The Samsung Digimax NV3 is a pocket sized digital camera with a few extras thrown in over and above a standard specification. This is because the Digimax NV3 can also be used as an MP3 player and a text viewer. Aside from those features it is a fairly standard point and shoot digital camera with seven megapixels and a three times optical zoom lens.

Overall I thought the Digimax NV3 handled my tests well. There were one or two areas where the camera may have done better, but on the whole I felt the camera produced shots of a comparable quality to many other pocket sized digital cameras.

In the first outdoor test shot the camera gets most things right. If I was being very picky I would say I would like to have seen just a bit more sharpness to the shot. In fairness focusing levels remain roughly the same as you more towards the edges. Colours are natural, the glare from the sun is handled well and dark areas of the shot show plenty of detail.

The second test shot discovers how well the camera focuses when the zoom lens is not being used. I felt that the Digimax NV3 was slightly above average in this area. Again perhaps not one of the very best, but I cannot really complain about the levels of sharpness.

Next up is a test for full use of the zoom lens. This shot produces another satisfactory result and I think the camera will produce decent scenic type shots in most situations.

My test for colours produced a standard result. As shown in the outdoor scenic shots the Digimax NV3 is capable of producing well balanced colours. I also think the colours have a pleasant soft feel to them and they do not dominate the shots.

One photo I like is the outdoor portrait. There is a natural feel to the photo and the skin tones look just about spot on. There is also a touch of warmth in the photo.

The Digimax NV3 is unable to quite get the focusing right in my indoor portrait. This is because the conditions prevailing when I took the photo are not quite bright enough for the camera. There is also red eye showing in the shot. This is not surprising when you look at just how close together the lens and the flash unit are.

My other indoor test shows the camera in a better light. Although the shot of beer bottles is taken in worse lighting conditions than the portrait shot the fact that the camera is that much closer to the subject makes it much easier for the camera to focus.

While the macro shot falls short of the very best I have taken I am still impressed with the result. There is a brightness about the photo I like and focusing levels are good too. This type of digital camera would never be my first choice for macro photography, but you should be able to take acceptable close up shots with the Digimax NV3.

Taking photos using an ISO setting of 400 adds a fair amount of noise to the picture. You can shoot at different ISO settings up to 1000, but by the time you get there, there is a clear loss of quality in the shot.

It took 0.58 seconds to take a single shot and 14.93 seconds to take five shots. These times are slower than average. Turning the flash on these times increase to 1.69 seconds for one shot and 19.84 seconds for five shots. Again these times are slower than average and I would like to see a quicker response.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

The three times zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 38 - 114mm in 35mm format. The maximum aperture of the lens is f3.5 - f4.5. Extra zoom is supplied by 5x digital zoom. For close up work you can choose between a 5cm standard macro and a 1cm super macro setting.

The LCD monitor is 2.5" in size. It is made up of 230,000 pixels. In my tests I found the monitor to be above average when it came to clear, sharp images of the scene I was about to capture.

For when you would like to be in the picture there is a self timer with a two or ten second delay. After you have taken a shot you can add up to 10 seconds of voice commentary to it. The Digimax NV3 can also be used purely as a voice recorder and you can capture up to one hour of sound. You can also imprint the date and time a photo is taken.

The built in flash unit has a maximum range of 3.4m. This falls to 2.7m when the zoom lens is in use. Flash modes you can select from are Auto, Red-eye reduction, Fill-in flash, Slow sync, Flash off and Red-eye fix.

To help improve the quality of your photos there are a variety of scene modes available. When a scene mode is selected the camera tries to match the optimum settings for the shot. The scene modes available are: Night, Portrait, Children, Landscape, Text, Close-up, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Fireworks and Beach & Snow.

Shutter speeds are controlled automatically by the camera. These work in a range between 15 seconds and 1/2000 seconds. More advanced features you do have access to include metering (Multi, Spot), exposure compensation (±2EV (1/2EV steps)), white balance (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Sunset, Fluorescent_H, Fluorescent_L, Tungsten, Custom) and ISO (Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000).

You also have access to other features such as sharpness and colours (Normal, Black and White, Sepia, Red, Green, Blue, Negative). On top of this you can highlight a focusing area for portraits and add a frame to a shot. There is also a setting for continuous shooting until the memory card is full.

You will find included in the box all the necessary cables and software to connect the camera to a television, compatible printer and computer.

The maximum resolution for shooting movies is 720 x 480 pixels. This is more or less a widescreen setting. Movies at this resolution are recorded at a rate of 20 frames per second. There is also a 640 x 480 pixels resolution. With this setting the frames per second speed can be set to 30. Sound can be recorded and zoom can be used whilst recording.

I found the Digimax NV3 easy enough to use. I did struggle to find the white balance and ISO controls (press the +/- button) and you will need to be aware that different groups of settings can be found in the menu, under the +/- button and under the E button. I like the control dial on the top of the camera as this places key controls at your fingertips.

You can pick up the Samsung Digimax NV3 for around £130. This compares with the Canon IXUS 75 (£205), Pentax Optio S7 (£110) and the Nikon Coolpix S8 (£160). As you can see there are quite a range of prices for seven megapixel, pocket sized digital cameras.

I find the design of the camera quite appealing. With dimensions of 94.5 x 57 x 17.5 mm it is one of the slimmest digital cameras around and will fit easily into a pocket. The camera is available in black and weighs 142g. It is made out of stainless steel.

A rechargeable lithium ion battery (SLB-0837) provides the power. You will find both the battery and charger are supplied as standard.

Samsung have built 15MB of memory into the Digimax NV3. Therefore a memory card is not supplied as standard in the box. I was only able to take three test shots before the memory was full. This is hardly enough to give the camera a test run. It is compatible with SD cards. Note Samsung have only tested the camera with cards up to 1GB in capacity.

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Style and slim design
MP3 player

Small internal memory
Red eye
Shutter lag

Overall I think the Samsung Digimax NV3 offers good value for money. It is not one of the more expensive pocket sized cameras, but the quality of the photos it takes is good in most situations. Worth a closer look, but you do need to keep an eye on shutter delay.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menus

Description:	7 megapixels and a 3x optical zoom
Ease of Use:	8
Features:	8
Colour:	8
Macro:	8
Indoors:	7
Value for Money:	8
Style:	8
Movie Mode:	8
Image Quality:	8
Build Quality:	8
Total:	79
Verdict:	The design and style of the Samsung Digimax NV3 really appeals to me. It is one of the slimmest digital cameras you will find and fit into a pocket without any problem at all. It can handle most photographic opportunities and is reasonably priced.
Review Date:	April 2007
Related Pages:	Samsung Digimax NV3 Specification Samsung Digimax NV3 Sample Images

Camera	Rating
Panasonic DMC FX60	86
Canon IXUS 120 IS	86
Sony DSC TX1	86
Canon IXUS 110 IS	86
Canon IXUS 100 IS	86
Panasonic DMC FS62	85
Samsung ST550	85
Nikon Coolpix S570	85

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Samsung Digimax NV3