My personal review of Samsung NX300

From my blog http://nxexperience.blogspot.co.uk/

I am not going into a lot of technical detail here, but detailing my experience with the camera after a months fairly heavy usage including a two week trip in Costa Rica.

I feel the need to state here, I love the NX1000. Sure, it may not be the fastest beast out there with the best low-light performance, etc, etc, but for the price I got it, it's one awesome little camera!

Why do I mention the NX1000 in an NX300 review? Well, I only like the NX300 at the moment. Very much, I will add, but I don't love it yet. I want to though.

My first disappointment hit fairly quickly, as within minutes of turning the camera on, the captured image would degrade into a green mess on the screen. It would right itself and repeat intermittently.

OK, so I got a bad one. It happens.

So I returned and got a replacement, but with the 2nd one, the screen just doesn't feel as sensitive to touch, with me frequently having to tap several times to get a response. Hell, one day it stopped responding entirely until I powered down.

OK, so maybe I got two bad cameras. It really shouldn't happen...

So......... I have now returned camera 2, and have camera 3 sitting next to me. Touch screen is nicely responsive, and so far, not noticed any issues. Not had much time to test thoroughly yet though! Wish me luck!

Anyway, I will assume for the purposes of this review that people who buy will land up with a good one, or be able to return a duff one anyway, so I will ignore those two problems mentioned going on.

So on to the details.

Handling

Some will complain about the size. It's far chunkier than the NX1000, and I think many of the other compact system cameras out there, but I find the size just perfect.

It makes it nice and comfortable to hold, without being cumbersome. And if I stick on the 30mm pancake, or even the 20-50mm, it will fit easily in many pockets - though definitely not trouser pockets. And it's still a far less bulky affair than a DSLR.

It also feels far better balanced with some of the larger lenses attached, such as the 60mm macro, or the 18-200mm.

Buttons are well placed, and the video button is now far more difficult to hit accidentally.

Sometimes I do miss the jog dial on the direction pad of the NX1000, as it just felt far easier to adjust than the little jog wheel on top. But that is not a major isssue, and I guess I will get more at ease with using the touch screen over time.

There are far less mode dials on the NX300, which I initially took to be a good thing, until I realised the down side of no longer having a video mode dial - and I will go into why in the video section.

There is at least one thing missing from the "function" menu, that I quite liked having easy access to, and that is swapping between capture modes, such as RAW or RAW+Super fine. You now have to delve into the menus a bit for that. There is the ability to assign RAW+ to the custom button, but this will only keep the setting for one capture, and then revert. It would be far nicer if this was a toggle.

It would also be nice to have the "function" menu option for changing between smartrange+/HDR/none.

The touch screen, combined with Samsung's great menu's, is a joy to use (when you get a good one). Changing settings, and quickly navigating menus can be far quicker than using the d-pad and jog dial on top. Though I still find myself going for the d-pad and dial, forgetting that I can touch the screen

The fact that it can tilt 45 degrees down and 90 degrees up is a real plus. It has come in handy on many occasions.

Using the touch screen for focus makes it considerably quicker to frame your shot, without having a use direction pad for moving focus point.

And one touch shot can be good for saving some time in a pinch, but shot to shot time using this method is not brilliant yet.

Focus tracking, I am not sold on yet though. It's implementation I can only describe as OK for now. It loses subjects too easily, even if good lighting/contrast situations.

Performance

Generally, this is one snappy camera.

Combined with the right lens, focus can be really fast.

Exactly why Samsung chose to bundle the 20-50mm with it here in UK, I don't know - it's slow, noisy and has no OIS. OK  some places offer the 18-55mm, but you have to hunt for it.

I do still think there is a lot of room for improvement. There is still a tendency to hunt a bit for focus, which I thought would go with the PDAF, but I don't know enough about that technically, so maybe my expectations were off.

Samsung have already released an updated firmware for at least one lens (30mm pancake), and I imagine more will follow.

