8 Little Steps To Make The NX1 Perfect - A Firmware Review of Version 1.20

[Jan Behrens]

Gamma Control settings cause Picture Wizard settings to be ignored

Setting "Gamma Control" to "Gamma C" or "Gamma DR" seems to cause all "Picture Wizard" settings to be ignored:

• Picture Wizard preset (Off, Standard, Classic, Vivid, etc.)
• Color
• Saturation
• Sharpness
• Contrast
• Hue

Since it is often desirable to disable the sharpness filter to allow for proper post-processing, it looks like the "Gamma C" and "Gamma DR" settings are unusable in this case.

Maybe "Gamma C" and "Gamma DR" are just shortcuts to increase or decrease the contrast? If yes, then it's not really a bug (because you can use the Picture Wizard instead of Gamma Control), but it's still confusing.

After consulting the manual, I noticed the arrows on top of the "Gamma C" and "Gamma DR" icons. Pressing the DISP button, the settings

• Color
• Saturation
• Sharpness
• Contrast
• Hue

can be changed for the particular Gamma Control preset when being in the Gamma Control menu. Therefore it's not a bug (and I should have consulted the manual earlier). However, this only works with "Gamma C" and "Gamma DR". Usually working with a high dynamic range (i.e. selecting "Gamma DR"), the NX1 allows me to make the above settings (Color, Saturation, etc.) for video recording independent of my settings for capturing photos.

But this feature works only if you use a non-default Gamma Control setting. It would be nice (and probably less confusing) if it was also possible for the "Normal" gamma curve to make video-recording specific settings. I imagine the following four settings for Gamma Control:

• Normal (Picture Wizard settings apply)
• Custom (Color, Saturation, etc. can be adjusted independently of the Picture Wizard)
• Gamma C (Color, Saturation, etc. can be adjusted independently of the Picture Wizard)
• Gamma DR (Color, Saturation, etc. can be adjusted independently of the Picture Wizard)

Alternatively those 4 settings could be named:

• Picture Wizard
• Gamma N
• Gamma C
• Gamma DR

(where "Picture Wizard" uses the Picture Wizard settings, and Gamma N/C/DR allow independent settings to be stored for video recording)

 

[tecnoworld]

I agree on this.

 

[Jan Behrens]

After using the NX1 some more, I discovered a few more issues with the current firmware v1.21.

DISCLAIMER: The statements below only reflect my personal experience and knowledge after using the camera for a short while. In particular, I may or may not have missed certain tricks or settings to circumvent some or all of the problems stated below.

Repeat delay of buttons doesn't get reset properly / Keystroke events are queued while submenu is loading

When entering a submenu using the DISP button, it sometimes happens that after entering the submenu, the focus of the currently active UI element unintendedly moves further up.

To give an example: If I enter the Picture Wizard menu and select "Custom 1", then pressing the DISP button sometimes doesn't just enter the "Custom 1" submenu (with Color, Saturation, Sharpness, etc) but will move the focus further up to one of the "Blue", "Green", or "Red" sliders.

Testing of the behavior seems to indicate that while the submenu is loading, the firmware collects keystroke events in the background, and then, when the submenu is opened, the repeat delay of the buttons won't be considered anymore.

I tried the following:

a)

• Enter the "Picture Wizard" menu and select "Custom 1",
• Press DISP once,
• Confirm that the focus is on the "Color" button (and not on the "Red", "Green", or "Blue" slider),
• Press and hold the DISP button.

The focus should switch from the "Color" button to the slider for "Blue", and then, after some time (repeat delay), the focus would switch from the "Blue" slider to the "Green" slider, and then, after another delay (repeat rate), the focus would switch from the "Green" slider to the "Red" slider.

Compare this to:

b)

• Enter the "Picture Wizard" menu and select "Custom 1" (without entering the submenu),
• While the focus is on the "Custom 1" button, press and hold DISP.

As soon as the submenu is shown, the focussed element will change more quickly (sometimes instantly) from the "Color" button to "Blue" (and then, also with a shorter delay, to "Green" and "Red").

Can anyone confirm this behavior with their NX1?

I wouldn't have noticed this if it wasn't a practical problem for me: I intuitively press the DISP button too long (because I don't get visual feedback until the submenu is loaded and also the button sound is delayed). During this delay, the firmware seems to queue the keyevents (unless I release the key before the submenu is loaded) and then, when the submenu is loaded, the focussed element is not always the "Color" button, but sometimes one of the Red/Green/Blue sliders will be highlighted instead.

