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

Full Manual Mode

Users can adjust aperture, shutter speed, color effects, and white balance freely.

P-mode : Program Mode

The camera automatically adjusts aperture and shutter by sensing the surroundings.

A-mode : Aperture Mode

Users can set a certain aperture value and the shutter speed is automatically adjusted by the camera.

S-mode : Shutter Mode

Users can set a certain shutter speed and the aperture is automatically adjusted by the camera.

M-mode : Manual Mode

Both Shutter speed and Aperture are adjusted by users.

White Balance

Color

Saturation

Contrast

.

This review represents the sole opinion of their individual authors and noteforum and don’t express the opinion of Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd., Samsungimaging.net or the opinion of any affiliates unless specifically marked as such.
For any further questions, or feedback, please visit noteforum

Personally, the most important things in life are food, clothing, and shelter. However, these are only the necessary conditions, not the sufficiency ones. As people go on with life, they are bound to want to escape from their normal-everyday lives from time to time. As for Europeans, they go camping with their families to promote harmony within, experience something new, and enjoy leisure. So when for most people, it’s about finding a place to stay when they go on a trip, the Europeans find a place to camp and enjoy the time with the nature in their own ways.

[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/60sㅣf/3.6ㅣISO 80ㅣ6.3mm]

[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/90sㅣf/2.8ㅣISO 80ㅣ4.3mm]

The camping sites in Europe are usually in places where there are green grass and a lot of trees. There, you can easily see people prepare a spot to settle, whether it’s in a tent or a camping car.

[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/1000sㅣf/4.0ㅣISO 80ㅣ4.3mm] [Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/90sㅣf/5.8ㅣISO 80ㅣ21.5mm]

They also eat there and spend time reading or playing cards. Inside the camping site, information about the places nearby the site is provided and there are also public bathrooms and facilities where people can wash. Of course each site seemed to vary quite a lot. However, what you can see at all the sites is ‘people enjoying Mother Nature’. A father and son playing table tennis near the site seemed to really enjoy themselves.

[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/125sㅣf/3.6ㅣISO 80ㅣ6.3mm]

[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/90sㅣf/4.3ㅣISO 200ㅣ9.0mm]

There was a cabin nearby which was small but quite graceful. The green trees and the cabin went well together like a picture.

[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/500sㅣf/5.1ㅣISO 80ㅣ6.3mm]

After taking more than enough rest, people sack their rucksacks and go to sightsee the outskirts of the city with friends and families.

[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/250sㅣf/5.1ㅣISO 80ㅣ6.3mm]

On the way back from the camping site, there were two women waiting for the bus. They were carrying rucksacks that seemed too heavy for a woman to be carrying alone but their faces were filled with energy. These women who said that they were moving onto another camping site must have been traveling manias. I thought to myself that I should have more fun on the rest of my trip like the Europeans; freely enjoying the beautiful nature.

[Samsung WB1000(TL320) 1/180sㅣf/4.0ㅣISO 80ㅣ4.3mm]

All photos, above, may not otherwise be reproduced, distributed, cropped, re sized, or otherwise altered without the written permission of the contributor. All photos represent the sole opinion of their individual authors and contributors and don’t express the opinion of Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd., Samsungimaging.net or the opinion of any affiliates unless specifically marked as such.

All photos, above, have been shot with the Samsung WB1000(TL320), which has been provided by Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd.

In order to become an official SamsungImaging.net blogger, please click here

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

Cocoa Sarai “Brooklyn diva Cocoa Sarai celebrates her ‘Earthstrong’ (that’s how Jamaicans say Birthday) at Manhattan club Taj for her new release ‘Half Past Seven’. The footage from the show features the talented r-n-b (rhythm and blues) singer Cocoa Sarai, beatboxer Grey Matter, rapper LiveWire, Cocoa’s mother, a birthday cake and some predictions for the future in front of a psychic business.

‘The Dollar Van Seen!’ with Cocoa Sarai

Her single ‘Camera’s On’ plays throughout the clip.
For more info on Cocoa Sarai, please visit http://www.cocoasarai.com

The Family “On the return home following Ms. Sarai show, we met a family who are incredible percussionists playing inside the subway station.  They currently live in a homeless shelter and use their musical skills to literally survive on the streets.”

‘The Dollar Van Demos Seen!’ with The Family

The Family in the West 4th Street subway station. If you are fortunate enough to catch their music, please give something back.

Movie uploaded from Samsung Intelli-studio. Thank you for watching!

Go meet dollar van demos on Youtube and DOLLAR VAN DEMOS.COM.

All photos, above, may not otherwise be reproduced, distributed, cropped, re sized, or otherwise altered without the written permission of the contributor. All photos represent the sole opinion of their individual authors and contributors and don’t express the opinion of Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd., Samsungimaging.net or the opinion of any affiliates unless specifically marked as such. All photos, above, have been shot with the Samsung HMX-U10, which has been provided by Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd. In order to become an official SamsungImaging.net blogger, please click here

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

SAMSUNG NX10 Review

Digital cameras have kept changing according to customers’ requests. They have been smaller for better mobility and for more convenient shots, new functions have been added. Moreover, Quality difference has drastically reduced recently, so a cheap camera doesn’t mean low quality any more.

By releasing the successful WB1000 and ST550(TL225), Samsung has become a representative camera maker in 2009 and also by adding high quality and unique functions, they have been loved much. (The front LCD of the ST550(TL225) was an ‘innovative’ idea, I think.) However, unlike the compact digital camera market, they failed to appeal in the high grade market such as DSLRs in 2009. (The WB5000 was a high end digital camera, but not a lens interchangeable type, so it failed to satisfy DSLR users. A following model of the GX-20 a lot of users wanted wasn’t released, either.)

There was nothing but rumors about the NX10 which a lot of users had been expecting and it made people wondering it. Finally, it has been released. (As the next model of Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras which have been popular, it’s a kind of next generation digital camera having both mobility of compact digital cameras and manual function of DSLRs.)

I’m so wondering whether it can be a competitor of DSLRs having the same level image sensors. I hope this will satisfy users longing for this camera. Let’s take a closer look at the camera with the review.

It has 123 x 87 x 39.8mm of size and 353g of weight. As a APS-C type image sensor installed model, it has the outstanding mobility. (Depending on the type of lenses, mobility varies. However, like the picture, if the 30mm F2 lens is mounted, it fits in a brief case and is good enough to carry. For those who want lens interchangeable cameras like DSLR, but hesitate to buy it because of their mobility, this camera would be a perfect camera.)

The design of this products comes from a traditional DSLR line. Its great finishing makes it more elegant and unlike general compact digital cameras, its side and front have been simplay finished. (The overaall deesign is so satisfactory, but as a leader of the new mirror-less market, it should have been more cyberti, I think. The similar design to normal DSLR cameras is a little unsatisfactory.) @The body is made of high intensity fiber material, so it has higher intensity.

It’s the front and as a lens interchangeable type camera, a lens mount is installed in the center, but different from other DSLRs, it has been designed as a mirror-less type, so the image sensor is exposed. (It’s CMOS type and supports 23.4×15.6mm APS-C. It has 14.6M pixels and it can also be used for professional purposes.) Depth preview and lens detach buttons are also installed. @ A lens mount adaptor for the K mount lens used for the GX-10 or GX-20 will be released. AF can’t be used, but various Pentax and Samsung lenses will give more advantages.

On the front, in the left top, AF assist light and self timer lamp is installed and in the right tip, a built-in microphone for voice and video recording is located.

It’s the top of the product. A pop-up flash is located and through Hot shoe, it can be connected to an external flash. (In order to take higher quality pictures, the external flash is necessary. I think a lot of users like that it supports Hot Shoe.) On the side, flash and menu buttons are located with a speaker.

It’s the right top. Mode can be easily changed and mode dial is supported. (Not only P/A/S/M, but also additional functions for compact digital cameras such as Beauty Shot, Smart Auto, Movie, Scene are mostly supported.) Power switch, shutter button, dial, green button for initialization,  and shooting type button for selecting normal/consecutive/self timer are located.

It’s the side of the product. In the upper side, a viewfinder is located and on the side, Eyesight adjustment dial is located. (Like the picture, eyecup can be separate. I hope they will release various eyecups for customers.) @ As a mirror-less type camera, EVF (Electronic View Fidner) is supported. Unlike most other products supporting display change switch, the NX10 has an eye sensor in the lower part of the EVF, so once an eye gets closer to it, the screen automatically changes.

