[Special Review] Samsung NX10

Samsung Digital Imaging has provided the author of this review with the mentioned digital imaging device.

Mirrorless interchangeable lens camera

Blue Ocean, Mirroless interchangeable lens camera

Digital camera market has been divided into DSLR, High-end, and compact camera markets for a long time. However, a new wave has been started lately in this market. It’s because of mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. Mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras have all of the quality of DSLRs, mobility of compact cameras, and casual functions. Until now, there have been a few manufacturers in the market. However, I’m expecting it’s going to take its position with its powerful concept. I’m pretty sure that it’s going to be Blue Ocean, Recently released Samsung NX10 after long waiting is the only camera having the APS-C sensor in the present.

Size difference of APS-C type snsor

The reason people focus on mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras is their mobility and the image quality of DSLR. Its simplified design could make it possible. Mirror box and pentaprism have been taken out in the NX10. And it could reduce the space between lens mount and sensor and lower the height. Olympus Pen and Panasonic GH1 also have the same design concept. However, the Samsung NX10 has a different image sensor. The NX1 is the first mirrorless interchangeable lens camera having the APS-C type sensor. The image sensor installed in the NX10 has been developed by Samsung and it is an advanced image sensor of what was installed in the GX10. It has 23.4 x 15.6mm of size and much larger than 17.3 x 13.0mm of sensor installed in Micro Four Third 17.3 x 13.0mm.

Small, Light, and Slim DSLR style

The design of the NX10 is from the previous style. It’s a traditional DSLR. The design is not completely suitable to the new concept of this camera. However, the size and weight have been drastically reduced. It focuses rather on the practical use than visual. The body is made of a strengthened plastic, not a metal, so its durability is a little worse than a metal body, but the weight became lighter. On top of that, the smooth feeling of the body is not as changeable as the cold metal body. Rubber grip part is the outstanding part of the design of the NX10. It’s not that wide, but has considered the length and the size of fingers. Because fingers can be put on smoothly, users can feel the great grip, even if putting on a small part of the body. The upper body without edges also gives more smooth impression.

AMOLED and Electronic Viewfinder

On the back of the body, 610K 3” AMOLED has been installed. The self illuminating AMOLED has great color reproduction, quick response, and contrast ratio. It’s way better than LCD which backlight unit is needed. It also has wide viewing angle, so users can see the screen from any angles. The size and weight of AMOLED is only 1/3 compared to TFT-LCD and that made the small size of the NX10. The NX10 also supports 920K pixels electronic viewfinder. It’s a part of the body and right below, the eye sensor is located. Putting your eye on it, it changes to viewfinder mode. The resolution is not as great as AMOLED, but useful, because it has all the shooting information. The control interface between the upper and the back sides is not bad, except the menu button located on the left top of the back side. When selecting a menu, it was a little inconvenient, because the edge of the AMOLED a little blocked my thumb.

Easy control horizontal GUI

Simple setting by Fn button

Own NX10 lens lineup

3 lenses of the NX10 have also been released together with the NX10. According to the smaller body, new lens mount has also been made, but it’s not compatible with previous lenses. However, the new lineup was inevitable considering the combination of the new lens and body. Certainly, there’s Samsung’s intention for the new mirrorless interchangeable lens camera market. The lenses are 30mm F2.0 single pancake, 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OIS, and 50-200mm F4-5.6 OIS. In the 2 zoom lenses, image stabilization function has been included. Both 2 lenses have rather high F value, but with IS function, those lenses can be used under the low light condition. 30mm F2.0 lens is a pancake type, and slim and light. It will appeal to users who enjoy snap shots and women users.

Contrast AF system

It supports Contrast AF as a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. Contrast AF is slower than phased based AF, but it’s comparably higher than most of the mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. The size and location of the focusing point can easily be changed. When needing detailed AF, it can accurately set the focus on subjects. The accuracy of the AF is good under the low light condition. With a little light, there’s no problem to set the focus without assist light. Especially, by upgrading firmware, the AF performance of the 180-55mm F3.6-5.6 OIS lens has been advanced a lot. It sometimes failed, but not much. Face Recognition recognizing up to 10 faces and Self Guide AF can also be used. Convenient portrait shot modes as great as Perfect Portrait System including Beauty shot in dial mode are supported. It’s better than previous DSLR cameras in convenience.