There seems to be a problem with firmware 1.1 and writing RAW files (at least I think only updated firmware), as burst seems limited to about 5 snaps before it starts pausing to flush the buffer. But given that Samsung fixed such issues on the previous generation, I am sure they will sort it.

I am sure I remember on holiday I could get more than 5 fps on a burst with RAW.

Improved ISO performance is also most welcome on the camera. All the way up to ISO 6400 is good, and even in a pinch I would resort to 12800, which may be noisy, but if it's not for large prints, should do well to capture those memories.

The improved ISO performance came in very handy using the 18-200mm zoom, as it's a slow lens, aperture-wise, and any boost to keeping the shutter speed up, especially as I am usually photographing wildlife, is most welcome.

Of course, this all means that low light performance, especially when combined with the faster lenses, is much improved over last gen, making getting some challenging images where I didn't think I stood a chance.

Battery performance is, sadly, is just OK. I can't tell you how many shots you will get off a charge, but if you are diligent about turning camera off when you are sure you won't be taking a photo, you should manage OK for a few hours, or a few hundred shots. It is largely dependent on lens also though, so hard to be specific - for example, if you stick the 18-200mm on, that thing sucks the life from batteries!

Picture quality

I feel there have been large strides made in the sensor department by Samsung, when comparing to the NX1000.

When zooming in on images, it's astounding how much detail can be captured, especially in combination with the prime lenses, such as the 30mm and 60mm - there are plenty of examples on the blog, so I won't repeat here.

Larger image here

Where I most noticed improvements on image quality though is, oddly, when using the 18-200mm.

I noticed this initially when photographing my friendly neighborhood Robin, as below. From the same distance, using the same lens, taking photos of this guy would always look like smudgy messes with the NX1000. With this camera, I can now get a decent shot.

I am not sure why this is.

There have also been nice improvements to the jpeg engine, which used to be a bit heavy on the noise reduction. I will likely use just jpeg a lot more on this camera.

We now get to choose a level of NR we want applied, and it does a good job of preserving detail.

There's a bunch of presets for jpeg processing, and most of them useful, and rather nice.

Video

OK, here I have some issues.

One of my initial problems with the camera has partially been addressed in firmware V1.1, in that there was no manual ISO control available for video. Silly omission!

With firmware V1.1, it has now been added at least to full manual mode, though still not Aperture/Shutter priority nor Program AE.

And it will only allow usage of ISO up to 3200. Again, let ME choose, please, Samsung.

Then there is the removal of the video mode dial. This is a problem, because it is now impossible to frame a scene properly, as you get no 16:9 preview.

It's pure guess work on how the scene will look in 16:9. How, or whether, Samsung will address this, I have no idea, but I hope they do! It could easily be handled by giving the user the option to replace the auto share icon with a video preview icon, or to assign the custom button the option.

Apart from that, video quality is mostly good.

The fact that it's now 50/60 fps allows for smooth motion, and if you set the fps to 25/30, you can now do slow lotion (half speed) at full 1080p. It would be nice to have a quarter speed option in 720p, as well though.

The microphone picks up wind noise very easily, even with the noise reduction on.

It would also be nice to have a higher bit-rate option, as compression artifacts can show up a fair amount.

Oh, and some of us would like focus tracking and focus peaking in video too, Samsung

Overall, I think Samsung have a long way to go in the video department.

I wish they would get it into their heads to compete with the likes of Panasonic in this regard (though without that annoying tendency of Panasonic to remove manual control from their reasonably priced cameras)

Features

I was skeptical about the WiFi on the NX1000, and to be honest, barely used it on that camera. However, the host of sharing options have been made far more user friendly on the NX300, and the touch screen makes typing simple.

There is also near field communication (NFC), but I can't comment on this as I don't have another capable device.

In the end, I used the WiFi a fair amount on holiday for sharing my photos as I went along. I just wish it would have allowed uploading 1080p video.