On the right side, various buttons are located. In the upper side, AEL button for automatic exposure lock and automatic focus lock and EV button are located. DISP for display setting, Fn buttons for functions, direction key, and status LED are installed. (In the lower part, playback, and delete/Picture wizard buttons are located.

As an expected model, it has the AMOLED not TFT LCD. It has not only great Color expression and vividness, but also no influence by viewing angle, and good under the sunlight. (With Normal TFT LCD, it’s almost impossible to playback images due to limited viewing angle and light reflection.) @ I don’t think I need to explain strengths of AMOLED. One thing you should be noted is the big difference from TFT LCD.

It’s the right side of the product and there’s a memory card slot. It also perfectly supports high capacity SDHC, so there’s no inconveneince to shoot RAW and HD movides. (Up to 8GB SDHC is supported.)

It’s the right side of the product and various ports are supported. (DC IN power port, mini HDMI for connection of external AV devices, shutter release connection port, and AV out port are installed.) @ Please check the HDMI connection through the video clip.

It’s the bottom of the product. There’s a mount hall for tripod connection and a battery is located on the side. (1300mAh BP310 Li-Ion battery is supported. It takes 150 mins for full charge and photo shooting for 200 mins (400 pictures) and video shooting for 130 mins are possible.)

It’s larger than a compact digital camera, but compared to DSLRs, it’s small enough to carry around. Like the picture, the size is totally different from the product equipped with vertical grip and still smaller than small DSLR cameras. (It’s not only the size, but also the weight. The large display is so outstanding with the small body.)

Grip was also so satisfactory. Like the picture, the curve on the body allows more natural grip and there was no empty space between the body and my fingers, so more stable shooting was possible. (Because I used to take with a vertical grip installed camera, there was no place for my small finger to put. However, most of the users will get used to it soon.)

With the NX10, 3 lenses will be released at the same time. (18-55 OIS lens, 50-200mm OIS telephoto lens, and F2 30mm Pancake lens) @ I think you could see the performance by looking at the specifications.

It’s the 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OIS included as a bundle and it’s not much different from other bundle lenses for DSLRs. Like the picture, zoom ring and focus ring are installed and OIS and AF/MF selection switch are supported. (The NX10 supports OIS by lens shift, so normal lens and OIS lens will be separate. It’s more expensive than body shift type, but it’s more reliable, instead.) @ In MF setting a focus manually using the focus ring, because live view is zoomed, more accurate focus can be set.

It’s the 30mm F2 lens not included and this will satisfy those who want higher quality pictures. (By supporting F2, it can easily be used in a dark place and it allows more vivid quality as a pancake lens.) @ Image quality will be handled in the test part.

@ Lenses for the NX10, Flash, Filter, and case will be released.

We’ve looked at the design and features. Let’s take a look at the detailed functions at this time. (I expect different menu from other compact digital cameras. I’m wondering whether it supports high level functions like DSLRs.)

It’s the main UI and totally different from previous compact&high end digital cameras. In the lower part, setting mode, shutter and aperture information, exposure compensation status, available shots, histogram, and battery status are displayed. On the both sides, shot option is displayed, so the environment can easily be checked. (Using DISP button, screen information status can be selected.) @ It’s good to see the various information in a screen, but I like the elegant UI design more. Previous cameras had messy font and icon composition, but the UI of the NX10 is clear and cool.

For quick selection for frequently used functions, Fn buttion is supported. By pushing Fn button, size, quality, AF region, flash, color space, Smart Range, and OIS can be quickly adjusted.

Not only Fn button, but also most of the buttons on the back support shortcut button. By using shot type button, consecutive/high speed shots and self timer can easily be selected and Picture Wizard button is located. Through direction key, AF mode, White Balance, ISO, and metering can be set. @ At first, it might be a little complicated, but getting accustomed, it will be quite convenient, because shortcut buttons for frequently used functions are supported.

It supports a perfect manual shooting like a DSLR and also for users’ convenience, Smart Auto is supported. (If you press the shutter halfway down, the camera automatically recognizes the screen and relevant mode icons are activated.) Most of the settings are automatically set, so setting menu is so simple. @ The NX10 not only supports a perfect manual shooting, but also good auto mode.

It’s the setting of video mode and various settings as many as pictures are supported such as exposure mode selection, size, quality, White Balance, and Picture Wizard. AF mode, shot type, metering light, fader, wind noise removal, voice, and OIS (On lens) are also featured. @ It supports incomparably good HD video recording. The AF wasn’t that perfect, but by using Depth Preview button to set a focus, there will be no inconvenience.

Scene mode is also supported. Like the picture, 9 scene modes (Beauty Shot, Children, Close Up, Text, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Fireworks, Beach, and Snow) are provided and when Beauty Shot mode is selected, brightness and compensation can manually be made.

When it comes to a frequently used scene, it’s supported as a separate mode such as Portrait mode, Night Scenery mode for correct exposure in a dark place, and Landscape mode for vivid focus.

High level compact cameras and high end cameras support Manual mode, but because it’s a lens interchangeable type, it’s not perfect. (For example aperature) However, because the NX10 is a lens interchangeable type, a perfect manual mode is supported like a DSLR. And like the picture, it supports P/S/A/M modes perfect, so userse can easily adjust aperture value and shutter speed to get pictures they want. @ When it come sto P mode, Program Shift maintaining the same brightness with adjusting aperture and shutter speed is supported.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the various functions supported. The picture on the top is after pushing the menu button from P/A/S/M mode. The NX10 has 14.6M pixels and allows up ot 4592×3056 resolution. Not only 4:3, but also 16:9 can be set, and so various settings for file sizes are available. @ I’ve been using 12.2M pixels DSLR camera, but I’ve never needed more pixels. The NX10is good enough for professional purposes.

When it comes to quality setting, Super Fine/Fine and RAW are supported. (It is needed when using a picture for professional purposes.) Up To ISO 3200 is supported. (Separate Noise reduction function is also supported for high pixels unlike compact digital cameras.) @ I was surprised at the results of ISO 32000. Please check at the test part.

As a high level camera, various White Balance modes are supported.  (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent (W, N, D), Tungsten, Flash, Custom, and Color Temperature (Manual). In White Balance, by pushing Fn button, micro adjustment is possible.) Color space is also supported. (Not only sRGB which is a standard for a computer monitor, but also Adobe RGB for commercial printing with wider range of color reproduction are supported.)

Various Picture Wizards are supported for more emotional pictures with various moods. (Setting Picture Wizard, micro adjustment of saturation, sharpness, and contrast are available. It’s good enough to make colors you want.) @ 3 custome Picture Wizard modes are supported for your own colors, not just basic Picture Wizard.

It’s the Shot setting 2. In AF mode, single AF and continuous AF which the focus is continuously fixed while holding the shutter half-way down are supported. (Setting MF in the lens, it automatically sets to MF.) Selection AF, Multi AF showing all places which focus is set correctly, Face Detection AF recognizing faces, and Self Portrait AF making beep sounds to confirm the location of your face are supported.

For shooting method, Continuous shooting taking 3 shots per 1 sec, burst taking 30 shots per 1 sec (1472 x 976 of fixed resolution) are supported. Self timer (2-30 sec in increments of 1 sec), is also supported and BKT taking 3 shots considering exposure, white balance, and Picture Wizard can be set. Center-weighted, multi, and spot metering are possible and various built-in flash settings also available.

It’s Shooting setting 3 and like I mentioned, detailed settings of BKT are supported.

Smart Range which automatically corrects the loss of bright parts due to difference in the shading of picture is supported. (Because it supports lens shift, it also works with a OIS lens. In mode 1, it’s only activated when pushing the shutter half-way down and in mode 2, it’s always on.

It’s user setting menu and intensity of exposure compensation can be set. It has a noise reduction function caused by high sensitivity (ISO 3200) and long time shooting. AF assist light, icon, guide line, histogram, screen setting, and button setting are possible.

Let’s take a look at the environment setup menu. Like the picture, format and initialition are supported and files and folders can be set as dates. The way of file numbering can be set (In order to prevent file names from being overwritten, set it to Series.) As a Samsungproduct, various languages are supproted.

Preview time can be set and by adjusting the screen, brightness and colors of display can be set. (Automatic brightness adjustment function is also provided.)

Not only screen saving, but also normal power saving mode is supported (Like the picture, users can set it manually.) and date, time, and sound can be set.

Senser cleaning eliminating dusts around the sensor is supported (Ultra sonic dust removal functin is installed, so you don’t need to visit customer service cenber to clean CMOS.) PAL is also supported for the appropriate output signal for different countries. Anynet+ setting is also available and HDMI resolution setting is also supported. @ They will be reviewed more closely in the test section. Firmware update for lens is also supported.

