How is the display on a sunny day?

patrisilva · Aug 17, 2013

I am planning on buying the Samsung Nx300, however having used the Sony Nex 5R of a friend during a bright sunny day, I saw how difficult it is to use a screen during such days. Is the screen of the Nx300 better than the one of Sony Nex 5r? I liked the picture quality of the 5R, but I think Nx300 is a better camera.

Thanks

MrFresno · Aug 17, 2013

The NX300 AMOLED screen is better than the NEX LCD screen when used indoors, but it is worse than the NEX screen in sunlight. I have personally been struggling with the screen visibility problem. Some on this forum have reported that an anti-glare screen protector improves the situation. I have not tried them yet, but I am hoping for a big improvement. The NX300 has no viewfinder, so it is impossible to compose a shot if you can't see the screen.

Gesture · Aug 17, 2013

All these cameras are difficult to use in bright daylight. Love the old mid-range for their time point and shoots with LCD and small optical sight. I focus on the LCD and compose and take the picture through the optical sight. I would recommend a simple $10 Delkin or equivalent LCD for any of these type cameras. Cheap and makes a world of difference, though not perfect or complete.

Kuturgan · Aug 17, 2013

LCD screen on NEX-5r is more visible in daylight compare to NX300. Unfortunately, anti-glare screen protector is not a miracle because it doesn't really make the AMOLED screen visible under the direct sunlight. EVF is a must have if you shoot a lot in direct sunlight. But if the IQ is the most important for you than, I think no one will contest it here if I say that in terms of IQ, NX300 is better than NEX-5r/6/5n (I had NEX-5n before).

Kirk Tuck · Aug 17, 2013

I've been shooting the NX300 for a couple of months. I shoot video and stills with it mostly outdoors here in Texas and it's Summer right now. My solution was to get a loupe like the Hoodman Cinema Loupe that covers the whole screen, has a diopter adjustment, etc. It's just like looking through a good viewfinder when I use it with a Loupe. There are cheaper versions available.

William Hubert · Aug 17, 2013

My experience is I had a NEX 5R. I found the screen harder to see in sunlight than the 300. Both are very capable cameras but I far prefer the NX300 images.

Taffy · Aug 18, 2013

Hi there, this has been discussed here a few times. Please visit the thread that I've linked to below. In that thread you will see photos, and a link, to the screen protector that a few of here have bought. Personally I think it is great and would highly recommend it. Visit the thread and take a look at the photo's. Regards, Allan.

patrisilva said:
patrisilva wrote:

I am planning on buying the Samsung Nx300, however having used the Sony Nex 5R of a friend during a bright sunny day, I saw how difficult it is to use a screen during such days. Is the screen of the Nx300 better than the one of Sony Nex 5r? I liked the picture quality of the 5R, but I think Nx300 is a better camera.

Thanks

--
Have a good day.
Regards, Allan.

NewForce · Aug 18, 2013

Member said:
William Hubert wrote:

My experience is I had a NEX 5R. I found the screen harder to see in sunlight than the 300. Both are very capable cameras but I far prefer the NX300 images.

tpg77 · Aug 18, 2013

Taffy, I don't see the link??

MrFresno · Aug 18, 2013

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3534536#forum-post-52005913

strata83 · Aug 18, 2013

Kirk, if it's not a secret, what exactly LCD hood do you use? I can't find any for 3.3" screens, it seems 3" is the most common size.

Un dbutant · Aug 19, 2013

i took my nx300 on a 17 day trip to europe (just got back at home last friday)
though the screen was not clear under the glaring summer sun, i'd say it was clear enough to compose and take the shots
no screen protector whatsoever
haven't had the time to upload any pics though

Kirk Tuck · Aug 19, 2013

Strata, I'm sure mine is just a 3 inch but it covers the "live" area.

NewForce · Aug 19, 2013

strata83 said:
strata83 wrote:

Kirk, if it's not a secret, what exactly LCD hood do you use? I can't find any for 3.3" screens, it seems 3" is the most common size.

Kirk Tuck wrote:

Strata, I'm sure mine is just a 3 inch but it covers the "live" area.

