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Samsung releases source code for NX300 and NX2000 mirrorless cameras

May 28, 2013 at 19:53:23 GMT

CAMERA NEWS MIRRORLESS OPEN-SOURCE SAMSUNG SOURCE-CODE

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Samsung has published the source code for its NX300 and NX2000 mirrorless cameras - the first attempt we've seen at offering public access to a mainstream camera's operating system. The approach, which the company has previously used with its smartphones, stands in stark contrast to other camera manufacturers, which have not engaged with the community of programmers looking to enhance the capabilities of their cameras.

The source code for the NX300 and NX2000 have been issued under GNU GPL and LGPL licenses, which limit the ability for end-users to create proprietary works, instead encouraging people to allow their own modifications to be tinkered-with.

While we find it hard to believe this move will greatly increase the attractiveness of the NX cameras to the mainstream in the short term, we have to applaud Samsung for opening up access to the workings of its cameras - something that can only yield interesting results. If the Magic Lantern team's efforts are anything to go by, there's plenty of untapped (and probably unforeseen) potential in these cameras.

The acceptance form on Samsung's website allows you to specify your intentions for downloading the code and includes the idea of using the code in another project, as well as the option of adding or refining it for the camera.

Click here to visit Samsung's Open Source Release Center

Comments

Total comments: 113

Haha... this is Google strategy !!!

Open source to catch customers.

Brilliant

0 upvotes

Disappointing. This is not what the dpreview article claims. Almost bought a Samsung camera before I read the details of what was (and wasn't) released. I thought it'd be nice to implement a few framing and color tools.

0 upvotes

what do you mean? it's a very good start, much more than any other manufacturer did before. If by reverse engeneering they could do chdk and magic lantern, think about what they could do with the source!

3 upvotes

Hell yeah! C'mon Olympus, you're next!

0 upvotes

Start with the TG2 so it can be tweaked to record raw.

0 upvotes

Not really an interesting news item for photographers...

But very very welcome and exciting to:

DEVELOPERS.

"Developers, developers, developers... (repeat 100 times)..." -- Steve Bomber, B52 ordinance dropper.

1 upvote

So photographers don't want to push and tweak gear?

Is every photographer a coder? No, would many photographs possibly use the fruits of those interested in tweaking and sharing the code for the tweaks yes.

1 upvote

Little do some realise it, this move will change the camera industry in a very big way.

I've often wondered who it would be. I always pictured it would be announced as a new 'Open Platform' camera, never dreamed it would start by opening-up the firmware of a current model. This will change the camera game to a much better camera game, one that is infinitely better for us because finally, we get what we want.

So what now then? If we get what we want then what will the manufacturers do to entice us away from the cameras of our own creation?

That's easy, this is no longer a battle of features, it's a battle of hardware. Manufacturers will sell their cameras on the best ergonomics, best sensors, and the most generous amount of physical controls that are there, just begging to be programmed by us; this is now a button and dial supremacy race.

Pumeco would like to congratulate Samsung on starting the revolution, and if pumeco says it's good, you can be sure that it is.

2 upvotes

Aw yes, the assumption here being that everyone is happily going to work on new features and bug fixes in exchange for a pat on the back from the community..

0 upvotes

Not at all, the future isn't a dumb camera that needs to be programmed before use. The future is a camera such as this that is programmed out of the box, but can be customised how you want it, if you want it.

And we want it, just ask every Nikon, Pentax, and Sony user that envy the hacks available to Canon and Panasonic shooters. Well envy no more because this will change all of that. It might take time before the likes of Panasonic and Sony follow suit, but they will have no choice eventually.

People will not be manupulated by the manufacturers when there are open systems out there. This is the best news I've heard in years, and it's most welcome among what seems to have been a depressing nose-dive ever since phones and tablets started screwing everything up.

This move is obviously a reaction to take back what was being lost to phones, and that's good news because it means proper cameras, with all of their dedicated hardware, are in the front seat again.

1 upvote

I don't need nikon or sony, since the nx300, for me, is already better than their cameras and fits my needs much better in term of size and iq.

