Samsung NV10 Review, October 2006
Simon Joinson

Review based on a production Samsung NV10

Back in July Korean giant Samsung announced a new series of cameras, the NV (New Vision) range that finally, firmly put the 'cheap n cheerful' plastic camera image behind them with three new all-black, all-metal models packed with features and genuinely desirable designs. The ultra-slim NV10 sits in the middle of the range and sports a 10MP CCD, 3x Schneider-branded optical zoom and a surprisingly sophisticated feature set. It also debuts Samsung's innovative new 'Smart Touch' user interface and control system, designed to replace pages and pages of menus with two strips of touch sensitive soft keys that offer direct access to almost all the camera's many features and options. We thought we'd find out if Samsung has finally caught up with the big boys in the digital camera market, or if the NV range is a mere case of style over substance. We'll start as usual with the headline features:

• 10.3 megapixel CCD
• 35-105mm equiv. (3x) Schneider-KREUZNACH zoom
• Program, Auto, Manual and Scene exposure modes
• ISO 100-1000
• Advanced Shake Reduction DSP
• In-camera special effects and editing of saved images
• Auto Exposure Bracketing
• 4cm Macro mode
• MPEG-4 (DiVX) VGA movie mode
• Only 18.5mm thick
• Optional docking cradle and remote control

NV10 specifications

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (typically VGA) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This article is Copyright 2006 Simon Joinson / dpreview.com and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey