NX20 - a year in.

(I haven't proofed this so I apologize for my grammar and sentence structure I think and write a little odd)

So I thought I'd give a practical opinion of the NX20 in the wild, after using it for the last 10 months. As I have no loyalty to Samsung Cameras (they haven't earned it, yet.) I don't feel the need to sugar coat it, I also have no need to rage quit... now.
First as I'm long winded the summary, I almost regret buying because of the current lens selection, and could have picked up a used D90, D7000 or 50D for the same price. However I do like it over all, I enjoy shooting with it 90% of the time, and the other 10% really even a 5DMkIII might annoyed me. For a Hobbyist Photographer like me it is a great little camera so long as you are willing to work with the system.

So the long version. I've had the camera for the last 10 months I upgraded from the NX11 which I traded in as I had only had that a year (the low light performance made me happy). I shoot with 2 lens, the current 18-55(III) and the early 50-200(I). I generally shoot Landscape, some Portraits, Photowalk, and outdoor events. I am a Hobbyist not a professional or even semi-professional and so I take it from that point of few. If you want to see some of my photos relliott.ca all photos are with either the NX20 or the NX11. I have made prints but most of my stuff is web based the largest Print was a 10x30 (requested) and a 8x16 (2:1 Crop) for my self.

Lets start with what I like.

I find from re-world comparisons with other photographers of similar and great skills the NX20 will preform about as well in most situations functionally as the Nikon D90 and the sensor will preform on par with anything I've shot with short of a Full Frame. (again this isn't pixel counting or nerding out).

The one time the camera failed to perform short of a glitch. Was at a party where I tried to shoot some fashion types and the lack of a fast zoom meant I was shooting at ISO4000. Images were web usable but not printable. But still at 55mm F5.6 at ISO 4000 being able to have a semi workable image at all is neat. Beyond that I have no complaints with the general performance of the camera in single shot shooting. There are some with Burst shooting and I'll get there.
The images in RAW are easy to work with in Lightroom, and I have no issues cropping down when I need to get a tight shoot that the 200mm can't quite get.

My favourite element is the weight, I strap my camera to my wrist and keep it in hand when I'm shooting. At an event in October I walked and jogged over an 11km march with a column War of 1812 Re-Enactors. (500m long column) I started before they got up, at 5:30am and didn't shoulder my camera until after noon hour. The 50-200 was on most of the day, I did not even feel the weight, my shoes were heavier on my feel then the camera in my hand.

I've used the Camera with high speed sink to a flash (just starting out), I've triggered strobes with it, and used various studio equipment while playing (just starting to learn lighting) I have yet to find something I can't do with the camera that I'd like to. (Minus time lapse and wired tethering)

The Swivel screen for me is killer feature, I have several time used it to get angles I would be hard pressed to get without it, including a shot of a Bicyclist on a busy Toronto Street. Flipped it down stuck the camera to the ground focused and fired. Got it first go.

It is also nice to be able to convert a RAW to JPG quickly and to some quick edits from an event on my iPad to send online with the WiFi features, or even use live view to take a group shot without worrying about a timer. (More in the bad)

My favourite feature is Direct Manual Focus, in that even my 50-200mm can have it's focus adjusted manually after I've auto focused if I choose. With the new Kit 18-55 you can focus in manually up to 7inches at 55mm which will let you to a little bit of light macro work.

In burst mode in RAW you are looking at 1 second at 8fps and about 2.2 seconds at 3fps and about 18-20 seconds for the buffer to clear. Having 8FPS is a bonus the buffer well more in the bad.

Ok so the Bad.

Lets start with the little things. This is stuff that is Mirrorless specific more then NX but the battery life is not great when you are out with DSLR shooters and at the end of the day you are into your third battery and they aren't even finished their first. However that is generally true of any Mirrorless camera. 3 Batteries are a must, and I do keep three with me if I'm doing a full days shooting.

The Contrast Focus like all contrast focus does very poorly in extreme contrast situations, be it everyone in white, on a blown out sky, or a dark room. DMF does help with this though.
Out of the box the firmware (at least for me) was horrible, and left the camera unusable but recent firmware has made it much better.

The buffer is tiny, the buffer should be twice the size it is, but I can live with it, I just don't like it. What does annoy the crap out of me and is likely the worse issue with the camera is that live view turns off when shooting buffered. Let me say this again you have no live view on a camera with no optical viewfinder after the first shutter click in burst mode. That means you are literally shooting blind while tracking. In a Studio setting shooting falling fruit or splashing of water this isn't an issue, at a Drag race... I didn't get a single usable image I was shooting blind.

There are a few other quarks I've found, in that I find the camera locks up regularly... as in take the battery out to reset it locks up. It happens at least once a week if I'm shooting heavy. Last summer it was so bad that while shooting an Equestrian event I lost almost a whole card. The Camera over heated, and killed the card. It was only about room temperature outside, but I was shooting a 15 minute performance and took about 150-200 images (lots of burst panning) The camera locked up at the key moment in the performance and I was only able to recover about 50 images from the day.

That only happened once but that is a horrible situation and left me despondent as I had gotten special permission to be where I was.

In conclusionthough, the camera is generally very usable, very enjoyable camera to shoot and learn with. I choose it over the OM-D EM-5 which was just too small in my hands, and I like the form factor better then the NEX cameras. If Samsung keeps supporting the NX system with more balanced lens (like event lens' please ) I could happily be a Samsung shooter. My only two major complaints is burst performance, and the lens selection. If Samsung fixes the live view problem in burst shooting then I'd be tickled, and if they produce a WiFi mode that will send RAW images to the computer while shooting then this could honestly compete with crop DSLRs in Studio shooting.

Just skimmed it, interesting, i will read it properly tomorrow when i have more time.

Thanks I tried to stay out of the nitpicking and epine comparing so many do, I may have stayed too vague. 
Try shooting an Air Show, or an indoor event. No lens over 200mm. No zooms that do below 3.5 like you would need to shoot an indoor event when flash may not be possible.
The Lens Selection is growing an eventually it will get there. I'm just growing in a direction that lens aren't. I've gotten much less nerd ragey about it in the last few month, I get lots out of what I have, and a 12-24 the 45, and the 60 macro would be my currently picks and then a 18-55 range zoom at 2.8 and a 50-200 2.8 and a teleconverter would be the two lens and accessory that would keep me with samsung till I go full frame.
Really when it comes down to it.. 2 lens and a tele and I'd be tickled... and I think I can find a manual tele online...

The lenses I have cover all my present needs. For indoor events ( with no flash allowed) I use the 30mm + 85mm combo and even if the reach sometimes is not enough, I can crop a little bit thanks to the 20mpixels.

tecnoworld wrote:

The lenses I have cover all my present needs. For indoor events ( with no flash allowed) I use the 30mm + 85mm combo and even if the reach sometimes is not enough, I can crop a little bit thanks to the 20mpixels.

I have even fewer lenses than you and I'm pretty much covered also but I can understand the need for two basic f2.8 zooms (16-50 & 50-200 or 150) for indoor events shooting.

Yes, I understand that, but a 50-200 at f2.8 would be quite huge on the tiny nx bodies...anyway, being able to choose is always nice.

The only issue with using that as an option is that if friends ask me to shoot a banquet, and I see a group of 70 something hockey players talking and I have the 85 on, and I need 60 and I have 20 seconds and I've got a banquet table behind me, I have to stop change lens, and then hope that the moment hasn't passed. 
so having fast zooms are important for that type of thing.
The system isn't there yet though, and need be I can crap a mount adapter and get a long zoom that I just have to manual focus, and generally with a little practice that is workable option. But I'd prefer an actual lens.
But that has been my Nitpick for a while now. A fast zoom is great of portrait work, event work and the like. And that is all it is, and to be honest I wouldn't run out to get one... (though I would save, for both as they would become my standard lens.

Lens really wasn't the focus of it though. Honestly if there was one System killing flaw it would be the processor. I used to think that is was the buffer that was the issue, and the battery placement that lead to the lock ups. Now I think it is a processor issue. 
I shoot almost exclusively in raw. When I use Burst mode at 8fps it get 8 shots at 3fps I get 6-7 shots. If the buffer was the issue, in that the buffer fills up and can't be emptied fast enough, then I should get more total shots in 3fps then in 8fps but I get less and in Fine JPG I should get significantly more photos. At 8fps I can get as few as 10 in Fine JPG and at 3fps I get 11-12. 
This to me suggest that the processor is what is locking up not the buffer, it is likely the reason live view turns off while shooting in burst mode too. While in single drive mode I still can only get about 4 or 5 photos before the processing sign comes up if I'm shooting rapidly but the buffer can't be the issue because we know it can hold at least 8 RAW files. All of this points to a very low performance processor that limits the capabilities of the camera and is in the end what is preventing the NX20 from being 5 star camera. Lens may hurt the system a little, but the processor hurts the camera a lot. 
My simple wish list for Samsung.

