Samsung NX1: Here's to what could have been......

All this talk about Sony's innovation with the a7iii, A7Riii, and A9 has stoked my memory of the most innovative mirrorless (and possibly most innovative digital) camera ever made, the Samsung NX1. A lot of people don't remember this camera, because it was Samsung's first and last attempt to shake up the pro camera market. But this camera was so awesome.

It was released late 2014 but honestly would probably still hold up today. It's got specs that rival and surpass some of the top mirrorless cameras of right now, and this thing is 3.5 years old.

Sadly, Samsung for some reason exited the pro camera market almost as quickly as they had entered, leaving many NX1 users no path forward to upgrade their gear. But let's take a moment to remember some of the specs of a camera that was truly revolutionary in a usually not so revolutionary industry.

-28.4 Megapixel BSI CMOS APS-C sensor. At the time, I believe this was the largest backside illuminated CMOS sensor ever created.
-4K internal recording. As far as I know Sony didn't have this feature until the A7Rii over 6 months later.
-15 fps
-The fastest mirrorless AF ever at the time, and 200+ AF points that covered 100% of the sensor
-No AA filter
-USB 3.0
-UHS-II SD card slot
-Wifi, NFC, Bluetooth
-Built in intervelometer
-Best in class video AF tracking (many say better than the original Canon dual pixel AF cameras)
-Robust DSLR type magnesium alloy body that was fully weather sealed and had a top deck screen
-Same amount of EVF dots as the newly announced Sony a7iii

Many other cool features as well, but I don't want to bore you. It's a shame Samsung gave up before they had basically even started, because the NX1 and models that would have followed would have probably been something to reckon with.

Crazy thing is, this camera was an a6000 competitor, and it knocked it's socks off in pretty much every single area.

I never owned the NX1. I started to become interested in mirrorless right before Samsung officially said they would no longer support the camera, but I would love to hear from those who did own it.

As a camera company, Samsung has the same core strength as Sony: really robust semi-conductor business and capabilities. I own Samsung phones, and man the cameras are really good. What they lacked was a strong enough brand for anyone to take the things they're doing seriously. Sony made a smart decision in buying the Minolta brand.

There was talk at one point of Samung making a distressed acquisition of Nikon. There's definitely a synergy between the two companies that could have led to something great. It would have been super interesting to see what would have happened if you put Samsung's technological prowess behind a well established F mount ecosystem and brand.

mystik610 wrote in post #18574062
As a camera company, Samsung has the same core strength as Sony: really robust semi-conductor business and capabilities. I own Samsung phones, and man the cameras are really good. What they lacked was a strong enough brand for anyone to take the things they're doing seriously. Sony made a smart decision in buying the Minolta brand.

There was talk at one point of Samung making a distressed acquisition of Nikon. There's definitely a synergy between the two companies that could have led to something great. It would have been super interesting to see what would have happened if you put Samsung's technological prowess behind a well established F mount ecosystem and brand.

Someone like Samsung could definitely make Nikon relevant again. And before everyone freaks out, I do think Nikon is still relevant right now, but for how much longer? There doesn't appear to be an attempt to move forward in mirrorless, and the moment the a7Riii came out the D850 was no longer the best camera anymore.

But what would have been even smarter, is if Nikon (or Canon, or even Sony) called Samsung the moment they found out they were abandoning the NX1 and paid them whatever they were asking for the technology and the team that designed that camera. Would have made the most sense if it were Nikon, since Sony already had the A and E mount, and Canon had the EF and M mounts, but Nikon did not yet (and still does not have) a mirrorless mount. Honestly, it's not too late. The NX1 is still good enough tech that it could be relevant today. Maybe update the buffer with firmware and you'd be good to go. The NX1 still kicks the crap out of any Canon EOS M camera.

Let's get it going! #NikonbringbacktheNX1 #NikonNX1 lol

Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #18574116
Someone like Samsung could definitely make Nikon relevant again. And before everyone freaks out, I do think Nikon is still relevant right now, but for how much longer? There doesn't appear to be an attempt to move forward in mirrorless, and the moment the a7Riii came out the D850 was no longer the best camera anymore.

