This is a follow-up to my review on the NX1 firmware (v1.20).
In my original post, I pointed out some issues with the AEL button (issue 5) and the inability to configure the AF ON button to allow for a "focus-once" functionality (issue 2), see below:
Jan Behrens wrote:
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).
I meanwhile figured out another bug in the NX1 firmware which is related to the behavior of the AEL and AF ON buttons. To provide some background information to those who do not own an NX1, I would like to give a short overview on how those two buttons may be configured:
Only one of those two buttons may be assigned one of the following functions:
- AEL
- AEL Hold
- AFL
- AFL Hold
- AEL + AFL
The other button then must be configured in one of the following ways:
- AF Start
- AF Start + Lock
- Metering & AF Start
- Metering & AF Start + Lock
While it is possible to switch the available options for the AF ON and the AEL button, it is (according to my knowledge) currently not possible to configure the buttons in such way that you may select options from the same list for both buttons. For example, if one button is configured as "AEL Hold", then the other button cannot be configured as "AFL Hold". It may, however, be configured as "AF Start + Lock" which behaves slightly different:
- AFL Hold does not start focussing but only prevents automatic focussing on (half or full) shutter press.
- AF Start + Lock performs auto-focus once, and then locks the focus in the same way "AFL Hold" does (a green "AFL" sign will appear in the screen).
I tried to configure the AEL button as "AEL Hold" and the AF ON button as "AF Start + Lock", so I would be able to point the camera to an object I want to focus on and press the AF ON button to focus (and prohibit the shutter button from refocussing later) while at the same time I'd still be able to have auto-exposure-lock available on the other button (AEL).
First bug:
As already explained in my previous post, the auto-exposure-lock doesn't work in manual mode:
Jan Behrens wrote:
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.
I do consider this to be a bug. Moreover, I discovered yet another bug today that is related to the behavior of the "AF Start + Lock" option:
Second bug:
When configuring the AF ON buton as "AF Start + Lock", then pressing this button doesn't just start the autofocus and locks it, but it also locks the command wheels while the auto-focus-lock is on. The camera will still automatically adjust the ISO value (if set to auto-ISO) and the shutter speed and aperture (depending on the mode wheel), but it is not possible to manually adjust shutter speed, aperture, exposure value, or ISO value using the command wheels (or custom wheel) while the focus is locked. To change one of these settings, I have to repress the AF ON button to unlock the focus, make my adjustments, and then press the AF ON button again, which will then cause a refocussing before the focus is locked again.
I consider it a bug that the command wheels and the custom wheel are blocked during AFL. This bug only appears if I use the "AF Start + Lock" option to enable AFL. If I use the "AFL Hold" option to enable AFL, then the command wheels and the custom wheel work just fine.
But unfortunately (and as explained previously) it is not possible to configure the camera in such way that one button serves as "AFL Hold" and the other serves as "AEL Hold". Therefore, I cannot work around this problem if I want to configure one button as AEL (which is, on top of that, broken in manual mode, see issue 5 in my original post).
Interestingly, the blocking of the command wheels and custom wheel even happens in manual focus mode when pressing the button that is configured to "AF Start + Lock". (There will be no green AFL symbol, but the little arrow to open the display brightness menu disappears and the command wheels and the custom wheel are blocked until the button is pressed again.)
Summary:
The customizability of the AF ON button and the AEL button is unnecessarily restricted. Moreover, both the auto-focus-lock (when combined with AF Start) and the auto-exposure-lock (in manual mode) are buggy in the current firmware v1.20.
If Samsung doesn't address these issues, the AFL and AEL functions cannot be used properly.
