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This is no bigger than a medium sized digital camera; it is however a DSLR offering so that those intent on improving can hone their skills at a reasonable price and the still images they know were captured by their skill level.

It is 12x6.5x3.5cm with a lens attached. The one I was sent was an 18-55mm offering so this adds a minimum of 7.5cm to the last figure the width and another 3cm when fully extended. This is still very light for a DSLR unit as it just creeps under 500grams without the supplied neck strap attached.

The right side has a flip open door that hides the HDMI and USB connections, it also has the neck strap anchor point, the other anchor is on the left side that is otherwise free of connections. The base has a tripod screw and a door behind which the solid battery and any SD card you use fit.

See also: Digital Cameras

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The rear has a 6.3x4.7cm (3inch diagonal) TFT display and to its right a column of four well marked buttons then the ubiquitous five position joystick control and finally another column of two buttons above this is the hatched thumb anchor point. The front has the bulge in design on the right edge a full back to when it held ‘AA’ batteries but make a good finger hold.

The top has a cover over an external flash shoe, a review scroll wheel, the silvered shutter release with the on/off control around it and finally a ten position control wheel. You will note no internal flash. I did take some slow exposure images in poor light and some external night shots, but you need a tripod.

There is a small external flash unit that comes in its own plastic case and of course you need to remember to take it with you fitted it raises the overall height by 3cm and it fits exactly behind the lens, it is never nearer than 8cm to the lens so does not tend to cause flashback unless you are careless in your shot selection.

Above is a table of the twelve possible image capture sizes and thinking about it here lies the biggest single problem for anyone coming from a digital camera and used to shooting 4:3 images and tailoring their thoughts to an A4 print. To still use basic software to print to a full A4 image you need to change your mindset to allow extra space in the image you capture to be able to print your subject as required. While the default capture is in JPG you can capture in RAW. There are three compression modes for each setting Super Fine, Fine and Normal.

Almost all recent cameras allow you to capture videos and this can do so at full HD at 30FPS, there is an instant capture button on the unit. The available image sizes are 1920x1080, 1920x810, 1280x720, 640x480 and 320x240.

Like a lot of recent units this can communicate via Wi-FI so no need to find the USB lead or extract the SD card to transfer images to your PC. GPS Geo tagging is also available so your shot that you forgot where you took it can still be located on a ordinance survey map.

While I would probably not purchase this camera at the stated price, the offer price on the link below is very tempting. It is small and does take rather good images, having the flash as a small separate unit is not a problem is everything associated with the camera, tripod, spare SD card and flash fitment always travel with the camera.

The Samsung NX210 is available from the link below for £389 with free delivery.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007WR32F4?ie=UTF8&tag=gadge0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/camera-camcorder/smart-cameras/nx-cameras/EV-NX210ZBSBGB-spec