Using a playback button on the back, you can see recorded videos and pictures. Unlike other previous products, on the bottom of the picture, various shot informatin is displayed. It allows users to realize the situations more intuitively and using a DISP button, detailed shot information and RGB histogram can be checked, so it will satisfy professional users, I think.

Using a trash bin button, users can easily delete pictures while in playback, and zooming and cutting of pictures are available. Thumbnails (3/9/20 images) and Smart Album are also supported. (Classified by file and date)

Like shooting, when in play mode, by using Fn button, images can easily be edited. Red eye fix and backlight adjustment are supported and various photo style can be set. Size adjustment, rotation, and compensation are alsosupported.

It’s Playback setting and it supports File delete and playback setting. Like I mentioned, image editing menu is included and automatic rotation setting, highlight (Notifying users of too dark part of the image by blinking), and DOPF (Setting Print information) are supported.

Slide show function is provided. (Pictures, effects, interval, and BGM can be set.)

Design and functions have been closely reviewed. Now, through shooting tests, let’s take a look at how great quality pictures it takes. @ As an APS-C CMOS camera, 1.57 is multified on the angle. It means 47mm is displayed on images taken by 30mm pancake lens.

Unlike other compact and high-end cameras, the NX10 is a lens interchangeable camera. The biggest advantage from this type is a manual function, I think. Even though M/A/S modes are supported, lens fixed type cameras have a certain limit to get pictures users want, because of aperture value. However, when it comes to the NX10, because aperture value is adjustable, the NX10can take out-focus shots like DSLRs.

I think the pictures are enough to explain it. The upper picture was taken with aperture tightened, so it’s not easy to distinguish subjects from background, but the lower picture was takenwith open aperture, so a perfectly out focused picture was taken. (When it comes to normal compact cameras, no matter how close the subject is, this out-focusing can’t be made. With the 30mm F2 lens, even though it was quite far from subjects, satisfactory out-focusing could be made.

Not only by aperture, but also by using shutter speed, different style of pictures can be taken. (The lower picture was taken with low shutter speed using a tripod, so more natural water flowing could be taken. Because it makes less noise even in high ISO, fast movement can perfectly be taken.)

Lens shift type IS is provided and by supporting up to ISO 3200, without using a flash, shooting can be done at night. @ (Especially, it was easy to take shots at night, because the 30mm lens which have been used for the test supports F2

Even though they were taken at night, it set focus quite accurately and fast. (The reason I don’t use a compact digital camera is AF. When I needed a quick shot, the slow AF made me crazy, but the NX10 could take fast AF as much as DSLR cameras.) @ ‘Dream Image process engine’ Samsung developed and up-to-date ‘AF algorithm’ help create the high speed AF.

As a lens interchangeable camera, it also has the convenience of compact digital cameras, so it supports various functions regarding Portrait shots like other Samsung cameras. (It supports not only separate portrait mode, but also Beauty Shot in SCENE mode. By supporting Face Detection AF, optimized portrait shots can be taken under any circumstances.)

Various portrait shots were taken and skin tone was calm. Exposure was quite accurate. When it comes to Beauty Shot, it was quite natural compared to other products. (The skin tone was closer to Nikon, rather than Canon. It looks a littl cold, but realistic.)

It’s the ISO test and I was surprised at its great noise reduction. Unlike compact cameras, there was no resolution degradation in ISO 1600 and 3200. When resized, there was rare noise in high ISO. (I liked this part the most while testing the NX10. I compared this to Nikon D2X and the NX10 has incomparably great noise reduction, so it will perfectly satisfy users who are sensitive noise.)

They were taken in ISO 3200 and like I mentioned, when resized, there was no noise at all, and considering ISO 3200, the original picture was also good enough.

It’s the angle comparision of the 18-55 bundle lens. It’s a little difficult to take telephoto angle shots, but good enough for wide and standard angle shots, I think. (The quality was beyond my expectation. It also supports OIS, so in a dark place, by securing shutter speed, there was no hand blur. NX mount various lenses will be supported and by adapter ring, Pentax K mount lens can also be used, so it will support wide range of angles.)

It’s the test of exposure correction and much different from normal shots without the setting. (On the lower part, appropriate exposure is displayed, so exposure can easily be changed)

Not only continuous shots taking 3 shots per sec, but also burst (high speed shooting) mode taking 30 shots per sec are supported, so you will never miss a moment and it’s also good to make GIF animation like the picture. (Unlike other products having 600 fixed resolution, the NX10 has 1472×976. This quality is good enough for web sites.)

Picture Wizard function is provided for unique pictures. Like the picture in the upper side, by selecting the mode, shooting with different colors is possible and color, saturation, sharpness, and ocntrast can also be adjusted to take your own pictures.

It has a built-in flash and the amoung of flash light can be adjusted. (The exposure changed a lot. When a flash is needed to take close subjects, it can be taken by adjusting expousre.) @ Hot Shoe is installed on the top, so an external flash can be used. Those who use an external flash will be satisfied with this.

Because it has Hot shoe, those who want to use a camera for more professional purposes don’t feel any inconvenience. I tried to take shots with a light set used in my office, and then I could see the great details of images even compared to DSLRs. (I was surprised at the original pictures. I couldn’t see anything wrong in details and was fully satisfied with the qulaity.)

In order get more natural color images depending on light sources, various White Balance menus are proivded. (After the test, I could see the auto white balance was quite accurate.)

Considering the feature higher color temperature makes it bluer and lower color temperature makes redder, users can manually set the color temperature in White Balance.

AS a camera supporting HD movie recording, it supports Composite and HDMI outputs. The above picture was the NX10 connected to Full HDTV through HDMI cable and pictures taken were played perfectly. (Different from other cameras allowing shooting and recording in external output mode, only playback function is supported in the NX10.) @ Like I mentioned in the design section, the NX10 supports mini HDMI port, not normal HDMI. When buying a cable, please check if the cable is HDMI to mini HDMI first.

It’s playing a video in the best quality and as a HD resolution supporting product, vivid and clear video was being played. There was some inconvenience, because it needed to set the focus by using depth adjustment lever. However, it will be very useful, because of the incomparably great video quality. @ Please check through the video preview.

[Samsung NX10 Sample Video 1]


[Samsung NX10 Sample Video 2]

Not only JPEG files, but also RAW files are perfectly supported and for convenient photo editing, Samsung RAW Converter 3 is included. (Unlike JPEG compressing files and causing some image loss, RAW is non-compressed file format. The size is huge, but wide range of retouching can be done.  For those who want to use the NX10 for professional purposes, this would be more wonderful, I think.)

[Samsung NX10 Design & Operation Video]

When it comes to normal digital product, domestic and oversea products have been struggling in the market, but in a digital camera market, only Samsung has been in the market with Japanese makers. (Optical technology needs a lot of experiences for decades and digital cameras are in technology-integrated product, so it’s not easy to start the business.) I’d just like to highly evaluate Samsung for releasing a lens interchangeable camera with their own technology, no matter how great or bad the quality is. (I hope Samsung will be successful in the lens interchangeable camera market, like the great success of the ST550(TL225).

The biggest advantage of the NX10 was the image quality. By adopting the APS-C 14.6 pixels large CMOS, the image quality is great enough for professional purposes like large development. (I was really surprised at the noise reduction in ISO 3200.)

As a lens interchangeable camera, various lenses will be purchased later, so there’s no limit caused by shooting angle, and by supporting lens shift IS, there’s no hand blur in any circumstances. (3 lenses are being released with the NX10, but new lenses will be released continuously, and a lens mount adapter will be release to user Pentax K lenses.)

I like the compact size and light weight compared to DSLRs. The combination of perfect manual function and convenience of compact digital cameras is an outstanding point compared to other digital cameras. @ Most of the high level functions such as AMOLED, Hot shoe, HDMI, HD movie recording are supported.

Unlike cameras from Japanese makers, there’s no influence by currency rate, so the price will be reasonable, I think. I’d like to recommend this product for those who want to update their camera due to their limited quality rather than professional DSLR users. You will be satisfied with everything such as functions, performance, quality, and mobility.

This review represents the sole opinion of their individual authors and NOTE FORUM and don’t express the opinion of Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd., Samsungimaging.net or the opinion of any affiliates unless specifically marked as such. For any further questions, or feedback, please visit NOTE FORUM

[PL70 l 1/30s l F3.4 l ISO 320 l 5.0mm l Program Auto]

Our Juliette was rescued from a garbage pile last winter.
We could just imagine how cold it was because she was holding onto her dear life by burying herself in the garbage, barely being able to open one eye.

