How good is the stabilization on the nx500 for handheld video?

[Heine Nielsen]

New member, first post, hello everybody!

So I'm considering getting the nx500 (mainly for video) and I would like some input from current nx500 owners on how well the camera cope with shooting handheld video.
I shoot mainly home movie, running and gunning, type videos, non professionally and 99% is handheld, so good stabilization and small camera size is essential.
I am well invested in m43 and my current main camera is an oly ep5, which I’m hanging onto almost solely because of the incredible ibis. But what is great stabilization without the image quality? I also have a gx7 which I bought as a replacement for the ep5 and although I love the quality of the image the lackluster stabilization and general jerkiness while panning, have forced me back to the oly.
This brings me back to my question regarding the nx500. From what I have seen on vimeo and youtube the nx500 is incredibly well-behaved especially considering it only has lens based stabilization. I was also considering the lx100 and I am still lusting for the fabulous lens and 4k in a small package, but it seems to be suffering from the same issues as the gx7, just look at this sample footage from Gordon Laing: https://vimeo.com/109129034.
I haven’t been able to find any similarly bad examples from the nx500. It might be that the Samsung processing unit is simply more powerful, but it is remarkably well-behaved also in panning where everything is smooth and without any crushing of detail. It even seems to be handling walking reasonably well.
Generally the nx500 just seems like an incredible deal especially now that I can get it of ebay, with a kit lens, for just over 500$ including sending and I would like to hear from current nx500 owners if my observations are correct, or I should just stick with what I have and wait for Olympus to catch up on the image side?

 

[teddoman]

Keep in mind NX500 only has crop 4K, so you have a crop factor of 2.6x or so in full frame terms. Since the full sensor isn't used for 4K, you're not getting any sensor size improvement in video by moving up from m4/3. You'd have to move up to the NX1 before you get normal APS-C crop factor and lower noise from readout of the full sensor.

To balance all of the interests, maybe you should consider 1 video cam for home movies (where size doesn't matter) and a lighter setup for going out.

What I do is use the NX1 as a dedicated video cam, so I have recently figured out how to rig it up with bracket, microphones, preamp etc. It's huge. I use it at home plenty, but being huge is no biggie when you're at home. This helps avoid the noise penalty when you're shooting in dim conditions.

But for a lighter setup for when out and about, there's really isn't a perfect hybrid 4K camera yet at a low price point. You'd have to drop $3200 and get an A7Rii for video AF and super 35 4K. I don't expect my NX500 to be able to do what I can do with my NX1 rig, but for the price of the NX500, I consider it a bargain that I can get detailed 4K footage like that in such a tiny body. 

 

[Heine Nielsen]

Hi teddoman, thank you.

4k is not what I'm after. I consider that to be a nice bonus. I need good 1080p with decent stabilization in a small body. I have two of those requirements covered with the ep5, only iq is lacking. I'm gonna wait a generation or two before going 4k or I might just pick up a used nx1 in 8 months time or so. 

What I am really interested in is how good the stabilization is for handheld video. I'm so used to the build in "steadycam" in the ep5 and I was basically hoping the nx500 would be better than what I have experienced from the panasonics.

[teddoman]

Haven't personally shot video on Oly cameras. A friend showed me an E-M5 and for the brief time I played with the IBIS, it was pretty stunning to me.

Haven't played with my PZ zoom much but based on a very brief impression of the E-M5, the 16-50 S doesn't have the same level of stabilization. It makes a huge difference, but on the E-M5, it almost felt like the lens was floating in honey.

If Oly came out with a good video camera, it'd be very tempting. The more realistic option for me is an A7Rii at some point in the distant future when it's not $3200.