Much more than just a camera

A camera that appears to do everything except make phone calls, the Samsung Galaxy NX boasts a huge 4.77-inch display and functions like a mini tablet computer, allowing you to stay connected and share your shots instantly.

The mirrorless interchangeable lens camera supports LTE 4G and HSPA+ 3G connection with a micro-SIM slot and it runs on Android 4.2 Jellybean operating system.

It also has all the apps you’d expect to find with an Android tablet and if those aren’t enough, you can download and install more from Google Play Store.

Sharing high-quality photos on Instagram is easy because you can download and install the Instagram app and also because Galaxy NX captures much better quality photos than a smart phone.

The touch-screen LCD has 1,280 x 720 pixel resolution, making it bright and beautiful. The tablet function is powered by a quad-core processor running at 1.6 GHz so it’s fast. It has 16 gigabytes internal storage that can be expanded with a microSD card.

I didn’t have a chance to go into the heart of Bangkok to try out its 4G capabilities so I tested Galaxy NX’s features on TrueMove H’s HSPA+ connection.

During the test, I downloaded and installed applications fast. My shots captured with Galaxy NX were backed up to the Dropbox with no problems and I quickly uploaded the photos to Facebook.

The quality of the photos is due to the 23.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, the same type as that used in a digital SLR camera. 

Galaxy NX uses a fast and advanced hybrid autofocus system, which combines fast phase detection AF and more accurate contrast AF. The hybrid Autofocus system allows Galaxy NX to have nearly zero shutter lag and is good for capturing fast-action shots. It features very high number of AF points – 105-point phase-detection and 247-point contrast AF – which makes focusing very accurate and fast.

The test unit came with an 18-55mm lens with OIS (optical image stabiliser) system and f/3.5-5.6 aperture. The NX system has a crop factor of 1.5x so the kit lens has focal length of 27-82mm in 35mm photography. The 27-mm equivalent focal length allows the camera to capture beautiful landscape shots.

Galaxy NX is quite large when compared to other models in the NX series, especially NX300, measuring 136.5 x 101.2 x 25.7mm and weighing in at a hefty 495 grammes with battery.

It also comes with an electronic viewfinder with 800 x 600 pixel resolution and approximately 100 per cent field of view.

Unlike other cameras, Galaxy NX does not have a mode dial or other control buttons, as the touch screen provides all mode and exposure settings and other controls. Galaxy NX has only a power button, a shutter button and a multi-purpose command dial.

The command dial can be used to change shooting modes and to close the camera application to return to the tablet home screen. It can also be used to adjust volume when Galaxy NX is used as a tablet to play music and video clips.

As a camera, Galaxy NX is intuitive to operate as all the settings and commands can be browsed and selected just using the touch interface.

I found that the full automatic mode was enough to capture clean and beautiful shots in most lighting environments.

If you are an experienced user and want to have more control, you may shoot with such advanced exposure modes as Programme auto (P), Aperture priority (A), Shutter priority (S) and Manual (M).

If you do opt for one of the expert exposure modes, you can also use the i-Function feature of the lens to change various shooting parameters in the current exposure mode.

Shooting modes in the Smart exposure group make the use of Galaxy NX easy and fun.

One of these is the perennial ladies’ favourite – the Beauty face mode that smoothens and enhances skin tone.

If you want to capture fast-action shots, choose the Continuous shot shooting mode. Action Freeze is another useful mode to instantly capture high-speed action.

Other shooting modes found in this group include Best Face, Colour Bracket, Kids, Vignett+, Landscape, Dawn, Macro, Food, Action freeze, Rich Tone, Panorama, Waterfall, Multi Exposure, Drama, Eraser, Miniature, Creative Shot, Night Scenary: Silhouette, Sunset, Night, Fireworks, and Light Trace.

The Best face is for taking group photos to make sure that everyone is the shot is smiling and has their eyes open. The camera will fire several shots and let you tap each face to find that best look then combine the shots into one photo.

The Drama Shot is also fun because it lets you merge continuous shots of moving objects into a single image. 

The Rich tone mode, or HDR as it’s known by other brands, is useful for capturing shots in complicated lighting environment. Because the Galaxy NX fires three shots with various exposure values then merges them into one photo, it ensures that the images do not lose details in bright and dark areas.

The Waterfall mode, as the name implies, will capture great shots of cascading water though you will need to stabilise your Galaxy NX on a tripod first.

The light trace mode can be used with a tripod for artistic shots of trails of lights at night, such as headlights.

Multi exposure lets you take two shots and overlap them into one artistic look photo.

I was particularly impressed with the Night mode, which fired several shots then merged them into one single shot.

To make most of the online feature of Galaxy NX, use the Photo Suggest app to get ideas of how to compose your photos at certain popular tourist destinations.

Photo Suggest finds your current location using the built-in GPS and then instantly connects you to huge libraries of images taken by fellow photographers, to help you find and compose your best shots.

As a tablet, Galaxy NS comes with Story Album app that lets you easily create, display and print photo albums. Story Album organises photos into timelines, and reframes and resizes them to create digital photo books that you can display on the camera’s screen-or send anywhere for recipients to view on their own devices.

Galaxy NX has very good performance. It starts up like most tablet or smart phones, but once it is started and it is in a standby mode, it will always be instantly ready to take photos. I noticed no shutter lag and shot-to-shot time was less than two seconds for any shooting mode that requires no post processing, such as the P mode.

The Galaxy NX comes with a large 4360mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery that can capture more than 300 shots per charge.

And of course, it’s not cheap. The Galaxy NX has a suggested retail price of Bt49,990.

 

Key specs

_ Image Sensor: 20.3 effective megapixel APS-C CMOS

_ Image Stabilising: Lens Shift – depends on Lens type

_ Display: 4.8-inch HD TFT LCD

_ Electronic viewfinder: 800 x 600 pixel resolution

_ Shutter speed: 1/6000sec.-30sec

_ AF: Phase Detection & Contrast AF (Total AF Point: 105 points for Phase Detection AF, 247 points for Contrast AF)

_ Metering System: TTL 221 (17 x 13) Block segment 

_ Metering: Multi, Centre-weighted, Spot Metering

_ ISO: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800, 25600

_ Network: 4G LTE: 800/850/900/1800/2100/2600, 3G HSPA: 850/900/1900/2100

_ Application processor: 1.6GHz Quad-Core Processor

_ OS: Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)

_ Max video recording: Size: 1920x1080/25fps

_ Connectivity: WiFi a/b/g/n 2.4GHz, 5GHz, Bluetooth 4.0 (LE), GPS, GLONASS (Support A-GPS)

_ Sensor: Accelerometer, Geomagnetic, Proximity, Gyro, RGB Light

_ Memory: 2 GB RAM

_ Storage: 16GB Internal memory +microSD slot (up to 64GB) 2.0GB RAM

_ Battery: 4,360 mAh

_ Dimension (WxHxD): 136.5 x 101.2 x 25.7 (37.65) mm

_ Weight: 495 (with standard battery)