{"id":4605,"date":"2015-02-04T15:57:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T20:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=4605"},"modified":"2024-09-18T22:03:27","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T03:03:27","slug":"review-samsung-nx1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-samsung-nx1\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Samsung NX1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Samsung.  It’s not a brand that one typically associates with high-end photographic gear, but rather all manner of other electronics products such as televisions and now smartphones.  But as they’ve done with smartphones and televisions, Samsung has proven the ability to make a splash in new industries and not only compete, but dominate.  Samsung entered the interchangeable lens camera market back in 2010, with their first NX mount APS-C mirrorless camera.  They’ve been expanding their lens line, improving their cameras, and made a big splash at Photokina this year with the release of their high-end NX1 mirrorless camera.  I’ve wanted to review the Samsung NX1 ever since I first held it at Photokina, as I was immediately impressed by the responsiveness and thoughtfulness of the design.  Samsung doesn’t seem satisfied being an afterthought in the industry, and they are hopeful that the NX1 is the camera that serves as a wake-up call to photographers to pay a bit more attention at the Korean manufacturer.  The NX1 is a pro-grade weathersealed body with a new 28 megapixel APS-C sensor, fast hybrid autofocus and the ability to track motion while rattling off an impressive 15 frames per second.  Does it hit the mark?  Let’s find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The Samsung NX1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with my reviews, I review from a real world shooting perspective. You won\u2019t find lens charts or resolution numbers here. There are plenty of other sites that cover those. I review products on how they act for me as a photographic tool.  I am not a videographer, so my reviews concentrate on the still imaging capabilities of a camera.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NX1 was reviewed with Firmware version 1.2.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction and Handling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Samsung NX1 is a mirrorless camera that sort of eschews the common thinking about mirrorless.  It’s not just about small size, but simply a different way of viewing through a camera lens.  The NX1 is not a small camera.  It’s one of the largest mirrorless cameras around, with an SLR style and an SLR size.  It’s similar in dimension to a prosumer grade DSLR such as the Canon 70D or NIkon D7100, though the NX1 is a fair bit lighter than either of those two cameras.  However, the NX1 is targeting professionals with this camera, who may not care about being super discreet, but want a camera that is robust, handles well and feels comfortable with big fast glass.  And on that note, the NX1 succeeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The Samsung NX1 with Samsung 16-50mm f\/2-2.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The NX1 is a solidly built camera with a magnesium-alloy shell, robust weathersealing and generally well conceived and constructed controls.  The main grip is large and contoured to your hand, with a nice soft rubber for extra grip.  The camera feels wonderful in the hand.  It’s extremely comfortable to shoot, even when a large lens like the new 16-50mm f\/2-2.8 zoom (reviewed here<\/a>) is mounted to the camera. I shot with the 16-50mm primarily during the testing period.  This is a fairly hefty combination, and the NX1 handled quite well with this large lens strapped to the front.  Samsung has previewed an upcoming 300mm f\/2.8, and the NX1 should handle great with that supertelephoto on as well.  It’s not a camera that can easily slip in a jacket pocket, but that’s certainly not the shooter that Samsung is targeting with the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dials and switches all have nice positive action, with the mode dial and drive mode dial feeling great.  The rear screen tilts up and down and the tilting mechanism is quite robust, though I wish the little tabs for facilitating the tilt were slightly larger. A few of the buttons are a bit small, such as the four buttons that sit on top of the drive mode dial, which can make operation with gloves a bit fiddly, but overall Samsung has done a great job with ergonomics and construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only real issue I had with the construction of the camera was the small area for the memory card door.  The door is on the side of the grip, which is a great place for it, but the cutout is deep when the door is open, and the card slot is very close to the door.  As a result, removing the SD card can be quite difficult.  I eventually started trying to ‘shoot’ the card out by pressing down on the spring-loaded release and popping my finger off the card so the card would come out further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I didn’t shoot in lots of inclement weather, the weathersealing seems quite robust, and the gasket that surrounds the 16-50mm zoom presses tight to the lens mount, ensuring that no moisture can make it into the camera.  The overall impression when handling the camera is one of quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operation and Controls<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/a>
