Customer Reviews

Samsung NX1000 Digital Compact System Camera - White (20.3MP, 20-50mm Lens Kit) 3.0 inch LCD

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This must be one of the only times we have made an impulse buy off the back of a TV advert! In this instance it was the hundreds of blokes called David Bailey advert, very clever. My wife liked the neat sleek look of this compact camera (we got the white one), and she wanted a new camera SHE could use, seeing as I already have a Canon EOS600D DSLR, and she was fed up with me never being in any shots.

After reading a few reviews we decided to go for this, plus the bag, and a 16Gb SDRAM card (like others have said, its a pity a card isn't included, given the low cost of memory nowadays).

The camera was delivered in a couple of days, and I'm pleased to say we're impressed by the number of features packed into this Compact, many of which I am used to in my Canon DSLR, plus a few extra which make this excellent for the digital age, although I suspect most of these will get little use since wifey will use Smart mode most of the time.

The wi-fi features are brilliant, and I have tried several of these already with no problems at all (other people reported problems!?);
Once my wireless router was detected and added as an Access Point, all the wi-fi features can be used.
Auto Backup from camera to laptop can be a little bit slow if you have many pics to transfer, and it is probably quicker to transfer/backup using the supplied USB lead.
Dropbox on the laptop detected the camera when plugged in, and quickly loaded all photos and then started syncing to our online Dropbox a/c.
Probably one of the simplest, yet most useful functions is the fact the camera will Email a photo(s) to one or more people, seemingly without any special email setup (no SMTP server stuff, just your email and the people you're sending to), and also reduces the image to a sensible size JPG before sending! Very nice.
You can share pics/video via Facebook, Picasa, Youtube or Photobucket.
Also upload to Windows SkyDrive (cloud).
I was able to download a couple of Android apps (Remote Viewer and MobileLink) to my Samsung Galaxy S2 phone and then easily connect using the Smart Link button (which has a cool blue LED ring light when active) to MobileLink to view and transfer pics onto the phone, and of course once on the phone your possibilities for sharing are endless.
With RemoteViewer app you can preview in realtime whatever the camera is pointing at, then control the camera to take and then download pics (or video?) to the phone. Cool. Maybe someone will think of a novel use for this?
Pictures can also be made available for viewing on your HDMI TV providing it uses DLNA over wi-fi/network connection, or directly by means of an optional HDMI lead (not tried this yet).
The light sensitivity of the camera is excellent for indoor/party/night-time shots (ISO goes up to 12800!) which means its good for these kind of shots even without the included neat little flash unit which plugs into a proper hot-shoe mount.
The menu system is very comprehensive and well-presented. Being familiar with the various modes of a DSLR camera I found I was able to recognise and use most features without any reference to the manual. I think wifey might take a little while to delve into things, but already (after only 2 days) she loves this camera.
I'm surprised how much is packed into it. Even down to level-detectors which show an aircraft cockpit style gimbal, so you know that the camera is horizontally level in two axis, for perfect landscape shots.
Of course there are a good variety of gimicky overlay frames and filter effects which have become very popular in phone camera apps lately (like Instagram), so you can apply effects, fish-eye, toy/miniature, sketch, halftone, vignette, dawn/sunset, soft focus, old film, etc.
With other lense choices available, this really is an excellent camera, and considerably smaller than a proper DSLR so its convenient enough to easily carry around. I'm a little envious, but have been told to keep my hands off!

The Samsung NX1000 is a small camera, weighing in at only 460g even with battery, strap and flash attached, which makes it an ideal companion to take away on trips where space is at a premium. Interchangeable lenses, such as a 50-200mm zoom, 16mm pancake and a macro provide the means to expand photographic capabilities without the need to buy a new camera body. The photographic results place the camera on a par with the Sony NEX5N albeit with a few compromises in terms of usability.

* Starting Off

The battery is quick to charge and easy to insert alongside an SD card in the base of the camera. No memory card is supplied in the box with the camera so that's an essential extra to consider, particularly if buying as a gift. I use a 16GB class 10 card as that provides a decent rate of data transfer and ensures that the camera is always ready for the next shot. The battery holds charge well and lasts sufficiently for fairly prolific use over the course of a day (and over a decent period of time when not in use), being designed to last for about 320 photographs or more than two hours of video. I always find it useful to have a second battery charged for backup though, 'just in case'.

The build quality of the camera feels less robust than that of the NEX5N; it looks as though it is mostly constructed from (an albeit tough) plastic rather than the reassuring metal body and lenses of the latter.

The camera doesn't have an integrated flash but a small unit is supplied in a case, designed to be attached to the strap, which can be accessed whenever needed. It slots into the hot shoe on top of the camera once a protective plastic cover is slid off.

