Page 123 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 5 #2

Created in the coupled with incredibly fast auto focusing - we haven't found a cam-
late afternoon, era that can match its speed. Ironically, the biggest adjustment I
the NX-1 was had to make when I used the NX-1 for the first time was learning
able to capture how not to wait for auto-focus to lock on. This is the exact oppo-
the shadows site of my Canon 1Ds Mark III. I should note that the NX-1 out per-
with no loss formed even the Canon 1Dx which we had used as the baseline for
of detail. The rating the speed of auto-focus.
texture through-
out the image is The NX-1 offers 4K video as well, and while this is less important to
incredible. me than the quality of its still images, Andy Walcott, NyghtFalcon's
video/film maker, tells me that the quality of the output is first rate.
Clear, clean, crisp. The pan and zoom are smooth and transitions
from scene to scene are flawlessly executed.

I can say the same for the still images we have produced. The dy-
namic range is 12 stops - to give you an idea of how unusual this is,
the Pentax 645D medium format camera we have offers the same
dynamic range. The "side by side" images later in this article of the
Reynolda House taken with the 645D and the NX-1 demonstrate
how well the NX-1 competes with medium format technology. I was,
to say the least, stunned. I expected the NX-1 to be good. However,
I didn't expect it to be that good. Using the 1Dx and 1Ds Mark III
as baselines, the raw images from the NX-1 are about four times
as large. In fact, they are every bit as large as the images from the
645D. And the color? Breathtaking. Stunning.

It might not seem important, however, as I have learned over more
than a decade, the design of a camera is indicative of its perfor-
mance and its usability. All our phones and TVs are Samsung. They
have been for close to five years now, so I have come to expect
well-designed, well-built equipment. What we have seen with the
NX-1 tops anything we have ever owned with the Samsung logo on
it. Take, for example, something small - the battery grip for the NX-
1.

Let me put what I am about to say in context. Camera accessories
are rarely designed with usability in mind, and little thought is giv-
en to how an accessory will be used over time. This means caps
and protective covers are perpetually lost almost as soon as the
accessory comes out of the box. The NX-1 is so well designed that
in the top of the battery grip there are actually two recesses. One
is for the rubber cover for the connecting pins that cover the inter-
face connector between the grip and the camera body. This one
is actually hinged. It just folds into place out of the way. And the
second recess? It's for the cover that shields the pins on the bottom
of the camera body. It's brilliant. It's the kind of thoughtful design
that might not seem important - until you have to remove the grip
and have the pins damaged when the grip is bouncing around your

Spring 2015 | 123