Samsung NX11 Review

April 13, 2011 | Mark Goldstein | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star Half rating star

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.

Ease of Use

The NX11 is very similar to the older NX10, which is still being sold alongside the newer model. First impressions of the NX11 are very positive, especially considering the aggressive pricing which is cheaper than the NX10 was on launch. Samsung have opted to make the NX11 a mass-market device with an all-plastic body and new 18-55mm kit lens with a plastic mount, rather than taking on the more premium offerings from Olympus and Panasonic (the plastic E-PL2 aside). This is not to say that the NX11 isn't well-built though, and it's certainly a light camera at just over 350g, which you'll appreciate during a long day's shooting. At 123×87×39.8mm, the NX11 isn't that much bigger than the slimline PEN cameras, and is actually a little slimmer and lighter than the comparable G2 / GH2 models - impressive given the larger sensor inside. The depth and weight obviously increase when the supplied poly-carbonate mounted 18-55mm kit lens is fitted, making the NX11 instantly more DSLR-like, but fitting the 30mm pancake lens creates a compact overall package that will particularly suit street photographers looking for an indiscrete camera.

The lenses are the main area where the NX11 suffers in comparison to the Micro Four Thirds cameras, especially if you're looking for the smallest overall package. The NX11 is relatively tiny when twinned with the 30mm pancake lens, but the 18-55mm and especially the 50-200mm lens are quite a lot bigger and heavier than their MFT's equivalents. This is completely understandable given the larger sensor that lies at the heart of the NX11, and is the trade-off for the image quality advantages that an APS-C sensor offers. Only you can decide if size and portability or image quality is more important to you. The other downside from a specification point of view are the relatively slow maximum apertures - f/3.5-5.6 for the new 18-55mm lens - but it's still early days for the NX system.

The upgraded 18-55mm kit lens features the new i-Function button, an innocuous looking addition to 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 five available settings - shutter speed and/or aperture, exposure compensation, white balance and ISO. The latter two settings can optionally be turned on or off in the main menu, allowing a degree of user customisation. The i-Function button provides a quick way of accessing certain key settings, and is well suited to the NX11 with its electronic viewfinder where you can hold it up to your eye, press the button and turn the focus ring with your left hand, and grip the camera with your right. Holding the NX11 at arm's length to view the settings while pressing the i-Function button and rotating the focus ring is more cumbersome, especially when you can also use the rear control wheel to perform the same actions, something that I found myself doing by default.

Optical image stabilisation is supplied via the lenses, rather than being built-in to the camera body as with the Olympus cameras. It can be turned on and off via the OIS menu option, rather than via a more handy switch on the lens barrel, with two different modes available. When enabled, the NX11 automatically compensates for camera shake, which is a slight blurring of the image that typically occurs at slow shutter speeds when the camera is hand held. In practice I found that it does make a noticeable difference. You don't notice that the camera is actually doing anything different when anti-shake is turned on, just that you can use slower shutter speeds than normal and still take sharp photos. Thankfully leaving the anti-shake system on all the time didn't affect the battery-life too badly. One slight annoyance is the loose action of the AF/MF switch on the 18-55mm lens - on more than one occasion it had been inadvertently moved to a different setting when stored in a shoulder bag.

One area where the NX11 really shines is styling and layout. In my opinion this is the best-looking of all the mirror-less cameras, opting for a clean and modern DSLR-like design rather than the retro look of Olympus' PEN series, and which is more curved and "organic" than the Panasonic G-series models. More importantly it also offer a logical and intuitive interface. Samsung's engineering team have firmly hit the nail on the head here, striking a great balance between providing easy access to the main features and achieving an uncluttered control system whilst still managing to cater for both beginner and prosumer alike. Samsung have redesigned the camera's grip, which in comparison to the NX10 is a little chunkier. The NX11 is also better constructed than you'd expect given its relatively small size, light weight and budget price-tag, and is on a par with a lot of entry-level DSLRs.

