Hands-on with the Samsung NX200 camera

Thanks to the rather sedate pace of sensor development by Micro Four Thirds-backers Olympus and Panasonic, for a while it looked like as if interchangeable-lens cameras (ILCs) would be refreshingly free of excessive megapixellation. But manufacturers using APS-C-size sensors seem determined to undermine every advantage the larger sensor confers by packing them with increasing numbers of photosites. Sony’s latest Alpha NEX model delivered its 24-megapixel sensor, and now Samsung offers up a 20-megapixel sensor in its new NX200. (What I find interesting is that the companies driving the increasing resolution are all camera companies who also make sensors–Canon, Sony and Samsung.)

Thankfully, there’s more to the NX200 than just a lot of pixels. I had a chance to shoot with a preproduction version, along with a bunch of the new lenses, and liked it quite a bit. For one, it’s much better than the NX100–smaller, yet conversely more comfortable to grip, and more solidly built. Samsung has also redesigned its i-Function lenses, and the new 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens, while slow as all the other kit lenses, operates much more smoothly and feels better constructed than its predecessor’s 20-50mm model. It’s not nearly as compact, though, which puts it at a slight disadvantage compared to, say, Panasonic’s new Lumix X series collapsible lens. (I forgot to take photos of the lenses. D’oh,cube puzzle!)

For those unfamiliar with Samsung’s i-Function system, it consists of a button on the lens which invokes shooting settings, such as ISO sensitivity or shutter speed, which you then change using the manual-focus ring. The system works well, and it feels much like shooting with the Canon PowerShot S95 or Olympus XZ-1. It distinguishes the NX cameras from the other ILCs in a way that adds to the shooting experience rather than detracts from it.