[PL70 l 1/20s l F3.4 l ISO 400 l 5.0mm l Program Auto]

However now, whenever she hears a scrunch, she can’t take her eyes off it thinking it’s a snack, and obviously became a very fat princess…

[PL70 l 1/45s l F3.4 l ISO 200 l 5.0mm l Program Auto]

And she’s a sleeping beauty who always finds the warmest spots to enjoy a nap.

[ PL70 l 1/200s l F3.4 l ISO 400 l 5.0mm l Program Auto]

And!!!! She is an intimidating princess who leans onto other friends and gives them faces so that they can’t dare to move.

[PL70 l 1/15s l F3.4 l ISO 400 l 5.0mm l Program Auto]

However, another princess as charming as whimsy Juliette came to Hengdang-dong. The name of this silly princess is Atti.

[PL70 l 1/45s l F3.4 l ISO 240 l 5.0mm l Program Auto]

Poor princess Atti was urgently rescued from her abusive x-owner.

[PL70 l 1/45s l F3.4 l ISO 100 l 5.0mm l Program Auto]

Whenever she has the opportunity, she jumps on top of the table with her short but strong legs.

[PL70 l 1/60s l F3.9 l ISO 120 l 9.5mm l Program Auto]

To think that this adorable little creature was treated no less than a lifeless object is just…

[PL70 l 1/60s l F4.6 l ISO 200 l 14.4mm l Program Auto]

It seems that animals shine a light when they are in the hands of those who really respect them.

[PL70 l 1/30s l F3.8 l ISO 400 l 8.2mm l Program Auto]

Princess Juliette and Atti who both have a sad story in their hearts…
To make sure that these princesses have a bright future ahead of them, the Animal Liberty Regiment yet runs around the clock.
We wish that the animals will be able to shine their original light and the people feel their warmth truly so that the world becomes a more peaceful and happier place.

All photos, above, may not otherwise be reproduced, distributed, cropped, re sized, or otherwise altered without the written permission of the contributor. All photos represent the sole opinion of their individual authors and contributors and don’t express the opinion of Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd., Samsungimaging.net or the opinion of any affiliates unless specifically marked as such.

All photos, above, have been shot with the Samsung PL70, which has been provided by Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd.

In order to become an official SamsungImaging.net blogger, please click here

NX10 cameras with 3 lenses have been provided to the students. And the students will submit three images which represent a ‘creative moment’ and a video clip describing him/herself until March 29^th. After that, an online gallery opens and the global voting process begins.

Enjoy ‘creative moment’ from WCIC(linked to site)

Here are some pictures from the opening ceremony in the UK, China and Korea.

[USA]

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[UK]

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[Germany]

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[France]

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[China]

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[Korea]

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About WCIC

The ‘World Creative Imaging Competition’ is a campaign that will be announced on 2^nd March 2010 (TBD). This competition is designed to position the Samsung NX10 camera as a creative tool for the audience segment that can be referred to internally as the ‘Creative Class’. The creative class is a group of people who relate to the idea that creativity is a fundamental part of their life including those from artistic careers such as artists, designers and architects. Our goal is to let the creative class inspire the NX10’s target audience, which will encourage them to buy the product.

In order to position the NX10 in this way the campaign links to the creative class by engaging with students from world-class art schools, encouraging them to use the NX10 camera to create high-quality photographs and HD-quality moving images. This will be achieved through the competition mechanic.

The competition process

The international competition will be promoted in the six Samsung Digital Imaging Company top-tier countries: the UK, France, Germany, USA, Korea and China.

In each country a leading creative arts further education establishment will be the focus of a competition which will feed into a global competition themed around the ‘Creative Moment’.

The education establishments participating include:
• USA – School of Visual Arts
• UK – St. Martins College of Art and Design
• France – Ecole Estiennes
• Germany – Design Academy Berlin
• China – Central Academy of Fine Arts / Tsinghua Univ. / Capital Normal Univ. ,Beijing Institute of Tech. / Beijing Foreign Univ. / Chinese Comm. Univ. / Univ. of Int’l Business and Economics / Tianjin Normal Univ.
• Korea – Hongik University / Chungang University / Seoul Institute of Arts

Want to show more WCIC pictures?? Samsungimaging Flickr

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

Beyond my expectation

I don’t think I was the only one who worried about this camera. It’s really not easy to create contrast AF performance, mount, own technology not invading other patents, and lenses. However, this passion and performance deserve more expectation. From the moment I pushed the shutter at first, I can’t help saying you’ve done a really great job for this. Fast AF, quality and gradation, Beauty shot for women, and HD video recording are combined well and it will become the most popular lens interchangeable camera for Koreans.

Falling in love with the Pancake lens

To be honest, I give a higher score to the 30mm F2.0 lens than the NX10. I’m sure that at least 90% of people would agree with me. It’s really great and beyond my expectation in size, weight, design, and so on. The 18-55 OIS lens is also great, but not as much as the 30mm pancake lens. That’s right. The fascinating power of the Samsung pancake lens from the combination of the APS-C sensor for indoor and outdoor portrait, Scenery, and Snap shots is the strongest among all the digital cameras.

The next step of the NX

The NX10 is not finished. It keeps making progress. And it has to be. Originally, continuous firmware upgrade or something has been made in highly expected DSLR cameras for their customers. Even after releasing a product, there will be things to solve or consider. Personally, the NX10 is needed to be upgraded in accuracy of AF to a person in a dark place or backlight condition, video recording function, high sensitivity detail, dark image, and Scenery Recognition in Smart Auto. In addition, there are some functions I hope to be added. They are only viewfinder option, connection between AF location and Spot photometry in Selection AF, compressed size of RAW files, Quick shift focus system, RAW function in a camera, saturation/brightness editing in a camera, faster command dial, compensating vertically in OIS, and additional video recording button, and so on. Of course, there are people who don’t agree with me.

Evolution camera NX10 representing Korea

When I got the NX10 at first, I was expecting and worrying it. It’s because Samsung’s own lens interchangeable type digital camera was different from other cameras in design and feelings. The NX10 began its way for the first time as a mirror-less lens interchangeable type cameras having the APS-C sensor, but other competitors are not going to just watch it. Therefore, Samsung needs to keep going on. I’m so wondering the next step of the Samsung evolution, but I’m sure their work will never be useless.

* New eyes for the world, Samsung NX10 -Part 1-

* New eyes for the world, Samsung NX10 -Part 2-

* New eyes for the world, Samsung NX10 -Part 3-

* New eyes for the world, Samsung NX10 -Part 4-

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This review represents the sole opinion of their individual authors and POPCONET and don’t express the opinion of Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd., Samsungimaging.net or the opinion of any affiliates unless specifically marked as such.
For any further questions, or feedback, please visit POPCONET

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

Here is 2nd story! Newark emcee Kalil Kash visits Times Square to discuss his new release ‘The Exit Method’ and drop a freestyle. Check this out!

Movie uploaded from Samsung Intelli-studio. Thank you for watching!

Go meet dollar van demos on Youtube and DOLLAR VAN DEMOS.COM.

All photos, above, may not otherwise be reproduced, distributed, cropped, re sized, or otherwise altered without the written permission of the contributor. All photos represent the sole opinion of their individual authors and contributors and don’t express the opinion of Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd., Samsungimaging.net or the opinion of any affiliates unless specifically marked as such. All photos, above, have been shot with the Samsung HMX-U10, which has been provided by Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd. In order to become an official SamsungImaging.net blogger, please click here

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

[written by a mysterious source]:

His name is Nicolas Zonvi. He lives in the City of Buenos Aires, in the beautiful Republic of Argentina.

Although he says he is 31 years old, people suspect he is approximately 400 years old. Some antique books referred about a very strange viking with brown curls that helped to expand the horned empire throughout Europe. If this is true, then he is even older than suspected.

He stated he can speak three languages: Spanish [his mother tongue], German and English. Again this is also unknown to be true.

But not every aspect of this character is under the black cold shadow of doubt. Here goes a list of some proven facts:

· He has Curls [some people think they have been keeping him alive for so long].

· He hates wearing suits and very hot weather.

· He loves dogs.

· He likes to eat a lot of tasty food.

· He loves Argentina, his family and his friends.

· He loves taking pictures and he hates when they come up not as he expected.

· He likes many things.

