Review Date: November 1, 2011
Category: Point-and-Shoot
Samsung MV800
Photoxels Bronze Award – Point-and-Shoot
USER’S EXPERIENCE
Thursday, October 3, 2011 – Here’s what I receive in the box:
- Samsung MV800
- No memory card
- Li-ion Battery BP70A 3.7V 740mAh 2.7Wh
- AC Adapter AD5055 (which uses the USB cable to recharge the battery in camera)
- USB Cable
- A/V Cable (may be optional depending on country)
- Wrist strap
- Documentation: Quick Start Guide
- Software CD: N/A
Multi-View. The Samsung MV800 looks stylish and ultra sleek. I like how even equipped with a 3.0-in. touch-screen Flip-out LCD display that allows you to take pictures from almost any angle (the LCD adjusts from 0 to 180 degrees), the MV800 is still pocketable. If you like to take self-portraits or like a swivel LCD, the MV800 is ideal.
The touch screen panel is very usable. It is responsive and precise to the touch. There is no delay when you touch an icon or screen setting, so no frustrating experience here.
There is basically only two external controls, beside the Power button, Shutter Release button and Zoom lever around it: the Playback button and Home (MENU) button. Press the Home button to bring up a screen of functions represented by icons. Touch an icon to select a function and you can then further select options by touching the screen and bringing up the Menu icon for that particular function.
In actual use, I have no complaints with the MV800, as long as you remember it is targeted to entry-level point-and-shoot users. In fact, it handled some difficult exposure situations better than I expected. For example, it will easily and quickly lock focus in low light situations, which is not always an easy task for many cameras in this category.
There is no software included on a CD, but Intelli-studio is apparently built-in. Intelli-studio is supposed to launch automatically when you plug the camera to your PC but nothing happened for me. I finally simply drag-and-dropped the images from the camera [acting as an external drive] to my PC. I also went to Samsung’s site to download a Samsung MV800 User Manual.
Try as I may, I was unable to thread the wrist strap through the hole.
The MV800 uses microSD/microSDHC memory card, which is the tiniest card I’ve ever seen. MicroSD cards are fiddly to handle so I’d suggest buying the largest capacity you can afford and just leave it in the camera.
The MV800 is loaded with 14 fun filter effects (click for large version):
 Miniature |
 Vignetting |
 Soft Focus |
 Old Film |
 Half Tone Dot |
 Sketch |
 Fish-Eye |
 Classic |
 Retro |
 Oil Painting |
 Ink Painting |
 Cartoon |
 Cross Filter |
 Zooming Shot |
The Zooming Shot is an especially nice one and which is usually not possible unless you have a manual zoom lens on a DSLR.
What I like about the MV800:
- Good image quality at ISO 80 to ISO 100.
- Unique Multi-View Touch screen that is responsive and works very well.
- Love the wide-angle 26mm equivalent.
- Fast and precise AF, even in low light.
- Lots of filter effects.
No review is complete without a couple of improvement suggestions:
- Noisy images above ISO 200, though not objectionable if you remain at small prints and for Web display.
- No software?
- Provide a longer USB cable.
- Make it easier to attach wrist strap.
The Samsung MV800 is an easy-to-use and fun ultra compact digital camera for entry-level shooters. It takes good pictures at the low ISOs in good lighting. The Multi-View touch LCD is very practical. Recommended to those who especially love to take self-portraits.
Next: Samsung MV800 QuickFact Sheet / Buy