Samsung NX11 Samsung NX11
Front Rear

Large metal neck strap eyelets are located on top of the NX11 at the sides, with the rear dominated by the fixed 3 inch LCD screen. The generous, textured black plastic hand-grip is on the left-front of the camera and a thumb-grip on the rear finished in the same rubberised material. When it comes to storing your photographs the GX10 uses SD / SDHC cards, with the memory card slot positioned in the right-hand side of the camera body and protected by a plastic cover, a much better solution than sharing the battery compartment like most cameras do. On the left side of the body is a larger cover that houses four different ports - DC In, HDMI for connecting the NX11 to a HD television or monitor, Remote socket for use with the optional remote shutter release, and AV Out. Having all of these connections in one location makes perfect sense.

On the front of the Samsung NX11 is a small focus-assist and self-timer indicator lamp, lens release button, the NX lens mount, rubberised hand-grip, and a handy and un-expected Depth of Field Preview button. Located on the bottom of the camera is the battery compartment protected by a plastic lockable cover. The BP1310 battery provides up to 400 shots under the CIPA testing standard, on a par with the NX11's main rivals. Also found on the bottom of the camera is a metal tripod mount which is commendably located in-line with the centre of the lens mount.

Like the Panasonic G2 and GH2, the NX11 features a built-in electronic viewfinder. The mere mention of an EVF is usually enough to elicit loud groans from any serious photographer, as they have traditionally been poorly implemented in the past, with low-res, grainy displays that were only really suitable for still subjects. Thankfully the electronic viewfinder on the NX11 is much better than most other systems, although not quite as good as the Panasonic cameras. It has a 0.86x magnification and offers 100% field of view, but the resolution is an impressive but lower 921,000 dots and it only operates at 30fps rather than 60fps as on the Panasonic G2 and GH2.

The NX11 does have a handy eye sensor underneath the EVF, which switches seamlessly between the LCD screen and the EVF when you hold it up to your eye, saving battery power and removing the unwanted distraction of the LCD display. As the EVF is reading the same signal from the image sensor as the rear LCD screen, it can also display similar information - for example, you can view and operate the Function Menu and see all the current settings, giving quick access to all the key camera settings while it's held up to your eye.

The NX11's 3-inch, 614,000-dot rear LCD screen is very impressive, incorporating AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology that provides a number of key advantages over traditional LCD screens. These include easier viewing in bright sunshine and a very wide viewing angle, 10,000 times faster refresh rate than conventional LCDs, less power consumption and a high contrast ratio of 10,000:1. On a less positive note our review sample picked up a few scratches and marks just a few days after arriving in the office, so make sure that you store the NX11 carefully at all times, and it also doesn't offer the flexibility of the G2 / GH2's swiveling LCD screen.

The NX11 has a built-in dust-removal system that vibrates the sensor 60,000 times per second to remove any unwanted specks from appearing in your images. By default this feature is turned off, something of an oversight by Samsung, so make sure to enable it so that it works every time you start-up the camera (it only takes about one second). You can also perform a manual sensor clean at any point. The NX11 has a built-in pop-up flash which is activated by a switch on the top of the camera. This useful pop-up unit offers a range of flash synchronisation modes, guide number of 11 at ISO 100, an X-sync speed of 1/180 s / 1/4000 second, and coverage for a 28mm wide lens. The NX11 also offers a flash hotshoe that will accept compatible Samsung flashguns (currently just the SEF-42A and SEF-20A models).

Samsung NX11 Samsung NX11
Front Top

Also found on top of the NX11 are the mono mic, burst mode/bracketing/self-timer switch, on/off switch, and tactile shutter button. The small Green button is used in conjunction with other controls to reset them to default values, for example the exposure compensation. There's a traditional round dial with a positive click for the different exposure modes, which is a typical feature of DSLR cameras and enables you to quickly change between the various options. The usual selection of Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual are available for the more experienced photographers, and the more beginner-friendly Scene modes and Smart Auto mode are also accessed via this dial.

When the new i-Scene shooting mode is selected, the NX100 automatically recognises what type of lens has been attached and suggests a list of scene modes to choose from that are tailored to that specific lens. While this helps to narrow down the usual vast number of choices, it would have been more effective if combined with the Smart Auto shooting mode, rather than being a stand-alone mode, as you still have to pick from the scene modes that are presented to you.

