Camera test Samsung NX10
0EV
placement of the dial on the top of the camera. In fact, there is a good reason for the dial being where it is: given the small size of the camera, it would have been a little awkward to fi t the dial onto the front and still make it comfortable to use. Changing the exposure and image settings
+4EV
is also very fast and easy to do. The metering, focusing, white balance and sensitivity settings can all be accessed via shortcut buttons on the rear of the camera. Image style is also accessed via a shortcut button, which is very useful, because when it comes to assigning shortcut buttons this oft-changed setting is commonly overlooked by manufacturers. To help those who are already familiar with Samsung compact and DSLR cameras, Samsung has continued to call the image- adjustment options the Picture Wizard. When using Picture Wizard, changing the
greatly reduces the size of the NX10 compared to a traditional digital SLR.
The image displayed on the rear screen
and in the viewfi nder is captured by a 14.6-million-pixel APS-C-sized CMOS sensor. For more details on this, see
Features in use (opposite).
As with Micro Four Thirds, Samsung’s NX
system required a new lens mount – the logically named ‘NX’. With no mirror, the distance between the rear of the NX lenses and the camera’s sensor (the fl ange depth) is much shorter than that on a conventional DSLR. This also helps to reduce the size of lenses, but it also means that the NX10 can offer another interesting feature. As the fl ange depth is shorter, it is easier to produce mount adapters that allow third-party lenses to be used on the NX10. By creating a mount adapter, which is similar to a small extension tube, third-party lenses can be mounted without losing the ability to focus to infi nity. This same lack of a mirror box by-product has also helped the popularity of Micro Four Thirds cameras. Samsung has itself said that it will
introduce a Pentax K-mount adapter that will allow the use of compatible lenses. Novofl ex has also launched no fewer than 12 lens adapters for the NX mount, including those for Nikon, Canon, Minolta/ Sony and Pentax lenses. There are even Hasselblad, Contax and M42 adapters. Sadly, there is currently no Leica M adapter available, but I would imagine this will be resolved in the not-too-distant future. So, although much of the marketing of
the NX10 will be aimed at photographers looking to progress from a compact or bridge camera, it may actually be of more interest to those who are looking for a secondary camera to accompany an existing DSLR system. Unlike the Olympus Pen range of cameras, the Samsung NX10 does not
have in-camera image stabilisation. Instead, Samsung will use optical lens stabilisation in some of its lenses. So far, the optical stabilisation features in the two zoom lenses but not in the 30mm pancake lens. As the sensor is exposed when lenses
are changed, it is very important that the Samsung NX10 features in-camera sensor cleaning. When there is dust on the sensor it is clearly noticeable in the Live View image shown on the rear screen, particularly when the depth of fi eld preview is used. I noticed a large dust particle while I was taking measurements from a grey card. I only had to use the in-camera cleaning function once to shift the dust off the sensor and I then set the sensor cleaning to take place every time the camera was switched on.
9/10
BUILD AND HANDLING
The fi rst thing you notice about the Samsung NX10 is how small it is. Compared to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, the NX10 is also just over 100g lighter with a shallower handgrip. Most importantly, the camera’s body is extremely well built and solid. Impressively, given its size and price in
comparison to the Olympus Pen range of cameras, the NX10 includes a built-in electronic viewfi nder and a built-in pop-up fl ash. This makes the NX10 feel very much like a miniature DSLR, perhaps even more so than the Panasonic G range of cameras. The control layout of the NX10 is typical
of a DSLR, with the only deviation being the positioning of the control dial. You would usually expect this dial to be on the front of the camera below the shutter button, but on the NX10 it appears on top of the camera behind the shutter-release button. At fi rst, whenever I went to change the aperture or shutter speed, I found that my forefi nger defaulted to the front of the camera, but it wasn’t long before I became used to the
46
www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 3 April 2010
The dynamic range and low noise levels of the NX10 are impressive. This JPEG image was lightened in Adobe Camera Raw by the equivalent of +4EV, revealing a great deal of hidden detail
colour, contrast and sharpness settings are made all the better by the bright and well- laid-out on-screen menu. In fact, Samsung has put a lot of effort into making sure the on-screen menu and settings displays aren’t just simple lists of features. The simple but sleek iconography, and the colour scheme, combined with the excellent 3in AMOLED screen (more on this later), help to make the NX10 very intuitive and easy to use, regardless of whether you are used to compact cameras or DSLRs. As Samsung is aiming the NX10 at
‘A built- in EVF and pop- up fl ash makes the NX10 feel very much like a miniature DSLR’
those upgrading from compact cameras, it lacks many of the custom settings you would typically fi nd on a DSLR. In fact, most of the custom settings have very little to do with adjusting images or how the camera operates, although there are a few adjustments that can be made to the User Display, such as the option to turn the live histogram on or off and to choose one of four different grid display overlays. One extremely user-friendly feature is the preview button on the front of the camera. This button can be changed to do more than just display an optical preview, which is similar to a traditional depth of fi eld preview but with the advantage that the screen adjusts to the level of light. An alternative use for this button is to select One Touch White Balance. This works by pressing the preview button with the camera pointed at a neutral-coloured subject, and then pressing the shutter. As the name suggests, it is a much faster way of setting a custom white balance than accessing the white balance menu.
9/10
AUTOFOCUS
Like compact and Micro Four Thirds cameras, the Samsung NX10 relies on contrast-detection AF to focus its lenses. It does this by shifting focus back and forth until it detects the point of most contrast. For example, imagine a black box and a
white box placed side by side. If the image is out of focus, a grey blur will be seen where the two boxes meet, with little contrast between them. As the lens focuses, the boxes will become sharper, creating more contrast between the two boxes. The camera will then
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