Help me pick! Samsung NX1 vs Sony Alpha a6300 vs Sony Alpha a7S II

[Curtis Ross]

Im in the market to buy a camera, probably one of these three in the next few weeks/months. To be used ONLY for 4k video productions. I am have done all my research on all of them and know most of the pros/cons of each. I will be using them with canon lens and some native lens from whatever brand i choose or etc.

 

I am a bit worred that the NX1 was discontinued. Correct? Should I been worried about that? How is the 4k quality compared with the other two.

The a6300 seems nice but I am worried about the form factor since I am use to DSLRs mostly. But for great video quality I could get used to it

Is the Sony Alpha a7S II going to have significantly better 4k video quality over the a6300????

 

I know this probably has been covered a thousand times on the forum. But humor me...:)

[Phil A]

34 minutes ago, Curtis Ross said:

Im in the market to buy a camera, probably one of these three in the next few weeks/months. To be used ONLY for 4k video productions. I am have done all my research on all of them and know most of the pros/cons of each. I will be using them with canon lens and some native lens from whatever brand i choose or etc.

 

I am a bit worred that the NX1 was discontinued. Correct? Should I been worried about that? How is the 4k quality compared with the other two.

The a6300 seems nice but I am worried about the form factor since I am use to DSLRs mostly. But for great video quality I could get used to it

Is the Sony Alpha a7S II going to have significantly better 4k video quality over the a6300????

 

I know this probably has been covered a thousand times on the forum. But humor me...:)

If you talk about normal, current Canon lenses like the L series stuff, I would rule out the NX1. There's no way of electronically controlling the aperture with these because there are no smart adapters for Samsung.

[Liam]

there's not too much of an issue that'll be caused by the nx1 being discontinued. can't upgrade in the same line (ditch native lenses when you need a step up), no more legit firmware updates (off-chance of some awesome hacks on the way). nx1 is sharpened but detailed, hard to say either is better. if you've done your research, hard to say.. play with original files? maybe rent?

[Don Kotlos]

If you can afford it get the a7sii. 

[DPStewart]

If you really have the money - yeah, the A7S II. ESPECIALLY if it is going to be put into heavy production use.

As much as I perhaps might prefer some aspects of the NX1 image - the utter lack of native lenses and Samsung's leaving the market put it at a disadvantage as a daily production tool.

[tellure]

From the initial previews it looks like the A6300's autofocus is very much improved, so will probably be better than the A7SII / A7RII.  Dunno if that matters for your type of work.  If you're adapting Canon lenses then you probably aren't going to be using autofocus while recording I'm guessing, since it's very slow even on the Metabones IV from what I've seen and is CDAF-only.  Speaking of CDAF, isn't the A7SII CDAF-only to begin with?

[Andrew Reid]

A7S II is contrast based AF, the A7R II is phase and contrast hybrid.

Phase detect active with Canon lenses with the Metabones adapter on the latter, it can be very fast.

43 minutes ago, DPStewart said:

As much as I perhaps might prefer some aspects of the NX1 image - the utter lack of native lenses and Samsung's leaving the market put it at a disadvantage as a daily production tool.

Lack of native NX lenses, hmm... not really!

S 16-50mm F2.0-2.8 OIS?

S 50-150mm F2.8 OIS?

85mm F1.4? (It beats my Zeiss wide open)

30mm F2.0? Lovely cheap pancake

45mm F2.0? Again very cheap, light, fast and sharp!

Those are the best ones... not a bad line up and covers 16-150 all at fast apertures.

AF is best on the S premium zooms

What else would you need? Plus you can adapt Nikon, Sony Alpha and a ton of other lenses to it with adapters.

[kidzrevil]

1 hour ago, DPStewart said:

If you really have the money - yeah, the A7S II. ESPECIALLY if it is going to be put into heavy production use.

As much as I perhaps might prefer some aspects of the NX1 image - the utter lack of native lenses and Samsung's leaving the market put it at a disadvantage as a daily production tool.

a7s with leica m mount voigtlanders lenses were good to me but that sony blue clipping was terrible. I cant recommend the a7 series because of this unless you are sure you don't shoot in clubs or areas with neon lights

[DPStewart]

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

A7S II is contrast based AF, the A7R II is phase and contrast hybrid.

Phase detect active with Canon lenses with the Metabones adapter on the latter, it can be very fast.

Lack of native NX lenses, hmm... not really!

S 16-50mm F2.0-2.8 OIS?

S 50-150mm F2.8 OIS?

85mm F1.4? (It beats my Zeiss wide open)

30mm F2.0? Lovely cheap pancake

45mm F2.0? Again very cheap, light, fast and sharp!

Those are the best ones... not a bad line up and covers 16-150 all at fast apertures.

AF is best on the S premium zooms

What else would you need? Plus you can adapt Nikon, Sony Alpha and a ton of other lenses to it with adapters.

