Samsung NX1000

3mps

3mps

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Dan
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Hi Guys,

First post so go easy :lol:

Recently decided I wanted a compact camera the size and weight suits me for just lugging it about, I'm not much of a camera wizz I have a Nikon D40 but thats about as far as I have ever gone.

I came across a deal with the Samsung NX1000 for £399 with £50 cashback and a free samsung galaxy tab 2 (£140 ish ) which in theory puts the camera at just over £200

I have read as many reviews as I can find and compared alot of sample shots to some decent DLSR's and it seems that it can hold its own for taking a decent picture.

My question - Is there anything else that can match this compact camera in terms of value? and is there any other input I should be made aware of?

Thanks
 
There's only 2 other NX users on this forum, one has disappeared recently and the other is going to disappear.

I'll give the pros for the NX1000 ; The 20mp sensor is Samsungs best they've made and can hold up well against the two class leading Sony 16mp and Fuji 16mp sensors, although those two sensors are slightly better at high ISO.

Good range of lenses from 12mm all the way to 200mm ; 16mm f2.4, 20mm f2.8, 30mm f2 and 45mm f1.8 are all small pancake primes, the 60mm f2.8 Macro and 85mm f1.4 are larger primes. The zoom lenses are all very standard, 12-24mm f4.5, 18-55mm f3.5-5.6, 20-50mm f3.5-5.6 and the 50-200mm f4-5.6. Other than being optically well made, they're also very cheap to buy. The 30mm f2 can be bought for £80 on Amazon, while the most expensive lens is the 85mm f1.4 which sells for £290 on eBay.

The negatives ; You're using a Samsung camera and no one else outside of South Korea does this. Samsung firmware updates are truly frightening. The only active Samsung forum is on DPReview, which is a forum to avoid. Probably one of the slowest auto-focusing mirrorless camera makers (It's not terrible but cameras like the Olympus OMD and G5 put it to shame). Lenses get built, advertised then never get put into production (The 16-50mm f2.8, the 80-400mm), they even show off cameras they've built and named but never put into production (Samsung NX-R), they're a little eccentric.

You can also look at the Sony NEX range, you might like the F3 or the 5N. I started off with a Sony Nex 3 and left due to a lack of lenses and poor lens quality but they've added a few more lenses recently and finally made a compact zoom. The Sony sensors in the NEX cameras are fantastic and Sony cameras have features I love - Auto HDR, Sweep Panorama and Handheld Twilight mode. Both Sonys can take Electronic View Finders (Samsung say they will make one that fits the NX1000 but that was about a year ago).

The other option is the Panasonic and Olympus M4/3s, but I'm not too knowledgeable about the vast lens line up or what's within your budget.
 
They are generally good cameras but you are going out on a limb with them. If you are happy with range of lenses and not someone who get's swayed by the fact no-one else has one then they can be a good deal.
 
I am considering buying one of these, or a Sony NEXF3 for my wife's Christmas present, Having played with them both in Jessops at the weekend, I think that I prefer the Samsung, mostly due to a much better lens choice. Samsung offer some great pancake lenses, making the NX1000 truly pocketable, unlike Sony who only offer one rather poor performing and far too wide 16mm pancake. The Sony does look nicer and I like the tiltable and touch sensitive screen, but overall build feels the same.
 
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I just ordered one for my wife. I'm looking forward to giving it a test. Went for the tablet & 50 pound voucher offer.
 
had a sony nex 3 did not like , got nx100 + 30mm lens , love it
 
Well got it today, only had a few hours to play with it so just tried a few piccys in auto mode seems decent enough though, will look forward to trying it out at the weekend.

http://500px.com/photo/19864077
 
enjoying it so far, the only thing I'm struggling with it close up shots sometimes doesn't want to focus don't know if thats me or the camera, alot of the settings I don't even know whats what so just a learning curve.
 
so far so good, im not the best with a camera but they don't look to shabby, have a friend who does this for a living so going to give him the camera and see what it can do rather than using auto mode, and try and pick up some tips lol

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Here are some worst case poorly lit, long exposure, high ISO TEST pics taken from my NX1000. ISO 100-400 show great detail but softens at 800, with noise becoming quite noticeable at 1600. 3200 is still okay for 5x7" pics, 6400 will do 6x4" at a push, and 12800 is really for web snaps only.

I would say that both noise and details are extremely similar to my 7D.

edit: Please note this really is worst case. I wouldn't normally shoot in conditions like this (I deliberately dimmed the lights and chose a dull background, plus reds, greens and browns).
 
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You seem pretty handy with a camera / knowledge be good to see some proper shots as well, I will finally get outside with mine tomorrow so will see if i can get some decent landscape shots.

tried this one while watching SPOTY

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Here is a direct Low to High-ISO comparison of my NX1000 vs Canon 7D. Bear in mind that the 7D is a semi-pro DSLR, is much more expensive, and is also using a much more expensive lens.

Samsung NX1000 vs Canon 7D Low to High-ISO Test

Processing for both 7D and NX1000 RAW files was performed exactly the same via Adobe Camera Raw / Photoshop. For the NX1000 I first had to convert the .SRW files to lossless .DNG using Adobe DNGConverter because my old version of Photoshop does not support .SWR's. No changes were made other than a very minor unsharp mask, and saving resultant files to high quality JPEG's.

Detail and noise are extremely similar at all ISO's. The Samsung shows perhaps a teeny bit more detail at ISO 100-200 (due to 20 vs 18MP sensor) and keeps noise a teeny bit lower at the high end. Overall all, you probably wouldn't notice if the sensors were swapped between cameras because both are very good.