· He dislikes some others.

· His gratitude towards Marta for this wonderful [All you can Blog] possibility is enormous.

Well, Me, the mysterious source, I do not want to bore you with more lists whatsoever. I hope you will get to know him better when reading his posts and checking his photos.

So, this is my farewell, good friends. Thanks for reading me.

This Blog is Women/Men friendly

[Samsung PL150(TL210) 1/45sㅣf/3.5 ㅣISO 400ㅣ4.9mm]

Use this in case of Emergency

[Samsung PL150(TL210) 1/180sㅣf/9.8 ㅣISO 100]

Last known photo of the Blogger

[Samsung PL150(TL210) 1/45sㅣf/4.0 ㅣISO 240ㅣ6.6mm]

To be Continued…

All photos, above, may not otherwise be reproduced, distributed, cropped, re sized, or otherwise altered without the written permission of the contributor. All photos represent the sole opinion of their individual authors and contributors and don’t express the opinion of Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd., Samsungimaging.net or the opinion of any affiliates unless specifically marked as such. All photos, above, have been shot with the Samsung PL150(TL210), which has been provided by Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd. In order to become an official SamsungImaging.net blogger, please click here

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

3 consecutive shots in a sec, High speed shots in 30 fps

JPEG consecutive shots take 3 shots in a sec. The number of consecutive shots depends on image quality, Compression rate, and file size. If you want to increase the number of pictures, you’d lower the compression rate from Super Fine to Fine or less and setting it to Normal compression, the camera keeps the speed in 3 fps until the memory is filled.

According to the specifications, it’s up to 10 pictures in 3 fps, but I think it’s the minimum number. As you can see from the below video, in Super Fine, it took up to 15 pictures and in Fine, it kept the speed until 32 shots, and then the speed got slower. The number of shots changes depending on files, size, and the number of shots. (Class6 SDHC)

Super Fine Compression JPEG consecutive shot

Fine Compression JPEG consecutive shot

Normal Compression JPEG consecutive shot

As far as I remember, in Super Fine, the shots haven’t been below 12 shots. Using it in RAW format, it keeps the speed only up to 3 shots. The compressed file size of Super File JPEG is about 5~6MB. The compression rate is relatively high. I hope it will support RAW compression. I think this great camera needs that performance. With high sensitivity reduction on in ISO 3200, it can’t reach the speed, no matter how fast the shutter speed is, because of noise reduction image process.

High Speed Shooting mode

In the consecutive shot mode, there’s a high speed shooting mode called burst shots. It takes a video for a sec while the sensor is open and captures it to 30 shots. The image size is 1.4M 1472×976. It used to take shots with inappropriate exposure, but it’s a little larger than the Video capture, so it will be useful when saving a video to GIF or keep it to small JPEG files.

Using the High speed shooting, the sound of lightening fast consecutive shots comes, and then it’s going to be automatically displayed as a GIF animation. It’s a kind of funny thing.

Smart Range

Smart Range can be turned on or off. It’s totally different from ACB function of compact digital cameras, but almost the same as highlight compensation of Pentax. Turning this on, ISO starts from 200 and details of bright part are restored. Of course, it’s also good to apply highlight compensation or dynamic range by using RAW file format, but the file size is quite big and it’s difficult to handle RAW files, so turning Highlight Compensation on is much better. Even if it goes up to ISO 200, it doesn’t involve noises much. Below pictures were taken a little brightly for the comparison of Smart Range performance.

It restores highlight more than when it’s off. Generally, it much more widely keeps the bright part details, so let’s use Smart Range properly.

[Download original]                               [Download original]

Wide range of compensation, RAW

Using RAW format, it allows much wider compensation range. In order to compensate important pictures to high quality, I tried to take shots in RAW format. It’s 25MB, but due to the heavy delay of image saving, it didn’t bother my shots. The image process of the NX10 is quite fast. It basically includes Samsung RAW converter 3.0 and this software is based on Silky Pix software. Because it has more than 14M pixels and good RAW converting details, let’s try to cut out useless part of images and crop them.

Original JPEG

RAW file Crop JPEG conversion

Final JPEG file [Download original]

The reason I use the RAW file is dark part compensation, noise, White Balance, and bright part gradation. It can compensate high contrast shots more naturally, and noise and details can be more strongly handled than JPEG images. The details of bright parts going white can be restored more, so it allows more natural and good looking image for highlight on faces.

Original JPEG of RAW+JPEG [Download original]

RAW file conversion [Download original]

Of course, the RAW files of the NX10 can widely be compensated, but the bright part gradation is not as great as Fuji or Kodak, so please do not use overexposure a lot. It’s a similar to the previous GX20 or K-7, or a little bit better? That’s why it might be better to take shots in JPEG with Smart Range rather than very large RAW. However, I used RAW files a lot unintentionally. It’s because RAW format can freely adjust not only gradation, but also White Balance, and high sensitivity noise pattern.

Original JPEG of RAW+JPEG [Download original]

RAW file conversion (WB, Dynamic Range, etc.) [Download original]

Setting the menu variously regarding noise and details, it creates all different results. Below picture was taken with the 30mm lens in JPEG ISO3200, and color noise, noise reduction, noise reduction intensity, and so on were applied. What do you like?

ISO 3200, 30mm lens, F8.0

1. JPEG shot             2. RAW file conversion       3. RAW file(compensation-1)

(no compensation)

4. RAW file (compensation-1)   5. RAW file(compensation-2)   6. RAW file(compensation-3)

7. RAW file(compensation-4)

The color of RAW conversion picture with no compensation is stronger than JPEG. JPEG high sensitivity images looks more focusing on clarity of images without color noises than detailes.

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14.6M, Great details

The NX10 has adopted the APS-C 14.6M pixels CMOS which is the same as the GX10, K20D, and K-7. When the bodies applying this sensor had come out first, it had the best quality in the same level cameras. I’m expecting the NX10 applying the sensor very much. The NX10 is a middle level among lens interchangeable type cameras and the image quality is also great as much as the sensor. Everything such as Detail and sharpness is good. The power of the APS-C sensor is based on image quality and pixels and it’s the fundamental point superior to Micro Four Thirds. However, I don’t think more than 14.6M pixels is needed, but high sensitivity image process needs to be upgraded. Image details in over ISO1600 are slightly insufficient. However, it’s not that much and with less color noises, it’s good enough for web sites..

Landscape, ISO200, 18-55 OIS, F10.0

Night Scenery with long time exposure, ISO100, 18-55 OIS, F11.0

ISO100, 30mm, F2.0

Original JPEG

RAW compensation_1

RAW compensation_2

ISO1600 detail Crop

Especially, with the 30mm pancake lens, you can enjoy outstanding quality for indoor, outdoor, portrait, and snap shots. The 18-55 OIS lens has also great sharpness for outdoor scenery. With these 2 lenses, great pictures can be taken. After taking in RAW format and compensating, better details can be expressed.

The overall image is a little dark. Under the same shot setting values, more than 1/3EV is bright. During the comparison I did before with Panasonic in M mode, there was a reason of a little dark shot by the NX10. This is the same as the quality test below by ISO.

Soft Pattern high quality

Fortunately, I’ve received the V1.00 official firmware right now. Of course, the body is not yet the official one, but it’s a good reference for those who are about to buy the NX10. The NX10 supports ISO 100 to 3200. Setting Smart Range, ISO starts from 200. Below is the comparison of image process by ISO with the K20D, K-7 which have the same sensor and so on. Pentax body is in a natural mode with pancake 40mm F2.8 lens in A mode F8.0. The NX10 is with 39mm F2.0 lens in A mode F8.0. I personally wanted to put the same 30mm Pancake lens on the Pentax body. While testing there was some angle difference, I hope you understand this. For your reference, the shutter speed was the same by each ISO.

Body level is a little different, but it will be a good material to see the image quality. High sensitivity image pattern of the NX10 is slightly unique. On the whole, it has less red and blue color noises which are soft and calm. Low sensitivity quality is clean. From ISO100 to ISO400, by increasing the ISO, color balance moves to blue a little and from ISO800, with disappearing this blue, and getting some noise. From ISO1600, green pattern noise starts coming and red/blur colors get weaker, and in ISO3200, saturation becomes even weaker. Even though the Pentax body was set to Natural, the color of the Pentax body is deeper than the NX10.