1 upvote

tecnoworld, why you always promote samsung? cyber army from sangsung ??

2 upvotes

Me neither, and I'm quite a fan of Sony.

The Samsung hardware always was high-grade compared to what other manufacturers offer at the same price point, I've noticed that every time I've picked up a premium or even semi-premium Samsung.

1 upvote

Sure yeah: not at all, not that I wouldn't like to, since working with them would allow me to improve furter their products according to my needs :-) I simply speak for my personal experience and above all, I'd like to see a big community to grow around the nx system, since the more the better, in these cases. Would mean more support, more lenses, more models. Many ppl seem to just ignore the existence of nx or prefer other systems w/o even knowing the specs and the qualities of nx. Try it before speaking bad of it :-)

2 upvotes

It would be very interesting to know if anyone has downloaded the software, compiled it, flashed it to a camera and booted up a working camera.

I mean, without doing any changes at all.

So ... anyone?

1 upvote

I downloaded the code and had a look at it. I did not dig all the way, but it does not appear to have everything present in the camera firmware, just TIZEN and basic cross-platform build tools/settings for ARM processors (used in the cameras I suppose).

0 upvotes

In the meanwhile, nx300 won the tipa award as the best csc camera :-)

http://www.modernghana.com/news/466149/1/samsung-sweep-four-awards-at-2013-tipa-awar.html

1 upvote

Doesn't sound to me like anything of much interest to a photographer. ...

2 upvotes

Why? Chdk for canon is very interesting for many photographers! And so is magic lantern. Being able to add custom features, improving performance and fixing bugs is, imho, very interesting...

5 upvotes

Think of it this way: a premise for future "firmware updates" that will include more photographic features than your camera originally had.

Interested?

3 upvotes

Have you tried to take a shot of a lightning with and without chdk?
Have you ever taken a shot 60s long in any canon older than 2 years? have you ever had the ability to customize bracketing in any number of shots you like, to customize time lapse? Do you have any means for movement detection shots without CHDK?

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 2 minutes after posting

1 upvote

Still waiting for the mythical Samsung NEX-7 killer...

I can see why there isn't much buzz about the Samsung cameras... because their hardware is just not interesting.

2 upvotes

I'd rather say because nobody knows them. The nx300 has a quad core a9 cortex cpu, neon coprocessor, tiltable touch amoled 3.3" screen, pdaf+cdaf af, 20mpixel aps-c sensor, almost 9fps continuous shooting, video 1080@60fps, focus peaking and a set of gorgeous lenses.

What's not interesting about this hardware?

4 upvotes

As a photographer.... I like the 20MP sensor and I like the 16/20/30/45/85 lenses. The rest is not interesting.

The plastic feel of these NX cameras is terrible.. Mine creaks and squeaks all the time..

0 upvotes

Strange! Both the nx200 and nx300 I own are mainly made of metal...perhaps you have a nx20? That's more plastic, indeed.

3 upvotes

My NX210 doesn't feel like plastic ... Hope I have the right one!

1 upvote

I wished DPR staff would have researched this topic more.

The given URL says: "Samsung Open Source Release Center (OSRC) is an open channel to download or request any Open Source Codes used in our products". So, it would just provide the parts of their software which are (derived from) open source anyway. And as has been said below in comments, which they are obliged to release.

The DPR article suggests the Samsung approach would be unique and a complete firmware could be built ready to be loaded into cameras. Why does DPR believe so?

E.g., I am looking for an open flasheable camera OS where the community can work on better CDAF algorithms.

6 upvotes

Don't be so negative. Ppl were able to do great things by reverse ingegneering other cameras so I think that with this base, developers could be able to include new features in nx300, which btw is so powerful as hardware.

1 upvote

I tried the request and it returns files not found error message

0 upvotes

I try to download them but I got a message "File not found"

0 upvotes

The release is a very good step towards reinforcing its user commitment. But their real interest on them would be better shown if they would also take the little work needed to publish some specifications, such as lens profiles, app headers, fonts etc. The community will find out sooner or later, why not support them? What proprietary interest do they find in a third part lens profile, in the enhancement of their existing product features without their expenditure?

