Specifications
16MP CCD sensor, 5X optical zoom with dual stabilisation, 720p video recording, ISO 3200 3-inch touchscreen flip LCD, micro HDMI out, microSD card slot, 3D, USB charging, 121g Attractive, well-built, feature-packed, responsive touchscreen, intuitive interface No manual exposure, weak battery life.
How many features can you cram into a compact camera that weighs about as much as an average cellphone? Samsung is pushing the boundary with the MV800. The top edge just has a power button, shutter button and zoom lever. The back is dominated by the 3-inch OLED touchscreen and there are only two buttons — home and image playback.
It has all the right ingredients — a stabilised 5x optical zoom Schneider-Kreuznach lens, solid construction, liberal use of metal and a lightweight, attractive design.
The screen flips out and upward, but not downwards. Self portraits and videos are easy, thanks to the second shutter button hidden under the flip-out screen. You would think that you can't take a photo from a high angle since the screen does not flip down — but you can just take a photo with the camera upside down, and it'll automatically rotate the image.
The touchscreen is responsive and has large colourful icons — the interface might remind you of a smartphone rather than a camera (which is a good thing). This is not a camera for the serious hobbyist or for someone who wants to learn photography. It is a camera for someone who just wants to take fun photographs. So there's no manual exposure mode, but the sheer number of effects, filters, frames and scene modes available is mind-boggling.
You can take photographs with various scenes (landscape, beach, sunset etc), within various frames, with vignetting, miniature effect, soft focus, sketch, painting, cartoon, with funny face morphing effects, picture in picture, beauty shot (automatic blemish correction) or with auto background defocus. There's also a built in photo editor that lets you apply effects, fix red eye, crop, rotate, adjust saturation, change contrast & brightness and change colour balance. Then there's the 3D mode and an excellent Live Panorama mode — just pan the camera and it automatically stores a panoramic image (in 2D or 3D)
Some other features you could label as downright cheesy. For instance, the Theme Album lets you choose from one of three themes (travel, wedding or party) — the camera then temporarily places photos in a slideshow with music and page-turn animation effects. The Pose Guide shows you 20 different images of a woman in different poses — you can select any one and the camera will put a wireframe overlay on the screen, to allow you to position your subject in exactly the same way. It's handholding, but taken to a new extreme.
Image quality is a mixed bag — noise is the biggest problem. Even after manually setting ISO to 80, noise is visible indoors. And battery life could be a sore point for some — it can only manage a limited 100 to 120 shots on a charge. Buy it if you need something out-of-the-ordinary. Otherwise, look at Sony’s HX7V which offers better performance at the same price.
