APS-C camera shootout: Canon 7D Mark II vs. Samsung NX1

Introduction

The APS-C segment has lost a little bit of its shine recently - thanks to the glut of mirrorless cameras coming out that embrace smaller sensor formats, and also to innovations on the full-frame front, bringing things like in-camera stabilization to the format. That doesn’t mean the format hasn’t seen any worthy entries over the last year though, as the "in-between" format allows for a unique compromise between quality and price, affording camera makers to pack more into their APS-C cameras than ever before.

The Samsung NX1 and the Canon 7D Mark II are prime examples this, and come in from different entry points – the NX1 is Samsung’s first camera targeted at professionals, and so the company is trying to fill a new product with features they think users will want. On the other hand, Canon had a hit with the original 7D, so the direction for the successor is obviously to keep what users liked so much about the original, and make it even better.

The obvious question for this head-to-head then is: who did it better? We take you through our impressions of both cameras.

Design and Handling: Canon 7D Mark II

It’s been a good five years since the release of the original, and the 7D Mark II doesn’t change all that much physically. The 7D Mark II is only slightly larger on all sides, but the button layout has changed slightly to match the 5D Mark III’s more closely.

There’s a larger depth of field preview button, and more importantly, the inclusion of a new AF area selection lever that doesn’t do anything until you first press the AF point selection button – it then lets you toggle between a set of seven AF area modes. That alone isn’t that impressive, but dive into the menus and you can set it to activate custom functions to the various directions – much like on Fujifilm’s X-T1. That can prove to be quite a time-saver as it saves you from having to dive through the menus.

The 7D Mark II weighs in at some 820g, a good 270g heavier than the NX1 (which comes in at about 550 g). That’s something you can probably chalk up to it having a “traditional” DSLR design that still features a mirror box and pentaprism, which is likely to add to the weight somewhat. Unlike its mirrorless counterparts, the 7D Mark II doesn’t feature a tilting LCD, so you’re going to have lie/seat in a somewhat awkward position for those low-angle shots.

Perhaps owing to the fact that it straddles both the consumer and professional worlds, the 7D Mark II comes with two new buttons: the RATE button and the Creative photo button, which allow you to rate your images and or bring up options for changing the look of your images via one of Canon’s Picture Styles. There are also options for creating a multiple exposure image and to do in-camera HDR on multiple images, making it feasible to not even require a computer for basic retouching.

We like that there’s a physical switch to flip between movie recording and stills capture, and that size of the start/stop button is large enough for operation by feel. The Quick Control button is also much appreciated, as that calls up a menu to allow you to quickly adjust your settings and custom functions to customize the camera in short notice to best fit what you’re shooting.

The 7D Mark II has a large battery which gives it 670 shots on a single charge (CIPA rated), and comes with dual card slots, (1 CF and 1 SD) letting you have instant back-up of your images, the option to keep video and stills separate, or just plain extra storage for long photography sessions. Autofocus is snappy and accurate for stills and very much improved for video. It seems Canon’s Dual-Pixel autofocus system (first seen on the EOS 70D) works as just advertised, and the intelligent tracking system seemed to work well most of the time.

Design and Handling: Samsung NX1

As mentioned earlier, the Samsung NX1 is Samsung’s first attempt at a professional-level camera, and we must say they’ve done a highly commendable job. The electronic viewfinder is large and extremely bright, providing 100% coverage with 1.04x magnification, while the rear LCD is a gorgeous 3-inch Super AMOLED screen with tilt and touch that is a joy to use.

Perhaps shifting away from their typical designs to denote how this is a more professional camera, the NX1 has a body design that’s largely similar to a regular DSLR camera, with two large main dials on top. Four thin, curved buttons on top of the left dial let you change ISO, AF mode, exposure mode, and white balance, while turning the dial itself lets you change between drive modes. We do like the implementation of a push lock on the right dial though. Depress it and it pops up, unlocking the mode dial. When done, press it down again to prevent further changes. Both dials are also textured for better feel, and are just about large enough to turn easily with just one hand.

The usual ports are found on the left of the camera body, with the NX 1 supporting USB 3.0 and providing jacks for both a microphone and for external headphones for monitoring of audio feeds when the camera is in movie recording mode. There’s also a somewhat small LCD window on the top right of the camera for you to check on the camera's basic settings, but overall the size of the NX1 feels like it’s just about right - neither too large to be bulky, nor too heavy to be tiring.

NFC has also been incorporated in the camera for easy device pairing to transfer photos out to your smartphone, and Wi-Fi support adds the option of remote control via the free Samsung app on your smartphone. Overall, the camera is extremely responsive and we think the buttons are sensibly laid out, with everything easily within reach. You don’t have to do much menu-diving to get to any particular function, and the implementation of touch controls on the rear screen is a great boon. The only thing that’s lacking is dual card slots for immediate backup or overflow capabilities - especially important given the large file sizes for both 28-megapixel stills and 4K video.

