Samsung NX3000 20MP Compact System Camera with 20-50 MM Lens - Black

Product Information

The default noise reduction setting is identified as Normal in the camera menu, but it can also be set to High, Low, or Off. The NX3000 can capture images in Raw format, which requires processing in software, but retains more data and doesn't apply any noise reduction. Raw images show a bit more detail than Normal JPGs at ISO 6400, but even when shooting in Raw there's a noticeable drop in image quality at ISO 12800 and the top ISO 25600 sensitivity settings. Samsung includes Adobe Lightroom 5, which has become the industry-standard photo workflow application, as a Raw converter. The Sony Alpha 6000 does a better job at high ISO—it controls JPG noise through ISO 12800 and its Raw images at that sensitivity show more detail than those from the NX3000. The flash settings on the Samsung NX3000 are Smart Flash, Auto, Auto+Red-eye reduction, Fill-in, Fill-in+Red-eye reduction, 1st Curtain, 2nd Curtain and Off. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m. Speed - We took a number of shots to test the camera's responsiveness, from switch on to first photo, shot to shot, focusing speed etc. We take a number of shots and then use the average to ensure accurate and consistent tests, making it easy to compare with other cameras. Shutter Response

In multi detect AF mode the NX3000 chooses from any of 21 AF areas located in the middle of the frame. In single AF mode you can select an individual area using the rear dial, which is great, thought not as convenient as the touch AF option offered by the PEN E-PL7 and Lumix GF7.Samsung's various Picture Wizard options offer preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings, all of which can be changed. There are also three additional Custom styles so that you can create your own looks. The NX3000 has a dedicated video button, and pressing this starts recording immediately. The exposure mode is set by the mode dial in the same way as for stills shooting. You can set the exposure in any of the PASM modes for movie shooting but you can’t adjust it once recording has started. The images were a little soft straight out of the NX3000 at the default sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting for JPEG files. The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and bulb mode of 4 minutes allowing you to capture plenty of light. With a lower price-tag, better lens and selfie-friendly design, for us the Samsung NX3000 is a bigger but better camera than the similarly priced NX Mini, and is also very well-appointed when compared with its main rivals. The inclusion of a touchscreen interface would have been the icing on the cake, but nevertheless the new Samsung NX3000 is a logical and affordable choice if you've outgrown your Galaxy smartphone...

Samsung isn’t quite there yet though. I tested the NX3000’s Wifi features with my iPhone 4S. At first, the NX3000 wasn’t happy with connection, telling me that the iPhone’s NFC was for Apple Pay only and couldn’t be used with the camera, (even though my iPhone 4S doesn’t have NFC), then dropping the connection immediately it was made. I got around that by making sure I connected over Wifi before launching the app (which is what the app instructions tell you to do, but hey), but even then, connecting with the NX3000 proved to be a very hit and miss affair, with the connection failing more than half of the time. I expect owners of Android handsets will enjoy greater success given Samsung’s experience with this platform. The elephant in the room – the Samsung NX2000 did have a touchscreen, and a much better display than you get here. The NX3000 has a 3-inch 460,800-dot screen where the old model has a much larger, higher-res 3.7-inch 1,152k-dot display. While the new camera offers decent colour fidelity and outdoors visibility, there’s no contest – the NX2000 is far superior. The Samsung NX3000 is the entry-level mirrorless camera from Samsung, and updates the NX2000. The NX3000 features a 20.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, 1/4000 shutter speed and 5fps continuous shooting, the NX3000 has a retro design along with built in Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity.The camera has a 3-inch flip up display with Wink Shot, allowing you to take selfiephotos by winking to activate the shutter. Samsung NX3000 Features The other thing it has going for it is you can charge it in the camera from a USB power source with the cable provided, so you can plug it into your notebook, a car power adaptor, or whatever source is available. It also comes with a mains adaptor which charges the battery in the camera via the USB cable. Both the PEN E-PL7 and Lumix GF7 charge their batteries externally in a mains charger. That has the advantage that you can still use the camera while charging a spare, but I don’t think that’s something many people in this market will take advantage of and it’s a lot less convenient in other respects. The NX3000 employs the same 20.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor as all the other NX-series cameras (apart from the NX Mini), which is around 1.5x physically larger than the Micro Four Thirds system and promises to rival the image quality of the majority of DSLRs, whilst still maintaining a small camera body that is very similar to the likes of the comparable Sony NEX, Olympus PEN, Fujifilm X and Panasonic G-series.

