Samsung Lumix NV100HD

...time I came across the Samsung NV100, I had become extremely impatient. The last few cameras I had been interested in had reluctantly okay reviews or something missing that I wanted. When I found this camera, the reviews were fairly positive and the negative comments were things like "awkward touch screen" and "poor positioning of the flash". Generally these are things I'll happily live with, as long as picture quality is not ...
...not read the manual, the Samsung camera can look pretty confusing, and it is hard to figure out where all the functions are, how you switch them on and when they are working. He also did not know how to work the flash, and the restaurant is pretty dark, with mostly candle lighting. The dark pictures came out blurry and noisy, but once we had the flash sorted, they came out perfect, with full colour, and crisp, clean images. As I had read, the flash ... more

For absolutely months on end I have been thinking about buying a digital camera. Now I as I am supposed to be saving every penny of my money and spend too much already on leisure activities, the thought of splashing out a huge sum of money on a camera scares me. Therefore, I decided instead to save up all the vouchers and points I earn online from things like cash-back sites and even reviews, until I could buy something on Amazon. So finally I had a budget of about £200 (yes, it took a while) and being limited to buying from Amazon as the seller, I spend hours searching out a camera. By the time I came across the Samsung NV100, I had become extremely impatient. The last few cameras I had been interested in had reluctantly okay reviews or something missing that I wanted. When I found this camera, the reviews were fairly positive and the negative comments were things like "awkward touch screen" and "poor positioning of the flash". Generally these are things I'll happily live with, as long as picture quality is not compromised.

I was going for high Megapixels, although aware that they do not necessarily mean top quality pictures. This camera boasts 14.7, and is therefore miles above the average. To be honest I'd have been happy with 10. I also wanted at least 3 times optical zoom. Not digital, as my sister had emphasised to me, apparently digital zoom is as good as plonking the snaps on the computer and then enlarging them. This camera has 3.6X optical and 5X digital zoom. More might have been nice, but for my first ever camera, this was good enough. Finally I wanted a decent sized screen for viewing the pictures as I take them, and this was bigger than the average I had seen, and 3 inches.

Impressed and impatient, I put in my order. It cost me £169.99, and if I had only waited a week or two longer I could have paid only £149.99, so for this I am gutted. Still, my delivery was faster than expected and I received the camera in time for my sister's birthday, Christmas and a couple of nice evenings out with friends.

First impressions

When I rushed through the order, I forgot to choose the silver, so ended up with black, but when I opened the packaging and saw the camera, I have to admit I was probably more pleased with the black finish than I would have been with the silver one. Plus most people have silver, don't they? I had heard that the camera is bulky and not much in appearance. However, in my opinion, even with the lens fully out, the camera is fairly sleek and nice in appearance. It was also not too 'girly' for my dad, who I guess is going to be borrowing it! It seems touch enough, but I won't be trying my luck, just to be able to comment on how easily damaged it is! The screen looks very nice, but as the camera does not come with a case included, I was concerned it would quickly get scratched. We charged it, albeit not fully, and on that very day took it out for my sister's birthday meal.

When you first switch on and start up, you have to set the date and time, and this feature can then be used to record when your pictures were taken. It is quite easy to do and I mostly figured out the basics without too much reference to the manual.

The first person to test drive my new gadget was actually a restaurant waiter, who, poor thing, struggled a bit, determined to figure out how to zoom in and out. Admittedly, if you've not read the manual, the Samsung camera can look pretty confusing, and it is hard to figure out where all the functions are, how you switch them on and when they are working. He also did not know how to work the flash, and the restaurant is pretty dark, with mostly candle lighting. The dark pictures came out blurry and noisy, but once we had the flash sorted, they came out perfect, with full colour, and crisp, clean images. As I had read, the flash was an awkwardly placed pop-up on the top of the camera, right where you would normally have your fingers. Still, I did think there was enough space to grip the camera well.

Someone had been fiddling with the dial on the top of the camera, which changes the modes, and when my dad and I started to try out the camera, we found that it was focusing itself, spotting faces and taking pictures! So yes, the face detection - and smile detection, in fact, does work quite well. Actually on one occasion it spotted one of my sister's friend's chest and seemed to think that was a face - so beware of pervy snaps eh!

I did figure out the zoom (pressing the T and W buttons) but I'm not sure how you can tell when you are at the maximum optical zoom. I only used this function within medium sized room, so I am not sure how effective it is for landscape pictures. However when I have had a chance to try this I will update - maybe add some pictures too.

Motion should not be a problem with this camera apparently, particularly with dual stabilisation, but I had to admit I did have a few pictures that came out completely blurred. I'm not sure yet why this is although a few people were trying the camera and it may have automatically taken shots as they moved it. On the other had, my sister tried taking a couple of shaky shots that came out perfect, so it is hard to tell.

