Street photography may be undergoing a resurgence right now, but as anyone who’s tried it knows, it’s a perilous subject in the 21st Century, opening you up to the unwelcome attention of police scrutiny and an increasingly hostile public. Some, such as Bruce Gilden (BJP, 23 September 2009), take a brazen approach, but I’ve always felt being better connected to the subject with a smaller camera, and if trying to work discretely, then the smaller the camera the better. 

Responding to the downturn in digital SLR sales, certain camera makers (especially those not cushioned by the professional market) have seen an opportunity to deliver compact size bodies boasting not only interchangeable lenses but SLR-size sensors and HD video. Without a mirror box and pentaprism arrangement, this type of camera is far less complex to manufacture. And yet while the concept is still new, premium prices can be charged.

Panasonic was first to market with the DSLR-style Lumix G1, based on the Micro Four Thirds format, although its partner Olympus garnered greater praise for the smaller, retro-styled Pen E-P1 and successive models. Sony joined the fray more recently with an even larger APS-C size sensor at the heart of its tiny NEX models, but only after its less-experienced rival, Samsung, got there first with the NX10.

The NX10 has a 14.6 megapixel CMOS APS-C size sensor with a 921k dot electronic viewfinder and a three-inch rear panel based on a recently adopted technology. It’s an AMOLED (Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) panel that’s said to consume less power and deliver greater brightness than regular versions, thereby promising clearer viewing in bright sunlight.

Although the technology has been around for a while, early AMOLED panels weren’t widely adopted by camera makers due to a short service life. But as a pioneer in the fabrication, Samsung presumably has overcome that particular deficiency.

Well the display is certainly brighter, and bigger, than that of Olympus Pens’ screens, and the clarity makes it far easier on the eye under normal viewing conditions. But in bright sunlight there’s not much to distinguish the two. The Samsung screen is actually more reflective, and when smudged it’s hard to clean.

I didn’t test battery life specifically, but the impression I got was that the overall stamina was significantly superior to both the Lumix GF1 or Pen offerings.

In fairness, the AMOLED screen isn’t bad, but with the bright sun we’ve been having lately, the electronic viewfinder is a better choice. The NX10 remains small despite the viewfinder being arranged over the lens axis, giving a distinct DSLR-like appearance, complete with pop-up flash and hotshoe.

There’s a small but otherwise perfectly serviceable grip, which together with the viewfinder hump means it’s slightly bigger than the Olympus E-PL1, but the ergonomics, build and overall layout are all highly competent. For the first of its kind, it feels very sorted.

The viewfinder is less detailed than you might imagine given the resolution. Focusing is via contrast detection, and while I nearly always trust these systems – as they use the imaging sensor itself, rather than a dedicated sensor located elsewhere – I also like the ability to manually focus using a magnified image. It’s an especially useful feature when a camera has an electronic viewfinder, and helps overcome some of the downsides.

Unfortunately, the approximate 5× magnification isn’t nearly enough. I would prefer to see at least 7×, and preferably 10× magnification for more difficult, low contrast subjects. Moreover, there isn’t a continuous or single autofocus option with real-time manual focus override like the Pen cameras have – it’s just either or. I’m sure it wouldn’t be difficult to add with a firmware update, but if it is, perhaps Samsung will add it in future models.

As well as the plethora of autofocus options such as face detection self-portrait modes, the NX10 has a standout feature in its adjustable-size single AF frame. It’s not new – the Canon Powershot G9 and later models have it – but where the NX10 differs is in the range of adjustment, varying fairly seamlessly between 10 and two percent of the viewfinder image.  You can shift this frame around the finder image quite easily, using just two button pushes of the direction-pad, allowing an unusually precise point for focus detection and measurement.

Naturally, the NX10 has HD video capture, up to 720p in AVCHD – H.264/MP4, but limited to 25 minutes at a time for tax reasons. Quality is pretty good, but there’s a noticeable rolling shutter effect during panning. It’s also visible on the rear screen, literally in real time, no doubt due to the AMOLED’s high refresh rates.

However, while there’s a mini HDMI port for playback on an external monitor, or TV, it lacks a mic socket – a serious omission that Olympus also overlooked and subsequently quickly added to the E-P2 and E-PL1 models, albeit with a hotshoe adaptor.

At £499, the NX10 is competitively priced and comes with an optically image stabilised 18-55mm kit lens. With its all-plastic construction, it’s a starter lens in every sense, right down to the polycarbonate mount, but undeniably handy all the same.

Pancakes anyone?
No new mirrorless system could be without an enormous image-stabilised 50-200mm (75-300mm equivalent) f/4-5.6 zoom, so it seems, but one of the highlights is a 30mm (45mm equivalent) f/2 pancake, which can be had in another kit option available for an additional £100.

There’s a K-mount adaptor as well, opening the huge range of Pentax lenses, but don’t forget the NX10 lacks in-body stabilisation, so they’ll remain without any form of vibration correction.

I was sent the 30mm pancake lens and it’s much more convincing than the still quite bulky 18-55mm kit zoom. It’s very small, around the same length as the Olympus M Zuiko 17mm (34mm equivalent) f/2.8, but with a larger diameter and larger 43mm filter thread (as opposed to the tiny 37mm of the Zuiko). It won’t win any awards for its build but is perfectly able, and similar in construction to the Olympus.

Unfortunately, it lacks image stabilisation, but it features an aspherical lens in its construction. A 5mm or so wide ring uses an electronic system to adjust focus, and there is no distance scale, so there’s nothing in the way of feedback other than what you see in the finder. Focus operation is only slightly quicker than the Olympus, but optical performance is on a par centrally and, perhaps unsurprisingly given the focal length, a good deal better at the edges. Even wide open, edge performance is very good and there was practically no distortion or chromatic aberration with out-of camera JPEGs, the latter thanks to some in-camera correction.

Raw files are unsupported by third parties at this time, which is a shortcoming in terms of workflow, but Samsung bundles a decent raw converter written by Silkypix. The raw converter has options to remove geometric distortion, chromatic aberration and apply Samsung’s dynamic range optimisation algorithm, coined Smart range. This is available in-camera as well and, while subtle, you can just detect a change in the histogram, and I found it does help. The downside in-camera is the loss of the base ISO 100 setting, a slight decrease in shot-to-shot times and a nominal increase in noise.

Noise levels are one of the shortcomings of the NX10. With an APS-C camera you may expect noise levels to be lower than Micro Four Thirds cameras, but the 14.6 megapixel sensor, presumably the same, or a slight derivative of that used in the Pentax K-7, is innately noisy. Sensor gain runs to ISO 3200, but even ISO 1600 lacks a fair amount of fine detail, while still displaying some chroma noise. White balance inaccuracies were also an issue with incandescent lighting, but it’s really only a problem with JPEGs.

Overall, the NX10, especially with the pancake lens, is arguably the best camera of its type, but it’s not without several shortcomings. Perhaps the most obvious is the fact the Olympus Pens and Lumix models are already established and the NX10 doesn’t add anything new. But if Samsung was to add more primes, especially a short, fast tele, then it would be a different proposition.

www.samsung-camera.com