I just wish I had used the remote viewfinder on the app to get more photos of me in some of the brilliant places I visited. The viewfinder may not offer a lot of functionality, but it's better than anything anyone else has given us in this regard (I think)

The NX300 also introduces 3D to the NX300. For my third camera, I did get the bundle including this lens, but only because it brought the price in line with the 2D version, which I was likely to pick up anyway. Not sure it will be much use to me. For now at least.

Reliability

Ok, The 2nd camera I only had for a few weeks, but I just wanted to give a brief run down on how it served me in the field on holiday, ignoring touch screen responsiveness.

Overall, the camera was quite reliable.

Firmware V1.0 definitely had some issues, but a number of them seem to have been addressed by V1.1. For example, with the 18-200mm, the camera would get stuck in this cycle of opening and closing the aperture.

I was travelling in Costa Rica, from cloud forests to humid beach locations, and not once do I think it had any performance issues as a result of humidity or heat. the camera could get a bit warm on occasion, but nothing that had me too worried.

As heavy as it can be on battery, especially with the 18-200mm, I rarely had to change batteries, as I made sure I turned camera off when not in use.

There were a few times, such as when trying to photograph some birds, when I found it took a bit too long to write files and be ready for the next shot. I was just lucky in that I didn't lose too many shots as a result, and I hope Samsung improve upon this.

Verdict

Overall, I am happy with the camera. If I wasn't, I would not be on my third.

It has amazing potential, and with a few updates from Samsung, I am sure this will be one of the top compact system cameras out there for a little while.

For video users, this camera has some serious niggles/problems currently, but hopefully Samsung can find a way to address those - though the 16:9 preview I get a sneaking suspicion they will ignore.

It may not be the cheapest, but considering this has launched at the same price the NX1000 did, I think Samsung are being a lot more sensible on their pricing, and while I would normally suggest waiting for a price drop, don't think anyone would have any major regrets paying the RRP currently.

I do recommend the camera, but would suggest people think hard about it's shortfalls in certain areas before committing - though what's important to me, may not be important to you, and I am sure there are many out there for whom this camera is already very close to perfection - namely those not worried about video or high burst shooting.

I would give the camera 7/10 for now, with the hope to upping that should Samsung address some of the issues I have. If they addressed them, it would be at least an 8, possibly a 9.

Thx for the review. I mostly agree with you. These are the things Samsung should fix to make it much a better camera:

- raw continuous shooting (limited to 4/5 pics in a row). Please bring this to the level of nx200 (8 pics) or better.

- there seems to be some nr applied in iso 1600 to 3200 even when nr is off. Please investigate on this.

- video: preview of 16:9, but above all, focus peaking and focus tracking in video! Caf is dumb where you can have those features!

- improve af: this camera is far from being the fastest focusing camera, as advertised. It's barely better than nx200, so I guess pdaf is not working properly, for now

- please allow assigning the smart share button to other functions, like raw+ switching

- if possible increase the intensity of focus peaking: even in high it's sometimes barely visible

- please allow moving also raw files via wifi, and not only jpg

There are for shure other things to improve, but at the moment they don't come to my mind.

one more improvement came to my mind:

- get rid (or at least give the possibility to get rid) of the transitional images describing modes (PASM). They occupy space and slow down the process from one mode to another one.

And, Samsung, please release the source code for the firmware (since it's based on Tizen which is open source) so that, if you don't want to make the requested changes, at least some skilled user could do that by herself.

Very nice review. Thanks for posting.  I have the NX200 purchased late last year so I will defer the upgrade for a while yet.  But certainly an interesting camera with what seem to be some early production glitches.

compared to nx200, which I also own, the nx300 is a lot better. Much faster and more responsive, with a beautiful tiltable touch screen, with focus peaking if you use manual lenses, a much better jpg engine and a slightly better IQ even in raw (I'd quantify it in 1/3 stop more, on par or even a bit better compared to NX20).

that's why I bought it even if I got my nx200 just 5 months ago...I think the nx300 is the first nx camera that deserves the initial price point.

the only read disadvantage compared to nx200 is, as already mentioned, the continuous shooting in high with raw+sf, where the nx200 can do 8 frames and the nx300 just 5. But I still hope this can be addressed by Samsung.

tecnoworld wrote:

one more improvement came to my mind:

- get rid (or at least give the possibility to get rid) of the transitional images describing modes (PASM). They occupy space and slow down the process from one mode to another one.