* Early Days

An embarrassingly helpful yellow 'NO CARD' flashing display is prominently placed at the top of the rear display, ensuring there can be little chance it won't catch your eye before you try to take a shot without a card in place - something that has happened to me on more than one occasion whilst using the NEX5N (whose display I find less obvious).

Clearly, to get the most out of the camera, you need to get to know the equipment you are using, all of the features that have been built in and thereby get the best photographic results. However, the 'SMART' automatic setting enables a novice user to produce pretty decent shots, even in less than ideal conditions, without needing to become an expert by first reading the (fairly short but comprehensive) user manual. 'Playing' with the camera is by far the best way to learn how to use it and the user manual takes up very little space so can be taken along for referral if the need arises in the early days.

* LCD Panel

This is a small camera and one of the compromises to achieve that is the lack of an integrated viewfinder. The Samsung's LCD panel is a good size covering about two thirds of the rear of the camera, in bright light however it can be difficult to properly compose your shots, although that is a rare problem in the UK climate. An electronic viewfinder is available as an optional extra if you find this is a problem.

A disadvantage of the Samsung compared with the NEX5N is the fact the LCD screen doesn't pivot, which means you have to go down to low level shots with the camera rather than being able to adopt a more comfortable position from above. Furthermore, the NEX5N offers access to the menu (from where you adjust most picture settings) via a touch screen - once you have used such a facility it is difficult to go back to the manual methods of navigation required for the Samsung.

* Quality of photographs

These are fairly impressive, particularly in lower light conditions without use of a flash - unless the subject is in front of the light source (bright sky/natural light from a window) when a flash proved necessary. In those trickier situations the NEX5N produces a slightly better image without needing to attach the flash - which can be useful if you need to be fast to catch the action and are not already set up ready to go.

* Panoramic Pictures

This can be a useful facility as you can effectively take a very wide panoramic picture, which the camera splices together automatically as you shoot; gone are the days when I had to take a series of individual pictures and manually glue them together afterwards in a fairly laborious process. It isn't something I would use every day but I have used the feature far more than I ever thought would be the case.

* Summary

From my perspective, the NEX5N has a slight edge over the NX1000 in terms of build quality, the pivoting display and touch menu screen, and in respect of the quality of some shots in low light levels. In other words, the NEX5N has some more user-friendly features but leaving those to one side, there is not much to choose between the two in terms of the quality of photographic results.

The Samsung is a lovely, affordable little camera that will enable even a novice user to produce quality shots with minimal effort. A good range of accessories is available, although some can be hard to find other than via the Samsung Direct site; all were very competitively priced by comparison to the Sony NEX camera range.

I bought this to replace an ageing compact camera and haven't been disappointed as it has captured beautiful pictures of my little girl.

Initially, the pictures were slightly out of focus, i discovered that this was because of Continuous Auto Focus (CAF) on this camera as the lens attempted to refocus every 3 seconds. Turn this off!

The pictures that this camera can take is stunning resulting from the full size APS-C sensor you would find in a Digital SLR.

In SMART mode, it's pretty much a point and shoot. Of course in this mode, the camera guesses the lighting conditions and attempts to take the best pictures. So it can be a bit hit and miss.

For those who like a bit more control, this camera can do fully manual/Shutter/Aperture priority too.

A feature that i really really love is the ability to email photos direct from the camera or upload them to facebook or google photos. This saves SOOO much time and ensures that those precious moments can be shared immnediately. Which is useful if most of the time if you, like me, can't be arsed to connect to PC to do the job.

The latest firmware 1.12 seems to have resolved all the issues that people have been talking about. I had no problems with wifi and the like.

The bonus is obviously the free tablet .. the Galaxy Tab 2 can be upgraded to the latest Android Jelly Bean out of the box. I liked this tablet so much i sold my old one on ebay.

At �350 this is one of the best value items you can get for your money. And given the quality of the pictures

If you're on the market for a 'next step up' camera from a compact and not after a 'professional' camera, then look no further. This is for you.

Look around for a all singing all dancing easy to use camera that takes great pics and is high in pixels. Used this on holiday pictures great. I like the ability to zoom in on the taken photo which enlarges like a long range zoom lens, using the Fn button saves the picture like I used a zoom. Has the ability to take in raw or automatic colour balance.

Light to hold easy to down load photos to PC? LE the ability to send pics via email once in range of home wi if or a free one when out and about.

Only wish the screen could be brightened when in bright sunlight it's a bit difficult to se the picture your taking, but point a click then use the view facility then the Fn button to manor our to the picture you want to save.

