Model Design / Appearance
The S730 and S630 are both available in both silver and black; we looked at the silver model. The cameras have a much less refined appearance than their more expensive siblings: gone are the glowing blue rings and buttons of the NV series. Instead, we have a relatively utilitarian, wedge-shaped design that is practical, but it doesn’t stand out from the crowd. If you were shooting with an NV7 or an L73, people might ask you about it. If you were shooting with an S730 or S630, they won’t. The case also doesn’t feel that durable. While it would be fine with small knocks and dings, I doubt it would stand up to rough treatment.
Size / Portability
At just under an inch thick, the S630 and S730 aren’t the thinnest cameras around. Neither are they the fattest. Though, they would easily slide into a bag or coat pocket, but it would produce an unsightly bulge in your jeans or shirt pocket. Samsung didn’t specify a weight for the cameras, and we were unable to weigh them. However, they felt like they were on the lighter side at under a pound.
Handling Ability
The wedge-shaped design of the S630 and S730 makes for comfortable handling. While the deeper body may make for bulging pockets, it also gives more for the hand to hold onto. We found that the shutter fell naturally under the index finger, and the zoom control under the thumb.
Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
The shutter and zoom controls are well placed for one handed use as both fall naturally under the fingers. The mode dial can also be reached with the thumb, but the other controls require the other hand to brace the camera while in use. However, they are all adequately sized and it’s pretty easy to figure out what they do.
Menu
The menus are reasonably well structured with the numerous buttons providing quick access to the sub-menus, none of which are more than a few layers deep. Pressing the menu button in the middle of the directional control gives the following options:
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Recording sub-menu
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Auto focus
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AF center, AF multi
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OSD Info
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Full, Basic
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Sound Sub-menu
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Volume
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Off, low, medium, high
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Start Sound
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Off, sound 1, sound 2, sound 3
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Beep sound
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Off, sound 1, sound 2, sound 3
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AF Sound
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Off, on
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Setup 1 sub-menu
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File
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Reset, Series
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Language
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Sets language from various options
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Date & Time
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Sets the date & time
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Imprint
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Off, date, date & time
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LCD
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Dark, normal, bright
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AF Lamp
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On, Off
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Setup 2 sub-menu
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Quick View
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Off, .5 sec, 1 sec, 3 sec.
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Power off
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1 min, 3 min, 5 min, 10 min
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LCD save
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Off, on
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Video
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NTSC, PAL
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Format
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Yes, No
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Reset
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Yes, No
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Ease of Use
Although the S730 and S630 lack the Smart Touch control system of the more expensive L73 and NV series, they are pretty intuitive and easy to use cameras. The onscreen menus are well structured and don’t require a huge amount of button pressing to navigate. It’s not the easiest camera to use that we’ve seen, but it’s simple enough for most users.
