Samsung NX300: Example photos compared

While I figure out what scenes to use the other Smart Mode features for, here are some examples and comparisons of Manual Mode, Smart Mode: Landscape, Action Freeze, Creative Shot, Rich Tones.

All photos are unedited (i.e. colours are straight from camera).

Rich Tones under Smart Mode - colours look good and natural considering that the python was lying under a heating lamp.  F/2.2 so shallow depth of field, shutter 1/125, ISO 100.

Creative Shot - umm....here you can see how the heating lamp affected the photo and how over enthusiastic the feature was.  The heating lamp was not that bright red or that hot.  The Manual Mode and Rich Tones Mode are closer to what I saw.  Settings were the same as above except for the shutter speed which was 1/160.

In Manual Mode you control everything and here I used f5.6, 1/125, ISO 400.  I increased the ISO because this was in a shaded area, as evident by the shadow to the left.  I also wanted a larger depth of field which is why my ISO had to be increased.  I could have gotten away with 1/60 and decreased my ISO for less noise, but the photo was taken hand held so I didn't want to take a chance.

From the photos above you can see that different situations and lighting can give a different result each time.  Manual will most likely be more consistent but Rich Tones lightens the shadows more while increasing the yellow and reducing definition.

Creative Shot was too hot for the photo and didn't represent the correct lighting conditions.  Then again, it isn't called Creative Shot for nothing.  I'd avoid this anywhere near red lighting as it might give a negative result.  Some photographers may like this type of shot, so it's personal opinion.  The shot may have changed if I had moved a little to my left or right.  Creative Shot is not an exact science, more guesswork but more fun related.

I didn't use the other features here e.g. Action Freeze (no action) and Landscape (which is more for photos with green and blue).  The other features are obvious so they wouldn't have worked here (macro could have but with a shallow depth of field would have been similar to Rich Tones), however that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.  Features not meant for certain situations can produce some unusual photos by breaking the rules.  And rules are meant to be broken (something I should experiment with using the NX300).

Consistent and reliable, f/5.6, shutter 1/80, ISO 200.

As this was a moving body of water I tried Action Freeze.  If you look closer where the water is flowing over you can see a little more definition than in Manual Mode.  F/2, 1/250, ISO 100.  It's a little too light for my liking but that can easily be adjusted in Lightroom 4 with the shadows and highlights sliders.

As there was green and some feint blue, Landscape mode was an obvious choice.  Higher saturation than Action Freeze, but lower definition than in Manual Mode.  Again, this can easily be fixed in LR4.  f2.5, 1/160, ISO 100.  But f2.5 means shallow DOF?  It would appear the further you are away or the bigger the landscape, the larger your DOF with this feature.  I was fairly close to the scene above (so shallow DOF) and my focus area was centered over the water.  You can see feintly how the ducks on the left are starting to blur as well as the corners.

Rich Tones blew out the highlights and lost shadows, making it appear washed out.  LR4 will fix this but another instance of not really knowing how a feature will work in different situations. f2.5, 1/160 ISO 100.  IMO, Rich Tones is meant to boost colours, so it might be best used on a situation where the colours of a scene are not so bright in order for the feature to work better.  Take a look at the Python photo above, and you can see that the muted tones of the scene worked better as the feature didn't over saturate the colours.  

Creative Shot did a nice job of creating more drama with this photo in comparison to the Python.  A vignette was applied by the Samsung NX300's feature and looks pretty nice.  I would boost the tones in LR4 as the colours look a little bland.

From the second lot of photos, you can see how Rich Tones changed from one situation to the next. The feature didn't work so well with the Pond and Ducks, over exposing the photo whereas in the Python photo is exposed well and worked perfectly.

Same goes for Creative Shot.  The Python photo just didn't work and was too hot, too saturated but in the Pond and Ducks photo, it created a little drama and looked good.

I didn't use the Waterfall feature here (which would have looked fantastic) because I didn't have my tripod or something stable.  I tried leaning on the bridge for stability but the bouncing up and down of people walking behind made it impossible to get a clear, clean shot.  

This shots and those that follow have green and blue predominantly so lets see how some of the settings work with this.  Rich Tones didn't do too badly, lighting the building and lamp while darkening the sky just a little.  My issue with Rich Tones is that it sometimes removes quite a bit of definition with the intention of creating a lighter photo. f/4, 1/400, ISO 100.