Smart Auto is Samsung's equivalent of the intelligent auto modes on competitors from Panasonic (its Lumix range), Sony (the latest T-series Cyber-shots) and Canon (Digital IXUS family). You simply point the NX11 at a scene or subject and the camera hopefully recognizes it from 16 commonly used presets and automatically adjusts its settings to deliver optimum results. This means that it's not necessary for the user to manually delve into scene modes to call up the likes of 'landscape' or 'flower', making the NX11's operation merely a case of point and shoot. In practice the Smart Auto system works very well, with the NX11 usually picking the most appropriate combination of settings for the current situation. Obviously not all situations are covered by the 16 scene modes that the system uses, but it does work for the majority of the time. It makes it possible for the less experienced photographer to easily take well-exposed, sharp pictures of people, scenery and close-ups by simply pointing and shooting the camera and is more intuitive than the traditional scene modes (which are still available).

Completing the camera's top-plate is a control dial which is used for, amongst other things, changing the aperture and shutter speed by turning from left to right and back again. As with the shooting mode dial, this is a common feature found on DSLR cameras, so you'll be right at home if you've used a DSLR before - compact camera users will need to become accustomed to using this dial. In Manual mode things are a little trickier. You have to hold down the Exposure Compensation button whilst turning the control dial to be able to change the aperture, which obviously isn't as convenient as having a second control dial as on some DSLRs, but is perhaps understandable given the NX11's target audience.

The NX11 can record high-resolution HD 720p 1280x720 movies in the 16:9 aspect ratio and standard VGA 640x480 or 320x260 movies in the 4:3 aspect ratio, all using the H.264 format at 30 frames per second. The Movie mode is accessed by selecting the Movie option on the shooting mode dial and then pressing the shutter button to begin recording. Only Mono sound is recorded during video capture via the small internal mic on the top of of the camera. The HDMI port allows you to connect the NX11 to a high-def TV set, but unfortunately Samsung have decided to cut costs and not include a HDMI cable as standard in the box, which means that you'll have to purchase one separately to take advantage of this camera's HD connectivity.

Turning to the rear of the NX11, to the right of the large LCD screen that I've already mentioned is a familiar round navigation pad with four buttons above and two below. Starting at the top are very handily placed buttons for setting exposure compensation and locking the exposure, then the DISP button which cycles through the various display modes on the LCD screen. The fourth button is the useful Fn, which provides quick and easy access to 7 of the most important camera settings, which are presented as a horizontal row of icons in the EVF or LCD screen. Used in combination with the four directions on the navigation pad that set the Focus type, White Balance, ISO and Metering, you really can access most of the NX11's key options with one press of a button, although changing them takes a couple more presses. Completing the rear controls are buttons for playing back and deleting your images, with the latter accessing the Picture Wizard options during shooting.

Samsung NX11 Samsung NX11
Memory Card Slot Battery Compartment

Unlike a conventional DSLR camera which uses a phase detection auto-focus system, the NX11 employs the same Contrast AF system that is commonly used by compact cameras. As with the EVF, experienced photographers will now be tutting loudly at the thought of having to use a traditionally slower system, but thankfully this decision hasn't resulted in a slow and unpredictable AF - quite the contrary in fact. The Samsung NX11's focusing speed is on a par with the Panasonic G1 / GH1 cameras and most DSLRs. This means that it is noticeably quicker to lock onto the subject than some Olympus PEN cameras which crucially suffer from a 1/2 second lag. There were also very few occasions when the NX11 failed to lock onto the subject, especially when using the centre AF point, which can be usefully set to one of four different sizes.

There are four AF Area modes on offer, including Selection AF with a selectable focus area, Multi AF, Face Detection, and Self-Portrait Tracking, with Single, Continuous and Manual AF Modes available. The NX11 also has a useful AF Priority function that begins focusing as soon as you point the camera. Manual focusing is assisted by the 'enlarged display' function. Once you have selected manual focus mode on the lens barrel, turning the manual focus ring automatically increases the magnification on the LCD display, which is a big help in getting the focus spot on. This is real, non-interpolated magnification, very useful for accurate manual focusing - provided you find a way to steady the camera. The screen cleverly returns to normal magnification when you stop using the manual focus ring for a few seconds. Metering options include Multi, Center-weighted and Spot, while the ISO range runs from 100-3200. There are 6 white balance presets plus Auto and Custom settings and the ability to set a precise Kelvin value, and if you can't make up your mind the white balance, exposure and even the Picture Wizard settings can all be bracketed.

