Photokina report day 1 - the Samsung NX1 (4K mirrorless camera with H.265)

[Andrew Reid]

Of all the surprises recently and there have been a few, the NX1 is the biggest. I spoke to Samsung's Sung Lae Park at Photokina whilst trying out the pre-production camera.

Read the full article here

[Brian Williams]

How is 8-bit 4k downscaled to 1080p when it comes to post, like lifting shadows and whatnot? Does h265 help in this regard over h264? Or will it still be at a disadvantage to something like true ProRes?

This camera is damn tempting.
Surely Metabones can come up with some sort of solution for the flange issue?

[QuickHitRecord]

What is the mAh capacity of the batteries? How long will they last while recording video?

 

Is the camera outputting 10-bit 4:2:2 via HDMI?

[Andrew Reid]

No 10bit, at least not on the pre-prod firmware. Good question about the battery, will ask.

 

Keep the questions coming...

[tyger11]

Focus-peaking? Zebra? Mic jack?

[Andrew Reid]

Focus-peaking? Zebra? Mic jack?

 

For some of this stuff you can just check the specs sheet, let's keep the questions relatively interesting :)

[cookietub]

Thanks for the excellent report on the Samsung NX1. When you go back to see it again, could you please check out the quality of 1080 50/60P. Since the full res sensor scan tops out at 30P, I would assume that 50/60P would have either line skipping or binning. But, the question is, what does the picture actually look like? The Sony A7s has a similar problem when doing 50/60P in full frame mode. In that case, the picture is quite low res.

 

If it turns out that the NX1's 50/60P picture is similar to the A7s, could you suggest to Samsung that they provide a crop mode on the sensor in order to get a non-line skipped readout at 50/60P.

 

Hope that all makes sense, and thanks again!

[sandro]

Can you change exposure while recording like aperture, iso etc..? Also the sample on YT looks extremely over-sharpened and video-ish. Do they apply some kind of sharpening that makes it look like a smartphone or was it done in post?

[Nikkor]

How laggy is the EVF image compared to other cameras?

 

Any words about silent pics, and intervalometer? I couldn't find these in the specs.

[andy4nothin]

@Andrew - Can you find out if it has a full electronic shutter mode? Shutter isn't mentioned in any specs I've seen.

[Guest fe4a3f5e8381673ce80017d29a8375f1]

Low light performance would be nice to know.

[Michael Tiedtke]

Any info on dynamic range and flat picture profiles? Like mentioned above, the sample video made by Samsung looked oversharpened and videoish. I don't give a crap about specs if the IQ isn't up to par. XD

[Michael Boldin]

Any indication of what file format and codec is used when recording video in 1080P - or anything other than 4K or UHD?  Is it still mp4 h.264?  Or ?

[iaian7]

Thanks for the writeup, I'm looking forward to some of these questions/answers!

 

In defence of the contrasty/sharpened video content produced so far, in my opinion it looks as good or better than what Panasonic showed before the GH4 release. Within a day or two of getting my GH4 I was able to get far more filmic looks out of it (no doubt thanks to the final firmware, not any skill on my part!), and we might be able to hope for similar results on the NX1, no?

 

That said, any numbers and/or evidence regarding dynamic range and low light capability (as mentioned above) would be great.

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

Any limit to recording time??

[Rob Bannister]

Is H265 compatible with any editing software like premiere yet? How heavy is it for declmressingand working with for realtime playback and editing.

Did not imagine Samsung having the most interesting announcement at the show. Great stuff H265 is finally here!

[rayafahreza]

This is very unexpected and exciting, to have Sammy joining the race. Do you know the dynamic range on this camera yet? I'm hoping this can be a choice between upgrading to GH4 or a7S for me. Also, on your hands-on experience, do you think the live view in its flip screen accurate? I saw it says Super AMOLED and owning multiple Samsung devices I know their super AMOLED usually is set to display quite over saturated colors that can be deceiving.

[Michael Boldin]

Is H265 compatible with any editing software like premiere yet? How heavy is it for declmressingand working with for realtime playback and editing.

Did not imagine Samsung having the most interesting announcement at the show. Great stuff H265 is finally here!

 

Rob,

 

I've read that Adobe didn't have plans for this in the "next 3-6 months" earlier this year.  so I contacted Samsung support, who didn't give too much more detail.  Here's what they wrote:

 

Dear Michael Boldin, 

 

Thank you for contacting Samsung. I see that you would like to know if the Adobe Premiere Pro supports importing MP4 H.265 videos recorded on the Camera. I am afraid we do not have exact information on the features available on Adobe Premiere Pro. Please contact Adobe support for exact information. The Camera is provided with drivers and RAW converter software. You can download the software and drivers using the link below. Select Downloads >> Drivers/Software below the picture. 

 

Please check with the software support to find information on available functions. 

 

 

[Don Kotlos]

Is H265 compatible with any editing software like premiere yet? How heavy is it for declmressingand working with for realtime playback and editing.
 

 

Transcoding should be preferred in order to reduce the CPU load during editing. 

 

"Once converted to ProRes 422 HQ the footage weighed in at 26GB." 

 

Andrew how good do you think will be the transcoded file for grading? 

 

[quobetah]

Please more info on the slo motion mode. Are there assignable custom buttons?