Originally posted by Raffwal Miserere, what is it actually that you like about the NX product family? Is it the smallish fine lenses? Or the camera bodies also? The sensors today don't seem to be quite up to date - aren't they pretty much what yesteryear's K20D has? I wonder if there are signs of how good the next wave of Samsung sensors will be considering the K20D one was very good at the time.
I have been planning to get a MILC too, but am still hesitating about which one to get. NEX is most tempting at the moment and Samsung I have not really considered even though they could be bought pretty cheaply.
Raffwal, I cut my previous post short as I could see it spiralling into a short novel, but seeing as you asked...
I like the NX10 (same as NX5 and NX11) body very much, as I said, because it feels Pentaxy; the best ergonomics of any mirrorless I've held. I would, however, move the EVF to the far left of the body, as the Fuji X100 and Sony NEX-7 have done.
The lenses: I think I was abundantly clear that I appreciate the wealth of primes Samsung has and will put out; I also see some nice zooms in the pipeline, such as the 12-24mm f/4 and 80-400mm f/4-5.6 (there are also rumoured 16-50mm f/2.8 and 50-135mm f/2.8 zooms but I wouldn't base a buying decision on these). Back to primes, Samsung is releasing small, fastish, affordable primes that will attract people like me into the system, and then they'll try to convince us to buy some of their premium line of primes. That's not just smart marketing, it also creates levels of usership and lowers the entry fee into the system: You can now get an NX10 + 30mm f/2 for under $600, and I could do 90% of my street photography with that kit. Once in, why wouldn't I buy a wideangle and short telephoto? And it's not like these lenses are bad as well as cheap—they're pretty damn good, optically!
Whether I stay in the system or not will depend on the NX20. Samsung has shown they can move laterally with the NX200, which is quite different from the NX100. Will the NX20 keep the great ergonomics and mature the limited firmware? Will the new sensor be competitive with Sony's IQ? If yes, then I'll stay' if not, I'll sell the lot and move on.
An aside about the sensor on the NX10 and NX11. It's not up to today's standards, and its max ISO of 3200 is limiting, but I can work around that, just like I've worked around my K10D's ISO 1600 ceiling. As I'm mainly a B&W shooter, I can get away with calling noise "grain", so that's an advantage a colour shooter won't have
Nevertheless, the NX20 really needs to come out punching hard and offer similar IQ to the NEX-5n, because not everyone is willing to "work around" IQ issues like I am.
My problem with mirrorless right now is that there is no one company offering 100% of what I want; here are the strengths and pitfalls of each system, as I see them:
- Sony NEX: Best sensor (16MP version); great body in the NEX-7; probably best EVF in the NEX-7 (though I haven't tried it). Painfully large lenses; small selection of compact primes with none planned.
- Olympus µ4/3: Nice construction; best in-camera JPEGs; highly customisable, mature firmware. No body with incorporated EVF; only just released 2 quality fast primes last month; IQ at high ISO lags behind Sony NEX; slow autofocus until E-P3.
- Panasonic µ4/3: The G1 and G2 offered the best EVF in town; many direct-access buttons on those bodies; 20mm f/1.7 lens is small, affordable and a great normal lens; fast autofocus. Like Olympus, Panny has been slow to release primes; lens line overlaps too much with Oly instead of complementing it.
- Fuji X100: Great IQ; great lens; great ergonomics; awesome hybrid viewfinder. Clunky firmware; bad manual focus implementation; fixed lens.
- Ricoh GXR: Great ergonomics; one of the best control systems (if not the best) in the mirrorless sector; built to last. Lenses and sensors are married (unless you're shooting M mount); sensor is below current standard at high ISO; not enough choice in lenses; no information on upcoming lens modules.
- Samsung NX: Great ergonomics; nice EVF (but not best); great selection of primes (by mid 2012). AF slower than Panny's; sensor is below current standard at high ISO; small buffer slows down camera operation; firmware needs improvement.
My ideal camera would have the Samsung NX10 body (or maybe NEX-7 or Fuji X100), the NEX-5 sensor, Olympus firmware and JPEG engine, Panasonic AF, and Samsung lens line.