You can shoot movies using the Program or Aperture-priority modes, giving you some control over exposure, and you can also change the aperture during recording, albeit at the expense of recording the mechanism on the soundtrack. The NX11 offers the ability to use any of the 9 Picture Wizard settings during video recording as well as still images, which instantly lends an interesting art-house effect to your home movies, the self-timer can be used, and the Wind-cut function reduces the unwanted intrusion of wind noise.

You can use a zoom lens during recording with focusing set as for still images by half-pressing the shutter button. On the negative side, you'll find that if you choose continuous auto-focus, areas of the video will be blurred before becoming sharp again as the camera tries to refocus and the noise of the AF system is a little intrusive. Using manual focus is trickier but will ultimately produce better looking and sounding movies. On a more positive note, having the AF system is better than not being able to auto-focus at all, as with all current DSLR cameras that offer video recording. Hand-holding the NX11 during movie recording inevitably leads to obvious shake, so for best results you'll need a dedicated video tripod.

The main menu system on the NX11 is very straight-forward to use and is accessed by pressing the Menu button to the left of the EVF. There are seven main menus presented as a row of horizontal icons, much like Canon's DSLR camera range. As mentioned previously, the Fn button speeds up access to some of the more commonly used options. Due to the large LCD screen and restricting the number of on-screen choices to six, the various options and icons are clear and legible. If you have never used a digital camera before, or you're upgrading from a more basic model, reading the easy-to-follow manual before you start is a good idea. Unfortunately Samsung have chosen not to supply it in printed format, so you can't carry it with you for easy reference.

The start-up time from turning the NX11 on to being ready to take a photo is impressively quick at around 1 second, and as I've already mentioned the Contrast Auto-Focusing system is as fast as most DSLRs. The NX11 usually achieves focus most of the time with any of the three lenses available on launch, helped by the AF assist lamp - the NX11 doesn't have any notable problems locking onto the subject in low-light situations. It takes about 1 second to store a JPEG image, allowing you to keep shooting as they are being recorded onto the memory card, with a brief LCD blackout between each image. Storing a single RAW image takes around 4 seconds, but thankfully it doesn't lock up the camera in any way - you can use the menu system or shoot another image while the first file is being written to memory. The Samsung NX11 has quite a good Burst mode which enables you to take 3 frames per second for an unlimited number of JPEG images at the highest image quality, or 5 RAW images. The interesting Burst modes shoots at 30fps for 30 shots with a single press of the shutter button, but only for 1.4 megapixel JPEGs.

Once you have captured a photo the Samsung NX11 has a fairly good range of options when it comes to playing, reviewing and managing your images. You can instantly scroll through the images that you have taken, view thumbnails (up to 20 onscreen at the same time), zoom in and out up to 7.2x magnification, view slideshows, delete and protect an image and set the print order. The Image Edit option offers a number of different ways to alter the look of an already-captured photo, including redeye fix, backlight, changing the photo style, resizing, rotating and face retouch. The Info button toggles detailed settings information about each picture on and off, such as the ISO rating and aperture / shutter speed, there are small brightness and RGB histograms available, and the Highlight option makes any blown-out highlights areas flash on the LCD screen.

In summary the NX11 is a very modest upgrade of the NX10 that principally adds compatibility with the new generation if iFunction lenses, including the upgraded 18-55mm kit lens that ships with it. Now let's find out if the APS-C sensor can deliver on the Image Quality front...

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 14.6 megapixel SuperFine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5.5Mb.

The Samsung NX11 produced images of excellent quality during the review period. The large 14.6 megapixel APS-C CMOS megapixel sensor used in the NX11 produces noise-free JPEG images at ISO 100-400, with ISO 800 also looking good. ISO 1600 only shows a little noise, while the fastest setting of ISO 3200 is quite a lot noisier and suffers from softening of fine detail and a loss of saturation, but the images are still perfectly usable for small prints and resizing for web use. The NX11 does apply quite a lot of noise reduction to the JPEGs, as demonstrated by the RAW files which have more noise at the comparable high ISO settings.