But what would have been even smarter, is if Nikon (or Canon, or even Sony) called Samsung the moment they found out they were abandoning the NX1 and paid them whatever they were asking for the technology and the team that designed that camera. Would have made the most sense if it were Nikon, since Sony already had the A and E mount, and Canon had the EF and M mounts, but Nikon did not yet (and still does not have) a mirrorless mount. Honestly, it's not too late. The NX1 is still good enough tech that it could be relevant today. Maybe update the buffer with firmware and you'd be good to go. The NX1 still kicks the crap out of any Canon EOS M camera.

Let's get it going! #NikonbringbacktheNX1 #NikonNX1 lol

Lol.

Nikon is still relevant, but they're in a very bad position financially. It looks like they're on the path to turning things around.... The market as a whole experienced a contraction as the casual camera market evaporated and since nikon doesn't have a diversified business like Canon, Sony, and Samsung, it impacted them pretty significantly. Now that those losses have been shed it looks like camera makers have a stable path forward, and given that nikon survived all of that they should be OK going forward.

At the very least it would be cool if samsung started sourcing their tech to the likes of nikon. They're still building new sensor for their phones so they could scale the designs up.

I'm all about Sony, but competition is a good thing. I don't think the A7III would exist with the specs it has, at the price sony is asking if there wasn't a threat of nikon and Sony bringing FF mirrorless cameras to market soon.

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What lenses did Samsung make for this NX1 ?

What did they call their mount?


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Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #18574116
Would have made the most sense if it were Nikon, since Sony already had the A and E mount, and Canon had the EF and M mounts, but Nikon did not yet (and still does not have) a mirrorless mount.

Technically they do, the Nikon 1 mount. It's just a smaller sensor (1" type) so nobody pays attention to it.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18574424
What lenses did Samsung make for this NX1 ?

What did they call their mount?

Samsung NX mount. They actually made more lenses than I realized:
https://en.wikipedia.o​rg/wiki/Samsung_NX-mount
I wonder if it would have been more successful if they had used an existing mount, like Sony E-mount. I think the E-mount specs are open, so they should have been able to. Kind of like how there are multiple micro 4/3 manufacturers.

Ever since I first read this thread this morning, I've been researching the NX1. Hard to believe I had never heard of it before today. I mean, really - what's up with that???

I've been looking for them on eBay.

I was thinking that because they have not been supported for quite some time that they may be available dirt cheap - like $200 bucks or something, because thy are now obsolete. . But that's not the case at all - people selling them want an arm and a leg for them.

Anyway, I did find one guy's review on B&H that brought my attention to some very real problems:

"It has these defects:

1. It is not possible to disable autofocus on shutter half press. Without this, true back-button focus is not possible. This should be an easy firmware update, but after 3 updates it still is not there.

2. The only way to do remote release is the Android app. No iOS support. The protocol is not published so 3rd party developers cannot supply an app for iOS. Us iPhone users have to buy a cheap used Android phone if we want remote release.

3. Longest lens is currently the 50-150."

Not being able to completely disable the shutter button from autofocusing is a complete deal-breaker for me.

I mean, even if it was full frame and had super-cheap native supertelephoto lenses available and could be had for just $200, I would still not be able to use this camera because of that one shortcoming - that is how extremely important it is to be able to completely disconnect the shutter button from all focusing duties. . It is hard to believe that they failed to address such an enormous fault.


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Tom Reichner wrote in post #18574424
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What lenses did Samsung make for this NX1 ?


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They had a 300 f2.8. Something Sony E mount users have been begging for. 450mm equivalent on the NX1

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18574522
Ever since I first read this thread this morning, I've been researching the NX1. Hard to believe I had never heard of it before today. I mean, really - what's up with that???

I've been looking for them on eBay.

I was thinking that because they have not been supported for quite some time that they may be available dirt cheap - like $200 bucks or something, because thy are now obsolete. . But that's not the case at all - people selling them want an arm and a leg for them.

Anyway, I did find one guy's review on B&H that brought my attention to some very real problems:

"It has these defects:

1. It is not possible to disable autofocus on shutter half press. Without this, true back-button focus is not possible. This should be an easy firmware update, but after 3 updates it still is not there.

2. The only way to do remote release is the Android app. No iOS support. The protocol is not published so 3rd party developers cannot supply an app for iOS. Us iPhone users have to buy a cheap used Android phone if we want remote release.

3. Longest lens is currently the 50-150."

Not being able to completely disable the shutter button from autofocusing is a complete deal-breaker for me.