Yeah - there are those. But for how long? 
At the online retailers (B&H etc,.) they've already knocked the NX1's batteries out of production. Also - the good "S" lenses are really pretty expensive, and their cheap lenses don't seem to be anywhere near as good as the "S" line. So first off - there are indeed only about these 5 lenses, and for how long will they be produced and available? And yeah, I have adapters for my Nikons on my NX1, but that means 100% manual only. Certainly kills the usefulness for stills - I grew up shooting stills on manual lenses, but you miss a TON of shots compared to using modern AF and OIS lenses. There are a lot of great lenses with AF and OIS for the A7s that cost in the area of half what the Samsung "S" lenses cost. 
And I don't even like Sony alpha series colors, but I guess maybe what I'm saying is that I feel that NEITHER of them are a really great platform if you'll need compatibility and a few years of longevity.
If Canon had put out something like a "5D mk IV" that did nothing really but add 4K, and sell it for the price of an A7s - THAT would be the platform. ..sigh....

I think that if you want to do a lot of production in 4K right now, there are no "great platforms" for under $3,000 - despite the fact that there are great images in 4K being produced by a number of cameras - a "great working platform" none of them are. Ending this like Yoda I am. 

[Andrew Reid]

Funnily enough they discontinued Canon FD lenses in the 80's and they are still easy to get on eBay in 2016 so I wouldn't worry about anything NX1 related becoming 'unobtainable' any time soon, if anything it will just get cheaper, which is nice.

The NX1 is by far the most pleasant to shoot with ergonomically. Feel in the hand is great. My hand and the A7S II have never got on very well. It doesn't quite feel as bad as clutching a bag of nails but it does feel like clutching a soulless badly designed camera body with fiddly badly placed buttons, for sure.

NX1 fits like a glove and your hand wraps most comfortably around the most important controls.

I even prefer it to a Canon 5D body and that says a lot.

A6300 is cute, small, but still just as soulless and fiddly ergonomically as the A7S II. As for the image we'll have to wait and see... I am going to do a comparison with the NX1. I think for the money it is great. Unless you need the in-body stabilisation and headphone jack of the A7S II, then the A6300 will serve you just fine especially with Speed Booster and it can do 12,800 pretty comfortably from what I have seen of the early footage. I rarely go higher than that. NX1 meanwhile will give you better colour straight off the card, no fuss to grade, better ergonomics, top panel LCD, weather sealing and sharper 120fps... Super clean ISO 800. ISO 1600 ok. ISO 3200 starts to get bad.

Your call

[Mattias Burling]

Yeah I payed $1600 for the NX1, 16-50 S, 30/2, 16/2.4, 45/1.8 and an extra battery. And Im sure I could have gotten it cheaper.

So image/dollar is definitely the NX1.

Between the a7sii and a6300 would probably go a7sii if money wasnt an issue.

[DPStewart]

2 minutes ago, Mattias Burling said:

Yeah I payed $1600 for the NX1, 16-50 S, 30/2, 16/2.4, 45/1.8 and an extra battery. And Im sure I could have gotten it cheaper.

So image/dollar is definitely the NX1.

Between the a7sii and a6300 would probably go a7sii if money wasnt an issue.

Oh dear lord, you found a great deal Mattias!
I'm worried that by the time I have spare cash to get those "S" series zooms there might be very few available. It's not like they made that many.

But I absolutely agree with Andrew about the ergonomics of the NX1. Definitely a winner there.

[Mattias Burling]

3 minutes ago, DPStewart said:

Oh dear lord, you found a great deal Mattias!
I'm worried that by the time I have spare cash to get those "S" series zooms there might be very few available. It's not like they made that many.

But I absolutely agree with Andrew about the ergonomics of the NX1. Definitely a winner there.

Wouldnt worry about it. They are still in stock and pop up used all the time. Im looking for a used 50-150 S now. Plan on spending $650. Or wait untill it hits sub $500.

[OliKMIA]

Get the 80D, Andrew did a lovely preview about it

Seriously, I wouldn't invest in the NX1. Not because of the lack of native lens but the other way around. Looks like Samsung is dropping the camera business and I don't see the point of investing in a lens mount that won't fit in any body later on.

[Mars]

3 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

NX1 meanwhile will give you better colour straight off the card, no fuss to grade, better ergonomics, top panel LCD, weather sealing

Exactly. I'm a hard-core Nikon user myself and love my D810, or for special tasks the D4 as well. But the NX1 is ergonomically perfect. Not too small, not too big - just right. Image quality is great. I wouldn't have thought it but currently I end up using this camera most often, even for stills... Even the smaller LX100 or the RX1R remain in the bag or on the shelf more often than I would have imagined before.