--
Austin based advertising and portrait photographer, and author of the book series, Minimalist Lighting, and the books: Commercial Photographers Handbook, Photographic Lighting Equipment, and, LED Lighting for Digital Photographers. www.kirktuck.com

I've wrote this reply in another thread, "Which lens to keep: 18-55 or 20-50?". I was hoping it is useful to anyone who really need an eye loupe on NX300 screen. I certainly hope it'll help people on this thread to decide which are the best/right size to look for.

Link, http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3525262

Just for some convenient, Ive paste the reply here.

strata83 said:
strata83 said:

declan79 wrote:

strata83 said:

NewForce wrote :

If evf really a must...

Still get NX300 + LCD viewfinder screen magnifier for 3.0X LCD 3 .2" inch diopter adjust

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canon-5D3-L...pt=US_Viewfinders_Eyecups&hash=item3f27b4aec1

-- hide signature --

--

Kenny

Click to expand...

This is positive worked with the nx 300?

Click to expand...

I have not try it myself. But with the responses from multiple buyer at taobao.com, this type of LCD viewfinder was working.

Currently there's no LCD viewfinder make for Samsung NX300. So one need to send the reseller to confirm the LCD viewfinder, external and internal dimensions.

Saying that, I've already measured NX300 LCD ext & int dimensions.

Internal dimension = 72 mm x 44 mm viewable area.

External dimension = 78~79 mm x 50 mm, 3mm bezel area around the viewable area.

Screen ratio = 15:9

I saw some LCD viewfinder with both dimensions indicated.

V1 Int = 63 mm x 47mm

V1 Ext = 70 mm x 56mm

V2 Int = 67 mm x 45 mm

V2 Ext = 74 mm x 52mm

V3 Int = 67 mm x 45mm

V3 Int = 76 mm x 57mm

V4 Int = 67 mm x 42mm

V4 Ext = 80 mm x 50mm

V1: For Canon 5D2, 7D and 500D.. (3" 4:3 ratio)

V2: For Canon 550D, Nikon D90.. (3" 3:2 ratio)

V3: For Canon 600D, 60D (3" 3:2 ratio)

V4: For Sony NEX3/NEX5.. (3" 16:9 ratio)

V5: For Nikon 1 (3" 4:3 ratio)

So the closer thing I've found was,

V4 2.8X Magnifier Extender Magnetic LCD Viewfinder Hood For Sony NEX3 NEX5 New.

Link, http://www.ebay.com/itm/V4-2-8X-3-L...pt=US_Viewfinders_Eyecups&hash=item2a2fa7ba5d

If anyone ever need it, send the reseller to confirm the LCD viewfinder, external and internal dimensions before place order for it.

Btw, I'm compiling the info here just out of personal interest. Order 1 at your own risk.

--
Kenny

MGJA · Aug 19, 2013

Kuturgan said:
Kuturgan wrote:

LCD screen on NEX-5r is more visible in daylight compare to NX300

Can well believe this. I mean, conventional wisdom for phones is that AMOLED is better for colours and battery life, whereas LCD is better for sunshine visibility.

I've had my NX1000 a week and during that time I've shot plenty in sunshine, and I have no big issues with it, but it is a LCD screen.

NewForce · Aug 19, 2013

MGJA said:
MGJA said:

Kuturgan wrote:

LCD screen on NEX-5r is more visible in daylight compare to NX300

Click to expand...

Can well believe this. I mean, conventional wisdom for phones is that AMOLED is better for colours and battery life, whereas LCD is better for sunshine visibility.

I've had my NX1000 a week and during that time I've shot plenty in sunshine, and I have no big issues with it, but it is a LCD screen.

No, not true.

AMOLED screen is always better than LCD screen in many way, if both are the same brightness.

AMOLED screen is far super than LCD screen with extremely high contrast ratio, color gamut range, 0.01ms response time (vs 5~10ms omg), true power saving during mixed color scenes especially dark screen, with less screen reflection under the sun.

AMOLED screen only got beaten if you compare it with a smartphone using 50% brighter LCD screen. Example comparing a Samsung Galaxy S4 400cd/m2 against 50% more brighter HTC One 600cd/m2.

