather nice sense of symmetry. It is strange that Samsung devoted one of these dials to the Photo Style controls. Most users probably won’t use these options often, and the space would likely be better devoted to a more practical setting, such as ISO or shutter speed.

While the camera literature says it's black, the sample we received had a distinct purplish tint. When asked, a Samsung spokesperson said the camera is "not a standard 'black.'"

Size / Portability (8.00)
The NV40 is quite small, and will comfortably fit in the front pocket of a pair of jeans. It measures 3.7 x 2.2 x 0.7 inches and 4.6 oz. sans battery and memory card. That's 9.45 x 5.5 x 1.8 cm and 133 g for those who are metrically inclined. Of course, this measure is taken from its smallest point, and doesn't take into account the rather prominent ridge on the front to aid gripping. It's not the smallest cameras on the market, but it is compact and easily transportable. One caveat for those who are fans of wearing tight trousers: you may find the grip ridge on the front of the body slightly uncomfortable when pressed against your leg. However, the rear of the camera is perfectly smooth, so it sits well that way round.

The wrist strap affixes through an eyelet on the thumb rest situated on the right side of the camera. Threading the strap can be fiddly and annoying in some cameras, but on the NV40 it was easy and fast. We were able to attach the strap in less than 30 seconds, which is a lesson other manufacturers could learn from.

Handling Ability (7.00)
The NV40 is small, light and compact, with all the advantages and disadvantages that come with such a body. It is easily wielded in one hand, and light enough to bring to bear in an instant. The lightness is both a blessing and a curse, as it falls prey to camera shake readily. Using a second hand to steady the shot can help, as does image stabilization.

One of the problems that can hit these tiny point-and-shoots is that fingers can easily stray over lens/flash/important buttons. The NV40 institutes some rather cunning ergonomic features to combat this. The thumb of your right hand is kept from wandering about the back of the camera by a well-placed platform that functions as a place to grip and keep your thumb stationary. The zoom controls are also placed there, so there's is no need to move the thumb from its stabilizing position.

On the front of the camera, there is a prominently placed stabilizing ridge, with a strip of rubberized material. It creates a natural place for the fingers to rest, support the camera, and stop them from getting in the way of the flash and lens. This is also aided by the lens being placed on the left side of the camera, further away from errant fingers. However, if you're shooting with two hands, there's definitely a chance of your left knuckles making their way into frame.

Thumb pad and raised grip make the NV40 easy to hold

Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size (5.25)
The small size of the NV40 necessitates equally Lilliputian controls and small buttons. A great example of this is the power button, which is tiny. Thankfully, it is located in a small indentation, making it easy to find with the tips of your fingers. Like all the buttons and dials on the top of the camera, it's made of metal, which bodes well for long-term durability. When the camera is turned on, the power button is illuminated by a blue LED, which is handy since the LCD and lens both turn off while the camera is on standby. The LED lets you know whether your camera is still powered on at a glance.

Directly to the right of the power button is the shutter control. Set into a raised platform, and with a small well in the center, it has a unique feel under your fingers, which makes it easy to find in a hurry. It's a very sensitive button, and doesn't take much to depress. Luckily, the division between half-pressed and fully-pressed is sufficient to prevent accidental shooting. We felt the shutter button was on the small side, but those with delicate fingers may find it more to their tastes.

There are two control dials on the top of the camera. On the left, the Photo Style controller, which applies one of seven filter options to the photograph. The choices are Normal, Classic (black and white), Calm, Cool, Retro, Forest, Vivid and Soft. These styles are not explained on screen or in the manual, but appear to be hue and saturation adjustments. As you rotate the controller, the selected option appears on the screen, but for less than a second, which makes reading the descriptions problematic. The second control dial is slightly larger than the first, and located on the right side of the camera. It controls the shooting mode, and there are quite a few options available. There's Auto, Program, Manual, Dual Image Stabilization, Night Scene, Portrait, Scene (which houses 12 scene modes that will be discussed later in this review), and Movie Mode. The dials feel well constructed and firm. This firmness can be a bit of a problem with a camera this small and light, and applying sufficient force to change modes can change the framing of your shot considerably, both when using a tripod and when hand-holding. Attempting to change modes with the same hand as holding the camera is not recommended for stability.

The controls system of the Samsung NV40 is easily one of the most unique we've encountered, eschewing traditional navigation for something completely different. The menu system will be discussed in detail in the next section, but the method of navigating deserves some mention here. Along the bottom edge of the LCD screen is a row of seven ridged buttons, and along the right edge of the screen is a column of six of the same. These buttons are small, and touch-sensitive. This means they can read when your finger is resting on them, and when you press them. This becomes important when browsing menus, as the camera can highlight the appropriate section based on where your finger is. The buttons are very small, and close together. This leads to a problem, since it's very easy to slightly touch two buttons at once, which can make accurately selecting menu items difficult. This rears its ugly head when selecting photos in playback, for example, where it's almost impossible to accurately choose the image you want without accidentally flipping to the next in order. The advantage to this button-based system over a touch screen is that the screen can be smaller and is less prone to smears. It also gives Samsung something to differentiate itself from the other digital cameras on the market.

The controls are dynamic, shifting according to context, which necessitates a lack of printed labels.

