Samsung NX10: first test shots

Samsung's NX10 will compete against the likes of the Olympus Pen, Panasonic GF1 and Ricoh GXR cameras, which occupy the space between advanced compact cameras and traditional digital SLRs. The NX10 relies on an APS-C sized sensor (bigger than the Micro Four Thirds system favoured by Olympus and Panasonic, and the same size as the Ricoh GXR with A12 GR Lens).

The Samsung NX10 has a 14-megapixel sensor and uses the NX lens mount system, but a converter will be available for K-mount lenses. It has a 3in AMOLED screen, but also features a built-in electronic viewfinder (EVF) and flash. It's this complete feature-set, as well as a supremely easy to use menu system, full manual control as well as intelligent auto mode, that should make this camera one of the most popular in its category. Its low price of $899 -- with a 30mm pancake lens, mind you -- should help matters, too.

What follows is a selection of images taken with the NX10 while on a visit to Taronga Zoo, organised by Samsung. None of the pictures have been altered except for some cropping and rotating due to dodgy tripods and uneven ground.
Popular fellow: photographers vie for close ground to snap the echidna's pointy details.
Koala in bright sunlight. Shot using aperture priority and single auto focus.
Close up of the koala's claw to show how well the NX10 captures details.
Close up of the koala's fur.
The NX10 and its pancake and zoom lenses all have the ability to render beautiful bokeh while keeping the main subject crisp. You can easily change focus points and also the size of the focus point.
Shooting the echidna was difficult, as the white balance changed depending on the angle and level of zoom.
But colours looked natural for the most part.
Long exposure of the Sydney skyline. Rotated to compensate for uneven ground.
Sydney Harbour Bridge: using the tele-zoom lens, the NX10 captured great detail.
Long exposure: Sydney Opera House. Manual focus was used in all of the night-time shots.
Low-light photography has never been so challenging. We had to switch to the 30mm pancake lens in order to get this shot, as we needed as wide an aperture as possible. We had to sacrifice range in doing so.
Giraffes at night: flash photography isn't allowed at the zoo as it can startle animals and even damage their eyes, so a red light is shone instead. This helped us to manually focus on them.
You can see the red torch in action here.
Looking over the giraffe pen towards the city. Manual focus was honed on the lights in the background.
The camera coped as well as could be expected in all lighting conditions.
We were able to get close to the giraffes during a behind the scenes tour. We were also allowed to feed them carrots.
Antics by these giraffes. Well worth spending a lot of time watching them when you visit the zoo. Be sure to take a zoom lens so you can snap their tongues, which they love to poke out at you.
How rude!
More low-light shooting. Perhaps the most difficult animal to shoot.
Not even optical image stabilisation, a high ISO and wide aperture could keep this sharp.
The tiger would not sit still as it was anticipating feeding time.

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