*Steve Makris is a technology expert who does a weekly Tech Talk segment during Edmonton’s Sunday Morning News.
Gia sou from Greece! I just arrived home from my technology trip from Turkey where Vicky and I also spent some R&R in Istanbul and famous sites.
Turkey is a photographer’s paradise with a mix of old and new, a swirl of colours, cultures and remnants of ancient civilizations and natural wonders.
I have been testing out Samsung’s newest enthusiast’s 20.3 megapixel NX-30, a mirrorless, interchangeable lens camera in its third generation. So you know, it has the same size sensor as the Sony NEX, Fujifilm X series and Canon enthusiast series including the Rebel, so we are talking quality. It is loaded with thoughtful features, as if this camera maker actually listened to photographer’s needs.
TOP FEATURES:
-A pull-out sharp (XGA, 2,359K-dot) resolution viewfinder angles to 90 degrees for low level ground shots on bright days. This is the first camera whose diopter adjustments actually reaches and goes beyond my acute myopia. For the first time in my life, I can shoot without wearing glasses!
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-The full swing and tilt Full HD AMOLED screen lets you shoot from anywhere, including selfies. There are all sorts of touchscreen features including shooting and auto focusing by touching the screen.
-It has WiFi/NFC pairing ready with Mobile Link, Remote Viewfinder, Baby Monitor, Auto Backup that sends pix with GPS info to your smartphone, Email, SNS & Cloud and Samsung Link for web storage and nearby devices. So imagine using the Photo Beam feature, which transfers images by simply touching another receiving device? In Canada, you can send your pictures to Facebook, Picasa, YouTube, Dropbox and Flickr.
-New buttons and dials for most wanted features for quickly getting to single frame, multiple frame, timer and bracket shooting where three frames are quickly taken at different exposures are nice for spending less time for tricky scenes. Your thumb and index finger can easily reach more than 30 functions including two multi-purpose thumb wheels. There’s also a mic input for awesome sounding vids.
-Catch all the action and in between the action with a beefed up nine frames per second continuous shooting. What impresses me is how many frames you can shoot, like tried several bursts capturing more than 120 frames, non-stop. The icing on the cake is being able to shoot groups of frames, instantly without waiting for the frames to write. Nice thanks to the DRIMeIV Image Processor and a powerful DSP imaging engine.
-The GUI user interface is purposely made easy to navigate through so first-time users can catch on and shoot like a pro. One welcome addition is when going back to preview mode, the last image you saw comes back, instead of having to find it from the start, as previous models did.
Samsung showed some premium professional lenses, beyond the standard kit 18-55 zoom lens, which I tried at CES 2014 in Vegas last January. The premium S series 16-50mm F2-2.8 S ED OIS lens is impressive and walks the walk with professional competitors as is the 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 Power Zoom ED OIS lens, a must for smooth focusing. Something I think Samsung has to work on is its manual zoom rings (pack more grease in the zooming ring guys). Samsung NX lenses feature an iFn ring that changes different settings quickly without taking your eye off the viewfinder.
Samsung is not a big a player in serious photography, but the Korean giant tries harder, as it has on its iPhone killer Galaxy phones. The NX-30 has enough unique features, great ergonomics and a slightly off centre view of things that makes it worth checking out. Shoot great pictures and stay connected, near and far.
Check out my NX-30 photography in Turkey on http://www.facebook.com/stevoid with a few sprinklings here as well.
For more information go to: NX30
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