The images were a little soft straight out of the NX11 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. Colours were vibrant without being over-saturated in the default Standard Picture Wizard mode, and you can always choose Vivid if you want even more punch or one of the other seven presets to change the mood of your JPEG images, with three customisable settings alo available.

The built-in pop-up flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and adequate exposure. The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and bulb mode of 8 minutes allowing you to capture plenty of light. Smart Range is quite a useful feature that increases visible detail in both highlight and shadow areas of the image, albeit at the expense of reducing the colour saturation a little.

Noise

There are 6 ISO settings available on the Samsung NX11. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and RAW on the right.

JPEG RAW

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Samsung NX11 has 3 different JPEG image quality settings available, with SuperFine being the highest quality option, and you can also shoot in RAW format. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

14M SuperFine (6.04Mb) (100% Crop) 14M Fine (3.1Mb) (100% Crop)
   
14M Normal (2.0Mb) (100% Crop) 14M RAW (27Mb) (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

   

Flash

The flash settings on the Samsung NX11 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.

Off - Wide Angle (28mm)

Fill-in - Wide Angle (28mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Off - Telephoto (82mm)

Fill-in - Telephoto (82mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Fill-in or the Fill-in + Red-eye reduction settings caused any red-eye.

Fill-in

Fill-in (100% Crop)
   

Fill-in + Red-eye reduction

Fill-in + Red-eye reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Samsung NX11's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's also a Bulb setting of up to 8 minutes, which is great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 25 seconds at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like. The camera takes the same amount of time again to apply noise reduction, so for example at the 15 second setting the actual exposure takes 30 seconds.

Night Shot

Night Shot (100% Crop)

Anti Shake

The Samsung NX11 has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here are some 100% crops of the images to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length

Anti Shake Off (100% Crop)

Anti Shake On (100% Crop)

1/10 sec / 28mm
     
1/15 sec / 82mm

Picture Wizard

Samsung's various Picture Wizard options are similar to Olympus' Picture Modes, Nikon's Picture Styles and Canon's Picture Controls, offering preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings, all of which can be changed. The nine available Picture Controls are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences. There are also three additional Custom styles so that you can create your own looks.

Standard

Vivid

   

Portrait

Landscape

   

Forest

Retro

   

Cool

Calm

   

Classic

 
 

Smart Range

The Smart Range feature noticeably increases the visible detail in both shadow and highlight areas, as shown in the example below, although it does tend to wash-out the stronger colours in the process.

On

Off

Panorama

The Panorama mode allows you to take vertical or horizontal panorama photos simply by moving the camera in the direction of the on-screen guides. Multiple shots are then combined into a single panorama photo.

Horizontal Panorama
Full-size Image
 
Vertical Panorama
Full-size Image

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Samsung NX11 camera, which were all taken using the 14.6 megapixel SuperFine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Samsung NX11 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Samsung RAW (SRW) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 1280x720 at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 10 second movie is 11.6Mb in size.

Product Images

Samsung NX11

Front of the Camera

 
Samsung NX11

Front of the Camera / Lens Removed

 
Samsung NX11

Isometric View

 
Samsung NX11

Isometric View

 
Samsung NX11

Isometric View

 
Samsung NX11

Isometric View

 
Samsung NX11

Rear of the Camera

 
Samsung NX11

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

 
Samsung NX11

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

 

Samsung NX11

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

 
Samsung NX11

Rear of the Camera / Fn Menu

 
Samsung NX11

Rear of the Camera / iFn Menu

 
Samsung NX11

Top of the Camera

 
Samsung NX11

Bottom of the Camera

 
Samsung NX11

Side of the Camera

 
Samsung NX11

Side of the Camera

 
Samsung NX11

Front of the Camera

 
Samsung NX11

Front of the Camera

 
Samsung NX11

Memory Card Slot

 
Samsung NX11

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Samsung NX11 is a very modest update of the year-old NX10, with the principal addition being the i-Function option that enables you to change the camera's key settings via the focus ring on the new kit lens. Although this does make more sense when used in tandem with the NX11's viewfinder, it's still something of a curiosity rather than being genuinely useful. Having said that, the NX11 offers intuitive handling, especially for beginners, great image quality and fantastic value for money, and is still competitive with the best that the other manufacturers can offer.