The top features an LCD and an array of controls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The NX1 is built around a modern control system, with a standard PASM dial for changing modes and two main command dials for controlling major image parameters. The front command dial is situated behind the shutter button, which will feel right at home for Canon shooters. The rear command dial sits just above the rear thumb rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a third dial on the back, which Samsung calls the ‘custom dial,’ that also functions as a four-way controller. Prior to firmware 1.2, the customization of these dials was a bit limited, but Samsung removed these limitations with the latest firmware update and now allows for any of the main exposure elements to be controlled by these dials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I shoot in Aperture Priority mode for a large portion of my shooting, my preferred setup was to utilize the front dial for aperture and the rear command dial for exposure compensation. I then put direct access to ISO on the custom dial. In manual mode, the command dials take care of shutter speed and aperture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the nice touches Samsung has added is something that is standard on pretty much any DSLR, but is conspicuously absent on mirrorless cameras.  The NX1 features an informational LCD display on the top of the camera that notes the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, exposure compensation, AF setting, shots remaining, metering, file size, battery level and white balance.  Part of the reason other mirrorless cameras don’t have such a display is that there isn’t room, so the NX1’s larger size allows for this addition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The NX1’s Drive Dial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The NX1 also features a dedicated drive mode dial that sits on the upper left shoulder of the camera and allows quick access to high-speed burst drive, self time, bracketing modes and so on. Thankfully, the hard to operate drive mode lock switch that was present on the pre-production version of the NX1 that I handled in September has been removed from the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of the drive mode dial sit four buttons providing direct access to ISO, autofocus settings, metering and white balance. Additional controls on top of the camera include an exposure lock button, the move record button and a button that formerly was the only way to access exposure compensation, but has now been made less important since exposure compensation can now be assigned to a dial. The EC button oddly cannot be reprogrammed (at least, it’s not in the keymapping menu).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"nx1_rear\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rear of the NX1 has a fairly standard complement of buttons, with the aforementioned custom dial serving as both a third wheel and a four-way controller.  Each of the four control directions can be programmed to a variety of functions.  There is a dedicated Fn button, an AF On button, a dedicated Wi-Fi access button and the standard Menu, Playback and Trash buttons.  On the upper left side sits a toggle for the EVF behavior.  There’s nothing out of place on the rear and the only flaw in the design is that the four-way controller buttons can sometimes be activated while utilizing the custom dial.  The front of the camera features a lone button, which serves as a depth of field preview button, which is a nice touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The menus of the NX1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The menu system on the NX1 is broken down into four tabs for still shooting, movie recording, customization and camera settings. As this was the first time I’d really shot with a Samsung camera, the menu system took a bit of getting used to.  Most things are where you’d expect them to be based on the major tab groups, but a few things are in odd locations.  For instance, bracketing options are a sub-menu under Drive Settings, which is an odd choice in my opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The menu can be navigated using the touch screen, but I found that the sensitivity of the screen was a bit too high, which often caused me to scroll past items in the menu.  Eventually, I settled into navigating the menus simply by using the four-way controller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue: Viewfinder and Performance<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Viewfinder and Rear Screen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The NX1 features a relatively large and very detailed 2.36 million dot OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF). The EVF on the NX1 is one of the finest I\u2019ve had the pleasure to work with, and in my opinion, it is the clearest viewfinder I’ve used. Looking through the finder in good light is gorgeous, with crisp clear images, excellent contrast and color and good brightness. It\u2019s really quite beautiful. In decent to good light, lag is essentially imperceptible and refresh is quick and clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The NX1’s Rear Screen can tilt up to 90 degrees<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is a prettier finder than the one in the Fuji X-T1 (which I consider the current top dog in EVFs). However, two things keep it from dethroning the X-T1 as the best EVF in mirrorless cameras. First, It\u2019s not quite as big, and the eye relief isn\u2019t fantastic for eyeglass wearers. I sometimes had to adjust my eye position to clearly see the whole finder, which could be a bit frustrating especially since it isn\u2019t any bigger than a lot of other viewfinders that have better eye relief. And second, when the light levels drop quite a bit, the viewfinder goes from being responsive and low lag to being extremely laggy and slow to refresh. It\u2019s a sharp cutoff too, so one second it\u2019s clear and smooth and when things get just