Event Coverage

First looks at the Samsung NX1 professional camera

By Marcus Wong - 26 Nov 2014

First looks at the Samsung NX1

Samsung has long been known for their consumer cameras and smartphones, but the NX1 represents a step towards the professional market for them, and their approach to making the NX1 professional-worthy seems to be to cram all the features they can come up with into one camera, then give it professional build quality and ergonomics.

The NX1 is about the same size as a regular APS-C camera, and has good mass, making it well-balanced in the hand. Entirely made of magnesium alloy, the NX1 weighs just 550g (body only, without battery) making it fairly light and decently small; easy to handle with just one hand. The layout of the buttons and dials is fairly typical, with your mode and drive dials on the top, as well as the record button for movie recording, and we’re glad to see that there is both a standard hotshoe mount, and a pop-up flash as both are invaluable for use.

Note the buttons for selecting AF, Exposure metering mode, ISO and White balance.

On the other side is  a dial for selecting the shoot modes.

Above the drive selector dial are four quick selector buttons to let you quickly switch AF-mode, metering mode, ISO, and White Balance. As you can see, the buttons don’t take up the entire top of the dial as per what we’re used to with normal DSLRs, but rather are raised ridged buttons that thankfully, are raised enough to find by feel.

What’s interesting here is that the NX1 features a 28MP APS-C BSI CMOS Sensor, which means the sensor uses Back Side Illumination structure, placing all the elements beneath the sensor so that there is a direct path of light between the lens and sensor, lowering the signal-to-noise ratio. This should mean better pictures with higher ISOs in low light, and we’ll be keen to see how well the NX1 performs in low light, as the NX1 features a native ISO of 100-25600 (extendable to 51200) - the same range as the recently reviewed Nikon D750.

The NX1 has some 205 Phase detection AF points and 209 Contrast AF points, translating to about 90% coverage of the viewfinder - certainly an impressive sight, and definitely something that should translate to better subject tracking under continuous autofocus mode. In our brief time with the NX1, it certainly seemed to focus quickly and accurately, with multiple autofocus points kicking in at a touch of the shutter.

We’re told the NX1 has an autofocus speed of just 0.055sec, and that the autofocus is fast enough to focus after every shot even at the full 15 fps (frames per second) burst rate of the NX1! For reference, that’s even faster than the Canon EOS 1DX, which tops out at 14 fps with mirror locked up (i.e. autofocus only on the first shot).That’s certainly an impressive achievement, but we do have to confirm the buffer size of the NX1 as Samsung didn’t quite have those numbers available for us.

Ports for an external mic, and HDMI out for video recording are located on the left of the camera.

A dedicated movie recording button sits beside the shutter button.

What’s new on the NX1 is the inclusion of Wide Phase Detection, which uses all the AF points to track subjects almost anywhere in the frame. This would be of particular interest for people who are looking to use this camera for video, as the NX1 supports Phase AF during recording, which should technically help alleviate the common DSLR problem of follow-focus during video recording.

On that note, video professionals will be interested to note that the NX1 supports both 4K and Ultra HD (UHD) recording, using the HEVC Codec H.265 for efficient compression of video clips to about half the size and bit rate of H.264. Unlike many of the other cameras out there that shoot 4K, the NX1 is able to output 4K video direct to SD card, with a maximum clip length of 30 minutes. Samsung does recommend at least a class 10 SD card for this though, which is fairly reasonable when you consider the amount of data the card would have to handle.

Built-in Wi-Fi means you can easy transfer files to a smart device.

The quick select menu lets you easily adjust all your shooting settings. 

Also included with the NX1 is native Wi-Fi capabilities, which means you can stream 4K content direct to a UHD TV, or send image files to a smart device for easy review and sharing. The addition of Bluetooth means you can also connect to your smart devices via the Samsung app while the inclusion of NFC makes pairing of devices a quick and easy affair.

Meanwhile, there's also a quick select menu that you can draw up by pressing the function button which allows you to quickly adjust all your settings via the LCD menu. On P,A,S, and M modes, you can also tap the screen to set focus or to adjust exposure based on your selected spot - something that could prove extremely handy for situations with tricky lighting.

A tilting LCD is always a handy inclusion.

The rear LCD also helps when you're choosing to manually focus on your subject.

The battery life is rated at 500 shots, which is pretty good for an APS-C camera, and excellent if you consider the fact that the tilting rear LCD is also touch-enabled, which means you probably will have it on for longer. What we’re not so sure about though, is having to charge the battery through the camera - the battery charger kit isn’t included with the body, so that means an additional purchase if like us, you prefer keeping a spare battery charged and ready.

Overall, we do think the NX1 is shaping up to be quite a contender. That 15fps continuous burst can certainly come in handy for action and sports events photography, while we’re also quite interested to see what the NX1’s BSI sensor does in low-light. The EVF seems pretty nice and responsive indoors with minimal lag but it still felt a little slower than the Fujifilm X-T1, which is our gold-standard in EVFs thus far, so we’ll be keen to see how that performs in an actual outdoor shoot as well.

One thing we would have liked to see for a camera targeted at professionals though, would be the inclusion of a second memory card slot. This is always handy to have as it gives the photographer the option of either having extra storage, real-time backup, or the option of keeping video and stills separate. Perhaps in the next update? Either way, stay tuned as we'll certainly be putting this camera through its paces once we get our hands on a review unit.

The NX1 is a most commendable first entry into the professional market.

The Samsung NX1 is now available at all major retailers for S$1,999 (body only), and a premium pack will soon follow suit that includes body, vertical grip, 16-50mm S Lens and BTC kit with 2 batteries and a charging kit for S$3,799. Either way, you’ll get a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5, which is valued at US$149.

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.