Samsung Micro Four Thirds Overview

Olympus in particular is easy to find in Korea, but apart from that everything other than Samsung can be a bit if a Yeti hunt. Samsung, needless to say, is available in pretty much any store in Korea that carries cameras.

Although Samsung makes mirrorless cameras, don’t get confused and think they are Micro Four Thirds. Samsung’s cameras are essentially the same, but they don’t follow the standard that has been laid down. Their sensors, for instance, are a bit larger and they claim to get closer to the quality of the crop sensor DLSR cameras than any of the Micro Four Third cameras.

The largest their cameras is the NX20. It has a 20.3 megapixel sensor with an ISO range of 100-12800 and the body is equipped with a swivelling AMOLED screen. The kit comes with a 18-55 mm lens. A kit retails at about 1,150,000 and 1,350,00won.

The larger sensor of the NX20 means that the body and lenses are often heavier than equivalent Micro Four Third cameras. Its image processing is said to be on the slow side and the RAW files produced are massive considering what kind of camera you are using.

All in all it sounds like this is not a bad camera at all, but I get the impression that with the Samsung brand the lower end NX210 andNX1000 are better deals. Also, don’t even bother thinking about this model if small and compact is what you are looking for.

Samsung’s NX210 seems to me to be the basically the same things as the NX20, but with a metal body and a smaller more compact design. The prices are quite close to the NX20 and ranges from 1,050,000 to 1,350,000 won. If you want what the NX20 offers, but need your handbag/manbag space, then grab this with a pancake lens.

The last one I will mention is the NX1000. It has the same basic sensor specs as the previous two cameras, but with a few changes that make it cheaper. It is housed in a plastic body and fitted with a “lower quality” LCD display . The kit lens is also not the same and it comes with a 20-50mm II lens.

The NX1000 might not feel as pro as the previous two, but at a price of between 600,000 and 700,000won you might be willing to ignore that. Slap a 30mm F2.0 lens at about 350,000 won on this camera and you have something light and compact, capable of taking good photos of most things that your eyes can see.

A direct comparison shows that there is very little between the three models. All in all it will likely come down to price and looks.