Samsung NX Mini - Initial gallery images posted

 

 

I was excited to hold the Samsung NX Mini for the first, as it just has this "engineering marvel" feel about it. It's quite compact, yes, but it also feels solid and potent. Naturally, I couldn't wait to sneak it out of the lab for some real world shooting fun.

The trouble is, they only sent us the 9mm (24mm eq.) prime that comes with one of the kit options, but have as yet been unable to get us the kit zoom lens (a 3x 9-27mm) nor the lens mount adapter that allows for shooting with standard NX mount lenses. I thought for a day about waiting, and then couldn't resist a weekend outing even though I imagined I'd be fairly limited in scope by the wide angle prime.

I'm happy to report that I had a ball with the NX Mini and this little 9mm prime lens, and didn't miss the additional options a bit. Maybe it was a great way to experience the camera for the first time in it's truly small form factor before adding any heft to it for the sake of different focal lengths or settings. I took my kids on a Sunday excursion to a state park and fired away, and as you can expect, it felt a lot more like a compact camera or smartphone than most any ILC I've ever hiked with. Certainly the Panasonic GM1 and the Olympus E-PM2 are great hiking ILCs with very small form factors for what they are, but the NX Mini does take it a step further in the slim and trim direction, especially with the 9mm attached - both camera and lens barely top 1.25 inches in total width. (Of course, it is only fair to the other mentioned cameras to note that they have sensors that are roughly twice the size of the sensor found in the NX Mini.)

The initial 21 images I've posted are waiting for you to scope, pixel peep and analyze in our Samsung NX Mini Gallery. Below are a few selections for a quick glance, all straight from the camera JPEGs with no post-processing other than a re-size to fit this page. All images were shot handheld except for the one mentioned tripod shot.

 

1/500s / f/6.3 / ISO 160

 

1/30s / f/4 / ISO 200

 

1/250s / f/3.5 / ISO 160

 

1/30s / f/4 / ISO 400

 

1/500s / f/4 / ISO 400 ("cool" filter engaged)

 

1/8s / f/3.5 / ISO 800 (shot on a tripod with the "retro" filter engaged)

 

1/320s / f/4 / ISO 400

As always, from our gallery page you can access the full resolution files as delivered by the camera, RAW files where applicable and the full EXIF data. Stay tuned for our full report of the Samung NX Mini coming soon.

[quick links: Samsung NX Mini • Gallery • First Shots]