Trying to navigate in the submenu then accidentally changes one of the values for Red, Green, or Blue.

Of course, I could train myself to only press the DISP button for a short moment and release it even if I didn't get visual or audio feedback yet. Or I could reconfirm the current element focus every time I enter a submenu. But it's still annoying.

I consider this to be a bug in the firmware related to the accumulation of keystroke events in the firmware while the submenu is loading. Alternatively the repeat delay might not be reset properly. Fixing this problem in one of the next firmware revisions would improve the handling of the NX1.

Focus highlighting for third-party lenses in movie mode only available through touch operation

When mounting third-party (manual focus) lenses, the Samsung NX1 won't be able to detect when the focus ring of the lens is turned. It therefore cannot automatically enter the MF Assist mode (which temporarily magnifies the image and allows for focus peaking if enabled).

When a third-party lens is mounted, it is still possible in capture mode to enter MF Assist mode manually by pressing the OK button.

While the magnification of the MF Assist mode doesn't work in movie mode (or movie standby mode), the focus peaking feature still works in movie mode (and movie standby mode) when a Samsung lens is used.

Samsung was so kind to provide a touch button in movie mode (and movie standby mode) which allows you to activate focus peaking manually when a third-party lens is attached. However, while the CAS/SAF and MF touch buttons for autofocus lenses are mapped to the "AF ON" button and the "Fn" button, the touch button for focus peaking doesn't seem to be mapped to any hardware key.

Unless the focus peaking feature is mapped to a real button (or at least gets a menu entry to actually activate it when it's already enabled), it will be impossible to use focus peaking for movie recording with third-party lenses if the touch operation is disabled.

No Picture Wizard symbol shown on screen

The NX10 had a symbol on the screen that indicated the currently selected Picture Wizard preset, but the NX1 doesn't seem to show such a symbol anymore.

Since I use the Picture Wizard to disable the sharpness filter and to sometimes decrease the contrast (for a higher dynamic range with low-ISO JPEG shots), it may happen that I accidentally leave the camera with a wrong Picture Wizard setting selected. Unless I reassure myself that the current setting is correct (by pressing the Fn button or a custom button), it may happen that I end up using the wrong setting for JPEG shooting.

I personally find this a bit annoying, and I would appreciate if the currently selected Picture Wizard preset was shown on the screen. It would save me time to reassure myself of the currently selected setting and/or avoid that I take pictures with an accidentally wrong setting.

Of course, this doesn't apply if you shoot RAW and/or never adjust the Picture Wizard settings.

 

[Jan Behrens]

No Picture Wizard symbol shown on screen

The NX10 had a symbol on the screen that indicated the currently selected Picture Wizard preset, but the NX1 doesn't seem to show such a symbol anymore.

Since I use the Picture Wizard to disable the sharpness filter and to sometimes decrease the contrast (for a higher dynamic range with low-ISO JPEG shots), it may happen that I accidentally leave the camera with a wrong Picture Wizard setting selected. Unless I reassure myself that the current setting is correct (by pressing the Fn button or a custom button), it may happen that I end up using the wrong setting for JPEG shooting.

I personally find this a bit annoying, and I would appreciate if the currently selected Picture Wizard preset was shown on the screen. It would save me time to reassure myself of the currently selected setting and/or avoid that I take pictures with an accidentally wrong setting.

Of course, this doesn't apply if you shoot RAW and/or never adjust the Picture Wizard settings.

While at first I thought that there wasn't enough space for the icons on the screen (and that is why they banned the Picture Wizard symbol from the OSD), I figured out that the NX1 dynamically adds and removes symbols on the right side of the on-screen display.

If I select a white balance setting other than "Auto", an additional symbol will be shown on the right side. If the row of symbols on the right gets too long, a second row will be started from the top.

Therefore, it's not a matter of space that the Picture Wizard symbol has been removed from the screen. Maybe Samsung considered it as unimportant? However, a wrong setting for the Picture Wizard has same implications as a wrong white balance during (non-RAW) shooting.

I therefore do not understand why Samsung removed the symbol if it was not for a lack of space on the screen? It could be hidden if the Picture Wizard was set to "Off" and shown otherwise.

