[rawr]

Pentax could take a hint from Samsung.

Like, abandon their digital camera business. I hope not.

Just accept that Samsung NX is kill.

If Samsung are updating the NX-1 firmware, that is just legacy support. Many brands provide firmware updates for discontinued products. You shouldn't read it as any sign of a bright future for Samsung NX.

[D1N0]

Samsung isn't going anywhere you guys.

Yep, they've already gone

[Rondec]

Samsung isn't going anywhere you guys. They are simply scaling things back. I have emailed them about this and have denied it, even implied that new firmware will be released soon. The NX1 is more innovative than perhaps any camera that has been released within the last decade. Maybe thats why there are so many people jumping on the band wagon. Pentax could take a hint from Samsung. Perhaps not one of the best marketed things ever but one of the damn coolest things in the photography world in a long time.

They certainly don't seem to be moving forward in most of the world. I guess there is a possibility that they could just sell their cameras in Korea, but that seems really unlikely. The reality is that Samsung isn't stupid and if they see that they have put a lot of money into R and D and don't seem to be making inroads into the market, they may have reached the point where they don't want to throw any more money to grow minuscule amounts of market share.

[clackers]

Samsung are not niche occupiers like Pentax.

Similar to Sony, they go for big volumes or not at all and are unsentimental about product lines.

[audiobomber]

The NX1 is more innovative than perhaps any camera that has been released within the last decade.

Maybe "most overhyped in a decade". The NX-1 is merely evolutionary, it is not in any way original. It scores the same on DXO as the D7200. Everything it does has been done before. More megapixels, WR, 4K video, MILC that looks like a DSLR, hybrid AF, more fps, -4EV auto-focus.

Sony has been by far the major innovator in digital camera technology in the past decade: first Live View DSLR, MILC PDAF, FF MILC, eliminated MILC blackout in action shooting. In looking up camera innovations, I never ran across Samsung anywhere. Samsung do not innovate, they adapt.

[D1N0]

Well they used android for a camera OS. so you could play candy crush on your camera

[drypenn]

Well they used android for a camera OS. so you could play candy crush on your camera

Don't say such a thing while I'm sipping my coffee! Cruel!

---------- Post added 02-12-16 at 12:26 AM ----------

Like, abandon their digital camera business. I hope not.

Just accept that Samsung NX is kill.

If Samsung are updating the NX-1 firmware, that is just legacy support. Many brands provide firmware updates for discontinued products. You shouldn't read it as any sign of a bright future for Samsung NX.

Blackberry's still updating my wife's 9300 and Playbook as of late last year, and she's still hopeful that Blackberry will still be alive when the time comes to replace her QWERTY phone .

---

Last edited by drypenn; 02-11-2016 at 09:29 AM.

[kadajawi]

Maybe "most overhyped in a decade". The NX-1 is merely evolutionary, it is not in any way original. It scores the same on DXO as the D7200. Everything it does has been done before. More megapixels, WR, 4K video, MILC that looks like a DSLR, hybrid AF, more fps, -4EV auto-focus.

Sony has been by far the major innovator in digital camera technology in the past decade: first Live View DSLR, MILC PDAF, FF MILC, eliminated MILC blackout in action shooting. In looking up camera innovations, I never ran across Samsung anywhere. Samsung do not innovate, they adapt.

But Samsung has packed those things into a body I want. Sony hasn't been able to do so. Also, you forget the HEVC codec.

It's a damn shame, if they had advertised more, lowered the lens prices and kept going they could have dominated the market eventually. All the previous cameras they made were meh, no wonder no one bought them. Then they release one camera that is great, wait a year and decide OK, that's enough... while photographers were waiting to see if Samsung continues... Plus people may not switch brands just because there is a new one... They may be waiting for their camera to become obsolete or defective before doing so. Had my K-5 died I would have switched.

[Rondec]

But Samsung has packed those things into a body I want. Sony hasn't been able to do so. Also, you forget the HEVC codec.

It's a damn shame, if they had advertised more, lowered the lens prices and kept going they could have dominated the market eventually. All the previous cameras they made were meh, no wonder no one bought them. Then they release one camera that is great, wait a year and decide OK, that's enough... while photographers were waiting to see if Samsung continues... Plus people may not switch brands just because there is a new one... They may be waiting for their camera to become obsolete or defective before doing so. Had my K-5 died I would have switched.