1 upvote

It's actually a real shame that Samsung doesn't get much traction outside of South Korea. Their latest NX cameras are pretty good, but the MILC market is already over saturated and needs a shake out.

M4/3 and NEX have become the Nikon and Canon of the MILC world. Fuji X has become the Leica, and Nikon 1 is the Pentax. At least in term of market share.

This leaves Samsung in the same position as Olympus was in the DSLR world. And we all know what happened to that.

2 upvotes

Yes, I agree it,s a shame, especially considering how good the nx300 is. It's faster than any nex in every aspect, has comparable iq even at highest iso, comparable dr, and much better and cheaper lenses.

1 upvote

The cheaper Samsung gets, the better it is for me.
So people, don't buy Samsung camera!

0 upvotes

Nx300 is getting enthusiastic reviews and, according to some local shops, it's selling quite better than older models. Anyway I understand your point and with nx100 and nx200 I also was very happy to buy at great deals, but I think that in the ling run, this trend could be detrimental for nx image. That's why I think it would be better if nx300 can keep a premium price for quite a bit, so to be recognized as the high end camera which it is.

1 upvote

High end, huh? ;)

0 upvotes

Look at the specs, look at the reviews. Do you rate any csc as high end? If yes, than nx300 is high end. Otherwise, if no csc is high end for you, nx300 is a high end csc :-)

1 upvote

As far as Samsung phones go, it is well known Samsung violates the open source licenses and releases broken, or incomplete source code that nees massive work by devs to compile using other sources to get a functional OS. Those that own a Galaxy SIII will now all about Samsung's lack of support for the dev community which has seen huge number abandon the platform for Sony. I wonder how complete this source code is for the cameras.

2 upvotes

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/05/28/samsung-releases-kernel-source-code-for-verizon-galaxy-s4-galaxy-tab-3-7-0-galaxy-mega-5-8-duos-and-galaxy-mega-6-3-gsm/

Come again...?

Pretty sure the development community of Samsung's/HTCs is far larger than Sony's. Also afaik modding a sony has a risk of bricking.

3 upvotes

You should go to the xda-forums and see how many devs have dumped Samsung for Sony and to a lesser extent HTC. The current AOSP ROMS for Samsung SII and SIII are not fully functional as you cannot get driver source code for example.

1 upvote

I couldn't disagree more. Samsung is a HUGE proponent of their developers, I don't know where you're getting your information from. I own a Verizon Note II, and haven't seen one thing from Samsung that shows they are not okay with anyone manipulating their phones. Even after Verizon went ballistic on Note II users and tried to lock it up tight, they (Verizon) backed off when they saw how beneficial it was to let people have some fun.

1 upvote

Mescalamba-

I believe this is the Samsung NX200 review you seek: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/samsungnx200/

Imaging-Resource and PhotographyBlog have both reviewed NX cameras. Then NYTimes did either the NX210 or 200.

1 upvote

yup, and now NX300 improved on IQ compared to NX200, but most of all improved on processing speed, added a very responsive tiltable touch screen and many features like PDAF, focus peaking, video 1080@60fps and much more. I'd rate NX300 much, much better than nx200.

4 upvotes

"and now NX300 improved on IQ compared to NX200"

Using the same 20 mpix sensor? Yeah, right.

0 upvotes

Peevee1: not the same since now nx300 has on sensor pdaf. So the sensor has been tweaked in several ways and owning both, I can assure the nx300 produces better images both noise wise (that was quite an issue with nx 200 above iso 1600) and dr wise, where already the nx20 was a bit better than nx200.

P.s. do you also own both, to be able to judge?

1 upvote

This is not completely true!

Sony NEX & Alpha cameras run some sort of linux and Sony HAVE been releasing source code for the corresponding firmware since at least 2010 if not earlier!

