Why Buy the Samsung NV24HD?
The Samsung NV24HD includes a number of the latest buzz features such as high definition movies and the ability to automatically take a picture if it detects someone smiling. On top of this there is the wide angle lens, a manual exposure mode and the ability to reduce and potentially eliminate red eye. All these features come in a neat and tidy package.


Image Quality

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom) The NV24HD gets off to a promising start. Focusing is good, especially in the centre part of the photo. There is a loss of sharpness towards the edges, but this will only be an issue with very large prints. Colours look good.	Outdoor 2 (No Zoom) Digital cameras with wide angle lenses can find focusing difficult when no zoom is being applied. This is because it is hard to build perfect quality into such a small and inexpensive lens. Overall the NV24HD does well, although the softer focusing towards the edges is again in evidence.
Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom) The downside of a wide angle lens is that it takes away some of the telephoto capabilities of the lens. In other words the lens is unable to zoom in as close as other 3.6x zoom lenses. Focusing is inline with my first two photos. There is a loss of detail in the darker areas of the photo. This is especially pronounced under the trees to the left of centre.	Outdoor 4 (Building) I am happy with the sharpness of the photos when the subject has been at distance. Although, as in the first three shots sharpness becomes softer as you move towards the edges of the photo.
Outdoor Portrait The brightness and focusing are fine, but the NV24HD sure has packed a lot of colour into this photo. The red / orange tinge is overdone for my own personal taste.	Indoor Portrait with Flash If anything there is too much brightness in this shot as the flash overpowers and covers up some of the detail. As with the outdoor portrait the pink skin tones are overdone.
Indoor Portrait without Flash Without the flash the camera produces a more natural looking photo. I prefer it to the portrait with flash, although the pink skin tones could be toned down once more.	Colours My dedicated test for colours shows that the camera is capable of strong, vibrant colour. If anything red tends to have the upper hand here. This may go some way to explaining the strength of the skin tones in my portrait shots.
Macro When it comes to the amount of detail showing in the macro shot the NV24HD does very well. My original macro shot had a blue tinge to it and the only way I could get rid of it was to use a custom white balance setting. You need to be aware of this if you are looking for a digital camera that you can always use with fully automatic settings. The shot could also do with a touch more brightness.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
At higher ISO settings the results are pretty standard. At ISO 400 noise is not much of an issue in the lighter areas of a photo, but is already noticeable in shaded or darker areas. At ISO 1600 picture quality in all areas is struggling.

Overall
Perhaps the NV24HD is not the best camera on the market, but it does a decent job in most situations. To get the most out of this camera in terms of picture quality you may need to work with the camera's settings.

Shutter Lag
Shutter lag times were better than most digital cameras manage. A single photo took 0.23 seconds and five took 7.43 seconds. With flash turned on times were still impressive with a single photo taking 0.45 seconds and five photos taking 12.53 seconds. Start up time was another plus point. To turn the camera on and take a photo took 2.2 seconds.

Style: The design of this range of Samsung digital cameras is different to other brands. There is a raised grip area on the front and the lens unit protrudes as well. The camera is available in black and silver.

Dimensions: 98.5 x 61 x 27mm

Weight: 145.5g

Batteries: Lithium ion. Samsung supply a battery and charging cable with the NV24HD.

Memory cards: Roughly 16mb of storage have been built into the camera. This is enough for around 9 images. To increase the storage capacity you can use both SD and SDHC cards.

Ease of use rating: Very Good. The menu system used is unique to Samsung. I must admit it takes a bit of getting used to, but once mastered it is quick and easy to find and change settings.

Points I like:
Menu system - Start up and Shutter Lag Times

Where it could improve:
Some colour issues

Alternatives
It is not easy to come up with other digital cameras with similar features to the NV24HD. Another compact model with more bells and whistles than normal is the Panasonic DMC FX-500.

David Tymon's verdict:
The Samsung NV24HD is a bit different to the majority of other compact digital cameras. It has some extra, useful features such as a manual exposure control and High Definition movies. Picture quality is good without really challenging the best cameras. Shutter lag times are also very good.

David Tymon works with Cameras.co.uk