And, Samsung, please release the source code for the firmware (since it's based on Tizen which is open source) so that, if you don't want to make the requested changes, at least some skilled user could do that by herself.

I forgot about that... Yes, it would be nice to turn that off.

Will include that in an email to them some time.

Would be good if they included it with enabling/disabling the on-screen helps tips.

here it follows another possible improvement that Samsung could implement as a fw upgrade very easily:

- with legacy lenses or manual focus, being able to magnify any part of the screen by touching it. At that point, focus peaking + magnification could become a killer feature and a big selling point for nx300.

Samsung, are you listening to me?

THanks for OP and also to Tecnoworld for your comments ...

I have a Pentax K5 and an Second Hand .. good X100 ... but I bought the Samsung 20 / 30 primes when they were ridiculously cheap ...and have been waiting for a Samsung Camera with an articulating screen ....as I want something that is jacket pocketable.... and I think they have come up trumps .... but I think I'll wait fro 6 months ... then I suspect they may have ironed out a few of these glitches .... and the price may happily have dropped !

Overall I have been very impressed how the non camera camera companies have made many of the new strides ... Panasonic, Sony and Now Samsung. But at APSC size I think the Samsung  pancakes have been well ahead of the sony's lenses ... and although i liked the idea of the Nex6 .. I couldnt get on with the menu system ...

So I look forward to a NX300 in the autumn  ... thanks for all your ideas ...

thanks chrisrabe for the great review, and thanks technoworld for the additional feedback.

you guys have any idea how this compares to the nx20?  I've been wanting to get an nx300 but now I'm just not so sure anymore.  for me the compact size is the attraction, but add to that the annoyances added to this model. the misleading statement from their marketing guy that this is the fastest focusing mirrorless on the market really harms samsung's reputation and adds to my disappointment. also, the share stuff does absolutely nothing for me - they could take it out and it wouldn't make a difference - I just take the SD card and stick it into my computer to transfer the files.  I'd gladly trade the wireless for extra cache memory for better buffering and faster FPS overall.  and what I mean by faster frames per second, is that I make the distinction between FPS and time per frame!  time per frame does not specify a minimum duration, whereas fps implies a minimum 1 second duration, which this camera clearly does not deliver on!

You are absolutely right about the fps thing.

I was so disappointed to notice that the newer camera does worse than the oklder ones with raw continuous shooting high. They claim 8.6fps, and that's true for jpg, but in raw it lasts just half second almost useless for me. I'd have preferred slower rate for longer (say 3fps for 3 seconds).

Timmbits wrote:

thanks chrisrabe for the great review, and thanks technoworld for the additional feedback.

you guys have any idea how this compares to the nx20?  I've been wanting to get an nx300 but now I'm just not so sure anymore.  for me the compact size is the attraction, but add to that the annoyances added to this model. the misleading statement from their marketing guy that this is the fastest focusing mirrorless on the market really harms samsung's reputation and adds to my disappointment. also, the share stuff does absolutely nothing for me - they could take it out and it wouldn't make a difference - I just take the SD card and stick it into my computer to transfer the files.  I'd gladly trade the wireless for extra cache memory for better buffering and faster FPS overall.  and what I mean by faster frames per second, is that I make the distinction between FPS and time per frame!  time per frame does not specify a minimum duration, whereas fps implies a minimum 1 second duration, which this camera clearly does not deliver on!

I should have written:

what Samsung quotes as a FPS, is really a burst mode for a 1/2 second duration.  what the camera can do after the burst mode, is the true FPS... which isn't much now is it?

the NX300 has an amazing sensor, and there are no other apsc sensors that are notably better, especially not in it's price rage. (I said notably - some might tell me that Sony's 24mp sensor is better, but I don't think it would be significantly/notably better)

but what is happening with the NX300, is reminiscent of the NX200, which was also a ground-breaking model in the Samsung lineup.  it was fixed by the NX210.  perhaps an NX310 will come out to address the shortcomings?