High sensitivity images of the K-7 developed with prime engine and its extremely high speed of consecutive shots are vivid and good, but the pixels are a little too rough, so medium brightness is not clean enough. After this comparison, the noise pattern of the K20D is so nice and traditional. As ISO increases, there’s no color change and only color noise increases, so increased ISO doesn’t ruin the details. When it comes to the NX10, it ruins details a little bit, but they are smoothened and become natural. The NX10 is the best for web sites. But over ISO1600, especially ISO3200 needs to maintain the details.

The brightness difference in the same setting value is quite big. According to a test, in 1/3~2/3EV, the NV10 is a little darker. That means if taking with the same brightness, the shutter speed of the NX10 gets longer and it’s weak to hand-blur. Therefore, I considered testing with the same brightness with more brightness in the NX10, but on second thought, I didn’t, because this comparison according to the real value could be easy for you to understand. Actually, pictures taken were kind of dark and when taking indoor shots with proper exposure, the shutter speed was a bit insufficient. Looking at the image quality of the NX10 in ISO1600 and ISO3200, difference of details is noticeable. The K20D and K-7 adopted different color noise and noise reduction not allowing ruining details and colors. Considering the body level of the NX10 which is a little lower than them, once they make a little progress, users will like it more.

Noise Reduction in ISO3200

High sensitivity noise reduction can be turned on or off and it works only in ISO3200. In ISO3200, 3fps consecutive shots are not supported. However, results are quite good, because it reduces color noises a lot without affecting any details.

NR off (ISO3200)                              NR on (ISO3200)

Balanced Sharpness

Sharpness can be adjusted to 9 levels. Standard is well balanced and +2 is also appropriate if you want a little sharp pictures.

Samsung’s Compact 3 kinds of NX lens

With the release of the NX10, 3 lenses have also been released. Like other brands, they are composed of pancake lens, standard zoom lens, and 50-200 telephoto zoom lens. There will be more lenses, but anyway it’s good enough as a beginning with the 30mm F2.0 pancake lens and 18-55 OIS lens, because the performance of the 30mm F2.0 lens was beyond my expectation. OIS has been applied only for zoom installed for 2 zoom lenses. These are the specifications of each lens.

Value of the NX! 30mm F2.0 Pancake lens

The lenses of the NX series are made by Samsung and Schneider has not been involved at all. Especially, the performance of the 30mm F2.0 is incredible and it seems like designed by someone from another world. Image quality in F2.0 is wonderful and it’s really slim and light as 85g. Because it doesn’t support IS, it couldn’t be started from 1.x. However, I think the performance in this size is the best among all pancake lenses. There was no inconvenience yet caused by absence of the zoom function. With this lens only, I could enjoy it all day long. It doesn’t’ take much space in a bag and makes users comfortable. This is possible only by a pancake lens.

The front of the lens is cute and looks like cut with a sharp knife. The slim size is by the lens structure and the thin focus ring. But there’s no inconvenience to adjust manual focus. While adjusting focus ring, there’s some noise, so while recording a video, it could make operational sounds. While AF, inside barrel comes out and in again for a moment, and the AF speed is really fast.

Satisfactory Inside and outside Portrait,

Snap Scenery, and Objects shots

Even though it doesn’t have an IS function, with F2.0 and open sharpness, it will show great performance indoors and outdoors. In F2.0, the background of a whole body will be knocked out of focus. The pretty out focus of background makes a person more remarkable. Converted focus length on 35mm film is 46.2mm and it can comfortably cover inside portrait and objects, and it’s useful for outside scenery and portrait.

Full body F2.0                                     Full body F8.0

Indoor half of the body F2.2                 Indoor half of the body F8.0

Outdoor half of the body F2.0              Outdoor half of the body F8.0

Is it a power of the sensor? The whole feeling of pictures is prettier than Micro Four Thirds lenses. Through the background out focus, useless background can be arranged well.

Minimum Shot length 25cm

It’s impossible to expect macro shot like a Macro lens, but it provides a reasonable shot length. 25mm can easily cover normal snap shots. Below is the comparison of the shortest shots which can set AF with Panasonic and Olympus Micro Four Thirds to 3:2 ratio.

Pancake Shortest Shot

When taking a coin, it’s slightly smaller by the NX10 and similar by Olympus and Panasonic. One more thing I can deduct is that the indoor color temperature is the highest with the NX10 and lowest with Panasonic. And Olympus is between.

Strong open sharpness

It’s strong to all open sharpness, Focusing, backlight flair, and chromatism. The reason I consider the lens is better than the NX10 body is that it’s the most remarkable among existing pancake lenses. As you can see from the resolution test, its performance is not easy to understand by looking at it.

You don’t need to be afraid of F2.0, because of the great performance and the quality of surroundings is also very good and there’s no light reduction in Open. It provides the best sharpness in F8.0-11.0, but it’s not much different from F2.0. Little distortion doesn’t bother much. Once it’s over F16.0, the quality starts to degrade. The weaknesses of this lens are that it has no OIS and overall video recording functions are not as good as a standard zoom lens. Nothing else.

Standard zoom lens

Samsung 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OIS representing the NX.

The 18-55 OIS lens from Samsung has 3x zoom and 27.7-87.4mm of focus length on 35mm. Telephoto zoom lens is good for Portrait and Macro shot while wide angle lens is good for Scenery and Various Portrait shots.

Elegant design and OIS

Lens hood is basically included. OIS and AF/MF conversion switch is provided. When using telephoto zoom, the lens barrel comes out. In order to reduce the weight, the mount is made of plastic not metal, and zoom and focus control is smooth. Most of all, the AF is fast and the performance of consecutive AF function is the best among 3 lenses released and the focusing is so smooth that you can’t feel the operational sounds. Turning the OIS on, from the inside menu, OIS option is activated and it can be selected as always or when shooting.

It’s true that it’s smaller and lighter than previous standard zoom lens, but compared to pancake lens, it doesn’t have many advantages in size and weight. Filter is a 58mm bigger filter. On the other hand, the appearance is neat and elegant fitting the NX10 well.

The most various shots

Because it has F3.5-5.6, compared to the F2.0 pancake lens, it’s difficult to secure a shutter speed indoors. On the other hands, it’s very useful for outdoor shots. When zooming, the background is knocked out of focus properly and Macro is maximum 0.22x and good for temporary Macro shots.

Maximum wide angle shots         55mm Maximum telephoto zoom Macro shot

It has great quality in telephoto zoom angles, the various expressions by narrow angles are as great as a pancake. Before Super zoom lens is released, this lens is used as a standard zoom, and according to the quality and performance, it deserves it.

Great Sharpness in all regions and quality degradation

Open sharpness in all regions is awesome. Therefore, when taking scenery shots on a sunny day, I didn’t think I need more lens for scenery shots. It’s good for resolution, flair and chromatism reduction, but there’s some distortion. Below is the comparison table for wide and telephoto zoom lens

Maximum wide angle 18mm

Sharpness of the central part is great independent to aperture value. And in wide angle, there’s some quality degradation in surrounding parts. The surrounding quality is improved at F8.0, so when taking a scenery shot on a sunny day, the aperture needs to be tightened to about F11.

35mm Resolution by aperture

The image quality from 35mm is wonderful. From here, the quality is as great as a single lens.

55mm Resolution by aperture

I was surprised that there’s no quality degradation in 55mm maximum telephoto angle. The surrounding quality is even better. Considering everything, in sharpness, I think the maximum telephoto angle is the best. There’s some dented distortion, but I don’t think you will notice this on normal scenery not on this type of chart.

14 lights

The performance for Night scenery is also very important, so there are a lot of people wondering the light division. The aperture has 7 edges and the light is divided into 14 ways. In order to make it look nice, the aperture needs to be tightened to more than F11.0. As tightening the aperture, the light gets longer. If long time exposure is not intended, you’d better use up to F16.0 for proper light division and keeping details.

* New eyes for the world, Samsung NX10 -Part 1-

* New eyes for the world, Samsung NX10 -Part 2-

* New eyes for the world, Samsung NX10 -Part 3-

* New eyes for the world, Samsung NX10 -Part 5-

.

This review represents the sole opinion of their individual authors and POPCONET and don’t express the opinion of Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd., Samsungimaging.net or the opinion of any affiliates unless specifically marked as such. For any further questions, or feedback, please visit POPCONET

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

APS-C sensor, the best contrast AF

What I worried the most was the contrast AF speed. Contrast AF recognizes the location and contrast of the image a, not using a mirror sensing a distance, so large sensor might have some disadvantage. It’s because the large sensor takes more time to recognize the objects and set a focus on it, if it’s in a long distance or near. The important thing is how quick the camera gets it. That’s why wide angle lenses are faster than telephoto zoom lenses. The Contrast AF speed of the NX10 is faster than I expected. It’s too fast as a model having the APS-C sensor.