1. Stronger processor that will keep up with the camera
2. The ability to turn of the fancy crap, (menu graphics that slow down the change between modes, the folder system etc) 
3. the two 2.8 lens on my wish list
4. A WiFi mode that would allow for simultaneous upload in any camera mode. Even if it were a JPG only upload that worked in RAW+JPG. (ie could match the basics of the EyeFi card) 
5. As a Bonus a wireless trigger option with the ability to do time delay

And that is in order of personal importance.

you are right about the time required for changing lens, that's something to take into account. If you know you'll need both 85 and, say, 30mm almost at the same time or alternatively, then you could need two camera bodies with the lenses on (consider that a nx1000+30mm is tiny and very cheap!).

and that would be a work around. except more batteries more cards etc. And more editing after the fact.
They are just two lens and a tele from complete system. and really a 18-50 and a 50-150 will do. Toss in a auto focus enabled 1.4x tele and you have a system that will function for just about any hobbyist or sem-pro hobbyist. Landscape and Street is covered, Macro for the most part is done, and you have a functioning portrait system. Wildlife/Aircraft, Event and Sports are the only thing really missing, a tele on the 50-200 will cover wildlife/aircraft, on a 50-150 and the 200 you have Amateur sports. and the short and long fast zooms cover events. that is two lens and a Tele for all your needs.
Make the upgrades to a NX30 with a functional processor and all the silly needless graphics and the I can start demand a NX3 weather sealed with lens to match.

tecnoworld wrote:

Yes, I understand that, but a 50-200 at f2.8 would be quite huge on the tiny nx bodies...anyway, being able to choose is always nice.

Probably a 50-135f2.8 ala Pentax/Tokina could be a nice compromise: not very large but high IQ and reasonable price.

the pentax is a nice lens, indeed. The focal lenght is also nice. I recently bought for 38€ a yashica 135mm f2.8 lens and it's very nice on the nx200. It's manual focus, of course.

tecnoworld wrote:

the pentax is a nice lens, indeed. The focal lenght is also nice. I recently bought for 38€ a yashica 135mm f2.8 lens and it's very nice on the nx200. It's manual focus, of course.

I'm waiting for my M42-NX adapter to try my old Pentax M42 lenses on the NX1000, I have 24f3.5, 35f2, 55f1.8, 135f2.4 and 200f4... that should keep me busy for a while...

Still waiting for a wee bit of sunshine here but I should be ready for it when it'll come...

Thank you for a very nice review. Interesting and useful points, all well noted.

N_Architect wrote:

Thank you for a very nice review. Interesting and useful points, all well noted.

I agree with the above....good review, interesting observations.....

Having NX10 I'm waiting for NX30 with smaller RAWs, faster writing/processing, faster AF, better ISO.

Maybe I will buy but... for my decison not only camera propeties are important.

I can see many problems:

There is not fast zoom in the system and yes I like fast zooms.

No long tele lens.

No any flash on nikon SB level neither from Samsung neither from other producers as there are many for CaNikon, Sony, Olympus.

Even cheap Yongnuo doesn't offer Samsung system flash.

Lack of Samsung cameras lenses accesories in the shops makes me nervous I hate to by via internet particulary in the times when product copies can differ so much.

If the situation won't change for better, then sorry Samsung, no another lens or camera.

I can see panasonic GH3 (or maybe new G6) + 12-35 + 35-70 with constant F2,8 as a very good competitor. Also many lenses flashes etc. big choise!

I have a Yungno Flash that works just fine in Manual with my NX20, and I use even at 8FPS. 
And there is a Samsung Flash with TTL, it's not super powerful but it would be on par with a Canon 430
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Category_Camera+Flashes&sts=ma&ci=643&N=4291237751+4294204370&Ntt=samsung+flash
You will not get a smaller RAW file in the NX30 if it has a larger sensor the RAW file isn't that bad a 16GB card has 443 shots, and I have no issues shooting with it. 
The rest though I can consider valid. 
Of course a 200mm isn't that bad outside of wildlife, sports, and low light events. I've even got some nice concert shots with the NX11. 
The Menus and the Processing time (which by most accounts the NX300 fixes) is an issue, and waiting for the NX30 might be good if it were announced... it isn't.. and might be a year off if they have decided to do the NXxxx and the NXxx staggered.