Samsung Galaxy NX review

The Samsung Galaxy NX isn’t your average premium-priced snapper. With a 20.3-megapixel APS-C sensor and a range of interchangeable lenses, this is the priciest, most high-end Android camera yet.

Out front, there’s an 18-55mm lens, with a barrel-mounted i-Function button for setting the aperture, shutter and sensitivity. Beyond that, the thumbwheel and shutter release are the only other controls: all the other features are accessed through the 4.8in touchscreen, where some nifty layouts let you quickly tailor your settings with a tap and a swipe, or a twist of the wheel.

Look to the rear, and the crisp 16:9 touchscreen sports a resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels. It isn’t articulated like the one on Samsung’s NX300, though, so you’ll have to crouch and stretch if you want to be more creative. To view the sensor’s full 20.3-megapixel resolution onscreen, you’ll have to switch to a 3:2 screen ratio and ignore the black bars at the left and right. It’s supplemented by an electronic viewfinder, though, which is equally sharp and bright, and has a dioptre control.

Behind its professional-looking exterior, the Galaxy NX has the heart of a tablet – it runs Jelly Bean 4.2, so you can immediately install Twitter, Instagram and your choice of editing apps, and work on your photos without returning to base.

Just like its consumer-focused stablemates, there’s a SIM slot for taking advantage of 3G/4G data connectivity, and dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi. Locally, it has 16GB of internal storage – which your shots share with apps, data and the OS – and a microSD slot for adding removable storage. Signing up for a Dropbox account during setup gives you 50GB of cloud storage or, if you already have one, upgrades your existing account by the same amount. It’s up to you to choose whether the Galaxy NX uses this to upload each picture as it’s taken, thus creating an immediate backup.

The overall tablet experience feels less comfortable than with the Samsung Galaxy Camera or the Galaxy S4 Zoom, though, since the NX is much chunkier in the hand. Unless you swap out the 18-55mm kit lens for, say, a shorter 20-50mm zoom or 30mm prime (on which you’ll lose the i-Function control), it still feels like a lightweight DSLR with a chunky grip, and its unwieldy body isn’t suited to everyday tablet use.

The Galaxy NX’s semi-pro credentials are bolstered by a free copy of Adobe Lightroom 5 – still the best bundled software we’ve seen – but the one thing that’s missing is an separate charger, which strikes us as somewhat stingy on a £1,300 camera.

Technically, though, the Galaxy NX has got it where it counts. Shutter speeds start at 1/6,000 of a second and stretch up to a maximum of 30 seconds, while the bulb mode is capped at four minutes. Focus is handled by a combined phase-detection (105 points) and contrast (247 points) system – one first seen in the NX300 – and sensitivity runs to ISO 25600 with 3-stop compensation in either direction. Image quality is hard to fault up to ISO 3200, which was sharp and grain-free in our tests. There was some softening at ISO 6400 as it tried to suppress the grain, but by ISO 12800 we saw considerable dappling, with a strong texture clearly evident at the camera’s ISO 25600 maximum.

We saw no evidence of colour fringing, nor of barrel or pincushion distortion, on any of our test photographs. JPEGs were very slightly recomposed when compared to the raw file, resulting in fractional cropping around the edges, but corner detail remained sharp on both when compared to the centre of the frame.

This grumble aside, we’re impressed by the overall package, especially in terms of image quality. Colours are bright and accurate under both clear and cloudy skies, contrasts are sharp and shallow field images dissolve into an attractive creamy blur when using the kit lens. It’s easy to isolate a particular focal point by tapping the screen directly if it doesn’t initially select the right area on its own.

Movies recorded at best-quality reach 25fps at 1,920 x 1,080 or 50fps at 1,280 x 720, and the output quality is easily the equal of its stills. Colours are natural and true, and there’s no smearing or jumping with pans or high-detail scenes. The soundtrack is crisp and cleanly captured, too, with quieter, more distant sounds holding their own against a louder foreground source.

The only sticking point is the price. For those looking for a true jack-of-all-trades device, Samsung’s far cheaper, more pocketable Galaxy S4 Zoom provides a more even balance between its twin roles of compact camera and Android device. Buy the Galaxy NX for the right reason, though – the ability to edit and share seriously high-quality photographs without having to first rush back to your laptop – and it’s in a class of its own.

Samsung Galaxy NX sample pictures:

Shot at f/5.6, 1/100s, ISO 200. Click this link for the full resolution version

Shot at f/5.6, 1/80s, ISO 200. Click this link for the full resolution version

Shot at f/5.6, 1/640s, ISO 100. Click this link for the full resolution version

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