Smart Auto and Smart Range

Smart Auto which has been included in Samsung compact digital cameras can also be used. From the mode dial located on the top of the camera, it can be selected. Once Smart Auto is activated, the icon is shown up on the lower part of the display. Setting the focus, the color of the icons changes depending on the appropriate mode. More detailed settings can be set in Portrait, Backlight, Landscape, and Macro. Because its recognition rage is rather higher, it’s great for users who are accustomed to compact digital cameras. Smart Range is good for the situation having big difference in exposure like backlight. It’s more effective in bright parts than dark parts. In Smart Range, ISO is fixed to 200.

720 HD quality video recording

The NX10 supports 1280×720 30fps HD quality movie recording, even though it’s not full HD. MPEG4 format in progressive type allows vivid quality movies. Through H.264 codec having higher compression rate, its memory can be efficiently used. Thanks to the large APS-C type image sensor, users can expect better quality movies than camcorders in depth and details. While recording, picture wizard, fader, and wind noise elimination can be used. Moreover, users can move the focus while recording by using Depth preview button on the front of the body and the AF mode has to be set as Continuous AF. Pushing it once, it continuously set the AF. The speed of the AF is good, but not that much compared to other cameras in the competition. It’s useful in low depth when moving the focus. But Face Recognition AF is not supported and OIS depends on the lens.

 

HD quality movie can be recorded

El photo’s NX10

[Sad and Beautiful] El Photo’s ‘Zoo’

I just bought the first camera in order to take the exhibition pictures of my friend. I learned to take pictures by myself, and didn’t take any lecture or something. I started taking pictures of zoo from 3 years ago and recently have worked with multiple exposure a lot. There’s Aura series with the theme of flower and Critical City series with the theme of city. I started working with Nikon D70 and now with the Samsung GX10 with 18-55mm and 50-200mm zoom lenses. I’ve been satisfied with the GX10 while using it for multiple exposure. Even though there are a lot of noises, it has great quality and good to use it.

After getting the NX10, I was thinking of how to use it. And I selected the most comfortable theme for me. It’s zoo series that I gave up after 2 years of shooting, because there had been no new feelings. Considering my style, zoo is a snap shot type, and the NX10 is also suitable for snap shot, because it’s small and light. To be honest, I tried to use it for multiple exposure, but sadly, the camera didn’t have such function.

A lot of animals in a zoo live in tropical areas, so most of them stay indoors in winder. Therefore, more pictures are taken inside than outdoors. Due to the poor light condition such as low light, untransparent windows, reflected light, and bars, it’s difficult to take shots. However, is this poor condition better to test the camera?

No matter how we consider them, they are not that happy, if they are not where they have to be. When looking at the eyes of giraffe, it reminds me of the story by German professor. “When I look into the eyes of animals, I feel sorrow in their eyes. They saying like ‘We(Animals) were together (Humans) , but you’ve gone too far now.

It was raining when I got to a zoo to take pictures. I intended to take little different shots from other typical shots. However, due to the rainy day and old place, the results were too dark and heavy. On the other hand, zoo is good, because they always allow us to take different shots, I think.

Sometimes, I was surprised at a scene I didn’t expect to see. During rainy or winter season with less people in a zoo, animals come to me with more caution. Someday In winter, a sleeping leopard woke up and showed some interest to me. It kept looking at me taking shots and when it couldn’t see me anymore, it put its head up and looked at me. In a picture taken at the moment, its eyes were shiny.

I used to be surprised at animals, because of this. Among giraffes, one of them moved to one side and all of them looked at the same direction. It looked weird to me and took a shot at the moment. Later, I found out there was a sick giraffe segregated.

