Digital Photography Review

Live View

Like its Micro Four Thirds competitors (and most modern compacts) the NX10 is a pure 'live view' camera - and framing is done using the LCD screen or electronic viewfinder. The disadvantages associated with this are well documented; in very bright light the glare from the screen reflection can make it hard to see and in very low light the preview image can get a little noisy, electronic viewfinders can't offer the clarity of a good optical system and traditionally there's been a serious trade off in focus speed when using the sensor for AF.

But there are some advantages too; you get a lot more information overlaid on the preview image than any optical viewfinder can offer, and using the sensor for composition means that things like white balance, color effects and exposure can be assessed before you take the shot. And the viewfinder is a lot bigger and brighter than many entry-level SLRs. The NX10 (like most compacts) also allows you to control just about every aspect of its operation using on-screen controls, meaning it's a lot easier to keep an eye on what's happening in the frame even when changing settings.

The most important part of this discussion - how fast the NX10 can focus - we're going to have to leave until we've got a final product (ours is a pretty early pre-production model), but the good news is that it appears to be in the same ballpark as the Panasonic G series (Samsung engineers tell us they're pretty sure that the final product will - overall, taking all shooting scenarios into consideration - be faster than the GF1). We're happy to report that our initial impressions are that focus speed isn't going to be a major issue with the NX system.

Live view display modes

The NX10's live view display has - as you might expect - elements common to compact camera user interfaces, but it's done with a real panache, and looks very pretty. The screen can get a little crowded with information, and we'd like to see an interface that was a little more customizable, but overall there's little to fault here, and any compact camera upgrader (Samsung's intended market for this camera) will find it immediately approachable. Pressing the DISP button cycles through the various display options, and you do get a little control over what you see in the third 'User' display mode (the icons, grid lines and histogram can be turned on or off).

Basic shooting mode: exposure information (plus frame counter and battery level indicator)	With icons


User display mode. Histogram, grid lines and icons can be turned on and off using the User setting menu. There are four grid options (2x2, 3x3 '+' and 'X').	In Smart Auto mode you get a simplified display plus an indication of the scene type detected.

In movie mode you get a similar display (the icons are different).

Direct control buttons

The NX10's direct controls (single function buttons on the body) generally invoke a menu - none of them allow you to repeatedly press to cycle through the various options. You can, however, hold the button and turn the control dial to change things like ISO (you don't actually have to press OK - a half-press of the shutter will accept any change). Settings (such as white balance) that have further options have more involved menus (for example, pressing the up key lets you fine tune white balance). As with the rest of the user interface it looks beautiful.

Changing ISO	Metering


White balance	White balance Adjust

Picture Wizard	Exposure compensation is the only one that doesn't bring up a menu: you simply hold the button and turn the dial, with settings reflected in the exposure scale at the bottom of the screen.

Function menu

Pressing the Fn button brings up a menu of options not covered by external buttons (though all the options are also found in the more conventional record menu).

The Function menu in P,A,S,M modes offers quick(ish) access to settings not covered by the body controls. From left to right these are: Size, Quality, Focus area, Flash settings (including FEC), Color Space, Smart Range and OIS mode (where applicable).	Each option uses the same 'virtual loupe' to clearly indicate the current setting as you turn the dial or use the left/right keys to change it.


In the fully automatic 'Smart Auto' and scene modes you get a seriously cut-down version offering just three options (size, flash, color space).	When changing flash mode you can also change the output level using this pretty analog dial.

The Function menu in movie mode offers options for exposure mode (P or A), size and quality, focus area, fading, audio and OIS.

Focus options

As a live view only camera the NX10 uses contrast detect autofocus (the same as used on all compact cameras). In most modes you can choose between four AF modes: Direct selection (single point, user-selectable), Multi-AF, Face Detection and Self-portrait AF. The NX10 offers single and continuous AF as well as fully manual focus (this is either engaged using the lens switch or - if there isn't one - the Function menu). In manual focus mode turning the focus dial magnifies the center of the frame, but not by enough - and not with enough resolution - to make it particularly useful. We'll look at the NX10's focus performance and features in more depth when we have a final production camera to review.

In selection AF mode you can choose not only the position of the focus point on the screen, but also the size (using the control dial).

Image options

The introduction of live view to SLRs has seen an increase in the prevalence of compact camera-like features and the ability to preview parameter changes on the image. The NX10, as a live-view-only system camera, has more than its fair share of toys and a plethora of scene and subject modes.

	Samsung calls its image parameters 'Picture Wizards': there are eight presets and you can create three of your own (C1, C2, C3). In all cases you get lots of control over color (Hue, we think), saturation, sharpness and contrast.