Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
Samsung's imovative 2View cameras, which feature a smaller front facing screen for self-shot photography and for running animations to delight kids for photos have been successful products. The MV800 ($300) takes things even further with an multi-angle touchscreen that expands creative shooting options.
At first glance, the MV800 comes across as a premium point and shoot. Available in a black aluminum body with very precisely grooved plastic for improved grip when using the self-shooting function. The beauty of the MV800's deisgn is that it brings unpralleled function to a point and shoot.
The most obvious advantage is for front facing photos, specially now that the screen is larger at 3 inches. But the way the screen articulates allows it to be used as a stand, a tripod and additional support base for when taking timed photos as well as group photos.
In terms of camera specs the MV800 features the advanced Smart Touch 3.0 touch screen technology. Smasrt Touch brings the app-focused navigation made popular on smartphones and tablets into the camera paradigm and for the most part it does work although it could be a bit smoother. As a result, the MV800 has far fewer buttons than many users will be used to. Well, it is all in the screen. the obvious downside is if the screen ever malfunctions or gets damaged, there's no way to properly take a photo.
The MV800 features an impressive 16.1 Megapixels sensor for making large prints, along with a 5x optical zoom lens to captureclose-ups, and 26mm wide-angle lens for capturing larger gatherings in high definition. Many of Samsung's newer cameras have this 26mm lens and we find that it is useful for most shooting conditions
With the MV800’s wide range of innovative and user-friendly features as Picture in Picture, Live Panorama, and HD movie recording, you can approach your shots from every direction, and explore a variety of artistic possibility. Samsung keeps pushing their Magic Frame feature which offers some fun, kitschy and novel features like being able to take a photo and overlay it into preset images like magazine covers, bus stop billboards and various others.
Performance and photo quality are similar and almost identical to what we experienced with the Samsung SH100 and PL121 except that with the larger sensor, users will get larger prints from their photos. The build quality and flexible screen makes the MV800 a fairly dynamic option for people who don't just take a lot of photos but who are in situations where they want to take photos of themselves.
The MV800 also offers the benefit of Schneider Kreuznach optical lens which would be a step up from a lot of standard lenses on competing cameras.
We still wish that it didn't use MicroSD cards and that it had a better charging option other than the HDMI to USB cable (just because we have tons of full size SD cards and USB and microUSB plugs) but it seems Samsung has decided on using these interfaces on their point and shoot cameras. It isn't always convenient but it is what it is.
Overall, the MV800 is a great all around camera but seems to be more geared towards people who like to shoot themselves in various angles or who need a solid andeasy to use camera with a gamut of features.
Rating: 4 out of 5