In a zoo, brand new technology of cameras is not that important. Picture with wrong focus or noise might be better to see and too dark or too bright pictures also leave a good feeling. Of course, good AF and less noise allow us more freedom of expression.

The shooting condition inside the zoo wasn’t that good. Even with a DSLR camera, sometimes it failed to get a focus. In this situation, MF is better to set a focus, so a DSLR with live view or mirrorless interchangeable lens camera is better than optical view finder. But when it comes to live view, due to increasing noise, it used to be difficult to find out if the focus was correct or not.

The most outstanding feature of Mirrorless interchangeable lens is that there’s no mirror and it causes less shock by a mirror.

It shows great detail in low ISO, but I didn’t like noise in dark part. While in high ISO, it had less noise, but low details. However, compared to previous modes, it’s quite great, so I like it. And there’s no weakness I’ve found in the lens performance. The problem line in the left side caused by firmware update or noise in low ISO has been solved, I think.

Samsung RAW Conveter3

Most of the pictures used in the review were taken in RAW file and they have been converted to JPEG by RAW file converter (SRC3). The SRC3 is a program based on Silkypix famous as an RAW file correction program and I already used the SRC2. Therefore, there was no difficulty to use it. It provides strong correction functions without influencing the original like Lightroom from ADOBE and intuitive white balance control and highlight recovery function are the strength. It has the closest colors to Samsung camera, so for the most similar color feeling of the original pictures, the SRC3 is the most appropriate. At present, it’s the only program recognizing the NX10 and there’s not much difference from the previous version SRC2.

While using the SRC3, unexpected program stop of the program was the biggest problem. It used to happen in the SRC2, and it’s the same in the SRC3. Now I’m using both SRC3 for color adjustment and Lightroom for file management. I hope this would be upgraded later as a Samsung user.

My first impression on the NX10 is that it wasn’t that small. With the 18-55mm zoom lens installed, it’s more. However, compared to other previous DSLR cameras, it was much smaller. It can be hung on a neck and especially with the 30mm pancake lens, the mobility was much better. And design. I didn’t like it before I saw it. However when holding it, it was different. The great grip in my hand was great enough to put my prejudice for the design away.

However, I hope various design lineups will be created later. There were also some more weaknesses like a little slow change between pages and the lack of additional functions such as multi exposure, and panorama.

But other things like accuracy and speed of AF were already been solved by firmware upgrade, so there was no inconvenient to use it. The NX10 had the strong points of mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. It’s a successful camera and great for not only beginners, but also intermediate users.

Yoo Ji’s NX10

Some traveler called himself as “Traveling person”

Because I like that, I called myself “Photographing person”.

I’m taking, feeling, and being happier with photos. I’m Photographing person

“Photographing person”

I don’t know when, but from someday, I watched life through pictures. Therefore, friends have been more precious, and life has become new to me. After breaking up, I used to take shots of my sorrow and wanted to show the identity of high school students through photos. I still want to study photos, and take small, but meaningful shots through the pictures in the life rather than academic pictures.

I always carried a P&S file camera, but due to the limit of expression, I wasn’t fully satisfied with photos, and my DSLR was too big to carry around. That’s why I was considering buying a new bag to carry the DSLR. At that moment, I met the NX10. When I saw the NX10 first, I liked the cute, but firm body, and the compact size fit in my small bag.

At the first day of the NX10, I met my friends in a small café filled with a low red light, mirror ball in the dark spot, and great music. In this pace, I thought I could talk about anything easily.

Memory of first love

Today’s theme is love

By looking at the poster “First Love’ and scribbling, we started talking about our first love.

My sister started with ‘When was it? It was too old to remind of it now, but I will remember the feeling forever.’ Her story was so ardent as much as her age, so while listening, it was like biting a crossasnt.

“Place”

Space taken by a person or object. But it also means a trace after some change in a person or object.

“Love leaves a trace”

Love leaves an extremely big space that other love can get in, and after the love, it leaves an extremely huge trace that can’t be filled with anything. It’s so firm that can’t be recovered. That’s why people never forget the love.

