Samsung NX3000 Performance

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Samsung NX3000 Performance

Timing and Performance

About average performance for an entry-level model.

Startup/Play to Record
Power on to first shot	~2.0 seconds	Time it takes to turn on and capture a shot.
Play to Record, first shot	~0.9 second	Time until first shot is captured.

Starting up and taking a shot was a bit sluggish, though switching from Play to Record and taking a shot wasn't bad.

Shutter Response (Lag Time)
Full Autofocus, Single-area AF mode	0.298 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with the lens already at the proper focal distance setting. (All timing performed with Samsung 16-50mm PZ kit lens at medium focal length.)
Full Autofocus, Multi-area AF mode	0.302 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with the lens already at the proper focal distance setting.
Full Autofocus, Single-area AF mode Auto flash enabled	0.431 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with the lens already at the proper focal distance setting. Built-in flash enabled.
Manual Focus	0.107 second	For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused".
Prefocused	0.098 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

The Samsung NX3000 exhibited full-autofocus shutter lag (with the subject at a fixed distance) that ranged from 0.298 second in Single-area AF mode to 0.302 second in Multi-area AF mode when using the 16-50mm kit lens in our tests. Enabling the flash increased shutter lag to 0.431 second to account for the preflash metering. This is about average autofocus performance for a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera.

When manually focused, the Samsung NX3000's lag time dropped to 0.107 second, which is good. The NX3000's prefocused shutter lag time was 0.098 second, which is fast but a bit slower than average.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode Large/Super Fine JPEG	0.69 second	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.
Single Shot mode RAW	1.31 seconds	Time per shot, averaged over 5 shots.
Single Shot mode RAW + LSF JPEG	1.34 seconds	Time per shot, averaged over 4 shots.
Early shutter penalty?	Yes	Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.
Continuous Hi Mode Large/Super Fine JPEG	0.19 (5.17 fps); 12 frames total; 5 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over buffer length of 12 shots, then slows to an average of 0.49s or 2.03 fps when buffer is full.
Continuous Hi Mode RAW	0.19 (5.17 fps); 4 frames total; 5 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over buffer length of 4 frames, then slows to an average of 0.98s or 1.02 fps when buffer is full.
Continuous Hi Mode RAW + LSF JPEG	0.19 (5.17 fps); 4 frames total; 8 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over buffer length of 4 frames, then slows to an average of 1.51s or 0.66 fps when buffer is full.
30 fps Burst Mode 5MP JPEGs	0.03 (29.9 fps); 30 frames total; 5 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over fixed buffer length of 30 shots.
Flash Recycling	4.5 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I 95MB/s microSDHC card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Single-shot cycle times when shooting best quality JPEGs was good at about 0.6 seconds, but cycle time more than doubled when shooing RAW or RAW+JPEG files.

Continuous Hi mode at full resolution was a bit below average these days at about 5.2 frames per second, but not bad for an entry-level model. The NX3000's "Burst mode" was very fast at up to 30 frames per second, but it captures 5-megapixel images.

Buffer depths were shallow at only 12 best quality JPEGs, 4 RAW or 4 RAW+JPEG frames. Note that our test target for this is designed to be difficult to compress, so burst lengths may be longer with typical subjects. The NX3000's "Burst mode" captured 30 frames.

Buffer clearing was pretty fast with our fast 95MB/s UHS-I microSDHC card, taking 5 seconds to clear after a burst of 12 large/super fine JPEGs, 5 seconds after 4 RAW frames and 8 seconds after a burst of RAW+ LSF JPEG frames. Note that the NX3000 does make good use of fast cards, as buffer clearing took more than twice as long with a SanDisk Mobile Ultra UHS-I card which is rated at 30MB/s, though buffer depths remained the same.

Bundled flash recycle times were fair, taking an average of 4.5 seconds after a full power discharge.

Bottom line, the Samsung NX3000's performance is about average for an entry-level interchangeable lens mirrorless model.

Battery

Battery Life
Good battery life for a compact system camera.

Operating Mode	Battery Life
Still Capture, (CIPA standard)	370 shots

The Samsung NX3000 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with a single battery and an AC adapter for in-camera charging via USB. Samsung rates the NX3000's battery life at 370 shots per charge using CIPA standards. That's decent battery life for a mirrorless camera, but much lower than typical DSLRs when using their optical viewfinders. We recommend getting a second battery for your NX3000 if you plan any extended outings or shoot a lot of video.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))