 

[Jan Behrens]

Firmware hangs when calibrating custom white balance in movie standby mode:

After testing the NX1 further, I discovered the following bug:

1. Entering movie standby mode,
2. Pressing the WB button on the drive wheel,
3. Choosing "Custom Set",
4. Pressing the DISP button,

will cause the firmware to hang. The camera will show the current sensor image (still being updated) and a square in the middle of the screen for white balance calibration, but neither pressing the shutter button nor pressing the MENU button nor turning the camera off will show any effect. The only way out of this seems to be taking out the battery.

Beside this bug (which should probably be easy to fix), experimenting more with the movie mode made me notice some more features (see below) that I would particularly find useful but that are missing.

No histogram in video (standby) mode:

It doesn't seem to be possible in video (standby) mode to show a histogram. Pressing the DISP button in video standby mode will only show and hide the icons and buttons. This is particularly sad, because the only way to get a histogram is to switch back to capture mode, which makes you

• lose your focus, as described here (see issue #1, "difficult selection of manual focus mode for movies"), and
• doesn't allow you to see the histogram for a selected "Gamma C" or "Gamma DR" gamma curve (since those gamma curves are only available for video mode).

I haven't stumbled upon this problem earlier. When I started to do some actual video recordings, I figured out that the histogram in video (standby) mode was missing.

FPS selection revisited / 180° video shutter:

I already pointed out in another thread that the NX1 doesn't seem to allow you to record in 60 fps (but only in 59.940 fps, which is not the same, see also here).

Why do I bring the frame rate issue up again?

I would like to record clips with a high frame rate (e.g. 50 fps) while not giving up the ability to later use them in lower frame rate video productions (e.g. 25 fps). Recording my footage with a high frame rate would allow me to do slow motion in post-processing. If, furthermore, the higher frame rate is a multiple of the lower frame rate, then I could integrate the high-fps footage in my low-fps productions without judder.

Considering further that I would like my lower frame rate to be very close to the cinematic feel of 24 fps, the only possible combination of frame rate pairs is 25/50 fps.

So far, so good. But for a low frame rate movie, you usually want a 180° shutter, i.e. if you record at 25 fps, the shutter will usually be something like 1/50s. Choosing a faster shutter will lead to a too "crispy" motion (not enough motion blur).

While the NX1 may record 24, 25, and 29.97 fps videos with a 1/30s shutter, the NX1 will record 50 and 59.94 fps videos only with a shutter speed of 1/60s or faster. Therefore, it is impossible to realize a 180° shutter for 25 fps movies where you use footage that has been recorded at 50 fps with the NX1 (because that footage will have a shutter speed of at least 1/60s).

Setting the camera to 60 fps allows you a shutter of 1/60s, but setting the camera to 50 fps doesn't allow you to select a shutter of 1/50s.

I wonder whether the 1/60s shutter limitation at 50 fps has technical reasons or whether this is a bug? Maybe it's really just a software issue that could be fixed easily?

For the same reason (recording footage in high-fps, and then later integrating it into lower-fps projects), it would be nice if the NX1 supported 48 fps in addition to 50 fps. Maybe someone might call this an "inessential" problem, but selection of the right frame rate is crucial if you want to be able to combine your material with other material or integrate it into a larger project.

If you work on 24 fps video projects, you can't really make use of the higher frame rate capabilities of the Samsung NX without accepting "judder" when downsampling the material.

Since I guess the frame rate is just a software issue(?), I would really like to see frame rates of 30.00, 48.00, and 60.00 fps being made available in a new firmware release, as well as support for a shutter of 1/50s at 48 and 50 fps (reasons stated above).

 

[tecnoworld]

Very interesting findings/thoughts.

Especially for the video related issues, I'd suggest you to post here:

http://www.eoshd.com/comments/

There are several topics about nx1, which is recognized as a very effective video camera. So they know it very well and could reply to your ideas.

Besides, the site owner is collecting suggestions to send over to samsung.

 

[Jan Behrens]

Very interesting findings/thoughts.

Especially for the video related issues, I'd suggest you to post here:

http://www.eoshd.com/comments/

There are several topics about nx1, which is recognized as a very effective video camera. So they know it very well and could reply to your ideas.

Besides, the site owner is collecting suggestions to send over to samsung.

Would you be so kind to make a list of my issues and/or cross-post a reference to my issues here? I may eventually take a look at that forum in the future.