Regarding batteries: I think there will be enough third party alternatives for some time to go. And lenses are my least worry. The small pancakes and the S line provide everything you need. If you want to play, the Nikon mount offerings (or Canon if you´re into this brand) via an adapter provide a whole new world of choices. Yes, manual but the really high end stuff from Zeiss is without AF as well. Focus peaking on and everything is fine.

For the next couple of years, until Nikon will have cought up, for me this is the solution.

[tellure]

5 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Phase detect active with Canon lenses with the Metabones adapter on the latter, it can be very fast.

Is this true while recording video?  The only example I've seen on YouTube (which I can't seem to find right now) was super slow to AF while recording video.

[Curtis Ross]

9 hours ago, Mattias Burling said:

Yeah I payed $1600 for the NX1, 16-50 S, 30/2, 16/2.4, 45/1.8 and an extra battery. And Im sure I could have gotten it cheaper.

So image/dollar is definitely the NX1.

Between the a7sii and a6300 would probably go a7sii if money wasnt an issue.

Yeah thats a good deal! I would like to stay away from the price of the a7sii  if i can. lol Hmmmmmm..

 

 

[Arizona Sunset]

Tough call.

In part due to the excitement about the potential NX1 hack, and in part because I missed it, I picked up an NX1 recently.  It was $2800 for the NX1 + 16-50 S, 50-150 S, 10-24, grip, batteries, and case.  At that price, I could have had a D500 and kit lens, or just an S II, or just a lone f2.8 telephoto. 

The NX1 is clearly the value proposition here. 

But the S II is a monster of a camera with massive creative potential, and if you have legacy glass or a big piggy bank, is a great choice.  You can run Zeiss primes stabilized on the S II.  With native lenses like the 24-240mm, you can use 1080p crop modes (1.5x, 2.2x, or just digital zoom that is mostly lossless) to hit 500mm FOV.  It's 1080p is demonstrably superior to the NX1.  I actually like it's colors, skin tones in RAW stills and have a lot of success in LR - in video it's a bit tougher, but it's possible when you nail exposure.  The biggest selling point, of course, is low light.  Into the evening, you can shoot the S II at f8 and be cleaner than the NX1 at f2 - in light that the NX1 won't autofocus in.

It's not an easy decision, and would be made easier if the NX1 had IBIS, or shot clean into ISO 6400, but it doesn't.  Decisions, decisions...

[kidzrevil]

53 minutes ago, Arizona Sunset said:

Tough call.

In part due to the excitement about the potential NX1 hack, and in part because I missed it, I picked up an NX1 recently.  It was $2800 for the NX1 + 16-50 S, 50-150 S, 10-24, grip, batteries, and case.  At that price, I could have had a D500 and kit lens, or just an S II, or just a lone f2.8 telephoto. 

The NX1 is clearly the value proposition here. 

But the S II is a monster of a camera with massive creative potential, and if you have legacy glass or a big piggy bank, is a great choice.  You can run Zeiss primes stabilized on the S II.  With native lenses like the 24-240mm, you can use 1080p crop modes (1.5x, 2.2x, or just digital zoom that is mostly lossless) to hit 500mm FOV.  It's 1080p is demonstrably superior to the NX1.  I actually like it's colors, skin tones in RAW stills and have a lot of success in LR - in video it's a bit tougher, but it's possible when you nail exposure.  The biggest selling point, of course, is low light.  Into the evening, you can shoot the S II at f8 and be cleaner than the NX1 at f2 - in light that the NX1 won't autofocus in.

It's not an easy decision, and would be made easier if the NX1 had IBIS, or shot clean into ISO 6400, but it doesn't.  Decisions, decisions...

I do stills and video depending on needs of client so I found the NX1 great for my needs. The a7s and I assume a7sii functions the same as its predecessor is a great camera too. 12mp is enough to work with in stills and the video quality is phenomenal. If you have legacy lenses i'd go a7sii. Recently I had to make a ridiculous purchase and get some zeiss milvus glass for my nx1 cause in my tests showed that the sensor is very demanding. The nx1 requires a high resolution lens where the a7s doesn't because of its 12mp sensor. Some say you can get away shooting with a low res lens on nx1 because 4k is only mp but they fail to keep in consideration the fact that the camera is downscaling the entire 28mp sensor to 4k. So please keep in consideration how much this will all cost you if price is a factor.

one thing stopping me from returning to sony is the blue channel clipping. Some say you can beat it by raising the white balance 5600k and up but that creates a whole other set of problems in post when trying to get a correct white balance. Hope this helps

[homestar_kevin]

I bought my nx1 last June as an open box/refurb for 1085 body only.

Using the samsung parts site, I got both of the S zoom lenses for ~$1500.

So I'm in for less than 3 grand for my samsung NX stuff, with a focal range of 16-150 2.8 IS.

Not advocating for anyone to do anything, but the value is undeniable.

Hard to pass all that up.