Беззеркальный фотоаппарат Samsung NX11 — для желающих сменить большой фотоаппарат на маленький

Introduction

The Samsung NX11 is a new mirror-less compact digital camera with a large image sensor, electronic viewfinder and interchangeable lenses which is intended to bridge the gap between a small compact and large DSLR. A clear rival to the Micro Four Thirds cameras from Olympus and Panasonic, the NX-series is a proprietary rather than open standard, using the NX-mount lens system. The NX11 is a modest upgrade of last year’s NX10, with a revised handgrip, new panoramic mode, additional 1:1 and 16:9 ratios, and the incorportaion of i-Function capability, first seen on the NX100. The i-Function button on the new 18-55mm kit lens allows users to control the NX11 by scrolling through manual settings (shutter speed, aperture, EV, WB, and ISO) and using the focus ring to change the parameters for each setting. The NX11 also has a special i-Scene lens priority mode, which automatically selects scene options that are optimized for the lens currently being used. The NX11 has a 14.6 megapixel APS-C sized CMOS sensor, which is physically the same size as those used in entry-level DSLRs and notably larger than the MFT sensor, promising better image quality especially at higher ISO values. Styled like a mini-DSLR, the NX11 incorporates a high-resolution electronic viewfinder with eye-sensor, large 3 inch AMOLED LCD screen, built-in pop-up flash, fast contrast auto-focus system, 720p HD movies and Supersonic Dust Reduction system. The NX11 has a wide range of manual controls plus a Smart Auto function which automatically selects the best shooting mode, while the Smart Range feature captures detail in both the bright and dark areas of the picture. Available in black or silver, the Samsung NX11 retails for £549.99 / $649.99 with the 18-55mm OIS lens.

Features

The major change with the new model is that it supports Samsung’s i-Function lens system straight out of the box.

This takes advantage of the natural way a photographer holds a camera, by allowing the lens’s focusing ring to be used to regulate a collection of key controls, such as shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation (much in the same vein as the aperture rings common to older lenses).

The settings available depend on the exposure mode you set on the mode dial, and alternating between then happens upon a press of the dedicated iFunction button on the barrel of the lens.

In use, the effectiveness of this system varies between lenses; on the kit lens, both the iFunction button and focusing ring are in the perfect position for respective thumb and finger control, although the smaller proportions of the 20mm pancake lens and the different position of the iFunction button means that accessing the feature is too awkward for comfort.

Samsung is also said to have revised the NX11’s focusing system, claiming it to be the fastest yet on an NX model. The system offers 15 points as standard, which increase to 35 when shooting close up, while Face Detection is said to be effective for up to 10 faces per frame.

There’s also a new Panorama function, which is accessible through the mode dial; the user simply pans across a scene and monitors progress through a bar on the display, and it’s possible to shoot panoramas both horizontally and vertically, the latter being helpful for buildings and other tall structures.

It takes a little practice to please the system, and should you move over any low-contrast areas the camera immediately stops recording, but when it works it works well, with images processed in a matter of seconds.

As on the NX10, the new model’s screen is a 3-inch AMOLED display with 614,000 dots. Verifying the touted benefits of OLED technology, the screen does indeed offer a capable viewing angle and is noticeably easier to see in harsher light than equivalent LCD screens, while its feed is very smooth.

It does, however, appear to suffer from aliasing artefacts which dance around finer details, and subjects tend to wobble as the camera moves around a scene. It’s also considerably more detailed when browsing through captured images than when viewing the screen in real time.

For these reasons the 921,000dot electronic viewfinder may be preferable; while it falls a little short of being best in class, it’s clear, bright and detailed and, presumably due to the different technology on which it is based, suffers far less from any of the issues described above.

The camera’s APS-C-sized CMOS sensor is similar but not identical to that in the NX10, with 15.1MP total and 14.6MP of these effective. This captures images in Samsung’s proprietry SRW raw format as well as in JPEG, now in a choice of three separate aspect ratios: the standard 3:2, 16:9 and 1:1.

For the purposes of metering the camera employs a 247-segment sensor, which allows for the traditional triplet of multi, centre-weighted and spot patterns, while there’s also a capable assortment of colour options within Samsung’s Picture Wizard system, all of which may be personalised to taste and with the added provision of three custom options.

The camera also offers a sensor-based dust reduction system and image stabilisation through its kit lens, although there seems to be no good reason as to why the tiny grey icon which indicates camera shake couldn’t be made larger and be brightly coloured as on similar models, as it can often be difficult to notice.

Finally, HD videos are recorded to the 1280x720p standard at 30fps, with compression handled by the H.264 codec and mono sound recording from an in-built microphone, while all images and videos are stored to SD and SDHC memory cards.

The camera is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery which claims to last for up to a respectable 400 frames, although this figure varies depending on how exactly the camera is used.