Many thanks
Jan

 

[tecnoworld]

I already did for the main ones. But I think it would be nice if you asked the 60fps question there, along with the 1/50 shutter one, since there are some very knowledgable videographers, there. Just a suggestion!

 

[Jan Behrens]

I already did for the main ones.

Thank you.

But I think it would be nice if you asked the 60fps question there, along with the 1/50 shutter one, since there are some very knowledgable videographers, there. Just a suggestion!

I will take a look later.

 

[Jan Behrens]

[...]

FPS selection revisited / 180° video shutter:

I already pointed out in another thread that the NX1 doesn't seem to allow you to record in 60 fps (but only in 59.940 fps, which is not the same, see also here).

Why do I bring the frame rate issue up again?

I would like to record clips with a high frame rate (e.g. 50 fps) while not giving up the ability to later use them in lower frame rate video productions (e.g. 25 fps). Recording my footage with a high frame rate would allow me to do slow motion in post-processing. If, furthermore, the higher frame rate is a multiple of the lower frame rate, then I could integrate the high-fps footage in my low-fps productions without judder.

Considering further that I would like my lower frame rate to be very close to the cinematic feel of 24 fps, the only possible combination of frame rate pairs is 25/50 fps.

So far, so good. But for a low frame rate movie, you usually want a 180° shutter, i.e. if you record at 25 fps, the shutter will usually be something like 1/50s. Choosing a faster shutter will lead to a too "crispy" motion (not enough motion blur).

While the NX1 may record 24, 25, and 29.97 fps videos with a 1/30s shutter, the NX1 will record 50 and 59.94 fps videos only with a shutter speed of 1/60s or faster. Therefore, it is impossible to realize a 180° shutter for 25 fps movies where you use footage that has been recorded at 50 fps with the NX1 (because that footage will have a shutter speed of at least 1/60s).

Setting the camera to 60 fps allows you a shutter of 1/60s, but setting the camera to 50 fps doesn't allow you to select a shutter of 1/50s.

I wonder whether the 1/60s shutter limitation at 50 fps has technical reasons or whether this is a bug? Maybe it's really just a software issue that could be fixed easily?

It seems to be possible to record with 100 fps and 119.88 fps too! (See: "Video frame rates of the NX1") In case of both 100 fps and 119.88 fps, the shutter limit seems to be 1/125s minimum (and not 1/100s for 100 fps).

I'm not sure about the shutter limit at 100 fps though, since the firmware v1.21 seems to behave oddly:

The shutter speed seems to be limited to 1/125s minimum if you record at 119.880 fps. The same limit (1/125s) seems to be the case if I try to record at 100 fps by selecting 25 fps and 1/4 slow-motion. If I select 50 fps and 1/2 slow-motion, however (which also means recording at 100 fps), the shutter speed can be set to 1/60s. I assume that is yet another firmware bug?

Can someone reproduce this strange behavior of the maximum shutter time / minimum shutter speed?

For the same reason (recording footage in high-fps, and then later integrating it into lower-fps projects), it would be nice if the NX1 supported 48 fps in addition to 50 fps. Maybe someone might call this an "inessential" problem, but selection of the right frame rate is crucial if you want to be able to combine your material with other material or integrate it into a larger project.

If you work on 24 fps video projects, you can't really make use of the higher frame rate capabilities of the Samsung NX without accepting "judder" when downsampling the material.

Since I guess the frame rate is just a software issue(?), I would really like to see frame rates of 30.00, 48.00, and 60.00 fps being made available in a new firmware release, as well as support for a shutter of 1/50s at 48 and 50 fps (reasons stated above).

 

[Jan Behrens]

In this thread, I meanwhile collected 19 issues regarding the firmware of the Samsung NX1. Some of those issues are bugs, others are feature requests. After installing firmware v1.22, I did a quick check whether some of these issues have been fixed. It seems like two of the 19 issues were addressed in firmware v1.22.

Here is the complete list. Please be advised that I may or may not have missed certain tricks or settings to circumvent some or all of the problems stated below.

1. Difficult selection of manual focus mode for movies

Not fixed. Neither the MF setting in capture mode has an effect on movie mode, nor the MF ON (or CAS/SAF) setting will be preserved in movie mode. Leaving and re-entering movie standby mode always turns the autofocus back on.