I mean, even if it was full frame and had super-cheap native supertelephoto lenses available and could be had for just $200, I would still not be able to use this camera because of that one shortcoming - that is how extremely important it is to be able to completely disconnect the shutter button from all focusing duties. . It is hard to believe that they failed to address such an enormous fault.


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Idk about the whole back button focus and remote release thing, but there was a 300mm f2.8 released for the NX1.

mystik610 wrote in post #18574368
Lol.

Nikon is still relevant, but they're in a very bad position financially. It looks like they're on the path to turning things around.... The market as a whole experienced a contraction as the casual camera market evaporated and since nikon doesn't have a diversified business like Canon, Sony, and Samsung, it impacted them pretty significantly. Now that those losses have been shed it looks like camera makers have a stable path forward, and given that nikon survived all of that they should be OK going forward.

At the very least it would be cool if samsung started sourcing their tech to the likes of nikon. They're still building new sensor for their phones so they could scale the designs up.

I'm all about Sony, but competition is a good thing. I don't think the A7III would exist with the specs it has, at the price sony is asking if there wasn't a threat of nikon and Sony bringing FF mirrorless cameras to market soon.

Yes, Nikon is relevant. But like I said above, for how much longer? Canon definitely owns the "I'm going to buy the cheapest 'big camera' (dslr) for christmas then sell it on CL six months later" market. Sony owns the mirrorless market, which is the way many pros are going. Not all, but many. The only space Nikon has are those that are bought into the system and have too much invested to get out, and the D850.

Like you said above, Nikon does not have a diverse portfolio like Canon. And Sony could shut down the camera division tomorrow and their company would be just fine. (Maybe that should scare us Sony users a bit.)

I think even in 2018 there is enough relevant tech in the NX1 that if it was re-issued under the Nikon name, it would make a splash in the industry. They would obviously have to make a few updates for this day and age (the back button focus thing, up the buffer, etc.), but I think it would be a great thing for Nikon, and photography in general. The hard thing would be whether to keep the NX mount or not. If you keep the mount, you have a surprisingly diverse and robust mirrorless lens lineup already built. If you went with a new mount, you would have to build a new lens lineup from scratch, and you've seen how long that's taken Canon with the M mount.

Did some research on the shutter half press focus issue, and it does not appear that it was ever fixed. Although I did find out on the NX1 you could download firmware updates over wifi instead of downloading them to your computer and using a cable. That's pretty cool.

Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #18574537
They had a 300 f2.8. Something Sony E mount users have been begging for. 450mm equivalent on the NX1

Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #18574548
Idk about the whole back button focus and remote release thing, but there was a 300mm f2.8 released for the NX1.

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Are you sure that they really did release this lens?

When I google it, the only results I get are those that speak of a prototype. . I cannot find any record of this 300 f2.8 actually being released and available for sale. . Ever.

Please let me know if this ever really existed as anything more than a prototype.

Thanks


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Tom Reichner wrote in post #18574652
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Are you sure that they really did release this lens?

When I google it, the only results I get are those that speak of a prototype. . I cannot find any record of this 300 f2.8 actually being released and available for sale. . Ever.

Please let me know if this ever really existed as anything more than a prototype.

Thanks

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Doing more in depth research it looks like it was planned to be released but would have been close to the time the NX1 stopped receiving support, so it looks like it was never commercially released. http://lenses.reviewed​.com …-first-impressions-review This article shows that the lens was produced, but never went to shelves it looks like. Shame. Imagine if you could somehow get your hands on one of these. May be worth something, but probably not lol.

Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #18574658
http://lenses.reviewed​.com …-first-impressions-review This article shows that the lens was produced, but never went to shelves it looks like.

Yeah, that is one of many articles I read when I was researching it a few hours ago. . The whole thing is a bummer.

When we the consumers most need competition, a potentially major player backs out. . This is not good for us, as not only does it provide fewer options and less competition, but it shows that the interchangeable lens camera market is not worth it, according to this manufacturer ..... which bodes poorly for the future.

Just think about that - a manufacturer that was already all set up and making camera gear decided to give up on what they had already invested so many millions upon millions of dollars on. . This makes me think that we may be "stuck" with cameras like those we have today, and that there will not be these earth-shattering advancements that I was so looking forward to over the next 15 years or so.

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It's March 2020 and am one of those people still using the NX1 and NX500 as my main stills and video cameras. For its ergonomics, menu system, stills, video quality and all its other technology, there is nothing out there that makes me want to change systems. Period.