Samsung NX300 review

The NX300 debuted at CES, back at the start of the year, and it’s only now that the finished product is ready to ship. It sits at the very top of Samsung’s compact system camera line-up, with a new 20.3-megapixel APS-C sensor, and marks the first time Samsung has used a fold-out screen on any of its NX cameras.

Bright and easy to use in direct sunlight, this 3.3in AMOLED display is a real winner. As well as being articulated, allowing you to tilt it up by 90 degrees and down 45 for hip-held or overhead shots, it’s also touch-sensitive. The menus are standard Samsung fare, so are elegant and easily prodded, but if you prefer to rely on hardware controls, the most important features are accessible through the buttons.

Physically, the NX300 sits at the chunkier end of the scale, despite lacking an integrated EVF. You can downsize the 18-55mm kit lens for a shorter 20-50mm version (30.8-77mm equivalent) and save around £30 in the process, but you’ll still have to accommodate a body that’s almost as wide as an entry-level DSLR. It isn’t hard to forgive this, though, as the space is well used, with the large screen around the back.

We performed our tests using the 18-55mm lens. This demonstrated slight focal fall-off towards the corners, and some obvious barrel distortion on the raw files, which was corrected for in JPEGs. There was slight evidence of chromatic aberration along sharp contrasts and fine lines, but it had no trouble with complex detail, keeping areas of dense texture – such as receding marsh grass and lichen-encrusted wood – sharp and detailed across the frame.

Maximum aperture runs to f/3.5 and f/5.6 at wide angle and telephoto respectively, and while experienced photographers will likely stick with regular aperture priority mode to tweak these, Samsung’s new lens-priority option lets novice users achieve the same depth-of-field effects with a quick twist of the lens ring or swipe of the screen, without having to learn the nuts and bolts – a fantastically intuitive system.

The NX300 is a much faster camera than its predecessors, with combined phase detection and contrast autofocus locking onto a subject in 0.08 seconds, with no discernible hunting in good light. It’s far faster than the sluggish Canon EOS M, which felt terribly ponderous in comparison. Burst mode delivers 8.6fps in JPEG mode, and the maximum shutter speed is 1/6,000 second.

For handheld shots, sensitivity stretches to ISO 25600, with compensation of three stops in either direction in 1/3EV increments. Low-light performance is good, with grain holding off as far as ISO 800, and remaining light even up to ISO 3200. We’d have no hesitation routinely pushing it towards the upper end of the scale to cope with low-light conditions, in preference to slowing the shutter or attaching the bundled external flash. Image quality is second to none, with accurate colours, superb detail and an almost complete absence of compression artefacts on JPEGs.

In addition to the usual scene modes, the NX300 has a couple of more unusual ones – for streaking headlights, blurred water and cityscapes. Like the lens-priority feature, this put amateurs and pros on an equal footing when it comes to shooting tricky subjects, with the pros most likely dialling in the settings themselves, and less experienced users using the shortcuts.

For video, the NX300 shoots 1920 x 1080p footage at up to 60fps. You can set the footage to fade in and out at the start and end of every shot, mute the mic, and switch on the wind-cut feature, which should help dampen the sound of a breeze on your soundtrack. In our tests, though, wind was still audible when shooting both at the coast and on an open race track.

The captured footage is on a par with the stills. It’s clean and accurate where both colours and illumination are concerned, and when out of the wind the soundtrack was full of detail. You can edit the result in camera, too, by setting in and out points during playback.
Finally, the camera also has support for NFC for image sharing with Android devices (although not iOS, sadly), and built-in Wi-Fi.

The latter accommodates both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, and allows you to share images direct with your tablet, PC or compatible TV, and back up to PCs, Macs and SkyDrive. Sadly, though, there’s no Dropbox support.

All in all, it’s an impressive package, and one of the best compact system cameras out now, pairing excellent image quality with well laid-out controls and a great set of idiot-proof presets. It’s keenly priced, particularly when you take into account the fact that it includes a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4, and a serious rival for the Sony Alpha NEX-6, with that camera’s EVF keeping it just in front.

Samsung NX300 sample pictures:

Shot at f/3.5, 1/200s, ISO 100. Click this link for the full resolution version

Shot at f/3.5, 1/40s, ISO 200. Click this link for the full resolution version

Shot at f/3.5, 1/400s, ISO 100. Click this link for the full resolution version

Shot at f/8, 1/125s, ISO 100. Click this link for the full resolution version

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