Samsung NX3000 Sample Photos

We tested the NX3000 with the new Samsung 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 Power Zoom ED OIS lens, which has the built-in i-Functionality, a metal mount and more crucially optical stabilisation, important as the NX system doesn't offer in-body stabilisation. It's also smaller and more compact than the 20-50mm kit lens that shipped with the NX2000. Samsung's now standard i-Function button is present and correct, an innocuous looking button on the lens barrel which when pressed activates a sub-menu of key options and allows you to change them simply by turning the focus ring. Consecutive presses of the i-Function button moves through the four available settings - shutter speed and/or aperture, ISO, exposure compensation, and white balance. With its new selfie-friendly flip-up display and clever wink mode, the Samsung NX3000 continues to take the entry-level NX-series in a more smartphone-like direction, although we're disappointed that the touchscreen interface has been dropped for a less intuitive external control system. Still, with its large APS-C sensor and advanced wi-fi functions, the NX3000 is a very capable device, with performance and quality that outperforms its modest price-tag. The NX3000 comes with a powerful 20.3MP APS-C CMOS Sensor, 1/4000 shutter speed and 5fps continuous shooting, allowing you to capture beautiful photos in perfect clarity, at any time from any location.

The APS-C image sensors have a 1.54× crop factor. Optical image stabilization is featured on some of the lenses, indicated by an "OIS" marking. Automatic focusing on NX lenses is handled by a dedicated electric motor built into the lens. Completing the top of the NX3000 is a traditional shooting mode dial The usual selection of Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual are available for the more experienced photographers in the Expert mode, and the more beginner-friendly Smart Auto and Smart Scene modes, plus the Wi-fi menu (more on this later). The Samsung NX3000 is the latest entry-level NX series of compact system cameras. Featuring state-of-the-art technical specifications and a retro design, the premium NX3000 is the perfect choice for photography enthusiasts who want a stylish camera to capture life’s most important moments in stunning detail. So the NX3000’s Wifi features are a bit of a mixed bag. Making a connection and using the clunky interface can be frustrating, but on the plus side the remote shooting features are excellent. The only other thing to say is that I think Samsung could have made a little more of the remote shooting for selfies. Though you can use your phone to trigger the shutter when the screen is facing forward, (providing you can cope with setting up a connection) there’s nothing like the Lumix GF7’s Jump snap feature.The NX3000 has a Dynamic Range expansion mode with three settings - off, Smart Range and HDR, with the latter setting providing the biggest difference. But what sets the NX3000, apart from many other compact system cameras is its self shot modes. Like the Lumix GF7 and PEN E-PL7 flipping the screen into the forward-facing position sets it up for sefie shooting with a number of special features. In the NX3000’s case, you don’t even have to turn the camera on, flipping the screen automatically does that for you, which is a nice touch. Finally, here’s a short sample of the NX3000’s Miniature effect on video. Though the NX3000 lets you use the Miniature Smart filter for video you’re resticted to VGA 640 x 480 which is pretty disappointing. Not only that but the focus zone is fixed and can’t be adjusted. Samsung’s NX3000 is an entry-level mirrorless system camera that combines ease of use and consumer-friendly features with an advanced specification. Its 21.6 Megapixel APSC sized sensor promises big images with decent low light performance and the NX mount accommodates a growing choice of lenses. There are buttons on the camera for drive mode, autofocus area and focus mode, plus an Fn button that reveals 12 controls as a grid across the screen. The Fn menu is navigated with the four-way pad and settings adjusted with the wheel, but the camera is a little slow to respond here. It’s more responsive if you press OK to show only the selected control before adjusting it.

Some of you may be disappointed to hear the Samsung NX3000 does not have a touchscreen, which limits the ways you can interface with the camera to an extent. It’s especially noticeable when selecting focus and exposure points. As is standard for all of Samsung’s recently released SMART cameras, the NX3000 features industry-leading Tag & Go integration so you can seamlessly share images via Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity as well as take advantage of advanced features including; Photo Beam, Remote Viewfinder Pro and Mobile Link The Samsung NX3000 has a good Burst mode which enables you to take 5 frames per second for both JPEG and RAW images, but be prepared to wait for quite a long time for the camera to process all the images. There's also a special Burst mode that records 30 frames per second, albeit only at 5 megapixel JPEG resolution, with slower 15 and 10fps options also available. Wifi has been a feature of all kinds of cameras for a while now and although it was a bit hit and miss in the early days manuafacturers, like Olympus and Panasonic, now offer apps with lots of features and mature, well desiged user interfaces.Remote Viewfinder (Smart Camera app for Android and iOS) - can be used for shots, there is a noticeable delay in updates, and it can seem quite sluggish. The battery compartment also houses the memory card, which is a conventional arrangement, but less conventionally, the NX3000 uses a micro SD card. This is another space saving effort on Samsung’s part, but it does mean any SD cards you already own will be useless and you’ll have to invest in new storage. The USB port is located behind a door on the right of the body and below it there’s a mini HDMI port for connection to a TV. Samsung NX3000 lens and stabilisation References to the old days of photography are just that though – references. In just about all other respects, the Samsung NX3000 is a thoroughly modern camera. It uses microSD memory cards rather than the full-size ones we’re used to, and is charged over microUSB rather than needing a separate charger.