30mm Pancake Shooting

AF performance for multi zone (18-55 lens, Telephoto)

AF performance for multi zone (30mm pancake)

Actually, it takes at least 2~3 sec if the APS-C is applied. It doesn’t matter if the body is expensive or not. The reason of the outstanding performance of Panasonic Micro Four Thirds compared to Olympus Micro Four Thirds is the combination of their great contrast AF showing in the compact digital cameras and feature of the sensors they have been developing. I was quite surprised at the AF speed of the NX10, even though the APS-C sensor has been applied for the first time. If another sensor was applied and there was no Panasonic Micro Four Thirds, I don’t think Samsung would make this great performance. Even if it’s very dark, it sets the focus within 1 sec using the assistant light and with a little light, quick AF is possible. Current contrast AF speed among mirror-less large sensor cameras is Panasonic G > Samsung NX > Olympus E-P > Rico GXR > Sigma DP.

4 size AF, Max. 195 zone spot AF.
When it comes to Multi zone AF shots, it comparably takes near and deep contrast. However, it failed to set the AF a lot, so you would use selection 1 point AF more.

AF frame adjustment and Spot AF

Using the selection 1 point AF, the 4 different sizes of AF zone can be set to 11×9, 13×11, and 15×13 with Spot AF. Especially, the Spot AF is useful when more accurate AF is needed such as a small flower, insects, eyes, and so on. When it comes to a thin and small subject, if the focus is set on the background, you can use MF to move the focus a little forward, and then use the Spot AF.

Larger AF zone                                                Spot AF

However, Spot photometry is not connected to AF location. The Spot Photometry is only made on the center of the screen, so you have to set the photometry in the center and then you can move the body while having AE lock executed or use M mode. Personally, I use Spot AF linking AF location a lot, so I hope this would be updated by firmware.

Face Recognition up to 10 faces
It has 4 AF such as 15 points multi, selection 1 point, Face Recognition, and Self Guide. Face Recognition can recognize up to 10 faces. This is useful when faces are too dark or too bright, or for portrait shots. However, if it’s too dark, it used to fail to set an accurate focus on a face, so you need to look at the screen first.

Face Recognition

Face Recognition off                                     Face Recognition on

Setting the AF to Self Guide, it recognizes faces and tells you whether the face is located in the center or not with beep sounds.

Self Guide

The closer to the center the face is, the more frequent the sound is made. When the face is out of the angle, there’s no sound.

Manual Focus
The NX10 users will use the MF shots quite a lot such as Focus, Free composition, Focus ring adjustment, MF videos. The MF of the NX10 is magnified from the center to surroundings.

Manual
It’s good to see because the quality of zoomed screen is great. But it’s not possible to zoom the spot I want, so when zooming, we should move the camera. And there’s no quick shift focus system. (Not in all 3 lenses and no setting menu for it.)

If a lens has an AF/MF change switch, the mode change is only possible from the lens. If not, it has to be done from the body. Using Pentax K mount switch adapter, previous Pentax Samsung lens can be used. But AF is not supported. In order to use the AF, it’s activated from the adapter not from the body, so I don’t think it’s easily possible now.

Better AF than my expectation
I’m satisfied with the AF speed and performance. However, if it’s too dark inside or backlight, when taking portrait shots with 30 or 18-55 lenses, the focus used to set on the background. Then we need to move the focus using MF and re-focus. It’s not a problem, because it didn’t happen a lot. However, for those who enjoy shots in a dark place, I hope the accuracy of the selection AF is a little bit improved. I think it’s surely possible by looking at the technology of Samsung. With firmware updates, I’ve experienced the upgrade of AF by myself and it’s still going on. Let’s look forward to the official model.

Pretty and convenient Graphic Interface
The GX was also praised by the user friendly interface unlike Pentax, and the NX10 also look pretty and convenient. It’s very use friendly, I think as a Samsung product. The design looks plain, but GUI looks different.

Turning the camera on, icons are displayed on the left and right side, and shot information is displayed on the lower side. Real time histogram is also displayed and 4 different composition lattice can be set such as 2×2, 3×3, X, and +. Brightness can be adjusted to 5 levels and with auto brightness adjustment system, it can automatically be adjusted. Color detail setting is also possible by adjusting A, G, B, and M. I didn’t need to set the color or brightness of the NX10, but I adjusted the brightness to a little dark.

Convenient FN button

The Fn button on the back sets picture size, quality, AF, flash, color region, smart range, and OIS. When it comes to flash intensity, it can be adjusted by looking at a circular graph with a command dial. Self Timer can also be set to 2 to 30 sec increased by 1.

Menu screen is divided into shot and setting, and it can easily be found with pull down menu. Clicking one item, it goes into the sub menu and it’s similar to previous Minolta.

AE lock button can be set to AE, AF, and AE+AF and while the button has been pressed, the lock function is activated. The depth preview button on the front can be set to an optical preview or one touch white balance function. I personally set it to one touch white balance, so when pushing the shutter after pressing the depth preview button, it can be directly set to custom.

Through the way button, AF/MF setting, Photometry, White balance and ISO can be set. In AF mode, pushing the OK button, AF size or location can be quickly set. It should have been better if the flash setting button is outside.

White balance

AF set

Manual operation reflecting exposure in real time
When operated in Manual mode, the histogram exposure value and brightness change in real time. The response of command dial and brightness is kind of slow, but I think the whole display interface in Manual mode is the best, I think.

Manual mode operation

Program shift

In A mode (Aperture) and S mode (Shutter speed), using the exposure button and command dial, exposure can be quickly adjusted and in P mode, through Program shift, aperture value can temporarily adjusted. While in Program shift, pushing the green button on the top, it gets back to the previous screen. The green button on the top also not only takes a role of zooming, but also initializing from Program shift, detailed setting of Picture Wizard, White balance, Color temperature, Color adjustment, Self timer, Flash EV, focus on the center from changed position in Selection AF, Exposure compensation, and so on.

Interesting Manual mode
The shutter speed of the NX10 is 1/4000 to 30 sec. (8 min with bulb) Through Depth control by adjusting aperture or shutter speed control, various photos can be created. There’s also an advantage in night shot. By tightening the aperture of the 18-55mm OIS lens, light is divided into 14 ways. By adjusting the shutter speed, light or snow can become long thread.

3 different Photometry
It supports Spot, Central, and multi photometry. It’s generally stable with 19×13 247 zones TTL Photometry. It tended to take a little dark shot on a sunny day, so it needed to a little brighter exposure and in a dark background, it took a little bright shot. However, there was no problem in exposure at all. But images are slightly dark.

Sunny day Portrait shot – Multi pattern Photometry, 30mm, Exposure 0.0

Smart Play
Pictures can be sorted by date, week, or file and played by Smart Play. While in play, through the display button, RGBY graphs and various shot information can be checked and magnification movement is also very good. Especially after magnification movement, by FN button, pictures can be cropped right away.

Beauty shot
The most outstanding function in the scene mode of the NX10 is Beauty shot. Beauty shot recognizes a face and makes the face flawless and smooth. It’s like Photoshop in a camera. Beauty Shot is included in the Scene mode and brightness and the intensity of skin complexion can be set to 3 levels.

The results compensated by the APS-C sensor are really good. People might think it’s a little unnatural, but it’s incomparable to other compact digital cameras. Moreover, there was nothing to set in Beauty Shot of compact digital cameras, so faces got easily dark, but it’s possible to compensate exposure with the command dial with the NX10.

The most natural intensity is +1 or +2. ‘+3’ is normally too strong. The compensation is concentrated on the bright parts of skin while working on the dark part more smoothly. When it comes to a compact digital camera, due to its deep depth, it used to compensate even the background similar color to skin, but I haven’t seen it from the NX10.

Let’s enjoy retouching more slowly
Taking a shot in Beauty Shot, compensation time is too long enough to miss the next shot. Therefore, retouching with pictures taken after shooting could be better. When it comes to retouching, only skin complexion can be compensated to 3 levels not brightness. And after moving JPEG files converted from RAW, they can be read and retouched in a computer.