I think it was pretty clear that Samsung was not willing to discount prices to build market share and understandably so. If you build your brand as being a value brand, you end up with a bunch of cheap customers who are never willing to pay full price for gear. But the market is super-crowded right now. You already had Sony, Fuji, Olympus and Panasonic making mirrorless cameras when Samsung launched their effort and in the end Samsung's cameras didn't stand out that much from the others, except that they were kind of expensive.

[audiobomber]

All the previous cameras they made were meh, no wonder no one bought them.

I agree. When I decided to add Mirrorless last year, I really wanted to buy Samsung. They have great lenses. I ended up getting an a6000 because Samsung had nothing competitive with an EVF.

I think the lack of bodies with an EVF held their popularity back. If you don't sell the bodies, you can't sell the lenses, and you have less capital to work with. It's a snowball effect.

[reeftool]

I don't think Samsung was ever taken seriously by the photography community. The have made very good cameras for years. I have a Samsung 35mm film camera with a zoom that was an excellent camera to carry around for everyday use. OK, so I never bought a Samsung digital but I should have when I was looking for a small camera I could carry in my jacket pocket. The Lumix LF 1 I bought was a real disappointment.

[kadajawi]

I think it was pretty clear that Samsung was not willing to discount prices to build market share and understandably so. If you build your brand as being a value brand, you end up with a bunch of cheap customers who are never willing to pay full price for gear. But the market is super-crowded right now. You already had Sony, Fuji, Olympus and Panasonic making mirrorless cameras when Samsung launched their effort and in the end Samsung's cameras didn't stand out that much from the others, except that they were kind of expensive.

Well, that AND that if I spend a lot buying into a system, I want to know if the brand will be around for a while. What if I buy the NX1, plus a couple of lenses, and a few months later say "ok, didn't work out, we'll leave the market". My gear would drop in value pretty fast, and after a couple of years I need to start from scratch. Oh, right, that IS what happened.

If Samsung could have assured us they'd stay in the business for the next 10 years, then yeah, I think people would have been more likely to buy in. Or at least have really attractive prices.

With Nikon or Canon I know they are going to be around. Sony... maybe not so much, at least that they stick to the current mount. Pentax... kind of likely, but even though I have already bought into the system I am holding back on purchases because they don't make cameras I want.

The NX1 was (almost) exactly what I wanted. But it was expensive (worth it though), and the lenses too.

It would be awesome if Pentax bought the camera part of Samsung... as in those firmware developers etc. And maybe corporate with Samsung, which could provide the processor to Pentax and perhaps other brands too. Samsung is quite successful developing and producing the components other brands use, so...

[Winder]

Samsung are not niche occupiers like Pentax.

Similar to Sony, they go for big volumes or not at all and are unsentimental about product lines.

So the Sony FE line is high volume? I always thought FF was a niche market.....

[clackers]

So the Sony FE line is high volume? I always thought FF was a niche market.....

It *is* a niche market, Winder, so you can see the confusion Sony has when it comes to cameras and whether it wants to be in the game or not.

Pentax, Hasselblad, Fuji et al might or might not be happy to putter along with a small dedicated market share, but Sony investors want growth of their high market cap investment.

Christine Tham told us as early as last year Sony had recognized its ambitious camera strategy was not going to work. It was now to be merely 'stable', without prospect for growth and not justifying big investment:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/76-non-pentax-cameras-canon-nikon-etc/289...tion-sony.html

Sony then separated the camera and sensor units, giving them the flexibility to sell or kill one off. It was imagined at the time that sensors were the safer bet (this too has soured recently).

Sony spins off image sensor division to form its own company: Digital Photography Review

Sony sales fell even further in the second half of the year:

Demand for Sony cameras slides 27% – Amateur Photographer

There was spin that operating income of the camera outfit increased compared to the quarter last year, and that the new products were higher profit items, but we can see from Sony's financials that sales revenue fell too, so the increase was actually due to cost cutting of some kind that hasn't been detailed. One wonders what laying off employees and discontinuing projects does on the long term to a division.

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/fr/15q3_sony.pdf

How have the new FE cameras and lenses affected things? The sales revenue forecast has actually been downgraded for the new year. :-(

It is clearly a difficult time for the camera market, but let's not say that it's just the traditional DSLR manufacturers who are struggling. The electronics newcomers, Sony and Samsung, are in crisis as well.

[pinholecam]

I am really surprised that folks here are still arguing about this.



So did anyone put their $$ where their keyboard was on this whole NX is the best and Pentax is a loser ... topic?
I remember asking this before...