Friday 17 April 2015

Samsung NX1 Day

"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

After a long wait, the Samsung thing is pretty much now over. I know some of you were interested on how I found the camera though, so I have a couple of posts lined up for next week rounding it all up with my "conclusions" at the end of the week.

I have had the camera for a few months now, but due to an impromptu photographic day we hosted yesterday, decided to tag along with only the Samsung NX1 in my hand to put it through a days paces. All the photos here were taken yesterday.

A brief bit for the photographers out there. These were all shot in jpeg... I usually shoot RAW, but the editing software I use can not yet read the NX1 RAW file. I did try installing lightroom (which can read it) but the learning curve was took much for me to pick up in a short time frame... I am not an editor! 

I don't think this hampers me much though for the NX1, as I do minimal... and I really do mean minimal editing. Simple crops, and on occasion a slight tweak in contrast and or saturation. That is it. I prefer to get it how I want it in camera. 


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

The first thing I want to say is about the screen on the back... It is brilliant! I will admit I was the first to think, "what a gimmick". Thought I would never use it, but I found myself using it quite a bit to save lying down or contorting my body into awkward shapes just to get a photo. It is the best screen on the back of a camera I have seen, so vivid and clear.

It is a touch screen, so you can set it up to focus where you touch on the screen and even to take the photo too. The results are great, and no lack in quality compared to using the view finder. When I could use the viewfinder though, I did... just too used to it I guess. Also the bright sun can hamper using the screen in in the wrong place.

The screen can only be pulled out slightly, and tilted upwards as in the photo above. Would be nice if it was more flexible, especially for low angle portrait shots.

I quickly noticed too that it saps the battery life! The camera is mirror less, so the battery doesn't last as long as a mirrored camera anyway, but with using the screen about half the time for approximately 800 photos... It only just lasted the day from a full charge!


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

Being mirror less, looking through the view finder you are looking at a little digital screen. If you come from a mirror camera... this takes some getting used too. I could tell it wasn't the "real thing" I was seeing, but I did get used to it.

The positive thing about it is you can see the changes you make in the camera, and what the image will look like. If you lower the exposure for example, then the viewfinder shows the darker image just as it will be captured. You have to use experience to know what it will look like on a mirror camera. No problem for those that have done it for a while, but tricky for beginners.

What I did find difficult though was that when you take a photo, for a fraction of time... maybe even only a millisecond, it showed the image you took in the view finder before changing back to the live feed. It was so brief many may not notice even, but being used to not having this it really stuck out to me. Not too bad for portraits, but for action shots it really throws you off guard. If an animal was moving, I had to predict where it was going to be in the frame for each shot, as I could only see the last image I took. To be honest, this pretty much made it hopeless for fast moving animals unless they were coming straight towards you on the same line.

You can see with the panning shot above... I would keep the focus on the head normally, and tried to here, but having to guess where the fox was for each shot mean't I was nearly always wrong... focus being on the body for this one. Any I did get was luck.


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

15 frames per second is great though, really good in fact. I will talk more about this in the next post, but it really does give you options in some situations.


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

You can focus fairly close, and it has all the options of a normal DSLR... so you can throw the backgrounds right out to create clear portraits.

I found that if I was taking a portrait where I didn't move, and the animal didn't move, and took 2 or 3 pics in a burst... nearly every time one of them would be out of focus slightly. Not sure why.


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

Yesterday really was a great day. Weather was kind to us, and the camera is so light weight for a DSLR that it was a pleasure to carry around all day.

The build quality is OK, but nothing compared to the 'big boys'. The pop up flash, although something I would never use, feels flimsy and the shutter button and on/off switch just don't feel as secure... good enough though. I would imagine it wouldn't do as well in poorer weather conditions... I would be more reluctant to take it out in the rains for example.

I also noticed that the larger lens, 50-150, often popped up a message on my screen saying "lens detached" and then "lens attached" again. Not the end of the world, but it did mean any focus I had was reset and I has to re focus. Just to note though... this did not happen on the kit lens, 16-50.


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

Talking of the focus. It is good... But just good...

In good conditions, it is spot on... really sharp photos and perfectly in focus. In slightly poorer conditions, low light or less contrasty, then it is not always spot on and sometimes a little soft. Sometimes takes a while searching for what you want it to focus on. This is true for many cameras of course, but for £2,500 I would expect more... like what I am used to.

Speed of focus is good... but just good...

As above. In clear conditions, obvious contrast, it is fast! But in difficult conditions, it struggles to keep up. You can still get your photos, but it is harder to get them.

I like backlight, and although I could still get these pictures, it was more of a struggle.


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

After a morning with the mammals, we spent an afternoon in the woods with the owls. A little darker, and some flying actions would really test the camera for wildlife.


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

ISO levels are actually quite good. Not as amazing as Samsung claim in their advertising, but then she is a cameras ISO ever as good as any company claim! I will mention more in the next post on this. Needless to say though, it coped just as well as most other cameras in low light.


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

Flying birds straight towards the camera is one of the hardest things to photograph in wildlife, and get real sharp images that are in focus. Not to be arrogant, but I can do it... and have done so many times, so know what to do (only through lots of practice in setting up our owl days).

The NX1 struggled... I had it set to 15fps, its maximum, but it was hindered by two things. Firstly, the image just taken popping up on the screen... as mentioned above, I had to guess where the owl would be as it flew towards me. Fairly predictable though as I sat where I knew it would come in a straight line.

So secondly... focus speed! It was just not fast enough to keep the owl in focus between each frame of 15fps. With my camera, I can rattle off a burst and know 4 or 5 will be sharp and in focus. But with the NX1, I would maybe get one in focus and then the rest would be out.

This is difficult though, and the light was not the best so difficult conditions too.


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

We tried the barn owl out in the fields with more light. Similar story, but a bit more success probably due to more light. Camera focused quicker and more accurately, but still just one, maybe two in each burst that were in focus.

I will just say though, you can change the fps down to 12, 10 or even 8... so this may help give the camera more time to focus between shots.


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

So back home, end of the day, and I was generally happy with what I took. More duds than usual, but I am still getting used to the camera. Had to put it on charge... and a pet hate... no separate charger was included with the kit! Had to plug the camera in to charge the batteries, meaning camera is out of action. You can buy a separate stand alone battery charger from Samsung, but for £2,500 you think they could of supplied one in with the kit!


"This content is created with the Samsung NX1, which has been provided by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd."

Early next week I will continue with some thoughts... mainly about the 3 points Samsung seem to be pushing. The 28mp, 15fps and high ISO! Then finish at the end of the week with my overall conclusions of my time with the Samsung NX1.

Thanks for looking :-)

3 comments:

  1. I also have the pop up error message with the 50-150S, do you think i must return the lens ?

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    Replies
    1. Hi,

      Only you can decide that... I have only used the one 50-150 lens, so don't know if it is a common problem or not. When testing it seems to be when I support the camera in a particular place. You can easily solve it by supporting the camera slightly differently, and it's not a 'major' issue I would say... however, for the price of the NX1 and the 50-150'S' class lens you wouldn't expect there to be this issue.

      Guess it all depends on who common the problem is, and how much you can tolerate it.

      Matt

      Delete
  2. Thanks for your response, indeed the issue occurs when i support the camera in a particular place. I just wonder if this issue can become more annoying with time.

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