NX10 Low Light Manual Mode Problems

I recently jumped into the mcs [mirrorless compact system] bandwagon and after doing a little bit of research went in for the nx10 mainly for 3 reasons - its selling cheap. has an evf and aps-c sensor. I had high hopes especially with the evf and though I knew its not that great as evf's panasonic's g series I had hopes that it might be useful to a certain extent and it is when you use it under normal light conditions such as moderate sunlight or well lit indoors. Now the problem starts when you use it under very low light conditions under manual mode. For better or worse samsung's live view system also meters the scene and what you see in the evf or led is more or less what will end up in the photograph. This to a certain extent is great for normal conditions where you get an idea about how your picture will appear finally but sadly this feature is useless for low light conditions whereby using their kit lens even at lowest aperture and shutter speeds as low as 1/20 you hardly get to see much of the scene. It gets even worse as you increase the shutter speed or aperture to a point of pitch darkness. Under such conditions when you are in aperture priority mode you get to see something as I presume the live view shows the image wide open but then again even here as you increase the aperture the live view starts to dim to a point where its total darkness. The only 'workaround' I have is to use a torch to point at the object I want to shoot and even then I dont get much of a headroom as the image continues to be dark but atleast I get to compose. But then the issue of focusing comes up as the magnified [a useless 2x mag] live view even though under normal lighting conditions isnt that useful that under low light conditions is a hit or miss affair! Couldnt samsung have implemented some sort of low light preview using some cheap night vision system which you find in the cheapest of camcorders and have it enabled under live view preview so that under low light conditions you can compose the shot, check focus and then the pic is shot without the night vision or alternatively there could have been a system to switch it off just before you click the pic!

I want to ask how do you people manage to click your pics under low light conditions using the nx10? I welcome any tips, tricks, workarounds to circumvent this problem which is bugging me!

Many would disagree but I find the manual focus features on the NX10 perfectly capable. It just takes practice. I usually don't even bother with the x2 magnification anymore. Just make sure you're not using stupid slow shutter speeds...

Sorry, just read your post more carefully- yes, this is a limitation with the NX10 in that with stopped down manual lenses, things get pretty dark. I believe the NX11 and NX100 rectified that with a preview mode (or something or rather).

The NX11 has framing mode which if selected on will keep the viewfinder view bright despite the actual exposure being low and the screen dark.

NXism said:

Sorry, just read your post more carefully- yes, this is a limitation with the NX10 in that with stopped down manual lenses, things get pretty dark. I believe the NX11 and NX100 rectified that with a preview mode (or something or rather).

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The more you know the more you know how little you know.

thanks for replying!

I am saddened to know that the framing mode is available in nx11 and not the nx10! This is a very important feature and should have been there in nx10 in first place and not in an upgrade model! from the looks of it samsung hasnt bothered implementing it in the nx10 firmware updates either! But then as an afterthought I realise that nx11's evf and led inspite of having a framing mode continues to be useless for low light anyway as the view inspite of having some extra brightness wont be that bright anyway for low light photography!

In this highly competitive photography biz samsung needs to take some quick steps to keep existing customers satisified by including some vital features and also develop camera systems which appeal both to consumer and enthusiast segments! Panasonic already did it with their g series!

NX 2X can not reach accuracy and precision of manual focus, even at 3x, when I mount Keiv 6x6 viewfinder direct coupled on live screen; 2X plus 3X =6x are always switch on to get over 90% of accurate of focus at distance. Can you get a 3X eye piece add on NX10 EVF.

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hpchan

hpchan said:

NX 2X can not reach accuracy and precision of manual focus, even at 3x, when I mount Keiv 6x6 viewfinder direct coupled on live screen; 2X plus 3X =6x are always switch on to get over 90% of accurate of focus at distance. Can you get a 3X eye piece add on NX10 EVF.

