Recently I have got the new camera from Samsung, the Samsung NX 200 and this my personal review/opinion about this camera.
Presentation. The camera comes in a nice elegant black box:
Important technical spec, at least for me:
20.3 megapixels (5472x3648 aspect ratio of 3:2).
RAW files although they are like 40mb each :(
ISO up to 12 800, adjustable in 1/3 and 1 steps.
7 frames per second
Spot metering, beside multi and center weighted.
Manual control in speed and aperture, beside shutter, aperture priority and program.
Color space Adobe1998 and sRGB.
Custom and manual white balance.
Bracketing.
Manual focus.
1st and 2nd curtain flash synchronization.
What I like is first resolution and all those "pro" options in a compact size. Is not a point and shoot, although you can use as such if you choose to use just the automatic options but if you want professional capabilities and have real control over the image you want to capture this camera is for you.
What lacks unfortunately is an optical viewfinder, I would have like one, however the display screen at the back is really sharp and bright
All controls are with buttons and a dial which I prefer much more to a touch screen. They are easy to manipulate and go trough the menu options.
The design is as well ergonomic, the small grip make it easy to handle it.
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| NX200 top view. |
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| NX200 back view. |
Now let's go to the images:
1
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Nx200 studio sample original size 5 472 x 3 638 px.
Speed: 1/125 Aperture: 7.1 f ISO: 125
Color profile: Adobe RGB (1998)
Originally taken as JPG Super fine. |
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| Crop at 100% Lips from right girl. |
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| Crop at 100 % Lips from left girls. |
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| Crop at 100% Eye of right girl. |
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| Crop at 100% Left cheek from left girl. |
Under studio conditions it performs well, but as you can see there are some imperfecctions in the shadows transitions which can be easily corrected in post-production.
Sharp and images and nice tonalities in the high light areas.
2
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Nx200 snap shot sample original size 5 472 x 3 638 px.
Speed: 1/60 Aperture: 4.5 f ISO: 1000
Color profile: Adobe RGB (1998)
Originally taken as JPG Super fine. and with the flash that comes with the camera. |
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| Crop at 100% |
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| Crop at 100% |
No bad at ISO 1000 but it depends a lot of the light quality, however we can see some noise in the dark areas.
3
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Nx200 snap shot sample original size 5 472 x 3 638 px.
Speed: 1/30 Aperture: 4.5 f ISO: 6 400
Color profile: Adobe RGB (1998)
Originally taken as JPG Super fine. Artificial Ambient light, tungsten ceiling lamp. |
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| Crop at 100% |
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| Crop at 100% |
Well at ISO 6 400 we can see noise. The skin is not smooth anymore and if you plan to print your photos, you need to work on them in Photoshop, unless they will be just in your pc and be shown just at low resolution (ipads, ipods, internet social sites, etc. so is more than enough)
4
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Nx200 snap shot sample original size 1080 × 1920 px.
Speed: 1/50 Aperture: 4.5 f ISO: 6 400
Color profile: Adobe RGB (1998)
Originally taken as JPG Super fine. Natural ambient light from a window left side. |
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| Crop at 100% |
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| Crop at 100% |
With natural light and taken at a smaller resolution the image is sharper and have better transition from light to shadows. There is noise but it does not bother me, make it black and white apply some film effect and woala! enough for a 20 x 30 cm print (8 x11.5 inches)
So as conclusion the better the quality of light, the better the final image will be.
One important point is: Not because you can shoot at 20 megapixels means you must shoot all at that size, for what do you need your party photos so big if in 99% of the cases they won't pass from being posted from
facebook at 700 pixel size?
5
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Nx200 snap shot sample original size 5 472 × 3 648 px.
Speed: 1/100 Aperture: 5 f ISO: 250
Color profile: Adobe RGB (1998)
Originally taken as JPG Super fine. Natural ambient light. |
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| Crop at 100% Shadow area |
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| Crop at 100% light area. |
Well, the pictures speak for themselves about quality. With natural soft light the high lights areas and the shadows are fine, however I have not tested in high contrast situations.
Beside all that, the main benefits, at least for me is portability, I always want to have a camera with all the professional controls and be easy to carry around. I have tried before with my Canon 20D but it is heavy and bulky if you put it a 70-200 mm or a 16-35mm. So this is my holy grial.
I am not too much into the special effects it has (sepia, old style tone, magic frames, etc) because if I want them I prefer do it in Photoshop. I mostly use JPG and super fine quality, sunlight as white balance and the vivid setting for the color tonality.
I like the fact that the lenses are interchangeable which
give you more options about lenses and it it has the same size of sensor most of the
consumer cameras has an APS-C sensor (example: Canon 7d, Nikon d300)
About the video, I cannot say anything, all is that it can shoot videos at 1080p at 30 frames per second. I leave this area for someone who knows about video than me.
Two things I would like it has is for studio photos that you can see a live image despite the speed and aperture settings. Let me explain it, if you set 1/125 of speed and an aperture of 16f under studio light conditions when you will look trough the lcd screen you will see only black, despite the final shoot will be properly exposed due to it is lighted by the studio strobes. It can be in the top dial or in the menu options. And the other is an optical viewfinder accessory for street photography with their 16 or 20mm lens.
Well that is all from my point of view, i hope you find it useful.