The NX11's stylish DSLR-like design, logical user interface and excellent build quality are testament to the lavish attention that Samsung have obviously invested in the NX system. The NX11 may not be quite as slim as the smallest Micro Four Third models from Olympus and Panasonic, but it does offer a more prominent handgrip and even more useful built-in viewfinder. The all-plastic construction doesn't affect the overall quality feel too much, and it ensures that Samsung can offer the NX11 at a very tempting price which seriously undercuts its main rivals.

The jury's still out on the i-Function button, though, with opinions divided about whether it's a genuinely useful innovation or just another way to differentiate the NX system from its competitors. The new 18-55mm kit lens now features the i-Function button, but loses the useful OIS button of its predecessor. The NX10 is already compatible with i-Function thanks to a firmware upgrade, so there's really no reason for those users to upgrade, while NX100 owners may be tempted by the more DSLR-like design of the NX11, although image quality is very similar across all three models.

The NX11 has all the advantages that a large APS-C DSLR sensor offers, namely better performance at higher ISOs than the smaller Micro Four Thirds format. I'd be happy to regularly shoot with any setting from 100-800, and even 1600 is handy at a push when you want natural results without having to resort to the built-in flash. Note that the RAW files are massive, weighing in at 25Mb each, which is as large as files from the 21 megapixel Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

The Samsung NX11 undoubtedly represents excellent value for money, with an RRP of £549.99 / $649.99 with the 18-55mm OIS lens being even less than the NX10 was on launch. Despite the introduction of cheaper rivals like the Olympus E-PL2 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2, the NX11 still provides one of the cheapest ways into the compact system camera format.

Although the Samsung NX11 won't win any awards for originality, it is the best Samsung compact system camera yet and does just enough to remain competitive in an increasingly crowded market. With strong recent rumours of the NX20 and NX200, the NX11 might have an even shorter lifespan than the NX10, but don't let that put you off what is a very accomplished camera. Highly recommended.

4.5 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4.5
Features 4
Ease-of-use 4.5
Image quality 5
Value for money 5

Specifications

Image sensor

  • Image Senson Type: CMOS
  • Sensor size: 23.4 x 15.6mm
  • Image sensor (effective pixel) : approx. 14.6 megapixel
  • Total pixels: approx. 15.1 megapixel
  • Image sensor colour filter: RGB primary colour filter

Distortion Correct

  • Distortion Correct Mode: LDC On / Off (depends on Lens)

Display

  • AMOLED
  • 3.0" Display Size
  • VGA (640 x 480) 614k dots (PenTile) resolution
  • Display resolution: approx. 100%
  • Display, field of view: Grid (4 types), Histgram, Icons : On / Off

Shutter

  • Shutter type: Electronically controlled vertical-run focal plane shutter
  • Shutter Speed: Smart Auto: 1/4000sec.- 30sec. Manual: 1/4000sec.- 30sec. (1/3EV step) Bulb (Limit time: 8 min)

Flash

  • TTL Auto Pop-up flash
  • Flash modes: Smart Flash, Auto, Auto + Red-eye reduction, Fill-in, Fill-in + Red-eye reduction, 1st Curtain, 2nd Curtain, OFF
  • Flash guide number: 11 (at ISO 100)
  • 28mm wide-angle of view coverage (Equivalent to 35mm)
  • Flash sync speed: Less than 1/180sec.
  • Flash compensation: ± 2EV (0.5EV step)
  • Samsung External Flash: SEF42A, SEF20A, SEF15A (Optional)
  • Hot shoe synchro (attachment)

Picture Wizard

  • Picture Wizard Modes: Standard, Vivid, Portrait, Landscape, Forest, Retro, Cool, Calm, Classic, Custom (1 - 3)
  • Picture Wizard Parameters: Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation, Colour

