Point of view: Samsung NX vs the new Nikon DL

I've been thinking to write some post to compare what i have (NX) with what the market offer.

Nikon has just presented the DL lines and i really like this idea. I think that the main flaw of the line is the price, but beside that it is really the kind of product that people like me would enjoy.

The DL 18-50 is a great toy if you are a landscape shooter, but i am not.

I also dont like megazoom so the 24-500 is not my target.

The boring DL 24-85 is the product for me and i do my comparision with the low end NX3000, fitted with a 16-50, 24-77 equivalent, so very close.

To complete the equivalence we have this:

Nikon with a 24-85 f5-f8 (2.7 crop factor)
Samsung with a 24-77 f5.6-f9 (1.54 crop factor)

As you can see the aperture number converted to their equivalnce are not so exciting for both Nikon DL and Samsung NX. This equivalence is useful to understand what bokeh offer these lenses. There is 1/3 of difference so i will say that you will not get any advantage from the Nikon DL numbers.

On the other hand, you will effectively get '2 stops' more light with the Nikon at the tele end.

This sensible difference is mitigated by 2 facts:

1) if the sensor has the same performance of the best Nikon 1 sensor actually on the market (and i should be!), the DL series has a Dxomark rating around 500 iso where the NX is about 900. 1 stop difference in favor of the Samsung.

2) the smaller sensor will gather some more "light noise"

This makes the gap between the two camera smaller, but belive me, for a 1inch sensor is really a good archivement.

The Nikon weight 350g (105 x 61 x 50 mm), the Samsung NX3000 weight 385g (117 x 66 x 39 mm), so size is very similar, they are in the same class.

I think that the real difference between the two are:

1) AF system

2) Price

I expect the Nikon to be better in the AF compartment, from one side.

On the other side, if AF is not a real issue for you, i dont see any reason  to pay 200-250$ more for a Nikon DL over a Samsung NX. This, putting a side the fact that the samsung is an interchangeable lens!

Cheap Samsung NX lenses as spareparts

[Thanks to SpacemanUA for this informations: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/57042702 ]

Samsung provides very strange service and repair policy. They actually don't "repair" lenses if, say, something is wrong with motor or aperture unit (as Canon or Nikon does). They just replace the whole lens. For example, I had 45mm 3D lens that had oil on it's aperture blades. But service manual for this lens has only two parts: lens and lens mount. That's it, you can't buy aperture unit. Thanks no engineers, it has simple constriction, so I managed to disassemble it and clean aperture very easy. But, I digress...
You can buy "spare parts" in Samsung service or any website or shop, that sells it. And there is very interesting "part" called "ASSY BARREL TOTAL". It means complete lens. With caps. No hood. It will come in grey carton box with a limited warranty for a few months. And the price... Get ready to be surpirsed.
Here is a short list of models and corresponding part numbers. I won't post links, where you can buy it - just Google it. You can find another part numbers there and find the lens you need. I also post prices that are in list for today.

http://www.SamsungParts.com
in brazil comclick 
Following this thread, I found that this Australian site seems to have all the parts numbers:
http://www.sparepartsmarket.com.au/Samsung/camera-lens-c-14_6297_6955.html?osCsid=bg0ghtev5778mnh6qi70djqhi2

10mm f/3.5 - AD97-23814A - $138.20
16mm f/2.4 - AD97-21701A - $161.70
30mm f/2 - AD97-18379A - $124.26
45mm f/1.8 2D - AD97-23093B - $183.82
AD97-23093A - $139.27 - XL1201
AD97-23093B - $183.82 - XL1202,BLK,45MM
AD97-23093C - $185.14 - XL1202_45MM_3D,WHITE
AD97-23093D - $193.01 - XL1202,WHITE
60mm f/2 - AD97-21044A - $383.17
85mm f/1.4- AD97-21694A - $514.34
12-24mm f/4-5.6 - AD97-23085A - $184.47
16-50mm f/2-2.8 - AD97-23876A - $621.67
50-150mm f/2.8 - AD97-24501A - $757.74
18-200mm Part #: AD97-22579A - $559.54
50-200mm black AD97-18493B
50-200mm white AD97-18493C
And you can get spare batteries in the same way as well. For example, NX30 battery:
BP1410 - AD43-00225A
lens hood for the 16-50mm S lens: AD97-24158A - $14.88
tripod mount AD97-24486A

Head and Shoulders portrait with Samsung Flash GN42 or SEF42

I found myself very comfortable with this flash. I discovered that when you are in for a portrait with a focal around 50mm (i was on with my 18-55), the best use of the light that i found was frame for an head and shoulders portrait with the flash angled at 45 degree.

