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Test shots of the Samsung NX mini: By day, by night and in a gypsy camp

REVIEW*SPECIAL PROJECT* PHOTO CONTEST

Such miniature cameras with a sleek design, as Samsung NX mini, almost certainly possess the virus of impulse buying. Design, compactness, a variety of colors to match my purse, and an impending vacation at the seaside – what more do you need to get a good deal on a new camera? Such fans of lucky shopping I hasten to calm and rejoice: beautiful and stylish things sometimes and shoot well know how to. As they say, we do not throw words to the wind, with NX mini in my hands I spent several weeks trying to discover such moments in my life which I would like to remember but also “save for posterity” or at least to demonstrate the great opportunities of the new Samsung camera.

Samsung
Photo lenses
Samsung
Photo lenses
Photo lenses

Daytime Photo

The Samsung NX mini camera is equipped with a rather large 1-inch form factor sensor made on BSI CMOS technology, which has an effective resolution of 20.5 megapixels. This allows for highly detailed photos with a convincing gray-scale reproduction.

Photo equipment

Good detail in the sharpness area at maximum lens f/stop, no chromatic distortions. ISO 200, F5.6, 1/100th of a second, 27 73 mm.

Photo lenses

Good detail at medium focal length lens, all the important details of the scene fit into the dynamic range. ISO 160, F5.0, 1/500 s, 19 51 mm.

In terms of picture quality, especially in low light conditions, Samsung NX Mini greatly exceeds the results, which can be achieved with the most advanced “compact”, and comes close to the level of cameras with larger sensors – reflex entry-level and mirror-less.

Compact Cameras

Convincing color rendering in artificial light. Fine details were unaffected by digital noise. ISO 1600, F4.0, 1/30 s, 14 37 mm

The Samsung NX Mini was a real eye opener with its true-to-life color reproduction. Colors are adequately saturated and natural, including the reds that are traditionally difficult for digital sensors to capture. Neither the delicate pastel colors nor the bright fluorescent.

Compact Cameras

Tones of sunlit greens and red roses faithfully rendered. ISO 160, F5.6, 1/320 s, 27 73 mm.

Photo lenses

Semi-contrast lighting. Delicate pastel shades of oriental sweets and translucent base are convincingly reproduced. ISO 200, F5.6, 1/250 s, 27 73 mm.

Photo equipment

Faithful color reproduction of bright fluorescent and delicate pastel shades. ISO 200, F5.6, 1/250 s, 20 54 mm.

Compact cameras

Color and texture are convincingly rendered in a wide variety of materials: metal, wood, textiles, glass. ISO 160, F4.0, 1/1000 s, 14 37 mm

Although, a disclaimer needs to be made. The white balance showed itself flawlessly when shooting in creative modes such as aperture priority . If you choose the “Landscape” setting, you are likely to get a slight “greenish cast” on light neutral surfaces, because landscape mode is usually adjusted to reproduce lush greens.

For high-contrast scenes that even professional DSLRs can’t handle, the Samsung NX Mini comes with Auto Brightness+ Dynamic Range and HDR functionality.

Compact Cameras

With Auto Brightness+ turned off not all halftones of the contrasting scene fit the dynamic range: detail is lost in whites. ISO 160, F5.0, 1/320 s, 24 64 mm.

Samsung

With the sunlight slightly dimmed by the edge of a cloud, the transfer of all the halftones of the architectural scene was not a problem. ISO 160, F5.0, 1/640 s, 20 54 mm.

If the photographer knows how to process RAW files, he will be able to save the contrast photos in the proprietary “raw” SRW format and restore a lot of information in lights and shadows when processing in a RAW converter.

Photo lenses

With JPG recording, the halftones of the clouds did not fit into the dynamic range. ISO 160, F5.6, 1/250 s, 18 48 mm.

Compact cameras

After the RAW-file was processed in the converter, the halftones of the clouds were successfully restored. ISO 160, F5.6, 1/250 s, 18(48 mm

Samsung

Group portrait example. Depth of field at an aperture of F4.0 is enough to keep all the characters in focus. ISO 160, F4.0, 1/250 s, 11 29 mm.

Compact Cameras

An example of daytime shooting inside a large tent, in diffused sunlight. Good detail all over the frame. The skin tones are well rendered. ISO 160, F5.0, 1/125 s, 22 59 mm.