2. No "focus once" option (in capture mode)

Not fixed. The only workaround is the "AF Start + Lock" function, which has its own issues (see #9 below).

3. Difficulties to reset certain options

Not fixed. I didn't figure out how to reset the EV-shift in an easier way.

4. Program shift can't be disabled and always occupies at least one command wheel

Not fixed. The button configuration still doesn't allow you to disable program shift completely.

5. Auto-exposure-lock unavailable in manual mode (with auto-ISO)

Not fixed. While this problem is really annoying, it seems trivial to fix. Yet it hasn't been solved as of firmware v1.22.

6. Manually activating the MF assistant isn't possible (without third-party lenses)

Not fixed. The button "MF Assist" shows you the MF Assist settings, but there is no option to enter the MF Assist mode manually (unless a third-party lens is mounted).

7. Irritating changes of display brightness

Fixed for movie mode (by disabling it?). When I tested the firmware, the display brightness didn't seem to change in movie mode and movie standby mode anymore. However, I'm not sure on this yet since I didn't test the behavior thoroughly.

8. Issues with the touch display

Not fixed. Scrolling through menus still feels strange (but I got better used to it).

9. "AF Start + Lock" blocks command wheels and custom wheel

Not fixed. The command wheels are still blocked when I use this function :-(

10. Focus tracking in movie mode causes change of focus point in capture mode

Not fixed. The focus point still gets changed.

11. Overexposure guide in view/playback mode slightly crushes image

Not fixed. I still see the picture jittering in playback mode (when overexposure guide is turned on and the histograms are shown).

12. Certain Gamma Control settings cause Picture Wizard settings to be ignored while others don't

Not fixed. The behavior is still the same: Gamma C and Gamma DR override Picture Wizard settings, while the normal gamma curve does not. This may be intended, but it is highly counterintuitive. That is why I proposed to provide 4 settings (instead of 3) for Gamma Control.

13. Issue regarding repeat delay of buttons when submenu is loading

Not fixed. I can still reproduce the behavior.

14. Focus highlighting for third-party lenses in movie mode only available through touch operation

Not fixed. I didn't figure out any other way to enable focus highlighting that doesn't involve the touch display.

15. No Picture Wizard symbol shown on screen

Not fixed. The Picture Wizard symbol is still not shown, even though the White Balance symbol is shown (unless set to Auto).

16. Firmware hangs when calibrating custom white balance in movie standby mode

Fixed... (kind of)... With firmware v1.22, Samsung simply disabled the white balance calibration in movie standby mode.

17. No histogram in video (standby) mode

Not fixed. Still no histogram in video mode.

18. Shutter speed limit of 1/60s (instead of 1/50s) for 50 fps recording

Not fixed. It is not possible to record at 50 fps with a 360° shutter. Therefore, it is not possible to create 50 fps material with 1/50s shutter that can be downsampled in post-production to 25 fps with 1/50s shutter.

19. Wrong shutter speed limits for slow-motion recording

Not fixed. Setting a frame rate of 50 or 59.94 aka 60 fps and selecting 0.5x slow-motion still allows to set a wrong shutter speed (that is slower than the recording frame rate of 100 fps or 119.88 fps respectively).

Conclusion

Most of the issues have not been fixed :-(

 

[Jan Behrens]

Firmware v1.30 has been released today. This is an update where I checked each issue in regard of whether it has been fixed in the most recent firmware release v1.30.

DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that I may or may not have missed certain tricks or settings to circumvent some or all of the problems stated below. The analysis below just covers a quick check of each issue and my personal experience after a limited amount of time.

In this thread, I meanwhile collected 19 issues regarding the firmware of the Samsung NX1. Some of those issues are bugs, others are feature requests. After installing firmware v1.22, I did a quick check whether some of these issues have been fixed. It seems like two of the 19 issues were addressed in firmware v1.22.

Here is the complete list. Please be advised that I may or may not have missed certain tricks or settings to circumvent some or all of the problems stated below.

1. Difficult selection of manual focus mode for movies

Not fixed [in v1.22]. Neither the MF setting in capture mode has an effect on movie mode, nor the MF ON (or CAS/SAF) setting will be preserved in movie mode. Leaving and re-entering movie standby mode always turns the autofocus back on.

Not fixed in v1.30 either. Firmware v1.30 allows you, however, to stay in movie standby mode. I was hoping that this at least minimizes the problem of the recurring autofocus because you are not forced to leave and re-enter movie standby mode after each recording.