While listening to the story of my sister, one of my friends in early 20s imagined something fun. It was interesting stories made by youth.

A prince must have belief to meet the owner of the shoes. He didn’t know the address, name, or anything. But he couldn’t control his mind, because he fell in love. Then, he was looking for her with her glass shoes. He was also looking for someone who fit in him, even if it was fragile like a glass shoes. He must have wanted to meet her sincerely.

We feel that “I’m getting older now!’, not when we found some winkles on our face or got easily tired. It’s when we deny real love. It’s when I found myself can’t love someone due to worrying about breaking up.

When I’m confused, I used to push it up. For me, the past only means hurts. I can’t hide or forget it. I just keep it in my mind. It will cause more pain to me someday, but all I can do right now is just to keep it and try to move on by trying to forget his cell phone number.

No answer for anyone

Love is what you feel and comes to you. While I spent my time talking about love, it has already gone.

Memory of the NX10

On the way home, when looking at pictures in the camera, I was surprised. At first, the amazing quality in the AMOLED. This vivid and clean quality will be great enough for me. Also the quality in the computer monitor was not bad. Sharpness and quality in dark part were also very good. I took pictures in ISO 3200, because light wasn’t enough. I wanted to the camera status in a bad situation. Of course in ISO 3200, there was a lot of noise. However, I thought the noise didn’t disturb the photo. This noise in a low light condition was acceptable to me.

But because it has Contrast AF, compared to phase based AF, the AF speed was a little slower. However, in a big contrast difference, it could set the AF regardless of intensity of light.

I don’t think a focus is a tool to evaluate a photo, even though accurate focus is needed, because I think a photo is a feeling. I used MF when it wasn’t easy to use AF. When using MF, the focus point was magnified on the screen, so it was easier to set the focus by using MF. Most of the pictures of Hong Ik University were taken with MF.

The built-in strobe was also appropriate to use in its intensity of light. I hid the light from the strobe a little or adjusted the intensity of the light. This great built-in strobe allows users more convenience not to carry an external strobe.

The light in the café was a little red tone, so I used original White balance to express the atmosphere as it was, but when it comes to normal shooting, in white Auto mode, a little blue color appeared. Some person said “It’s as real as Nikon”. It made smooth and calm colors.

It was a little embarrassing story for me after some time, but I can smile now by looking at the pictures. As a copyright ‘Recording outdoes memory, and the memory is rearranged by the recording.’, my memory is rearranged, but recording leaves a certain part of the situation. For the memory to be rearranged, I don’t stop recording. For the recording the NX10 has been a great tool to record my memory with its stylish design, easy control, and great results.

For me this photographing life is like a dairy

with paintings without crayon.

My life is expressed

in the photos and the photos are like my diary written by a camera.

Dr’s NX10

Dr’s NX10

I take the shots of small story of my life. It’s converting small things in life to frames. This work just shows the moment as it is. I think it’s the most trustful way to talk by using a photo. It’s what a photo means to me. It’s like a part of my life.

The shooting patter was more or less what I had done. With the new camera, I just wanted to keep doing my work, not doing a new thing. That’s why I worked in my favorite pattern.

I like the sunlight through the window. Opening up my favorite photo essay and enjoying a cup of coffee, it’s much better.

However, it’s not easy to take it as it looks. The light source gets stronger if metering from a long distance. Closer metering helps adjust the light.

I don’t like horizontal composition. It’s not my type. I considered suitable frames to the direction of the light and location of the object. Color feeling is also important. It’s analog feeling fitting with a café. RETRO mode of the NX10 is exactly like that.

While recording, the most difficult thing to get over is the difference between the image and real thing. Especially, the color difference. However, it’s not a good answer to just take the original to a color to a picture. It’s more important to find out the atmosphere and flow of the location and subjects. By using color modes properly, users can take great shots fitting well with the day.

Backlight

It’s my favorite moment. The daylight following the person touches her face. And it shows her smile.