Btw, we must comparing camera screens here in DPR, not smartphone screen. Camera screen is not up there to compare with the best of high end smartphone yet.
--
Kenn

tecnoworld · Aug 19, 2013

Perhaps the screen of galaxy nx! That could be its main selling point.

MrFresno · Aug 19, 2013

NewForce said:
NewForce said:

NewForce said:

Kuturgan wrote:

LCD screen on NEX-5r is more visible in daylight compare to NX300

Click to expand...

MGJA wrote:

Can well believe this. I mean, conventional wisdom for phones is that AMOLED is better for colours and battery life, whereas LCD is better for sunshine visibility.

I've had my NX1000 a week and during that time I've shot plenty in sunshine, and I have no big issues with it, but it is a LCD screen.

Click to expand...

NewForce wrote:

AMOLED screen only got beaten if you compare it with a smartphone using 50% brighter LCD screen. Example comparing a Samsung Galaxy S4 400cd/m2 against 50% more brighter HTC One 600cd/m2.

That was just one example. Google "AMOLED vs. LCD" and you will find that nearly every comparison made between the 2 technologies lists "poor visibility in sunlight" as a weakness of AMOLED.

NewForce said:
Btw, we must comparing camera screens here in DPR, not smartphone screen. Camera screen is not up there to compare with the best of high end smartphone yet.

Of course, which is why I first compared the NX300 screen side-by-side with other cameras, but that does not make other comparisons invalid. If you take an AMOLED screen out of a phone and put it in a camera, it does not magically begin to work better in sunlight.

NewForce · Aug 19, 2013

MrFresno said:
Randy Benter wrote:

MrFresno said:

NewForce wrote:

AMOLED screen only got beaten if you compare it with a smartphone using 50% brighter LCD screen. Example comparing a Samsung Galaxy S4 400cd/m2 against 50% more brighter HTC One 600cd/m2.

Click to expand...

That was just one example. Google "AMOLED vs. LCD" and you will find that nearly every comparison made between the 2 technologies lists "poor visibility in sunlight" as a weakness of AMOLED.

Yes, I've read many that kind of "AMOLED vs LCD" and I do agree with you or them in term of those straight forward test results.

But, again as I've already said before, they are not orange-to-orange comparison. Most of them are doing banana-to-orange comparison, and they'll only tell you one-side of story they wanted.

If they ever, switch both AMOLED and any LCD/S-LCD/LCD3 screens to the same brightness to do a more in-depth comparison, I mean same 300 vs. 300cd/m2 output, 400 vs 400cd/m2 brightness, they or you'll see AMOLED was more superior under the sun. Too bad none of the smartphone review websites ever did that, they just compare them straight.

MrFresno said:
MrFresno said:

Btw, we must comparing camera screens here in DPR, not smartphone screen. Camera screen is not up there to compare with the best of high end smartphone yet.

Click to expand...

Of course, which is why I first compared the NX300 screen side-by-side with other cameras, but that does not make other comparisons invalid. If you take an AMOLED screen out of a phone and put it in a camera, it does not magically begin to work better in sunlight.

What I try to say here was, when come to top quality TFT screen, all brand cameras still does not have the privilege to enjoy the same high quality screen like those on the high end smartphones. Or rather, cameras screen was not the center of the highly demand high end smartphone war zone yet, so they doesn't have the chance.

Again, whatever screen you put on any devices, try switch them to same brightness and then compare. Only by doing that, the comparison is right and fair.

There's many interesting screen/display comparison have been tested by GSMArena.com you may want to check out. AMOLED screen win the most for being better on all their smartphones reviewed.

Below the comparison of Galaxy S4 Super AMOLED and HTC One SLCD3 screen. AMOLED win.

9c83fae1f14846b68e4af651d89c260b.jpg.png

--

Kenny

MrFresno · Aug 20, 2013

Here are some quotes from NX300 reviews:

PCMag: "Even though the large OLED display is hinged, if the sun hits it directly, it's very difficult to see what's going on."

Digital Camera Review: "The screen has 768k dot resolution which displays very nicely indoors, but can have a bit of trouble outdoors in the direct sunlight."

Visual Science Lab: "The screen is bright and clear under normal circumstances but there's no way any screen is going to win a fight with the sun or high levels of ambient light."

How is the display on a sunny day?

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