For example NEXs can be found here:
http://www.sony.net/Products/Linux/DI/category01.html

The main portal:
http://www.sony.net/Products/Linux/common/search.html

6 upvotes

the interesting fact about samsung is that the hardware of nx300 is very much like a powerful smartphone. it has the same quad core cortex CPU exynos 4412 found in samsung S3, so it could easily be programmed to make a lot of interesting jobs, like the ones I were describing below about "focus bracketing".

0 upvotes

Indeed, both Samsung and Sony are probably obliged to release this source code, due to the open source licensing of the GNU/Linux software used in the cameras.

3 upvotes

Both Samsung and Sony are releasing what they are obliged to release by the licences of the packages they're using. Even the RX100 has source available on that website, but only for a fraction of the software on the camera and nothing terribly interesting- Linux kernel, busybox, filesystem utils, and hostname. Similar sets of source packages for the NEX and Alpha cameras.

Neither Sony or Samsung are releasing or will ever release the source to the actual camera applications. I'd love it if they did, but it'll never happen.

8 upvotes

@ areichow - exactly. This is complete non-news, just hype and waffle.

3 upvotes

Only problem is that nobody cares about Samsung outside south Korea. Not even DPreview. :D

Where is NX300 review? Or NX200? Ah right, there isnt one.

2 upvotes

True, and this is a shame, since on many other websites and magazines the NX300 has been reviewed and has received great results.

2 upvotes

We're actually working on the NX300 right now (should have some studio work online in a few days) and we reviewed the NX200/210.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/samsung-nx210

6 upvotes

Can dpreview also include an assessment of the NX300 with its 2D/3D lens? Some of us are stereophotographers and would very much like to know more about this combo (besides the other non-dpreview reviews).

2 upvotes

@Barney: when reviewing the NX300, please point what for me is its only big flaw/bug, i.e.: the fact that in continuous shooting in Raw, the buffer contains only 5 pics, while in older cameras (NX200) that had bigger raw, it could contain 8. I'm more than sure this is something which could be fixed via fw, since the buffer is bigger and, as said, the raw are smaller than before. It's important that Samsung knows that its users demand for a fix to this. Thanks in advance.

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

1 upvote

Mescalamba-

I believe this is the Samsung NX200 review you seek: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/samsungnx200/

Imaging-Resource and PhotographyBlog have both reviewed NX cameras. Then NYTimes did either the NX210 or 200.

0 upvotes

NX200 already had a good score, and NX300 is so much better now!

Comment edited 51 seconds after posting

1 upvote

Im sorry guys, theres typo in original post, one zero went missing. It was supposed to be:

"Where is NX300 review? Or NX2000? Ah right, there isnt one."

I should check and re-check what I write I guess. It was in correlation with article, which is obviously about NX300 and NX2000. Not NX200.

Im sorry for confusion. :)

Im glad that DPreview is working on NX300. Looking forward to read that review.

Comment edited 56 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Mescalamba:

PhotographyBlog.com posted something about the NX300, perhaps just a "first look" and jpegs.

0 upvotes

Its regular review. Im aware of that. Im watching that site a lot, cause they add bit of real life RAW files. Which obviously is one of best ways to "guess" image quality.

0 upvotes

Mescalamba--

My two cents is that, shooting raw and extracting in ACR, my NX100 does better image quality than the NX300. But of course the NX300 does better high ISO pictures.

Used the same lens in the test. But haven't tried my Zeiss F1.4 50mm with adapter to the NX300 yet. (I will but I'm not terribly interested in a camera without an EVF, so await the NX30.)

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

0 upvotes

Smart move. The NX cameras haven't had many advocates, and this will make them interesting to quite a few people. Not just videophiles, but also anyone who would like to build a sophisticated camera into their project. Look at what people did with Kinect! Yes, this is just a camera, but it's a very good one and plenty of robotics folks might like to have something as capable as this in their projects. Remember there is already a pretty fancy WiFi implementation in there. Good for all kinds of remote monitoring projects. Good job, Samsung, your cameras are now relevant.

