Product Description

Don't be fooled by its compact size. The NV3 features seven different and dynamic ways to entertain your senses, whatever your mood. The NV3 is much more than a camera: it answers the needs of consumers who crave for more, combining a more luxurious design and practical multimedia technology.The NV3 is a convergence device, functioning as a high-resolution 7.2 mega-pixel digital camera. It also acts as an MP3 player using a special audio processing chip delivering 3D, Jazz, Rock, and other sound effects; a Portable Multimedia Player that can be connected to an external speaker for realistic movie sounds; a digital camcorder with MPEG-4 TVD & VGA video support for TV quality images; a voice recorder and a Sound clip function to record voice during 10-second self-timer shooting mode; a text viewer for reading text on the LCD or to use as an e-book; and as a portable disk with a 16M built-in memory and external SD card. The NV3 is a truly practical multimedia digital camera, with features to attract the next generation of digital photographers.With Samsung's unique ASR (Advanced Shake Reduction) system, 3x optical zoom, 5x digital zoom, and 230K 2.5" LCD, the NV3 is a spectacular digital camera in itself. Its multitasking function enables you to listen to music while taking pictures.The NV3 is a thin digital camera at 17.5mm in depth, encased in a black stainless steel body that is scratch and shock resistant. As with the other models in the NV Series, it uses the unique Samsung digital camera blue ring to maintain its identity with the NV range.The NV3 also minimizes zoom noise in movie recording mode enabling sound to be recorded. With AGC (Auto Gain Control) recording technology, the NV3's video quality delivers a real camcorder like experience.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27885 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Samsung
• Model: NV3
• Released on: 2006-09-15
• Dimensions: 1.00" h x 3.00" w x 5.00" l, 1.00 pounds
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• External memory(Optional) : MMC/SD card (Up to 1GB Guaranteed) Internal Memory capacity is subject to change without prior notice.
• 7-megapixel captures enough detail for photo-quality 15 x 20-inch prints
• 3x Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) zoom; 2.5-inch LCD display
• Included Digimax Converter software converts MP3 and video content, so the camera doubles as a video viewer and audio player
• Takes MPEG-4 videos at 30 frames per second
• 16 MB internal memory; comes bundled with ear buds and a lithium-ion battery

From the Manufacturer
Samsung Camera announces the introduction of NV3, one of three new camera models that comprise the revolutionary new NV series of digital still cameras featuring sleek, stylish designs and high technology. The NV3 is a 7-megapixel digital still camera that features Samsung's exclusive Digimax Converter software to play movies and MP3 files. The ground-breaking NV3 is a state-of-the-art digital still camera featuring revolutionary SHD optics with the added convenience of a Personal Media Player that allows users to enjoy video content and their favorite music on-the-go.

Samsung's new NV Series of digital still cameras are immediately recognizable by their highly attractive and sleek bodies in brushed black, stainless steel and a trademark Samsung blue ring located around the lens of each model. This premium line was developed after two years of extensive market research, and as with the NV3, feature the latest in Samsung digital imaging technology as well as personal media player functions.

At the heart of the NV3 is a 7-megapixel digital still camera measuring a mere 3.7 x 2.2 x 0.7 inches with a 2.5-inch high-resolution LCD display. For outstanding image quality, the NV3 integrates a 3x optical zoom (equivalent to 38-114mm in 35mm format) capability with Samsung's exclusive SHD lens technology.

The NV3 is equipped with Samsung's state-of-the-art Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) technology to combat hand shake and ensure crystal-clear images. The ASR function provides enhanced image clarity by electronically compensating for excess hand shake and improving color in environments lacking sufficient lighting where the use of the flash is not desirable. With the touch of a button, the unique technology uses proprietary algorithms to interpret sharpness and color information, delivering an image that looks like it has been taken with the flash. As the flash is disabled, side effects such as red eye, are prevented.

For entertainment on the go, users simply use the included Digimax Converter software to easily convert their favorite MP3 files or watch their favorite video content on the large, 2.5-inch color display. The user-friendly software can seamlessly convert MPEG, AVI, MOV, WMV, and ASF files for viewing on the NV3. For music on-the-go, the software can also convert MP3 and WAV audio files in several simple steps. The innovative software also allows users to view subtitles, adjust the screen size and crop and stretch the image to fit the screen as desired. Users can listen to their entertainment using the included ear buds or on the dual stereo speakers discreetly located on the camera, and for a seamless experience, even listen to their music while taking photos.

In addition to playing video, the NV3 can also make movies using MPEG-4, the high-compression, high-quality video format. The NV3 can record in VGA (640 x 480) at 30 frames per second (fps), for smoother video and a bigger view of the movie on LCD and TV screens. For steady videos, the NV3 includes a movie stabilizer function that automatically detects and corrects minor lateral and vertical camera movement. For additional control the continuous video recording function allows the user to pause and resume video recording at any time, while the built-in movie editing function allows users to edit video in-camera. The NV3 features several special effects functions for creative control in-camera, such as Color Effect, Highlight, Photo Frame, Negative, and Composite Shot. Color effects include black and white, sepia, blue, green, and red.