Not much difference in the blue and green compared to Manual Mode, but that purple hue in the clouds was decreased. f3.5, 1/400, ISO 100.

Manual Mode and Landscape Mode gave similar results even though the settings were different.  Manual Mode also gave that purple hue in the clouds whereas Landscape Mode was decreased.  Manual Mode was a little more clearer/sharper.  f5.6, 1/500, ISO 200.

Creative Shot was a little lighter in the shadow areas and similar to Landscape Mode, so I would guess that it chose Landscape for this shot.  f3.5, 1/400, ISO 100.  But, the purple hue is increased so I could be wrong.  I would think the camera would use Landscape but as I wasn't paying attention to what it selected at the time I won't know.  EXIF data will only show Creative Mode afterwards.

From the settings from the building shot, you can see that the Smart Mode features use similar settings in comparison to Manual Mode.  Personal settings can change the result quite a bit, so while these features are fun I still recommend giving Manual Mode a try.

The last set of photos.

Manual Mode, this time more blue sky in contrast with the building. Again, that purple hue is there (my format settings were set to JPG and not RAW, where as RAW might have given a different result).  Colours are good but I would want to add a little more hue to the building. f5.6, 1/500, ISO 200. 

Deeper blue, richer tones in the building, that annoying purple hue. f4, 1/500, ISO 100.

The blue sky is less saturated than Creative Shot, the foreground (building) is lightened. Definition is less and the shadow at the bottom from the building to the right is lighter.  Very similar to Manual Mode but shadows in the trees are lighter. f4, 1/500, ISO 100. 

For these shots above, even with Manual Mode the settings were fairly close.  Like I said, it's not an exact science when using automatic features on the NX300, or any other camera.  The advanced modes, especially Manual, give you somewhat more consistent results.

But these creative features are meant for creative use when you want slightly quicker results than using photo manipulation software.

Samsung NX300 - Manual Mode

Manual Mode for beginners might seem a little daunting, but once you have a basic understanding of ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed, Manual Mode might end up being your favourite of shooting modes.

I used to love using AV (aperture value) but I didn't always get the correct exposure.  After playing around with the Manual Mode it was easier to keep control of the exposure and adjust the shutter speed and aperture the way I wanted and what worked best for me.

I still use AF to focus as my eyes are not reliable for manual focus but the Focus Ring (also used when the iFN button is pressed to select settings) makes life so much easier in MF.  It allows you to zoom in for a closer look and for fine tuning the focus before taking the photo.  Much like using the + and - zoom buttons on DLSR's.  I can tell you that having this available on the lens and not having to reach to the back of the camera is a huge time saver.

To use the Focus Ring for zooming in while focusing manually you need to have MF Assist activated by going to Menu, selecting MF Assist under the Camera Icon then selecting either Enlarge x5 or Enlarge x8.

You may also want to activate Focus Peaking (depending on what suits you best as some might find this distracting) where the camera detects the sensitivity of the focus area which displays as either white, red, green.  The points that are in focus are highlighted in the colour you selected. You can increase the sensitivity but low is considered best for day to day photography where high is probably better for low light photos.

Keep an eye on the Aperture and Shutter Speed while manually focusing.

I haven't been able to find out if you can move around the screen when using MF Assist and while this is a great feature it will only zoom in on the center of the screen. To see the entire screen while manually focusing you need to deactivate MF Assist. You can't use MF Assist if your lens is set to Auto Focus, it can only be used in Manual Focus.

The following website and videos will give you a better idea of how Focus Peaking works (even though the Samsung NX300 isn't featured the idea is general).  http://petapixel.com/2012/08/30/focus-peaking-making-its-way-onto-more-digital-cameras/

I may add a video later on demonstrating how this works.

Right: number of shots available, battery, Dynamic Range, photo size (20M), Drive, Flash, Metering, AF mode, Focus Area, OIS, RAW format, Fn menu

Left: Manual Mode, Autoshare, AF options, Menu, Histogram (the graph)

In Manual Mode the Shutter Speed is highlighted in blue, meaning this is currently selected and when you move the dial mode (wheel on top of the camera) you will be changing the shutter speed only. While doing this keep an eye on the Exposure Compensation/Value (those sets of lines seen at the bottom of the screen).  The red line will move as you change either the shutter or aperture.

