The Samsung NV40 is a small, 10-megapixel point-and-shoot camera available for as little as $150. The NV40 did very well in our performance tests, but has some interface issues that may make it more difficult to use than other entry-level cameras. The NV40 is an example of pint-sized point-and-shoot camera craze, and will fit easily into most pockets. Despite its small size Samsung have made some design decisions that make it easier to hold, including a ridge on the front and a place for your thumb to sit on the back.

Anyone glancing at the NV40 will find quite a few interesting buttons and dials that are not typical camera fare. On the top you find two dials, one to change camera modes, while the second is for Photo Style. This latter mode applies various hue and saturation adjustments, most of which have arcane names. If that's not confusing enough for the average user, they will certainly be baffled when they look at the back of the camera and notice that there are no obvious navigational buttons. Instead Samsung elected to place a rows of buttons below and to the right of the 2.5-inch LCD display.  Explaining how these buttons work is as confusing as actually using them, but the basic idea is that pressing one of the buttons below the display will cause a list of options to appear, with each option corresponding to one of the buttons on the right of the display. The problem is that the buttons are also touch-sensitive and very small, so it is very easy to accidentally hit the wrong one.

Going back to the top of the camera you'll notice that there is a manual mode available, but when this mode is selected you'll find the frustrations with user interface just continue. Adjusting the shutter speed in manual mode requires that you run your finger along the bottom strip of buttons, but with 46 different shutter speeds to choose from the chances of actually picking the one you want are remote. Another annoyance is the way menu options change radically when you move to manual mode, including strange changes like the loss of various flash settings and exposure compensation controls. These difficulties in interface make the manual mode on the NV40 much less useful than it could have been.

The Samsung NV40's lens provides a 3x optical zoom, typical for a camera in this price range. The 2.5-inch LCD display is also standard. Movie capture is available at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480, at 30 frames per second. When not in full manual mode you do have access to exposure compensation and bracketing controls. There's also a good selection of ISO settings from 80 to 1600 and a high ISO mode at 3200 that reduces the resolution to 3 megapixels. The auto focus is fast, with up to nine focusing points available and face detection included as well. There are fourteen difference scene modes available to tailor the camera settings to various shooting situations.

Performance (read in-depth lab performance at Digitalcamerainfo.com)
The Samsung NV40's interface annoyances are even more frustrating when you realize that underneath all of the arcane dials and buttons is a very capable little camera. The NV40 did very well in our tests, with solid color accuracy, excellent resolution and very low noise. We were also very impressed by the camera's automatic white balance performance, although the performance of the various presets was less impressive. Even low-light performance, a typical bugaboo for point-and-shoot cameras, was above average on the NV40. We were very happy with the NV40's image quality performance in our tests.

Comparisons (read in-depth comparisons at Digitalcamerainfo.com)
If you're never going to change a setting or move the mode dial away from Automatic the Samsung NV40 has a lot to recommend it. If you're the type that likes to make adjustments or wants to grow into the manual mode, however, the NV40 will likely cause you enough frustration that you will want to throw it against a wall. In this case we recommend you look at competitors like the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS or the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8, both of which offer more traditional (and easier to use) user interface designs, or the recently introduced Samsung TL34HD, which substitutes a touch-screen for the multi-button madness of the NV40.