A big window consisting of large frames makes us dreaming. Standing up on the full light, it’s dreamlike. But the reality is different. The backlight is too strong to activate metering and to set AF. In order to get a picture you want, you should push the shutter again and again.

If you don’t want to take a silhouette picture, gradation in shadows is important in backlight. Smart Range doesn’t guarantee a perfect shadow expression. However, the smile through the light looks lovelier.

I looked at the outside landscape from a café. It reminded me of my friend in elementary school. I pushed the shutter with the feeling of old days. I needed warmer color. I mixed yellow color in RETRO mode of the NX10. The spreading color in the wide room was enough to remind me of the old classroom.

I hoped the cute bulb to light in front of her. I hoped the light was harmonious with her and left warm feeling. Exposure was important at that moment. The result was pleasing.

She turned her back on the wall. When the light came between her and the wall, I pushed the shutter. The color was a little weak and light wasn’t enough, so it wasn’t easy to set AF. However, it showed quite accurate exposure balance in metering.

When putting down the camera, she showed her natural smile. She was kind of relaxed. I picked up the camera quickly, and took her again with the light coming through her hairlines. She smiled.

RETRO mode of the NX10 looks like combination of Pink and Magenta colors. I didn’t think there was a better color to express emotions than these colors.

I like square and 16:9 ratios. It’s because that it looks like showing more than 3:2 or 4:3. I set 16:9 ratio and took the inside wall of the café. I just wanted to take a good picture with good feeling.

In strong backlight, strong colors sometimes were not appropriate. In this scene, I thought gradation was important. The color looks like original with Vivid mode and exposure metering was set to her navy knitwear.

Street in the afternoon

The wave length of daylight gets longer in the afternoon. It’s suspended shadow. For me the shadows become one of the subjects. I put unique colors in RETRO mode to red wall and boston ivy. It’s quite good. And I tried to change the feeling by changing it to Portrait mode. It looks like being roasted.

Light is coming over the rusty metal gate. It’s not easy to get a sharp picture. However, I appreciate this situation. In order to reduce the light source, I quietly took the sunlight with framing. In front of strong backlight, AF worked a little late. But anyway I liked it, because the gradation in the boundary line between bright and dark area.

Beauty of old bricks and rusty gate. When walking down the street in the afternoon, I sometimes came across this scene. At that moment, the NX10 was automatically set to RETRO mode. I thought it’s more suitable for indoor shots, but it wasn’t always like that. With the background consisting of similar colors, it showed calm with low saturation.

Trees in winter look lonely. However, they have some charming points which summer trees don’t have.

Shadow

Shadow of summer trees is not as imaginative as winter trees. Wall in grey tone and she. They created images enough to handle the coldness of winter. That’s why I like the street in winter, really.

I used the 30mm F2.0 pancake lens rather than 18-55mm F3.5-5.6mm OIS lens. It’s because I trusted the quality of the pancake lens and the mobility of the lens. F2.0 was also good for indoor shooting and 30mm allowed us great depth expression. AMOLED screen also provided great visibility. It wasn’t much different from a PC monitor. But the photos in AMOLED looked brighter than what it was. Except that, compared to other LCD screens, the satisfaction is totally different.

The overall design is not that elegant. It seemed a reduced body of the previous DSLR cameras and had no identity of Samsung. However, the grip was much better than other previous mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. It’s a more practical camera as a Samsung product.

What I tried to concentrate on was the color expression of results. The tendency of colors can determine the feeling of all photos. Picture Wizard of the NX10 supports various color modes. Users can take as it sets, but colors can be adjusted for each mode. I like the detail setting of colors. Especially, I like the portrait shot in basic mode. Not exaggerated skin tone expression is an unexpected strong point. However, according to the exposure situation, the accuracy of AF performance and usage in backlight was a little insufficient. I think this has to be improved considering the image of Samsung.

Chalkagi’s NX10

Chalkagi’s fun shutter sound

When I was considering what to upload in my blog, I was reminded of a digital camera purchased for a wedding gift. Because I just bought it, I decided to take snap shots, not masterpieces. Since that, I’ve been using it for 7 years.