5 upvotes

This will appeal to the enthusiast market. IQ probably has to be improved further but this is a good step.

Watch out Sony, Samsung took market share away from your TV's and might with Cameras as well.

0 upvotes

the IQ is very good on NX300, both in raw and in jpg.

5 upvotes

not to mention Samsung destroyed Nokia and HTC when they entered the cellphone business..
But its the traditional camera manufacturers who should be worried, not Sony. They seem to be the dinosaurs in the camera market.

2 upvotes

scrup:

Shooting raw, Samsung NX cameras have very good image quality. (Though to be fair, I'm not astounded by what I've shot with the NX300--though it's still very good.)

And a couple of the NX lenses really challenge Leica and Zeiss to do a better job.

0 upvotes

I just tested few RAW files from NX300 and it was pleasant suprise. They sorta went back to NX10/11/100 AA and files are really pretty good. I would even go so far and say that they are probably above most mirrorless competition.

Only problem with Samsung (apart from still very miserable marketing) is their quality testing. As they produce in pretty massive batches, they often are bit subpar. Im not sure why that tiny bit which they export isnt carefuly tested.

Decentered lens, random deaths of cams, ton of various issues. Buggy early firmwares (tho thats standart these days, Sony aint better). Its bit like Sigma. :D Except in their case only thing buggy is usually AF.

Yea and another "problem" is that Samsung is what it is. Which means company that makes everything from aircraft carriers over fridges to those cameras. Camera division is only small part and if they decide it can be radically changed or even removed from existence. They dont need to care. And they really dont much.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

1 upvote

wlad:

The Samsung camera bodies have a ways to go before they challenge Canon+Nikon. Perhaps, knowing how good the lenses can be, someone would pick an NX300 over a low end Canon DSLR, but that's a long shot still. (But that same someone would also look at Olympus and Panasonic.)

Samsung shouldn't have dropped the option of an EVF on the NX300, the NX100 had the option. Also I'm not sure that Samsung should have dropped the ring control on the back of the NX300.

1 upvote

Yea and no EVF on NX300 is really what prevents me from buying.. Im not south Korean. And Im pretty positive that even there photographers prefer EVF or OVF over regular screen.

Tho thats truly only problem I have with that camera (that says a lot actually :D).

1 upvote

Mescalamba:

I've experienced none of the problems that you describe with my 2 NX100 bodies, nor with the NX20 body that I owned briefly--returned that last because of the buffer.

And I've never had any particular problem with Samsung NX lenses, even the one that I didn't consider optically excellent.

0 upvotes

I own a nx100, a nx200 and a new nx300 (bought 1 month ago) and I never had a single quality problem with them. Besides I own a lot of NX lenses, paid quite a few considering their qiality, and all of them are sharp and surely not decentered!

p.s.: NX300 has very fast operations, much faster than nx20/200 and has also PDAF focus, adding to CDAF, which makes focusing very fast with some lenses.

1 upvote

Lucky you guys then. :) I guess they only send bad pieces here then. :D (3x 18-55mm decentered, NX300 DOA, NX100 malfunctioning after year or so, EVF dead in NX10). And one tiny bit decentered 30/2 which I tested on NX300, but it was probably within margin of tolerance.

Im not really that much suprised, we are "garbage country". Everything that doesnt sell in other parts of EU is sent here and sold here. Or at least they try to do that. :D

0 upvotes

Wlad says Samsung destroyed HTC and Nokia.

Some would argue both Nokia and HTC destroyed themselves.

Nokia by focusing on stupid services when not being a service provider and their own OS / buying up the OS.. And the map service. I guess it's easy to be doing things like that when you have money and want to grow. OS and map service is acceptable I guess though by now Google maps would of course be ok to. But their services?

They could probably had been number one on Android but obviously skipped that wanting to be alone in providing everything and do their own thing. Kinda like Sony sometimes do with hardware.

I don't really know the story about HTC but it was liked because it was most easily modified (and had decent products which they still do) but then they messed that up. Sony has been getting better reputation and more sales (?) now when they have started to get that part.

