Hands-On Review: Samsung NX1

Samsung’s global reputation as a giant electronics conglomerate churning out phones, tablets, TVs and submersible offshore drilling rigs (yes, they make those) probably obscures just how far the company has come in making increasingly high-performance digital cameras. The NX1 goes a long way toward fixing that.

The new flagship in Samsung’s mirrorless lineup, the NX1, boasts a 28-megapixel APS-C-sized backside illuminated CMOS sensor, a new autofocus engine capable of tracking moving subjects while the camera shoots off an eye-popping 15 frames per second, true 4K (4180 x 2160) video recording and much more. It will cost $1,500 for the body or $2,800 with a 16-50mm f/2.8 S lens, battery grip, external charger and extra battery. For wedding and portrait photographers, it’s a tempting alternative to a DSLR. How tempting? We decided to team up with New Jersey-based photographer and director David Patiño to help us find out.

Image Quality
Let’s cut to the chase: on the whole, the NX1 takes fantastic images under a range of conditions, resolving loads of detail. Patiño used the NX1 and the new 50-150mm f/2.8 lens in a variety of shoots, including a corporate portrait session as well as some in-studio tests with us. We also tested the NX1’s video features in tandem with Ashley Haglund, a filmmaker and owner of the production company Generic Brand Human, where the NX1 was used in a video shoot of a seminar, recording 4K and 1080p footage alongside a pair of Canon 5D Mark IIIs. In both scenarios, the NX1 held up well. 

On the still image side, the NX1 performed solidly in low-light still shooting. Patiño produced useable images at ISO 6400. We used ISO 12,800 sparingly and found noise throughout images when we reached the max ISO of 25,600. “It produces a nice, mellow image,” Patiño says, adding that he was pleased with the skin tones and the details he was able to capture with the 28-megapixel sensor during his portraits. However, we did spot some chromatic aberration when we zoomed in to closely inspect our samples. It wasn’t a persistent issue in every frame—and running the RAW files through Adobe Camera RAW with “Remove Chromatic Aberration” selected removed the worst of it. 

Patiño also told us that the HD video quality on the NX1 proved excellent, especially in low light where the backside illuminated CMOS sensor showed its merit. Haglund was also able to use the footage shot with the NX1 right alongside Canon 5D Mark III clips. 

Design
From the weather-sealed construction to the curved handgrip and abundance of well-placed dials, the NX1 feels every bit the advanced camera. There’s just one exception: the weight. Even with the sizeable 50-150mm f/2.8 lens attached, the NX1 is a featherweight. 

The camera’s 3-inch AMOLED touch- screen display can be tilted up 90 degrees or down 45 degrees, giving you several viewing options for framing and composing. It’s crisp and viewable at all angles, even under harsh sun. We really only had one quibble with the design choice and that’s the placement of the video record button. We would frequently slide a finger down from the shutter button hoping to trigger video recording, hitting the exposure compensation button instead. Reversing the position of those would feel more natural. 

What We Liked
Beyond the solid image quality and well-executed design, shooting with the NX1 is an intuitive experience. Samsung knows how to build a great user interface and it shows on this camera, with a menu and touch-screen integration that is second to none. 

The NX1 is also crazy fast, capable of continuous shooting at 15 fps for up to 70 frames (RAW, JPEG or RAW+JPEG). Tracking AF also did a nice job keeping moving subjects in focus. We were also impressed with touch focusing, which we used when recording a school concert to thread between heads in the foreground to focus on singing subjects in the background. Despite the array of AF sensors, the NX1 did still hunt for focus a bit in both still and video modes in low light, but when shooting in better light, focusing was consistent. 

What We Didn’t Like
The NX1 uses a new form of video compression, dubbed HEVC, for any 4K or HD video you’ll record to a memory card. HEVC performs two tricks: it lets you store much more video to your memory card than older compression technologies and also lets you use slower memory cards for 4K footage (we got away with a Class 6 SD card). That said, it’s also a huge pain to work with HEVC files on a computer. As of this writing, no major editing software supports the format, and we were forced to first transcode the files into H.264 in order to work with them. The entire process of importing, transcoding and viewing the NX1’s compressed video files was tedious. (You do have the option to output uncompressed video via HDMI to an external recorder when filming with the NX1, which is obviously the preferred method if you want to do extensive post-processing.) 

If you opt for the body-only kit, there’s no external battery charger. Instead, you’ll have to charge the battery in-camera via a USB cable, obviously a big no-no for anyone planning on exceeding the battery’s 500 shots per charge. So add $230 for an external battery grip or $30 for an external charger (or both) to the NX1’s sticker price.

How it Compares
Between Panasonic’s GH4, Sony’s A7 series and Olympus’ E-M1, fans of mirrorless photography have an embarrassment of riches in the sub-$2,000 range. The NX1 delivers comparable image quality and a superior burst mode when stacked against these competitors for less than either the GH4 or A7. Where Samsung definitely trails the field is lenses. As of this writing, there are just two S-series lenses on the market, the designation Samsung bestows on its highest-end, weather-sealed glass. There are a respectable number of 16 NX-mount lenses available in total, but third-party lenses are nowhere near as numerous as for other mirrorless and APS-C systems from the company’s competitors. 

Bottom line 
The NX1 is a very capable mirrorless system that delivers incredible speed and a range of features that put it among the leaders in the category.