Touch screen shooting, a flip screen to tackle tough angles, and a bright, responsive viewfinder that showed very little lag made the NX1 an extremely fun camera to use. Colors in the viewfinder and on the LCD were true to life, and we liked that there was room for adjustment of the brightness settings, though we were definitely comfortable with leaving it on automatic.

Sample Images

These are sample photographs shot with the Canon 7D Mark II and the Samsung NX1. The photos were shot in RAW and have been post-processed in Adobe Lightroom and processed as JPEGs. The pictures are copyright to SPH Magazines and are provided for your reference only, so we ask that you do not reproduce them elsewhere.

First, some resolution comparison shots. These are 100% crops from both cameras at the respective ISOs. The images from the 7D Mark II are on the left, with the NX1's images on the right. 

As you can see, at ISO 6400 and above, the resolution advantage the NX1 should have (28.2 Megapixels vs  20.2 Megapixels on the Canon) is somewhat negated by the over-aggressive noise-reduction being applied. As such, the Canon 7D Mark II handled these indoor controlled test shots better.

Next, let's see how they perform in daylight:

A night scene:

An indoor scene with low light:-

And an example of how both cameras render color:-

Note how the 7D Mark II consistently shifts to a higher ISO setting even though the images were taken barely minutes apart. It does seem that the camera favors a faster shutter speed and so switches ISO to accommodate. If you click through to the full resolution image, you'll find that both cameras are capable of providing excellent detail, with the NX1's higher resolution sensor shining through at the lower ISO levels.

Image Performance: Summary

The biggest difference here seems to be their color biases. Look at shots taken of the same scene from both cameras and you’ll immediately notice the difference as the 7D Mark II is much warmer, with particular emphasis on yellow and red tones, while the NX1 stays with the cooler colors and so is arguably more accurate (if not slightly cold image performance).

Images captured with the 7D Mark II hold detail well up to ISO 6400, with images taken at ISO 12800 usable after a bit of post-processing. Compared to the NX1, the images from the 7D Mark II are slightly warmer with a bit more in the reds and yellows. We also found that the camera tended to default to higher ISOs to support a higher shutter speed (to compensate for lower light) resulting in grainier images, especially when shooting at night.

One thing we did find though, is that seeing the mirror flip in the viewfinder when doing continuous shooting does seem a little more distracting compared to the uninterrupted view you get with mirrorless cameras, so that’s one area where traditional DSLRs are at a slight disadvantage. In our own tests, the 7D Mark II managed an average of 10.73 frames per second, easily matching the reported burst rate (10 fps), with consistently accurate focus.

On the other hand, we do think that Samsung has been a bit too aggressive with the noise reduction though. Noise reduction starts to kick in from as low as ISO 3200, and at ISO 12800 and above, it feels the camera’s attempts at noise reduction are undermining the high resolution of the sensor. That and the fact that the camera seems to be slightly prone to banding when in video mode are the only blemishes on what we’d call a great first attempt for reaching out to the professional market.

Autofocus is quick and accurate though, and images captured display an impressive amount of detail – as to be expected perhaps – the NX1 has a higher resolution sensor with 28.2 megapixels. It also has an impressive continuous frame rate of about 15fps when shooting with the electronic shutter enabled and a decent buffer that takes about 70 shots before slowing down. The continuous autofocus was by large fairly accurate, locking on to subjects pretty well, thanks in large part to the sheer number of autofocus points it has. (205 Phase detect AF points and 209 contrast detect AF points).

Conclusion

Looking at the image samples from both cameras, it’s difficult to declare an outright winner. Both cameras are quick and responsive, with accurate autofocus and quick burst modes for those action shots, and both will give you give you great images up to ISO 6400 with the NX1 needing perhaps a bit more sharpening in post.



The biggest difference here seems to be their color biases. Look at shots taken of the same scene from both cameras and you’ll immediately notice the difference as the 7D Mark II is much warmer, with particular emphasis on yellow and red tones, while the NX1 stays with the cooler colors and so is arguably more accurate (if not slightly cold). The resolution advantage on the NX1 is fairly obvious until you hit about ISO 6400, when the noise reduction kicks in and any extra detail present gets smudged to bits. While you will get quite a bit more noise, the images from the 7D Mark II hold up decently well in terms of maintaining the lines and fine detail.

It does appear that the NX1 retains highlight detail slightly better, and we didn’t observe as much purple fringing in its shots either. With the 7D Mark II retailing for S$2,499 (body only) and the NX1 going for S$1,999 (body only) it may seem like the NX1 is cheaper, but at the moment the 7D Mark II definitely has better support in terms of the range of lenses available - whether from Canon or from the cheaper third-party makers, so that price advantage will probably be evened out a little in the long run.

Thus it comes down to the handling. In this aspect, the NX1 is definitely better, whether it be the ease of using a touch screen to access (and change) the various settings, or just the convenience of having a tilting LCD for those awkward angles, the NX1 edges out a slight lead over the 7D Mark II, which is why it’s an overall better camera.

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