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hpchan

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what you are saying makes sense but one of the reasons for my buying the nx10 was the evf. I knew that the sony nex series also have evfs but overall they are very expensive. Also the 4/3 series sensor isnt appealing even though their feature set is very good and great evfs [especially panasonic g1, g2 gh1,2]. Plus at a point i was contemplating going in the lcd viewfinder and attaching it to a mirrorless compact and tried it with a friends camera which was set up with an olympus epl1 and an lcd extender. yes the magnfication was awesome and you could get pin point accuracy but I somehow felt the overall appearance to be akward plus being a dslr and slr user for many years I still havent gotten around clicking pictures looking through the main lcd of a camera. I am way too used to composing my shots through the viewfinder of the dslr [especially handheld] that I avoid using the live view in my dslr most of the time except under some rare situations. The nx10's evf sort of made it interesting for me as it was a kind of mix between live view and viewfinder.

I have just checked my NX11 in manual mode and indoors at 1/4000 and f22 and iso 100 which is completely black with framing mode off is as bright on Oled and EVF as a perfectly exposed view with framing mode on. Also the FA bar assistance is also visible if you wish to use this rather than magnification. It is no good crticising Samsung if you bought the old version because it was cheap when you had the opportunity to buy the mature product. You either buy the machine to do the job or to save the money but must expect that these options can often be mutually exclusive..

My NX100 also behaves in the same way with framing mode on.

I am sorry you obviously bought the wrong camera for your requirements but there is always a risk in going for what is a discontinued model and this more of a risk with Samsung NX as sales have been so low that there are unfortunately so many NX10's about.

aruk5 said:

thanks for replying!

I am saddened to know that the framing mode is available in nx11 and not the nx10! This is a very important feature and should have been there in nx10 in first place and not in an upgrade model! from the looks of it samsung hasnt bothered implementing it in the nx10 firmware updates either! But then as an afterthought I realise that nx11's evf and led inspite of having a framing mode continues to be useless for low light anyway as the view inspite of having some extra brightness wont be that bright anyway for low light photography!

In this highly competitive photography biz samsung needs to take some quick steps to keep existing customers satisified by including some vital features and also develop camera systems which appeal both to consumer and enthusiast segments! Panasonic already did it with their g series!

Click to expand...

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The more you know the more you know how little you know.

Greynerd said:

I have just checked my NX11 in manual mode and indoors at 1/4000 and f22 and iso 100 which is completely black with framing mode off is as bright on Oled and EVF as a perfectly exposed view with framing mode on. Also the FA bar assistance is also visible if you wish to use this rather than magnification. It is no good crticising Samsung if you bought the old version because it was cheap when you had the opportunity to buy the mature product. You either buy the machine to do the job or to save the money but must expect that these options can often be mutually exclusive..

My NX100 also behaves in the same way with framing mode on.

I am sorry you obviously bought the wrong camera for your requirements but there is always a risk in going for what is a discontinued model and this more of a risk with Samsung NX as sales have been so low that there are unfortunately so many NX10's about.

aruk5 said:

thanks for replying!

I am saddened to know that the framing mode is available in nx11 and not the nx10! This is a very important feature and should have been there in nx10 in first place and not in an upgrade model! from the looks of it samsung hasnt bothered implementing it in the nx10 firmware updates either! But then as an afterthought I realise that nx11's evf and led inspite of having a framing mode continues to be useless for low light anyway as the view inspite of having some extra brightness wont be that bright anyway for low light photography!

In this highly competitive photography biz samsung needs to take some quick steps to keep existing customers satisified by including some vital features and also develop camera systems which appeal both to consumer and enthusiast segments! Panasonic already did it with their g series!

Click to expand...

--
The more you know the more you know how little you know.

Click to expand...

I apologise if I made a misinformed statement but I was actually talking about using the nx10 or nx11 viewfinder under low light conditions such as the sky at night with stars or under the moonlight or even dimly lit streets at night. I doubt even the nx11 evf will give you anything acceptable to view under such conditions. Also understand one thing, the feature of having a bright viewfinder irrespective of whatever exposure settings should have been implemented in the first place in all nx series and not only in upgrade models. This is not some 'fancy' feature such as the ifunction lens [which coincidentally is been supported by nx10 under a firmware upgrade] which many of us can live without but an important primary feature present even in cheap compacts is unacceptable.