Samsung NX200

[Attila]

My 'new' camera did arrive, second hand of course. I like a lot initial impression is very positive.
Focusing on rear LCD works like never before (NEX3, NX100, NX11, Panasonic G1)
Still big minus I can't select focus are and magnify only selected area... Samsung you didn't have ever experience focusing wide open ...
come you are in Asia where almost everybody shoot wide open...
With no magnify you just guess sharpness on portrait shoots or have to focus first on eyes and move camera after to get proper frame...
Third party flash trigger still not available ..
Camera capture series shoots very fast and once it is done you can drink a coffee until buffer will empty again...

[iangreenhalgh1]

I liked it but it's got a few flaws. That slowness, man was that annoying, I tried it with three different SD cards, seems you need a really fast card otherwise it's painfully slow, even with my fastest card, it was still much slower than my NEX-3. Wouldn't be so much of a problem for me because I rarely shoot action. The buffer is only big enough for 5 RAWs, I got used to that but with the very slow card writing, it can be annoying.

The AMOLED screen is very nice but it's only 641k dots and combined with the 8x focus assist, I found it much harder to focus than my NEX-3. I used it with a 24mm lens,maybe it would be easier with a longer lens. The NEX-3 has a 921k screen and 14x zoom, which is a lot more effective than 8x on a 641k screen. The other thing is the fixed screen, I really missed the articulation of the NEX's screen.

However, despite the flaws, I liked it a lot and the quality of the output makes up for the flaws, the 20mp sensor has noticeably higher dynamic range than the 14mp NEX-3 and slightly higher pixel level sharpness, however, there is slightly more noise. I was impressed with the RAW output, that, for me, is by far the strongest point of the camera.

The replacement NX300 has an articulated screen but it's no higher resolution, it's 768kdots but it's also larger. It's now a touch screen (which I hate) but all the same physical buttons and controls are still present. It adds focus peaking but still only has 5x/8x magnify.

I'm keen to see what new cameras Samsung have coming because I'm impressed with their 20mp sensor but feel the cameras lack things I want. I'd like to try an NX20 which is a nicer body with an EVF, an articulated screen and has that nice 20mp sensor.