Samsung NX100 with ifunction! Awesome

[kshapero]

Check this out:

http://www.samsungimaging.com/campai...Lens.html#i-fn

Very interesting concept.

[douglasf13]

Yeah, cool idea. I wish Samsung wouldn't have made the lens registration so long that you can't mount M lenses, because I would be interested in the system otherwise.

[j j]

I have been using a NX100 for the last month or so. It is excellent with the 30mm f2 (which unfortunately doesn't have the ifunction).

[PCB_RF]

The NX flange-back distance/registration is short enough for Leica lenses, the problem is either the lensmount throat diameter being too small or internal baffles interfering with the lens (or maybe a bit of both?). I've seen mention here that LTM/screwmount lenses may fit with very tight clearances, but LBM/bayonet lenses won't.

That doesn't make it any less frustrating for Leica lens users, and in a way is doubly frustrating. They got the flangeback distance right, but didn't design the lensmount to work with Leica glass. I may be thinking too simplistically, but if Sony could do it, couldn't Samsung?

Someone made a custom NX>LBM replacement lensmount that seemed to work.

Originally Posted by douglasf13

I wish Samsung wouldn't have made the lens registration so long that you can't mount M lenses

[douglasf13]

Yeah, I had forgotten that. Thanks for the correction.

[kshapero]

Originally Posted by j j

I have been using a NX100 for the last month or so. It is excellent with the 30mm f2 (which unfortunately doesn't have the ifunction).

How is the IQ and also low light photography considering there is no image stabilization?

[Gaspar2]

Ahahah, Olympus invented that 40 years ago with the OM-1. It's a nice thing to have but it is not new.
G

[j j]

Originally Posted by kshapero

How is the IQ and also low light photography considering there is no image stabilization?

Hi kshapero

Sorry, but I missed your comment all those months ago.

I find the sensor IQ from ISO 100 to 400 to be exceptional. Easily matches Canon DSLRs. The amount of detail is great and colours are good. At 800 it is less good but still decent. At 1600 and above noise starts to affect colour images, but B&W still looks very good to me. The noise is the grain-type luminous stuff and not blotchy colour noise.

The main issue I have with the sensor is the high-key fall off (not sure if that is the terminology, but I hope you know what I mean). Basically, it whites out too soon and too suddenly. Even so, I am pleased with a number of my high-key images.

I use the 30mm f2 lens almost all the time. It is sharp. Distortion is low and what little there is can be auto-corrected in JPGs and when using the supplied software. My only criticism of the lens is out of focus foreground areas that can be a little weird at times.

I find the camera and 30mm easy to hold still down to the point where subject movement blur becomes a problem.

One quirk of the camera that I have come to like is that in P mode it sticks to wide apertures as long as it can (1,000 @ f2 would not surprise me) so I use P as wide aperture and keep the A mode at f8 to switch to for a smaller aperture.

Another issue is the slow buffer. This camera needs a faster processor. It is not a problem for me while I stay in the same mode (takes maybe 10 shots without getting stuck). The issue appears when changing modes while the buffer writes; turn the mode dial and I need to wait for the buffer to clear before shooting the next shot.

Those minor grumbles aside, I find it an excellent camera in use and in IQ.

These sets on Flickr are all NX100 & 30mm:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjbirde...7626601540951/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjbirde...7626322134759/