Samsung NX5 - Amplification

The new Samsung NX5 costs 600 euros and saves on the NX10 for 650 euros with the viewfinder and display. Apart from this, technology and equipment remain largely unchanged: A 14-megapixel APS-C sensor (23.4 x 15.6 mm) and the Samsung bayonet especially developed for the NX system are also used here. Currently there are three matching NX lenses, and five others will follow soon.


As before, the image stabilization is effected by means of movable lens elements, and the housing is unchanged from black, gripping plastic. The body weighs together with lithium-ion battery and SD card 403 g - for a system camera with integrated viewfinder and comparatively powerful flash (guide number 8) okay. All essential controls are located on the right side of the housing, just like the model NX10. Using a mode dial, the user quickly enters the video mode (1280 x 720 pixels, 30 bps, MP4 H.264).


Viewfinder and Monitor Samsung installed an electronic viewfinder that operates with 67000 RGB pixels (NX5) instead of 307000 (NX10). It covers 98 percent of the image field, the effective magnification is 0.83. The photographer has to do without gridlines and a warning light.


In terms of monitor, it remains at three inches diagonally, but on the same surface only 76667 RGB pixels (NX5) instead of 204000 (NX10). In addition, the NX10 is not an AMOLED, but a standard TFT whose preview quality is visibly diminishing in direct sunlight and in the dark.


Autofocus and triggering delay Like other mirrorless system cameras, the NX5 also relies on a contrast autofocus system, which taps and evaluates information from the recording sensor. The associated problems, especially the long AF times in low light, gets Samsung well under control: the measured release delay is 0.57 s with 30 lux only about one tenth of a second above that in daylight (0.42 s at 3000 lux). Image quality and performance


Samsung has obviously developed the signal processing from NX10 to NX5, could significantly reduce the loss of texture and noise at higher sensitivities. The measured kurtosis is now absolutely OK in class comparison between 0.5 (ISO 100) and 1.5 (ISO 1600), the visual noise between 0.7 VN (ISO 100) and 2.1 VN (ISO 1600). The resolution remains virtually unchanged at quite stable 1275 to 1330 LP / BH, only the object contrast decreases significantly from ISO 400.


In the case of our pre-production model, image defects in the form of bright dots occurred mainly at contrasted, vertical contours. We assume that Samsung solves this problem until the market starts by reworking the firmware. In the test, we were able to eliminate the patches by an unfortunately also still preliminary update, but at the same time there was a suspicion of a slight increase in the climb.


Conclusion


For the Samsung NX5, the fast autofocus and the NX10 improved fine-tuning at higher sensitivities. Nevertheless, the NX10 remains for 50 euros surcharge with higher-resolution viewfinder as monitor the better choice. The APS-C sensor, which is compared to the Micro Four Thirds, does not lead to superior image quality, but offers advantages for the use of selective sharpening depth.


Samsung NX5