a bit dimmer, the refresh rate drops dramatically. However, the high refresh is maintained in decent indoor light and all outdoor daylight shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rear 3\u201d tilting touch screen is a 1 million dot rear screen that is equally as brilliant, clear and contrasty as the viewfinder. It\u2019s the best rear screen on any camera that I\u2019ve used. Viewing angles are excellent, images are crisp and vibrant (without going over the top), and the touch panel is responsive and accurate. The only negative I could say is that it is a bit too glossy and reflective, but that\u2019s a very minor nitpick. In all, it\u2019s a phenomenal rear screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autofocus and Performance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The NX1 is fashioned as an action camera, and for the most part it succeeds with distinction, at least compared to the competition in the mirrorless world. The NX1 is quick to start up, fast to operate, writes extremely quickly and has some serious processing power that ensures that you never wait on the camera. The camera also has the fastest full resolution frame rate of any mirrorless camera at 15 frames per second. The buffer is relatively large as well: I was able to rattle off around 20 RAW frames and over 70 JPEGs at the full 15 frame per second high speed burst rate. The buffer writes to the card quickly and can clear the roughly 600MB of data a full burst entails in less than 10 seconds with my 90MB\/Sec UHS-I card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Firmware 1.2 update also has caused a bug with continuous Normal shooting, as in single shot or manual focus modes, continuous normal seeks to confirm focus after each shot, reducing the frame rate to around 1 frame per second.  While the continuous high mode can be adjusted down from 15 fps, let’s hope this bug is fixed, so that two frame rates remain easily accessible in these focus modes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The NX1’s sensor has 205 phase-detection points for excellent continuous autofocus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Autofocus system is a hybrid phase detect (PDAF) and contrast detect (CDAF) system with PDAF pixels spread across almost the entire sensor. Samsung has done a great job with the autofocus on the NX1. In good light, it\u2019s easily among the fastest focusing cameras in the industry, with near instant focus acquisition and equally excellent focus accuracy. As light levels drop, however, the NX1 slows down considerably, with average to slow single shot AF. It\u2019s still certainly usable speed, but it falls behind the low light focus abilities of the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trend continues for continuous autofocus, but here the NX1 does have its own claim to fame. While I found that the camera doesn\u2019t track focus well in dim light (doing worse on indoor motion than my Fuji X-T1 and my Sony a6000), in good light it sets a new bar for mirrorless cameras. The NX1 can accurately focus continuously on moving subjects during a full 15 frame per second burst, and can do so with great success. On cars moving towards me at approximately 45 miles per hour, the NX1 was able to achieve accurate focus on about 90% of shots at 15 fps. In good light, it\u2019s the best focusing mirrorless camera on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manual Focus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The NX1’s viewfinder and rear screen are bright and clear, and that does help aid in manually focusing.  The NX1 also has focus peaking available to outline areas in focus, but I found it only activated on areas of high contrast.  The NX1 can also zoom the viewfinder during manual focus, but this is one area where Samsung dropped the ball.  For some reason, you can’t reposition the enlarged window.  It only zooms to the center of the frame, and there’s no way to move that enlarged area. While this doesn’t pose too many problems for static shooting, it can be a real problem when shooting with adapted lenses with people, as often it’s not practical to zoom to focus, then zoom out, recompose and take the photo before the subject moves.  This is something that really needs to be remedied with a firmware update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue: Key Features<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Auto Shot<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Jump!<\/a>
Jump! Captured with Auto Shot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The number of features that the NX1 contains would fill several pages, so I’m simply going to talk about several key features and some unique items. One of the more unique items is Samsung’s Auto Shot. This collection of tools allows you to set your camera to a specific set of circumstances and have the camera take the shot at exactly the right time. As of Firmware 1.2, this includes Baseball, Jump and Trap Shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The baseball mode is intended to capture a shot of a batter exactly when the bat contacts the ball. Given that I was shooting in January and February with a 16-50mm lens, I didn’t really have a chance to test this mode. The Jump mode is designed to detect when a person is jumping and snap a shot at the apex of the jump. This mode I did get a chance to check out, and it worked as designed. In addition to perfectly capturing the peak of the jump (see the image to the right), the mode did snap a few shots prematurely. Still, these are less bothersome than missing the desired action you wanted to capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trap shot mode is a new addition with Firmware 1.2, and allows you to set a pre-focus distance and a line that you can position for your subject to cross. When your subject crosses the line, the photo is taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While these modes are set for a specific set of circumstances, it’s great to see new features and creative options for shooting without needing specialized gear. The Auto Shot features may only be used sparingly, but it’s great to see Samsung push the envelope and find new advantages to using mirrorless technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that does dampen the feature a bit, however, is that AutoShot doesn’t allow for RAW capture, which is a bizarre limitation in my opinion.  It would be nice to see RAW support added for this mode in a future firmware update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wi-Fi and In-Camera RAW conversion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Samsung NX1 comes fully featured with the standard Wi-Fi capabilities, and as you’d expect from an electronics company, the Wi-Fi features are implemented fairly well. Connecting the camera to your phone can be somewhat finicky, and it’s not always clear exactly where one needs to go, especially with an iPhone. The setup seems geared to Android, and even having set up the hotspot twice, I’m still unclear on exactly what I needed to do to get it running. The good news is that once you get it running, the Wi-Fi features work flawlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The NX1 has robust remote shooting capabilities<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The remote capture capabilities allow for changing all major shooting parameters, including PASM modes, refocusing, etc. The live feed to the smartphone has relatively low lag and a clear view. Shutter response when taking the picture is quick as well. In all, one of the better implemented remote shooting experiences I’ve seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like all Wi-Fi enabled cameras, the NX1 can transfer images to your mobile device as well. Transferring is easy and quick, though unfortunately only JPEGs can be copied, and if you shoot RAW, you will need to convert selected files to JPEG prior to transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"In-Camera<\/a>
In-Camera RAW conversion is full-featured<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that the NX1 has rather robust in-camera RAW conversion capabilities. A direct convert to JPEG option is available in the menu when reviewing images, but you can also edit the photos on the camera as well. Adjustments from exposure to color saturation, contrast and white balance can all be made prior to conversion. Samsung also allows you to apply special effects like their watercolor effect, selective color, fake tilt\/shift and more. Images can be cropped and the touch screen is used to great effect to provide precise cropping of the final image. It’s very capable, but it’s not fully polished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the things that lacks polish is the adjustments appear to ‘reset’ when you switch to a different tool. For instance, if I increase exposure +2, then exit to adjust contrast, when I go back into Exposure later, it shows back at ‘0’, even though the adjustment has been applied. It can be hard to keep track of the edits you’ve done if you’re adjusting multiple parameters. However, given the power of this feature in conjunction with Wi-Fi sharing, the overall capability is excellent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

i-Function<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Samsung has a very unique feature in the NX system called i-Function. The capability is present on the vast majority of NX lenses and camera bodies. The i-Function button is present on the side of the lens body and when pressed, the focus ring on the lens becomes a multifunction selection ring. Pressing the i-Fn button multiple times cycles through a series of adjustable parameters. For instance, one can press the button and use the focus ring as an aperture ring, or to adjust ISO, or white balance, or exposure compensation. The benefit of this is speed: changing aperture values dramatically is far faster using i-Function than it is using the traditional dials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"i-Function<\/a>
i-Function activated for aperture selection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I think innovations like this are what excite me about Samsung as a camera maker: they don\u2019t feel bound to tradition, but they still respect it. You don\u2019t have to use any of the fancy features on the NX1: Samsung has designed a camera that operates quickly and surely with well thought out direct controls that will be familiar to most shooters. However, they also have taken the chance to branch out and try some truly interesting control paradigms and features, and this brings some real excitement to an industry where the big boys of Canon and Nikon still seem stuck in the past. Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic and now Samsung are pushing the bar, and it\u2019s really exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue: Image Quality<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Image Quality<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Samsung NX1 features a brand-new 28 megapixel APS-C backside illuminated sensor. It\u2019s the highest resolution APS-C sensor around, and that is both exciting and brings some trepidation with the smaller pixels such a resolution brings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dynamic Range and Color<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Dynamic<\/a>
