Samsung NX200 review

It’s good to see 1080p video recording but this isn’t the best implementation around. The lens’s autofocus motor isn’t optimised for video, and while it tracked subjects accurately, each adjustment resulted in loud whirring noises on the soundtrack. It looks like the camera discards rather than merges pixels from its 20-megapixel sensor to produce the 2-megapixel 1080p frames, as it suffered from aliasing artefacts such as moiré interference – swirling psychedelic patterns that appeared on dense, repeating patterns such as bricks and fabric. Picture noise was relatively high in low light, and the AVC encoder struggled to cope with all the extra information this noise was generating.

Details aren’t always pin-sharp when scrutinised at 100% magnification, but with 20 million pixels to play with, there’s still a huge amount of detail – click to enlarge

The NX200 fared much better in our photo tests. The 20-megapixel resolution is one of the highest we’ve seen, but it wasn’t too much of a challenge for the 20-50mm lens, with sharp focus into the corners of frames. While per-pixel details weren’t quite as crisp as on various other cameras, the huge resolution ensured that this is the best CSC we’ve seen for detail levels. Colours tended towards accuracy rather than flattery on default settings, a good thing we think, and automatic exposures were reliably excellent.

There’s a hint of noise reduction artefacts in this ISO 200 shot, giving the scarf a slightly painted appearance – click to enlarge

The sensor didn’t cope so well in low light, though. Even shady outdoor shots at ISO 200 showed tell-tale signs of noise reduction, which glossed over subtle details. By ISO 1600, subtle details had all but vanished and darker areas of frames exhibited multi-coloured blotches of noise, which we find less easy to ignore than monochrome noise. The Sony NEX-5N produced far cleaner images in low light, with the Samsung at ISO 3200 being broadly equivalent to the Sony at ISO 12800.

Noise reduction is struggling by ISO 3200, with multi-coloured blotches in darker areas of the frame – click to enlarge

This level of noise could have knocked the NX200 out of the running, but while it isn’t a great low-light camera, it does have some other compelling strengths. It excels for details in well-lit environments, and it has the best controls of any CSC we’ve seen to date. The Sony NEX-7 may prove a worthy adversary with its 24-megapixel sensor and three rotary controls, but it costs over £1,000 including VAT.

The NX system currently only includes five lenses, it has the key lengths covered but you currently don’t have the same range of choice available for Micro Four Thirds cameras. However, for landscape photography and general outward-bound types, its accessible controls, big, detailed photos and petite dimensions make a lot of sense. All that said, we still recommend the Sony NEX-5N for the majority of users.