A professional friend likes this camera and will be buying one soon

I gave it 5 stars because as an amateur picture taker it meets all my needs

Great camera. Others have mentioned the great technical features and picture quality, which are very very good. It is all adjustable to optimise the image to your taste with all the tricks you could expect.
As a compact system camera it obviously has a choice of lenses. Mine was bought with the 20:50 zoom which is great but makes the camera a bit too bulky for slipping in a pocket. For this reason I bought a 20mm pancake which makes this a great party and street camera which is discreet and very pocketable. Look at the Amazon site carefully and you will find a supplier who buys the pancake in bulk and sells at a reasonable price.
This is a far lighter and more discreet alternative to a DSLR with most of the capability. No image stabilisation with most of the lenses though, but they are available with the feature at a price. Personally have no hand tremors yet and therefore don't have an issue with this. It should seldom be an issue in any case unless you buy something more zoomy than the 20:50. If using very long shutter speeds it is best to use a steady like a tripod.

One little problem, people coming from a compact digi will find, is that in contrast to their old one, the lenses on this type of camera have caps that need to be removed and stores while shooting. They will almost inevitably get lost. The 20mm pancake and the 20:50 have different size caps, so no swapping one cap between them on a shoot.
I paid �350 after cashback and there was also a free Tab2 7.0 Android tablet, which I wanted, thrown in for free. Amazing value for money in comparison with CSC rivals in my opinion.

Would I buy again? Certainly. The only thing extra I would like with this class of camera is a tilting screen at the back, but it is not a deal buster at this level.

This camera complements my others which include a Panasonic TZ6 compact, Nikon P500 bridge superzoom, Sony A57 DSLR [some would say DSLT] and a shared Nikon D5000 DSLR
It is no Sony A57 but, while being different to the others above, it is certainly more than competitive in every way. The main rival at this price IMO is the Panasonic TZ30 advanced compact, and the obvious Nikon1 J2 etc. No two people's need or fancy is the same, so if a bargain quality CSC floats your boat, you will not go wrong or be disappointed with the Samsung NX1000. If you have not used a camera newer than five years of age, you will be truly amazed by it.

It works how I would expect it to. It is a good size and looks nice too. The free tablet was also great as I sold it for a decent amount.

Good points:
Well made.
Small.
High quality photos.
Lots of control over what you want to do.

A few problems:

The remote viewfinder app you can use isn't very good as you can only take low quality photos.
The wrist strap thing is hard to attach and doesn't feel very safe.
If I could of I would have decided to not buy the twin lens pack and to save the extra �100 and put it towards a different lens (like a macro or telephoto) as the two lens are very similar.
Low variety of lens ATM.

It arrived well-packaged in an Amazon box. Opening it revealed a black box with the camera and accessories in it. There's the 20-50 f3.5-5.6 lens, a small flash unit, a battery and charger, the SilkyPix RAW processing software, some cables etc but no SDHC card atall - a bit mean seeing as if Samsung is one of the largest producers of flash cards and a Basic Manual with the full manual on the disc. There are a few optional extras, eg GPS module and a variety of NX mount lenses.

Charge the battery first. The camera is held in a small black cloth wallet. Taking it out reveals a sleek black stylish camera with a few dials and buttons strategically placed. It's plastic but not cheap - it's light. It fits easily into the hand. The grip is a little shallow for my hand but okay. The lens too is black. Mounting it to the camera, it looks a little large. This is true of the Sony 5N which is a metal affair. Samung's aims are lightness, smallness and portability whilst having umph under the bonnet. They've even tried to reduce the lens length with a lens lock. The LCD screen whilst not the AMOLED one is a very good hi-res LCD which is good (not perfect) even in strongish light.

The menus are very straightforward - unlike Sony's for the 5N - and easy to read on the LCD. The mode dial affects the options offered. There's quick access to items like ISO etc via the Fn or dial buttons and access to less used aspects of the camera's operation via the menu button. Practice will make these quick to select.

The photo quality is excellent and as good as the Sony 5N. The pattern to noise is different and slightly grittier but fine. (NB even ISO 100 can look noisey - it is how hard the senosr has to work to subtract the electonic noise from the light which dictates the image noise.) The NX1000 does about as well as the Sony 5N on noise and IQ which is a step up for Samsung. The 20-50 lens is very good indeed for a kit lens. It has a plastic mount but that's not an issue. It is sharp across the frame at 20mm f3.5 and very good at 50mm f5.6. If you want quick macro, you can use a Raynox 250 adapter on the end of the lens via a step-up ring. AF is reasonably quick and in some ways beats the Sony 5N which can get lost in the background contrast. Jpegs are fine but better detail can be had using RAW. The latter requires more effort to get the shot wanted.