Even if the consumer isn't a nerd nerds recommend things ..

0 upvotes

Nokia is bit suicidal lately. No need to destroy them, they do that perfectly just by themselves (like Kodak). HTC is kinda shame, was nice "open" system.

0 upvotes

On the Samsung forum we have been discussing this release for a week.
Unfortunately, few ppl are interested in the NX system, even if they are very good mirrorless (especially NX300) and there are many NX lenses which are, usually, fast, sharp and quite cheap for what they offer.

So, Samsung is probably trying this move to attract ppl to the system, since the biggest Achilles heel is the support that Samsung itself is giving its customers, in terms of bugfixes and fw updates).

It would be really nice that the system could be recognized for its quality and finally get a nice community around it. This move could lead to something similar to ML or CHDK and this would be a great plus.

I dream of an enbedded focus stacking system, able to take a series of continuous pics, each time with a delta in the focus. A sort of focus bracketing. This would be possible for someone able to code, considering that NX300 has a very powerful hw (quad core cortex A9 CPU) and an OS based on Linux Tizen.

5 upvotes

I imagine the first part of focus stacking - taking the actual shots, would be pretty trivial thing to do, requiring only basic programming skills and time to study the architecture of the firmware. Combining the actual shots into a single picture would be probably more challenging.

2 upvotes

the second part, of course, could be done out of camera. There are plenty sw easy to use, for that. But the first, which as you say should be trivial having a source code, would be a great selling point for Samsung NX.

1 upvote

sorry for getting off-topic: i've read about CHDK for Canon cameras and find it very interesting. but what is ML? it doesn't stand for mirrorless in this context, does it?

0 upvotes

magic lantern

0 upvotes

thanks!

0 upvotes

Considering how successful open-source approaches have been with computers (LINUX), smartphones (ANDROID), and peripherals (BLUETOOTH), one can’t but think that this move by Samsung has been long overdue by camera manufacturers. Hopefully others will follow suit.

2 upvotes

Just think about the possibilities:

in-camera RAW processing / editing
unlimited art filters
time lapse photo
Internet controlled shutter
webcam
HDR
Software pixel binding
Photo stitching assistant
Automatic self portrait with smile detection (e.g. for party)
Hotspot based location tagging
...

It is only limited by your imagination!
(and the processor's capability to some extend)

5 upvotes

WOW! Just about all of those things are already available in one way or another.

0 upvotes

@abortabort What single camera under $1000 can do all that in camera?

1 upvote

Let's hope this is not one of those partial and almost useless releases, where companies only publish the source code they are legally forced to as they already use GPL code in their products.

If it's for real, then this is indeed huge, and possibly a game-changer. Although I somehow doubt it, there are a lot of proprietary algorithms companies are more than reluctant to share.

1 upvote

Edit: after a quick look at the included files (for NX2000), I believe there is a chance they've actually released a complete distribution, with the proprietary packages in binary format (i.e, not as source code). It looks like you can build a complete firmware out of it, which really opens virtually limitless possibilities! If so, then great job, Samsung! I can't wait to see what the developer community will build out of these.

Another find: the camera is equipped with an ARM processor and runs Linux.

Comment edited 3 times, last edit 2 minutes after posting

6 upvotes

yes, the nx300 runs on a quad core cortex a9 cpu (same as galaxy S3 smartphone) exynos 4412, with a neon coprocessor. It's a very very powerful CPU, possibly the fastest ever mounted on a camera. The camera is, indeed, very fast in operations. I hope it gets a nice review on DPR soon, as it already got on a lot of sites and magazines around the web. If you look at my album, you can see some pics made with it.

2 upvotes

There are binaries for the Samsung authored stuff, but no source. Better than the bare minimum, but still nothing really awesome IMHO.

0 upvotes

Yes, Kudos to Samsung. I think this is *really* smart of them. It's probably a forlorn hope to get Canon to follow suit, but I sure wish they would.