Compact Cameras

An example of a daytime portrait shot in the shade of a tree. Faithful color reproduction, including greens and skin tones. The texture of the wood and fabric in different colors shows up well. ISO 160, F5.0, 1/125 sec, 22 59 mm.

Macro

During the test, I was impressed by the camera’s macro mode capabilities. When working with the standard zoom lens, it is able to focus on objects close enough to me, regardless of the focal length PF I selected. Usually compact cameras only do this well at the wide angle setting of the zoom, but often not when at least twice the f-stop.

But the Samsung NX mini allows you to shoot macro even at maximum FFR. This is very useful, for example, in a situation where the sun is on the side, almost behind or in the zenith, and then if you bring the camera closer to the subject, it may be in your shadow. The possibility to shoot macro from a certain distance with the maximum FFR is also useful in the situation when there is a risk to frighten away the insect which has beautifully settled down on a flower.

Compact Cameras

Nice details, shallow depth of field made it possible to blur the background nicely. ISO 160, F5.6, 1/500 s, 27 73 mm.

Samsung

Example of macro shooting at a focal length equivalent to a “Poltinik. ISO 160, F5.6, 1/500 s, 20 54 mm.

Photo lenses

Example of macro shooting with the viewfinder on the tilted screen. Note the well rendered volume of the umbrella color and the beautiful blur of the background. ISO 160, F5.6, 1/500s, 22 59 mm.

Video

The camera saves the recorded video in the MP4 container and compresses it with the economical H.264. Full HD 1920×1080 pixels at 30 frames per second for maximum quality. More economical recording options are also available: 1280 x 720, 640 x 480, 320 x 240 pixels. An interesting feature of the Samsung NX Mini is the ability to turn on the function “Multi-motion”, which allows you to play movies with a preset rate of acceleration 5x, 10x, 20x , as well as slowing down 0.25x, only at 640 and 320 .

When using a regular zoom lens, the user can zoom in on the image using the mechanical ring on the lens. When shooting video the camera uses a pre-selected shooting mode, including PASM, t. e. you can manually set such parameters as shutter speed, aperture and ISO. If one of the autofocus options is selected in the menu single or continuous , the camera will adjust focus automatically during shooting.

I got caught up in the shockwave..

Where did the white carriage disappear to?

The girls I've taken absolutely all of them

Examples of Full HD Daytime Video Shooting.

Night in the city

Example of Full HD Night Scene Recording.

There is no manual focus control during the video shooting process. It boils down to pre-focusing to the desired distance using the side multi selector buttons. However, this option will also be quite useful.

For example, if you set the lens to infinity, when you shoot a landscape, the camera will not go astray if someone walks or drives by in front of the lens in the foreground. And when shooting night scenes, it prevents the autofocus system from reacting undesirably to all kinds of moving bright light sources like car headlights and flashing neon signs.

Night Scenery Photography

I wanted to test the effectiveness of the IS system before mounting it on a tripod for a sequence of shots with different ISO speeds. For this, I set the camera to shutter speed priority mode and took a series of three shots, slowing down the shutter speed twofold after each shot. The equivalent focal length of the lens was about 50 mm. I think you know that many enthusiasts, when buying the first “fix” for their DSLR camera, choose the “Polentin” lens and let’s remember what lens the manufacturer will release next .

So what did I get? I started from afar, with a shutter speed of 1/30 second and a slow shutter speed of 32 seconds. Up to a shutter speed of 1/4 s all pictures were clear, at a shutter speed of 1/2 s clarity can also be considered acceptable, but if you want you can already discern a slight “blur”. With the shutter speed of exactly 1 second out of four consecutive shots I could not make a single clear shot.e. the stabilization system is at its limit at this setting and at the same focal length.

With a shorter focal length and steady hands the shutter speed in seconds might be working. In my case, it begs the conclusion that by setting the shutter speed to 1/4 or 1/8 second, you can get clear and low-noise photos without a tripod in deep twilight, I needed ISO 320-400 . I wanted to add that in my experiment I was limited by the minimum aperture value of F5.6. In case of upcoming “Polentin”, aperture can be opened a step or even two, getting additional margin either by ISO value or shutter speed.

Photo equipment

Hold for 1/2 second

Photo equipment

Keeping it at 1/4 second

Compact Cameras

Keeping it at 1/8th of a second

Photo equipment

Hold for 1/10 sec

Photo equipment

Keeping it at 1/15th of a second

Examples of a successful handheld night scene with optical stabilization turned on.