There are different scene modes that you can use to take pictures in different settings at the best possible quality. As I've only had the camera a short time I've not tried many, but I have so far seen the difference using these features can make. Again, when I have some decent snaps to show of this I will put them up.

Generally the picture quality is not exactly outstanding, and this cannot be expected just because of a number of Megapixels, but it is certainly as good as most cameras with 10MP and above. I think had it been quite an extra cost to go from say, 12 to 14MP, I would have felt that was money wasted, but given the low price, I was still pleased.

Video

I took it out another time, and at some point must have changed the function to video, and so accidentally took a video. Now maybe when I am more familiar with the camera I will be more aware of what mode I am in, but I think this may take time getting used to, as it can be confusing at first. Anyway, it gave me a chance to try out the video function. Obviously, video picture quality is not as good as stills, and this does show pretty well. However, watching the video it is very smooth and still of reasonable quality, just probably not enough to warrant using it over a good video recorder. I think you need to use a different kind of software than the one I have installed to view videos, so at the moment I have not seen them on my computer, only on the camera.

Memory

The camera has an internal memory of 40MB And also takes SD, SDHC and MMC memory cards - I am using the 8GB SDHC at the moment. I have an 8GB SD in mine and this is probably more than I will ever need. Remember, you can always transfer your pictures onto a computer and free up space on memory cards, so to me I can't see why you would need much more. The memory card is easily inserted into a space within the battery compartment and is safely locked away. I think the internal memory is only used when you do not have the card in, and you can transfer pictures from this memory across quite easily.

Power

I received the camera on the 22nd and started writing this review on the 29th. I've not had to charge this camera since the first day, and I have been playing with the different sounds and flicking through the pictures a lot. I've taken about 50 shots plus a video and the battery icon is still showing as full.

This camera can be charged via your electric socket or using the USB it can be plugged into your computer for charging. I'm not sure how useful this feature really is. My thinking was that it is great if you forgot the charger, but then you'd have to have remembered the USB lead anyway, right? Also, I expect this would be a lot less energy efficient, but if it ever comes in useful, I promise to return to my review and explain why.

Touch screen

So as I was saying before, the NV 100 HD has a lovely 3inch HD LCD screen, which is excellent quality and also looks quite nice. This is also a touch screen, and the first thing I noticed about that was that it meant that while in use, I had prints all over it! This can get annoying, and I conveniently have a DVD cleaning cloth which I had to keep using to wipe it clean. I do somewhat prefer using buttons, except when scrolling through my pictures, I quite like using the touch screen to slide along. The sensitivity is just right, but be careful about gripping the camera by the screen. I'm also very conscious of my long nails, which are not ideal with this. It is slightly fiddly and sometimes I accidentally scroll too fast, for instance, but I soon got used to this and it is not that hard to use. Plus, it's something new, so it is impressive.

User manual

There is a quick start guide book that you should really read before you do anything at all with the camera. This covers the basics, like safety, setting up and charging your camera, as well as taking pictures and videos and transferring files. It also has some hints for photography and common problems, like how to make sure dark pictures do not come out blurry.

The CD-ROM that comes with the camera has an electronic manual, which is opened in Adobe Acrobat (there is actually an old version included on my CD so I did not need this, but it is available online if you want to upgrade). I have briefly read the manual to check a few things. It seems a lot less detailed than I expected, but with contents lists that link straight to the right pages it is easy to find the information that is there. Once you have the basics about the different buttons, the rest is more a matter of trial and error - that's the best way to pick things up.

Software

I've installed the software and uploaded some pictures already. You get Quicktime from Apple, which I don't think is great but I'm happy just transferring files across and using my own Windows programs. The software included is Samsung Master, and when I opened it I found it had already found all my old pictures on my computer, which is handy. It loads up quickly as a kind of explorer and looks very easy to use. When you open up a picture, you can also edit it, e.g. remove red eyes (although the camera has ways to avoid red eyes etc.), and add artistic effects. You can do slide shows, emails, web albums, printouts and screensavers from this. To be honest I will probably not use it, but it does look helpful if needed.

Conclusion

All in all, so far I am very happy with this camera. I've had it only a week and a bit but already I'm finding that I can't stop taking it out to admire it (okay, I like nice things and don't have many!) or play with it. It is smart, a perfect size, not too heavy or light. It is a little confusing to begin with, but I'm sure this I will get used to. The picture quality is very good and memory is not an issue. The power lasts enough for my usage. Frankly, for me, this is perfect.

As a buyer, you may have completely different needs from me, but hopefully if I have covered as many aspects as possible with the good and not so good things, you'll be able to decide whether this is actually what you need. Based only on my needs, I will be rating this highly, but please don't just go by the rating alone. Currently, prices are going down, and I would expect to pay quite a bit less than I did, but at a reasonable price it is well worth it. 

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