NX500

The NX500, or rather the NX500s (as I now have a pair), are a pain in my backside (in a good sort of way LOL). Towards the latter part of 2016, I decided to "rationalize" (now there's a Gear Addiction Syndrome buzzword) my camera equipment and settle on a Pentax K-1 with limited primes for serious work and Lumix micro four thirds cameras and zooms for travel photography, which meant all my NX equipment would be put on the auction block. I even sold one of my NX300s (had a couple) and the NX 50-200 lens. Then I pulled out my NX85mm/1.4 to take photos of it to put it on the bay. Well that was a mistake, as my heart grew as heavy as the lens is (which is very heavy) when I thought of all the lovely bokeh shots I had taken with it. I then looked up the NX500 on the net to see what Samsung had improved on from the NX300 - and found that it was the top APS-C camera on DXOMark. Somehow I managed to get one of the last (and quite likely the last) remaining new NX500 from a reputable Sydney retailer. One thing followed another, I repurchased the NX 50-200 I sold, an upgraded 3 version, a new 16-50 S lens and another NX500 for backup. So now the Lumix line is sitting unused reminding me that I need counselling for my GAS, completely put into the shade by the NX500s. The Lumixes have never travelled, they sit there waiting for a holiday they will never go on.

In many ways, the NX500 is the perfect travel camera. The reason that Samsung failed in the camera business is the number one reason that they are the prefect travel camera - outside of Korea 95% of the people I have talked to were not even aware that Samsung makes cameras. This makes them singularly unattractive to would be thieves, they look for cameras that are in high demand. This is an important consideration for frequent travellers - a bit of advice I got was - if you cant afford to lose it, dont take it on holiday.

The second reason, is that it charges by USB. Now there are many that don't like this, they would like a separate charger, however that is also available for purchase as an optional accessory. That it does charge by USB means I can charge it using my android phone charger, or a battery bank for the phone. This means I don't have to carry the big tangle of power cords and adapters that I used to travel with.

The third reason is weight. The thing is tiny and light compared to the cameras that have the same ranking on DXOMark - D7200, A7S, for example. The 16-50 Kit lens is also very compact, and really good at the same time. For the weight of just one of my dSLR zooms I can have a NX500 with the 16-50 and cover the most useful focal lengths for most photography.

The fourth reason, is that it lacks a viewfinder. I actually like not having a viewfinder, it helps me compose and stops me from taking snapshots. Of course, this makes it rather difficult to take action shots, but i have a dSLR for that. It does have a gorgeous AMOLED rear viewfinder panel, that can display better colour depth than most LCD viewfinders if set up to do so.

Obviously there are shortcomings, otherwise Samsung would not have failed as it did, the chief shortcoming being that its extremely hard to find the more exotic lenses. There is no real reason to look for them though, the 16-50 that it comes with and perhaps a 50-200 would be enough for most. The other shortcoming is that Samsung has exited the camera market with everything that means for availability and serviceability.

The shortcomings dont affect me, I built up a nice collection of NX lenses in the NX1000 and NX300 eras. I have futureproofed my NX500s by buying a redundant pair, and have enough spare batteries to last me the next five years.

So, yes, there are pros and cons, ultimately, as with all purchases its up to finding what best suits you.