A few from the NX1

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

Well, another few weeks have passed and still no Samsung lens... come on Samsung! Let's get this thing rolling :-)

Thankfully though they have lent me a 50-150mm 'S' class lens for the period of image logging, meaning I have been able to use the camera a bit and try it all out. Here are a few photos taken with the Samsung NX1 over the past few weeks. As soon as I get the go ahead and wide angle lens, I will let you know my thoughts and really put some time in to using this camera, but as I have said to some of you that have visited... so far I must confess I am impressed. There are things I like, things I don't like but overall it seems to be getting me images that I am pleased with and can use.

Above is Emmy, one of our female otters on the edge of the bank.

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

Frodo, one of our main foxes.

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

Aluco the tawny owl, taken on a very dark and gloomy afternoon.

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

Likewise with this one of Scrappy, the little owl.

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

A recent one of our kingfisher. Very restricted with the 150mm focal length, and this has been cropped a fair bit, but sometimes you have to make an image with what you have available. It's nice to place the animal in this habitat and not always go for the close up.

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

Not that there is anything wrong with a good ol' close portrait though :-) We only got a dusting of snow, hardly anything at all, but by changing shooting angles it was possible to make it look like we had a lot more than we actually did.

So, hopefully this will tie over till I am officially trying the NX1. I need the wide angle for some ideas I want to try out.

Thanks for looking

Kingfisher

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

We had a kingfisher visit one of our otter ponds on Saturday, isn't she a beauty!

Most of you know, I am a mammal man, don't get me wrong... I love all animals, but it is mammals that really get me excited. There is an exception to this though... the Kingfisher!

The kingfisher has and always will be one of my favourite animals. It is the reason why I now work with animals and am doing what I do today... Let me explain...

A long time a go now, I used to work on building sites. I have always loved wildlife, but guess never realised you could actually work with it and make a career out of it, so I worked helping a local builder for several years after college. One summer we were doing a renovation on an old cottage, using all old techniques... really interesting, and every break and lunch time we would all go out and sit on the large lawn out front that led down to a large pond. This pond had a kingfisher that used to visit each day at the same time we had our lunch, so I would just sit there and watch him dive, catch a fish and eat.

It was the highlight of my day, even after several weeks of being there I looked forward to seeing him with more enthusiasm and passion than anything else I had known. And then one lunch time it just clicked in my head... why not work with wildlife?.. There is obviously places out there that have this type of work, places that need people with a passion like mine for British wildlife. So after I had got over the "feeling stupid" stage of not realising this years a go, I went back to college to study animals and then went on from there... In other words, you could say it was a kingfisher that sparked off everything that got me to where I am today!

Anyway, a bit of an anecdote post today I guess, the photos are... well see for yourself, not great, but the experience (and that is still what I take photographs for today) was incredible! Bear with the first few, I am showing them for a reason, but skip to the last two to see her a bit clearer if you so wish.

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

So... the reason I am showing these is not just to share the experience, but also to show off the frame rate and focus speed of the Samsung. The dive, catch of fish and return to branch took almost exactly one second. How do I know? The frame rate on this camera is 15fps, and I have 15 photos! :-)

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

As I often do, especially with something as special as this, I was just watching her for a good while and enjoying the experience. But then I thought I would try and get a couple of photos. The lens I have goes to 150mm... no where near enough for this, you can see how small she is in the frame, but for a record shot and for the BWC blog it would be good enough.

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

Having watched her for some time, she dived to the spot right in the middle of the frame above a couple of times... so to give myself a chance I focused the camera there and waited, hoping to fire of some shots as she entered the water and catch her coming back out again... but she caught me by surprise.

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

She decided to dive to a different area, and for the first few pics you may only just be about to see her in the top right of the frame.

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

So I pressed the shutter right away, out of excitement, and moved the camera round to get where she hit the water in the centre of the frame... you can see from the above photos her getting a bit closer to centre frame.

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

This whole 15 photo sequence happened in only a second remember, so I had to be quick on the draw so to speak!

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

Luckily I got the splash centre frame just before she came back out again... they usually leave the water where they enter!

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

Next up, the camera had to focus. Not sure how clear the above is, they are all straight from camera, no editing, no crop, but she is not in focus.

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

Here she is just above the surface shaking off the water, still out of focus, but a little clearer.

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

A little clearer again, the camera really did focus quickly while firing off the shots... Not perfect, but I must admit I was impressed. Full size you can actually see the third eyelid across her eye for protection!

