Review Date: September 5, 2012
Category: Beginner to Serious Amateur
Samsung EX2F
USER’S EXPERIENCE
Friday, August 17, 2012 – Here’s what I receive in the box:
- Samsung EX2F
- No memory card
- Li-ion Battery SLB-10A 3.7V 1030mAh 3.81Wh
- Travel Adapter AD5055 (which uses the USB cable to recharge the battery in camera)
- Neck Strap
- Lens Cap and Retaining String
- USB Cable (no A/V Cable)
- Documentation: Quick Start Guide
- Software CD: User Manual; iLauncher, Multimedia Viewer, PCAutoBackup, RAW Converter
The Samsung EX2F improves on the EX1, which it replaces, with two very practical features: a faster F1.4 lens and Wi-Fi capability. The fast F1.4 Schneider-Kreuznach lens is great for low-light photography. The Wi-Fi capability allows you to transfer images from camera to PC wirelessly (and effortlessly), and to remotely control the camera using your smartphone (or iPad).
Here are the major changes from the EX1:
- F1.4 maximum aperture at wide-angle (versus F1.8)
- Wi-Fi capability for wireless image transfer and remote viewfinder
- 3.3x 24-80mm optical zoom (vs 3x 24-72mm)
- Full HD video with stereo sound (vs. HD with monaural sound)
- 12.4 MP CMOS (vs. 10MP CCD)
- Internal ND Filter
The EX2F looks professional in its compact black magnesium body. It is fast, intuitive and produces very good image quality at the low ISOs. Manual shooting modes, RAW format and dual mode dials give the enthusiast photographer full control over the camera. The EX2F is easily one of the most enjoyable cameras I’ve used.
The design is practically the same as that of the EX1, which means that it has great handling and ergonomics despite a small handgrip. It also means that one slight design flaw of the EX1 is still present on the EX2F: it is too easy to inadvertently press the Wi-Fi button (used to be the ISO button on the EX1) with the palm of your right hand just by holding the camera. I’ve lost a few opportunities to catch a street photo opportunity because Wi-Fi was inadvertently engaged and I had to cancel out first.
The EX2F easily takes great macro pictures.
The EX2F can focus manually: Press Macro – Select MF – Press DISP to engage MF – Rotate the Navigation wheel or Front Wheel (or press RIGHT/LEFT on the Navigation Wheel) to adjust focus manually – OK to set. Unfortunately, the image does not magnify so MF can be challenging.
The one feature I would like to be able to completely disable is the Help display. Even with Help Guide Display set to OFF, the camera still feels the need to explain what the selected shooting mode or drive mode does. It slows down the shooting process for those who are already very familiar with those modes.
I love the wireless PC Auto Backup feature, which I find easy to setup and use. You can also use a smart phone as a Remote Viewfinder. [Download the app first onto your smartphone.] To test this out, I set up an iPad:
- EX2F: Settings Menu – Smart Link – Remote Viewfinder
- EX2F: Press the Wi-Fi button on the camera
- iPad: Settings – Wi-Fi – Connect to the camera
- iPad: Launch the Remote Viewfinder
Wirh Remote Viewfinder, you can zoom, but I did not find it too responsive. Remote Viewfinder is really for smartphone use; on the iPad, you get a small phone-sized display only. Otherwise, it fulfills its function well as a wireless “shutter cable.”
PC Auto Backup is a large download (32MB) that takes a long time (probably because it is hosted on a slow server). It also requires the camera to be physically connected the first time before you can even download the software. A little digging on the CD shows that PC Auto Backup is already included on the CD, so why is it downloading it? Instead of downloading it, just browse to it on the CD and double-click it to install. Once I use wireless image transfer, I find it so liberating that I never want to use a USB cable (if I can just find which is the right one from the dozen or so I have on the shelf) anymore.
However, don’t throw away the supplied USB cable yet since you will need it to recharge the battery in-camera. That USB Cable is ridiculously short and if you need to plug in the AC Adapter to an electrical outlet on the floor, then you’ll have to inconveniently (not to mention dangerously) rest the camera on the floor.
There is an internal ND Filter conveniently accessible in Fn and it affects the exposure by 2 f/stops.
The image on the LCD is bright, maybe even too bright, as I found out while taking the Long Exposure shot of Bamm-Bamm. For that shot, I placed Bamm-Bamm in a dark area and turned off the room lights, throwing him in total darkness. I then turned on the light in the hallway so that only a minimum of light fell on Bamm-Bamm, allowing me to crank the shutter speed all the way to a long 30 seconds. To ensure the light from my PC monitor and blue light from my external hard disk drive did not encroach into the exposure, I strategically positioned a black board. Still, when I looked at the result, there was a patch of bright reflected light on the background. I could not figure out where that light came from until it dawned upon me it was from the LCD that I had swivelled to point upward for easy viewing. To take the picture without the reflection, I had to set the self timer to 10 seconds, tripped the shutter and closed the LCD before the self-timer had counted down.
To show how bright the light from the LCD is, here is a picture I took with the light from the LCD only. With all lights turned off, I set the self-timer to 10 sec., tripped the shutter, rotated the LCD so that its light became the sole light source for Bamm-Bamm. Here is the result:
Bamm-Bamm lighted solely by the light coming from the LCD
Not bad as a source of [directional] lighting, eh?
What I like about the EX2F:
- Image quality is excellent at ISO 80 and very good to ISO 400, even ISO 800 (RAW).
- Very good handling and ergonomics.
- Bright F1.4 lens.
- Excellent build and looks.
- Love the ultra wide-angle 24mm equivalent.
- Fast and precise AF, even in low light.
- Swivel high resolution AMOLED screen.
- Fn brings up a Super Control Panel.
No review is complete without a couple of improvement suggestions:
- Make the RIGHT direction of the Navigation Wheel (Wi-Fi button) just a bit harder to press — as it is, it’s too easily pressed just holding the camera.
- Beef up P mode: extend shutter speed range all the way to 30 sec. and add Program Shift.
- Magnify image in Manual Focus
- Provide Burst RAW capability
- ND Filter needs to affect exposure by 3 f/stops or more to really be useful.
- Provide a longer USB cable (for recharging the battery in camera).
- Provide option to disable ALL Help display.
- Move the exposure information back to the bottom of the screen. Likewise move the Histogram from the center of the screen to the bottom.
A Quick Start Manual in how to setup and operate your camera is provided in print. The detailed User Manual is now on the CD, which means you can’t carry it with you, but on the other hand it is easily searchable (and available in many languages).
The Samsung EX2F is a compact system camera that serious photographers will enjoy using. It has very good handling and takes great pictures at the low ISOs. Highly recommended as a compact system camera, and a great choice for street photography.
Next: Samsung EX2F QuickFact Sheet / Buy