It would be appropriate to say here that the NX mini has an interesting minimum shutter speed setting. In addition to selecting a specific value, there is an Auto option with adjustment in Slow-Fast “coordinates” 2 values each plus and minus from zero , t.e. The shutter speed will change according to the photographer’s intent. And you need a shutter speed correction when you reach the maximum value chosen for the auto ISO setting.

After the camera was mounted on a tripod, it’s time to check the noise on different sensitivity settings. But I will make one more digression. While most cameras, even professional ones, have only two lag times in self-timer mode most often 2, 10 or 12 seconds , Samsung has long offered continuously adjustable lag times in its cameras. And on this model it’s adjustable from 2 to 30 seconds, in 1 sec increments. I chose 4 seconds and started shooting.

The resulting images taken with the standard noise reduction gradation showed that, somewhere around 800 ISO in the middle tones post-processing artifacts become noticeable, but the fine detail is still at a good level. By about 1600 ISO, some of the smallest, “one-pixel” details “vanish”, but even at 3200 ISO 2-3 pixel details are still clearly distinguishable.

However, in bright areas e.g. illuminated facades , the smallest high contrast details are still clearly visible at ISO 6400, but are almost non-existent in medium high contrast areas. At the extreme for the standard settings value of ISO-12,800 the picture noticeably degrades on all fronts. Color rendering also starts to fluctuate. I must say that after turning on the option to expand the sensitivity range, the value of 25600 ISO becomes available. But in my opinion, it’s not very useful in practice.

Photo lenses

200 ISO

Photo lenses

400 ISO

Photo lenses

800 ISO

Samsung

1600 ISO

Samsung

3200 ISO

Compact Cameras

6400 ISO

Photo lenses

12800 ISO

Night photography with tripod at sensitivities from 200 to 12800 ISO.

Taking pictures indoors

If we continue the topic of digital noise at high ISO, it is worth looking at what happens to the picture if there is a lot more light in the picture. The results in quite a well-lit room show that the situation improves, and in such conditions even a 12800 ISO becomes operable.

But it’s worth mentioning that this is true for viewing photos on a monitor or TV, where the picture will be reduced. Even sections of the picture suffer when zoomed in to 100% at 12800 ISO – fuzzy colored spots appear. This effect is leveled down to 6400 ISO.

Photo equipment

200 ISO

Photo equipment

400 ISO

Photo equipment

800 ISO

Photo lenses

1600 ISO

Photo equipment

3200 ISO

Samsung

6400 ISO

Photo lenses

12800 ISO

Examples of handheld shooting indoors at sensitivities ranging from 200 to 12800 ISO.

Photo Lenses

An example of mixed lighting indoors. ISO 400, F8.0, 1/40 s, 9 24 mm.

Conclusions

Detailed acquainted during testing with the mirrorless camera Samsung NX mini, I can conclude that the developer has managed to create a sleek, compact and lightweight, but it is very advanced in their capabilities camera. This camera will be great for those new to photography, but as they become more experienced it will open up more and more to their potential. In addition the owner of the camera can enhance its capabilities by purchasing additional lenses and external accessories.

Handy touch control and a long list of wireless features make sharing photos and videos directly and over the web as easy as on a smartphone or tablet.

The big advantage of the camera is its affordable price about 13 thousand for the price of a camcorder . rub. . But at that Samsung NX mini looks much more expensive than its retail price and undoubtedly can be a bright accessory for any creative person, as well as for a beautiful representative of mankind.

REVIEW*SPECIAL PROJECT * PHOTO CONTEST

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John Techno

Greetings, everyone! I am John Techno, and my expedition in the realm of household appliances has been a thrilling adventure spanning over 30 years. What began as a curiosity about the mechanics of these everyday marvels transformed into a fulfilling career journey.

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Comments: 2
  1. Giselle

    The test shots of the Samsung NX mini look impressive! I’m particularly curious about its performance in different lighting conditions. How well does it capture vibrant daytime shots? Can it handle low light situations at night? And I must say, the mention of a gypsy camp has piqued my interest as well. How does the camera capture the unique atmosphere and colors in such a location?

    Reply
  2. Owen Edwards

    What are the differences in the image quality and performance of the Samsung NX mini camera when it comes to taking shots during the day, at night, and in unique locations like a gypsy camp?

    Reply
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