After some consideration time, I finally decided to buy an NX1 camera. First of all, I have to say that I'm overall happy with the general handling as well as the picture quality of the camera. 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. However, "manual operation" is one of the issues where the current NX1 firmware V1.20 has (unfortunately) several flaws, which I'm going to point out in this review. I do believe these flaws are easy to fix, and I would hope for Samsung to notice these flaws and provide fixes in their upcoming firmware releases.
DISCLAIMER: The statements below only reflect my personal experience and knowledge after using the camera for a few days. In particular, 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
The autofocus setting does not have any impact on the autofocus mode while recording movies. If you switch the NX1 to manual mode and disable the autofocus, pressing the record button will (re-)enable the autofocus. That... well... let's say it's really annoying. The only workaround I could figure out for this problem is to switch to movie standby mode (you need to have a button customized for that) and then turn the manual focus explicitly on by using the touch screen or the AF ON button. Unfortunately, this setting won't be saved, which means you can't simply use the record button but you always need to first go to the movie standby mode, disable the autofocus, and then start your recording. I did not find any preset in the menu to avoid this necessity.
This issue is the most bugging one and has IMHO a serious impact on the usability of the NX1 for recording movies.
2. No "focus once" option
Neither in movie mode nor when taking stills, it is possible to have a button that will simply focus once and then maintain the focus. You may only simulate this functionality by setting the AF ON button to "AF Start + Lock" but in that case you still have to press the button twice: once to undo the AFL and a second time to re-focus and reactivate the AFL. (I have discussed this issue previously.) Accordingly, you have to press the AF ON button twice in movie mode, once to turn on auto-focus, and then again to switch back to manual focussing in movie mode.
Likewise, it is not possible to focus once to a spot by touching the screen: if you choose one of the touch-autofocus options, then touching the screen will always move your focus point for all subsequent photos. To reset it, you either have to hit the center correctly or you have to press OK + DEL + OK (which is three buttons!) (or you need to turn the camera off and back on again).
3. Difficulties to reset certain options (no "green button")
3.1 As already mentioned, re-centering the autofocus spot may be difficult. Likewise, it is annoying to reset several other options (see below).
3.2 Resetting the exposure value (EV) requires you to press (and hold) the EV button and to tediously turn the command dial 2 (unless otherwise configured) until the EV is back at 0.0. (With the NX1 it was possible to press and hold the EV button and then press the green button, which doesn't exist on the NX1 anymore.) Not even using the DEL key (while holding the EV key) resets the exposure value at once.
3.3 Likewise, I didn't find a way to reset the "program shift" in program mode. Since the LCD doesn't indicate a program shift (green underlining on the display and in the EVF), it is nearly impossible to reset the program shift using the LCD. Instead, you will have to look at the display or into the EVF and turn the wheel (in the right direction) until the green underlining disappears (where you won't know for sure when that happens). It is even more tedious than resetting the EV.
4. Program shift can't be disabled and always occupies at least one command wheel
Since a reset of the program shift is difficult, I tried to disable the program shift completely by customizing the command wheels 1 and 2 in the menu when I discovered that this is not possible. The only available options are:
- command wheel 1 "Program Shift" and command wheel 2 "Program Shift",
- command wheel 1 "Program Shift" and command wheel 2 "EV",
- command wheel 1 "Program Shift" and command wheel 2 "ISO",
- command wheel 1 "EV" and command wheel 2 "Program Shift",
- command wheel 1 "ISO" and command wheel 2 "Program Shift".
The options
- command wheel 1 "EV" and command wheel 2 "ISO", and
- command wheel 1 "ISO" and command wheel 2 "EV"
do not exist.
One dial will always be occupied with the program shift (which I most often don't want to use at all, and which is, as explained above, difficult to reset when accidentally enabled).
5. Auto-exposure-lock unavailable in manual mode (with auto-ISO)
A nice feature of the NX1 (compared to the NX10 which I previously used) is that it is possible to switch the camera to manual mode to select a fixed shutter speed and a fixed aperture while letting the camera determine the right ISO value for a preselected exposure value (EV). Unfortunately, it is not possible to use the auto-exposure-lock under these operating conditions. I don't understand why? This limitation just doesn't make any sense to me.
6. Manually activating the MF assistant isn't possible (without third-party lenses)
I love the manual-focus assistant which magnifies the image temporarily while you turn the focus wheel. The NX1 allows you (in contrast to the NX10) to choose whether you want a 5x or 8x magnification for the MF assistant. When using third-party (manual focus) lenses, it is also possible to enter the MF assistant by pressing the OK button (regardless of whether you want to focus or use the magnification for other purposes). It would be nice to also use this feature with Samsung lenses. Customizing the buttons of the NX1, I happily found the option "MF Assist", believing that this option would allow me to enter MF Assist mode also with Samsung lenses. Unfortunately, this option turned out to just allow me to setup the magnification during manual focussing and not to enable the MF Assist mode manually (without turning the focus ring, like possible with non-Samsung lenses).
7. Irritating changes of display brightness
The NX1 allows you to automatically adjust the display brightness. Since it doesn't seem to have a brightness sensor (except the image sensor behind the lens), it appears to measure the brightness according to the objects in front of the lens. Pointing the camera to a brighter scene will turn the display (including the on-screen-display) brighter, while turning the camera to a darker scene (or covering the lens) will turn the display darker. This alone wouldn't be so irritating if the change of display brightness didn't happen suddenly and even during movie mode: it may happen that the display instantly turns bright or darker during recording, which kind of looks like something is very wrong with the recording. Sadly, I found this brightness adaption so annoying that I had to turn it off completely.
8. Issues with the touch display
Last but not least, I'd like to mention an issue with the touch display: scrolling through menus and other options feels awkward. When you drag a list of options it sometimes happens that the list will scroll with an incredible fast speed to the end. The only way to avoid this for me was to train yourself to not lose contact with the touch screen until I stop my finger's movement. This, however, makes scrolling through menus tediously slow. And even being as careful as that, it sometimes still happened to me that the menu would just suddenly scroll very fast. I can live with it, but there is certainly potential for improvement.
Conclusion
The NX1 is a great camera, but with a few changes in the firmare it would be perfect for my needs. Particularly the manual focus in movie mode needs to be accessible more easily.
