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Shooting with the Samsung NX500 - a pocket 4K cinema camera


Andrew Reid
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While the NX500 did not perform very well in FHD due to the extremely low bitrate (no PRO setting with firmware 1.0 and even HQ was not HQ) the new firmware greatly improves FHD capabilities of the NX500 as it makes the PRO bitrate settings available.

 

Checkout samples here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mr108nxf4teskpz/AADtu20DbI8lUAJUn5yjzq_ua?dl=0 (download an watch with a dedicated player, do not use the dropbox interface in the browser)

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Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

It's 2.75x (in 4K of course) Many S16 lenses will cover that image circle. No adapter yet for C-mount to NX? 

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Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

Unfortunately the Nx500 s35 sensor is a 1.54x crop to FF. The 4K mode is a 1.77x crop of that.

Total 2.72x crop when shooting UHD (Vs Photographic 35mm FF equiv.)

What makes the crop so high is the enormous 28mp resolution (the sensor is actually 30.7mp!), so taking an 8mp window of that really crops a lot. 

If it were adaptable to s16 glass we might have accepted it and used it as a pocket camera v2, but the thing is we'll be using the dead center of FF & S35 glass, it's a very plain aesthetic shooting an actor's close up on the Tokina 11-16mm.

Samsung really disappointed me here because I love their images, so clear, lively and modern, I just wish it was full s35 2560x1440 as shown here

 

 

 

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Unfortunately the Nx500 s35 sensor is a 1.54x crop to FF. The 4K mode is a 1.77x crop of that.

Total 2.72x crop when shooting UHD (Vs Photographic 35mm FF equiv.)

What makes the crop so high is the enormous 28mp resolution (the sensor is actually 30.7mp!), so taking an 8mp window of that really crops a lot. 

If it were adaptable to s16 glass we might have accepted it and used it as a pocket camera v2, but the thing is we'll be using the dead center of FF & S35 glass, it's a very plain aesthetic shooting an actor's close up on the Tokina 11-16mm.

Samsung really disappointed me here because I love their images, so clear, lively and modern, I just wish it was full s35 2560x1440 as shown here

 

 

 

​Yes yes, I know you wish they'd kept that mode. But without knowing what roadblocks they ran into in implementing it, we can't really blame them for not putting it in the production model. 

Again, do you have a link to that? I checked a few places and got conflicting information--would love to see an official number from Samsung. 

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​Yes yes, I know you wish they'd kept that mode. But without knowing what roadblocks they ran into in implementing it, we can't really blame them for not putting it in the production model. 
Again, do you have a link to that? I checked a few places and got conflicting information--would love to see an official number from Samsung. 

​If you shoot 4k and render in 1080 cant you crop into the image so that s16 glass works? just an thought though.

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Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

Again, do you have a link to that? I checked a few places and got conflicting information--would love to see an official number from Samsung. 

A link yes I forgot, here ​It's from Samsung.

Lots of crap on that page so to spare you the long search:

''BSI CMOS 1.54x sensor'' and ''(UHD FOV 1.77 times the focal length)''

http://www.samsung.com/us/photography/digital-cameras/EV-NX500ZBMIUS

Anybody know if it's a technical possibility to make a SB for the NX mount or is it just that it's not popular enough? 

 

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While the NX500 did not perform very well in FHD due to the extremely low bitrate (no PRO setting with firmware 1.0 and even HQ was not HQ) the new firmware greatly improves FHD capabilities of the NX500 as it makes the PRO bitrate settings available.

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While the crop could be overkill in 80% of the cases, I'd still want it as an option on nx1, as a digital zoom. It's actually a shame that they are not giving choice, on the high end body.

​Totally agreed! The GH series has always had a very popular 1080p crop mode with excellent quality just in case you needed that reach, although the GH cameras could also use it for slapping small-format glass on there with no vignetting. 

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Also is there no way to add a USB mic or something?

How's the battery life?

Looks like I may not be able to afford the NX1, so I'm hoping that SAMSUNG will continue to update the NX500. 

My worries about this camera: No audio jack, 4k crop and 15 min time limit, No gamma dr?, No 1080p 120, No focus peaking (especially without the EVF - I've had terrible experience misfocusing based on my t3i screen), and a possible lack of updates (although the recent one is a good sign).

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Also is there no way to add a USB mic or something?

How's the battery life?

Looks like I may not be able to afford the NX1, so I'm hoping that SAMSUNG will continue to update the NX500. 

My worries about this camera: No audio jack, 4k crop and 15 min time limit, No gamma dr?, No 1080p 120, No focus peaking (especially without the EVF - I've had terrible experience misfocusing based on my t3i screen), and a possible lack of updates (although the recent one is a good sign).

I haven't heard any complaints about battery life on the forums. No way to add USB mic, no mic input, the crop is inconvenient (though not crippling), time limit, no cinema profiles, no peaking during 4K, no EVF (compared to the A6000/GX7). The 120p/720 isn't bad actually, and they just recently put out a big firmware update. 

​It's honestly a lot of compromises. If you're using it more for video than stills, I don't think it's worth it. Beautiful as that Samsung sensor is for RAW stills, the NX500 doesn't deliver it in video. Sadly. 

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I haven't heard any complaints about battery life on the forums. No way to add USB mic, no mic input, the crop is inconvenient (though not crippling), time limit, no cinema profiles, no peaking during 4K, no EVF (compared to the A6000/GX7). The 120p/720 isn't bad actually, and they just recently put out a big firmware update. 

​It's honestly a lot of compromises. If you're using it more for video than stills, I don't think it's worth it. Beautiful as that Samsung sensor is for RAW stills, the NX500 doesn't deliver it in video. Sadly. 

​Nothing you said is about the "quality" of the video not being "delivered." The 4K video is superb, and the firmware update upped the H265 bitrate to almost the same as the NX1 (70 Mbps, again, HEVC)). The crop in 4K can be advantageous - the 16-50mm kit lens gives you a compact 135mm telephoto at the long end - absolutely great for candids of people;  the 200mm zoom gives you a 525mm telephoto. The form factor is great, and AMOLED lcd enables easy viewing even in bright sun - you have to try it to know this. There is no compromise in video quality after the latest firmware update. I do miss the focus peaking in video mode.

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