Menu (4.00)
As mentioned, the menu system is complex, and unlike anything we've seen before. It's based around a row of seven buttons along the bottom of the LCD screen, and a column of six to the right. When shooting, various icons appear in-line with these buttons, and pressing one extends a line of options from that icon. These options are then navigated by the set of buttons perpendicular to the original. For instance, the third button along the bottom is the resolution control. Pressing it brings up a white vertical line of different picture size options. Each of these corresponds to a button along the right side of the screen (along with the dedicated "Back" button). As you rest your finger on a button, the corresponding option becomes highlighted on-screen, and pressing the button fully activates it. For some menus, however, there's more involved than pressing buttons. Instead, you're presented with a bar that you scroll along by swiping your finger in the appropriate direction. An example of this is the shutter speed menu. Rather than giving each speed a button and having to scroll slowly through the options one at a time, the screen presents a scroll bar that you move around by swiping your finger along the bottom row of buttons. The problem with this whole system is that it is grossly inaccurate. The touch-sensitive nature of the buttons means that if you so much as lean your finger too far in one direction, you'll brush the neighboring button and accidentally move the selection. Trying to quickly change any setting is an exercise in futility, especially when using the scroll bar.

Also annoying is the fact that the options available change between modes. Entire menu options can be removed when shifting between modes such as Program and Auto. This becomes annoying when moving between shooting modes, and the controls are not always were you expect them to be. Strangely, certain settings that can be used in automatic modes can't be used in manual, like red-eye reduction.

Voice recording is a nice addition that allows you to either record an audio file, or else attach memos to photos after you take them. There are also more self-timer options than we usually see. In addition to the choice of a basic 2-second or 10-second self-timer, there's double timer, which takes one photo after 10 seconds, and another 2 seconds after that. There's also Motion Timer, which gives you six seconds to get everyone into the shot, and after that will take a picture as soon as they’re all still. Unfortunately, the timer mode resets to normal if the camera enters playback or sleep mode, a frustrating feature if you're trying to organize a group of people for a shot and the camera hibernates.

The menu system offers detailed but complex controls

Control Dials
Photo Style	Normal, Classic, Calm, Cool, Retro, Forest, Vivid, Soft
Shooting Mode	Auto, Program, Manual, Dual Image Stabilization, Night Time, Portrait, Scene (Cafe, Food, Self Shot, Beach/Snow, Fireworks, Backlight, Dawn, Sunset, Text, Close-Up, Landscape, Children), Movie

Shooting Options
White Balance	Manual, Tungsten, Low Fluorescent, High Fluorescent, Cloudy, Sun, Auto
ISO	3200, 1600, 800, 400, 200, 100, 80
Shutter Speed	16 seconds-1/1500
Aperture	f/13.5-f/2.8
Optical Image Stabilization	On, Off
Focus	Auto, Macro Auto
Flash	Fill In, Off, Red Eye Fix, Slow Synch, Red, Auto
Image Size	1024x768, 2048x1536, 2592x1944, 3648x2057, 3072x2304, 3648x2432, 3648x2736
Focus Area	Multi AF, Center AF, Self Portrait, Face Detection
Shooting	Motion Capture, High Speed, Continuous, Single
Metering	Center, Spot, Multi
Image Adjust	Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness
Effect	Negative, Green, Red, Blue, Sepia, B&W, Normal
Quality	Normal, Fine, Super Fine
Timer	Remote, Motion Timer, Double, 2 Sec, 10 Sec, Off
Voice	Record, Memo, Off

Setup
LCD Setup
OSD Set (recording mode)	Full, Basic, Function Description, Hide
OSD Set (playback mode)	Full, Basic, Hide
LCD Bright	Auto, Normal, Dark, Bright
LCD Save	Off, On
Start Image	Off, Logo, User Image
Sound Setup
Sound Volume	Off, Low, Medium, High
Beep Sound	Off, Sound 1, Sound 2, Sound 3
Start Sound	Off, Sound 1, Sound 2, Sound 3
AF Sound	Off, On
Card Setup
File	Series, Reset
Self Portrait	Off, On
AF Lamp	Off, On
Quick View	Off, 0.5, 1, 3 seconds
Imprint	Off, Date, Date & Time
Card Setup
Copy To Card	No, Yes
Delete All	No, Yes
Format	No, Yes
Configuration
Language	English, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Thai, Indonesian, Arabic, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Turkish
Date & Time	Set Date and Time, yy/mm/dd, mm/dd/yy, dd/mm/yy, Off, World Time
Reset	No, Yes
Video Out	NTSC, PAL
Power Off	Off, 1, 3, 5, 10 minutes

Ease of Use (3.75)
If you're just using the NV40 for basic point-and-shoot functions, and not changing any settings manually, the camera is incredibly easy to use. The shutter button is easily differentiated from the rest of the camera, the camera is comfortable to hold and the auto focus works well. However, as soon as you try and change any of the settings, you hit the brick wall of a highly complex and counter-intuitive user interface. While it is certainly a surmountable problem, it requires nimble fingers and a significant time investment to get fully versed in the system. Handing this camera to a friend or stranger to take a picture might be problematic if they have to change any settings. The system is so esoteric as to be completely foreign to someone just picking it up. There are some nice visual effects in the menu system, and we can see the direction Samsung is trying to go with the controls, but the system is imprecise and confusing.

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