Taking Stock 2 - Samsung NX10

One of the items destined for ebay is our Samsung NX10 outfit. Not because its a bad camera or has bad lenses, quite the opposite, but because its a casualty of the quality and convenience of the Panasonic Leica D Vario-Elmar 14-150mm f3.5-5.6.


The Samsung kit zooms are excellent but not as good as the 14-150. There is also no saving in terms of weight as the 50-200 NX zoom is big and heavy. The NX system has sat unused for a long time now. If only the video had been usable then it may have been more useful.


Since we may not be writing about it again, could we repeat once again how good this camera, and its lenses are. It has been replaced in our affections by the purchase of a lens that is hardly commonplace, very special in terms of quality and very expensive. Since you can buy two NX10 systems for the cost of the lens, this is probably not a choice that many people would face. 


If you are looking for a high quality camera system that eliminates most of the bulk and weight of a DSLR and delivers very high quality results, then the Samsung NX10 is an excellent option. Particularly with Samsungs desire to keep prices reasonably low. If you're not that concerned about low light, high ISO performance and like punchy images with saturated colour and excellent handling, then this is a very good alternative to m4/3. There's not a great lens choice currently, and we would suggest that Samsung need to give some thought to a wide-angle, but the lenses that exist are certainly of a very high standard. An excellent first attempt by Samsung.


Words and Image - A

Serious Compacts

Amin Sabet, the founder of the excellent mu-43.com site has asked me to become involved in his new project seriouscompacts.com

I was pleased to accept this invitation and am pretty excited about this new addition to the photographic internet community.

Those who have spent any time on this blog will know of my enthusiasm for the remarkable new small cameras emerging from companies such as Panasonic, Olympus, Samsung, Sony, Ricoh and Leica. Those who like me, are looking for quality without bulk, now have serious alternatives to the DSLR and judging from the popularity of these systems and the lively activity generated by discussions of these cameras, I am not alone in this.

This new site will include, forums, blogs, news, rumours, reviews and deals available. The emphasis is on the use of small(er) cameras and the opportunity they give for serious, quality photography without the need to carry heavy equipment around.

Amin and I hope that you will come and visit, and contribute your experiences, opinions and above all your images.

D

"These days it seems that many people associate serious photography with the use of large, heavy gear. Our site features discussion and testing of the remarkable compact tools available to photographers. We also highlight some of the outstanding work being done with this gear.

In the past two years, we have seen widespread changes in the landscape of compact cameras. While the most basic compact cameras are being replaced by camera phones, cameras like the Panasonic LX3, Ricoh GRD III, Canon S90, Sigma DP2, and Leica X1 have continued to push the limits of fixed lens, small camera capability. Meanwhile, the mirrorless interchangeable lens systems from Olympus, Panasonic, Ricoh, Sony, and Samsung are bringing tremendous versatility in ever smaller form.

Although we are naturally interested in the latest, advanced compact gear, the focus of this site is on quality photography achieved with any compact cameras, whether "advanced" or otherwise."

Amin Sabet

m4/3 & small camera inferiority complex?

Samsung NX10 18-55 Zoom.


This thread has been going for a while now:- http://www.mu-43.com/f35/we-expecting-miracles-format-3979/
Here are a few quotes:-


"I do occasionly browse the dpreview forums, and there seems to be good bit of discontent with the (m4/3) format right now."


"If I was selling cameras, and a customer told me they were interested in the mFT but they just wanted to walk around with a kit lens, never expand their lens collections, and really were just after better dynamic range and higher ISO, I think there are high end P&S cameras that would satisfy."


"At dPreview forum you mainly see the early adopters and hobby / professional with too much money, that is just a small part of the market, but the impact of such reviews should not be underestimated (many people surf on internet, but hardly post). Still this will not make "normal" people buy a full frame DSLR, just because it is better (much more expensive than m43 and probably well above their budget)."


"Not all photographers are "serious" some of us just want to casually take photos so we just want a camera we can carry around with us anywhere and everywhere. P&S's fit most of the needs except image quality."


"Yes. Part of it comes from the attitude that a lot of "SLR" folks have. (Not all, but enough that it's a stereotype.) It's not even just owners but the elitist attitude even happens in stores. It's embarrassing enough and snobby enough that when I had my e410 I felt really really bad about being in public with the camera because I didn't want to be grouped in with "those guys". In the end, I think I took my e410 out of the house less than 10 times in a year.
I'm not saying all SLR owners are like this but I'm sure you've met SLR owners who think they're better than everyone else and thumbs their nose at you because of your gear etc.."

"In my own experiences, there are three types of slr users. The first is the family shooter wanting pictures of their kids running around or just snapshot type photos. The second is the more enthusiast of the group, and the last sorta combines two groups: the high end enthusiast and the professional. "

"Salesmen, at least in my area, are making no attempt at selling the ELP1.

My own experiences at events where lots of cameras are out, the SLR users who have some sort of knowledge, usually have their noses up when I have my PEN out.

