Just Posted: Samsung Galaxy NX Hands-on

Certainly, if I'm carrying a bulky camera, it would be nice if I don't have to also carry a phone and an ebook reader and a compass etc.

So this is the right concept. With enough iterations, it will be a formidable tricorder.

Even if there maybe problems with current implementation, like some here suggest - size, balance concerns etc, its still the right concept.

For photography, everything seems to hinge on sensors. As soon as we learn to shrink them without loosing the full capability of an APC sized sensor, we can use smaller glass and all the other issues of form, balance and weight go away.

i understand what you're getting at, but we don't how/if the software has been optimized for the chipset in the body. since this is a new body, larger than the previous NX offerings, i'm curious how it handles, balances, etc.

i'm assuming that the image quality will be consistent with prior NX output, same with the lenses. so those aren't as much of a concern as the ergonomics of operation, or simply holding it in operation. i've read the concern of no physical buttons, and while i see that as problematic, the idea of gestures is very promising, as a few android users have highlighted.

i guess i should be more clear with my question.

how does it handle? balance, weight distribution, any thoughts on the lack of physical buttons, or the touch screen? how is the eye cup, and evf, does the eye cup provide adequate isolation?

Only the physical features of the camera itself. no comparisons. i'm not interested in the gc110, or the zoom, or any other android cameras. JUST the Galaxy NX

I don't think there are as many "eye glued to the viewfinder" shooters out there as you seem to think there are. The reality is that people take their eye away from the viewfinder all the time. I'm a lifelong DSLR shooter, and I used to think I hardly ever took my eye from the viewfinder when shooting, but upon further observation I realized my eye moves from the DSLR's viewfinder all the time, glancing down to the rear LCD, or to the top LCD, or to look at buttons, or whatever.

Plus, you have to remember that NX system has the iFn button which allows you to use the lens's manual focus ring to make various camera adjustments, which is pretty cool. Is it really that hard to use the lens's focus ring to make camera adjustments while your eye is using the EVF? Sounds like it would be pretty easy to me.

But I don’t have a problem with touch screens and I never heard anyone objecting to the touch interface on the iPhone–perhaps someone said: “Gee writing a page long email would be kind of hard with this, but the rest is cool.)

Physical buttons can be run without looking at them and that’s how people will use cameras best and fastest for years to come–looking at the scene being shot is much more important than looking at the screen. This is why touch screen only controls aren’t the way to go. With current screen tech, I think touch screen only cameras can only work with screens the size of a big iPad–irony we’d be back at large plate photography, possibly with a hood.

CAD or video editing software–all easier with a keyboard and mouse. In fact there are very specialized mice and keyboards for such programs.

continues:

T3:

The iFn button isn’t on all Samsung lenses, eg the extraordinary 30mm F2.0, also the adjustment of the function one has chosen with the iFn button is done with a second or third button/wheel. So you’re not real familiar with the NX system. Doesn’t solve using other nonSamsung lenses either.

I don’t know what kind of cameras you use, but this NXdroid is not an iPhone, it’s like a DLSR and one has to be able to quickly and effortlessly change settings while shooting and while still looking at the scene through the EVF. (Perhaps in the future, the gear will be released that can change the surface of the touch screen into physical buttons.)

Irony, the new Samsung Android tablet has 3 buttons at the base of the screen, in addition to things like volume control.

maybe you carry a laptop everywhere...with this the rest of us don't have to.

Eric Hensel:

It’s still not a good control interface for shooting photos.

Then having to step out of the camera go into folders and select files (I’d guess possibly raw which you can’t preview in the camera folder, so you have remember exact file numbers) and then mark those files for upload via say DropBox is an unnecessarily complex process to send files. (Yep, that convoluted.) Possibly this will be fixed in future iterations. But that’s how things run on the GC110, and it’s unlikely to be radically different on the NXdroid.

So the paragraph immediately above is a huge reason to carry a small laptop.

Then another big reason to carry a small laptop: It’s a real pain to sort through say 200 raws and pick 30 of those raws, or even jpegs, for upload on a 5 inch screen. (Compounding this problem is that Samsung is using Android to organize the photo files, not separate organization software.)

continues:

T3:

I checked my iFN lens, one I don't particularly use, yes the manual focus ring also works as a controller. Also to change the iFN function selected one uses a second wheel. On my camera, there are 4 wheels if one counts the focus ring, and the PASM dial. And all can be moved without looking at them.

So if the lens has iFN, and one isn't focusing manually at that instant, you've got a button/ring combination you can run blind, good. Still better would be a few more buttons. See point about the extra buttons on the new small Samsung Android tablet.

