Excellent camera for beginners and beyond (Samsung NV15)

Member Name: starjen

Product:	Samsung NV15
Date:	01/11/08 (282 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Picture quality, easy to use

Disadvantages: Flash manually put down

I finally decided to step into the modern ages this year and purchase myself a digital camera. The reason I had put it off was that I love photos, getting them developed and putting the photos in albums, and I wasn't sure how I would feel being able to see all my photos when I took them and whether I would then not get them developed. But after our trip to Vegas and I just took a normal camera I was really disappointed that quite a few pictures didn't come out and it was really hard to get any pictures at night and I just wished I'd had a digital camera!

So I decided back in March I wanted a digital camera and started to look round. There is just so much choice and it's quite hard to work out what you actually need, but I decided I wanted as high a pixel I could get and that I wanted it to take good pictures at night as I knew a lot of pictures would be me out with friends! I had a budget of £130 and after hmming and hawing I saw an offer on the Argos website for the Samsung NV15 10 mega pixel camera with a 2GB memory card for my price and decided to go for it.

The Camera

After collecting and rushing home I ripped open the box and was really surprised at how small it was, though looking at other camera's now it's probably not that small. It measures 9.5cm x 6cm x 2cm. I have it in silver but it's also available in black. The front is slightly angled on the right side which makes it easy to grip. On the top of the camera is a dial which you rotate to change the mode, the power button and the capture button. The only problem I have with this, is that sometimes (probably when slightly under the influence!) I press the power button instead of capture and then of course switch it off instead of taking the picture everyone is posing for.

On the back of the camera is the screen which is 5cm x 4cm which is surrounded by buttons and the zoom button. When I first looked at the camera I thought "oh no" I'm going to have to work out what to do with all these buttons, but in my opinion these are brilliant. As you run your finger over the button it shows up on the screen what its function is and then you press the button to make your selection.

Pictures/modes

The easiest option to use to take pictures is auto. You literally just point the camera and click and the flash recognises whether it is needed or not. You can change the focus options, flash, focus area and quality options in this mode. I must admit that this is the mode I use the most as I don't have to think about what I'm doing and I am quite a basic photographer. But I like the idea that there are other options available to me as I grow and learn to take better pictures. The other options are program and manual. In program mode it configures itself with the optimal settings, but you can still manually adjust the settings except the aperture value (I don't actually know what this is) and the shutter speed. In manual mode you can control all the settings. I have used it in program mode, to take close up pictures to sell bits on Ebay and by adjusting the focus to macro and fiddling with the flash I find I can take excellent close up pictures.

Perhaps the only fault I can find with this camera is that after a picture has been taken with the flash, and you don't want to take another picture on flash or turn it off, you have to manually push the flash down back into the camera. It doesn't seem flimsy but if you forgot and left it lying around it could easily get broken I would imagine.

The other options available are ASR mode which reduces the camera shake to help you take clearer pictures. In Effect mode you can add special effects to the pictures you take, like photo frames or wings and a halo, which is amusing for a while but not something I really use.

In scene mode there are 14 different options to use: café, food, self shot, beach/snow, firework, backlight, dawn, sunset, text ,close-up, landscape, children, portrait and night. I have tried a couple of these options, like night and beach, but found I took better pictures in the normal mode so have stuck to this but I might try out the firework option soon to see how that fairs.

The next option is movie mode in which you are able to shoot a video. I have played around with this but haven't used it seriously, and the images do come out clearly, not like when you use a mobile phone to take video images.

The last option is the photo gallery where you can review your images with music, but I don't use this at all. If I want to look at my pictures I use the playback button on the camera and look at them that way.

Zoom

The camera has 3x optical zoom. To use this you push the button up to T (tele) until the bar on the screen reaches the line or you get the image you want. You can get some really good pictures when you zoom in a bit but I find when I zoom in too much the image does become a bit blurred and not as clear. For my purposes I feel this zoom is fine.

Uploading Pictures

The camera comes with a disc which can load up onto your computer to install the Samsung master photo suite. I have put this onto my computer and switch between using this and Adobe photoshop.

To upload the photos you just plug the USB cable into your computer and camera, turn the camera on and then the computer automatically recognises the device is there and it gives you the option of where you want to store the photos. I find it very simple indeed. The camera can also charge when plugged into the computer but it also comes with a plug into which you plug the USB cable and charge it through the main wall socket. This is very useful as when I went on holiday I took the plug and knew I could charge the camera up if needed.

Battery Life

The battery seems to last ages, although it does run down quicker when being used at night and the flash is constantly being used. When I took it on holiday for 10 days, it started to run down about 8 days in to the holiday and so I charged it up for a bit and it was fine. The battery also runs flat if it is sitting around not being used. The manual says the battery will last 100 minutes taking apprx 200 pictures when used in auto mode, using zoom and flash every other picture.

Other information

You need to have a memory card when using this camera as when I don't have the card in it only stores 7 pictures though I do have the quality settings and size quite high. As soon as the memory card is in it saves automatically to that and there is a counter on the screen letting you know how many more pictures it will hold. With my 2Gb memory card and the high settings I have it will store about 800 pictures.

The camera also has face recognition and red-eye fix, which I was really excited about before I got it but when I'm actually using the camera I tend to forget about it and rarely use the face recognition option.

Summary

This isn't a really technical review as I personally don't know about that sort of thing but I hope I have covered the things people might be looking for if they were purchasing a digital camera, and if you feel there is more I should add then please let me know. I am really happy with purchase and glad I chose this camera, I find it easy to use and it does take excellent pictures for my needs. I feel I will be able to grow with this camera too and as I get more confident taking pictures I can learn to adjust the settings more and get even better pictures. Also, although I do find it strange being able to see my photos straight away (and being able to delete the horrible ones!) I have still got my pictures developed and put them in albums.

Advantages

Easy to use
Takes excellent pictures
Different settings for beginners and more advanced photographers
Adjustable settings, like shutter speed, flash, quality, focus
Good battery life
Compact
USB or mains wall chargeable

Disadvantages

Flash has to be manually put down
Some scene modes seems to take worse pictures then in auto mode
Power button and capture a bit too close together

I will attach some photos that I have taken so you can see the quality it takes (if you feel they are poor that may be more down more to me than the camera!).

This review may appear on other review sites under same name.

Summary: Great camera to start and develop with

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Features:
Picture quality: