Samsung NX1000 – our review (Part I – technical)

Samsung NX1000 review, first part – technical

Main:

• Position in the line of cameras – the younger.
• Differences from NX20 – no EVF, no built-in flash (little flash for hot shoe is in the kit). No swivel screen. Shutter speed – 1/4000 (not 1/8000)
• Differences from NX210 – plastic body (but tripod mount – metal), no additional second control wheel on the top of camera. Display – TFT, instead of AMOLED.
• Available in black and white colors (and pink in South Korea only)
• Sensor: CMOS 23.5 x 15.7mm , 20.3 Mega-pixels (Effective) (crop 1.5)

It is the cheapest camera in the lineup.

Samsung NX1000 is amazing in the hand. The grip is different with NX200/210 – a platform for the thumb and the shutter release button are moved closer to the middle, which allows camera to lie deeper in the palm of your hand. The lens is also moved to the left. I can say – in my hand NX1000 feels better than the NX210.

In the picture, I noted the location of the thumb:

Location of the lens on the body:

With the kit-lens, memory card and battery - 390 grams.

The camera is in harmony with the kit-lens Samsung NX 20-50/3.5-5.6:

In pink:

Body material - high quality plastic, camera in hand does not slide, buttons in right places.

A nice moment - new belt attachment. Finally, attach or detach the strap can be less than a minute.

Another innovation: the horizon level in new cameras.

View with Samsung NX 18-200/3.5-6.3:

View with Samsung NX 85/1.4, “King of the primes”:

View with Samsung NX 30mm/f2 pancake lens:

 

About the tripod mount – it is a metal, and is located on the axis of the lens and the sensor. When shooting with a tripod it can give an additional convenience:

Camera uses rechargeable batteries Samsung BP1030 (1030mAh, 7.4V) (same as NX 200/210, )

(in cameras NX10, NX5, NX100 & NX11 - battery Samsung BP1310, capacity 1300mAh)

One charging – is about a 350 frames in the street shooting, RAW + JPEG mode, autofocus, lens 20-50/3.5-5.6, without a flash.

The hole for the external power unit is presented:

 

Camera comes with an updated version of the lens NX 20-50/3.5-5.6. Only changed the appearance. The old version have a “waist”, the new – absolutely “rectangle”. (This design was first seen in pancake NX 16/2.4):

Inscriptions on the lenses are slightly different:

 

I got the opportunity to compare the NX1000 with P&S camera Samsung WB850F:

 

Dimensions of body are the same, but the optics – different:

 

An important element is the camera screen. A distinctive feature of the NX1000 – TFT screen , whereas in the other models is AMOLED. (all another NX cameras was made with AMOLED, except rare in our area NX5).

Here is a series of screenshots from different angles. Left NX200 – AMOLED, right NX1000 – TFT:

Surprisingly, the intelligibility of the TFT is about the same as on AMOLED. Thus, the screen NX1000 does not make the process of shooting less convenient than with the other NX cameras. As for the color, the difference is noticeable. At now, I do not think that AMOLED screen is a serious advantage. More precisely, AMOLED – it’s nice, but if the camera with TFT screen - it can not restrict you.

In preparing this review, I made a lot of pictures on the street at the middle of the sunny day with NX200 and NX1000, so I can say – both screens can be easy used in bright sunlight.

Comparison with Samsung NX200 (and partially – with the NX210)

Unlike the NX200/210, a NX1000 has not second wheel of the parameters (‘upper-wheel’). Also, there is no dedicated ISO-button - the down key of the joystick is for exposure control now, ISO-control is in Fn-Menu. This changes affect full manual control mode (M) – for the transition from aperture-control to shutter speed-control needs a press a button. On the 200/210 this controls located on different wheels and can be changed in one time. From my point of view -  inconvenience is not seen, even with the transition from the NX200.

Next Q: Comparison of the details on shots. Shots was taken at ISO100, the other parameters are identical (lens 60mm/f2.8)

I can not find the difference.

NX200 – left, NX1000 – right (M-mode, Samsung NX 60mm/f2.8), RAW, Lightroom preview):

Important note – the images are made with automatic white balance. (Comparative Test of color reproduction between this two cameras has no practical meaning)

The next important Q: what the difference between card-write speed on NX1000 and NX200? The answer – it’s practically the same.

