Review Date: June 17, 2013
Category: Beginner to Serious Amateur
Samsung NX300
Photoxels Gold Award – Interchangeable Lens Camera
IMAGE QUALITY
The Samsung NX300 is targeted to beginner and serious amateur photographers. It has 20.3 megapixel resolution on an APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm) CMOS image sensor and accepts interchangeable lenses on the Samsung NX mount.
The Samsung NX300 has excellent image quality including excellent low noise at ISO 100 with detail preserved. Image quality is very good up to ISO 800. Noise starts to show at ISO 1600 but it is still very usable up to ISO 3200. Images at higher ISOs suffer from noise and loss of detail.
| 3.1x Optical Zoom | |
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| Wide-angle 18mm (27mm, 35mm equivalent) |
Telephoto 55mm (84mm, 35mm equivalent) |
One of the advantages of an Interchangeable Lens Camera is the ability to use lenses suited for specific jobs. The Samsung NX300 comes with the Samsung 18-55 mm F3.5-5.6 III OIS, a portrait lens with optical image stabilization and 3.1x optical zoom (27-84mm Equiv.135) with a maximum aperture of F3.5(W)-F5.6(T), and a minimum aperture of F22. The number of quality lenses available for the NX System continues to grow every year.
In the above pictures, we show the coverage for 18mm [27mm equiv.] then 55mm [84mm equiv.].
The Samsung NX300 has full exposure flexibility with PASM modes, and Program Shift.
The camera also provides exposure compensation (with Auto Bracketing) and Custom (Manual) White Balance. A Histogram can be displayed in both Live and Playback modes.
Shutter speed ranges from 1/6,000-30 sec. in PASM, plus B (up to 4 minutes, with on screen timer) in Manual Mode.
Macro
The actual macro capability is a function of the lens you use. The 18-55mm kit lens allows you to focus only as close as 28cm (11 in.). This is not much macro capability and if you are into macro photography, we recommend that you get the 60mm macro lens.
The AF Area can be manually moved to any of 19 x 13 = 247 AF points (at the smallest AF Frame size), covering pretty much the whole screen area, even up to the very edges. Metering can be set in the Menu to link to the AF point [Menu – Camera – Link AE to AF Point – On] . AF is fast, works very well in good light and in low-light with the help of the AF-assist illuminator.
Manual focusing is a pleasure to use with Focus Peaking [Menu – Camera – Focus Peaking – set Level and Color ] allowing you to pin point the exact location you want to be in focus.
TIP: If you are having problem locking focus in low light, resize the AF Frame [OK – scroll to resize AF frame].
There are three metering modes: Spot, Multi-Pattern and Center-weighted. This is easily and quickly selected by pressing the Fn button, selecting Metering and then scrolling the Jog Dial. You can also have “Spot AF,” though it’s not called that and you’ll have to select a Menu option to tie the metering to the AF Frame [Menu – Camera – Link AE to AF Point – On] as well as resize the AF frame to the smallest size. Touch AF allows you to set the AF point by touching the screen. Set Touch AF to One touch shot and you can touch the screen to focus at that point and take the picture.
| Auto White Balance Indoors | |
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| AWB | Custom WB |
As the above two pictures show, the Auto White Balance (AWB) is not quite accurate indoors under artificial lighting [I have two energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs on the ceiling]. The Samsung NX300 allows WB to be easily set manually and this brings out the real colors. AWB works very well in natural light.
| ISO Comparisons | |
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| ISO 100 | |
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| ISO 200 | ISO 400 |
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| ISO 800 | ISO 1600 |
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| ISO 3200 | ISO 6400 |
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| ISO 12800 | ISO 25600 |
The Samsung NX300 has 9 ISO settings going from ISO 100 to ISO 25600 (at 1 EV step, or 25 ISO settings at 1/3EV step). The 100% crops above (area delimited by the white square) demonstrate the noise at the available ISO Speeds. At ISO 100 to 800, noise is under control. Noise starts to be slightly visible at ISO 1600 but is still very acceptable up to ISO 3200. Noise (with detail loss) is quite visible at higher ISOs. Overall, excellent noise handling.
The NX300 has 5 Auto ISO settings [Menu – Custom – ISO Customizing – select max ISO ]: ISO 200, Auto ISO 400, Auto ISO 800, Auto ISO 1600 and Auto ISO 3200. (If ISO step is set to 1/3EV, there are 15 Auto ISO settings.) I’d recommend setting Auto ISO to 3200 since the images are so low in noise even at this high ISO.
CA (Purple Fringing)
CA is negligible to non-existent in most everyday shots and even in very high contrast shots (using the 18-55mm kit lens). The area delimited by the red square at top right, and reproduced at 100% crop at bottom right, shows no purple fringing.
Long Exposure - 84mm (equiv.), Shutter Priority, Pattern, 30 sec., F5.6, ISO 100, Custom WB, Self-timer (5 sec.), Tripod Used
Our Long Shutter Speed test is a torture test for digital cameras. Here we test whether (and how well) a camera can lock focus, provide accurate WB and obtain a correct exposure in extreme low light situations. The Samsung NX300 passes this test very well.
The Samsung NX300 allows the use of a long shutter speed of up to 30 sec. in PASM modes, therefore allowing very nice night photography. Generally, with image sensors, noise becomes more prominent the longer the shutter is left open. If you turn Long Term Noise Reduction ON [Menu – Custom – Noise Reduction – Long Term NR – ON], you’ll notice a longer processing time (approx. twice as long) before the next picture can be taken.
To test this noise reduction algorithm, we take a low-light indoors shot. I simply used Shutter-Priority mode, set the shutter speed to the maximum 30 sec. and the camera automatically selected F5.6. Even at this long shutter speed, the Samsung NX300’s noise reduction seems to be working great, producing a nice smooth blurring effect of the background.
Overall, the Samsung NX300 exhibits excellent image quality and noise handling and it is quite easy to get great shots with it.
View the Samsung NX300 Photo Gallery [In the Photo Gallery, click on the picture of the camera to return here.]
Next: Samsung NX300 Handling & Feel
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