But I was utterly disappointed: The autofocus setting is STILL turned back on again when going from video recording mode to video recording standby mode... WHY? ... WHYYYYYY, Samsung, WHY!?!?

2. No "focus once" option (in capture mode)

Not fixed [in v1.22]. The only workaround is the "AF Start + Lock" function, which has its own issues (see #9 below).

Not fixed in v1.30 either. I still couldn't find any way to configure the button in such way that it simply focusses and locks the focus. (Regarding the workaround, see issue #9 below.)

3. Difficulties to reset certain options

Not fixed [in v1.22]. I didn't figure out how to reset the EV-shift in an easier way.

Not fixed in v1.30 either. I tried all buttons in combination with the EV button. None of them will reset the EV-shift.

4. Program shift can't be disabled and always occupies at least one command wheel

Not fixed [in v1.22]. The button configuration still doesn't allow you to disable program shift completely.

Not fixed in v1.30 either. The configuration options still appear to be the same.

5. Auto-exposure-lock unavailable in manual mode (with auto-ISO)

Not fixed [in v1.22]. While this problem is really annoying, it seems trivial to fix. Yet it hasn't been solved as of firmware v1.22.

Not fixed in v1.30 either. It seems trivial to fix. Not for Samsung apparently.

6. Manually activating the MF assistant isn't possible (without third-party lenses)

Not fixed [in v1.22]. The button "MF Assist" shows you the MF Assist settings, but there is no option to enter the MF Assist mode manually (unless a third-party lens is mounted).

Not fixed in v1.30 either. I still didn't find any way to enter MF Assist mode without turning the focus ring (thus changing the focus) or using a third-party lens.

7. Irritating changes of display brightness

Fixed for movie mode (by disabling it?). When I tested the firmware, the display brightness didn't seem to change in movie mode and movie standby mode anymore. However, I'm not sure on this yet since I didn't test the behavior thoroughly.

No difference in v1.30. In movie standby mode, there are no irritating changes of the display brightness anymore. In capture mode, however, the brightness still doesn't seem to change fluently. I got used to keep the auto-brightness feature disabled, so this issue doesn't really affect me anymore.

8. Issues with the touch display

Not fixed [in v1.22]. Scrolling through menus still feels strange (but I got better used to it).

Not fixed in v1.30 either. Scrolling through the menus still feels the same.

9. "AF Start + Lock" blocks command wheels and custom wheel

Not fixed [in v1.22]. The command wheels are still blocked when I use this function :-(

Not fixed in v1.30 either. This is annoying.

10. Focus tracking in movie mode causes change of focus point in capture mode

Not fixed [in v1.22]. The focus point still gets changed.

Not fixed in v1.30 either. Same odd behavior.

11. Overexposure guide in view/playback mode slightly crushes image

Not fixed [in v1.22]. I still see the picture jittering in playback mode (when overexposure guide is turned on and the histograms are shown).

Not fixed in v1.30 either. Bug still persists with the latest firmware.

12. Certain Gamma Control settings cause Picture Wizard settings to be ignored while others don't

Not fixed [in v1.22]. The behavior is still the same: Gamma C and Gamma DR override Picture Wizard settings, while the normal gamma curve does not. This may be intended, but it is highly counterintuitive. That is why I proposed to provide 4 settings (instead of 3) for Gamma Control.

Not fixed in v1.30 either. Behavior is still the same.

13. Issue regarding repeat delay of buttons when submenu is loading

Not fixed [in v1.22]. I can still reproduce the behavior.

Not fixed in v1.30 either. The bug doesn't seem to be fixed.

14. Focus highlighting for third-party lenses in movie mode only available through touch operation

Not fixed [in v1.22]. I didn't figure out any other way to enable focus highlighting that doesn't involve the touch display.

Not fixed in v1.30 either. The AF ON button and the Fn button could be used for this. But they don't do anything in movie standby mode when a third-party lens is mounted.

15. No Picture Wizard symbol shown on screen

Not fixed [in v1.22]. The Picture Wizard symbol is still not shown, even though the White Balance symbol is shown (unless set to Auto).

Not fixed in v1.30 either. Only a White Balance symbol (if set to anything but "Auto") is shown in the display. Still no easy way to see which Picture Wizard was selected.