Dynamic Range is good, but watch the highlights. I didn’t in this shot. –\u00a0Samsung NX1 with Samsung 16-50mm f\/2-2.8 @ 45mm, f\/11, 13s, ISO 100<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Evaluating the dynamic range on the NX1 proved to be a bit challenging. After the first day or two of shooting with the camera, my initial impression is that dynamic range was good, but fell a bit short of competitors like the a6000 and the Fuji X-T1. The main reason for this is that I found it particularly easy to blow the highlights with the NX1, and almost none of the blown highlight data was recoverable in RAW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, this is the case: there is very little highlight headroom in the RAW files with the NX1, and so the \u2018Expose to the Right\u2019 advice that is often given isn\u2019t really advisable when shooting scenes with high contrast with this camera. However, I delved deeper and even did controlled tests against my X-T1 and a6000 to determine the true range of the RAW files. What I found is that the overall range is actually right in line with these cameras, but the RAW file is calibrated such that there is far more data that can be recovered in the shadows than can be recovered in the highlights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shadows pushed 5 full stops contain good detail, minimal color shift and no major banding or artifacts. (The a6000, on the other hand, has lots of highlight headroom but falls apart rather spectacularly on extreme pushes of the shadows). In all, if you are careful with the highlights, there\u2019s plenty of dynamic range available, but you really need to watch that histogram. When the highlights clip, they go fast and they go abruptly, so it really does require a bit of extra care on the part of the photographer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NX1 has a particularly beautiful color response that continues through the ISO range up to about ISO 3200. Beyond ISO 3200, color gets more muted, and becomes extremely muted at the extreme ISOs. The rendering is reminiscent of the great color that Fuji and Olympus manage to produce in their imaging engines with minimal postprocessing. I was very pleasantly surprised by the depth of color on the NX1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noise and Detail<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The 28 megapixel sensor on the NX1, when used with a good lens, produces stunningly detailed images.  It’s only a 480 pixel linear advantage over a 24 megapixel sensor, but somehow it seems more than that.  Fine detail abounds in these files, and the most surprising thing to me given the pixel density is how clean the files are.  Base ISO 100 files are very clean, lending the files a quality more reminiscent of a full-frame camera than most APS-C cameras.  The sensor manages to retain large amounts of detail even at high ISO, with ISO 12,800 files showing plenty of detail (though also a fair amount of noise as well).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The NX1 produces very detailed and clean images at ISO 100. Click the image above to open a full-size version. Click on the green arrow at the bottom of the screen after the image loads to view at 100%. (Note, the file is large and may take some time to download)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As far as noise performance itself is concerned, the NX1 is impressive as well in this area. Noise is kept to low levels up through ISO 1600, with ISO 3200 and even 6400 producing files with very manageable noise and plenty of detail.  With proper noise reduction, ISO 6400 shots could be used for good size prints.  ISO 12,800 shots start to get a bit muddy in the shadows, and color saturation takes a hit.  ISO 25,600 still shows plenty of detail, but also plenty of noise.  How usable these images are will depend much on your tolerance for grain, and would likely work best for monochrome work.  ISO 51,200 is a step too far, and the dynamic range becomes extremely constricted, color saturation drops off a cliff and the noise level is extremely high. I’d avoid 51,200 unless you are going for an ultra-grainy image with a vintage look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the noise performance at the pixel level is easily among the best APS-C cameras up to about ISO 3200.  Beyond that it falters a bit, but still produces usable images.  Considering the high pixel count, the overall noise in images at medium-high ISOs is impressively low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Over<\/a>
Over the Shoulder – Samsung NX1 with Samsung 16-50mm f\/2-2.8 @ ISO 3200 (click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JPEG Quality<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Samsung NX1 produces JPEGs that are quite good overall.  At low ISOs, there is lots of detail, minimal compression artifacts and excellent color response.  At higher ISOs, the default noise reduction is quite heavy-handed, and results in mushy details and a general blotchiness.  Luckily, turning the noise reduction off on the camera produces files that are noisier, but also contain far more detail and a more natural grain.  At the highest ISOs, though, I’d avoid JPEG altogether, as the noise combined with JPEG compression produces swirly colored artifacts that aren’t particularly attractive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The NX1 has some rather robust video features, with native 4K video recording at both 4096×2160 and 3840×2160, and at 24p and 30p.  1080p recording at 60fps is also available.  As I mentioned in the beginning, I’m not a videographer, and don’t pretend to know the intricate ins and outs of video work, so this section is short.  I did take a handful of clips, and viewing the video, I found the NX1 to produce smooth natural video footage with very good detail, even at higher ISO.  