Sadly I have moved on from the NX1

I finally bit the bullet last week and decided it was time to part company with my Samsung NX1 and NX lenses.

It is something I have been considering for the past year but keep changing my mind because in my opinion I think the NX1 was and is still the best APS-C camera out there, it was way ahead of it's time when released and still beats nearly every APS-C out there.

So why did I finally decide to sell up and move on.

There were a number of reasons, firstly and most important, the NX1 and NX lenses have retained value and in some cases increased in value since Samsung made their camera suicide..however the last few months I have noticed second hand prices slowly dropping. Secondly I have had zero problems with the NX1 and my NX lenses since getting them when the NX1 first was released. They have kept in good condition and in my opinion were some of the most robustly built kit I have ever had (past Nikon User) My worry however is that sooner or later I am going to experience issues through wear and tear and I really didn't fancy trying to get an NX1 repaired anywhere, I guess my concern overall is that at some point I would be left with a camera and lenses that were worthless and didn't work. And lastly I just plain fancied a change and a new ecosystem.

The hardest part was deciding what to move onto, as the NX1 still beats all comers in most areas (not all)

After trying different manufacturers and camera models I finally decided I wanted to see what all the fuss was with Full Frame. My brother has a Sony Alpha A7 and my friend has a Nikon D750. I tried both out and very quickly decided that it had to be a Sony. Not because it was streets ahead in image quality, it was because I just could not do without the wonderful benefits that mirrorless cameras give that I had been used to with the NX1. Things like a EVF with live view, focus peaking, focus magnification and many more.

Sadly Canon and Nikon do not do mirrorless at the moment so the only option is Sony (unless I took out a second mortgage for a hasslebad :D)

First impressions of the A7 were OMG in a bad way. What were Sony thinking when they developed their menu system, it's like they designed it to be a puzzle that only the worthy could use the camera After a while you get used to it but it will never be easy to use, coming from the NX1 which is one of the best GUI's I have ever used on a camera this will be an area that I will greatly miss.

So once I decided on which manufacturer I then needed to decide on which camera model. OMG how much!!!!! Are sony having a laugh, what has happened to the photography market in the years since I bought my NX1 (which I thought was expensive) I mean £4000 for an A9 body , £3000 for an A7R iii body, they are just crazy prices.
I was tempted with the new A7 iii at £2000 (still made me wince) reading the reviews it seems to very good and a challenger at last to NX1.
But spending £2000 on a body only and then having to fork out at least £500 on a standard zoom full frame lens and then over a £1000 for a telephoto (and that's the cheapest available) kind of excluded that from consideration.
In the end I decided to go down a different path.

I finally settled on theSOny A7R ii, gets great reviews and has an awesome 42mp sensor.
I bought a used Sony A7R ii for £1300 with a used 24-70 sony zeiss f4 lens for £520.
I then took a total different direction and purchased a used Sony RX10 iii for £850 to use for telephoto shots and video instead of forking out for a telephoto lens.

I haven't got them yet they arrive tomorrow (getting excited)

They all come with 24 months warranty and if I am not happy with the quality of them I can return them for my money back.

I know getting the RX10 isn't the best solution but I am not a professional photographer, just an enthusiast and I just need something that I can get decent wildlife shots in good light, I previously had a Nikon D3200 with a Sigma 50-500 (bigma) and a Tamron 70-300. I am 99% certain the RX10 will give just as good quality as they did. To get 600mm on the A7R ii would need a lottery win. As for the NX1 the most reach I ever had was the 50-200mm which wasn't the best of lenses.

Only time will tell if I made the right decisions.

Will I miss the NX1....the answer is definitely, I already do.

But I felt it was time to move on and now I have a new road to travel and am looking forward to it.

I will post an update on my thoughts and experience once I get the new kit and try them out.

Ian