There are various AF modes. You can positon the focus point anywhere on the screen and enlarge or shrink it using the rear dial move and rotate. This works quite well to compose say by Rule of Thirds. This function would benefit from a touch screen - as the Sony 5N uses. There are various metering modes too - basically multi, centre weighted and spot. I generally use CW and for macro or close ups spot mode.

The movie mode is accessed easily by a red button or setting the mode dial to video. Just press the red button and away you go. If you set it, it will AF as you point the lens about. The quality is fine and goes up to 1080p at 30fps (NTSC) or 25p (PAL). There's a 24fps movie option but at reduced vertical resolution. There are various frame rates as you jiggle the resolutions and some burst modes. You can alter the speed of the video in multi mode to do Keystone cops' style movies. There are a few in-camera editing functions but better to use a video editing program like Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere.

There is much more to this complex camera. I'd contrast and compare it with its rivals. I can say it is on a par with the Sony 5N some ways better some worse. It lacks the peaking function of the 5N which is really very good for manual lenses of which there are oodles of old great ones about. Instead the NX1000 provides a magnification MF Assist. I like the iFn option - might as well use the focus ring for something. I like the level guide.

All in all a great camera which is fun to use and gives great results.
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Don't be put off the camera by this. Firmware errors are common and most go unnoticed. There was a firmware error in my NX1000 which affected shot review, ie you take a shot and want to get an idea of how it turned out by pressing the replay button. In my case, this resulted in the camera locking up with a green band constantly scrolling up the LCD. Turning it off had no effect - indeed pulling the battery was the only way to stop it. I tried a few SDHC cards and got the same result each time. However, on Samsung's site there is a firmware update available - v 1.01 - which completely fixed it on mine and likely other errors I was not aware of.

NB Before doing this update, make sure the battery is fully charged and check whether you already have v1.01 in the Device Information menu. I downloaded it and unzipped it to a blank SDHC card (formatted in the camera) which was in a reader in my PC. There should be two files only. Place the SDHC card in the camera, turn on and go to settings menu 3 where there's a Device Information option. Click OK on that and the camera should tell you there's a firmware update available. Follow the options. When done the camera goes blank. Wait a few minutes and then turn the camera off and on. Check firmware update is okay. In my case the scrolling green band had gone completely. If you are unsure of such methods get someone who is to do it for you. Note the Sony 5N had a video clicking issue but it's still a great camera.

I absolutely love it! I had a casino exilim point and shoot before this and wow! The difference is amazing! Some photos I have taken of my kids are like they where done at a professional photographers. Excellent array of features and wifi sharing is certainly a plus.

A great camera as a first APS_C ...takes amazing jpegs and raw images. well done samsung. good price on here too...

I bought this NX1000 as a replacement to my Sony A57 DSLR. I had been very impressed with the quality of the A57 but I was getting fed up with having to carry around a big DSLR camera. So as technology has moved on so quickly, there is now the availability to buy Compact System Cameras that claim the same high quality images and features of a DSLR but in the convenient size of a compact camera.
So I bought this NX1000 for �229 which was an absolute bargain - I have had it for a week now and I have to say that I have found it to be superb!! Image quality is fantastic, I view my photos through a 47" panasonic HD TV, and I think the photos taken on this NX1000 are comparible with Sony A57, or at least I cannot see much difference.
The size is nice and compact, but it is packed with features - even more than the A57 had. I have had remarkable results in low light conditions, which are better than the A57 in my opinion.
I have seen several reviews claiming that it is slow and sluggish with long processing times. Well I am using a Sony Class 10 SDHC memory card and with this card the camera is no slower than the A57 in autofocusing or processing and I am taking photos on super fine quality 20mp so I cannot see what the bad reviewers are talking about (maybe they were using a slow memory card). Apparently if you use the amazingly fast 8fps function then this locks the camera out for a few seconds whilst processing - I have not used this feature yet, but lets face it, if you are getting 8fps (which is faster than some mid range DSLR's) it is a small price to pay for such a high fps.
Full HD movie quality is superb too! again matching the A57 here. However it does suffer from the same problem that the A57 did which is autofocus sound contamination. The A57 clicked and whirred when it was continuously autofocusing which was picked up on the movie audio. The NX1000 makes a slight whir as it autofocuses, which is picked up on the audio recording as well. Now you may consider this to be a major issue, but I did a test video of my garden where there was no ambient sound, so I suspect that when filming people or vehicles etc, the sound of the busy surroundings will probably hide this whir. To be honest if you want perfect video buy a camcorder.
So to close this review all I can say is - If you want a great point and shoot camera that is small and compact but still want the quality and features of a big DSLR then this is the camera for you.