Originally posted by uccemebug Our weather on the north side of the lake is (roughly) your weather, and it's been ridiculous tonight. Should be better by Friday.
You sure that's Adorama's doing instead of UPS themselves?
The UPS service rep made it sound like Adorama had a hold on the account, but I have the NX100 in hand now so it's a moot point.
Anyhow, the short form on the NX100 so far is that it's good. Really good!
I made it out and about the neighborhood today and I got some test shots, but they're not the best and the exposure settings are a bit at odds with my comparison dSLRs.
The main issue is that I left the NX100 at ISO 800 in bright daylight. I have the NX100 display set to show very minimal information, and the ISO setting is one thing it leaves out. Oops!
I got some good architectural shots, but they are on the noisy side. I can tell you that in terms of detail my NX100 shots with the 20-50 mm kit lens are competitive with ISO 400 shots from my K10D fitted with the DA 16-45 mm. Sacrilege, I know.
The multi-zone AE metering on the NX100 was also very accurate and AF was dead on outdoors and in lower light indoors.
I also took some around the house macros with the NX100 set to ISO 100 and the GN15 flash attached and in terms of detail those were very competitive with my K-x fitted with the DA 18-55 mm kit lens.
All the shots mentioned above were in RAW. I did some JPEG test shots last night, but some of the shortcomings DPreview noted in Samsung's JPEG engine did become apparent.
I agree with Thom Hogan's comments regarding the NX100's menu and display interface. The AMOLED display was excellent outdoors with the sun at my back. The fonts are very clean and the menus are well organized. It does handle like a cut down dSLR with a bit more shutter lag. I think Class 6 SDHC cards are the minimum speed for shooting RAW because Class 4 takes several seconds to write.
The NX100 and GN15 are almost all plastic, but they both feel very dense and substantial in the hand. Almost all of the switchgear is well-built and gives positive feedback when pressed. However, I wish the command dial on top of the body was a bit sturdier and that the battery door was a bit smoother opening. The SD card slot is also a tad too recessed - cards sit lower than the battery and it can be fiddly to fully secure and unsecure them.
The 20-50 mm kit lens is also light but tight. The iFunction button on the kit lens is a very efficient way to give easy access to major exposure variables. The command dials and menu structure are almost as fast in the event you're using a non-iFunction lens. Most reviewers have been underwhelmed by it, but I think it holds up well against the DA 18-55 and DA 16-45.
The NX100 and GN15 flash take up 2 of 3 slots in my Crumpler 4 Million Dollar Home, and they take up 2 of 4 in my Haven insert. The light weight nature of the kit is very welcome! I also felt a lot more inconspicuous when I was out taking photos. I think that the smaller body and lens attract far less attention from passers by.
Overall, and I know I'm not supposed to say this here, but I'm pretty excited about the NX100. It is a very impressive foray into the EVIL/entry-level dSLR space by Samsung. The thought of being able to get dSLR-quality images from a much smaller kit is very exciting to me.
Samsung is a corporation with $295B in assets, larger than Sony and Panasonic combined, so they definitely have the dough to spend on cameras. If they can hold to their ambitious lens roadmap, improve their marketing, bring out new, possibly weather-sealed, bodies with their 18 MP APS-C sensor, and eventually get some 3rd party support - look out!
Sorry I don't have images posted, but I will try to get some more controlled test shots of my own. In the meantime I'd be happy to throw up what I've got, some 100% crops, point you toward other NX examples, or pass along some YouTube vids of interviews with Samsung's lens developers. Just let me know!