Conditions: firmware NX1000 – 1.0, M-mode, S = 1/1000, f = 5.6, Card SanDisk UHS-I 45mbit, continuous shooting mode H (8fps), format – RAW (size of one RAW file for the both cameras is an average of 35MB).

Please, keep in mind – NX1000 can be controlled only after the green light stops blinking, do not pay attention to the disappearance of the progress bar on the screen – it not mean anything, and if at this moment you will try to change settings, a message “Processing” will appear.

 

As you can see, NX1000 wins NX200, but very little, it can be neglected.

Next Q: writing speed to the card - do we need a UHS-I, or regular SDHC-10x will be enough?

Conditions the same: M-mode, S = 1/1000, f = 5.6, continuous shooting mode H (8fps), used two cards – Card SanDisk UHS-I 45mb/sec, and the usual SDHC Transcend 10x. Recording Format – RAW. To my surprise, the difference in recording time on these two cards was 3-4 seconds, with a total time – about 25 seconds from the moment you press the shutter button and to the end of the recording.

If you switch to a JPG (SuperFine) – the recording time will be about 16 seconds (with any card).

Problem with managing the camera while recording on the card – the last thing that the manufacturer must fix urgently.

So, the next:

What the difference between JPG-engines of NX200 and NX1000?

It seems to me there is no difference. For this test I made two images (same time, same place).

“Old” Samsung NX200:

“New” Samsung NX1000:

This is a full-size images, camera-JPEG, F5.6, 1/400, ISO 100, auto WB.

ISO, noise

For ISO-test I chose the familiar example of printing:

The result:

Absolutely working range up to ISO 1600, inclusive, and quite working ISO 3200. (ISO6400 and 12800 should be used for extreme conditions when the content is more important than a quality)

Samsung Smart Camera – functions associated with WiFi

This story without illustrations, all the details in the pictures you can find on Samsung site.

So, the Samsung Smart Camera features allow you to do the following:

• MobileLink – Send photos to your smartphone/tablet. Usage: install the software on your Samsung MobileLink Android (so far only Android), turn the option on the camera, run the program on your smartphone/tablet, select the checkbox of images you want to share and send. They will be on your phone.
• Remote Viewfinder – Your smartphone or tablet becomes a remote control and remote viewfinder. Usage: install the software Samsung Remote Viewfinder for your Android, turn the option on the camera, run the program on your smartphone/tablet, you can see what sees the camera lens, you can use flash, can take a picture, get it on the memory card in the camera, or send to your mobile .
• E-mail – You can send a picture or several pictures to e-mail. Usage: specify a address, choose the pictures, send pictures.
• SkyDrive – Upload pictures to Microsoft SkyDrive. Usage: enter your login and password for Microsoft Live, select the pictures, upload pictures.
• Auto Backup – Load pictures to the computer wirelessly. Usage: set the Auto Backup program on your computer and specify the folder to backup (software included on the disk included), turn on Auto Backup option on the camera, connect the camera via USB to a computer – a message that the server settings stored. After that, being in the range of the network WIFi, which is your computer, you can send pictures to the computer to the specified folder.
• TV-Link – Watch pictures on TV. Usage: run a TV-Link on the TV, run TV-Link on the camera, see images on TV.
• Social Sharing – Publish the pictures on Facebook, Picasa, YouTube, Photobucklet, VKontakte. Use: in all cases – specify your login and password to access the social network, select the pictures and send. Pictures will be posted on your wall.

For all these options, you need connect to Wi-Fi (for MobileLink and Remote Viewfinder – Direct Wi-Fi). All functions work only for JPG.

You can assign any of the Smart-functions to the dedicated Smart Link button.

I do not use JPG, shoot exclusively in RAW. I hope that ability to work with the RAW will be added (for Auto Backup and SkyDrive I mean)

So, that’s all for technical part of my small review.

I strongly recommend reading the manual – it is filled with a very business advice on the use of cameras in particular, and on photography in general.

Next – Part II – SMART mode samples

 

All parts of NX1000 review:

• Samsung NX1000 – our review (Part I – technical)
• Samsung NX1000 – our review (Part II – SMART mode samples)
• Samsung NX1000 – our review (Part III – RAW & conclusion)