One thing I can see is that the NX1000 seems to under-expose by about a third of a stop compared to the 7D. Colour's also appear more vibrant straight out of the 7D, but both of these are easily fixable within post-processing. Another comment is JPEG's taken straight from both cameras show a big win for the 7D. The Samsung's JPEG engine is very mushy and destroys quite a lot of detail. Just shoot RAW and convert yourself for much better (7D matching) IQ.

This camera is a great addition to a DSLR. I can carry it within my coat pocket and get DSLR like quality within situations where I would not take my 7D.
 
Many thanks for the samples, great job! Looking at them, the NX1000 does very well against the 7D. But then it should, the 7D's sensor is getting on a bit now! I agree that the colours from the 7D look much more vibrant, but to me it looks like the 7D has less noise too.

Either way, as you say, the NX1000 looks a great tool to accompany a larger camera :)
 
How does the 7D compare at the side of the 550D ?
 
Here are some side by side ISO comparisons. Note that these are 100% crops so the the Samsung is slightly disadvantaged due to it's 12% higher pixel count.

Samsung NX1000 left, then Canon 7D right

ISO 100
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Colour are certaintly more vibrant from the 7D but the NX1000 doesn't perform to badly really, when you think in theory I got mine for £150 seems like a steal
 
3mps said:
Colour are certaintly more vibrant from the 7D but the NX1000 doesn't perform to badly really, when you think in theory I got mine for £150 seems like a steal
Click to expand...
The out of camera colour differences could be as much due to the lens used as it is to the sensor. I was using a £700 lens on the Canon vs £100 lens on the Samsung. Having said that, we am comparing a £1700 DSLR+Lens to a £300 CSC+Lens combo, so I would expect the 7D to achieve better colour reproduction. Whilst IQ is very comparable between the two for still images, the 7D destroys it for AF performance, tracking and sustained burst rate.

..but I cannot take the 7D to the pub or fit it in my pocket, so the Samsung wins hands down for many occasions. This is a great little camera, with a great selection of lenses. I recommend everyone gets the 30mm F/2.0 because it really is nice. Actually, the 30mm is the reason I chose Samsung over Sony.

I have a feeling that Canon, Nikon, Sony etc should be afraid of Samsumg. After all, look what they have done to Apple within a very short period.
 
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The thing I like most about this camera is the manual focus mode. Set the camera to manual focus, then any time you turn the focus ring the camera will automatically zoom in to 5x magnification. This make quick manual focus very fast, accurate and easy.

The thing I don't like is how slippery the body is. It is however easy to fix with a bit of "hockey tape".

I can see this getting used much more than my 7D over Christmas and New Year's.
 
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Strange fact is Samsung are the 3rd largest CMOS sensor builders in the world (after Sony and Canon), although there aren't many CMOS sensor builders going, only other name of note is Aptina. I still doubt Samsung will really challenge the big 3, Samsung's marketing for the imaging department has been terrible until the past few months. The NX5/10/100/200 were not advertised at all. As I always say in NX threads, Samsung should shouting out to photographers that they have a fantastic 60mm macro and 85mm f1.4, while showing beginners/people who want a portable camera the size of the 30mm f2 and the 20-50mm zoom. I do wonder if Samsung should have done what Panasonic done and gave the imaging division a new name (ie Panasonic Lumix).

Most of the NX range have very, very slippy bodies. At least you guys with the NX1000 have a slight grip, I had to buy a plastic grip from Hong Kong for my NX100 - the grip covers the Samsung name, so I now have a "ung".

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Incase anyone is wondering, surplusstock_uk on eBay have ran out of Samsung lenses but they're expecting a new shipment after New Year. If they've got the 12-24mm, I think I may treat myself.
 
For anyone with NX1000 grip problems, I recommend the following two solutions.

i). Buy a decent hand strap. I use this one, which is perfect.
ii). Obtain some black hockey or table tennis bat tape, and apply a few small strips where your fingers/thumb rests.

I don't know why Samsung, Sony etc supply neck straps with these types of cameras. Hand straps are much better.
 
I carried mine round London for 7 hours yesterday can't say I thought it was slippy but it is only my 2nd camera so it's not as if i'm use to a real grippy one.

Few shots

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I have added some further ISO 100 to 12800 test shots. This time I set S-RGB colour space within camera (rather than Adobe RGB) and converted to JPEG using Elements 11 rather than my old addition of CS2. High ISO results turn out much better this way, and Elements 11 reads the .SRW RAW files natively.

SAMPLES
 
I have the NX1000 with the standard 20-50mm lens. I bought it in december but not actually sure i like it. Don't get me wrong, such an amazing camera but i find it quite hard to work compared to my nikon slr.
 
Little_duke said:
I have the NX1000 with the standard 20-50mm lens. I bought it in december but not actually sure i like it. Don't get me wrong, such an amazing camera but i find it quite hard to work compared to my nikon slr.
Click to expand...

What are you finding hard to work?
 
Orville said:
I have added some further ISO 100 to 12800 test shots. This time I set S-RGB colour space within camera (rather than Adobe RGB) and converted to JPEG using Elements 11 rather than my old addition of CS2. High ISO results turn out much better this way, and Elements 11 reads the .SRW RAW files natively.

SAMPLES
Click to expand...

Is it better to use the S-RGB rather than the adobe setting??
 
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