I sometimes use the Picture Wizard to lower contrast when not using RAW and capturing scenes with a higher dynamic range. Not seeing which Picture Wizard setting was selected is sometimes annoying.

16. Firmware hangs when calibrating custom white balance in movie standby mode

Fixed... (kind of)... With firmware v1.22, Samsung simply disabled the white balance calibration in movie standby mode.

No clean-up as of v1.30. Samsung apparently didn't even feel the need to properly clean up this quick-and-dirty fix.

17. No histogram in video (standby) mode

Not fixed [in v1.22]. Still no histogram in video mode.

Fixed in v1.30! Thank you Samsung! Having a histogram in video mode really helps. Thank you, Samsung, for adding it!

18. Shutter speed limit of 1/60s (instead of 1/50s) for 50 fps recording

Not fixed [in v1.22]. It is not possible to record at 50 fps with a 360° shutter. Therefore, it is not possible to create 50 fps material with 1/50s shutter that can be downsampled in post-production to 25 fps with 1/50s shutter.

Not fixed in v1.30 either. Additionally, setting the camera to 100 fps will also limit the shutter to 1/125s (instead of 1/100s). It would be nice if it was possible to record at 100 fps with a 1/100s shutter, and at 50 fps with a 1/50s shutter, but the firmware (as of v1.30) doesn't seem to allow it.

19. Wrong shutter speed limits for slow-motion recording

Not fixed [in v1.22]. Setting a frame rate of 50 or 59.94 aka 60 fps and selecting 0.5x slow-motion still allows to set a wrong shutter speed (that is slower than the recording frame rate of 100 fps or 119.88 fps respectively).

Fixed! I was surprised to see this issue fixed in the most recent firmware v1.30 (even if I didn't find it in the official list of fixes). The limit still seems to be unnecessarily high (see previous issue #18), but at least it is not possible anymore to select an invalid shutter speed.

Conclusion

Most of the issues have not been fixed [as of v1.22] :-(

Two more issues have been fixed, the rest remains open. Samsung certainly made a lot of improvements to the NX1, but they failed to fix issues that have been reported to them months ago.

Either Samsung Germany did not forward my bug reports to the research and development department, or R&D simply didn't prioritize some of these bugs which I listed above.

I personally do not understand why some (supposedly easy-to-fix) bugs are not properly cared for (like, for example, allowing AEL in manual mode). There was plenty of time meanwhile :-(

 

[Marcus Sundman]

Regarding problem # 2:

It's not only about "focus once", but we really need proper back button auto-focus. That is, to be able to configure the camera such that:

a) the shutter button never focuses, and

b) another button will focus:

b1) if you press it once it auto-focuses once, and

b2) if you keep it pressed it continuously focuses, and

b3) whenever you don't press it the focus is locked.

So, no switching modes on/off, but simply focus only while pressing the focus button.

 

[Jan Behrens]

Regarding problem # 2:

It's not only about "focus once", but we really need proper back button auto-focus. That is, to be able to configure the camera such that:

a) the shutter button never focuses, and

b) another button will focus:

b1) if you press it once it auto-focuses once, and

b2) if you keep it pressed it continuously focuses, and

b3) whenever you don't press it the focus is locked.

So, no switching modes on/off, but simply focus only while pressing the focus button.

I basically meant that when saying "focus once" (except for b2). But if you could configure the camera in such way that pressing the back-button does either a single AF or a continuous AF (like explained by you in b2, while the shutter button won't focus), this would be even better.

It might be achievable by adding an option which disables the (half-)shutter button for focussing and transfers this function to the back-button (AF ON). The "AF ON" button was one of my reasons for buying the NX1 instread of waiting for a smaller and cheaper model:

"One reason for choosing the NX1 instead of waiting for the NX500 is because I like to take pictures in manual mode and I would miss all the dials and buttons with the latter model." (original post)

I don't understand why Samsung did add such a button (AF ON) on the NX1 but not such a "back-button autofocus function" as explained above. The button on the back is easily reachable, has a useful label, but just the firmware isn't much useful in this regard. Something must have been going wrong during the design of the firmware :-(

But all those ideas of back-button focussing are just dreams. Right not, not even the "AF Start + Lock" function works properly (which could serve as a workaround for the single AF case) because it blocks the command wheels as described in the section named "Second bug" of my update post.

I track that bug (the blocking of the command wheels) as issue #9 in my list of open issues.

Regards,
Jan