Full manual control is available, and continuous autofocus works quite well to keep moving subjects more or less in focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One issue that IS a problem for even the casual video shooter like myself is that the NX1 only records with the h.265 codec.  This is a relatively new codec, and purports to provide very high quality video in a smaller file size.  This is great for large video files like those produced by the NX1 or any other 4K capable camera.  There’s only one problem: very few programs support h.265 as of this release.  In fact, none of my installed programs could read the files, and this is not an uncommon occurrence, as the support at the moment is very thin.  As a result, I had to convert all the files on my computer using a utility that Samsung provides, to convert the files to h.264.  Needless to say, this is a pain in the rear end.  It won’t be a big deal once more of the major video platforms support h.265, but at the moment, that support just isn’t there.  Why Samsung couldn’t simply offer h.264 recording as an option is baffling to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue: Conclusion and Image Samples<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pros<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Excellent build quality, with weathersealing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Extremely comfortable grip and very good ergonomics<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Well thought out and customizable controls<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Beautifully clear and detailed EVF and rear touch screen<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Extremely fast and accurate autofocus, both in continuous and single shot, in good light<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Super-fast 15 frame per second continuous shooting with decently large buffer<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Quick and responsive camera<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Outstanding image quality with tremendous amounts of detail<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Good dynamic range<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Beautiful color rendition<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Clean base ISO files and very good noise control at higher ISOs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Native 4K video support with high quality video<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Loads of features, with unique capabilities such as AutoShot and i-Function<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Good Wi-Fi capabilities, especially in remote capture<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Full featured in-camera RAW conversion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Cons<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • RAW files are calibrated such that there’s limited highlight headroom, so care must be taken to not overexpose highlights<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Default JPEG noise reduction is quite heavy-handed<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Video only records in h.265, making playback and editing difficult with today’s software<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Autofocus slows down considerably in dimmer light<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Magnification during manual focus can only enlarge the center of the image and can’t be repositioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Some menu items are in confusing locations and the touch screen is a bit over-sensitive when browsing menus<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Viewfinder could use better eye relief for glasses wearers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • SD card door is cramped, making removing the card difficult<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      The Samsung NX1 is the Korean company’s shot across the bow of the mirrorless industry.  Samsung wanted to make a splash, and a splash they’ve made.  The NX1 really wants to be an ‘everything’ camera, and in most situations, it succeeds with flying colors.  The camera is eminently impressive, with excellent responsiveness, fast autofocus, great ergonomics and controls, beautiful image quality, 4K video and an absolute avalanche of features.  Given the total package you get with the NX1, the $1499 price tag is certainly reasonable. The NX1 isn’t a camera for those looking to downsize their camera body, but it isn’t designed to be that way either.  It’s a camera designed for ergonomics and to be used with large, fast glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      There are a few quirks and missteps, as with any camera, but for the most part they are small.  Autofocus slows down a fair bit in dim light like many cameras, but it’s a bit disappointing given the otherwise exceptional performance in good light.  There are some usability quirks, like the inability to magnify the field of view for manual focus outside the center, some odd menu quirks and an annoyingly cramped SD card compartment, but these don’t ultimately diminish what is one of the best mirrorless cameras around.  It has class-leading continuous focus capabilities, class-leading burst rates, the highest resolution APS-C sensor on the market and overall excellent image quality.  When taken together, it’s likely the most complete mirrorless camera on the market.  Samsung has hit one out of the park with the NX1, and I absolutely loved shooting with the camera during my time with it. I think it’s time for photographers to take notice, as Samsung has excelled in creating this camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Buying your photographic equipment through the B&H links helps support Admiring Light at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n