If the line moves to the right of the 0, the photo becomes overexposed.  If it moves to the left of the 0 the photo becomes underexposed.  If in the middle under 0, the photo is considered correctly exposed. This red line does not move in the other advanced modes unless you press the EV (Exposure Value, shown as a block with + and -) and manually change it.

Changing the EV in modes P, A, and S is telling the camera to make the photo a bit lighter or darker after the camera has chosen what it believes is the correct exposure for the combination of settings. Since the camera controls one of the features in P, A and S modes, you can use the EV button here but in Manual Mode you are controlling both aperture and shutter so the EV button doesn't work in the same way and exposure is adjusted according to what you decide on the settings.

Sometimes the camera isn't correct with its choice of exposure according to your settings in P, A and S so the EV button allows you to adjust for correct exposure.

For more info on EV: http://digital-photography-school.com/ev-compensation-explained

To change the aperture you need to press the EV button (the aperture will change to blue) and hold down while turning the mode dial and select the aperture that you want.  Again keep an eye on the red line as it moves.

If you still struggle with getting correct exposure try adjusting your ISO, starting from 200 (if it was originally on 100) and slowly increasing until you get the desired settings.  Keep in mind that the more you increase the ISO the more noise will appear but as I said before, the Samsung NX300 is excellent with handling noise.

Framing Mode is mentioned with Manual Mode in the user's manual but can be used with the other advanced modes.  At first I found it confusing because when the feature is turned ON it seems to be the opposite of my Canon 650D's Exposure Compensation.  But considering that the Samsung NX300 does not have an EVF, the Framing Mode seems to compensate for this.  Read more about this here: http://photographyasiam.blogspot.com/2013/08/samsung-nx300-few-quick-things.html - scroll down to Framing Mode.

The following photos show the original shot and the edited shot to the right.

ISO: 100, Aperture: f/10, Shutter: 1/13 - edited with PSE 10 and Topaz Clarity

ISO: 1600, Aperture: f/9, Shutter: 1/400.  I was indoors with low light so increased my ISO.  

I could have decreased my aperture to increase the shutter speed but the DOF would have been limited.  Here I released the ball and quickly snapped away and a fast shutter speed was needed.

ISO: 100, Aperture: f/3.5, Shutter: 1/30.  No Flash, no photoshop correction.  This is straight out of the camera.  Posted this for fun :-D.

There is quite a bit of noise in the second photo above but not enough to entirely degrade the photo.  I could still use Topaz Labs Denoise and it would look pretty good.  Shows how well the Samsung NX300 handles noise when the ISO is that high.

I did find that after extended use, about 2 hours or so straight, the camera did become hot on the battery's side but this seems normal for many SLR's.  As my Canon 650D is much bigger I don't notice when the battery becomes hot.  The memory card is right next to the battery on the Samsung NX300 so this can pose a slight problem as the heat may damage the card or cause it to not work correctly.  If you feel the camera is getting too hot, switch it off for a few minutes and let it cool down.

In the last photo of the Merry Go Round, the bottom photo shows the Chromatic Aberration (fringing) that appears when using the 18-55mm kit lens for the Samsung NX300.  In comparison to my Canon 18-55mm kit lens, the Samsung kit lens handles the fringing far better as it is less pronounced.  You can reduce and mostly remove the fringing with one mouse click in Lightroom 4 under Lens Correction.

I played around with the colour presets in LR4 but the Samsung NX300 captured the colours of the Merry Go Round fairly nicely considering this was in the shade where colours tend to be muted.

Since playing with the Samsung NX300 I've started to enjoy the benefits of Manual Mode over Aperture Priority.  The Samsung NX300 more than shows its ease of use, no matter what shooting mode you use.

Next: Lens Priority Mode

Edit update: regarding using manual focus while autofocus is on - this can only be done if you have a lens with the Full-Time Manual Focus (FTMF) feature like the 85mm 1.4 or 60mm 2.8 (which allows you to fine tune the autofocus manually with the focus ring without having to change to manual focus).  Without this option you can/will cause damage to your lens while manually focusing with the AF on as this will fight with the camera's ability to focus.

Here's a guide for definitions of the NX lens range: Lenses explained