Leica X1

Many of the quotes here are from photographers on limited budgets, those looking to upgrade from point and shoot and compact cameras and those who want a camera (at the moment) to merely document their lives. Sound familiar? Certainly does to me and I suspect to many of us. The interesting thing is that they are contributing to a (a rather good) forum. As you will see I have become quite involved. I've got some real concerns here, both about some of the things that are being said, and also the implications of some of these peoples experiences.

Olympus E-P2 Zuiko 40-150mm 4/3 zoom.

When I first began my obsession with photography, there was no internet, let alone photographic forums. Magazines were the source of knowledge and information in those days. Written by (usually) experienced professionals, well aware of the mixed status of their readers, they catered for beginners and "advanced enthusiasts" at the same time. A photographic institution like Amateur Photographer, here in the UK has been doing this for over 125 years.


With the emphasis less on magazines such as this and the proliferation of internet forums a different kind of "knowledge and information" has emerged. Much of it prejudiced, ill-informed and deliberately contentious. This sharing of personal experience may seem a good way to judge the performance of equipment, but in reality is it?


I suspect that its not when people seem to take what is said in forums as representative of the experience of the entire user base of a particular product when it obviously is not. This must be particularly difficult for those who have no great experience or confidence in their choices.


In the comments I have quoted above and others I have seen recently there does seem to be both an element of an "inferiority complex" and a sense of "intimidation" referred to by some of the posts.


"My own experiences at events where lots of cameras are out, the SLR users who have some sort of knowledge, usually have their noses up when I have my PEN out."


To think this is happening and to be affected by it sends out all sorts of wrong messages. It panders to those who promote the view that m4/3 and other small cameras are somehow inferior to the mighty DSLR. Those of us that have been around a while and can cope with much of the nonsense that presents itself on these forums, are able to treat it with the contempt that much of it deserves. Others may however be unable to do that and give some of these subjective, ill-thought out comments much more credence than they deserve.


I'm very reluctant to give advice but would offer the following, with all kinds of "health warnings"!!


1. Be very wary of negative comments by a few people on internet forums. The likelihood is that people who have complaints are much more likely to publish their views than those who have a generally satisfactory experience.
2. Trust your instincts. If you feel a piece of equipment is right for you then it probably is.
3. Don't get put off by people implying that the choice you have made is somehow not what "real photographers" use. Experienced photographers use whatever they think is right for them and are unimpressed by people "lecturing" them on what they "should" use.


On the specific issue of small cameras and m4/3 in particular.


4. If people tell you that these cameras are "inferior" to DSLR's don't believe them, because they are not. With careful exposure and processing you can equal or exceed the image quality of comparable DSLR's.
5. It really is the image that counts, not the camera.


You might also take a look at these:-
http://soundimageplus.blogspot.com/2010/04/enigma-that-is-photographer.html
http://soundimageplus.blogspot.com/2010/02/internet-and-photographer-insecurity.html
http://soundimageplus.blogspot.com/2010/06/scs.html


D



Olympus E-P2 14-42 Kit zoom.



Olympus E-P2 14-42 Kit zoom



Olympus E-P2 14-42 Kit zoom

Gower and the Mumbles

We have just returned from a stock photography shoot in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in West Wales. On the way we stopped off at the Gower Peninsula and The Mumbles near Swansea. The light was very flat to begin with, so we used the Samsung NX10 for its warm high contrast jpgs.



On a Gower beach we found beautiful red and pink wild flowers amongst the sand dunes and in the absence of strong sunlight, concentrated on these using shallow depth of field.





The Samsung NX10 and the three lenses currently available, produce great richly coloured images that can be very "over the top" in bright sunny conditions, but can give a real lift to images taken on dull days. It is possible of course to tweak the jpg settings on most cameras, but we have never found anything approaching the Samsung for such intense colour saturation.


The requirement to produce commercial images that people find attractive and want to publish is very much the prime consideration in travel and landscape photography. Some people seem to object to photographs that do this. Back in the days of film there was a split between users of films like Fuji Velvia and Kodak Panther (A very short-lived yet beautiful film) and other less saturated emulsions. There was some notion of "photographic purity" that was often cited as a reason to use more "conservative" films such as Fuji Provia.


The truth of course was that no film was ever 100% "accurate" In the same way that no sensor in a digital camera reproduces "reality" Considering that we all see colour in a different way, there's not a lot of point to this anyway. The primary consideration with us is, have we produced an image that we are happy with? Also do we think that others might like it too and be prepared to pay to use it? Whether other photographers think that we over-saturate images or use too much photoshop manipulation, is not really of any concern to us. It makes as much sense as criticism of photographers such as Ansel Adams who worked out elaborate systems of exposure and development and used extensive "burning and dodging" techniques to produce his beautiful, yet often "unrealistic" images.


Whatever your photographic "philosophy" or personal preferences there is no "right" or "wrong" way to produce an image. Thankfully we have a wide variety of ways of taking and producing images, and choice and experimentation is always preferable to uniformity.


Our experience of the world through our eyes (the best lenses ever produced), is 3D, capable of incredible dynamic range and colour differentiation. The world is full of intense saturated colour, and it is often very difficult to produce a photographic image that does it justice.