JPEG original
(18-55 lens, Multi-Metering, AWB, Highlight off, ISO100, A-mode, 37mm, F4.5, 1/200s)

Beauty retouching in the NX10
(Play->Image editing->Skin complexion->Skin complexion intensity+3)

Soft compensation of Retouched files in the camera
(Image editing->Photo Style->Soft editing menu)

Not only skin complexion, but also Red eye elimination, Backlight Compensation, Photo Style Compensation, and Size conversion are also possible. Skin Complexion is located at the very end of image compensation. Among them, Soft compensation in Photo Style is quite useful. It brightens dark parts and smoothens rough pixels. It can consecutively compensate retouched shots, so it’s good to execute skin complexion and soft compensation one by one.

Smart Auto with 16 kinds of Scene auto recognitions

Scene Recognition function of compact digital cameras is installed in the NX10. In Smart Auto mode, 8 different scene modes are listed and among them, Portrait, Backlight, Scenery, Night Scenery, and Macro are divided into detailed items. Once the scene is recognized, the color of the icon changes. Up to 16 scenes can be automatically recognized.

Macro Portrait Auto Recognition (Automatic Beauty Shot)

The camera recognizes Portrait, Backlight, and Macro the most among all recognition modes. However, I don’t think it perfectly recognizes Night Portrait or Backlight Portrait. Moreover, once it was recognized properly, sometimes flash was too strong or the focus was on the background. If it’s too dark, you’d rather use Manual mode and adjust ISO, Exposure, and flash by yourself than Smart Auto, I suppose. Below is the 16 scene icons which can be changed in real time on the lower part of the screen.

In ISO Auto, even if it’s recognized as Night mode, ISO800 is the limit and in Program Auto mode, ISO goes up to 800, too. Sometimes, we need more ISO to secure the shutter speed, but it’s more important for Smart Auto to minimize hand-blur. In Smart Auto or Program Auto, no matter how dark it is, regardless of angle of view, it’s suppressed to ISO400 and turning the flash off, more detailed ISO values are applied in Smart Auto. Looking at the second, you can see ISO 480 when the flash was off. In Smart Auto, once Face Recognition and Focus work well, Smart Flash automatically adjusts the intensity of flash. Looking at the third, the flash is more appropriate than P mode.

MPEG4 Format H.264 HD video

The NX10 supports a MPEG4 format HD video function with 1280×720, 640×480, and 320×240 of size in 30 fps. The quality is either normal or fine and capture and cutting video are supported for editing in the camera. (Attached videos are not 100% quality.)

With 1GB memory, up to 15 min can be recorded as a Fine HD size and with 8GB, up to 2 hours, but it can record up to 25 minutes at once. Sound is mono, but not that bad.

P mode and A mode are supported for the Video recording mode and by adjusting aperture, depth of field for the background can be freely applied. However, once tightening the aperture too much for deeper depth, it might cause noise and insufficient exposure. It could have been better if Face Recognition is supported for the video recording.

A-mode F2.0

A-mode F8.0

Various Photo Style and White Balance can also be applied and wind noise elimination and fader for the beginning and end of videos are supported, too.

Picture Wizard Portrait

Picture Wizard Custom

Picture Wizard Classic

Fader (fade in / fade out)

Wind cut off

Wind cut on

HD videos keep being improved. While I was using the there were updates for video quality at twice. That’s why I couldn’t tell it’s exactly the complete quality, but I can say the feature of videos roughly..

SAMPLE1 – 30mm Focus (manual) [Download original]

SAMPLE2 – 30mm [Download original]

SAMPLE3 – 30mm [Download original]

SAMPLE4 – 18-55mm [Download original]

SAMPLE5 – 30mm [Download original]

The quality for inside and outside is relatively good and there was not much color noise. But the screen used to be tilted if the camera is moved, and it doesn’t support an additional IS function, so IS is only possible with the lens supporting OIS.

55mm OIS off

55mm OIS on

55mm OIS off (Shaking on purpose)

55mm OIS on (Shaking on purpose)

According to the manual, continuous AF can be executed by the depth preview button, but not for some lenses. However, all the 3 lenses I mentioned support continuous AF while recording. Clicking the depth preview button on recording, continuous AF is activated and turned off by one more click.

AF with walking – Continuous AF with the 30mm lens

Indoor continuous AF – Continuous AF with the 18-55 OIS lens[Download original]

Outdoor continuous AF – Continuous AF with the 18-55 OIS lens[Download original]

It’s the consideration of the NX10. You can either use it or manual mode. However, the performance of Continuous AF does not work perfectly. Taking movement of a person or a pet with Continuous AF, sometimes it was failed or slowly responded, or the screen got fuzzy. The 18-55 OIS lens is the best for the video recording, but I think MF is better so far.

Realistic Warm
What I was wondering about the NX10 was the color, because I expected the original pictures from a large sensor. In 2009, Samsung digital cameras had deep, strong red and familiar colors, so they were very satisfactory. The color of the NX10 is between Panasonic and Pentax to me and color temperature is quite warm. You can feel it more for indoor shots. Because colors are not so strong, it might be a little too plain in a basic setting. However, various picture wizards, 3 custom colors, and detailed color parameter setting allow wide range of colors to users.

The color of the NX10 is natural and realistic. My first impression was the same as well. Generally, yellow tone is involved in pictures rather than cold feeling, and at some point, it gets stronger. But it changes depending on situations. Under the sunlight in the afternoon, it’s warm, in the morning a little cool, and warmer for indoor shots. Like previous Pentax body, in the middle range, yellow and green patterns tended to be applied. If you like warm patterns and rural areas, it’s good, but if you like vivid skin tone and blue sky, it’s not good. As a middle level product, the NX10 creates natural and high gradation based on a little compensation not vividness.

In outdoor portrait tone comparison with Panasonic, the NX10 shows more vividness. When it comes to flash shots in ISO800, Samsung has better details and skin colors. (GF1+20mm lens vs NX10 + 30mm lens)

Panasonic has reduced green casting a lot compared to previous models and color balances are set to a little cool for both indoor and outdoor shots. However, the GF1 has 1/3EV brighter than the NX10 with the same shot value. Taking with the same M mode value with both the NX10 and GF1, the GF1 takes more bright shots. (Comparison below) That means despite similar brightness with the same aperture and ISO in A mode, the shutter speed of Panasonic tends to be slightly shorter. (Comparison First, top)

Comparison Setting Exposure to the NX10 in M mode (Over exposure in the GF1)

Comparison Setting Exposure to the GF1 in M mode (Underexposure in the NX10)

Panasonic is definitely better in Shot performance, but when it comes to gradation of bright parts and details, the NX10 is certainly better. It’s the same pancake lens, but considering angle of view, Samsung pancakes takes narrow shots. (Lumix 20mm is 40mm and Samsung 30mm is 46.2mm.) Looking at the comparison picture, the background of the NX10 got knocked out of focus more. If Samsung 30mm pancake lens supported 1.x aperture like Lumix, it would be unbelievable, I think. The 30mm pancake lens is really good lens.

Picture Wizard, Various color expression
Picture wizard is similar to Photo Style Selector of Samsung compact digital cameras. It can be directly set from the delete button on the back and it comes with 9 modes such as Standard, Vivid, Portrait, Landscape, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm and Classic. It has 3 user settings and from Picture Wizard, Color, Saturation, Sharpness, and Contrast can be adjusted to 9 levels.

Standard Custom1-Strong Saturation

Custom2-Strong Saturation, Cold Color     Custom3-Max.Saturation, Max.Contrast

There’s nothing about colors in manual, but colors have their own features. Standard is natural and well balanced. Vivid is the best for color feeling. Scenery is more natural and better in gradation than Vivid. For Portrait, Standard or Portrait mode are the most appropriate to me.

Colors are generally cool here. Personally I prefer Calm with natural red. It has less red than Retro and when taking portrait shots, it creates special atmosphere.

Color Temperature, Detailed White Balance
It supports 9 White Balance modes from Auto to Custom and Color temperature from 2500K to 10000K in every 100K. Color Temperature is quite important. When White Balance doesn’t satisfy you, Color Temperature allows more detailed color settings. Custom White Balance is also very easy to use. It can be set from the depth preview button or Custom White Balance in White Balance. I hope it can save 2 more Custom White Balance settings.

Various Bracketing Modes

Exposure, White Balance, and Picture Bracketing are supported. Detailed settings of each Bracketing mode are possible from the menu. For example, exposure interval, type of Picture Wizard, and color pattern of White Balance. Exposure Bracketing is continuous, but because White Balance and Picture Wizard save captured pictures in 3 colors using RAW file format.

Exposure Bracketing

Picture Wizard Bracketing

WB Bracketing

* New eyes for the world, Samsung NX10 -Part 1-

* New eyes for the world, Samsung NX10 -Part 2-

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