Samsung NX1 Review - The Samsung NX1’s headline feature is undoubtedly its world-first 28.2MP BSI APS-C CMOS sensor, although its accompanying specification also looks set to impress.
Samsung NX1 Review
Samsung NX1 Review – Image Quality
Colour and White Balance
There are absolutely no complaints when it comes to the camera’s colour and white balance performance. In almost all situations the NX1’s AWB settings deliver colours faithful to the scene, with the only exception being in scenes with lots of red tones, in which the camera will delivers pronounced colour casting.
That being said, as ever there are a wide range of white balance settings and colour modes which can be adjusted to take care of such performance issues.
Exposure
The Samsung NX1 features a TTL 221 block segment metering set-up with exposure compensation variables of +/-5 EV exposure steps.
The sensor offers an impressive dynamic range, especially when considering the high megapixel count. As a result, if there are any issues with exposure metering then it’s likely you’ll be able to pull detail back in from the shadow and the highlights, especially at lower ISO settings and in Raw files.
Resolution
The combination of the high megapixel count of the sensor and the absence of any kind of anti-alias filter means that the NX1 should be able to render some really impressive levels of detail.
In careful testing this generally proved to be the case, and in fact the NX1 delivers some of the best resolution results ever seen from an APS-C camera.
The high levels of resolution are generally maintained throughout the lower reaches of the camera’s ISO range, and it’s not until you reach ISO 6400 that the level begins to really fall off.
Image Noise
You might expect such a high resolution camera to struggle with regards to image noise but on the whole the camera performs well. At the lower settings the camera delivers some impressive results that are certainly in keeping with the very best APS-C cameras on the market.
At ISO 1600 noise begins to creep in slightly, and although these issues become more prevalent at ISO 3200 and 6400 these settings are certainly still useable.
At the higher ISO settings of 12800 and upwards chroma noise begins to appear more problematic, but on the whole the performance here is acceptable.