Chalkagi’s NX10

Since a few years ago, I’ve been working with the title <A cat is a cat> taking cats. There will be the 3^rd exhibition at the end of this year. And I have a plan to release a series <Naun’s house> 20 years later. I’ve been enjoying taking photos of my 14 months old daughter. I’m lucky, because I take my favorite.

However, due to the common thing of my 2 favorite subjects, the work is not easy. I can’t control both of them. So I sometimes regretfully say my happy destiny. Photo is like that. It’s a lot of pleasure for 40 years old photographer.

Now I use Canon 5D Mark II and 1DS Mark III. I prefer wide angle single lenses. It’s because after I started delivering newspapers, I could take pictures in the dawn. That’s why I like high performance in high ISO and bright lens, because these lens allow us to take good pictures in the dawn. However, no matter how great the performance is, if it’s heavy and big, it’s not easy to carry them. That’s why I’m expecting the NX10. Drastically reduced size and weight with the APS-c type sensor. I’m expecting the results and mobility. However, most of my work is made in the dawn. Therefore, I used the NX10 in the harsh condition which DSLR cameras don’t even work well.

Street in the dawn is not kind

Streets are made by each road coming from all directions. I took the crossroad of the street. Because it was too dark, I took it in ISO 1600. However, in 1/15 sec of shutter speed, a dark picture is taken in this situation. With the help of tripod and long exposure, it takes the street as it is.

The street becomes alive when people start moving. A smoking young man on a rainy day on the street. In front of him, light is coming close to him, but he doesn’t want to avoid it. I took it in ISO 800 with 1/50 sec shutter speed. If there’s sufficient light, noise decreases and gradation is alive. However, I don’t just hate the noise. The noise properly painted the screen, instead of rain.

Cats hate winter

Harsh weather of the winter makes cats disappear on the street. All of them are gone. A yellow cat came and walked around as if begging some food after 2 weeks. I wanted to take its eyes before I gave some food. I tried it in AF at first, but it failed. However, in ISO 1600 with MF I could make it. When AF doesn’t work properly in darkness, MF mode would be a good alternative. But in a bright place, it’s easy to set MF with looking at live view screen, but in a dark place, because the LCD shows rough screen, users need to be more cautions.

When hungry, fear disappears. It searched some trash bag and went down on the wall. I pushed the shutter again. The sound waking up the darkness was activated 3 times. But it needed to more time to get all the information, so the red light didn’t disappear for a quite long time. I couldn’t help looking at the cat going away. Then, the red light on the camera disappeared.

Cars killed the cats the most, but cars also supported the most comfortable place for cats. How ironic. Does the cat also know that? I wanted to look at its eyes again. I tried in ISO 800 and 1/15 sec shutter speed with built-in flash. I didn’t take it in continuous shot mode, but I got its eye. It’s like saying ‘It’s my life’. Good luck!

Finishing

I was frustrated by the slow shutter speed when using metering to the street at dawn. Because the shutter speed difference between the camera and human eyes is huge, even Bresson who was a master of the shutter speed is also frustrated. In order to reduce camera shake, I took the shots with placing the camera the closest to my body. Sometimes, I needed to take whatever I see. Personally, I set the shutter after taking shots in RAW files and correcting them to increase exposure to prevent blurry pictures. However, in ISO 800 and higher, there’s some noise in shadows in RAW. That’s why I decided to use a tripod with long time exposure.

When using continuous shot mode in RAW files, up to 3 shots are stored. After the shooting, it takes up to 10 sec to finish saving the files. I think as a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, mobility is the first priority, so sufficient buffer memory has not been assigned to get over the RAW continuous shot speed. I tried several times to get a picture of the cat. The memory card was SDHC Ultra II CLASS 4 (15MB/sec). The saving time was tested in high ISO and darkness. When sufficient shutter speed is secured, it takes more or less.