Image Play

  • Image play type: Single image, Thumbnails (3/9/20 images), Slide show, Movie
  • Image play highlight warning
  • Image editing: Red Eye Fix, Back Light Comp., Photo Style Selector, Resize, Rotate, Face Retouch, Smart Filter
  • Image smart filter: Miniature, Fish-Eye, Sketch, De-fog, Halftone Dots,Soft Focus JPEG (3:2): 6M (3008 x 2000), 2M (1920 x 1280), VGA (640 x 424) JPEG (4:3): 6M (3008 x 2256), 2M (1920 x 1440), VGA (640 x 480)JPEG (16:9): 5M (3008 x 1688), 2M (1920 x 1080), VGA (640 x 360) JPEG (1:1): 4M (2000 x 2000), 1.6M (1280 x 1280), VGA (480 x 480)
  • Photo Style Selector: Soft, Vivid, Forest, Autumn, Misty, Gloomy, Classic,

Direct Printing

  • Direct Printing: PictBridge

Power Supply

  • Power Source: Rechargeable battery: BP1310 (1300mAh) Charger: BC1310AC Adaptor: AD9NX01 (Optional)
  • Battery life: 200min/400shots (CIPA Standard)

System Requirement in general

  • For Windows: XP SP2 / Vista / 7 Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz or higher / AMD AthlonTMFX, 2.6GHz or higher Minimum 512MB RAM (1GB or more recommended) 250MB of available hard disk space (1GB or more recommended) 1024 x 768 pixels, 16-bit color display compatible monitor (1280 x 1024 pixcels, 32-bit color display recommended) USB 2.0, Microsoft DirectX 9.0c or latern VIDIA Geforce 7600GT or higher / ATI X1600 series or higher # 64-bit editions of Windows XP / Vista / and 7 are not supported

Lens

  • Samsung NX Mount
  • Samsung Lenses

i-Function

  • i-Scene (depends on Lens)

Viewfinder

  • Viewfinder EVF
  • Viewfinder Resolution: VGA (640 x 480) 921k dots equiv.
  • Field of view: approx. 100%
  • Viewfinder Magnification: Approx. 0.86x (APS-C, 50mm, -1m-1)
  • Eyepoint: approx. 20.2mm

Exposure

  • Exposure Metering: Multi, Centre-weighted, Spot Metering range: EV0 ~ 18 (ISO100•30mm F2.0)
  • Exposure compensation: ±3 EV (1/2EV, 1/3EV step)
  • Exposure Modes: AEL button
  • Exposure ISO Equivalent: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 (1EV or 1/3EV step)

White Balance

  • White Balance Modes: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent (W, N, D), Tungsten, Flash, Custom, K (Manual)
  • White Balance Micro adjustments: Each 7 steps in Amber / Blue / Green / Magenta axis

Shooting

  • Shooting Modes: Smart Auto, Program, Shutter Priority AE, Aperture Priority AE, Manual, Night, Portrait, Landscape, Scene, Movie
  • Shooting Scene Modes: Beauty shot, Children, Close Up, Text, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Fireworks, Beach & Snow, Night, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Sound Picture
  • JPEG Only Sound Recording Time (Before and after shooting each 5 or 10sec.)
  • Shooting Image Size: JPEG (3:2): 14M (4592 x 3056), 10M (3872 x 2592), 6M (3008 x 2000), 2M (1920 x 1280), 1.4M (1472 x 976): Burst mode only JPEG (16:9): 12M (4592 x 2584), 8M (3872 x 2176), 5M (3008 x 1688), 2M (1920 x 1080) JPEG (1:1): 9M (3056 x 3056), 6.7M (2592 x 2592), 4M (2000 x 2000), 1.6M (1280 x 1280) RAW: 14M (4592 x 3056)
  • Shooting Quality: Super fine, fine, normal
  • Shooting RAW Format
  • Shooting Colour Space: SRGB, Adobe RGB