Returning to the Welsh trip, the clouds did eventually lift late in the day and we able to get some dramatic shots of the Gower (Top Image) and the Mumbles Lighthouse (Below)


D & A

Eco Nonsense

I was told many years ago by a picture library owner that they didn't carry many pictures of landscapes with oilseed rape in them because they didn't sell. Newspapers and magazines wouldn't publish them as when they did they got a string of complaints. I remember when these yellow fields started to proliferate across the country, there were dire warnings about how they would repel birds and insects. It appears that this last fear is unfounded, and in fact the opposite happens. Oilseed rape fields attract more birds and insects.

In the UK there is a natural conservatism towards change and the environment. There are cries of "anti-nature" from people about genetically modified food and nuclear power. Often from the same people who are prepared to let countries like Nigeria disappear under an oil slick to provide fuel for their 4x4's. There is also an assumption that "nature is our friend" Its not, its just nature, and will just as likely kill us as cure us. There are also "evil scientists" and "malevolent multi-nationals" out to rid us of our money and health in order to enhance their reputations and make profits. Funny how the more chemicals we ingest, the less "natural" our lives, the more healthier we get and the longer we live. People seem to forget that leprosy, malaria and the black death are "natural" and existed long before we started to manipulate the environment.

I'm an ex-member of Greenpeace. There was a time when I was convinced by many things that they said. But their constant desire to return us to some modern day feudal society, where nobody moves more than 5 miles from where they were born and has to spend their whole life knitting clogs by candlelight never really appealed to me. (OK I'm exaggerating!) The final straw was when they had a spokeswoman who lived in France and "commuted" to the UK on a regular basis. If ever there was a case of "Do what I say, not what I do" that was it. When Jonathon Porritt then went off to work for Prince Charles (a man who flies off to enviromental conferences in a private jet!!!) I became almost apoplectic in my opposition to this cosy, class-riddled, "know your place" vision of the world, promoted by a series of millionaire drones with too much time on their hands. (Moving your money to some tax haven can't take that long!!) Add in the fact that the "environmental lobby" has stated very clearly that its aim is to shock and over-estimate the dangers (and lie through its teeth it seems) and you have a situation where when the wolf really does appear we will ignore it as just another cry from a bunch of "tree huggers"

Anyway back to oilseed rape! There are many threats to our environment, and often from sources who are supposedly there to protect it. Seen some farms these days? Many make the local rubbish tip seem attractive. As someone who lives in the countryside I am as concerned as anyone about what we may loose if we don't have some belief in trying to avoid harming our environment. However this has to be achieved without distortion and misrepresentation, and some proper studies and facts in place of hyperbole and propaganda wouldn't go amiss.

I certainly see no harm in these bright yellow fields that liven up often drab landscapes.

D

Images by D & A

Taken using a Leica X1 and a Samung NX0 + 50-200 zoom

Samsung NX10 on Location

While not quite approaching the Leica X1 in terms of image quality, this first opportunity to use the Samsung NX10 for a prolonged period over several days, proved just what a useful little camera this is. Once again the kit zooms proved their quality. They really are very good. We really can't think of any other comparable lenses we have used that betters them. Considering the package price for the camera + 18-55 and 50-200mm lenses this is remarkable value.

The NX10 system is closer to a conventional DSLR outfit in terms of size and weight than micro four thirds for example, but is still smaller and lighter. As has been stated here before, we prefer the NX10 over m4/3 in terms of handling, colour, dynamic range and overall image quality. Having previously been somewhat suspicious of Samsung as a brand, due to previous experience, its been a genuinely pleasant surprise using this camera. It is a little gem, with its ease of use and quality results.

Images - D & A

We do like to be beside the seaside

Anyone who knows the British will be aware of our tendency, when anything resembling summer approaches, to rip off our clothes and head off to anywhere, no matter how scruffy, beside the sea.

Speaking as someone who currently resembles a patchy lobster I can testify to the attraction of that! A few pictures from our recent glorious weekend, when for a few days Britain impersonated the Cote d'Azur.

D

Samsung NX10 Panoramas

Samsung NX10. Multi-image panoramic stitches created in PTGui, Edited in Photoshop CS5.

Images D & A

Busy Week

The end of a busy week, including band photography, video in a factory and several stock shoots saw the first hint of summer with a couple of warm sunny days. I must have had a good time since I'm lying here typing this with a sore back!!

All above taken with Samsung NX10. The more I use this camera, the more I like it. The 18-55mm kit lens is a real surprise. A very good lens indeed. When I carried out some tests on this lens compared with the 30mm F2, I found it to be very similar in performance. http://soundimageplus.blogspot.com/2010/04/samsung-nx10-prime-or-zoom.html

It is astonishingly good for a kit zoom, excellent sharpness. Plus of course this wonderful Samsung colour. Who would have guessed?

The rest are Leica M9 shots. This is a camera I would use a lot more if it wasn't for the fact that it is VERY bad for accumulating dust spots. Shots at f16 with a blue sky take ages to clean up. I've taken to blower-brushing the sensor every time I use it to keep the spots under control. Full-frame sensors are all very bad for this. I also doubt whether the rangefinder construction will ever allow any kind of dust removal system.

Still, incredible performance as usual.

D