I've been thinking about a second camera; Samsung probably just locked themselves in as my choice. I've seen what third party software can do, my bet is Samsung is about to get a heck of a boost

Comment edited 4 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

Kudos to Samsung. Compare this fair policy with Adobe. Adobe is dead for me, but my next camera will be a Samsung! :-D

Comment edited 23 seconds after posting

7 upvotes

And that next Samsung camera may very well ship with Lightroom as the raw extraction software.

0 upvotes

The nx300 comes with a free lr 4 copy

0 upvotes

Fantastic step forwards for cameras. I hope this puts pressure on other Brands to do the same. Pleasantly surprised that Samsung were the first to do this.

1 upvote

Wow, this goes quite against the trend of locking down features in firmware, that the traditional camera manufacturers like to exploit... nice move by Samsung

2 upvotes

Wow, open source cameras - what a terrific idea!

There aren't very many people who would use the source code, but the GH2 showed that it only takes one person to update the firmware with new features to have a major impact on it's capabilities and attractiveness to the market.

Lets hope that good things come of this and that it encourages other manufacturers to do the same.

2 upvotes

The Magic Lantern and GH2 hacks are much different as they had full access to the firmware to improve IQ. The samsung "source code" will allow you to add new features but not affect the IQ.

2 upvotes

I'm not following you here. The source code IS the firmware - but in a much more programmer-friendly format that doesn't have to be reverse-engineered.

8 upvotes

and what do you thing the 'firmware' is ? It's the operating system of the camera. You know, the thing you get the source codes for from Samsung

2 upvotes

Samsung has bad IQ so I don't see how this will improve it

2 upvotes

would you care to elaborate on your sentence? Why do you say it has bad IQ? Did you ever try nx300? Perhaps the very first models (NX5, 10 and 100) were not on par with NEX or Fuji, but I can assure you that since when the newer 20Mpixel sensor is used, the raw output is of great quality. Now, with the nx300, they also updated the jpg engine alot, and the OOC output is highly usable up to ISO 6400 and even beyond. Please come on the samsung forum and you'll find many good photographers confirming what I just said.

2 upvotes

Have you ever used an NX camera? The IQ of even the original NX series-NX10, NX11, NX100-is quite good. The 30mm f2 is a stunner of a lens...not sure where you are getting this opinion from.

2 upvotes

crsantin:

Boerseuntjie likes to hate on Samsung cameras, and has never used an NX camera with a good Samsung lenses like that 30mm F2.

The 85mm F1.4 is even better. Though big slowish and heavy.

0 upvotes

Yes I hate Samsung just Like you hate Sony HowaboutRAW

Comment edited 12 minutes after posting

1 upvote

The best score for Samsung on DxO Mark is about 75 and the best rating is 46 Place not bad but not Stellar performance, there is also reports and review out there that shows smearing of images at higher ISO ranges

0 upvotes

And yes I have used them they don't blow me away, now the Sony RX1 on the other hand. well yes

0 upvotes

Boerseuntjie:

Stop quoting scores and start actually using cameras and lenses.

Nope, I don't hate Sony, I just don't think much of the lens offerings from Sony for the Nex system. And many agree with me about the Nex lens problems. Big difference. I also think that Sony tends to push for too many pixels in its sensors, but that only has high ISO implications.

And frankly I don't believe that you've used a Samsung NX camera with the F2.0 30mm lens.

0 upvotes

Hey I can say the same to you buddy have you ever used these bad Sony lenses like the Zeiss ZA Lenses or have you ever even use a Sony camera, you are the most close minded Samsung fanboy I have ever seen, stop making claims of how great Samsung is and back it up with real world tests and measurements.

1 upvote

Boerseuntjie:

Yet again you have misrepresented what I’ve claimed. I never said the Zeiss lenses for the Nex system are lacking.

I said the native Sony lenses mostly aren’t great. Yes, I’ve tried them out. All no.

I have owned and used extensively both Leica and Zeiss lenses. And good Samsung NX lenses come real close to that quality. So yes I can back it what I’ve written.

You really need to stop lying about my claims.

