Samsung NV20

A good-looking camera with intuitive menus and face detection

The NV20 is a true ultra-compact with superb build quality and a slick black brushed-metal casing.
It manages to almost look simultaneously modern and retro - modern in that it has a blue LED and lens trim, large 2.5in screen and an array of unmarked control buttons. The retro edge is that it still feels like a traditional camera.
Its top-mounted mode dial gives immediate and intuitive access to the main shooting modes, including full auto, program, movie, and a fully manual mode.

To the rear, two rows of touch-sensitive buttons run along adjacent edges of the LCD. These work in pairs to select options from a pop-up overlay; a full button press then confirms the selected option. It takes a little getting used to, but it’s much quicker than jumping into and out of traditional menus.

Unlike previous NV models, the NV20 supports face detection, although we found this feature to be rather less effective than on some competing cameras.

Low-light shooting is enhanced by Samsung’s ASR (Advanced Shake Reduction) technology, which boosts sensor sensitivity and uses digital image processing to reduce the burring effects of camera shake. It’s not a true optical system but it’s effective and produces a visible improvement over and above simply shooting with a higher ISO setting.

As always with cameras of this size, some image processing and noise reduction is visible even at low ISO settings, but overall we were impressed with the image quality of the NV20, which delivered very good exposures and natural-looking images.
For a camera of this quality, the price tag is quite reasonable.

Overall: Well-made; offers a good selection of features and is easy to use
Good points: Build quality; innovative user interface; good-quality photos
Bad points:  No optical viewfinder; mediocre face-detection; no optical stabilization