For crystal-clear images under various shooting conditions, the NV3 features 11 scene modes including Night, Portrait, Children, Landscape, Close-up, Sunset, Backlight, Fireworks, Beach and Snow, and Text Recognition. Text Recognition, a feature unique to Samsung digital still cameras, allows users to shoot documents such as books, papers, and magazines and then extract text from the image taken using the bundled Digimax Reader text-recognition software.

To ensure the clarity of images regardless of shooting range, the Auto Macro function automatically adjusts shooting distance and focus. By using the macro button, users can set the camera to automatically adjust distance and focus from between 5 centimeters to infinity. The NV3 also includes a super macro mode that enables subjects to be photographed up to as close as 1 centimeter

All Samsung digital still cameras feature a built-in image editing function allowing users to edit a variety of images without the use of a PC. The Trimming function can be used to cut an undesired part of an image and save only the required part. When short of memory, shooters can use the Resizing function to recover some of the memory space by resizing and saving images in a smaller size. The Rotating function allows users to rotate an image in the desired direction and save it.

The NV3 features 16 MB of internal memory and comes bundled with ear buds and a powerful lithium-ion battery.

Customer Reviews

A great camera and so much more too.....................
This is a great great unit. I say unit because it is so much more than a camera. But make no mistake, this is also a great camera. This is my second digital camera and suits my needs perfectly. I was looking for a compact camera with true optical zoom to take on my bike rides. The addition of an MP3 player, personal media player (to play DVDs) , voice recorder and text viewer were nice pluses. Let me first talk about the many camera features since this was the most important to me.

All the controls are logical and easy to use once you get past the initial learning curve. Point and shoot...no problem...turn the dial to the clearly marked green AUTO, press the shutter half way to focus and all the way to shoot....nice picture...rich in colors, clear, focused ...perfect. Need to zoom...press up on the zoom...it automatically stops before the digital zoom. The zoom setting shows on the screen with a slider. Need more zoom...push up again for another 5x digital zoom. I've found the digital zoom to work quite well...nice pictures...not too much noise. Focus is a breeze, there is a nice box in the middle of the screen which turns green and beeps when the camera is in focus. The camera turns on quickly and is ready for another shot shortly after the first....much faster than my other digital camera (HP-R717).

So...you want more control...use the scene mode. Turn the dial to scene and press the OK button ...lots of scene types to choose from (sunset, portrait, landscape...etc. no panorama though). Oh and when you turn the dial, the wheel shows on screen clearly showing you which mode you are in....you don't need to look at the writing on the dial....nice...particularly if you need reading glasses like I do.

Want to get really fancy, try the program mode. In this mode you can try the many "effects" programmed into the camera. These include...composite (select from 4 different types of composite pictures...I like this effect a lot), photo frame (a fanciful set of boarders that can frame your picture ...nice fun), color pallet (change the picture to black and white, sepia, red hue, blue hue, green hue or negative), highlight (sharpen the focus and blur the rest of pre-selected portions of the picture). Or perhaps you want to adjust the exposure...hit the +/- button and change at will. You can also change the RGB balance, ISO from 80 to 1000 or the white balance.

In all camera modes you can select macro or super macro mode. These modes open a whole new world of photography for you, allowing you to get in very close to your subject. Want to take pictures of ants...no problem.

Turn the dial to anti shake mode and take two pictures...one with flash and one without. Both pictures are displayed simultaneously along with a zoomed in view and you can select which one you want to keep. Alternately, you can just take the photo without the flash and see only one picture.

Once your picture is taken it is simple to add a voice comment. You can also zoom in on the picture, crop it and even remove red eye if there is any. The red eye removal works very well most of the time and frankly I haven't seen that this camera generates much to begin with.

So now you've got lots of pictures and want to see a slide show. You can select the interval (1sec, 3sec, 5 sec, 10 sec), transitions and play or repeat play....you can't select the starting photo...all are shown. You can even add music of your choice to the show...turn the dial to MP3 first and a push of the button or two and you are there. Unfortunately the camera doesn't rotate pictures for you automatically and though you can manually rotate them, they don't stay rotated. Not a big issue though.

The flash is a marvel in that it can light up large areas...very powerful. I recently took many outdoor Christmas light pictures and was very pleased with the results. One thing I did notice is occasionally the presence of small white spheres in the picture as a result of the flash hitting dust particles in the air. I actually like the effect of this. It doesn't happen all the time so if you don't like it, you can just retake the picture.

