Definitive solutions to the NX Mini Problem

Abbazz wrote:

The ED-MA4NXM has never been cheap (It was priced at $240 when introduced) and was a commercial failure. I guess the reason is because most of the people who bought the NX Mini were casual photographers looking for a small camera, easy to use and good looking. So they didn't bother to buy the adapter because they had no use for it.

When I bought my NX Mini in 2015, I payed 60€ for the adapter. Like my Mini, it was a fire sale. Interest was low. The 17mm did cost more than the NX Mini with the 9mm and the adapter.

Abbazz wrote:

the 50-200mm is not good enough to be useful on the Mini.

Image quality seemed okay to me but needs a lot of light.

Abbazz wrote:

I think the NX Mini was targeted at the wrong market segment. Samsung aimed for the amateur crowd looking for a cute little camera with simplified controls. Samsung engineers and designers therefore opted for a sleek design with almost no buttons and dials. The NX Mini was also made available in a few pastel colors aside from black (pink, almond green. white, brown). The two lenses available at launch time were designed to be small but were deprived of focus rings. The 9mm didn't even have a filter ring!

The camera definitely targeted a wrong market.

NX-Mini was being marketed as selfie cameras for the girls and never a camera as prosumer compacts / enthusiasts backups. By 2023, it is now clear that this camera sees greater appreciation by camera geeks and vintage lovers. As of today, even the camera wifi capability has long gone, the camera still delivers desirable JPG image quality that deserves recognition.

Im from Hong Kong and tell you the camera was a hit back in 2015. It was directly competing with Casio TR ( selfiie junk) cameras with its 1" sensor. Still it lost the selfie market due to weak marketing campaign and so many salesmen were paid to sell the TRs, not many know NX Mini was a better alternative to Casio TRs that was sold with premium due to high demand.

The NX Mini itself was quite a success in Asia and is is very easy to buy used ones nowadays in many Asian countries (I bought a new old stock one in 2022 from a reseller here in Indonesia). It didn't sell well in the West though and is quite rare in Europe and the States. Even in Asia, the relative success didn't last long as the NX Mini had to face the competition from advanced smartphones and also from the more compact and somehow more advanced Sony RX100 (and of course also because Samsung decided to shut down its camera division).

Im from Hong Kong and I can tell you the camera was a hit back in 2014. Back then the camera was loved by females in their teens and young adulthood who loved selfies and instant sharing. My very first NX Mini was bought used. It was pink and was intended to be birthday gift for my wife. She used it for a while but very soon smartphone technology caught up and the camera was forgotten. It was by then I started using the NX Mini for personal enjoyment.

But Samsung should have added an advanced model in the NX Mini line targeting creative photographers. A camera featuring the great 1" Sony sensor but designed to be used with all kind of optical contraptions (adapted lenses, telescopes, microscopes, etc.), equipped with an user removable UV-IR cutdown filter, as well as a no-nonsense interface with a PASM dial and two selection wheels.

Indeed, adding a dial or two would greatly enhance the experience with this camera. Still the touch panel is good enough on 80% of the occasions.

Such an advanced model would have been an incedible camera that could have made the NX Mini line much more popular among the enthusiast crowd. When I look at the results obtained by fellow member geo444, I can imagine what could have been done with a more specialized camera...

The camera is now gaining collector interest for sure. A copy of NX-NXm mount could sell as much as Ricoh GR III / IIIx. Also it is quite cool have it around as its unassuming appearance makes good streetphotography companion. It is also great for occasional serious usage.

I had mine break a few years ago.

took it down to a place in Chicago and had it fixed.

at some point I would like to find a lens for it that won’t break and use it as a prime lens camera.

Doctor Opp wrote:

I had mine break a few years ago.

took it down to a place in Chicago and had it fixed.

at some point I would like to find a lens for it that won’t break and use it as a prime lens camera.

Actually without the NX NX-m adapter the mini can really just go this far. Currently there is no premium compacts covers 24mm, and that by itself is already justify why one should own a nx mini.

Maybe the repair used better petter parts.

I have been nervous bout using it since I got it back a few years ago.

Maybe I will just use it and enjoy it until the ribbon cable fails again.

Oh well.

markyboy81 wrote:

It seems Samsung only produced about 3 of these adapters, it's so rare.

Part of the reaossn I've held of buying the mini, if the adapter was available and at a reasonable price I may have pulled the trigger.

I have this adapter, bought it for $100 on sale from Samsung around 2016, I have 3 lenses - 9-27, 17 and NX 50-200.