Storage

  • External Memory: SD, SDHC
  • Storage File Formats: RAW (SRW), JPEG (EXIF 2.21), DCF, DPOF 1.1, PictBridge 1.0
  • Storage Capacity: 14M: RAW 34 14M (3:2) : Super Fine 141, Fine 282, Normal 423 10M (3:2) : Super Fine 195, Fine 391, Normal 587 6M (3:2) : Super Fine 320, Fine 640, Normal 961 2M (3:2) : Super Fine 732, Fine 1465, Normal 2198 Burst (1.4M) : Super Fine 1161, Fine 2322, Normal 3484
    12M (16:9) : Super Fine 166, Fine 332, Normal 499 8M (16:9) : Super Fine 232, Fine 464, Normal 696 5M (16:9) : Super Fine 376, Fine 752, Normal 1129 2M (16:9) : Super Fine 850, Fine 1703, Normal 2550
    9M (1:1) : Super Fine 210, Fine 420, Normal 630 6.7M (1:1) : Super Fine 288, Fine 576, Normal 8644M (1:1) : Super Fine 470, Fine 940, Normal 1411 1.6M (1:1) : Super Fine 1041, Fine 2083, Normal 3121
    Movie : 1280 x 720 : High Quality 15min., Normal 22min. 640 x 480 : High Quality 44min., Normal 66min. 320 x 240 : High Quality 145min., Normal 210min.

GPS

  • GPS: Geo-tagging w / Optional GPS Module (WGS84)
  • GPS Function: Location Name (OSD) (English and Korean only) - Google Map Link (with intelli-Studio)

Physical Specification

  • Dimensions: 123 x 87 x 39.8mm
  • Weight: 353g
  • Operating Temperature: 0 - 40°
  • Operating Humidity: 5 - 85%

System Requirements for Samsung Raw Converter

  • System Requirements for Samsung Raw Converter (Windows): Windows XP / Vista / 7 Intel Pentium, AMD Athlon Processor (Intel Pentium 4, Athlon XP or later recommended) 1GB or more RAM recommended Minimum 100MB of available hard disk space 1024 x 768 pixels, Full Colour (24-bit or higher) colour display compatible monitor

Image Stabilization

  • Lens Shift Type (depends on Lens)
  • OIS Mode1 / Mode2

Dust Reduction

  • Dust reduction: super sonic drive

Focusing

  • Focus type: Contrast AF
  • Focusing points: 1 point (Free selection) Multi: Normal 15 points, Close Up 35 points Face Detection: Max. 10 faces
  • Focusing modes: Single AF, Continuous AF, MF
  • AF-assist lamp (Green LED)

Drive Modes

  • Drive Modes: Single, Continuous, Burst, Self-timer, Bracket (AE, WB, PW)
  • Drive Mode (continuous): JPEG: 3fps up to 6shots (LDC: On) 10 shots (LDC: Off) Burst mode: 10, 15, 30fps selectable, 30 shots by 1 released RAW: 3fps up to 3shots
  • Auto Exposure Bracket (±3EV), White Balance Bracket (±3 step), Picture Wizard Bracket (Selectable 3 modes)
  • Drive Mode (self timer): 2-30sec. (1sec. step)
  • Drive Mode (Remote controller): Wired: SR9NX01 (Optional)

Dynamic Range Expansion

  • Dynamic Range Expansion: Smart Range On / Off

Movie

  • Movie Format: MP4 (H.264)
  • Movie Compression: Movie: H.264, Sound: AAC
  • Movie Mode: Programme, Aperture Priority
  • Movie Clip: with Audio or without Audio (user selectable, recording time: 25 minutes)
  • Movie Image Size: 1280 x 720, 640 x 480, 320 x 240 (Default: 1280 x 720)
  • Movie Frame Rate: 30fps
  • Movie Sound: Mono
  • Movie Editing: Still Image Capture, Time Trimming

Languages

  • Languages: 16 (Korean, English, Danish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish, Italian, Czech, French, Portuguese, Polish, Finnish, Russian, Simplified / Traditional Chinese)

Interface

  • Digital Output Connector: USB 2.0
  • Video out: NTSC, PAL (user selectable) HDMI 1.3; (1080i, 720P, 576P / 480P)
  • Interface: External Release
  • DC Power Input Connector: DC 9.0V, 1.5A (100 ~ 240V)

Software

  • Applications: Intelli-studio 2.1, Samsung RAW Converter 4, Adobe Reader

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