Samsung NX1000? NX200? or?

mnhoj

gee aahrr
Location
Los Angeles
Name
John
I ordered a refurb NX100 the other day and have to send it back. It arrived incomplete.
I also ordered a 30mm F2 without thinking that the NX100 might not work for me.

So, I thought I might open it up a bit and see if any of the other models might work.
I'm having a bit of trouble researching the nuances of the different models. Maybe you can point me toward a reference.
I do want to keep things as light($) as I can.

I already have a Fuji kit. This is for a back up and occasional use by my ten year old
so the kit lens and the 30mm may be all I need. Maybe even scratch the kit and add a 16mm.

Thanks for your time.
 
Personally I'd pony up for the NX20 kit for $325. It's $125 more than the NX200 but it's a much better camera. Still coming in an out of stock.
 
There are 4 generations of Samsung NX cameras.

1st generation — NX10, NX5, NX11, NX100. Those cameras all use 14.6MP Samsung sensor (the same as Pentax K20 and K7). Screen — 3", AMOLED, VGA resolution. NX10 and NX11 have a VGA EVF, NX5 has a low-resolution EVF. NX11 is basically NX10, but with a slightly different handgrip and a panorama mode. NX100 is basically an NX11 in a slightly more compact form and without the EVF.

2nd generation — NX200. Uses a new 20MP sensor which is much better than the 14.6MP one. No EVF. The same 3" AMOLED screen.

Generation 2.5 — NX20, NX210, NX1000, NX1100. All cameras use the same 20MP sensor, all have Wi-Fi functionality. NX20 and NX210 use the same 3" AMOLED screen, NX1000 and NX1100 use a TFT 3" 920k dot screen. NX1000 and NX1100 are the same but NX1100 comes with Lightroom 3.

3rd generation — NX300 and NX2000. NX300 has an improved sensor with PDAF and 3.3" AMOLED touchscreen. NX2000 has no PDAF and uses a 3.7" TFT screen. NX2000 also has almost no external controls and relies on a touchscreen.

4th generation — Samsung Galaxy NX.

In my opinion, 1st gen Samsung NX cameras are really quirky and not worth buying today. But their battery life was truly great (comparable to low-end SLRs). NX20, despite using the same battery as NX10/NX11, has somewhat less stamina, and NX200/210/1000/1100/300/2000 all use a smaller battery.

All NX cameras have some problems with buffering and require very fast SD cards — I use SanDisk Extreme Pro (rated for 90 MB/s write speed) with my NX20, otherwise the camera becomes somewhat unresponsive.

As for kit lenses, the first two versions of 18-55mm lens were rather soft and prone to centering defects (I tried 3 copies and all 3 were defective). The 20-50mm is a much simpler lens optically and it's better than 18-55 I and II, but it doesn't have IS. The kit lens you want is 18-55mm OIS III which has a metal mount and is sharper than both earlier versions and than the 20-50mm lens.
 
To handle and use the NX100 and NX200 back-to-back you quickly discover that Samsung was on a pretty steep improvement curve here, but even the NX200 still struggles to write and retrieve data in a short amount of time (IMO it's most annoying trait). Autofocus is not Micro 4/3 but then you could say that about a lot of cameras. The NX300 looks even nicer again but I'm not ready to go spending more money on cameras just yet.
 
I really like the NX300 (especially since it's on sale now and can be had for about $550), but I can't live without the EVF, that's why I opted for the NX20.

Understood completely!
I told myself that any new MILC body that I purchase must have some type of integrated viewfinder.
 
Not sure if you're looking at the NX20, but B&H has it for $549 with the 18-55, here. I don't know anything about Samsung pricing, but the B&H rep was pretty insistent that this is a very low price for this, with the 18-55. They're not open for online ordering at the moment, but if interested, perhaps store this away for a few days...

-Ray
 
Thanks for all of your help. Especially the helpful rundown Pavel.
I just ordered a new 1000 body only.

That and the 30mm should give me a competent, affordable start into the system
and provide a nice compact backup to my Fuji gear.
 
Not sure if you're looking at the NX20, but B&H has it for $549 with the 18-55, here. I don't know anything about Samsung pricing, but the B&H rep was pretty insistent that this is a very low price for this, with the 18-55. They're not open for online ordering at the moment, but if interested, perhaps store this away for a few days...

-Ray

TD has had the same kit as a manufacturer refurb for $323 off and on for the last couple of weeks.
 
Thanks for all of your help. Especially the helpful rundown Pavel.
I just ordered a new 1000 body only.

That and the 30mm should give me a competent, affordable start into the system
and provide a nice compact backup to my Fuji gear.

John, congratulations! This is a very good camera and I think you will like the lens.
 
OH dear. I ordered that refurbished NX100 for $99 at Tiger Direct too. Hope it is complete. I got it for the price; at $99, there's not a whole lot to lose. If I don't like it I can probably sell it cheaply or give it away. Since I have the Olympus VF-2 I should really get another Olympus body, but things are tight, and it might be fun to play with something different for a bit.
 
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