Popular Photography - February 2015 USA

LAB *
ILC TEST
SHOWN
SAMSUNG NX1
all image quality rating of Excellent
from ISO 100 through 3200.
In our resolution test, the NX1
captured 3015 lines per picture
height at its lowest sensitivity of
ISO 100. Even at ISO 6400, it still
pulled in 2575 lines before falling
to 2390 lines at ISO 12,800. At its
highest sensitivity of ISO 51,200,
the NX1 served up 2000 lines.
To compare, Nikon’s 24MP
D7100 ($897, street, body only)
delivered 2820 lines at ISO 100,
dipped to 2470 at ISO 6400, and
got 2230 at its top sensitivity of
ISO 25,600. Canon’s 20.2MP EOS
7D Mark II ($1,799, street, body
only), tested on page 65, served up
2660 lines at ISO 100, 2490 at ISO
3200, and 1800 at ISO 51,200. All
in all, it seems that Samsung’s use
of a BSI sensor paid off when it
comes to capturing fine detail.
Noise performance also seems
to have benefitted from the new
sensor. As always with cameras
that ship with Lightroom, since
there are no default settings,
we applied varying amounts of
luminance noise reduction (NR)
during RAW conversion to find the
best balance between noise and
resolution in the resulting 16-bit
uncompressed TIFFs. For our final
test results, we applied 25 percent
NR to images shot at ISO 100–400,
50 percent to those at ISO 800, and
75 percent at ISO 1600–51,200.
This kept noise to a Low or better
rating up to ISO 3200, rising to
Moderately Low at ISO 6400, and
reaching Unacceptable at ISO
12,800 and above.
Comparisons? Using the default
NR settings in Canon’s Digital
Photo Professional 4 software, the
7D Mark II kept noise to a Low or
better rating up to ISO 1600 and
reached Unacceptable at ISO 6400.
Nikon’s D7100, again at default NR
settings in its supplied software,
kept noise to a Low or better rating
up to ISO 1600 and reached Unacceptable
at ISO 12,800.
Both the Canon and Nikon
maintained top honors of an
Extremely Low noise rating longer
than the NX1 did (Canon to ISO
200 and Nikon to ISO 400), but
judicious application of Lightroom’s
NR should yield lower
noise while matching or exceeding
the resolving power of the Canon
or Nikon, thanks to the NX1’s
higher pixel count. At the settings
we used, the NX1 served up
2875 lines at ISO 400, beating the
D7100’s 2820 at ISO 100.
In the Field
Forget the notion of compactness
in an ILC. The Samsung NX1 is
almost an inch wider and about
half an inch taller than Canon’s
While it’s a
minor gripe,
the NX1’s
command
wheels
aren’t
quite as
comfortable
as the ones
on Canon’s
EOS 7D or
Nikon’s
D300s.
*25% noise reduction **50% noise reduction ***75% noise reduction
TEST RESULTS
IMAGE QUALITY ISO 100–3200
POOR
EXCELLENT
EXCELLENT
RESOLUTION ISO 100
1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
POOR
COLOR ACCURACY
HIGH
NOISE
UNACCEPTABLE
3015
EXCELLENT 7.5
HIGHLIGHT/SHADOW DETAIL
LOW
CONTRAST
EXTREMELY LOW 0.9*
VERY LOW 1.2*
LOW 1.6*
LOW 1.6**
VERY LOW 1.3***
LOW 1.6***
MODERATELY LOW 2.2***
UNACCEPTABLE 3.3***
UNACCEPTABLE 4.5***
UNACCEPTABLE 7.1***
EXTREMELY HIGH
HIGH
EXCELLENT
EXCELLENT
EXCELLENT
AT ISO
100
200
400
800
1600
3200
6400
12,800
25,600
51,200
3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5
EXTREMELY LOW
EXTREMELY HIGH
LOW
EXTREMELY HIGH
WITHOUT LENS
EOS Rebel SL1, the smallest DSLR.
Sure, the NX1’s body is about 0.15
inch shallower than the Canon’s,
but this ILC isn’t tiny. And given
that it’s aimed at higher-end users,
we think this is a good thing.
An advanced camera should
have a firm grip, and a little bit of
heft can be helpful when trying
to shoot steadily, especially with
70 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY FEBRUARY 2015