Want to take a movie, turn the magic dial to movie press the shutter once to start and once to stop. You can zoom in and out with ease and it doesn't corrupt the sound. I've only tried the low resolution movie mode but there are also higher resolution modes to choose from. The movies are not bad and the sound pick up is very sensitive.

Uploading pictures is easy. Just plug in the USB cable (which also charges your camera....nice), press the shutter and connection is established. The included computer image manipulation software has many bells and whistles and serves me well. You will be very happy with the quality of the pictures. I've no doubt that other cameras take equally good pictures, but I doubt other cameras have all the features of this one.

OK, now that we've established that this is a capable full featured digital camera lets talk about all the other features.

I've got a 2 gig card loaded with my favorite music. The MP3 mode lets me listen to music either on headphones or through the built in stereo speakers. I have to admit I was skeptical about the speakers before I heard them. I was very pleasantly surprised to find how good and loud they sound. Many different sound stages are included so you can adjust the sound texture to your liking. You can select between random play or repeat play or single play or ...etc. You can organize your music into different folders but it won't traverse folders while in play. This means random play only works within a folder. Of course with enough memory you can combine all your music into one folder as well as keeping it in separate folders, then you can random play from the combined folder for a broad selection of random play.

So there you are riding along on your bike, listening to your favorite music and you feel the urge to snap a quick picture....just push the shutter and snap it without missing a beat. You won't have all the features and options available for taking the picture but big deal. If you want it all just turn the dial to the picture mode of your choice and snap away....turn it back to MP3 and start listening to the same music selection...very easy. Pausing and skipping music are also easy, requiring only one button push.

You're stuck in an airport or car and need entertainment....turn the dial to PMP and watch your favorite DVD movie. This requires a bit of preparation in that you first need to convert your DVD to and AVI file format (there are many software packages on the internet that do this). Then convert the AVI to a format the NV3 can play using the included Digimax converter. A full DVD shrinks to about 200meg or so...way cool. I've got several stored on my 2 gig card.

So there you have it, a truly versatile camera/entertainment center. You will find new ways and opportunities to use this unit's many features. I love it and so will you.

Cool Camera
Very good picture quality. Very small and easy to carry around. The mp3 quality is good and even the speakers do a decent job considering the size of the device. A few minor complaints. The flash in auto mode flashes twice so your unaware subject will move after the first one and ruin the photograph. There is no problem with the other modes. Beware if you have a mac. I haven't been able to figure out how to put video on the thing which is not what I really bought it for so who cares. The mp3 function works fine with a mac and uploading pictures is no problem through iPhoto. In conclusion: A great little camera that is perfect for going out and decent for mp3's (great value for the money by the way). Video format needs to be reworked for mac but should work well with Windows.

Great for Everyday Use and Traveling
After reading all the reviews and comments on the web, I went for it and I'm very happy with it. OK, maybe it's not in the very topmost notch for pic quality compared to bigger pricier cams but at 7.2mp, and in this small size, the pic quality is right up there... According to most of the testimony on the web it's as good or better than others in it's class.
Everything works as advertised. Video & sound totally in sync... mp3 playback excellent with earbuds provided. Experiment with the 7 modes (jazz, classical, etc.) to find your preference... they really make a big difference. Text function works fine. Once you get past the initial learning curve, all the functions are sensible and intuitive. Hint: If it seems to be hung up, just flick the main thumb dial to the next mode and back again... that'll clear any hang-ups! I've had no real problems up and downloading anything once I figured it out. Create 3 files on your k-disk: mp3, PMP, and TEXT... and fill them accordingly... it'll work out fine.
I have a 2 gig card and haven't had any problems yet but Samsung only guarantees it with 1 gig... You might want to start with 1-gig, and after awhile if you find you want more space, just get another 1-gig card... that could be an alternative way to go. But I haven't seen any evidence on the web of people having problems with 2-gig... so... it's your call. One reviewer here complained about the automatically-charging-while-cabled-to-your-PC issue... I'm not an expert but from what I've researched this is NOT problematic because a lithium-ion battery(which the NV3 has)apparently doesn't have the charging-memory difficulties that the (older) ni-cads do. So, in fact, the automatic-charging seems to be a GOOD thing!
It's rugged. I've dropped/slammed mine a few times with no problems(use the wrist strap!). If you like multifunction gizmos, you won't be disappointed. It's the future now. Looks classy and sharp. Works great. (I carry mine in my pocket in a little form-fitting cloth bag I made in 20 minutes.) If you're asking me... it's very cool, highly portable (small, 5 oz.)and well worth the money especially if you're on the go a lot and like to have a good-quality cam and music with you most of the time. It also sports a decent-quality built-in mic which can record long audio segments in WAV files which line up in order in the memory just as the pics do... this is a very useful function to have along with you too!