One thing is for sure:  this looks like the NX200 saga all over again!

IMHO, this is what we need:  a model with more cache memory.  it's a computer, that needs a high performance computer infrastructure: fast bus with fast cache memory multiples larger than what they have now. I don't care if it has wifi, gps, or whatever other bells-and-whistles. More control dials, à la Fuji X-S1 would be a nice addition too! (because some of the good lenses aren't even iFn)  A good, solid, robust camera, that gets all the basics right!

Once they get the basics right, they can add pom-poms and whatever else they want, and see if the extra price they command will sell better.  But for now, we want performance that lives up to the hype!

Who knows... maybe they have something in store for us with the NX30 and we won't have to dream of an NX310.

I can't help but wonder if you'd like the NX20 more.

I had the same Issue with my camera God damn flashing screen was driving me crazy....I downloaded the firmware from Samsung website Extracted the file with win rar and then transfered it to my Sdhc card. I inserted that into my camerea updated it and now its working smoothly...

I hope I dont get any of the screen problems that other owners are getting...Uff Time will tell

missT2 wrote:

Hello

you seem very familiar with this camera the Samsung NX300 -- I recently purchased this camera and was using this camera with the 50-200 mm lense. After I pressed the record button to stop the recording the last image stayed on the screen. I was trying to change it to picture mode quickly;however, it would not unfreeze. I tried turning it off and back on and the image was still frozen. Desperate to get the camera moving again, I took the battery out and then put it back in and turned it back on. I was able then to move on with taking pictures...However, when reviewing my daughter's performance I had video'd was coming up with a triangle with an exclaimation point inside it with the words File error under it. Devistated, I can't seem to find anyway to recove the video. i pressed the menu button and a square apprears on the screen saying Not Supported.....

Do you have any suggestions that there may possibly still have the performance somewhere??

This camera is also my second one in 4 days because the first one I purchased wouldn't charge or turn on..

Thank you

Well, since this thread was resurrected anyway...

There was probably an issue writing the end of the file, so the file is corrupt.  Try playing the video with a current version of VLC (it is capable of playing the good portion of damaged files for many formats).  If you can get most of it to play with VLC, then you might be able to get the video open with an editor and cut then end of it, then export to get a good file.  Chances are though that the editors will refuse to open the damaged file, but it's not completely lost yet.  You can use a screen capture program to record the playback through VLC full screen, this most likely lose some quality, but at least you'll have something.  The error could have been cause by too slow of an SD card, or by a firmware bug, this used to happen to me more often with some of the older firmwares, on the current firmware I have yet to have it happen on my NX300.

Swolty wrote:

I had the same Issue with my camera God damn flashing screen was driving me crazy....I downloaded the firmware from Samsung website Extracted the file with win rar and then transfered it to my Sdhc card. I inserted that into my camerea updated it and now its working smoothly...

I hope I dont get any of the screen problems that other owners are getting...Uff Time will tell

Should be fine unless abused.  Meh, even mine is fine and it has been put through abusively cold temperatures, well below the stated operating temps.  My copy has some issues with the dial next to the shutter button in those extreme colds, but it returns to normal operation once it's warmed back up again.  My camera also took a mild fall recently, completely fine.  They may not be DSLR tough, but they're not fine china like some reviewers mistakenly make them out as.  One idiot was even seriously concerned about using the 85mm on the NX300, worried about the front heavy weight.  Sure, the 85mm isn't light, but I've used a Canon 75-300mm with adapter and 26mm of extension tubes at full extension and you can swing that around by just the body if you want without any chance of damaging it.  It's big and awkward, but the camera is totally able to handle it.

Plum wrote:

I'm really interested to hear of someone else having the same issues as me. I have now used the camera twice for videos and get a 'File Error message. Is anyone else having this problem?

What size and speed memory card are you using? Is the camera firmware up to date?