In daylight, quality and AF are very good. However, it’s a little insufficient to be satisfactory in the street at dawn. At dawn, ISO increases and all cameras have some weakness, so the AF speed and its accuracy don’t mean much. Auto white balance was not bad. However, there were some unexpected results in continuous shot mode. One thing I wasn’t satisfied with was there was no warning message even though I took shots without putting in a memory card. I hope this will be improved by firmware update.

I expected the NX10 very much. I was kind of waiting for it. That’s why I mentioned its weakness, not strong points. Of course, it was because of my bad working conditions. However, one thing for sure is that it actually has a good performance as much as other mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. Based on clear image quality in daylight, mobility, grip, and AMOLED screen are the strength of the NX10.

When using a new product, people would like to say good things. That’s why testers mentioned only its strength. However, praise only makes whales dancing, but doesn’t help camera improve its quality. People say good pills taste bitter. I talked about bad things, but these would be good things later, I think. After this review, I hope the NX will be better camera series by getting over its weakness.

Zapa’s NX10

Zapa’s ‘Photobook’ [ Object / Portrait / Landscape / Macro / Snap / Night and indoor ]

[Object]

For me, taking a picture means to realize the relation between light and colors. What I’m trying to look for in it is not essence of some, but some artistic factors, and to recompose the essence of them. I think it’s important to keep thinking about what I’m taking and try to maintain the comfort with the subject. The trust and credit can allows us to take better shots. The definition of good picture is a picture reflecting photographer’s philosophy, emotion, and consideration, so I try my best every time I take shots.

[Portrait]

I’ve been satisfied with the NX10. Among a lot of camera having APS-C standard sensor, its quality and performance is as great as other cameras. Especially, considering that other cameras need to buy additional items, the NX10 has all the functions of a camera, great mobility and performance. And the AMOLED screen displays very real images.

The weakness of the body is its similarity to other DSLRs. I wish it had more unique body.

[Landscape]

I tested 2 lenses [ 30mm F2,0/18-55mm 3,5-5,6 OIS] and their AF performance was satisfactory. In darkness, they sometimes didn’t work properly, but in daylight, they were good enough. Image quality was also great. Especially, the 30mm pancake lens made the perfect combination when it’s mounted on the body. In resolution which is a strength of a single lens, it showed the great performance as much as DSLRs. That means user’s intention is reflected in pictures.

[Macro]

The weakness of the lenses is its too small caliber to use light and metering properly. They can provide high quality pictures, but couldn’t provide high depth pictures. However, considering the lenses have been made by their own technology, we can expect more. According to the lenses, the mobility of the camera is changed. When selecting the 30mm F2 lens, the camera fits in a pocket of men’s shirt and women’s bag. If you hesitate to buy a DSLR camera because of its poor mobility, this would be a great choice.

[Snap]

In conclusion, the overall impression of the basic functions of the NX10 was a little unsatisfactory. When taking shots in daylight, pictures were a little too simple. There might be no difference from compact cameras for beginners. Only for beginners. However, portrait shots were great under steady light. But in white balance, even though I set Kalvin value, the accuracy wasn’t that great. In order for white balance to work properly, firmware has to be upgraded, I think. Continuous hot mode was similar to other DSLR cameras and the HD quality movie recording could be an advantage. Except a few weaknesses, this product will be enough to become hot issue in the market.

[Night and indoor]

14.6M pixels and image quality of the NX lenses

The NX10 has 14.6M pixels APS-C type CMOS sensor. Compared to other competition cameras having 12M pixels, it has higher pixels. When it comes to pixels, it could be better in numbers, because the sensor can get more information. Besides, the image sensor of the NX10 was an improved model of the K-7 sensor which got high evaluation from Pentax users.

However, the image quality of digital cameras depends on not only the image sensor, but also the lens. The lineup of the NX10 lens has just started. The results of the NX10 depend of the performance of the lenses.