This way you got the right illumination for the face (not too "lucid") and also save yourself for some heavy panda eyes!

If you get closer (like with the nice 30mm prime) you may need to use a wider angle (60 or more). I did not experiment on that, maybe i'll do next time.

You should enjoy your RAW process part 1

One thing that change when i switched to NX system was shooting in RAW.

My Sony workflow was "in camera": the target was to shot in right exposure, white balance, color, etc etc.

The revolution started because NX sysyem was pretty good up to 800 iso (while with the a200 anything over 400 iso was awful...) but with computer noise reduction i could have gone uo to 3200.

So I started shooting RAW, initially only over iso 800, but then all the picture.

Because i evolved.

I discovered that RAW editing can be fun, just as you where extending your shooting time.

But the most important thing i discovered is that every decent picture deserve is own developement. Deserve you finding the best style fitting every single frame. Some picture need saturation, some other need soft colors. Some should be slight underexposed, some needed more light.

I know someone will tell you you should have your own style, but i think that exploring every single shot is just more fun!

How sensor size affect performance...

Ok, this may be a long post, i have so much things in my head!

One thing i am doing is try to take control of the DOF+Aperture+Subject Distance+Background distance.

The compromise may be between having eough subject in focus, the background as blurred as i can but without having a huge background, keep the distance from the subject low since i may be shooting in places where i have not much room to step back.

I often use a 30mm, i already stopped it down at 2.8 with the idea that the head of the cat should always be completely in focus. But afeter all i like better when the whole cat is in focus: the texture of the fur should be defined and well contrasted in the whole body!

So i started reading about aperture and the jureny has begun...

I ended up reading this:

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/2666934640/what-is-equivalence-and-why-should-i-care/

i already readed this when it was published but i was missing something... I start reading the comments this time and it opened up my mind...

If you look to some ISO test around you will see that FF is being a whole stop better than apsc (being sensor similar in technology...). I always tought that it was due to the sensor size but now i understand that there is a bigger factor!

I assumed that iso 100 was "no signal amplification" to make it easy. iso 200 = 2x singnal amplification and so on... Totally wrong. If we assume that iso 100 is "no signal amplification" on a fullframe sensor, the same iso on a apsc sensor needs (and gets) a 2x signal amplification, 4x on a mft sized sensor, 8x on a point and shot camera. If you look at it from this perspective the P&S sensor is doing a really good job: getting an almost noisless image at iso 100 on a P&S camera is light getting an almost noisless image with a FF.

On the other side, it makes hard to go with the quality of a point and shot.

Where does this takes me?

No surprise that if the actual Iso/DOF performance (apsc samsung nx) is nearly fitting my needs there is no chance that actual mft sensor will do the same. On the other hand if one day i will choose to go for a FF i really will not need a stoped down lenses because DOF I need is simpliy provided by a standard lens (classic f3.5-f5.6 standard zoom).

From compact to mirrorless: video focusing

When i compare my hx5 with my nx1100 i notice that AF in video seems a lot better.

Since i recently started considering more factors i may have understood the cause and a way to fix it.

Both cameras uses CDAF but have a very differente DOF. When I use  the NX i tend to use the wider aperture i can to gather more light and take full advantage from the large sensor. This make AF harder and slower. Now, wherever i can, istop down by 2 and i get far better AF!

Consider that i am not a "videographer" by any means. All i do is document some family scene so no need for focus and bokeh techniques in my videos!

CDAF vs PDAF

One thing that i left back when i switched from Sony Dslr to Samsung Mirrorless system is Autofocus.

Orginal plan was to keep both system because of Af performance of my a200, but when i found myself never using the dslr anymore i understood that i already made my choice and AF performance gap was not so relevant for me.

So the dslr was sold but everytime you miss a picture because of AF you put in discussion the decision...

So i spent some time reading about CDAF and PDAF and how they perform.

One thing i discovered is AFMA: Auto Focus Micro Adjustment. A number of Pro and semiPro Dslrs have this feature. Why? Because PDAF is less accurate than you would expected so an adjustment may be needed.

So, to describe the situation:

CDAF focus better than PDAF

PDAF is faster than CDAF

CDAF allow live view

PDAF has higher hit percentage than CDAF (sometimes CDAF focus on the wrong object or in the background)

PDAF focus better in low light and in low contrast situation

Today Hybrid AF seems a valuable options, but many think that CDAF will catch up PDAF in the future.