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

And then finally flying off with the fish in her mouth! And it was in focus, camera made it just in time for the classic shot. Yes, still very small and not ideal, but a great record shot and a great souvenir of a magical afternoon.

I got a bit excited after that, and didn't catch the last couple going back to the branch... and then when there she was even further away to attempt taking a photo.

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

Here are the last three again cropped in a bit.

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

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

And perhaps my favourite photo of the year so far... and not due to quality, but due to what it means to me and the memories it shows... new and old! At the end of the day, Isn't that what photography is all about!

Thanks for looking :-)

Samsung NX1

Samsung NX1

A month or so a go now I was contacted by Samsung, through Bright Media Publishing, and asked if I would like to be an "Imagelogger". For this they would send me a brand new Samsung NX1 camera with vertical camera grip and 16-50mm 'S' class lens for me to use and try out for an 8 week period. In return I would upload several images a week to Samsung for them to use, and share across all their platforms to advertise the camera, and in return for this I would be allowed to keep the camera at the end of the 8 week period...

What a deal! I of course said yes... I get a free camera worth just shy of £2,500, they get some (hopefully) good images and the BWC gets some great exposure... Win win!

Samsung Imagelogger - taken by Izzy Coomber

The camera arrived on Christmas eve, but the kit lens was not available... and still isn't... Would of thought they would of had all that side of things organised, but in the mean time and for the rest of the test period Samsung have kindly loaned me two longer lenses which I asked for to help with the wildlife photographs I will be taking. An 18-200mm lens, which to be honest is not too bad at the wider angles but forget about it above 150mm, and the 'S' class 50-150mm lens which I have to say so far I am very impressed with!

As well as myself, 4 other photographers have been asked to be image loggers to make up 5 of us. Looking at their sites I think I am the only "wildlife" photographer... I was surprised to be asked, but their is no doubt I have great access to wildlife models :-)

The eight week period will not start till we have our 16-50mm lenses, which should be fairly soon, but expect a few blogs posts over the next couple of months on this camera.

Me - taken by Izzy Coomber

I have been asked to do at least one blog post a week about what I think of the Samsung NX1, but having planned it all out... eh, I mean... by introducing a little anarchy I will do at least two. My reasoning behind this is I know a lot of you will just the interested in seeing the photos from around the BWC and not care what camera it was taken on, some may just want to see the photos from the NX1 to see what it is capable of. Others will be interested in what I think of the camera from a photographers point of view.

Every Monday, once it all starts, I have to upload my images to Samsung. Therefore around that time I will also upload the images I give them here for people to see.

Then later in the week I will do another post on how I have got on that week, what I photographed/tested etc and my thoughts and opinions... Those interested can then take them how they wish, but I will always be honest from how I use a camera.

Just to warn the photographers out there though... I am not a "camera geek"... I don't mean that in a negative way, all I mean is I don't know all the ins and outs of how a camera works... but I do know how to take a good picture, compose a nice image and get the best out of a camera I use.

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

I have to start the first week with an un-boxing, first thoughts post and finish up after the 8 weeks with a full review.

But just to get you interested/excited, here are a few initial test shots. Above, Frodo at the wider end of the 18-200mm.

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

This is Macavity above, and Elwood below. Both taken with the 50-150mm lens. I am not sure how they will appear on this blog, but I can assure you on my Mac at full size they are pin-sharp!

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

So there you go, exciting times. First "Official" post on this will be coming soon hopefully, but if you want to follow how I get on with the Samsung... as well as keep up with my other photos, extra BWC photos and news etc then you can now do so with the following (linked in the titles):

Facebook

This is where I will share photos through out the week I take, and any interesting shots from around the Centre.

Twitter

I don't use twitter, but have linked this account to Facebook. Therefore if you want to keep up with the photos, but prefer twitter to Facebook, this is the place for you.

Google+ 

I have an account on Google + for writing the blogs and youtube, but again only use them to share the blog posts I make. However if you prefer to use Google + to keep up with things, here you go.

Flickr 

My flickr photostream. I share some photos here with the BWC group, and if you are just here for the Samsung pictures... then I have made a "Set" to upload all the Samsung photos too.

500px 

Finally, this is where I post some of what I think are my better images. 

Feel free to follow, like and or share any of the above with anyone you think may be interests. If you have any questions on the camera, feel free to ask, and I will happily answer them if I can.

To see the camera and its specs, take a look here... Samsung NX1 And I will explain more on the first thoughts post.

Thanks for looking :-)