Samsung NX10 Flash

Coverage and Range
A reasonably powerful flash given the camera's size, with somewhat narrow coverage. Our standard flash shots required an average amount of exposure compensation.

Coverage and Exposure. Flash coverage was moderately uneven at wide-angle (18mm), but much more uniform at telephoto (55mm). In the Indoor test, the Samsung NX10's flash underexposed our subject at the default setting, requiring +0.7 EV flash exposure compensation adjustment, which is average among the cameras we tested for this shot. The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode produced good results without any flash exposure compensation, though with a strong pink-orange cast from the ambient room lighting.

ISO 100 Range. Flash exposure started out bright at 6 feet at wide angle and actually became brighter up to about 9 feet, where it started to decrease gradually as distance increased. Images were still usable all the way out to 16 feet, though. At telephoto, flash exposures started out slightly dim at 6 feet, and gradually became dimmer as distance increased. Flash images at full telephoto would likely be acceptable up to about 9 feet. Very good results for a relatively small camera here.

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Samsung NX10's built-in flash has a Guide Number (GN) of 11 meters at ISO 100. That works out to about 10.3 feet at f/3.5 and 6.4 feet at f/5.6, the maximum aperture of the kit zoom lens at wide angle and telephoto respectively. At wide angle, the NX10 performed as Samsung says it will, producing a bright exposure (actually, slightly overexposed by about 1/3 EV) at the rated distance. At telephoto, the exposure was just a touch dim, underexposed by about 1/5 EV. Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.