"Instant sharing" is the new zeitgeist of photography, and I think it's a heathy development. How many countless photos throughout the decades have been shot, only to be seen once, by a couple of people, never to be seen again? I think the true point of a photo is to capture a moment, then to be seen, shared, and accessible by many people. And "instant sharing" is the best, most effective way for that to happen, because the "I'll do it later" notion often ends up being "I'll do it never".

Frankly, "instant sharing" is a heck of a lot better than "I took a photo and its sitting on my memory card, and I haven't bothered to download it to my computer, but even if I did, it'd just sit on my hard drive and I'd forget about it."

@HowaboutRAW - "And it’s likely to be difficult to instantly share 30 raws from this new camera, or even 30 jpegs."

Clearly, you're not someone who has much experience with instant sharing of photos. In other words, you're a bit out of touch with how people actually do instant sharing of photos. No, people no NOT "instantly share 30 raws", or even "30 jpegs." Time to look around and see how people *actually* instantly share photos. They share a small handful, typically two or three at a time at most. It goes up to Facebook, Google+, Flickr, Instagram, etc as just a couple photos, not 30 RAWs or 30 JPEGs. And who the heck "shares" RAW photos?!? That's not what we mean by "instant sharing". If I take some photos from my nephew's graduation, I certainly don't upload them as RAW files for everyone to see! Should I also attach a message saying, "Hey, everybody, please process these RAW files for me so you can see them!"? LOL!

Sorry my statement not clear.

I mean why Samsung's mirroless with EVF models always choose fake SLR style.

And the large screen + SLR's prism + big hand grip, this combination looks so ugly, not acceptable even it is a prototype. I can't imagine a camera like this would released.

@Frederick Lim - that "SLR style" is actually a result of decades of camera evolution. Various styles have been tried throughout the decades. But only the best "styles" continue to be used. As for the "DSLR style", that "style" puts the large screen in the best place, the prism in best place, and the big hand grip in the best place. Do you have a problem with putting things in the right place? Like I said, other styles have been tried throughout the years, but designers keep coming back to the "DSLR style" because it just works so well. If you can think of a better place to put the large screen, the viewfinder with integrated pop-up flash, and the big grip, then lets see it!

Didn't understand any of that.

"Didn't understand any of that."

Referring to Thatcannonguy? He's just trolling.

Oh yes, so much more powerful. So powerful that Samesung needs to disguise their devices as something the size of a surfboard. Not to please the user, no... To create room behind that screen for the huge battery that is needed to come even close to the battery-life of an iPhone.

I am foremost a fan of decency and a sustainable society in which stealing is a very bad thing. No matter how powerful the stolen goods or how refined the sand that has been poured into your greedy eyes.

"I think Panasonic and even Samsung themselves have proven you can build in pretty slick wifi implementations that allow quick sharing to other mobile devices and remote control... Anything else Android might allow I'd rather just do elsewhere."

Again, this isn't just about 3G / WiFi sharing but writing custom apps giving you FULL control of every recording / shooting parameter imaginable in a camera with great IQ and a good selection of high-quality lens, unlike every other open solutions before (Nikon's and Samsung's pathetic small-sensor Android cameras). This is what's so great about an open system.

Lets wait and see how this works out. To say that an OS is "woeful" in imaging is little premature given that so far only pictures those OSes has had to deal with were coming from tiny, crappy imaging sensors that are found in cellphones.
This thing has a APS-C sized sensor and a rather good one too. No OS can do magic, if it's givven a tiny joke of a sensor and even bigger joke of a lens pictures WILL look like crap there no going around that.
This thing has a good sensor and proper lenses that cannot be compared to anything in any phone out there.

"I think you meant to say "the bomb," not "a bomb". Being the bomb is a good thing, whereas being a bomb is a very bad thing. Your post seems to be leaning toward the former."

Oops - sorry. (My mother tongue isn't English and I, generally, don't have the time to make absolutely certain I use all phrases like this always properly.)

"Personally I think it could go either way. If you have to carry around a phone separately, why would you want to double up on connection charges. "

The biggest advantage of camera systems like this is (when done properly) full, unlimited access to both shooting params (exposure, focus, shutter speed, ISO, video: bit- and framerate etc.) and the sensors.

For example, there are very few decent ILC's (mostly the, in low light, not-that-spectacular Sony SLT's) with GPS receivers. It's not only built in here, but you can even record your location dynamically while shooting a video with a simple-to-write app. No other ILC can do the same.

No worries. English slang makes no sense much of the time.

GPS is useful, I agree.