ISO chart resolution test

By using ISO 12233 resolution charge, I tested the quality of the NX10. The test was made with NX 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OIS lens in F8.0, ISO 100, and +1.0 of exposure. It could distinguish both horizontal and vertical up to 2000. Because it maintains good sharpness, its expression was smooth. Contrast also keeps its smooth, not exaggerated.

ISO TEST

ISO starts from 100 to 3200. Noise reduction in ISO 200 or below was clean enough. In ISO 400, a little color noise was activated. However, it’s enough to use. In ISO 800, some rough pixels were found. But color noise was not much different from ISO 400. In ISO 1600 or more, rough pixels increased and distinguishable color noise was also activated. Considering the noise reduction, ISO 800 is the limit for use in the NX10.

White Balance

The NX10 supports 9 white balance modes such as Auto, Daylight, Fluorescent White, Fluorescent NW, Fluorescent Daylight, Tungsten, Flash WB, Custom, and Color temperature. Compared to custom setting with 18% grey, the accuracy of Auto mode was very good. With a little green and yellow, it expressed warm feeling. By using color temperature or custom, without a grey card, users can find the original color feeling exactly.

Detailed adjustment for each mode available

Color temperature

Picture Wizard

Using Picture Wizard mode of the NX10, users can express various atmospheres of pictures. It’s similar to Photo Style mode supported in Samsung compact cameras. Picture Wizard consists of 9 modes such as Vivid, Portrait, Landscape, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, and Classic, and 3 custom modes. Users can select it depending on weather, time, place, and subjects. Especially, Forest, Retro, and Cool modes allow users more characteristic expression.

Basic lens resolution of the NX lenses

18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OIS and 30mm F2.0 lenses were used for the test. Both lenses consist of 12 elements in 9 groups and 5 elements in 5 groups including 1 aspherical lens. The NX10 mount belongs to a 1.54x crop body on 35mm. The 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OIS and 30mm F2.0 lenses provide 27.7-84.7mm and 46.2mm AOV on 35mm. The 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OIS lens can be used as a standard zoom lens and the 30mm F2.0 lens can be used in standard angle. The 55-200mm F3.5-5.6 OIS lens released together with these 2 lenses was not included for the test.

It has great quality in maximum wide angle and telephoto angle. Looking at the center, sharpness and contrast were certainly expressed. In the center, the different between maximum opening in F.3.5 and F8.0 wasn’t that different. However, compared to the center, the quality of surrounding was not as good. There was some chromatism. However, tightening the aperture, the expression of surrounding became quite well. Especially, the chromatism was drastically reduced.

The sharpness of the center was a little insufficient in maximum telephoto angle and maximum opening. Considering that it was the maximum angle of a bundle lens, it’s quite good. Tightening the aperture, sharpness and contrast got back well. The surrounding in maximum telephoto angle looked better than in maximum wide angle. Tightening the aperture, cleaner expression was available.

In F2.0 maximum opening, I could see the difference between the center and surrounding. Looking at the 100% cropped part, the sharpness in the resolution of surrounding was a little insufficient compared to the center. However, the contrast expression didn’t look bad. When tightening the aperture, it showed very clean quality. Both sharpness and contrast were great enough. But in general, the transparent feeling wasn’t enough, so it’s more suitable for simple expression, rather than solid expression.

Samsung NX10 finally released

The NX10 is the first product having the APS-C type image sensor developed by Samsung and DRIMe 2 Pro image processor. This was an important issue for not only Samsung users, but also digital camera users. Especially, for the first time in the world, the APS-C type image sensor has been installed. It’s the strong advantage of the NX10 in mirror interchangeable lens type cameras. Moreover, its relatively fast AF, HD movie recording mode liked to AF, and resolution of the NX lenses were better than I expected. Of course, the AF performance in low light condition and dust removal function need to be upgraded. The design is actually not a characteristic style. However, the great grip, AMOLED, and color EVF coupled with the body are great enough to fill up the design. I mentioned strong points more than weak points. However, that doesn’t mean the NX10 is the best among the mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. It would be a great camera for those who don’t like heavy DSLR and beginners as ‘a new start’, I think.

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