You clearly have chosen not to look at photos taken with good Samsung lenses, and make preposterous claims about smearing in Samsung NX images–here’s proof that you don’t have any idea of what you write. Smearing is a jpeg only thing. And I’ve never made claims about Samsung NX jpegs.

0 upvotes

This is going to be huge! I, for one, would be putting the Samsung cameras under my radar.

1 upvote

Good news. The stock firmware is terrible and Samsung don't seem capable of making it better so this is definately a plus.

3 upvotes

I have been using an NX100 for a couple of years now--the firmware upgrade solved all issues I had. I find all the criticism almost laughable. I tried NEX and what a difference in handling--NX slaughters them with better menus, and a very usable feature in the i-function--extremely handy as your eyes get older and you can actually read menus. So I just disagree being an avid user.

2 upvotes

I used to be an avid NX100 user. Try setting the camera up to write JPEG+RAW files and turn on automatic image review. Take a picture and hit the delete button while the preview is up. Depending on your timing the camera will occasionally delete the raw file for the *previous* image, not the one you're currently looking at. Even with the latest firmware (as of around a year ago anyway).

There are some nice things to be said about NX but the criticism is not all laughable. I hope this source code release turns into something interesting. Some of those NX lenses are nice.

1 upvote

Folks, Canon Powershots already have the ability to piggy back their firmware & I & 3,000+ people already make daily use of it via StereoDataMaker to name but one. This allows us to synch multiple cameras for bullet time rigs, create 3D lenticular rigs, configure time lapse controls, make use of the USB port for external triggers for lightning photography triggered by audibly sensitive devices, etc.
As they have wi-fi on board, imagine a remote app, that allows me to see what any one of 10 cameras can see round a race track, change the settings of each & then fire them automatically (using pixel change routines that security cameras use to monitor movement) or manually & see the results - from my Android tablet, whilst streaming the RAW to my laptop! The opportunities are endless - well done Samsung!

Samsung, can I genlock multiple cameras & fire them all synchd? If so, pls let me know.

Will

1 upvote

Total comments: 113


Zeiss announces pricing & availability of Touit lenses for mirrorless cameras Jun 3, 2013	Sigma USA gives details of 60mm F2.8 DN Art for mirrorless cameras May 2, 2013	Samsung announces NX2000 mirrorless APS-C camera with Wi-Fi and NFC May 1, 2013	Panasonic unveils Lumix DMC-G6 16MP mid-level mirrorless camera Apr 24, 2013

	Pentax Efina Jun 3, 2013
	Olympus PEN E-P5 May 10, 2013
	Samsung NX2000 May 1, 2013
	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX50V Apr 24, 2013
	Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6 Apr 24, 2013
	Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1 Apr 24, 2013
	Ricoh GR Apr 17, 2013
	Samsung NX1100 Apr 11, 2013
	Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6 Apr 9, 2013
	Fujifilm FinePix S8400W Mar 22, 2013
	Fujifilm FinePix XP200 Mar 22, 2013

Is the pan 25 a lot better than new sigma 30 ...	83
Absolute sharpest Nikon lens between 100mm and ...	75
Considering switch from Nikon, to replace D700 ...	67
Too much camera? Stepping down. Omd Em5 selling it	60
Sobering Sales Numbers for Mirrorless	56
Photophile vs Photographer	53
* Wed C&C (No Theme) Thread, Ed. 267, 13 06 05 *	50
New Pentax K-50 leaked	48
Praise the Macro Lenses. Post your best macros ...	47
Best protector filter for quality lenses?	46
HX50 - some thoughts and samples	44
"Modernizing"	37
Whats causing the grainy, dirty look to my ...	32
How to turn my Canon PowerShot S3 IS into a ...	32
Still no signs of an Olympus f2.8 zoom?	30
Poor digital camera sales continue....	30
Lower Antelope Canyon Abstracts - GH3/7-14	30
Shooting into the sun	28
Need help retouching Nieces prom pic please.	28
This doesn't seem sharp to me...	24

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